LEMME SEE YER WAR FACE

[Pathian]

You perch on a towering star dune, blue robes billowing against the relentless desert winds. The scorching sun beats down upon the desolate landscape, casting long shadows over the cracked, sun-baked earth. Spread in a loose formation around you are a dozen black-cloaked figures, weapons gripped in twitching, flexing hands, betraying their nervous energy. You feel it too. Instinctively, you reach for the medallion hanging from your neck, seeking comfort.

Halfway through the gesture, your training and conditioning take over, a massive drawbar slamming into place. 'They're watching', you think to yourself. A sneer twists your features, masking any outward signs of that frantic churning deep in your stomach. Your hand, momentarily frozen as you make the correction, clenches into a fist, muscles along your forearm rippling with new strength as you whisper a few words of power – a prayer to your Highlord.  The illusion worked, it seems, as you note your soldiers standing a bit straighter and adopting similar expressions of their own.

Movement catches your eye off to the west, a distant black dot on the horizon rendered chaotically in the shimmering heat. A soft whistle, barely audible over the ceaseless winds, summons the attention of the Sergeant. Meeting his eyes for a fraction of a second, you flick your gaze westward. His attention follows, identifying the aberrance immediately. In near-perfect unison, weapons are sheathed in belts, longbows drawn and strung.

They move quickly along the road, stirring up a cloud of reddish dust in their wake. Your mind wanders a bit, trying to trace their route backwards – the canyons? The ruins further out? You've been waved off such concerns by your Red. 'We're looking into it,' he said. A bemused smirk tugs at the corners of your lips. You're pleased with the duality – amused doubt for you, a display of arrogant confidence for you soldiers.

It's time. The vanguard, such as it is, plods past the marker -a strip of ragged black linen tied to a broken spear, planted deep into the sands a stone's throw from the rock-lined road.  The recruit even managed to conceal it, finding a convenient berm to block light of sight. Clever boy. Clearly visible even at this distance and elevation, the black is a glaring contrast against the lighter colors of the wave dunes.

The battle is brief. Moments before the middle of the warband crosses the marker, you drop a gauntleted hand. The twang of a dozen bowstrings reverberate around you, followed by a dozen whispering voices keeping the count as another volley is prepped, held, and loosed in perfect synchronicity. The cycle repeats. Elevation works to your advantage, just as you planned. Five volleys sent on their merry, murderous way, four still mid-flight as the first group of arrows strike home, burrowing deep into exposed flesh, punching through ragged armor, and skewering whatever lies beneath.

The formation breaks somewhere between the ninth and tenth volley. Decimated, you believe the word is - of the original seventy, perhaps nine are left.  Amused, you watch the pitiful remains of the warband flee south, towards a remote village perched on the edge of the scoria. 'Contact Lieutenant Tugan', you say to the Sergeant. 'Let the old man know we've sent some excitement his way.' The Sergeant chuckles, his expression distant as he relays the message.

Distant tendrils of black smoke curl upwards into the sky as you approach the towering walls of the city. 'Gith only do one thing well,' you think to yourself.

'They burn.'




Team Allanak is (once again, heh) accepting applications for a Templar.

More specifically, we're looking for a templar interested in joining the War Ministry.

No, silly, you won't roll out of chargen already in the Ministry, you'll have to earn it like everyone else.

Your homework:
Templars
Crime and Justice
Consent
Allanak Heirarchy
How Templars Are Educated
Examples of Successful Applications

Our expectations:
Playtimes- We need someone who regularly plays during evenings server time. If you're offpeak, you'll need some workable overlap with peak times.
Good/Improving Account Notes - Everyone makes mistakes. Do you learn from them?
Longevity - We need to see a track record of keeping characters alive.
Patience - There will be highs and lows. You'll need to weather the storm.
Politics - Complex, not complicated. Be familiar with how the political scene in Allanak works.
Communication - Weekly character reports at first.
Leadership - This is a high impact, high visibility role. Great power, great responsibility. You're a leader, you'll be expected to lead. Drive plots, engage players, and keep the engine running.

Interested? Submit your role application to Arm of the Dragon, include the usual information. Background, personality, aspirations (one of these must be joining the War Ministry), a rough sdesc/mdesc, etc.

Application period will close on Saturday, October 14th at 5:00PM ST.

All lives.

[Pathian]

Just a reminder - this closes in two days. Get those apps in!