Oberan
Contents
Introduction
- PC full name: Oberan Brackling
- CS link: here
- Notable Events: here
- Race: Mortalborn
- Date of Birth: 48th of Zi'da, Arc 635
CS Approval Rewards
CS Approved by: Nymph
- Skill Points
- Pickpocketing: +5
- Stealth: +5
- Lock-picking: +5
- Knowledge
- Strength: Natural Physical Prowess
- Audrae: Immortal of Deception, Secrecy, Shadows, and Fear
- Lethius: Formerly a Naerrik
- Lock-picking: The First Step in a Burglary
- Stealth: Using the Shadows for Thieving
- Pickpocketing: Distraction to Draw the Victim's Attention
- Starting Renown: 20
Starter Quest
Mortalborn. With this title comes a weight that can only be carried by few. It comes with a sense of entitlement that mortals should respect; then again, you are an abnormality. The choice is yours to determine which side you shall choose: Mortal or Immortal. Continue to walk the line and survive amongst the Immortals or start getting in touch with Audrae, your Immortal Mother. If you can sway her to see you as important and not less than given your Y chromosome heritage, you may be able to raise yourself above even the most notable Mortalborn.
Renown
128 (if an Achievement Value)
n/a
Son of Audrae
Oberan is Audrae's Mortalborn son.
PSF Approval here
Mortalborn Parent Story
One evening a physically unremarkable human man sat jotting down notes in a notebook. Though he had discovered the hideout of Audrae’s agents quite a while ago, they had yet to receive any information from him. He had collected it all in this notebook, and as the blank pages dwindled, so too did the trials before they would be able to collect this tome of secrets. The flames of the candle next to his notes flickered and danced as if a breeze had slipped through the window. Yet, there was no wind; his window was closed shut. He looked around for anything suspicious, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He frowned, then shrugged and continued writing, not needing the cypher to encrypt his writings; after all, he’d been writing his whole notebook by using it. He continued for a while longer, filling pages with the only noise being the scratching of his pen on paper, and the occasional tapping of the pen on the inkpot to remove excess ink.
“It truly has been a while, has it not?”
The voice came out of nowhere, startling the man, and causing his pen to slip on the page. He came to his feet like a whirlwind, reaching for the dagger on his hip. Someone had managed to enter his room undetected somehow, and they were now standing behind him, he thought. However, there was no-one. He looked around confused, a frown creasing his brow. Hallucinations were not strange to him, but this was not one of the usual voices he heard. Actually, voices were rare. Usually he saw things that were not there, webs of secrets and conspiracies that turned out to be utter nonsense. Sometimes people that were not there. Sometimes he talked to mice and rats. Sometimes to his own shadow. It never replied though.
The man’s eyes darted across his room. With unsheathed dagger he carefully moved around to check all possible hiding places, leaving no stone unturned. Nothing. The only thing in the room alongside him was his shadow. His frown deepened as he stared at it, as if to ask if it had noticed anything strange. His shoulders drooped as the tension bled out of him. He shook his head, sat back down behind his desk, and decided the voice had been a result of his fractured mind. Though as he began writing, the shade moved, positioning itself on the wall where the man could see it clearly. The frown returned.
“Confused?”
There it was again, but now the voice was different. It felt familiar, though only vaguely so. The man squinted at the memories of which there only existed a faint trail in his mind. The shadow made a dismissive gesture with its hands.
“No need to be.” It cocked its head quizzically, as if considering the man’s state of mind for the first time since it had appeared. “Do you not recognize me?” it asked, more amused than insulted or disappointed. On the contrary, a laugh echoed through the room. “Too busy hunting down the secrets of others to remember your own, were you? Has the Domain addled your mind, made it forget who you were?” A chuckle. “For some, a curse. For you, a kindness, I suppose.”
The man was wary of this entity, uncertain of what it wanted, uncertain of where he knew it from. His memories were hazy at best, covered in a thick mist, and full of holes. His brow was furrowed, his eyes half-closed. He was trying hard to remember, so hard that it hurt. One thing was certain though, he knew this entity. He’d known it before… before he had started his hunt for information. What had come before though? He only knew he had been a Naer once. Long ago.
“Yes. You are almost there. Only a little bit further now.”
He tried, he honestly did. But it was no use. His mind was blank, instead of hazy images of times gone by, there was a black hole. A vast emptiness that had grown inside his head. A void that had consumed his memories, his past. Even his heritage, something he was so sure about, was not a certainty. It was not as if he could recall what he had looked like, or what he’d been like. If he’d had friends. Nothing at all. The only thing he had was an idea inside his head. A steadfast belief that he had been one of the Naerikk once.
However… he knew of one entity that controlled shadows… It was impossible though, a foolish notion. She would never-- It was probably his mind messing with him, just a result of his hope getting the better of him. There was no way—
The shadow morphed. It twisted and shifted, its appearance growing more and more feminine. Taller too, like an amazon. The man’s mouth fell agape, his eyes wide with disbelief. Not once had his shadow done anything like that before.
