blacklight - THE SKY FORGE2024-03-29T09:20:51Zhttps://TheSkyForge.ning.com/groups/the-story-corner/general-forum/feed/tag/blacklightThe Necromancer - Chapter One - The Camphttps://TheSkyForge.ning.com/groups/the-story-corner/general-forum/the-necromancer-chapter-one2017-07-25T10:11:08.000Z2017-07-25T10:11:08.000ZBlacklighthttps://TheSkyForge.ning.com/members/Overlord<div><p style="text-align:center;"><span class="font-size-2"><em><strong>Three Days Before Last Post</strong></em></span></p><p style="text-align:center;"> </p><p style="text-align:left;"> Rayna and her good friend Rheon had been sent on an ambassadors mission to Rockneck Camp, a place where dozens and dozens of criminals of all kinds gathered in one place to discuss plans that they very carefully kept a secret. Hundreds of hide tents dotted the nearby landscape. Fur-clad men and women, elves, orcs, and humans alike all had come to the camp to seek refuge from the law.</p><p> Rayna's goal here today was to 'ask' the bandits to go their seperate ways; the Empire had become increasingly worried about the amount of activity in the recent months. Almost as though they were planning something. Rayna and Rheon both knew this would most likely end in conflict: bandits were not paticularly known for their skills in espionage, and so they both had come prepared to unleash their magicks upon the horde of criminals if need be.</p><p> Rayna approached the tall, muscular, elven man who appeared to be in charge of the horde. Bonfires burnt around them.</p><p> Rockneck Camp was situated far in the East, near the city of Tyhme, populating a large grassy plain that used to be inhabited by wildlife of all kinds before the bandits came along and constructed a massive war camp there.</p><p> The tall man glared at them, his pointed ears sharp and attentive, his eyes travelling to the circular symbol of the Empire on their robes. Rayna’s hands unconsciously began to hum with magical energy. The man chuckled.</p><p> ‘Servants of the Empire, eh?’ remarked the chieftain. ‘You’re the third load of them this week. The others haven’t come back, have they, girl?’ laughed the man. His face was half concealed by a heavy, brown beard and massive eyebrows. His cheeks were decorated with long, jagged scars, and his skin was covered in dirt and wounds.</p><p> ‘No, they have not. We simply assumed they had been unsuccessful and simply had decided to stay longer in order to talk to you about the situation. But…’</p><p> ‘What have you done with them?’ asked Rheon, his elderly voice low and soothing. His long, silver robes which were decorated with elegant purple swirls swirled around his ankles, and he gripped his great oak staff with his crippled hands. ‘We do not want this to come to a fight. In the name of King Umfrey, you must leave this place along with your horde. At once.’</p><p> ‘We have no intention of leaving,’ said the chieftain slowly, as though carefully considering his next words. ‘You are mages, aren’t you? Powerful ones, at that, I can tell by your robes. Your battlemages. Sent by the Empire to…’</p><p> Rayna shook her head quickly, realising that the big man was thinking. ‘No, no, nothing like that. We battlemages may be trained in the arts of combat, but we do not go out of our way to cause conflict. We merely want you to return the other ambassadors and to pack away your belongings and leave. Travel north. The king commands it.’</p><p> ‘The king has no power over me,’ laughed the chieftain. He began to back away slowly, and then he grabbed a metre-long battle-axe that was propped up against a nearby tent. ‘MEN!’ he roared, his voice loud and booming. ‘To arms, to arms! The Empire wants us dead. We will fight back! They will never take us down!’</p><p> All around Rayna and Rheon, bandits were roaring and dropping food from their filthy hands and picking up weapons instead. The two battlemages readied their staves.</p><p> ‘I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this,’ said Rheon, his voice barely more than a whisper. And with those words, Rheon’s staff swirled in his hands, blue bolts of lightning shooting from it and hitting into the surrounding bandits, who dropped to the ground, twitching, and then going still.