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RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory

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2/11/2016 7:01:05   
Uskius
Member

Dark Wings of Victory Forging this armor went much like it did for the Bright Wings of Victory- relatively simple, but time consuming. In this case, I cut the shadowsteel to its rough shape before starting the hammering process. It was even slower in the Underworld, where even with my magiscience lamps there were shadows that made it hard to check my progress on the shadowsteel.

Instead of a simple sabaton, I took some time to forge a couple smaller pieces into a sort of cup shape that would sit on the toe. I kept a small horn shape at the top, and flattened out the rest, cutting into the bottom a bit to create a tooth shape. I bonded these to the sabaton's toe, grinding it down into a more natural transition between the two. I then cut and polished semi-oval shapes from flame obsidian and bonded them onto the sabaton near the ankle. This gave the sabaton a look similar to a dragon's head. At this time, I also cut the spikes for the pauldrons and bracers from flame obsidian.

To construct the wings, I did a bit of alchemy to get the flame obsidian into shape before getting the joints fit. For the membrane I gathered some of the shadow from the surrounding area with magic, shaping it and then solidifying it. I bonded it to the flame obsidian frame(try saying that five times fast) and put the simple magiscience code for the wings in place after I got the armor polished up and fit together. After imbuing the armor with the essence of the Dark Aura Gems, the wings smoldered with a crimson-tinged black fire.

When I finally got to testing the armor, it had some awesome resistance to Darkness element attacks. The movement was smooth, which allowed me to hit very hard and fast, and have some decent defense against attacks. As with the Bright Wings of Victory, the armor's magical presence would resonate with that of a magic weapon I wielded, allowing me to focus that into a raging dark burst of energy. Overall, it's a pretty formidable armor, useful for those times when you just need to overwhelm your opponent with offense.



< Message edited by Uskius -- 10/16/2021 23:21:16 >
AQ Epic  Post #: 26
2/11/2016 7:20:02   
Uskius
Member

Bright Bastion of Victory After collecting some more Bright Aura Gems in the Sky Realm, I decided to forge this shield out by hand instead of cutting it to its rough shape. I started with a few pieces of my shivernium stock, first hammering them into bars, then forge-welding them together, and then at last hammering them into the shape of the shield. Once I had it in the the flat shape, I began the "fun" part- hammering out the curve. You have to do this bit by bit, and it can take a while.

After I had the shield in shape, heat treated and tempered, I started on the trim. Using some basic alchemy diagrams, I got the lilorite consolidated into shape, checking the fit before carving it until it was tight on the shield. After polishing the shield and getting the gem set in it, I bonded the lilorite on, and began imbuing the shield with the essence of the Bright Aura Gems. With the essence of the last gem instilled in the shield, it exuded an aura of pale blue flames.

Then came the fun part- testing it out. It had stupendous resistance to Light damage, and the strong magical presence of the shield gave it some increased blocking capabilities. Like the Dark Defender of Victory, it's a very well-rounded and capable shield.

AQ Epic  Post #: 27
2/12/2016 7:25:10   
Uskius
Member

Spellcaster's Robes Ninety percent of a wizard's work is invisible, but it's the ten percent you do see that's the most important. So, after drawing out the patterns, I settled on a rich green color for the outside, and a strong red for the lining. Green is a color of growth and safety, and ninety percent of going unnoticed is unrelated to stealth, but rather putting the other at ease. The red is a color of danger, and raising my hand for a spell, as wizards are wont to do, will reveal the lining and draw attention and put an opponent on guard. I decided on a deep hood, as well, to help hide my eyes and facial expression. I chose for the trim to be golden yellow to add a more dignified touch to the robes.

With the colors chosen, I picked my fabric. The first thought that came to my mind was velvet, followed quickly by the weight of velvet and how hot I would get, so I went with cotton, and linen for the lining instead. I opted for the trim to be cotton instead of spun gold, as just in case I did need to be stealthy I wouldn't have to worry about the trim catching the light. I got everything double stitched, using my pedal-powered sewing machine, and then got to work on got to work on the breastplate. It was forged from shivernium, polished, and decorated with golden yellow enamel. I made a short banner from some of the trim's cloth, and got started on the other ninety percent of the work.

On the banner were five runes commonly used for metamagic purposes, that would serve to amplify the power of any magic I cast, as well as enhance my defenses. I don't wear my Generalist's Robe as often as I used to, mainly so I don't have to keep up with all my Kenns, but I needed a little something extra. So, I crafted two Kenns of my own. The first talisman held the secret of connecting your senses to the magic and mana of the surrounding area, a small bit of knowledge that would help me to better aim my spells and defend against magical attacks. The second Kenn held a secret of nature- the one of drawing on the ambient mana of the area in the way plants and animals do. The thing about Kenns is that you don't know how you know what you know while holding them, so to test them out I loaned them to my wife Marna, who confirmed they were indeed doing their job. With these two Kenns crafted and in working order, I immediately put them in a couple leather pouches so they wouldn't get lost(who decided Kenns had to be invisible, anyways?)

