Legend of Ransera

Posted: **Wed Aug 20, 2025 10:52 am**

Hilana and her ætherial companions might note the energy of a powerful spirit permeated the ship. Though its figure was not visible, every panel and bulkhead seemed to be infused with its presence; As if the spirit were the ship itself, though surely the truth of it was something more nuanced than that.

Arvælyn arched an eyebrow at Finn, but a smirk soon followed as he shook his head ever so slightly in playful incredulity at his tacit invitation. It wasn't a 'no', but both of them knew this was not the time, despite of the prince's scanty attire.

"Very well." Phocion inclined his head to Hilana, and turned to stalk to the centre of the bridge to look out at the open sands ahead, smiling faintly. He loved to stare out at a vista, so perhaps this novel role was particularly suited to him.

"Sentinel Honorius, take us up." He ordered, as the sentinel in the Kinetics Chamber engaged their Rune, which sent a surge throughout the ship. Hitherto dormant lights began to glow throughout the bridge, as æther flowed through the veins of the wires and cables the connected the different consoles and power sources that composed the vessel's navigation and propulsion systems. Perfectly level, and with barely a jostle, the Callidus Victoris began to rise from its platform into the clear, open air above. From the bridge, cheers could be heard from elsewhere on the ship.

"Sentinel Finn," Phocion gestured toward the Traversion Chamber, "Please situate yourself, familiarise yourself with the systems and prepare to create a portal on my mark." He paused, "Belay that. I will allow Domina Hilana to give the order, as this is her mission." He gestured. "When you are in readiness."

Upon entering the Traversion Chamber, Finn would feel the tingle of arcane energy coursing all around him. Immediately, his Emblem sensed the increase in Power to his Rune of Traversion, which felt euphoric for a moment as the dragonshard amplification apparatus seemed to infuse the chamber with power and possibility. To engage his Rune in the chamber was to key into the Arcane Array and, once he did, another set of lights would come to life throughout the bridge, indicating that the Traversion Chamber was active. Phocion turned and moved to the captain's chair, gesturing for Arvælyn to sit at his right hand in a rare bit of role reversal between the brothers.

"Forward impulse, Sentinel Honorius. Domina Hilana, we portal to Vrontium on your command."

Posted: **Wed Aug 20, 2025 10:30 pm**

She was fascinated by the spirit that was within the ship. She had a feeling it might not talk to her, but after the mission, maybe Sentinel Phocion would allow her to try and talk to it and see if it would say anything to her. It likely wouldn't; but she was curious. Or maybe she could meet the Summoner who had contracted with it to find out more about it. It wasn't likely to be something that she could share with Sivan or Kor, but Hilana was sometimes far too curious for her own good.

She followed the Captain to the centre of the bridge, looking on over the desert, as the winged snake made its way back to her and wrapped itself around her forearm so that her fingers could stroke their scales. As the Callidus Victoris rose from the platform, she had to suppress the urge to join the cheers of the others - this was something she had dreamed about since she had first seen the ship, and it was finally happening. This was her first time on an active airship, and it was considerably different from riding a wyvern or being bounced kinetically. It was also vastly different from flying with Raithen. She really did like it, even if it wasn't the same as having the wind and light pulling at her hair and clothes, the spirits laughing around her as she moved with them.

With Finn off to the Array and Arry sitting to Phocion's right, she noted that the chair to his left was left empty for the moment, and she had a feeling that she could sit if she so desired. Once they were moving, she did sit, noticing the lights coming on. That must have been the Traversion Chamber, and her best friend was situated. Hopefully. "Sentinel Finn, please prepare the portal to Vrontium. We are ready."

Posted: **Thu Aug 21, 2025 5:44 pm**

The faint smile was unapologetic, but he let it go and looked out over the sands. It was strange to have this view without the winds buffeting him and Kherdroth under him. With Phocion's austere shape etched into the golden of the sun-blasted sands, he could imagine it as a painting of his brother-in-law in repose.

Honorius engaged the Kinetics-driven engines and they rose, the perspective shifting.

Given orders, having them belayed, and then reinstated by their mission commander, he acceded once more.

"Ita, domina."

Then he moved with all alacrity to what had been called the Traversion Chamber, thinking he might need as much time as possible to understand how to use it given this was all new to him. It felt a little strange to step down from the apex of the Solunarium Pyramid in Ecith to serve, but he wanted to be here to ensure the success of the mission, as well as to keep friends and family safe.

Within the chamber, the Cardinal Rune on his shoulder felt as though it were suddenly vibrating; so too the corresponding inscription upon his soul. Looking around him, there were elements of the magical engineering, but it was all new to him. Already having orders, though, he didn't ask questions, but rather let aether flow through his Rune.

