this is Salem, a land filled with magic and maladies. It is a place where witches and their elemental familiars gather, a home to legend and
lore that predates time itself. Yet of all the wicked and wonderful stories the past can tell us of, the most magical are the ones yet to happen.
This is Salem - this is the start of your very own journey. Welcome to starfall
Starfall is an animaga witch roleplay set in mostly modern times. Members play as witches in a world plagued by monsters, where the only safe spots are walled cities. Starfall strives to be a character-driven roleplay with expansive lore and a highly interactive plotline. We want to allow members to
create and look back on a magical journey, and mold the site and its plot as their characters grow.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Sept 16, 2017 11:44:00 GMT
that was you.
tuesdays are: errand days, purposeful and routine and so mundane it's almost surreal; research days, meticulous combing of library shelves and silent lamenting that some ancient history ( forbidden ) lies just out of reach; days to himself, lazy and indulgent and delightfully work-free. this tuesday finds him crossing the residential area, moosely at his side, the familiar begrudgingly resigned to his fate of being a shelf. two tomes balance precariously on the moose's head, and every so often, the moose threatens to shake them off. ( half-hearted, maddox knows, but it doesn't stop him from being worried. )
"i got those from the library, they're on loan, can you not."
( 'yes, because you're such a morally upstanding citizen that you care about the condition library books?' )
"as a matter of fact, maybe i do! listen, libraries--"
boom.
witch and familiar alike do their best impression of a kangaroo, both leaping forward ( or upwards ) with all the grace of a newborn deer. the books tumble to the ground, momentarily forgotten by both. they stare at each other, then at a mysterious plume of smoke not too far off, and mutually agree: you didn't see that.
maddox unceremoniously dumps the books back onto moosely and sets off in the direction of the smoke. for once, the familiar doesn't argue, eager to investigate the source of such an explosion. there is no screaming, no blood, and that is probably a good sign. they find their way to the ( supposed ) source rather quickly -- explosions tend to be a fairly telltale sign of where one may be.
he peers through the smoke, spying only a surprisingly small figure. "woah. did you do all--" maddox gestures vaguely to their surroundings. "--this?"
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
Quiet alcove, out of the way enough such that any backfiring of runic array won't be harmful to passersby, woven in sun and playful foliage-shadows; Ling sits cross-legged on the grass, attention entirely focused on the matrix of circles and swirls inked on the paper she holds. The thick scroll at her side, open to the page showing a standardised explosive array, is protected by an overlapping five-point barrier array ( and the fact that she can create such an array with relative ease now sense a thrill of pride down her spine ) - she doesn't exactly want to explain to the librarian why the tome is damaged after all.
Chewing on her lip, Ling frowns down at her runes, brow furrowing as she tries to calculate the best fractals to supplement the main array. Personalising arrays are hard - she can totally see why a lot of runescripters choose simply to use the standard explosive array. But hey, she's never been a quitter, and hard as it is, solving runic equations is fun too - and besides, what's the worst that could happen? A few explosives?
Well, that's exactly what happens.
As soon as she channels the slightest bit of mana through the array, it lights up with an unstable crackle, a few seconds of warning before it explodes. Ling dives away, elbows and knees skidding in dirt as she ducks low and covers her eyes right before the ground upends itself in an eardrum-shattering explosion.
Tremors dying away, Ling sits up, pushing her frazzled fringe back as she peers through the smoke at her now-inactive array. Experimenting with explosive arrays like this, she's never sure if an explosive reaction means she's succeeded at something, or failed. She's... actually really surprised to find the paper still intact, though ink is now faded to a dusty brown instead of the jet black it had started off being. Staring dubiously at it, she reaches forth and pokes it, only to blink again as the paper crumbles into dust.
A pause. That is...
Excellent!
A wide grin spreads across Ling's face, glee sparking in her eyes. A detonation like that means that she just has to find the right stabilising runes, and it'll be functional! Progress! Ignoring the smoke still heavy in the air and the soot that stains her clothes, she grabs for another piece of paper, ready to start anew-
"Woah." An unfamiliar voice interrupts her actions; Ling looks up to see a dark-haired man, strong-jawed and tall with a moose trailing behind, gesturing at their surroundings.