When I tested the robes out, it became obvious they wouldn't do much to stop attacks, as they were simple cloth. Even so, they did provide great defense against magic, and were light and loose enough for me to be mobile. They didn't display an affinity for a particular element, either, having even resistances. All in all the robes are pretty flexible, and useful in a variety of situations.

AQ Epic  Post #: 28
2/13/2016 16:28:00   
Uskius
Member

Warrior and Wizard Amulets I'm not the most accomplished jeweler or whitesmith, so to practice in those areas, I worked on these. First, the settings were made from gold. Instead of using my forge, I had a small magiscience torch, carefully heating up and then bending and hammering the gold into place. It was a lot of work to get all the small dings and dents out of the settings. I got them polished, and set them aside. Next, I cut in half a crystal I'd collected from a recent excursion to the Light Realm. I cut the halves down a little bit, and then began to grind them into cabochon. For one half, I took a small flame from a match and froze it, setting it inside the crystal. For the other half, I conjured a tiny spark of lightning, freezing it in shape(this took several tries), and setting it within the crystal. I got the cabochon polished and fixed in the settings, and made some necklaces from a bit of spare cord lying around here in my workshop.

I chose the crystal with the flame trapped inside for the focus of my first charm, a bit of magic that would warm the spirit and body, increasing strength. For the other, a charm that would expand and quicken the mind was placed in it. And with that, the amulets were done. The testing went well. With a bit of focus the charms would activate, the flame amulet increasing my strength, allowing me to hit harder and with more accuracy; the lightning charm opening up my senses and mind and allowing me to target more accurately.

AQ Epic  Post #: 29
2/14/2016 18:15:47   
Uskius
Member

Shield Talisman My wife Marna has only died once, and I'd like to keep it that way. Since there are things I have to do that keep us apart from each other, I wanted to craft something to help protect her(though, it's debatable how much she needs said protection). I started by making a small shield about the size of my palm. I did it as if for a large shield, forging out the steel by hand and heat treating it and tempering it. It was very tedious stuff, as since I don't have but two small hammers, any mistake I made would require much more work to correct than with a hammer appropriate for the task. After getting it to shape, I engraved the protection runes on it. I used a couple of the more common ones, as well as some that would draw on the wearer's spirit. I polished it up as shiny as I could, and put it on a simple cord necklace.

When I got around to testing it, I found that not only did the talisman give increased defense, but that with a moment of focus, could grant an even larger boost to defense against attacks by calling forth a ghostly shield to protect the wearer for a few moments.

AQ Epic  Post #: 30
2/15/2016 19:31:35   
Uskius
Member

Power Orb I loved working with both the Bright and Dark Aura Gems, so I wanted to bring both of their forces together. The process started with traveling to the Light Realm to find a crystal. Long story short, it took me a while but I eventually found a large pocket of crystals and made off with one. It was clear like a diamond, with no cracks or imperfections. Once I was home, I started cutting and grinding the crystal into shape. First, I started by cutting the crystal into a geometric shape similar to a sphere, then I carefully ground down the corners and edges.

I'm fascinated by Power Words and focus sites, and have a large spell circle on my estate engineered to have a similar effect. I decided to make the orb similar to my estate's spell circle, but on a much smaller scale: it would draw on the mana of the surrounding area(instead of leeching it from Darkovia) and empower it. Instead of being a convergence of ley lines, the orb would need runes that would not only gather in mana but also... program it, in a way. Most Power Words are specific to one area, so I chose the runes that would work best with the next step of the orb's creation: the aura gems. I infused the orb with the essence of as many Bright and Dark Aura Gems as it could handle, and afterwards the runes glowed with a golden-blue light, while the orb took on a look of obsidian and glowed with a red aura.

While testing out the orb's capabilities, it greatly expanded my intellect and magical defense, and also provided a bit of resistance to Light and Darkness damage. Even though I tell people it was on purpose, the orb accidentally also allows me to draw on its power and cast a spell with a single word.



< Message edited by Uskius -- 2/15/2016 19:59:43 >
AQ Epic  Post #: 31
2/15/2016 19:57:12   
Uskius
Member

Power Word Victory After crafting the Power Orb, I found that it allowed access to a spell, a sort of artificial Power Word, by supplying the Power Orb with enough mana to cast a spell and speaking the word: victory. The spell calls forth blue-tinged golden flames that burst into an incredibly bright column of fire.