Everything without seemed to react to what he was doing within. His grandmother had used to tap him on the brow, telling him everyone had a third eye, but for most people, it remained closed. He thought of this even as it felt as though some third eye was opening, and he could See the route to the Insula Vrontium, though he had never been. Opening a portal there for something of this size was not exactly difficult for him, though neither was it nothing.

Even as he began to weave the threads of the slipspace into the pattern he wanted, though, the dragonshards and whatever else it was around him began to help. It was all a matter of his will and his effort, but it was almost effortless, and responded to his will.

Between one heartbeat and the next, he connected everything, and a portal appeared. There were no flashes of light or other visual phenomena that were really only magical energy being shunted off, unused. It was clean and precise and it didn't waver, though he held it as delicately as one might hold a soap bubble that had alighted upon one's finger.

"Stable portal established," he reported, and he didn't even have to raise his voice, a small portal opening between the space before his mouth and the space nearer their ears.

Moving the ship through it, of course, was Sentinel Honorius' job.

Posted: **Thu Aug 21, 2025 7:20 pm**

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Arvælyn beamed excitedly as the prototype Solunarian airship launched into its maiden voyage and with Finn executing the very first Traversion jump, no less! His heart swelled with pride in both the man and the nation he'd grown to love more than anything.

Noting Hilana's marking of the chair to his left, Phocion nodded and gestured that it was hers if she wanted it, then turned his attentions back toward the display of the ship's surroundings that was being projected in three dimensions on a platform in the foreground. The Callidus Victoris itself was depicted to offer a third-person vantage of the path it took above the barren dunes of this stretch of the Atraxian Expanse.

As Finn conjured his portal, the display would reflect his work in real time and a to-scale depiction of the portal appeared before the small projection of their ship.

"Take us in, Sentinel Honorius." Phocion ordered, leaning forward to regard their projected path as the ship was propelled forward at a slow pace into and through the portal. "Callidus, please revert to first person perspective and enhance." He instructed. Hilana would sense that the spirit she'd made note of was the one to respond, as the display grew in size and the model ship vanished to be replaced by a first-person view of the land and seascape that lay before their ship. The familiar sight of Insula Vrontium could be seen toward the bottom righthand side of their perspective and beyond that nothing was visible, as had been the case when Hilana and Raithen had visited and become aware of the concealing effect that seemed to veil Insula Celatium from view.

"Double our velocity and proceed toward the established coordinates, Sentinel Honorius. Sentinel Finn? Good work. You may quit the Traversion Chamber and join us on the bridge as we advance toward our destination." He tilted his head toward Hilana,

"Do you wish to pause at Vrontium for any reason, or might we pierce the veil upon reaching it?"

Posted: **Thu Aug 21, 2025 10:00 pm**

The last time she had been on the Callidus, she hadn't had her newest Rune, which made sense that now and only now was she finding the spirit that was responding to Sentinel Phocion. Sviras was still and silent, observing and paying attention to those around her as he usually did. She knew he was aware of the spirit that infused the ship, as was Etzalal, but Sviras was the one who might have been the one to offer her insight as to what it was. She was surprised, and admittedly delighted, at the fact that the spirit was who responded to the Captain's request for the display.

With everything going on, she had to keep her energy well-in-hand and stay focused. Inside her boots, her toes curled with anticipation, and she stilled her hands on Etzalal's metallic sides, letting the winged serpent wiggle around her fingers. When Finn came back out, she would smile at him over her shoulder before returning her attention to the display.

Vrontium. She'd been back a time or five since her initial trip with Raithen - getting her hands on those herbs for seasoning that she had liked so that she could grow it herself to utilize and sell, and bringing treats for the Neptori in turn. They had their own recipes and traditions, and while she didn't have the best grasp of their language, she could certainly learn by watching and tasting. Food was a universal language, after all, and it allowed them to communicate on a sensory level and share culture, identity, emotion, and tradition. There were some that had picked up Vastian from Raithen's time there, and she could practice with them in their tongue and work on Vastian with them.

She didn't want to shock them, and there was no time to show off the ship to the locals right then, even if it might help inspire them in their Radiant Faith. She didn't prepare some crates of treats for an airdrop, either, and she did consider it bad form to drop in without pastries. Perhaps on the return trip. "There is no need to stop here right now. We can pierce the veil and continue on to Celatium, Captain." Hilana decided. She knew Valaera would surely be watching and paying attention from her own space, and with luck, her Semblance could give them the first views of the mysterious, lost island.

Posted: **Fri Aug 22, 2025 5:19 pm**

While he felt the airship pass through his portal, he held the portal open until he heard Phocion once more. The portal disappeared without flash or fanfare; Zef would have been gobsmacked to witness how cleanly Finn had done his work, but the old man was more proud than jealous if his grandson surpassed him.