“It has been a while,” he stammered in agreement, still in awe. His eyes filled with water, his sight murky.
“About fifty years, give or take,” the shade spoke.
Its form shifted, slowly bulging outwards as it became three dimensional. In a few trills, the shadow detached itself from the wall, standing in front of the man who was too flabbergasted to speak. His jaw opened and closed his mouth, but he produced no sounds. As the shadow began to form recognizable features, the man fell to his knees, head bowed in deference. He had not expected her to grace him with her presence, much less to appear before him in the flesh. Thus he bowed, forehead on the floorboards, as the shadow formed the head of a Naer, tears of joy streaming across his cheeks. Fifty years. He had waited so long for this moment. He had dreamed of it, fantasized about it. He had hoped that maybe one trial—but no, he had believed his hopes to be in vain, but he still had hoped nonetheless. And now here she stood, Audrae, in all her power and glory. How could he not let sobs of utter joy escape? How could he not shed tears when it seemed that he would be accepted back into the fold? How could he not cry when Audrae was willing to forgive him?
“Do not cry, my dear,” the Immortal spoke, her voice regal and warm, “raise your head.”
He did lift his head off the ground, looking up at the Great Mother before him. His face was unsightly; flushed red cheeks stained with tears, red-rimmed eyes of crying, colorless snot running down from his nostrils into his mouth. His face was twisted as he tried to stop his sobbing, and while he managed to stop the tears from flowing, his body still quivered.
“Much better,” Audrae nodded, “Now rise. I have not come to see you grovel before me. I came to deliver a gift, as you have done me a great service. Despite the mistakes of your past, your loyalty to Augery and myself has never been stronger. I will not let that pass by unrewarded.”
Absolutely dumbfounded, the man could not find any words to speak for a few moments. In fact, he appeared to have lost all knowledge of how to speak in the first place. When he could however, he gave a half-hearted protest, way too overjoyed to decline the offer adamantly.
Audrae lifted a hand, palm facing her follower. She shook her head, dismissing his refusal. “Enough. I have made up my mind. I will bestow upon you two gifts. You will accept them.”
It was not a question. It was not a request. He would accept. Of course, he could try to refuse and protest, but he knew that it would be an insult to the Great Mother, and insulting her was the last thing he wanted to do. Not again. Not now, after all these years.
“Two gifts?” he asked then, gingerly.
“Two gifts,” the Immortal confirmed. She raised a finger. “The first is not as much a gift as it is me returning something you lost along the way.” A pause. “It is your name; Lethia.”
The man’s eyes grew wide, filing and overflowing with water once again. His name. Her name, actually. It had been so long since he’d been called that. It had been so long since he’d used it himself. He’d forgotten the sound of it, the flow as it rolled over his lips, the taste of it on his tongue. His name. The one thing he still owned now. Not his body, not his race, not his memories. His name. The thing that had been the most painful to lose after his exile.
He cried openly, unable to stifle the sobs. Incoherent blubbering of gratitude streamed over his lips just as freely as his tears. Audrae smiled in satisfaction, though her smile was not a friendly one. Lethia never noticed.
As soon as the man calmed down somewhat, Audrae continued, raising a second finger to join the first.
“Now then, onto your second gift,” she said, her tone of voice making it obvious this was the true reason she was here that trial. While before only her head had been revealed to the man, now the rest of her body formed out of the shadow, the uniform blackness fading away as the contours of her body became more and more distinct.
Lethia’s mouth fell agape yet again. Audrae was completely naked.
Mischief
Shenanigan Sphere
This ability, which can only be triggered once a trial, has the potential to turn any situation upside down. Whether it be in a favorable or less favorable way is impossible to predict. While not necessarily harmful, the effect can hinder any caught within its range. Like Bran himself, the ability is whimsical. It bends and alters reality for a certain amount of time, which seems to be determined by how cumbersome the effect is. Effects that stop people from functioning tend to last shorter than effects that affect the environment or introduce minor changes in the creatures in range. Though troublesome and sometimes frightening, the effects of this ability are more annoying than they are actually damaging or dangerous. The area of effect is rather large, forming a sphere with a radius of 25 meters. The effects are almost instantaneous, with only a rush of divine energy to warn those caught in range of the impending hijinks.
Due to the sheer power of this ability, the use of it is limited to one use each day, after which the user will feel minor exhaustion, akin to the fatigue felt after physical exercise. Powerful as it might be in warping reality, the results are not always helpful, and the user is not exempt from its effects at all. Lastly, the outcome of using this ability is random*. (cast a d100)
- unless agreed upon by all parties involved in the thread as premise of the thread.