At first I thought it was a simple spell of the Light element. But after several hours of testing(it's really fun to just shout "Victory!" and have something erupt in flames, okay?!) I found out that it never missed, not even once. My first guess was that it was like the Divine Kusanagi sword, and was simply so powerful it just bypassed the target's defenses, but that wasn't the case. With expanded intellect the Power Orb gives, I looked closer and tried to sense what was going on- and I got a huge surprise. The spell's accuracy didn't come from its sheer power, but its targeting: focusing on the target's shadows. I found that, briefly, the blase of fire burns away the target's shadow, and that the spell was not a simple Light spell: if the target had more resistance to Light than Darkness, the purging of its shadow would cause it to take Darkness damage instead of Light damage. This confused me for a moment, as I thought the Power Word fit best with the Light element. But it makes sense now; after all, what's victory but the eradication of darkness or defeat of the light?

AQ Epic  Post #: 32
2/17/2016 5:41:22   
Uskius
Member

Ghost Viper Stiletto Generally speaking, if it bleeds, then you can poison it, and it will die from the poison. But there are some monsters and enemies this doesn't hold true for- ghosts, undead, golems, and their like. So, the inspiration behind this was to craft a blade and poison that would effect those enemies. After thinking of a poisoned weapon, the first thing that came to mind was a stiletto. I forged the blade from an alloy of shivernium and high-carbon steel, folding it and hammering it out many dozens of times. I drew it out to a slim point, and forged the blade into a sort of flat diamond shape. I very quickly forged the cross guard to shape while the blade was tempering, and also got the pommel roughly to shape. Once everything was heat treated and tempered, I did a quick check of the fit to make sure everything was in the right place. I bonded the tips of fangs from a giant King Cobra onto the cross guard, bound the handle in leather, and the finally fixed the pommel into place.

For the venom base, I chose the venom of some scorpions from the Skraeling Desert. The venom is a hideously cruel neurotoxin that causes convulsions, tremors, and hyperactivity, among other equally unpleasant things. I have experience with attuning a substance to something non-physical, like a curse, but this needed to be much broader than that. It led to some philosophical thinking about what exactly constituted a nervous system among non-living creatures, but those things led me back to the will, the heart/programming of the target. Once I began to work out what functions fell under that core essence, I worked out the attuning spell and cast it on the scorpion venom. Once that was done I imbued the stiletto's blade with the venom, which then glowed with a ghostly green aura.

Testing for the blade was extensive. I needed to test the stiletto on both living and nonliving enemies to see if the venom worked properly, as there was the chance it would work on living creatures, too. I found that against living creatures it was a plain but nonetheless well-made and effective Earth element weapon, leaving no trace of poison behind when it struck. Against undead enemies and golems the venom had effects like it would normally have on living creatures, causing ghosts to twist and drift apart and zombies to do(as pleasantly as I can put it) malfunction, and constructs to go haywire.

AQ Epic  Post #: 33
2/18/2016 15:07:45   
Uskius
Member

Scorvern "A wizard did it", one of the phrases you come to resent the most as a new adventurer. Since I've been a wizard for most of my adventuring career, I decided it was high time for me to follow in that grand old tradition and use magic to meddle in nature. I was looking to create a magical hybrid of monsters, and since I'm familiar with wyverns, started my work with one. After looking through the many poisonous creatures of Lore, I settled on the scorpion as the second half of my new hybrid. My fist checkpoint was to take the pincers of the Skraeling Desert scorpion and enlarge them, followed by transitioning them from an arachnid's skeletal structure into a wyvern's. The enlargement was the easy part, but deciding where the arms would fit on a wyvern's skeletal structure was trickier. They needed to be within reach of the wyvern's mouth, but not so high up they interfered with flight, and where the muscle growth to support them would flow naturally with what was already there. With the arm placement figured out, I next worked on fusing the scales on a wyvern's feet and the tough exoskeleton of a scorpion's back. The exoskeleton-scales would then go on the wyvern's thighs and back.

Now that I had the design finished, I captured a few Cyclone Wyverns and Skraeling Desert scorpions and got to work. The magical surgery to get the pincer arms in place went smoothly, and with a little more work, the exo-scales were crafted and put in place. Then, I merged the scorpion's venom sacs with the toxins stored in the wyvern's own tail. I'll admit the first generation of my scorpion/wyvern hybrids looked a little put together. They were successfully able to reproduce, though, and by the fifth generation the hide of the Cyclone Wyverns had turned a dirt brown color more like the Skraeling Desert scorpions, and had lost their manes.

In the time I've spent observing them hunt and fight, they tend to stick with a combo of a strong bite with their beak followed by quick snips with their pincer arms. If their powerful jaws don't get the job done, they then resort to their venom, which dazes/disorients the target and causes their motor skills to malfunction, leaving them off-balanced. Against small targets or ones weakened by their venom, they swoop in and land a raking attack with their legs or a heavy blow with their stinger. Interestingly enough, they no longer seem to make use of the powerful whirlwind attacks their ancestors used.

