Location [Entrance] The Rolling Waves

[Paragon]

The Rolling Waves Wanderers travel from far and wide to Zeltiva, usually seeking knowledge from its ancient University, or great fortunes amongst the city's commercial hub. Nestled on the south-eastern coast of Mizahar, the city is a remnant of a bygone era, much of its architecture dating back to the pre-Valterrian age: the age of the Suvan and Alahean Empires. It is a melting pot of races and peoples, with merchants travelling from distant lands to sell their wares. Zeltiva has no gates, and so the city can be entered through one of two ways. Mountains funnel land arrivals through the narrow Mirahil pass, and into the city itself. Most of the Syliran traffic comes in this way, and people are free to walk in and out of the city as they please. This means that Zeltiva is one of the most liberal cities in Mizahar. Most races are welcome, including ones scorned in other locations, with the exception of the Zith. Nuits for example, often visit Zeltiva in search of knowledge. Though the pass is not policed officially, sometimes Wave Guards will take post for a few chimes at a time to observe the comings and goings to the city. The vast majority of visitors, however, arrive by sea. Ships can move freely from the Sebakem Ocean and then through the strait in Mathews Bay, docking at Zeltiva's extensive port. A myriad of small piers jut out of the docks for ships to use for loading and unloading. The majority of arrivals of a mercantile nature arrive this way, and the docks provide fast connections to Mura, Sunberth, and Sahova. Unmatched throughout Mizahar, it is said that a person can acquire travel to just about anywhere in the known world from Zeltiva's docks. It is from here that Kennabelle Wright first launched her voyage to circumnavigate the continent. Players arriving into the city through either means must post here. A timestamp and short description of the arrival are required. Players leaving the city may also post their exit here, but this is not mandatory. All arriving and new players are advised to read through the Players Guide first. Credit to Liminal and Oracle

[Lyam]

Winter 80, 511 AV

Travelling through the mountains and finding the narrow Mirahil pass was much harder than I expected. After a month of free runing through wild lands, I was just tired to death. I had not found any game for two days now, and even if my wolf metabolism enabled me not to eat during about three days, my stomach groaned. Seeing a town had never been so rejoicing.

It was about midnight, and only some torches were still blazing on the horizon. It was perfect for me. I entered the town silently in my animal form, looking for some abandonned human clothes. Faster than I though, I found a grey pan that fit me perfectly. Alone in the street, I shifted to my human form, and sliped the pan. Now that I was no more a beast, I could begin looking for a place to eat...

[Mattathias]

18th Day of Winter of 511 A.V.

Mattathias made his way to the city he once had called home with his backpack over his shoulders and longsword by his side. He paused for a moment to look upon the place and his mind flashed back to when he was a boy. He could remember running the streets with the other children, studying in class as his mom taught, and being mesmerized by his father's words as he taught mathematics at the university.

'Why had his parents decided to undertake that stupid pilgrimage!' he thought to himself. If they had stayed right where they were, his parents would still be alive today. In the near five years he had been gone, he could still not forget or forgive what had happened to his parents. Living in isolation at the vineyard had not cleared his mind of this anger.

After an accidental bump from another person arriving into the city, Mattathias came back to the present and walked into the city. His first stop was the family apartment. he needed to settle in and get some rest.

[Avina]

Timestamp: 50th of Winter, 511 AV OOCWith permission of DS Cachet Avina could only gaze in wonder as the boat moved down the straight towards Zeltiva. The great city of history, knowledge, and seafaring. A world away from Mura. If only she had been arriving on better terms. Though she had always played with the idea of leaving the Konti Isle's, the Song had kept her. The Song, a melody played through the city, through the coves, through the ocean. She could only drink it all in. But she had come with other Konti, dispatched by V'Nessi, to come and warn the rest of Mizahar. To warn them of the coming storm. She looked up at the clouds, steel grey, and heard the screaming. Something was coming. Something that would change everything.