Now Finn knew how to find Vrontium should he need to unaided. Strangely, there was a place near here where he couldn't sense the slipspace. He didn't know whether it was some sort of warding or other, but he supposed that was where they would go and that was why they were using the Kinetic drive.

He felt a pang of regret or something akin to it as he quit the chamber. Some of it was his, and some of it felt as though it belonged to someone else. In either case, his sense of the slipspace was reduced when he was back on the bridge. He wondered if that was what the world felt like to a talented Sembler.

Nodding to their Captain's smile, he took a place beside Arvælyn once more, hands clasped behind his back lest they reach for him.

Posted: **Tue Sep 02, 2025 5:27 pm**

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"Acknowledged, Domina. Proceed, Sentinel Honorius." Phocion instructed with a gesture of his hand as he sat back and crossed his slender legs. His hands fell to his lap and fidgeted slightly thereupon, looking on intently at the display, which was still showing naught but open sky and open ocean for miles, until they passed through the edge of the Veil of Celatium, at which point their vista changed abruptly.

Much like Finn dismissing his portal, there was no pomp or circumstance to passing through the veil. In one moment they were gazing out at an unblemished horizon and the next, they were looking at a volcanic island harbour peppered with seafaring vessels of various and sundry shapes and designs under a looming structure that looked like a temple built into the face of the volcano.

Phocion leapt out of his seat, stepping forth to take a closer look at the three-dimensional representation of the land and seascapes arrayed before them.

"An armada..." He noted, "All hands to battle stations in case we face a hostile greeting. Sentinel Finn, if you wouldn't mind returning to the Traversion Chamber in case we need to beat a hasty retreat?"

"So many ships, so little cohesion to their æsthetic." Arvælyn observed, leaning forward in his seat and squinting at the display. "Are those birds or Avialæ?" He pointed to a few specks in the distance in the forefront of the ostensible temple.

"I don't know, Highness, but that..." Phocion gestured to a large figure emerging from the mouth of the volcano, "...is a bloody dragon." The Crown Prince shot out of his seat to step closer to the display for a look.

"It's not small, but Israxa would be bigger than that by now. She's older than the Crownwyrm, even if her flight trends smaller than the Platinum." Arvælyn observed, eliciting a curt nod from Phocion.

"Ready evasive manoeuvres should it prove antagonistic toward us. Sentinel Corvinos, can you tell us anything else?" The captain turned sharply and paced toward the Sembling Chamber, from which the attending sentinel regarded him.

"That is an adult male Black Dragon of indeterminate age and it has definitely noticed us. I sense... intention. He wishes for us to approach. I... detect no hostility, but that is a powerful, ancient creature whose deeper motivations may be veiled beyond my reckoning." They watched as the dragon displayed descended from circling the volcano's mouth toward the island on a course toward the foreground below the temple.

"Thank you, Sentinel, keep Sembling the area and alert me to anything else of note. In the meanwhile, how would you like to proceed, Domina Hilana?"

Posted: **Wed Sep 03, 2025 10:34 pm**

Hilana watched from her seat, her face solemn, and she was for once fairly still, studying the display. She hadn't know what exactly they would find here. Would it be something? Would it be nothing? Would that entire civilization have moved on from where they had carefully hidden themselves, and taken the Horn with them? She had expected they would find something, because this place had a strong magical veil around it and it was determinedly hidden. Great lengths had been taken with the preparations for these eventualities had the Rending come to pass, and Israxa had taken away something very important to hide it. Beyond that, there had been a great many stormgems provided to these people by the Vronti. But she wasn't entirely prepared for what changed on the display.

This was an awful lot of activity. And that was a volcano. The Burning Mountain that Àkriel had mentioned.

"The Ifaísteii... People of the Burning Mountain," she murmured, nodding along. There was no time for reaching for her notebooks - she had spent enough time reading and rereading them to have memorized all of her notes at this point, and she listened to the Captain and the Prince. She wasn't surprised by the appearance of a Black dragon, either, but she was excited, her insides starting to twist up a bit. Maybe... she half-wondered if the dragon on the display was the legendary Israxa that she had spent years trying to follow the trail of, but once it was decided to be too small for a dragon of her age, and the Sentinel in the Sembling chamber pronounced it male... Maybe it was a son or a grandson. She did get up, though, once Phocion suggested Finn return to the Traversion Chamber.

At the Moonborn's question, Hilana considered. "Is there any indication of hostility in the symphonies of those assembled below?" the young woman wanted to know. "If not, let us approach and keep a respectful distance. If something changes, then we will need to pivot." She had to consider the possibility that the dragon was walking them, their ship, and everyone in it into a trap. The Vronti's chieftain had said that they were a people rich with magic and mysteries, and lives were depending on sound decision making.