Now that my scorpion/wyvern hybrids have spread beyond my estate, I've seen that they prefer open spaces, like plains or the sands of the desert; they managed fine in the area of Greenguard Forest where I live, though. There's no predator quite like them in their preferred habitat: they have more stamina than your typical wyvern, natural armor, and they also have quick reflexes and some truly heinous venom thanks to their scorpion heritage. And while you may just sigh and say "a wizard did it", let's keep the identity of the wizard between us, okay?

AQ Epic  Post #: 34
2/20/2016 21:22:14   
Uskius
Member

Soul Spark When I studied the Zarlath, I was impressed by the control of energy they had, and wanted to develop a skill that allowed for the same control of the element. After more study of Zarlath biology, I could see that this control was aided by everything about them, and that a direct mimicry of their skill wouldn't be possible. However, I have learned that most vertebrates have their own kind of bio-electricity. I also recalled the spell Truphma Surge, where negative emotions are forced out with magic, resulting in tremendous blasts of lightning.

Simply amplifying my own natural electricity didn't work, and the attempts just left me with very frizzy hair standing straight on end. The spell needed a little extra. The only other internal force to aid it that I could think of was the spirit, which has it's own kind of energy. It was after using the energy amplification technique in conjunction with a good bit of focus and effort that the spell began to work. It startled me the first time, when a bright tongue of lightning crackled from my palm. I could aim it very well, and it had a good deal of accuracy in any situation. I found that it also left the target numb, reducing their dexterity. Since this was a very internal spell fueled by the spirit instead of mana, I taught it to some of my estate workers to see how it worked when they used it. After more testing, I determined the alignment of the user's spirit slightly changed the effect of the spell: for someone who strictly followed laws and order, it would paralyze the target; used by one who was more independent and followed their own rules(if any), the energy of the spell would daze the target; if used by one who followed the ways of evil, the spell's energy would be even more potent than normal.

AQ Epic  Post #: 35
2/21/2016 23:22:12   
Uskius
Member

Mountain Ridge Guard In my ongoing effort to combat the Truphma, I look for more and more ways to defend against those dull enemies. While I have the perfect weapon and armor for the job, I realized I didn't have a shield for it. The idea behind this was simple: a "living" painting. There's a certain painter from Battleon I'm a fan of that uses a wet-on-wet oil painting technique, so I decided to do the painting in his style. I put a piece of contact paper with an oval cut from the middle over my canvas, then covered the canvas with a thin coat of white paint. I took some blues and blended them on the brush, then with some X brush strokes made a happy little sky. Using a painter's knife I put down the shape of the mountains with a dark color, then pulled the color down with a brush; I put a highlight color on part of the mountains, and a shadow color in the remaining areas; then I gently tapped along the bottom angles of the mountains and pulled upwards to create the look of mist. In the same way, I made a cliff in the foreground. With a smaller brush I took a mix of some greens and made the indication of a far-away line of trees in front of the mountains. With a large brush I tapped some of the green color onto the cliff to create some grassy area. Then I got a little crazy. I had a big decision to make, so I put in a large evergreen tree on the edge of the cliff. I used a fan brush for it, first making a thick line with the mountain color and then gently pushing into the canvas back and forth with some greens to make tree limb shapes.

I got slightly carried away, and extended the cliff, putting some pink and purple flowers in the grassy areas by tapping in some color with a small brush. Using the fan brush and some blue I painted in a river coming across the painting from under the cliff, and highlighted it with a bit of white, gently pushing upward to give the look of turbulent waters. I took a step back, and saw I had painted outside the oval- but I didn't want to lose all that work. That's where the first bit of magic came in. I sealed away the painting outside the oval within the canvas, leaving just the interior of the painting. There was a special key to unlocking the full painting: when it detected the presence of a Truphma, it would expand into a larger oval and show the full painting. Using a bit of the magic of my picture frame from my home, I added a bit of "movement" to the painting. The tree would seem to gently sway back and forth, and the branches would dip and rustle; the river would flow and reflect light. I then hardened the shield with magic, and bonded some leather grips to the back.

After testing the shield, I found it to offer some resistance to the Earth element. I'm not sure how- maybe it was the river- but the shield also offered a bit of resistance to the Water element as well. The defenses were the strong point, though. Hiding behind a living painting offered great defense against melee and ranged attacks, as well as against magic. When facing off against Truphma, the movement of the shield scene would repulse and distract them, lowering the accuracy of all their attacks.

