Difference between revisions of "Idran Casmosis"

Revision as of 19:11, 20 March 2006

Background

Early Life

Born in Kohlingen, Idran was named as is traditional in his family after a celestial object; it was often joked that he was nearly named DGC147. His early life led to a love of water from the very start, with his learning to swim by age 4, and often spending his days at the shipyards merely watching the vessels enter and leave the harbor. Once he became old enough to be more than cargo, he was even allowed to make the occasional trip with his parents; one a ship's mage and the other a cartographer for the local Doman Merchant Marines. Through these trips, he soon learned how to make himself useful as an unofficial cabin boy, for it was either this or be left behind. This interest was soon set aside, however, when a lucky encounter led him to discover his capabilities in the naval realm, but the magical.

At the age of 10, a mage arrived in Kohlingen. One disillusioned with a recent defeat at the hands of one Dullahan, leading to a draining of his essence and an overall loss of capability. One who wished to prove to himself and others with one major accomplishment that he was still important in the thaumatic community. The mage Dragan Rahl. When performing an astral reading of a ship's mage at the shipyards, he happened to notice an aura with odd characteristics that he couldn't quite identify; the aura of young Idran, spending another day watching the comings and goings of ships. Breaking off his conversation, Dragan tracked down the child, and spoke with him, inventing a pretext for which he could meet with Idran's parents. Although Paula was a professional mage herself, they were unsure, letting Idran come to a decision himself. Long having had an interest in magic and often vicariously living through his mother's abilities, he was quick to agree. Thus, Dragan took Idran under his wing, teaching him magic while, without Idran's knowledge, researching those odd aural characteristics that had brought him here in the first place.

There were quirks in the training; a lack of ability to view the astral, an odd incapability to take hold of even the most basic of elemental conjurations. However, Dragan worked around this, soon finding that his aura seemed especially attuned to the magics of space and time; "cosmic magic" as he, and later Idran, were to term it. He thus directed the training mainly along these lines, and it was little more than 3 months before Idran managed to successfully teleport for the first time. In celebration, Dragan took he and his family out for dinner, where he expounded on Idran's skill, much to his embarassment. It was upon their return home, however, that another quirk of Idran's aura first manifested, and the pieces fell into place for Dragan's understanding. Idran collapsed.

Though he awoke after barely a minute, this was quite worrisome to both Idran's parents and to Dragan. He proceeded to describe odd forms and shapes, objects which sounded to both Paula and Dragan to be descriptions of astral forms, though neither could find anything in the vicinity which even resembled his descriptions. After ensuring he suffered no after effects, they continued home, with Dragan waiting for another occurance to verify his slowly-building theory.

Such an occurance showed itself just two weeks later, and Dragan was quick to make telepathic contact with Idran, to see what exactly he was experiencing. Even for a skilled mage such as himself, the view was disorienting; random flashes of astral views, shifting in ways he'd never seen, and with a total lack of correspondence to anything in the physical world around him. This all but confirmed his theory, and a detailed astral reading taken during another incident during an episode, when sections of Idran's aura, small, almost imperceptible sections, seemed to be fading in and out of existence; not merely the astral, but those other sub-realms of which Dragan had knowledge of and the ability to view as well.

His theory was proven: Idran's aura was somehow shifting partially into parallel realms for a time, rapidly rotating amongst a number of them and leading to the disorienting astral views, and thus the "seizures" as Idran began to refer to them as. However, out of both worry for the child and a desire for a restoration of his own reputation in the magical community through further research, Dragan never revealed this, and Idran has yet to discover the truth behind why his aura acts the way it does.

Although Dragan left after a few months more, having compiled all the information he needed and proceeding to publish a paper, his influence left a lasting impression on Idran. A desire to learn more than just spell throwing, but the mechanics behind the workings of magic. And though his lack of ability to view the astral was a handicap in this, over the years he developed a number of unique methods to work around this minor flaw. Unfortunately, his training also left Idran with a subconscious dislike for elementalists, a combination of jealousy for an ability he tried to possess and failed, and a memory of the difficulties he went through in trying to use this manner of spell.