Thrill
Thrill Control
As the Mortalborn of Thrill, Bran can raise or lower the thrill of the creatures around him. Its range is limited to a 5 meter radius, but any who enter fall under Bran’s control. It is not as though this is done directly however. To lower the sense of thrill and excitement of others, Bran effectively leeches off of the thrill of other people/creatures, adding it to his own. The leeched “thrill” is far more potent than normal, further enhancing the effects adrenaline has on the body (enhances reflexes, strength, endurance, dynamic vision, senses, the brain’s processing power, and dulls pain) while also placing the target in a state of euphoria (varying degrees depending on the amount of thrill) and, in too high doses, gives them a feeling of invincibility. The mortalborn can pass this thrill to others within range, at the cost of lowering the thrill of himself. The euphoria felt can make this ability somewhat addictive.
By sapping the thrill of others or himself, the sapped target is placed in an “energy saving mode”. This lowers the body’s heartrate, blood flow, breathing, metabolism, etc… effectively coaxing the target into a sleep akin to hibernation for a certain duration (if enough thrill is sapped), which is determined by the amount of thrill sapped. Additionally, sapped targets that do not fall into a comatose state (occurs when not enough thrill is sapped) will find themselves feel weak (but are not per se weakened) and lethargic, and might be prone to falling asleep when they sit or lie down.
The excess thrill proves to be quite taxing for the body and mind, always leading to exhaustion in varying degrees after exposure to it. Muscles are tired, stiff and sore from the sheer tension and readiness introduced, the mind’s normal working speed feels slow –which might very well be the case—and the senses are dulled to some extent. The user needs to sap the thrill of creatures within range to boost his own and vice versa, thus being unable to buff himself or others without a source to draw from. After the effects of the "energy saving mode" wear off, the target will feel revitalized and refreshed, though might need nourishment depending on the duration of their comatose state. (Max duration comatose state: 1 break. Max duration lethargy/”energy save mode” 2 breaks)
Larceny
Touch and Transfer -- Storage of Stolen Goods
A thief has deep pockets, so it stands to reason that the Mortalborn of Larceny has the deepest pockets of all. This ability, at first glance, allows for Oberan to store things inside his own body, however, this is not the case. Instead the items go to a previously designated area (Vault), where they remain until they are brought back out. In order to accomplish this, two conditions need to be met. Oberan needs to be in contact with the object (though it needn’t touch his skin) and the object needs to be able to fit through the opening that is his body in one way or another. The transfer itself is an instantaneous occurrence in which the targeted item or object will disappear from its position and appear in the Vault.
Objects are transferred back to Oberan through instantaneous materialization of the object in contact with the user’s body, this usually being the palm of the hand. Just like the transfer into the Vault, the objects that return do so in contact with the body. The other option is for Oberan to physically reach into his body to pull the desired item out, but this causes discomfort, looks disturbing, and is also somewhat painful. The materialization of heavier objects out of the Vault takes a couple seconds (depending on just how heavy they are), whereas lightweight objects are instantly materialized.
The Vault is a container of sorts with a volume of 1000 cubic meters where all transferred objects are sent to be stored until they are brought back out. To Designate an area as a Vault, Oberan has to be familiar with the place and consider it safe. The Mortalborn must then pour his power into the area. This usually takes 4 breaks where intense focus is required, but it is more feasible to inject small amounts over the course of multiple trials, as the process is quite taxing. While the Vault does not make the area inaccessible, items brought into it by the ability cannot be brought out by any other means than the ability itself, or the Dismantling of the Vault by the Mortalborn. If any item leaves the confines of the Vault, through other means than the ability, said item will be immediately transported back into the Vault.
Dismantling requires the presence of the Mortalborn just like Designating does. However, whereas Designating is taxing and time-consuming, Dismantling is quite the opposite. While focus is still required, it takes only a couple minutes at most, and the power used to Dismantle is negligible compared to the cost to designate.
Caveats:
The ability cannot be used preemptively, as it needs a target and contact with said target to successfully activate. Multiple objects can be brought in or out at once, though all need to make contact with the user. If a target is too large to store (eg: a wardrobe), the ability simply will not activate. Objects cannot be materialized if the spawn location is already occupied by a solid object/creature.This ability does not work on living people and creatures, though it does on plants (not Tunawa). Items are transferred in one piece. The storage ability will not activate if the Vault is too full. A Vault must be created before the ability can be used. No more than 1 Vault can exist at a time.
God Key
An ability as useful as it is simple, God Key can open anything that can be opened. Doors, whether just closed, barricaded, or locked will swing open immediately. Of course, the ability is not limited to doors alone. Anything that can be opened will be opened by God Key, if the user so desires. (Windows, locks, vaults, Alladin’s cave, portals that just closed, manacles, buckles, etc) Only one thing can be opened by the ability at a time (one use= one thing opens), and the ability cannot be used from afar. The user needs to be at least within two meters of whatever they desire to use the ability on.
The ability requires a key to work. If no key is nearby, the ability will fail to activate. Upon use, the key will emit a soft heat and lose its shape slightly, appearing as a melted version of itself. This renders the used key useless as it will no longer fit in the lock it was meant to open. Due to the loss of the key’s property to open its lock, that key can no longer be used to activate the God Key ability. The ability will always use the key closest to the user, unless the user actively wants it to use a specific one. The key must be within a 5 meter radius of the user.