AQ Epic  Post #: 36
2/25/2016 5:59:28   
Uskius
Member

Ley Dragon I'm fascinated and confounded by the Numbered Beasts, those fantastical and magical creatures who serve a mysterious master. Over my time dealing with them it became obvious they all had some sort of connection to the Elemental Orbs and their realms. Though I don't know the exact method of their creation or how they were born, I do have some experience meddling with nature using the power of magic, and with dragons. With the help of my clone Stan and my Ice Dragon Crysta, I captured a Light Dragon and an Energy Dragon. Energy Dragons are the most physically inclined of the elemental dragons, so I chose them to start with to see if my meddling had any adverse physical effects. I probably could have stopped with just an Energy Dragon, but I fused the wings of the Light Dragon in place of its normal ones, working them into its musculoskeletal system.

As I discovered sometime after completing my wizard training, there is ambient mana all around that you can draw in, and that many plants and animals do so in a subconscious manner. There's the free mana, and then there's ley lines, great veins of mana with distinct properties that spread out from Lore's mana core. Birds are born with a sense of the magnetic fields, and migrate along ancient paths that follow the fields' contours. So, after meddling with the form of the dragon, my next task was to reorient the dragon's retina and brain to follow Lore's ley lines. As much finesse as that took(and it took a lot; thank Lorithia I'm not a professional brain surgeon), the next step was even trickier: implanting the secret of drawing on the ambient mana within the dragon's instincts and memory. The more physical aspects of the process were fine, but using magic to alter instincts and memory is some dank, murky water I'm hesitant to dip my feet in. The magic was painstakingly slow and tedious, but it was done. Of course, the true test of any magical creation is its ability to reproduce, so the next day I did this again(if you see any wingless Light Dragons out adventuring, be sure to go easy on them).

Astoundingly, I saw the instinct alteration have an immediate effect on the dragons: they were more full of energy, and began to grow slightly more muscular. Most of the study afterwards required a good bit of traveling with them and patience for their children to grow. The next generation seemed to inherit a bit of both their ancestor's traits- the belligerence and predatory drive of Energy Dragons, and the protective instincts of Light Dragons. They were oddly social for dragons, who are usually solitary creatures. Studying them as they hunted and defended themselves was... interesting. At first they seemed impervious to harm, but with closer looks and magic I discovered they were making use of mana shields. I also noticed that this was a conscious effort, as their mana shields weren't made use of when dueling each other. They still had an affinity for the Energy element, but their breath weapons weren't a bolt of lightning, they looked more like a dracopyre's breath attack. But again, studying more with a sense of magic than visually, I found they were using a process almost identical to the Surge spells: drawing on mana and energy from the surrounding area before projecting it out. As the generations passed, I saw the dragon's hide darken from a yellow to a light golden brown. I traveled with them, and they tended to gravitate towards Darkovia, Frostvale, and the mountains and plains near Battleon. I almost choked on my moglinberry juice when I realized, but by then there were too many of them to contain. You might say a wizard did it, but let's keep the identity of the wizard between us, okay?

AQ Epic  Post #: 37
2/25/2016 8:28:06   
Warmonger DragonJax
Creative!


 @Uskius:I must say my man you have put a lot of effort into creating a story related to every item and designed monsters,weapon,miscellaneous stuff which are very practical, well designed and thought out.Must say the best stuff you have are your monster designs I must say that much needed effort and thought has gone into making it pretty nice.Though I do think artwise they are pretty simple but I feel the Spells look generic maybe give it unique colours and animated effects and maybe more detail to the Amulets and Orbs.What I failed to mention before are that your armor desigs are pretty clean stuff .Nice Job hope you bring bigger and better material out because I am enjoying your stuff ! If you want to check out my galley here is the link- Warmonger DragonJax Backup Armoury.Have a nice Day !
Post #: 38
2/25/2016 11:26:15   
Uskius
Member

^Hey, thanks! ^_^ I agree that the spells are pretty generic, especially Soul Spark. But, short of animation(which I know absolutely nothing about), I don't know how I could do them other than drawing a few frames of them. As for the monsters I have a bit of experience drawing fakemon(original Pokemon), and with the Scorvern and Ley Dragon I definitely could not do that from memory and needed a picture to work from. ^_^;

And I've already checked out your gallery. I love all the little detailsyou put in to your weapons, and I gotta say, drawing with pen absolutely terrifies me.
AQ Epic  Post #: 39
3/4/2016 16:10:55   
Uskius
Member

Anima Drain Living close to Darkovia, I've encountered a number of Banshee and Vampires, and in my sailing and attempts to shower at Yulgar's Inn I've met with countless Braken. Beyond being deadly creatures, they can damage your mind and spirit, lowering your mana and energy. I decided it was time to return the favor. I began the basis of the spell by studying my Spear of Awe- specifically, the runes that can be called upon to drain an enemy's health and mana. Using magic, it wasn't too much of a stretch to reproduce the runes' effects, but the spell was still incomplete. After more work fighting Banshee and learning to shapeshift into them, I discovered the way in which their call damages the spirit. It was a strangely familiar method, but I'm not sure why. In any case, after replicating their call with magic, I began to develop the rune that would allow me to drain my opponent's spirit and energy. Once that was done, though, I still had three separate runes. They were distinct, yet shared a common stroke. It took several configuration, but I eventually managed to integrate the three. I applied the rune to a butter knife, and after a number of fights against dragons I very much regret, discovered calling on the rune's power I could drain my opponent's health, mana, and spirit. From there I translated the rune into a spoken spell.