During this training, he was forced to sit out his normal sailing trips. The months of neglect led to a minor atrophying of these skills, and when the training was complete, he had grown so accustomed to life on the mainland that returning was far from the first thing on his mind. He didn't neglect them entirely, however, for his interest in the ocean was still strong, and he was determined to at least keep from losing his skills completely. Every few months, he signed on for a brief 2-3 week tour, merely to keep these skills fresh, while at home he continued personal study into the arts of magic.

As he grew older, he began trying a number of jobs around the mainland, though none tickled his fancy. Finally, by the age of 16, he decided to just give in, and signed on to a Merchant Marine vessel himself; the Talon, an ironically-named freighter making regular runs between his hometown and the port town of Hydrante to the south. And though he did well in his job, reaching the position of Third Mate and ship's mage within 3 years, it hurt him in other ways, as the long periods of absence led an as-of-yet unnamed girlfriend to infidelity. Though this soured him for a time, he did eventually recover, and overall his time was positive far more often than negative, allowing him the opportunity to grow both as a sailor and as a mage.

It was near the end of his third year contract with the Talon that he fell into the career of "adventuring", during a brief period of impression of his ship by the Doman Navy. It was dispatched to a small recently-discovered cave along the trade route for suspected pirate activity. With Idran leading a small group from the ship, they discovered not a pirate's lair, but a near-stereotypical dungeon system, complete with monsters and treasures. And though they never did investigate to its conclusion, Idran did discover a number of minor items of wealth, including two items that led him along his next path in life. One he has come to consider a personal symbol of sorts; a red-varnished boomerang left by a previous explorer, enchanted to return when thrown. The other was a magical scroll, its contents unknown to Idran.

He decided to commence research into the contents of this scroll, but of course a freighter was a poor place to accomplish such. Thus, upon the expiration of his contract, and a brief farewell party (including the rare occurance of Idran drunk), Idran invested his savings into a small house just a few tens of yards to the west of the town walls. He established a small magical laboratory here, and began to support himself through various odd jobs and cartography. He began looking into lesser-known areas not yet explored, and as he tended to engage these pursuits on his own, he began his habit of thorough investigating before stepping into danger, not wanting to risk his life on a stupid mistake.

The RPs Begin

One day, 9 years later, Idran found a scroll with an interesting new spell on it which he wished to look more closely into, but unfortunately it required some components not available in Kohlingen; specifically, the toenails of a basilisk. Thus, he left for Doma City, where he was certain he would be able to find the items he needed. Arriving in the afternoon, he stopped in at the first location he found to rest before beginning his search. This happened to be the Jade Dragon Inn, and of course his visit was not boring; the first incident of many that, though he often complains about the oddness ever-present in town, deep down interested and intrigued him. This event led to many more visits to Doma, starting once every couple of months and eventually culminating in merely a return home once every couple of weeks to visit with his family and check up on home. Finding the environment much more conducive to research, both by the great Doman libraries and by the number of friends he had made in the area, he all but took up residence in the city, keeping a near-permanent room at the Jade Dragon.

For some reason, a number of his early adventures from Doma happened to involve demonic forces, thus leading to his often sarcastically complaining about the number of such events in the city (though since the Mallian War this tendency has reduced drastically). His first such encounter was on request from Hakaril, when he left with the archmagus and a number of other allies (Dia Rai, Richard, and Raptre) to rescue Sirvix from the demon lord Testicles. In thanks for his aid, he was given a gift by Hakaril; a golden amulet once belonging to Masahiro. Though this is a gift Idran has well-treasured, he rarely wears it, instead leaving it in the extradimensional storage at home, worried that its appearance would lead merely to theft.

Soon after this encounter, Idran during one of his occasional visits to the castle was present when Queen Aya mentioned a desire to learn more of the nature of magic, bemoaning the fact that though she was skill with the use, she knew little to nothing of the theory. Reminded of his own earlier interest in this field, and pleased to see knowledge of one does not preclude the other, he offered to give the queen lessons in just that. Oddly enough, she accepted (in Idran's opinion, this was likely because Hakaril, though a skilled mage, can often get too caught up in advanced concepts to give an understanding of the basics), and a number of short instructional sessions were conducted for her.