Some of her maniac glee finally fades to a sheepish grin as she remembers she's in a public space, and that explosions probably aren't appreciated by the majority of people going about their lives. "Uh, yeah, this bit was me," she admits ruefully, tugging on the end of her braid. Suddenly aware of her rather disheveled state, her cheeks pink and her mouth runs away from her like it always does when she's nervous. "I was trying to modify the standardised explosive array, y'know? and I added a supplementary focusing fractal arrangement - and it worked great! the effect was magnified to the exact degree of the points! - but I may have forgotten to add a stabiliser too, so, y'know, it may have, uh, exploded instead of being contained..."
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Nov 25, 2017 3:02:45 GMT
he had not expected a kid to be capable of such an explosion. hell, he hadn’t expected to encounter an explosion like this at all, at least not within the city walls in such a place. yet he is not so much perplexed as he is utterly fascinated, eyes widening as the girl rattles off what he can only register vaguely as something related to runescripting, the words caught on the periphery of his mind from the recent reading he has been doing.
his eyes land on the sheets of paper, the inconspicuous pile of dust ( what had that been? ), and his mind is slowly to register to the fact that she had basically rattled off runescripting knowledge as easily as breathing -- and that he had more or less spent the majority of the past week trying to wrap his head around it.
you wanted an expert, moosely reminds him.
maddox waves away some smoke and promptly sits cross-legged on the grass, an approximately safe distance away from the runes themselves but comfortable enough to talk. “shit, man, that’s actually really cool.” there’s undeniable enthusiasm in his voice, a light in his eyes as he glances around the surroundings once more. an atheneum interface flickers to life beside him, pale blue and translucent, silently running calculations on the residual mana in the air.
“i’m actually trying to understand runescripting a little more,” he admits now, gesturing briefly at the tomes balanced on moosely’s antlers, a sheepish grin tugging at his lips. “if you don’t mind, could i just, uh, sit here and watch? i won’t get in the way, promise.”
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
She doesn't know what she expected of her encounter with the stranger, especially not with their meeting having started on such an... explosive note. ( Then again, a surprisingly - or perhaps not so surprisingly - large number of her first meetings with her friends have started from an explosion; clearly she should explode stuff more often. ) Concern for her, maybe, turning into bemusement and disbelief. Or perhaps incredulity at her experimentations, or blank confusion at her explanations. Those are all common responses. Whatever it is she expects, the guy promptly plonking himself down on the grass beside her and complimenting her with enthusiasm clear in his voice definitely isn't it.
But hey, she's not complaining.
Ling blinks at the man owlishly, speechless for a breathless moment, before she lights up like fireworks exploding in the sky. "You think so?" she beams, plonking down next to him. ( He kind of towers over her, the moose even more so, but then again, most people do, so it's alright. ) "I'm Ling," she says a tad shyly, tucking a lock of frazzled hair behind her ear. A shimmering translucent blue screen pops up in front of the man, and she watches in fascination as numbers flicker through the interface at a dazzling speed. "Woah, is that atheneum?" Ling scrambles to her knees to peer at it more closely, eyes wide. The only other person she's seen use the affinity before is Zephyr - it's hella cool in action.
Maybe someday she might try and pick it up.
Before she can consider it too seriously, the guy's next words derail that train of thought completely. "You're trying to learn runescripting?" If her expression was bright before, now it's brilliant enough to light the world. Absolutely thrilled, Ling flaps her hands in an enthusiastic gesture telling the guy to stay seated, then bounds up to her feet to peek at the tomes the moose carries ( even on her tip-toes, she can't really see anything, but it's enough to recognise the scrolls as runescripting ones ); then once again changing directions to where her own scrolls lie behind the barrier she'd set up earlier. Quickly dispelling the barrier, she grabs her stuff and dumps them on the grass beside the stranger, still smiling like a lunatic.
"You're definitely welcome to stay," she tells him, and turns to his familiar in good measure. "You too! Uh, you wanna sit down or something too? There's more than enough space."