The spell didn't have an elemental affinity(I was suspecting it would have one for Darkness), but rather did consistent damage of the Harm element. It wasn't the most powerful spell, lacking the raw destructive potential of something like H4XBBQ, but it proved to be very reliable.

AQ Epic  Post #: 40
3/4/2016 16:36:56   
Uskius
Member

Raze Though I'm a fairly experienced wizard, I've never really used magic on a very wide scale(except for Dawn on Nine Horizons- but that's a story for another time), so I wanted to develop a spell that would affect large swaths of land. In terms of the spell's element, Fire was the obvious choice for me. Though it would be possible to use a spell like Fireball Z to set fire to a large area of land, doing so would be way too taxing on your mana. Then it hit me- instead of using that extra little bit of effort to burn something and control the flame, I would instead focus the spell on accelerating combustion- as I've learned the hard way, many substances on Lore are very flammable. The spell worked well, but it was still a little taxing on my mana reserves. After some more thought and study, I decided to shift the focus from drawing on my own mana to using some of the mana of the surrounding area. Now the spell is the beginning of a chain reaction: it starts a wave of fire going, and when it can draw on the mana of the nearby area it spreads like... well, like wildfire. I could pretty easily burn two acres of land with the spell.

Unlike most Fire element spells, it didn't have much potential for direct damage, but with such a wide area of land on fire, my opponent would spend pretty much the entire battle burning and wreathed in flames. I had to be careful too, though, because I found out I was just as likely to get caught up in the spell.

AQ Epic  Post #: 41
3/11/2016 14:48:29   
Uskius
Member

Mana Guard As a mage, I find myself using a lot of mana: casting spells at a high volume, extending them past their normal duration, etc. So I wanted to make a shield to help with my mana expenditure. I started using a bit of alchemy to consolidate a big pile of crystals into a flat circle with a tenon around the edge. I forged the outer rim of the shield from an alloy of gold and shivernium, making two semi-circles. The outside came to a tapered edge, and on the inside I hammered in mortises so the semi-circles would fit onto the crystal center of the shield. After I got the rim heat treated and tempered I polished it and bonded it to the crystal.

Being familiar with the essence of a Naga and the Rejuvenating Necklace, I chose runes to engrave on the shield that would have a somewhat similar magical effect: whenever I blocked an attack, the force would be converted into raw mana. After engraving the runes I did an extra bit of polishing, and that was it. Overall this was a fun build. When I tested it, the runes worked as intended. The shield didn't have an affinity for any particular element, having fairly even resistances. It defended well against magical attacks, as expected, but wasn't all that great defending against melee and ranged attacks. Still better than nothing, though.

AQ Epic  Post #: 42
3/11/2016 15:34:17   
Uskius
Member

Ley Staff Being familiar with the secret of how plants and animals draw on the mana of the surrounding area, I decided to apply the same theory to a staff. First, I started with a long branch from one of the trees on my estate, cutting it off at one end where it started to widen. Next I got to work on casting an orb of pure shivernium, forming the mold with the lost wax method. After I had heated up the shivernium until it melted, I poured it into the cast, waiting until it had cooled before quenching it. The orb came out pretty even, but I still had to do a tiny bit of grinding. Next the runes were engraved on the orb, their magic tying it to the mana of the surrounding area and allowing me to channel it through the staff. With that done, I polished the orb, and split one end of the staff into four sections. I curled them slightly, and put the orb between them, bonding it in place with magic.

I'd expected the staff to have an affinity for the Earth element when testing it, but that turned out to not be the case. The orb shifted appearance depending on my environment: in aquatic environments or while sailing, the orb would look like a large drop of water and channel swifts streams of it to attack; in mountains, hills, and buildings, the orb would turn a brownish-green and project sharp shards of rock to attack; in the steppes and tundra and on snow-capped mountains, the orb would take on the appearance of a large shard of ice, and channel sub-zero blasts of wind; when in a dungeon, cave, or cemetary, the orb would change into a waning moon, and lash out with grasping shadows to attack; around the Fire Fields and volcanos, the orb would morph into a ball of flame and channel searing blasts of fire when attacking; on plains and cliffs and at high altitudes the orb would shift gather small clouds and swirling winds about itself, and attack with violent gusts of wind; in dry and arid places such as the desert, the orb would shine brightly and channel dazzling bursts of light to attack; during thunderstorms and rain the orb would crackle with electricity, and project vivid lances of lightning to attack. The staff would restore my own mana instead of projecting it to attack if I was low on it, and drawing on the mana of the surrounding area with the staff allowed my spells to be a little more accurate and powerful.

