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B3

Name: Ophereth

+1

It was odd to the midwife that the newborn boy had not cried at all in the time from being born to being wrapped up in a cloth, but the woman was confident in her abilities. Every test she had done showed for certain that the child was perfectly healthy. However, a confused expression covered her face as she looked at the exhausted mother holding the still silent boy in her arms as she remembered the brief moment after she'd picked him up... it felt like being left out in the desert at night as a near unearthly cold covered her. It passed as quickly as it came and left her uncertain. As she watched though the newborn baby turned its head towards her, it's face entirely void of emotion as if he was looking at air. Unconsciously, the midwife shivered before excusing herself with a half smile and hurrying out of the room leaving the child to the care of it's two joyous parents.

Perhaps it was that moment, that startled and uncertain midwife who caused the child to tread a path of hardships or perhaps it would have happened regardless... All that mattered at the time was the look of excitement the newborn's parents were giving him and the strange sense of shock the child could feel staring at them. Being near them gave him a sense of joy, but in complete discord with his emotions something seemed to pull the child toward's apathy.

Unknown to any other than that baby, a ghostly figure had appeared behind the couple.Its face a blur though it's eyes were crystal clear as it stared at them with sympathy.

"Heaven despises you and even Fate has played a cruel trick upon you. You won't understand me now, but someday you will look back and recall this scene. On that day all I can tell you is that Heaven and Fate are different, just do as you wish child."

---

Years went by in a blur as you slowly grew, your body lagging behind others though your mind easily surpassing them by miles. From what you remember it wasn't even a year after your birth that you could speak fluently and only a mere month after that you could hold conversations with an ease only known to those with over a decade of experience. As you aged you quickly came to realize that you were different from others, where they were quick to display their emotions outwardly you always viewed it all with complete apathy and only your Mother could cause your cold attitude to change. Of course when it was time for you to learn with the other children it didn't take long for them to begin to exclude you, even bully you on occasion as you were just too different from them.

While the others played outside, you would spend your days at home watching your Mother at work as she tended to the herb garden or created medicines in her workshop all with a smile on her face. One day you remember sitting there as she grind up a mixture of murkroot and sungrass when you recalled something one of the kid's had called you, the term filled you with curiosity.

"Mom, what does the word 'ghost' mean?"

Something about the question startled her as she suddenly dropped the mortar and pestle onto the table with a clatter, her teardrop face turning to look at you as she wiped a few loose strands of black hair back behind her ear. The piercing look in her blue eyes made you certain something was wrong, but still your mother frowned as she put her hands against her hips.

"Where did you hear that from, White?"

White, your name still confuses you even now though the explanation your mom gave was 'It's a pure color, just like you.'

"Calen called me a ghost this morning, I think he was upset that my marks were higher than his again."

Your mother's frown deepened further, but her expression turned kind as her hand patted your head.

"Most people think ghosts are the resentments of people who've died come back to haunt us, but that's entirely wrong for our people. Ghosts are our guardians, they're the souls of those who died yet refused to leave our people behind to face the wrath of Heaven. They gave up the chance to pass on and reincarnate in order to watch over us. You're different, a calm child who looks unlike the others and people will use that to try to hurt you, but I know you won't let it.

Just remember White, most will do this out of fear for what is different and only a few will truly wish to harm you with it. For those that cast you aside in fear I ask you return their fear with kindness, but to those who try to push you down out of hate return to them what they gave tenfold."

Shortly after your Mom left the room and that's when it all began. You're not sure what exactly she did that day, but from then on you noticed people seemed to distance themselves from your family even treat you with hostility when before there had been kindness. She tried to hide it from you though as the months passed you noticed your mother's health deteriorate rapidly until at last she laid bedridden, her once beautiful figure withered away to almost nothing. All the while your Father seemed to grow worse by the day, the despise of those around him and the decline of his wife driving him to alcohol along with bouts of rage directed at you... though never within earshot of your mom.

Not long after you turned seven your mother passed away and as you stood before her grave you cried for the first time and swore to follow your mother's advice from that day as she had even as she wilted away into nothing. It was after her death that your dad finally snapped and why you find yourself in this situation...

Your arms cover your head by instinct as the drunken behemoth of a man in-front of you lashes out with his fist as his other hand clings to a bottle. A sharp pain jolts through your arm and you vaguely comprehend that it had fractured before you are sent sprawling to the floor. Standing over you is a man with extremely tanned copper color skin with his entire body dressed in a shabby training robe while a pair of green eyes filled with hate glare at you from behind a mess of short brown hair. A square face, small nose, faint wrinkles around the eyes and a pair of slim eyebrows all matching that of your dad's own face, but you've long since decided the two are separate men.