It was another demonic adventure that led to his first meeting with Kyle Broadsky, when the two of them along with Ayra and Kelne brought about the defeat of the demon lord Belial within the City of Brass. This friendship quickly grew, with Kyle impressed at Idran's magic and Idran impressed by Kyle's skill with the rapier.

Some time after this, a brief encounter with Diego led to Idran's first introduction to chaos magic and Kris; these two would come to play a major role in a plotline in which Idran were later to become embroiled.

One of Idran's more major undergoings was that of aiding a party in saving the realm of Loracia from the dangers of the lich Valzar. The group, composed of Idran along with Kyle, Kelne, Griff, and then-Captain Purvis, was successful in stopping the lich's attempt at calling forth an ancient and powerful being under his control, and the five of them were firmly indebted to the Loracian people. Here, during some downtime in the mission Idran picked up a number of concepts from the Loracian people's magical libraries which he later developed into a number of his more unique spell concepts.

(Transit, Carved in Stone, and the Delacroix RP occured at this point in that order)

Vaniyakna and Kohlingen

When the Mallian War picked up, Idran luckily enough had been in Kohlingen. Quickly hearing news of the events, he called in favors to take his parents south, to Hydrante, where he intended to insure their safety and go to join in the effort to repel Malachias. However, these plans soon turned, as Vaniyakna chose the opportunity to invade Kohlingen in the name of forming a mainland base to help to repel Malachias himself. Well familiar with the Admiral from comments made by Griff, the facade was obvious to Idran, and he quickly begun gathering aid in forming a small rebellion group, intending to retake Kohlingen. He gained a number of allies, with Fray Everwax, a candle mage from Doma, chief among them. Calling in extraplanar favors, he had a platoon of Loracian soldiers dispatched as well. After a number of days spent training and preparing, using Valthi supplies obtained through the aid of Jaeko, they attempted a first strike against the city, to test its defenses, and maybe if they were lucky disrupt some supply lines.

It was an unmitigated disaster.

Though none were killed, Idran was captured. He was held by Vaniyakna's troops, and through a figurehead officer tortured. Initially, this torture was to gain information on the rebellion. However, his mages soon discovered those odd aspects of his aura which had brought Dragan to him so many years ago. Certain parts of them seemed to be stress-related, and he even showed the odd quality of becoming nearly immune to many forms of magic under certain conditions. Thus the torture continued without interrogation. Though he was rarely lucid enough to realize it, he was subjected to deep astral scans during these sessions, in an attempt to reproduce these qualities in others. When it was finally determined that they were irreproducible, he was freed, as Vaniyakna "discovered what had occured" and "dealt with the officer who had ordered this atrocity".

Deeply scarred by these events, Idran sequestered himself for a time. He eventually emerged, and made an appeal to Queen Aya to strike back at Vaniyakna for the invasion of Kohlingen, as well as his own treatment (and the treatment of both Aya and Kamos, who had both been captives of Vaniyakna themselves during portions of the war) She was unable to aid him due to the politics involved, however, and unwilling to commit Doma to another war so soon after they had emerged from this one. Thus, Idran began to sink into a deep obsession, devoting himself to the overthrow of Vaniyakna. Though on the surface it was "merely" a quest for vengeance, on a deeper level it was nearly all that drove him after what he went through. And though he went through the motions of his old routine, it was all towards the goal of one day removing the tyrant from power.

This changed one night, (find out how much time it was) since he had been released, when he first met Sin. He proceeded to ramble on about the Council and how it seemed shoddy, constantly comparing it to Vaniyakna and actually creeping out the construct. When reflecting on the events of that night later, he realized how far he had fallen, and moved away from his old self, and began a concerted effort to return to how he once was. Not abandoning his quest completely, he placed it at a much lower priority. For the first time since his imprisonment, he went on an old-fashioned Doma-style "a random guy wants me to do something; I'm there!" mission. Though it was a success, it was still a struggle for Idran to keep himself from falling back into his old ways; a struggle not helped by the general absence (on both his part and theirs) of his friends.

End of the Chaos

One day in the spring of 1318, Idran recieved a letter from a name he didn't recognize; Tia. This letter led him eventually through a vortex of chaos into another world, the home of Charles DuGalle and the Council. It was here that he met DuGalle's daughter, Selene (and eventually her "twin" Erin), and though he doesn't realize it, the quickly-forged friendship he was all but thrown into has helped to be a stabilizing force for Idran, granting him something beyond his obsession to focus on.