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Nov 25, 2017 4:44:32 GMT
her focus zips around with hummingbird-speed, and it is all maddox can do not to sprain his neck from all the rubbernecking around he does to follow her movements. one moment, it is fascination with the atheneum interface ( a question answered with a surprised “uh, yup.” ) , and the other, she is bouncing back onto her feet to peer at the tomes balanced precariously on moosely’s antlers. to his credit, the familiar tries halfheartedly to lower his head to grant her better access, but the tomes wobble and the moose resumes his original stance, looking all the more perplexed by the second.
he cannot help but laugh; there’s something infectious about her million-watt smile and sunny exuberance.
“i’m maddox,” he introduces himself as moosely grunts and settles down beside them. an antler scrapes across his temple, an act of “accidental” clumsiness courtesy of his familiar; maddox scarcely blinks, only reaches up to grab the tomes and set them down beside ling’s own scrolls. he thinks the latter to resemble the scrawlings of a mad scientist, and it is absolutely brilliant. even moosely looks fascinated.
he shakes his head in amazement, recollecting her previous question. “i mean, i don’t think i’d ever be able to achieve all that--” a brief gesture at her scrolls, “--since i’m actually a purifier, but i’ve come across some really interesting things to do with runescripting so i thought i might as well read up on it.”
a cough, a glance at the tomes as he admits, “turns out trying to base an understand just off reading is a little difficult.” he beams, then, and nods back towards her encouragingly. “bet you could do anything, though!”
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
The man laughs, the moose looks vaguely perplexed, and the sun is bright. It's a good day. Ling grins, wide and bright, as she settles on the grass beside them, grabbing her papers and spreading them out across her lap. Lifting a small, flat rock out from the ground, she begins to sketch out a basic containment circle on the stone, the configuration so familiar she doesn't even need to think about it as she draws.
"You're a purifier? And an athenian? That's so cool!" She looks up at Maddox with wide eyes, hands halting in their movement. "Does that mean you're a novice? Or an acolyte? Oh! Or are you a master?" He and his familiar look so cool, they've got to be at least a rank or two higher than her.
She blushes at his compliment, red spreading across her cheeks and up till even the tips of her ears are red. "Oh, nah, I've still got a long way to go before I'm even close to doing really cool stuff with runescripting," she admits, waving her hands in the air as if it would prove her point. "All this stuff-" and she points at her scrolls with her messy handwriting scrawled across the page, "-it looks complicated but a lot of it is just different maths equations and rune theory and geometric shapes, and it probably looks a lot more difficult than it actually is because my handwriting is really bad and I go off on a lot of tangents." She grins up at him, sheepish.
And because she's a little bit incapable of sitting still or shutting up, especially when runescripting is involved, she's babbling on again with barely a pause for Maddox to be able to respond ( or for herself to breathe ). "Even if it's not your affinity, you can learn a lot of useful stuff from runescripting," she says, and hey, okay, she might be biased, but it's true! "The maths and equations and geometry behind spells are pretty much universal among affinities, but it's just written down with runescripting. So, getting to know how runescripters construct spells, you'll probably find it easier to modify or create spells for your own affinities."
And finally, finally, a pause. Even she knows when she's prattled on with too many words. "Uh... you wanna see a barrier?" She picks up her rock again.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Nov 25, 2017 7:19:39 GMT
he watches, curious and intent as she summons up a rock ( earth element, like zeph, he notes ), a runic circle manifesting without much apparent effort. it’s something that people would call natural talent, he assumes, if not the product of hard work. perhaps a mix of both, he thinks before his quiet observation is interrupted by a series of enthusiastic questions. he ducks his head, amusement colouring his voice. a master?
that’d be the dream, wouldn’t it, comments moosely dryly.
“just a novice,” he lies smoothly, in accordance with what his ( fake ) identification reveals. it isn’t too far of a stretch, if that is worth anything, considering how his promotion had been a fairly recent affair. there are other acolytes, proper ones like basil -- maddox has some ways to go before he can begin to compare.
when ling’s wild gesturing redirects his attention back to the scrolls, it takes him a solid moment to decipher some of the scrawls. a vast majority still look like a foreign language to him, even if theoretically, the principles ought to be universal. some are familiar, undeniably so, reminiscent of his studies in alchemy and even atheneum itself. a little part of the atheneum interface splits apart into a new page, and here words begin to scrawl themselves onto the page, little explanations and observations made thus far.