Sensing what is about to come from almost a year of experience you curl into a ball just before he lashes out with his leg sending you smashing across the room and right into the brick wall causing your vision to fade for a moment. Laying there curled in a ball you can here the man that claims to be your dad cursing,

"God damned ghost. It was bad enough that your Mom died because of you and now you can't even bring home enough money to pay for your food. Go to the Guild tomorrow and look for work, if you don't have two silvers by tonight then you won't eat and you can be finding your own damned place to live. Useless bastard."

You can hear a bottle shattering at the end of the last line followed by a door slamming signalling your father holing himself in his room once more. Slowly you pick yourself up off the ground and look at the messy room before you, your straw mattress thankfully relatively untouched by the spilled wine. A sigh escapes you as you start to pick up the bottle shard before dumping them in a corner to be dealt with another day. Collapsing onto your bed you think about what to do tomorrow...

[] Go the Guild like your father had told you. It'll be tough work, some of it likely dangerous, but at least you have the highest chance of making those two silvers.
[] Search around the nearby marketplace, perhaps a store might be willing to take on another porter. It won't make that money in a day, but it'd be a stable income.
[] Look for a craftsman willing to take on an inexperienced person such as yourself as an apprentice. Perhaps it's best you left here, even if it might cause dad to collapse entirely.
[] Write In

---

A bit rushed, but I wanted to get this kicked off so here you guys go. Enjoy the results of your choice!

To be fair you guys chose the middle ground when it comes to family events for the choice. Choosing the sword birthmark would've had you well known and loved by the city and your family held in high regards while red eyes would've had you orphaned as your family died before you were five. This is probably the only instance where I'll tell you guys the outcomes of other actions (even if this was a rather explanation).

Beneath Heaven lies a vast primeval world upon which countless beings roam and it is the common beasts that are blessed by Heaven. Amidst beasts who can shatter mountains beneath their hooves, fell entire forests with a single roar, and split the oceans with only a wave of their fins a lesser race carves out a living against all odds. A feeble race of beings known as humans cling to survival hidden among the less dangerous of the world's lands as an eternal grudge settles among their kind... a ceaseless hatred for the monstrous Heavens above. Even as they toil in the shadows to ensure their continued survival there are some among them who seek to defy the will of Heaven in hopes that humanity can one day wield power on par with both beast and Heaven above.

Into this world a child was born to the lesser race of humans and with it's birth the Heavens seemed to awaken in rage as black clouds began to brew in the sky far above. Looking down from the Heavens one would be able to see the place that had incurred their wrath...

[] A seemingly normal mountain whose surface is covered in trees almost entirely though dozens of caves can be seen.

[] A quiet woodland valley that lies shrouded in a dense fog from which the faint cries of beasts can be heard.

[] A small city center in the heart of a desert, it's center taken up by a large lake from which the destroyed remains of a statue clutching a sword can be seen.

[] A black wasteland from which toxic smoke and roars of creatures beyond imagining pour out into the world, at the heart of it all a towering stele made of bones can be seen.

It tis in the combat spoiler, status effects occur at the start of a turn.

I got a little bored and decided I wanted to write a bit about the RtBaH setting while working on the update, so here! Have a bit of knowledge about how the world works.

Advance note: entirely possible that this is incomprehensible, I've tried my best to write this coherently.

What are levels?

You guys may notice you start out at level 1 and your ultimate achievement in the case of this game is to achieve level 10 thus becoming a
'hero'. However, I've not really made it clear why level 10 itself is a significant number aside from it being your end goal and I'd like to fill in that gap.

Levels aren't some kind of mechanic separate from the world that I use to quantify how powerful your characters are, but quite literally part of the world's laws. Leveling up is a part of life for the people of this setting though most don't have such an in-depth view of it as you guy's get and it is in fact quite rare to even be at Level 1 in the first place. From the start you guys were/are special existences since you've managed to somehow be noticed by the World itself thus granting you a Level and allowing you to tread the path of becoming a Hero.

Leveling isn't something that technically requires killing, thought it is the fastest, and it is quite possible to level solely through acquiring vast amounts of knowledge, or through extensive amounts of training. For the most part the many beings in existence will spend the majority of their lives never achieving Level 1, some farmers may spend ninety years toiling away in the fields before finally leveling up.

With that in mind lets work on the requirement of going from level 1 to 2, an act that requires 40 XP and which most of you guys only earn in 4 XP increments from kills. Your average person won't be able to accept quests, or at least wouldn't be mad enough to, as they imply a level of danger that can only be countered through teamwork, sheer numbers, and a good degree of luck. So, most would resort to hunting down local dangers and would need to kill about ten enemies on the level of a wolf or slime without any outside aid (as a second hand risks them losing all their XP).