</p><p> Rayna gasped, and fired a magenta orb of magical power from her hand into one of the dead bandits. The bandit stood up, his eyes glowing white. He readied his sword, which has fallen when he had died, and took up arms against his old allies.</p><p> Rayna continued to resurrect the fallen, while Rheon made sure there were more than enough corpses to choose from. However, the horde began to close in, roaring with rage, and Rayna ran right up to Rheon and held tightly onto his arm.</p><p> ‘Rheon, we’re going to die!’ she screamed, blasting a gout of flame from her staff into the crowd of bandits, lighting a few on fire, causing them to scream with agony and roll upon the burnt grass.</p><p> ‘Calm, young one. I could wipe them all out in a second if I wanted to. It would just waste my energy. I would rather save some power so I can teleport us home,’ said Rheon, waving his free hand at a bandit, who’s head promptly exploded into a hundred small, fleshy pieces.</p><p> ‘DO IT!’ shrieked Rayna. ‘I’ve got enough to get us home. DO IT NOW!’</p><p> Rheon sighed as the horde inched closer. Very well. Hold on to my arm.’</p><p> The horde screamed with rage and charged towards the two battlemages. Rayna began to cry and clung onto Rheon’s thin arm. Rheon raised his staff, and brought it to the ground with force.</p><p> There was an ear-splitting <em>bang,</em> and a shockwave of pure magical power emitted from the bottom of Rheon’s stave. The shockwave travelled outwards in a circle, reducing every bandit it touched to a pile of flesh and bones. Rayna began to laugh feebly through her tears of terror as the shockwave travelled outwards further, destroying all in its path. After a few seconds, every bandit was dead, staining the ground crimson. All the tents had been violently torn down by the magic, and almost everything was on fire.</p><p> ‘Take us home, Rayna,’ moaned Rheon, who was kneeling over a pile of skin, retching and wheezing from the effort the spell had taken. Rayna nodded. She grabbed Rheon by the back of his robe, and with a <em>crack</em> the two of them vanished on the spot.</p></div>The Necromancer - Meet the Charactershttps://TheSkyForge.ning.com/groups/the-story-corner/general-forum/the-necromancer-meet-the-characters2017-07-22T09:13:37.000Z2017-07-22T09:13:37.000ZBlacklighthttps://TheSkyForge.ning.com/members/Overlord<div><p align="center"><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Characters:</strong></span></p><p><strong> <em>Protagonists: </em></strong></p><p>Rayna – The Necromancer – 27 – Human, Female <strong>(Main Char.)</strong></p><p>Rheon – The Sorcerer – 40 – Human, Male</p><p>Nyla – The Summoner – 29 – Elf, Female</p><p>Alann – The Psychic – 32 – Elf, Male</p><p> </p><p>Rook – The Ranger – 33 – Human, Male <strong>(Major Char.)</strong></p><p>Fiona – The Assassin – 24 – Elf, Female</p><p>Liara – The Alchemist – 38 – Human, Female</p><p>Thomm – The Reaver - 26 – Elf, Male</p><p> </p><p>Thorn – The Warrior – Elf, Male <strong>(Major Char.)</strong></p><p>Rinda – The Paladin – Human, Female</p><p>Korr – The Mercenary – Human, Male</p><p> </p><p><strong><em>Antagonists:</em></strong></p><p>Viheria – The Witch – Unknown – Undead Human, Female <strong>(Major Char.)</strong></p><p>Katahk – The Arch-Magi – Unknown – Orc, Male</p><p>Ragnahr – The Executioner – Unknown – Undead Orc, Male</p><p>Tamak – The Soulhunter – Unknown – Elf, Female</p><p align="center"> </p><p style="text-align:center;" align="center"><strong>Abilities</strong></p><p><strong><em>Rayna:</em></strong> Rayna is a powerful Necromancer, capable of raising corpses and summoning spirits to fight for her. To a certain extent, she can control the minds of living creatures. She also has an exceptional knowledge of Cyromancy, and is able to conjure sharp spikes of ice to impale her opponents.</p><p><strong><em>Rheon:</em></strong> Rheon is a skilled Sorcerer, skilled in the manipulation of the world around him. He is able to summon fire, ice, lightning, earth, water, and much more from thin air and hurl it at his opponents. He is particularly influential in the world of politics due to his vast wealth.