“that’s pretty useful,” he comments. “honestly, atheneum is pretty math-based in some aspects as well. it’d be good to revisit some things.”
he grins, a rallying sort of smile, and nods towards the stone in hand. “of course, if you don’t mind.”
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
“Just a novice,” the man says, looking at her with a smile, and Ling fights the urge to gasp in delight. ( She's not sure she succeeds. ) They're the same rank! She's the same rank as this infinitely cool, kinda mysterious guy with a giant moose of a familiar and has two equally awesome affinities! Of course, being newly promoted ( and pretty much specialising in just one area ), Ling has no doubt Maddox is many many times more skilled than she is. Again - so cool.
"Me too!" she exclaims, then hastily backtracks because she really doesn't want to come across as bragging or anything. "I mean, I only just recently got promoted and it's probably just because my specialty-" Nope, she thinks. She needs to shut up before she puts her foot in her mouth any more. "I mean, um- You're just really really cool," she tells him, and promptly wishes she'd never been born.
Oh well. She'll recover. Probably best to turn her attention back to runescripting and pretend the last few moments hadn't happened.
"Atheneum is maths-based?" she asks, latching onto one of her favourite words ( that being 'maths' ). "In which aspects? How does it work? Do you channel mana through an arithmetic sequence?" She fires off the questions, eyes shining. Maybe she really should pick up atheneum for a second affinity. She could totally bug Zeph for tips! Watching Maddox's interface split and words beginning to scrawl themselves in shining blue, she thinks, yes.
But then, she's brought back to glorious runescripted reality when Maddox nods towards the stone she's still holding. "Oh!" she jumps. "Yeah! Barrier." Quickly finishing off her containment circles, she begins adding in her runes, drawing them out with steady, swift strokes of ink. "I'm creating a five-point barrier array," she explains as she works, hands unfaltering as she speaks. "So, this will be one point - after it, I'll make four more similar stones, and plant them along a pentagonal fractal on the ground. Because the number five is rather unstable, I need to balance it out with a more stable number - which is why these containment circles on the stones have four points overlapping another four points. Both four and eight are stable numbers, so they'll balance out the five, see?"
Finishing off stone number three, Ling takes a break from talking to grin up at Maddox and the moose. She offers them one of the finished stones to examine more closely even as she draws another one from the ground and beings the process anew. "It does take a little while to set up," she admits sheepishly. "But because I'm gonna be experimenting with explosive arrays, I want the barrier to be pretty strong."
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Nov 25, 2017 15:05:10 GMT
it’s endearing, he thinks, the bubbly enthusiasm and exclamations and even the rambling. unexpectedly, moosely bears their newest acquaintance a begrudging sort of affection, head lowered to inspect the runes curiously. the girl starts speaking again; talks about how she’s a novice too -- his eyes light up, genuine and earnest in delight -- and says something about how he’s ‘really really cool’. it is at that point where he cannot help but laugh, and despite his best attempts at stifling it, there is a stifled, helpless kind of snort that escapes him.
“i’m sure they promoted you for other reasons -- they don’t give out novice positions just like that,” he quips in a manner he thinks ( hopes ) is reassuring, but doesn’t press the matter any further. cool, though. someone thought he was cool. ha! even if that person was a stranger who he met by virtue of curiosity and some loud explosions ( the manner of their meeting should probably cast some doubts on her judgement ), he’d take his victories whatever they may be.
there’s no real time to answer her questions on atheneum, nor is there any time for him to gather his thoughts on the topic in the first place. but shining eyes and a positive whirlwind of questions that makes him feel that he’s in some scholarly interrogation, prompts him to answer as she turns back to pass him one of the stones. half-laughing, he tells her, “we can talk about atheneum later, if you want. or i could refer you to someone who’s really good at it, he can probably answer better.”
