☆★☆Merlin☆★☆ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gardenerofavalon) wrote2020-07-10 11:12 pm
gardenerofavalon) wrote2020-07-10 11:12 pm
Tabula Rasa App
Player Information
Player: AC
Contact: AC#7235 on discord, or PM character journal!
Other Character(s): N/A
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Character Information
Character Name: Merlin
Canon: Fate/Grand Order
Canon Point: Post-Solomon
Journal:gardenerofavalon
Character Background: Fan wiki entry
Character Personality: On the surface, Merlin seems friendly and amiable, cheerful and a bit mischievous. He's quick to over the top reactions, but almost never seems truly disturbed by, well, just about anything.
Most of this, needless to say, is entirely fake.
To understand how Merlin acts, one has to first understand what he is: a cambion, the offspring of a human and an incubus. The assorted powers his heritage bestowed upon him aside, it's also severely skewed his perception of the world. Like an incubus, Merlin feeds on dreams and emotions, the products of human minds, and as such, understands them primarily from a secondhand perspective, rather than truly sympathizing with (or experiencing) them. He puts up the front he does to put the people he interacts with at ease, being aware that dealing with an aloof, emotionless person tends to be unsettling for most people. But under this veneer is, well, nothing. A detached way of thinking with typically little more than muted hints of feelings, if that.
However, Merlin is also half human, and despite his claims to the contrary, he does on occasion experience emotions of his own, sometimes even strong ones. A notable example is his attitude regarding Artoria, whom he became unwittingly attached to in the process of raising her to become an ideal king. He warned her of the fate that awaited her if she pulled the sword from the stone, despite the fact that if she failed to do so, all his work invested in her would be for nothing. He considered the suffering she went through thanks to her idealism his mistake, and regretted it deeply. He fled to Avalon before her fateful battle on Camlann rather than witness her fall in person, and open observing with his Clairvoyance her finding peace and resolution just before her death he exuberantly shouts with joy and delight.
Such displays of true emotion from him are exceptionally rare, however, and not something he'll readily admit to, although when they do occur they seem to have a certain childish purity to them, that of someone still inexperienced and immature when it comes to such feelings.
The matter of his emotions aside, Merlin is also prone to being both capricious and lazy. He'll often do things on a whim, or simply stop doing something for the same reason. He'll take shortcuts whenever possible, not being keen on investing more time or effort than strictly necessary. He's also very fond of women, particularly in intimate encounters, though this may well be in large part due to the incubus side of his heritage. Of course, all of these things seem to help contribute to the image he maintains, making him come across as laid back and flighty, rarely seeming to take anything seriously.
One other significant point, however, is that Merlin is very much a liar. The fake facade he nearly constantly projects aside, he has little problem twisting words, using illusions, lying by omission, and all manner of such deception to achieve his goals. He's even gone so far as to deceive a goddess in order to get her assistance with a task, despite earlier mentioning a reluctance to spy on the same with his Clairvoyance. And not to mention, he's hardly honest with himself, either. He claims to be completely lacking in human emotions, for example, even though certain of his actions strongly suggest otherwise.
Finally, Merlin is incredibly conflicted. His dual natures are strongly at odds with each other--incubi are beings that feed or prey on humans, after all--and he clearly doesn't entirely fit in with either one or the other. It's evident that he both tries to distance himself from his human side by calling himself inhuman or an incubus and talking about how he lacks certain human traits, while at the same time he clearly rejects much of his incubus nature by doing things such as proudly asserting that his choice to support and protect humanity is something no ordinary incubus could do. And while most the time this conflict is hidden under the surface, it's most definitely there and influencing his actions.
Character Abilities:
Servant Abilities: To start with, as he'll be arriving as the Servant version of himself, Merlin has all the standard Servant powers of things like being able to switch to an immaterial body (capable of phasing through walls, but not capable of interacting with anything material) at will, and similarly materializing/dematerializing things like his clothing and weapon(s) at will. Injuries to his person, while they may give the superficial appearance of wounds, are simply damage to a spiritual body that can be easily healed simply by restoring sufficient amounts of magical energy, regardless of the apparent severity of the injury. Only damage to a Servant's Spiritual Core (or sufficiently draining it of power via other injuries and expenditures) will actually "kill" a Servant.
He also possesses a number of 'skills' as a Servant that he can use. These are are follows:
- Dreamlike Charisma: A skill that allows him to inspire allies, boosting their offensive power as well as replenishing some of their magical energy.