[Aello]

Spring 11, 512 AV Aello hadn't entered the city for many years. It seemed strange to be back now. For a storm to have swept her in, after all this time. Four years was it? Or more? She couldn't tell. Or perhaps, it would be best to say that she didn't care too, considering all the dark memories the port city held for her. The remnants of her past. The young spiritist crept through the mountain pass. Thinking it seemed darker now than all those years before, when she had moved in the opposite direction. The hope for a new life pressing her onwards. The lack of vegetation all the more apparent than before. More than likely from the bolts of piercing light that came from the sky. Dark cloud's biting tongues, which delicately licked whatever they wished, splitting them in two. Tossing rubble and shards of wood, clods of dirt all about. The place looked like shyke, but even so, Aello didn't care. The place beyond, still, despite everything that had happened to her over the years was home, and she longed to be there again. And although Kiochi's request rang in her ears, she knew she needed this time to see it again. To rebuild herself, before she was flung back into chaos. The nature of Ravok, and lost to the world all over again.

[Vadriel]

Spring 8th, 512 A.V

Vadriel stood near the bow and stared out at the approaching Zeltiva. He felt relief to finally be home and yet a strange, immediate sense of wanderlust. Zeltiva was his home, where he would always return. But nothing compared to the sea. Nothing compared to the freedom of it. The cool spray of ocean mist, the pungent taste of salt in the air, a symphony for his senses. It felt good to be back, but he knew he would always leave again.

"Lightfoot!" he heard the skipper call behind him. "I don't pay you to stare longingly at the sea! Get up there and raise that mainsail!"

Vadriel turned and vaulted across the deck, expertly dodging the other deckhands as the ship rocked back and forth. He reached the mainmast and jumped, extending the hooks in his skin and climbing up it. He slowly raised the large square sails and shot another glance at Zeltiva before climbing back to the deck and returning to work.

[Shadahl]

SPRING-2-512 AV Stepping across a rather medium-sized boulder, a rough-looking man hesitantly stepped from one edge to another, making his unsteady way through the mountain pass. His eyes were faded from countless days without sleep, only highlighting how worn he was from lack of experience in the wilds. Miscalculating the tenacious dangers of uncivilized forests and mountains was not a mistake he would soon be repeating. He'd been traveling for days. It was only the distant sight of Zeltiva climbing up the path that brought relief to Shadahl's aching body. For with the sight came the promise of rest, and eventually, good food. The travel-beaten man's stomach growled with the thought of a genuine just-cooked fish. Giving one last look behind him into the mountains before he turned to the port city, Shadahl's features curved into a small smile as he began to pick up his pace. "I'm home.." He sighed warmly.

[Sariana]

Spring 19th, Morning

It had been one hell of a storm. Nothing like had ever been seen before, buildings being destroyed and the landscape changed in all sorts of strange ways. Terrifying and exciting and something more, Sariana had weathered the force of the storm with a group outside of Zeltiva inside a deep cave in the mountainous landscape. It had spooked Vrathetu, an unusal thing, and herself too. She had felt it coming for days, the wind whispering of things to come. Meeting the small caravan, the brunette had warned them, or tried to. Some of them believed her, felt it too, and chose to shelter the storm with her. Others ignored the advice of a stranger and Sariana felt sadness for them. There was no surviving in the open when it hit.

Walking slowly through the narrow mountainous passage, the drykas woman looked up at the rocky escarpments, concerned about tumbling rocks in the aftermath of the violent upheval of the world. The small group that escaped the cave with her too walked in the awed silence that followed mass tragedy. Leading her stallion, she could almost hear the strider's tenion as his ears listened to sounds she couldn't hear and his body felt the trembling of ley lines she could only imagine.