Posted: **Thu Sep 04, 2025 4:02 pm**

The sudden sight was something to behold, but what had a greater effect on Finn was the sudden influx of awareness from his Runes. What had been blank in the slipspace was accessible in the blink of an eye, and now he could feel the space within the screen of magical wards. He could also 'hear' the faint background hum of more aether patterns as he had been open to the symphonies of his crew in case they needed bolstering.

"Another volcano," he murmured.

Finn had gone most his life with only hearing stories about them. Then, in a relatively short amount of time, Sorokyn and Kaladon had radically altered the trajectory of his life.

But then potential threats were sighted and orders were given. Turning on his heel, he strode purposefully back toward the Traversion Chamber. Phocion and Arvælyn's terse evaluation sounded in his ears as he went, and the report from the Sembler. By the time Phocion was asking for Hilana's directive, Finn achieved the smaller sanctuary for a Traveler.

Once inside, his mind expanded to feel the entirety of the space within the volcano-city's wards. It would take time and concentration to narrow things down to specifics, but if he couldn't open them a portal out—some wardings were only focused on keeping things out rather than keeping them in, he found—he thought he could at least blink or vault the entire airship out of the way of dragonfire or similar.

Stilling his mind, he prepared himself to take and enact orders.

Posted: **Thu Sep 04, 2025 6:44 pm**

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"Callidus, please magnify here." It sounded more like a polite request than the sort of stern orders Phocion was leveling at his crew, but it was answered without pause as the image of the dragon and the area toward which it soared seemed to grow in size before their eyes. It appeared to be landing in or near the surf where the harbour met the piers of the city. The moonborn captain and his dragonborn semi-sibling stepped closer to the ætherial diorama and took note of the humanoid figures moving about the docks. Some were running away from the harbour or jumping down into structures or the cabins of docked vessels, but a few were moving toward the site where the colossal creature seemed poised to alight.

"Just so." Phocion said of Hilana's muttered musing, "Our people seem drawn to the fires wrought from the earth." At her subsequent question, the captain looked to the prince and Arvælyn shut eyes that burned like the mount before them.

"I sense curiosity and a great deal of excitement from thousands. The dragon's Symphony is too alien to interpret, even for me. I have never encountered a full-blooded member of the Black Dragonflight." Arvælyn offered and Phocion glanced to the Sentinel in the Mesmer Chamber, who merely nodded.

"Mm." The moonborn pursed his lips and pondered Hilana's proposed course of action. "Sentinel Finn, do what you can to get a grasp on the Slipspace here. I will trust you to facilitate the 'pivot' our commander broaches, should the need arise. At my order or Domina Hilana's, I would have a portal to the other side of that Veil if possible and, if not, as close to its edge as possible and angled to retreat. Sentinel Honorius? If that happens, I want to retreat at full speed. But barring that?" He turned back toward the display with a faint grin.

"Let us lead with diplomacy, shall we? Take us down." He returned to his seat, though Arvælyn remained standing, now too excited to be still. The Callidus Victoris began its smooth diagonal descent toward the shore of the island and the large death dragon that gazed up at them as if in anticipation... though, of what? They knew not yet.

The dragon had landed in the shallow water nigh of a pier that stretched out from the island into the harbour, and upon which a complement of many humanoid figures stood, their flowing black robes whipped by the wind off the ocean and that which had been stirred by draconic wings seconds prior. The figures were diverse of shape and form and, from what could be seen on the display, represented multiple races, though a common thread was that the vast majority (though not all) of these figures- round-eared or sharp, wingless or winged, massive or miniscule, had hair as white as newly fallen snow.

"It would appear we have a welcoming party." Arvælyn observed with an arched eyebrow.

"So it would, Highness, and it does not appear that we are under attack as yet, so Honorius, take us close enough to lower the plank onto the edge of the pier without landing. I want the ship to remain aloft, in case we need to retreat with alacrity." He turned to Hilana, "Well, it would appear the Celatians are waiting for us. If you'd like to take a party down to greet them, that is your prerogative. I can have another Traverser take over the Chamber on the ship if you'd like to take Sentinel Finn. It might be wise to have a Traverser of his acumen at your side, should you need to get back to the ship in an instant."

Arvælyn tensed slightly at Phocion's suggestion, and turned his fiery gaze to Hilana.

"If he goes, so do I."

Legend of Ransera

On the Trail of Israxa [Closed]

Re: On the Trail of Israxa [Closed]

Re: On the Trail of Israxa [Closed]

Re: On the Trail of Israxa [Closed]

Re: On the Trail of Israxa [Closed]

Re: On the Trail of Israxa [Closed]

Re: On the Trail of Israxa [Closed]

Re: On the Trail of Israxa [Closed]

Re: On the Trail of Israxa [Closed]

Re: On the Trail of Israxa [Closed]

Re: On the Trail of Israxa [Closed]