- Illusion: An ability he excels at in general (and which will be addressed later), but as a skill it specifically manifests as being able to deceive an enemy to such a degree as to render a group of allies essentially invisible and impossible to attack temporarily.
- Hero Creation: Basically Merlin gives a powerful boosts an ally, making them stronger and tougher.
- Territory Creation: One of the skills of the Caster class of Servants (to which Merlin belongs), it reflects an ability to detect and work with leylines and such natural sources of magical energy to benefit himself to a small degree. He's pretty mediocre-ranked in this one as he's so capricious and doesn't stay focused.
- Item Construction: Another class skill, this relates to making magically-enhanced tools, which again can be used to aid in whatever task (or battle) they're meant for. Again, Merlin's only so-so at this one, so don't expect anything flashy!
- Rapid Casting: Exactly what it says on the tin. In theory a mage as powerful and skilled as Merlin ought to be able to cast extra fast, and in fact he has truly fantastic pronunciation, but in reality, he's prone to biting his tongue if he goes too fast.
- Mixed Blood: This skill is a way that his hybrid nature manifests itself when Merlin's acting as a Servant. Essentially, because he has supernatural heritage, he generates/regenerates magical energy a little faster than most.
- Self-Manifestation: A skill that, essentially, allows Merlin to "summon himself" as a Servant. Given that technically he doesn't meet the qualifications to be a Heroic Spirit in the first place, this is pretty much the only way he can be a Servant. This is a very irregular skill, however, as normally only certain beings known as Beasts can use it.
Finally, like all Servants he possesses an extra powerful skill known as a Noble Phantasm. Merlin's is called Garden of Avalon, and when he uses it, it gradually heals and replenishes the energy of up to seven allies over a period of time.
Incubus Abilities: Due to his nature/heritage, Merlin has a number of powers related to his incubus side. While some of these are somewhat moot and/or no indication has been given that he's able to use them in his Servant form, they're still listed for reference:
- Dream Walking/Manipulation: Technically, Merlin's true self is that which exists in dreams. He's capable of entering the dreams of others, and exerting a degree of control over them. This is not without limits, for example, the brain activity that accompanies REM sleep can allow someone to more easily resist him. He does retain this ability in his Servant form, including to the extent that it's possible if his 'physical' Servant body is destroyed, he can still recover/regenerate from his dream self. (However the opposite, destroying his dream body, does affect both versions.)
- Immortality: To put it simply, Merlin is immortal. He's ageless, and quite possibly cannot be killed by any conventional means. It's a plot point that he cannot be a Heroic Spirit due to the fact that there's no possible timeline/future in existence in which he'd die. This only properly applies to his real body, however, his Servant self can be destroyed just as any other Servant, aside from the caveat mentioned above.
- Shapechanging: Illusions aside, it's mentioned in official side materials that Merlin is capable of changing himself into something "not human" so completely that "even the insides" are changed. In other words, a true transformation, not just an illusory appearance. Given that Servants by nature aren't "human" anyway, in that their bodies are comprised entirely of magical energy that's merely shaped in a certain way, this presumably applies to Merlin's real body.
- Emotion/Dream Eating: Incubi feed on emotions, and Merlin has inherited this trait. To be specific, it's the energy produced by the human mind, with emotions and dreams being particularly obvious manifestations of it. Merlin is apparently able to subsist solely on this to the point of not needing ordinary food or drink to live at all; this probably ties in with his immortality mentioned above. And yes, he can also alternatively do this via sex, as the magical energy that he feeds on is also readily found in bodily fluids. As a Servant, this still effectively applies, as a Servant is literally composed of magical energy and requires more on a regular basis to remain manifested.
Magecraft and Other Abilities: Of course Merlin is also a mage, and some of the things he's shown or mentioned to do don't fit neatly in the above categories, so this is essentially everything else that's noteworthy:
- Magecraft: Again, Merlin is a mage. He's capable of casting a wide variety of spells, the exact extent of which is unclear. Some examples include powerful illusions, and being able to temporarily physically alter a person (e.g. giving a woman functioning male genitals; yes, he did that in canon once). He presumably created the "Invisible Air" spell that Saber uses to conceal her sword in Fate/Stay Night, was responsible for the enchantment that held Caliburn in the stone, and somehow managed to get internet access from Avalon. As he's a Caster class Servant, his abilities in this area would be largely the same, though it's noteworthy that for all his raw power, he's capricious and lazy and tends to get tongue-tied, which somewhat limits his ability much of the time.