for now, though, he returns his attention to runescripting. the transcription on the interface increases twofold, short pointed notes and rough diagrams scrawled across the surface. at the mention of more explosive arrays, he rests a hand on the library tomes, mildly cautious even as he continues to observe her meticulous work. “better to be safe than sorry, right?” ( not that he ever follows his own advice. )
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
She feels... a little bit bad about basically whacking the guy over the head with a multitude of questions and her tangential ramblings, but Maddox is really nice about it and the grin that underlies his voice as he responds is quite encouraging. "Ooh, yes please!" she crowds closer, eyes shining at the thought of learning more about atheneum - potentially actually developing some skill in the area. "Uh," she says sheepishly as a thought occurs to her. "You might want to warm them about my tendency to, um, ask a lot of questions." She runs a hand through her still-frazzled fringe, and shoots him a rueful smile.
Ah, but she still has a barrier to put up ( and maybe kinda subtly show off with her runescripting, if she's honest ). Ling quickly lifts two more stones from the ground and scrawls her array onto them, her tongue sticking out just slightly from the corner of her lips as she works. It's.. not so much concentration that's required, but meticulousness - however it's hard to get one without the other, so despite her attention occasionally straying to Maddox's translucent blue interface, she does try to keep her eyes on her own work.
"Definitely better safe than sorry," Ling agrees, looking up with a laugh. "I've got some library scrolls mixed in with my own notes - pretty sure if I so much as singe the paper, the librarians would ban me from the library, and that would be such a sad existence."
Finishing the last of her runestone anchors, Ling gets up, plants one down into the soil around a metre away from where Maddox is sitting, then from there planting her remaining stones until they from a rough pentagon with them and their stuff in the middle. "If I wanted this barrier to last for more than a couple of hours, I would have to accurately measure out the pentagonal angles," Ling explains as she makes her way back to the guy. "Fortunately-" and she grins, "-this really doesn't need to be that anchored."
As she finishes speaking, she feeds mana into her array, activating it in a burst of energy that crackles through the air like lightning; a barrier springs into place, shimmering, iridescent, and semi-transparent in the sun.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Nov 26, 2017 7:15:00 GMT
it’s refreshing -- that is the word he has been looking for -- all this uninhibited inquisitiveness. he hasn’t had a chance to do anything like this in a while; his time has been split into unraveling the chaos that is political sabotage, or dealing with the rising prominence of a leviathan knock-off ( a shame to the name of the coven, declares that old-blood pride that comes with the family name ). it’s blood and rhetoric, so the downtime to simply be a nerd is most welcome.
he does note the occasionally lapses in attention, furtive glances at the interface, and with a wave of the hand turns it into something near invisible in hopes of being less of a distraction. the words appear on what looks to be thin air now, barely visible save for when amber rays of sunlight filter through the screen itself. “oh, definitely. the librarians are a little--” he waves a hand vaguely in the air, winces slightly at a memory, “--strict. once there were a few crumpled pages because someone accidentally knocked over the shelf and stepped on everything and they didn’t stop glaring at me for like, a solid month.” he looks at moosely accusingly, and the moose pointedly ignores him.
as he watches, ling continues her explanation and promptly activates the barrier. he feels it, acutely, the jolt of energy lashing whip-like through the air. unconsciously, maddox sits a little straighter, twisting in his seat to look at the shimmering field of magic around them. “oh shit, this is really cool.”
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
Perhaps ironically, Maddox dimming down his interface has the opposite effect that he had intended in that, far from becoming less of a distraction, all Ling wants to do is ask the other guy how he did it, obverse it more closely, and generally just ask a thousand million questions. (Un?)fortunately, she has a barrier to finish ( and a cool older witch to wow ) - through sheer strength of will ( Valkea rolls his eyes in her head ) she manages to keep working.
"Oh, ouch." She winces sympathetically at his recollection, though she can't help but smile at the mental image. "Yeah, they definitely wouldn't like that. Did something similar once. The librarians threatened to ban me." She brightly grins at the moose familiar.