And uncerimoniously they were in the great city of scholars. Sariana's blue eyes took in the distruction immediatly. A great tower, collapsed to crush the buildings beneth it. People walking around in either a daze, or of darkened mind. Occassionally a mage would pass by, his eyes wild. Zeltiva was not a safe haven, not anymore. If anything, it was a temporary stay until the woman could be sure the weather would hold. Making her way to The Narvaen Stables, she settled Vrathetu before setting off to find somewhere a little more pleasent than the mayhem on the streets.

[Crivus]

Timestamp: 15th spring 512

A small ship comes into the port. When they tie up the ship, a man doesn't even wait for the gang plank before jumping down onto the dock. He almost fell into the water. When he got his balance, he muttered a few choice words about travel by boat. He started to wander off when he began to feel sick again and ran back to the pier and emptied his stomach into the ocean. Groaning again, he wandered off into zeltiva.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

52nd Day of Spring, 512

Tock lay on the bunk in her cabin, head hanging upside-down off the edge, her feet braced against the wall above her. She had a pair of gears in one hand, and a file in the other. One of the gears was scrap: junk she had pulled out of a broken contraption in the garbage. The other was an attempt to match the first design by her own hand. She had the gears held together so she could line up the cogs, as she filed the new one very carefully, working to match it to the shape of the other.

She blew the filings off with a quick puff of breath, and held her work up close to her eye, squinting to focus on the fine edge. The shape wasn't quite right yet. She went back to filing, humming softly as she worked. She had no idea what she was going to use the gears for yet. Rather, she had too many ideas, and couldn't settle on just one. So for now she was just shaping the components, getting them ready. Once she figured out what to actually DO with them, she'd have the parts all lined up and ready to go.

By the time the ship docked, she had the gear about the way she wanted it. She tucked the gears into her pocket and started on the next little part: a small wooden dowel the gears would attach to. It had to be sanded smooth to make sure the gears would spin right. Maybe one day it would all be part of a clock, or some wind-up children's toy. Though she was quite a ways from being able to make something that complex. Practicing with the individual components was a good start; it helped her get to know how each part worked individually. Once she knew each part worked individually, she could better understand how to make them all work as a whole.

A knock came at her cabin door. She ignored it. Another, louder knock followed. She grumbled and shouted, "I'm busy! Git!" She stayed focused on her work, getting irritated at the interruption.

A few moments later the door opened. Tock didn't bother to look up. She was busy fitting the gears onto the dowel to test out whether they spun properly. It was a bit tight... she needed to sand down the dowel JUST a bit more.

"Excuse me, Miss...?" the man in the doorway interrupted her concentration. Tock turned her head and cast a glare at him. A young boy stood behind the man, holding a broom, ready to sweep up the cabin so it would be ready for the next passenger. "We docked some time ago," the man said with forced politeness. "Surely Miss would like to disembark...?"

Tock growled and flipped herself around to plant her feet on the floor. She HATED interruptions. She considered kicking them both out of the room, but decided that would, in the long run, cost her more time than just packing up and leaving. "Oy, fine," she said, gathering up her tools. "Stupid mouser's got a schedule ta keep, aye, whatever."

Before she finished gathering up her things, the cabin boy stepped in and started sweeping up the huge pile of wooden shards and scraps that had accumulated on Tock's floor during the long trip. "Hey hey hey hey hey!" she called out frantically, waving her hands in his face. "Them's mine!" She grabbed the broom from the boy's hands and used it to push and prod the two intruders out of her space. "Shoo! Go on now, git! Tryin' ta rob a poor girl, shame on you! Git!" Tock never threw anything out. The wooden fragments could be sanded down or carved into components for a detailed device, or carved into new children's toys or something. Some of the scraps were almost as big as her finger; that might seem useless to someone who only made furniture or something, but they were the perfect size for a doll's hairpin or a toy knight's sword. And that boy was going to throw them away!

Once she had all the salvagable pieces tucked away, she took out the dowel she'd been working on and headed for the deck, not paying much attention to where she was walking. Her attention was too focused on her work.