- Clairvoyance: This is an innate skill of Merlin's and remains active as a Servant. Quite simply, he's capable of observing any place he chooses at the present time. There are no limits to what he can observe, though there's practical limits to what's safe to. For example, in canon he refuses to attempt to spy on some goddesses on the basis that they would be able to detect what he's doing, and would probably retaliate.
- Swordsmanship: In the Fate/ universe, it was Merlin himself who taught the young, future King Arthur swordsmanship. Needless to say, he's quite capable at it, and in fact prefers the straightforward method of using a sword to dispatch an enemy to the effort and hassle of casting a spell.
- Affinity for plants: Merlin seems to have an affinity for plants, especially flowers, that goes far beyond mere magecraft. For example, the game Fate/Grand Order goes so far as showing flowers spontaneously blooming at the feet of his sprite. He also is known by the nickname "Mage of Flowers" for this reason, and this ability is present in his Servant form as well.
- Threat to humanity: While official materials have been extremely vague on the details, it's been mentioned that Merlin, perhaps due to his heritage, is technically considered a "juvenile" of a being that in its mature form would be an incredibly dangerous threat to humanity. Nothing about what this means has been revealed, however, but it's probably safe to assume that this applies to something to do with the nature of his real body, and probably wouldn't be invoked in his current Servant form. Probably.
Items: The clothes on his back, and a nice tall wizard staff that conveniently has a short sword mounted in it. It should be noted that as a Servant, both of these would count as part of his Servant "body" in that they're materializations of it, hence the above note about being able to dematerialize either or both at will. So it's debatable whether they truly count as items, but probably worth listing here anyway!
Other:
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Imprint
You may provide *up to three options* for your initial imprint. If you do not use all three, you may delete the extra space. We recommend including at least one scenery imprint.
Imprint Type: Scenery
Summary: An unearthly beautiful field of gently rolling hills, covered in grass and fragrant flowers.
Full Details: An imprint of the vast, flower-filled fields of Avalon, it resembles a grassy plain filled with beautiful flowers. It has an unearthly feel to it, a little too vivid, perhaps, or too fragrant, and the flowers don't quite match any known variety, while on the whole it exudes a sense of peaceful beauty. Avalon is a land of the faeries, after all. It's also quite, well, magical. That is, imbued with a certain inherent, latent magical energy that those who come from eras or places without it might find uncomfortable, even dangerous... And that those with the proper knowhow could tap into. Not to mention, it's the sort of place that would seem naturally to be home to various manner of magical creatures, benign or not. A beautiful and peaceful place, but dangerous for anyone who doesn't belong there.
Imprint Type: Species
Summary: Incubi/succubi - magical beings that feed on human emotions through dreams and sex.
Full Details: An incubus (or succubus) is an inherently magical creature that preys upon humans. More specifically, it feeds on the energy generated from human thoughts and emotions. There are several ways an incubus can access this, from relatively small amounts in just normal day to day matters, to more intense amounts from dreams--which an incubus can influence, often towards causing nightmares--or the exchange of bodily fluids that occurs during sex. Incubi also lack fixed forms, being able to change their appearance at will; this means that in some cases, whether an individual is an "incubus" or a "succubus" may simply be a matter of which form is convenient at the time.
Imprint Type: Species
Summary: Dragons - huge, reptilian magical creatures with four legs, two wings, and the ability to use powerful breath attacks.
Full Details: One of the most powerful and fearsome of phantasmal creatures, there's a good reason dragons inspired so many legends. They are huge, highly magical creatures capable of incredible destruction if angered. The greatest of true dragons have four legs and two wings, though subspecies like the two-legged two-winged wyvern also exist. Aside from their claws, teeth, tail, and such other natural attributes, dragons also possess the ability to use powerful breath attacks, spewing a large cone of fire or acid or such.
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Samples
Crouched in the grass, heedless of any possibility of dirt staining the white of his long robes, Merlin reached out to the small flower. His fingertips gently brushed its stem and caressed its pale blossoms, while he meanwhile bent all his focus on the seedling. Attempting to sense it, to will it to spread its blooms just a little further. But there was nothing. Not that he seemed to be lacking in anything, as far as he could detect, there were no bonds, nothing in particular suppressing his power. It was more like it simply... Didn't exist outside of him.
He sat back with a small huff, more out of habit than any actual true annoyance. So, this place truly did play by its own rules, in some bizarre way. It was frankly a little disconcerting; for all he seemed to lack any need for sustenance, even his incubus instincts found the sensation of being completely unable to sense the emotions and dreams of humans disturbing. Like suddenly both not needing and not being able to breathe.