AQ Epic  Post #: 43
3/12/2016 16:00:47   
Uskius
Member

Halia During one of my trips to Talon Tower, I encountered a curious clan of moglins in the forest South of Azma Lake. Like most moglins they had a natural affinity for magic, but their talent was in Light magic, and not healing. I'm always interested in learning anything I can about Light magic, so I stayed with them for a few days, soaking up their culture and relaxing. I discovered they were descended from the same moglin as Poelala's clan, who was fabled for their prodigious magical talent and power. In particular, I struck up a friendship with Halia, one of their leading experts in magic. She's very sharp and has a good sense of the underlying patterns and structures of magic- she even has a spell capable of strengthening Light damage, regardless of whether it's a magic or not. Halia hadn't really traveled that much, as she focused on her studies. After overhearing I also loved Light magic, she asked to travel along with me, and I agreed. If Halia battles alongside me she doesn't attack directly, instead using her spell that will empower Light damage on me.

AQ Epic  Post #: 44
3/12/2016 16:23:30   
Uskius
Member

Skraeling Desert Sandstone Cottage Since I fly back and forth between my estate in Greenguard Forest and Talon Tower so much, I decided I needed a halfway base between the two. I settled on a location West of the Fire Fields, not too far from where the Yenghal people roam. Since a simple hut or tent could get overrun or buried beneath the dunes during a sandstorm, my house had to be something bigger. After surveying the land and looking for its natural resources, I discovered there was a good bit of sandstone in the area, and began planning to build a stone cottage. I'm not that great of an architect, so I drew out three towers close together, one large one for the main house, and two smaller ones.

There was several boulders and large cacti I had to clear from the area first. After that I hauled away sand until I got to solid ground several feet below, leveled the ground, and got started on construction. Though it was still a large task to dig up the sandstone, using alchemy to alter its shape into bricks made building the cottage much easier. I built the windows facing to the East to take advantage of the natural light. Since there weren't very many trees in the area, I instead made thatching for the roof from this very stiff and hardy grass that grew in the nearby desert, using what little wood I did find for the door and ceiling beams. After I was done building the cottage I took a good long nap, and then got started on clearing some of the nearby land for an estate.

AQ Epic  Post #: 45
3/13/2016 16:13:03   
Uskius
Member

Camelot Herd There's a lot of life in the desert, despite how it first may look. However, most of those things wouldn't provide enough food for me when I'm in my dracopyre form, or even when I'm a human and just really hungry. So, one day after I spied some of the Yenghal people from afar, it hit me- camelot. I talked to their herders, and began to learn just what an incredible resource camelot are. Their blood is adapted to the climate, as well as that big hump on their back that helps store water- everything about them is suited to life in an arid climate. Their milk, though different than what I'm used to, is very rich and nutritious. Their undercoat of fur is very soft and excellent for weaving into garments, and the long, outer guard hairs work well for things like rugs. Their meat is edible, too, tasting a bit like beef. Anyhoo, I sold and traded some things with their herders, and they gave me a few of their camelot.

They're gentle creatures. Even when I had as large a herd as my Skraeling Desert estate could handle, only a few of them grazed close by the house.



< Message edited by Uskius -- 3/13/2016 16:16:57 >
AQ Epic  Post #: 46
3/13/2016 16:29:59   
Uskius
Member

Skraeling Desert Mine As I'm discovering, the desert is a very rich and lively place. As I began to need more and more stone for construction and trading in my Skraeling Desert estate, I knew I had to start mining. I'd heard from the Yenghal people there were a number of mineral and ore deposits in the region, and as it turned out I was fortunate to have some on my estate. I knew a little bit about mining due to my time spent mining around Fairwind Springs, and started with a small shaft with just a small barbed wire fence around. As I dug deeper and began to hit on more mineral deposits, I needed extra space to cart out the dirt and rocks. It took a long time, but I double the size of the main tunnel and laid in another cart track. Not too long after that, though, I stumbled upon a large vein of iron ore, and a large pocket of quartz off in another tunnel. I made a pretty fair amount of gold trading and selling it, and due to the volume of that I needed to expand the main tunnel again; this time, I put up a wooden plank fence around the mine shaft.