Imagine a single farmer with little more than a pitchfork fighting wolves to the death, each fight would inevitably incur wounds that would take time to heal and they would lack the funds for medical treatment that could reduce their down time. From there it only gets worse as reaching Level 2 may give them greater strength, but also requires them to kill twice the number of enemies they did before. Certainly the Level 2 Farmer could go in search of stronger enemies who would grant more XP, but the chance of death then explodes upward rapidly until it's pretty much certain death (excluding sudden bullshit luck).

On top of the need for more kills required to level each time there is a reduction in XP gained from weaker enemies after breaking through from Level 3 to Level 4 as the slimes you once slaughtered for XP now only give 2. A similar thing will happen when reaching level 7 as well reducing XP from such low rank creatures to literally nothing as the power you'd gain from killing them isn't even on a useful level. Essentially the path level 10 is endless danger and few are suited, or equipped with the means to tread upon it (you the players included).

In terms of leveling without killing you’d need to understand that Leveling up isn’t just some statistics increases. In setting when you level up your body literally takes a step towards ascendance, each level a step further towards what you could call ‘Divinity’. For simple training and study to advance this you’d need to forge your skills and body to a level that surpasses the human norm. Even the most dedicated soldier would take nearly ten years to level from 1 to 2 solely through training and that’s assuming they have the resources to allow their body to keep that pace.

With knowledge it’s a bit more hazy as its directly related to the knowledge you’ve occured, dozens of books (each with new, unknown content) on fishing might be required before you level up. However, it could take the mastery of only three simplistic tomes on magic to go from level 1 to 2 since the value of that knowledge is higher. Of course, the value of the knowledge needed will grow with each level so hundreds of unique tomes on the specifics of fishing would be required to go from 2 to 3 and so on.

Now, with that said I can get into why Level 10 itself is an important achievement. Once a person reaches Level 10 they essentially shed their original form and become an ascendant form of their original race. What this entails is a vastly increased vitality, higher mana/divine power/etc capacity, typically longer lifespans, and they can finally wield strength on par with the truly weakest of demons trying to exterminate everything.

Note: For the longer lifespan aspect it will vary based on the person since a person well used to nature magic will have a far longer lifespan than a necromancer (the necromancer will in fact have a reduced lifespan).

Strangely, the slates in your hand feel rough and warm to the touch while the words carved upon their surface seem to suddenly become clearer to you as if previously obscured. With bated breath you begin to read...

"I have survived hundreds of Hunting Seasons, seen those born in my time pass away to become one with the desert sand, and yet as I near the end of my life there is only a single thing I've learned. Everything I had learned, all I had achieved was for nothing. We are raised to worship the God of the Sun and revere the Goddess of Water as children, taught they are greater than all others and shall guide us to prosperity... It is all a lie for something far greater than even gods exists and that being is Fate. We can change the path taken, but at the end of the road the conclusion is determined.'

As you read you begin to feel the despair of the writer, the ever-present sadness of knowing something that no one else can seem to accept...

---

With a start you awaken to find the familiar surroundings of your one room mud hovel, the bed shoved against one wall with a small wooden platform in the center in place of a table. Light shines through the gaps in thatch ceiling causing you to stretch your arms out and bask in the warmth. Something compels you to remember how you got here to this wretched place where the young are used for the ultimate gain of the tribe, a "worthy duty" the overseers call it.

You weren't given a name, but instead had to find one for yourself as you grew up in order to distinguish yourself from those other despairing bastards around you. Nathulotek, a word that represents the fading sun, is what you chose in the hopes that your life can be even slightly as brilliant as the scene of the setting sun upon the sands. Even your chosen name gives you little comfort after almost ten Seasons have passed and revealed that you may forever be stuck as one of the Cultel, orphans and bastards raised by the tribe purely to handle the most dangerous tasks.

They feed you, clothe you, and care for you when you're ill only to send you back to your training at the lash of a whip. For many moons you've been taught how to wield a spear and atlatl, taught of the creatures of the deserts, trained to survive the deserts, and most vitally of the two Great Gods who care for your people. All this training is for the single purpose for using you and the other Cultel as disposable spears against the cruelest monsters of the desert and the first shield against those tribes seeking to steal away your people's oasis. In the fourteen Seasons you've lived there have been countless thoughts of escaping this fate, but the triangle burned upon your face is a constant reminder of the treatment of those who attempt such.

Over time you've come to find solace and peace from...

The stars shining brilliantly in the sky and the fantastical designs those small points of dots can be connected to form. Gazing at the stares puts you at peace and you feel somehow connected to them, as if you could stick out a hand to pluck one from the sky with ease.

Various animals that roam the village, or that the Cultel are responsible for raising. Whenever it is you trying to care for them they almost all seem more docile than before, a feat that the other Cultel respect, but which your caretakers seem to despise.

Observing the crystal clear waters of the vast oasis your tribe calls home with hundreds of Broadleaf trees growing around it and schools of razorfish mingling with sandfish on the water's surface. Being near it brings a sense of calm to you that you've felt nowhere else.