</p><p> <strong><em>Alann:</em></strong> Alann is an extremely powerful Psychic, and is skilled with mind-control and telekinesis. As a result of these powers, he can “influence” the actions of others, and with his telekinesis he can lift up and control objects. He can also share his thoughts with others through Telepathy.</p><p><strong><em>Nyla:</em></strong> Nyla is well practiced in the art of Conjuration. She is capable of conjuring magical weapons and creatures to aid her in battle. She also can project energy from her skin, giving her another form of attack besides her arcane constructions.</p><p> </p><p><strong><em>Rook:</em></strong> Rook is an ex-guard and a highly skilled archer. He is an expert at bowmanship and is also adept with a shortsword. He is talented in the art of subterfuge and disguise, and also good with words, able to barter his way to victory.</p><p><strong><em>Fiona:</em></strong> Fiona is an assassin working for the Sisters of Shadow, and is unmatched in her ability to turn anyplace into a hiding place. She is highly skilled with a dagger and moves with unrivalled speed and agility.</p><p><strong><em>Liara:</em></strong> Liara is a highly respected alchemist. She has mastered the art of making potions and poisons, and has become extremely wealthy by selling her concoctions. She is so adept at alchemy that she is able to identify most poisons by their smell.</p><p><strong><em>Thomm:</em></strong> Thomm is the brother of Nyla. He is a shadowy character who is an expert in the arts of assassination. He is adept at shadow magic, but his preferred method of attack is his dual daggers which contain the souls of his fallen foes.</p><p style="text-align:center;"><em><strong><span class="font-size-4">{Will Write up More Characters Soon}</span></strong></em></p></div>Fiction or Non-Fiction?https://TheSkyForge.ning.com/groups/the-story-corner/general-forum/fiction-or-non-fiction2017-07-22T07:34:16.000Z2017-07-22T07:34:16.000ZBlacklighthttps://TheSkyForge.ning.com/members/Overlord<div><p style="text-align:center;">Now this is a topic that I have discussed with my fellow author friends from my work, and now I will try to discuss it with you guys.</p><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/905142?profile=original"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/905142?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" alt="905142?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" height="357" /></a></p><p> </p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><em><strong>Do you prefer reading fantasy or non-fantasy?</strong></em></span></p><p> </p><p style="text-align:center;">If you are not sure what these genres are I will define them for you:</p><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>F<em>antasy:</em></strong> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">A genre of story that can be set in almost any time period that revolves around impossible or improbable events and characters.</span></p><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>N<em>on-Fantasy:</em></strong><em> </em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">A genre of story that revolves around events that could be possible in the real world.</span></p><p><strong>Examples:</strong></p><p><em><strong>F</strong></em><strong>antasy:</strong> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Game of Thrones series, Harry Potter series</span><strong><br /> </strong></p><p><strong><em>N</em>on-Fantasy: </strong>Martina Cole novels, "The Slap" novel</p><p style="text-align:center;"> </p><p style="text-align:center;"><em><strong>So back to the question. What genre do you prefer reading and why?</strong></em></p><p>Personally I prefer reading and writing fantasy, for the simple reason that is funner to read and easier to write. You can write anything, simply ANYTHING at all, and there is a reasonable explanation for it, with fantasy. Anything is possible. I love fantasy, because it can be set in almost any time period. Harry Potter was set in the 1990's (I think) and Game of Thrones was set in about 1580 (if it was in the real world, that is. Unfortunatley it isnt xD)</p><p>Non-Fantasy can also be a really good read. However, it can generally interest a smaller range of people due to the events only happening if they could happen in real life. You can't have magic or teleporters in non-fantasy.</p></div>