AQ Epic  Post #: 47
3/13/2016 16:44:33   
Uskius
Member

Skraeling Desert Windmill I needed a little energy to power the small magiscience things in my house(lamps, etc.), so I began to look at what would work around my Skraeling Desert estate- couldn't very well build a Hydro Power Dam, like I had over near Lolosia. After doing some research, windmills came up as one solution. They would work for other things, as well- pumping water, grinding grain, and not just be blow-y and spinny and help convert wind into energy.

I started first with a simple metal rig, the arms fashioned from cloth and wood. As the energy needs of the estate grew, I had to expand from the metal tower to a sandstone one. The larger tower was also able to support the gears I needed for drilling and pumping water, and store grain. After a while I had to upgrade the tower again, this time with enough space for a couple spare rooms on the second floor, in addition to the space for storage. Every now and then I get an Angry Protester coming by complaining about my windmill, but those people follow me everywhere.

AQ Epic  Post #: 48
3/14/2016 20:17:38   
Uskius
Member

Pitter-Pata of Rain For several years, I'd had a Tear of the Water Lord from the first time I wandered into the Skraeling Desert(long story) and met the Yenghal people, but never thought of any use for it. After my recent move to the Skraeling Desert I remembered it, and an idea popped into my mind. I would start with a short sword forged of shivernium, straight and double-edged, using pure elemental Fire to heat it. I folded the bar in on itself for many many hours, trying to get as cohesive a blade as possible, until the shivernium had a pure ringing sound when hammered. I didn't forge the blade with a tang as I normally would, instead forging a semi-circular grip with a bar across it. I welded this to the base of the blade after it was ground, and then got started on the rest of the hilt.

I forged a few bands of shivernium and a bridge that would go over the grip and connect everything together. For the bands I beat out a sheet of gold and cut it to shape, magically bonding it to the bands. After that I began cutting the Water Lord Tear. First in half, then cutting and grinding it down into two concave oval shapes that would fit with the bridge of the hilt. I wound some leather around the grip, and then got the hilt pieces polished. I did a quick check to made sure they fit, and then put them together. I hammered out and cut a decoration for the base of the blade, engraving some curls onto it before bonding it to the blade and finally getting the hilt attached to the grip.

The blade had an amazing magical presence, and affinity for the Water element. When I tested it it was very accurate, able to slash and pierce very well in melee range. I found the Water Lord Tear still was able to exert control over the water of the surrounding area, calling forth a large spear of water to attack at range, or several magical blades of water to pierce and slash my opponent.

AQ Epic  Post #: 49
3/14/2016 21:17:23   
Uskius
Member

Star Knight Robes I spent what felt like five years in the WarpForce with the crew of the LSS Alteon, but when I returned to Lore only a few months had passed. During that time I faced many horrors perpetrated by The Network, and met the last of the Star Knights, Opie-Juan Benobi. During our missions together he urged me to investigate the UniForce, but I never did- those years were where my love of magic began. But recently, after the Warp War came here to Lore and I met Toduh and his relative Anki, I started to reconsider. I thought of Dark Madder and ENTROPY, and sought out Toduh. Before he began my instruction he had me build my own Star Saber, and then bestowed the Star Knight Robes upon me.

It would take days to recount all my training. It started with me learning forms of Star Saber combat, to learn when to defend and when to strike, and progressed to recognizing and interacting with The For- I mean, UniForce. Faster than I had thought, I was able to work with the UniForce to quickly off-balance my opponents, and before too long, my connection to the UniForce sharpened my intuition and helped my initiative during battles, as well as defend against sudden attacks. After defeating a powerful Network agent, my training was intensified. I learned to draw on the UniForce to strengthen my body, increasing my endurance, strength, and dexterity; and also to call on it to expand my intellect, charisma, and luck. Toduh also taught me the Star Knight Mind Trick, which would allow me to control my opponent's mind and force them to strike themselves. As my training progressed I was also taught how to use the UniForce to resist whatever effect my enemies would try to impose on me.

A long time passed before Toduh told me my training was almost complete. He deepened my training in using the UniForce to sharpen my intuition, to the point where with a bit of focus I was able to look into the near future briefly. That knowledge was brought back to the present, and I was taught how to sense where the weak points of an enemy(breakpoints, did Toduh call them) and strike them. After another run-in with Dark Madder, Toduh gave me my final instruction. He told me how the living UniForce fed into the planet's own sense of the UniForce, which in turn fed into the cosmic UniForce, which guided and shaped entire star systems and galaxy clusters. It was difficult to understand, but I gradually learned he meant I could work with the UniForce to transcend death. And, aside from all I learned from Toduh, whenever I worked as a Star Knight- instead of, say, a Wizard- my attacks with a Star Saber were more powerful when wearing the robes; and the robes themselves had an affinity for the Energy element, and good defense against attacks, particularly magic.

AQ Epic  Post #: 50
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