Board RPs

• Transit: Ended
• Carved in Stone: Ended
• End of the Chaos: Ongoing

Philsys Data

Spells and Techs

• [Spacial=1]Bomb 1 (5 MP) - Compresses the air around a target, dealing 8 + rank * 2 + 1d4 damage.
  • The specific physical effect of this spell is akin to that of a compression shockwave caused by a large explosion; thus the name. It has the effect of compressing the atmosphere around the target in all directions briefly, causing physical shock and soft tissue damage.
• [Spacial=2]Bomb 2 (10 MP) - Makes a series of air-compressions within a group, dealing 8 + rank * 2 + 1d4 damage to several targets within one hex of a target hex.
  • This is largely identical to Bomb 1, with the only difference being the capability for multiple targets.
• [Spacial=2]Comet1 (16 MP) - Drops a rock from outer space, dealing 8 + (rank * 6) + 2d6 damage to a single target.
  • The boulder created/summoned by this spell remains following casting, and the spell prevents it from shattering on impact, meaning even on strong surfaces it cannot be used as a sort of shrapnel bomb. It does leave hot dust behind in its travel through the atmosphere, however, but this dust quickly cools and is unlikely to pose a danger for any flying creatures in the area.
• [Spacial=2]Gravity Well (7 MP) - Creates a gravity well over a 4-hex radius. Anyone within the well must succeed in a strength check vs. the casting power in order to resist the effects. Those who fail to resist receive a -3/-3 penalty to AT/PA, and movement is cut in half. Flying creatures who fail to save are grounded by this spell.
• [Spacial=3]Hold (15 MP) - If successful, surrounds a target with ropes of spacial energy, holding them for (Rank*10) minutes.
  • The visible manifestation of these ropes varies from time to time and use to use; the most common appearance is as greenish-yellow bands of barely-translucent energy emerging from nowhere and encompassing a target. They have occasionally been broken in a resisted casting rather than unmanifested entirely, though this is rare and most often a reflection of the target's magical resistance.
• [Spacial=3]Phase Shift (17 MP) - Move to any location within (Rank * 2) yards, half for each passage through solid matter.
  • This spell functions by creating a temporary portal between two locations, one which collapses in on itself in less than a second following transit. There are no visible manifestations of this spell beyond the disappearance from one location and appearance in another.
  • Destinations are set in a wholly relative manner; there is no capability for imaged teleportation through this spell.
• [Spacial=4]Comet2 (28 MP) - Drops a group of rocks from outer space, dealing 8 + (rank * 6) + 2d6 damage to several targets within one hex of a target hex.
  • The boulders created/summoned by this spell remain following casting, and the spell prevents them from shattering on impact, meaning even on strong surfaces they cannot be used as a sort of shrapnel bomb. They do leave hot dust behind in their travel through the atmosphere, however, but this dust quickly cools and is unlikely to pose a danger for any flying creatures in the area.
• [Spacial=5]Bomb 2a (15 MP) - Creates a stronger compression around a single target, dealing 14 + rank * 4 + 2d4 damage.
  • Again, this spell is chiefly identical to the effect of Bomb 1, differing only in strength.
• [Spacial=7]Phase Other (MP Varies) - Acts as Phase Shift, but for one target within the caster's sight. The target can be teleported up to (Rank * 2) yards from his original location. Unwilling targets recieve a magic resist check, as do items held by unwilling subjects. Items use the subject's value with a +4 bonus. The cost of this spell is 30 MP plus 15 for every 100 pounds of the target over 200.
  • This spell functions by creating a temporary portal between two locations, one which collapses in on itself in less than a second following transit. There are no visible manifestations of this spell beyond the disappearance from one location and appearance in another.
  • Destinations are set in a wholly relative manner; there is no capability for imaged teleportation through this spell.
  • Lack of experimentation means that the range on the target's distance from the caster prior to casting is unknown, though it is reasonable to assume that it becomes much more difficult to control should the target be beyond the normal distance limitations of a personal transportation.
• [Spacial=12]Minor Flight (20 MP) - A seeming combination of hovering and levitation spells, allows the caster to travel airborne for (rank*4) minutes, as fast as they can normally run. No limit on height as is present in hovering spells, but traveling too high could be dangerous if the caster is unable to return to the ground in time.