Once she actives her barrier, though, all thoughts on libraries and threatened bannings and atheneum interfaces vanish when she see's Maddox's expression, when he proceeds to compliment her work. Approximately no part of Ling is cool, calm, or collected about that - internally, a fireworks display is going off - but somehow, through unspeakable witchcraft or something like that, she manages to keep her reaction contained to a beaming smile. "You think so?"
Aww, screw restraint. She bounces forwards to seize the guy in a hug, then turns on her heel to do the same to the moose for good measure, looking all for the world like her birthday had come early all the while. "Hey, now that we have a barrier up, wanna see some explosive arrays?" she asks, eyes alight with the glee of an academic allowed to show off their field of passion.
maddox rothscus ✨ - this is an even shitter shitpost than normal im sorry
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Sept 28, 2018 22:53:00 GMT
a compliment sets off a firecracker; maddox watches a bright grin that could rival the sun, and can't quite help but flash a smile in return, her joy undeniably infectious. what a great kid. ( and surprisingly, moosely concurs. )
before he can react, she bounds up for a hug -- he pats her on the shoulder in return -- and, to his thinly veiled surprise, does the same for moosely. the familiar gives a snort, momentarily seems to consider shaking her off, and then resigns himself to the hug.
'she's a good egg', moosely says defensively.
"explosive arrays?" he repeats, curious and questioning. that must have been the noise he heard earlier. well, good thing they've got the barrier up -- no destruction of public property happening here, no siree. deeming it safe enough ( a train of thought rarely ever touched, though being in the presence of one so much younger seems to press him into maintaining some sense of responsibility ), he gives ling a nod and an encouraging grin. "sure, let's see some fireworks then."
just for good measure, he scoots a few inches backwards, and mentally prepares to purify something if it gets out of hand.
If it's even possible, Ling lights up further at Maddox's agreement, a slightly disturbing enthusiasm sparkling in her eyes. The small, brief thought that cautions restraint and careful and moderation is promptly squashed in the face of a cool older witch willing to see her magic. She has a barrier up, and she has adult supervision. What more could one ask for, really?
"Alright," she says, grinning. From her pouch, she pulls out an explosive tag, the array complete save for the matrix in the middle detailing how strong the effect is; with a few brush strokes, it's done, slightly modified for a slightly less powerful explosion ( see? restraint! ). For a moment, she's really really tempted to show off one of her bigger, more complex arrays that she's been slowly designing herself, but that's a bit of an overkill, even for her. ( Plus, they're kinda unstable - not the best for a controlled demonstration. )
Taking a few more steps away from Moosely and Maddox, Ling channels her mana through the array and slaps it to a rock on the ground, ink lines lighting up with the blue-green light of her mana. It glows brightly for a second ( she takes this time to dart back to where the older witch sits ) before there's a moment's pause-
then
BOOM
it detonates in a flash of light, shattering the rock into pieces and sending small shockwaves through the ground.
Post by maddox rothscus ✨ on Dec 15, 2018 8:45:40 GMT
he notes the wise choice of putting further distance between them ( and wonders exactly how destructive ) these runes are. though, considering the scene that drew him towards this particular alleyway, the answer is: very. with undisguised fascination, he finds himself leaning forward to watch as the mana flows through the fluid brush strokes, the ink lighting up a brilliant blue-green and—
a startled curse, swallowed in the explosion, “f— holy shit—”
maddox blinks away the black spots dancing in his vision after that blinding light, the air before him and ling shimmering ever so slightly after having being called into an abrupt wind wall when the explosion went off. he looks at the tiny, tiny remnants of the rock, scattered on the ground in grey dust. looks back at the runescripter who caused the explosion. looks back at the rock. ( is momentarily terrified of the possibilities of when she masters the craft. )
for now, though, there is little room for any emotion other than amazement and admiration. “oh, man, that’s— that’s really cool. gods, that’s insane.” he laughs, breathless and light. runescripting would have to be something to look into further, he thinks. there are probably, as she said, some aspects that could be extracted and applied to other affinities. his mind whirs with possibilities, already thinking up potential experiments and—
something clicks in his mind. he turns to ling, head tilted to a side, a curious glint to his eyes. “did you learn all this yourself, or?”