  • This spell works by creating a pseudo-gravitational attraction in an extremely short range around the caster. This redirection only extends for about a half an inch beyond the caster, causing the side effect of clothing oddly falling towards the direction of movement as well as towards the ground. This spell does not negate normal gravity, allowing for hovering (if not in a zero-g environment), but requiring "forward" motion to actually be at something of an angle. The pseudo-gravity this spell creates is at most twice normal-strength gravity only, meaning in the presence of a Gravity Well-like effect, flight is still something of a difficulty.
• [Spacial=12]Phase to Beacon (60 MP) - Acts as Phase Shift, but allows the caster to teleport to any pre-established beacon within Rank*25 miles. Accuracy at the destination varies by about 50 feet, but he cannot manifest in a solid object, instead materializing directly adjacent to it should there be no location within that range without one.
  • This spell functions by creating a temporary portal between two locations, one which collapses in on itself in less than a second following transit. There are no visible manifestations of this spell beyond the disappearance from one location and appearance in another.
• [Spacial=12]Create Teleportation Beacon (150 MP) - Create one teleportation beacon in the area. Requires multiple castings over the course of up to 6 days, dividing the MP equally for each day.
• [Temporal=1]Slow (6 MP) - Disrupts the flow of time, slowing down a target's metabolism, aging, and movement. If successful, a target enemy's turn is delayed until the end of the combat round for 1d2+rank rounds, and they will move as though they had -rank AGI, as well as suffering a -2/-2 AT/PA penalty.
• [Temporal=1]Super Sprint (3 MP) - Triple running speed for (Rank * 4) seconds.
• [Temporal=1]Time Sense (5 MP) - Tells the caster the day and time in his own calendar. This spell is only as accurate as the average timekeeping device in the caster's culture.
• [Temporal=2]Haste (10 MP) - Grants a target increased speed. The target's metabolism, aging, and movement rates increase. This character may move as though he had +rank AGI and gains one extra action per round for rank rounds. Being under the influence of a Haste spell for more than a few minutes tends to make one VERY hungry as a result of all the energy they burn.
• [Temporal=3]Petrify (8 MP) - Changes a piece of wood, no larger than a quarter of a cubic meter, or other similar material immersed in dirt, rock, or other such material into rock itself over the course of a couple of hours. (Only the initial casting is required, but if the object is interfered with in this time the spell is broken and the MP remains lost.) Not effective on living tissue.
• [Temporal=4]Lesser Regen (14 MP) - Allows a target to regenerate health over time. The target recovers Target's Stamina + 3d6 HP per round for (rank/2) rounds.
  • This spell is essentially a modified Haste spell, solely accelerating the target's capabilities for natural healing. Thus, though less effective than normal healing magic, it tends to be better used in situations where such magic would be inapplicable; shadow-aligned targets or inorganic beings that still possess the capabilities of self-healing, for example.
• [Temporal=7]Time Push (20 MP) - The caster touches the target and catapults them forward in time up to (rank) rounds. The temporal distance 'pushed' must be chosen at the spell's casting. The target is not cogniscent of the temporal shift--everything just seems to change suddenly. Should the caster fail the Time Magic roll to cast this spell, instead of a simple failure it is the caster who is propelled forward in time by the decided amount.
  • A varient of the "phase" class of teleporation spells, this spell can be used on objects as well as living targets, with limitations on size equal to that of the lowest MP class of Phase Other.
  • Time Push functions through the manipulation of temporal magics in a fashion similar to that required for those spells. Thus, much as that type of spell, this spell forms a temporary portal between two points in time. However, the lack of an ability to assign a location to the destination of these results in its current fixed form. Further, the one-way nature of normal temporal transit for all known objects means a spell which functioned similarly but against this temporal flow would be nearly impossible, much as reversing the direction of a one-way spacial portal. A consequence of this is that should some creature or object exist which experiences time's flow from future to past, this spell would serve to propel them the same timespan backwards rather than forwards.
  • The temporal nature of this spell also causes the unique "backlash" effect, as the relatively-high levels of energy involved in the formation of this sort of portal mean its creation is set once casting of this spell is complete. Thus, when resisted it merely snaps along astral manipulation lines to its source; the caster.
• [Temporal=8]Age (20 MP) - Rapidly increases the age of a single object no larger than ones fist. Rots wood, rusts metal, etc. This spell is not effective on living creatures, nor on pieces of a larger whole (GM's discretion if the situation is unclear).

[Mag=5 Gate=2]Control Gate (30 MP) - Opens, closes, unlocks, or locks a specific pre-existing gate within 10 feet. It will stay open/closed/unlocked-locked for (rank ^ 2) seconds/minutes/hours. The lower the rank, the longer the casting time (About 8/4/1 hour(s) maximum)

• • Control Gate functions through the manipulation of Spacial astral energies into multiple tendril-like forms, allowing for the direct manipulation of the astral manifestation of portals. These tendrils appear as greyish strands of astral energy, that if traced back to their source seem to fade into the fog of magic that inundates the astral plane. Opening a gate is manifested astrally as these tendrils "weaving" into the portal manifestation, and pulling against the portal outwardly; at completion, they "stitch" the portal open, though the portal's natural inclination for closure causes these tendrils to "break" over time, reducing them back into their cloudy state. Other effects work similarly. Thus, this spell does not serve to allow transit through a one-way portal against the portal's natural "flow".
  • It is feasible that this spell could be adapted into other sorts of astral manipulation through these tendrils as well, though at present this would require much more research into the astral plane than Idran has bothered with. The ability to view the astral would also contribute to this spell's effectiveness, allowing for greater feedback, though this would be a minor improvement at best.
  • It is barely concievable that a spell of this nature could be used on the temporary portals created by certain forms of teleportation (such as Idran's "phase" class of spells), though given the fact that these portals exist for only fractions of a second, it would be far beyond the reaction times of any casters.
• [Gate=1]Detect Gate (10 MP) - Find any gate within (rank / 2) miles. Spell lasts for 1 hour.
  • Given Idran's lack of astral detection abilities, this spell instead grants a compass-and-range-like stream of information into his mind directly.
• [Gate=2]Analyze Gate (20 MP) - Allows caster to analyze any gate, and attempt to figure out where the other end lies. Roll against MBlock of the gate for success.
  • As with Detect Gate, this spell is specially-designed for Idran's incapabilities astrally. The knowledge granted by this spell is given in the sense of a relative position to the caster's current location, similarly to that used prior to the casting of a phase spell, and was in fact designed in such a fashion for convienant usage with said spell class. This tends to cause the result for extraplanar gates and portals to be somewhat odd to comprehend to those who are unfamiliar with this spell, though if the caster is familiar with the destination plane and has cast this spell on a portal spanning the source and destination plane previously (or a set of portals which could serve as a chained set of waypoints from the source to the destination), they are still able to associate the spell's result with said plane. It would also allow two portals leading to the same unknown plane to be identified as such, though again this would not give any information as to the nature of their shared destination.
  • This spell can also serve to identify a portal as one-way or bidirectional, even serving on the endpoint of a portal that is "against the flow" of the portal's natural transit.
• [Elem=1]Create Element (41 MP) - Summons no more than (rank / 3) cu.ft. of any of the 4 elements into the casters hand or a container/torch/etc being held. Hence, the caster can create small amounts of flame, water, dirt, or air (gaseous oxygen/nitrogen/hydrogen mixture).
• [Innate]Porous Aura (10 TP) - Increases the caster's magic resist score to 2.5x for (Spacial+Temporal+Gate+3) rounds against all forms of magic except for space or time. All forms is meant literally, as it also forces a resist roll for healing or other beneficial spells, as well as magical devices such as potions or items. This ability automatically activates in stressful situations, at the GM's or player's discretion, and immediately after a seizure. Stressful situations will not activate it if the character has insufficient TP, however. Visibly, spells either pass through the caster without effect (although with the possibility of affecting an unintended object or person), or simply not activate at all if a resist roll is met while this is in effect. Astrally, the spell or effect merely doesn't interact with the caster's aura, acting as if he wasn't there.