Not that Merlin had any intent of letting on to any of these thoughts, of course. Even now, were someone to stumble across him despite his efforts to happen to wander off to as remote a spot as he could manage, he probably looked like he was merely idly enjoying the scenery. The utter strangeness of this place, this world, was enough of a concern, but that there were other people here as well... Well, that could bode well, ill, or anything in between. Until he had a better grasp of what was going on, and what if anything to do about it, Merlin saw no reason to be anything more than the aloof and good-humored, mysterious and occasionally helpful mage that he's always presented himself as. Or tried to, in any case.
Which meant that he really ought to be getting back to see if anyone else had chanced upon anything of interest. A flicker of a hint of annoyance crossed his mind at that thought, as he was reminded once again that his Clairvoyance, too, seemed to be useless. Which meant that he really did have to walk all the way back, rather than lay here in the flowers and merely watch from afar. It was all so terribly inconvenient and troublesome.
Alas.
Well, best to just get it over with, in any case. Or so Merlin reasoned as he heaved himself back to his feet. At least now he had a fair idea of the limits of what he could and couldn't do at present, which in turn would hopefully begin to give him a feel for how this strange place operated in general. But he may as well go and see if anyone else had uncovered something useful, the more he found out without having to do the work himself, the better!
Besides, a few of the ladies were rather good-looking, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to see if he could convince one to spend an evening with him.
Player: AC
Contact: AC#7235 on discord, or PM character journal!
Other Character(s): N/A
Character Information
Character Name: Merlin
Canon: Fate/Grand Order
Canon Point: Post-Solomon
Journal:
gardenerofavalonCharacter Background: Fan wiki entry
Character Personality: On the surface, Merlin seems friendly and amiable, cheerful and a bit mischievous. He's quick to over the top reactions, but almost never seems truly disturbed by, well, just about anything.
Most of this, needless to say, is entirely fake.
To understand how Merlin acts, one has to first understand what he is: a cambion, the offspring of a human and an incubus. The assorted powers his heritage bestowed upon him aside, it's also severely skewed his perception of the world. Like an incubus, Merlin feeds on dreams and emotions, the products of human minds, and as such, understands them primarily from a secondhand perspective, rather than truly sympathizing with (or experiencing) them. He puts up the front he does to put the people he interacts with at ease, being aware that dealing with an aloof, emotionless person tends to be unsettling for most people. But under this veneer is, well, nothing. A detached way of thinking with typically little more than muted hints of feelings, if that.
However, Merlin is also half human, and despite his claims to the contrary, he does on occasion experience emotions of his own, sometimes even strong ones. A notable example is his attitude regarding Artoria, whom he became unwittingly attached to in the process of raising her to become an ideal king. He warned her of the fate that awaited her if she pulled the sword from the stone, despite the fact that if she failed to do so, all his work invested in her would be for nothing. He considered the suffering she went through thanks to her idealism his mistake, and regretted it deeply. He fled to Avalon before her fateful battle on Camlann rather than witness her fall in person, and open observing with his Clairvoyance her finding peace and resolution just before her death he exuberantly shouts with joy and delight.
Such displays of true emotion from him are exceptionally rare, however, and not something he'll readily admit to, although when they do occur they seem to have a certain childish purity to them, that of someone still inexperienced and immature when it comes to such feelings.
The matter of his emotions aside, Merlin is also prone to being both capricious and lazy. He'll often do things on a whim, or simply stop doing something for the same reason. He'll take shortcuts whenever possible, not being keen on investing more time or effort than strictly necessary. He's also very fond of women, particularly in intimate encounters, though this may well be in large part due to the incubus side of his heritage. Of course, all of these things seem to help contribute to the image he maintains, making him come across as laid back and flighty, rarely seeming to take anything seriously.
One other significant point, however, is that Merlin is very much a liar. The fake facade he nearly constantly projects aside, he has little problem twisting words, using illusions, lying by omission, and all manner of such deception to achieve his goals. He's even gone so far as to deceive a goddess in order to get her assistance with a task, despite earlier mentioning a reluctance to spy on the same with his Clairvoyance. And not to mention, he's hardly honest with himself, either. He claims to be completely lacking in human emotions, for example, even though certain of his actions strongly suggest otherwise.
Finally, Merlin is incredibly conflicted. His dual natures are strongly at odds with each other--incubi are beings that feed or prey on humans, after all--and he clearly doesn't entirely fit in with either one or the other. It's evident that he both tries to distance himself from his human side by calling himself inhuman or an incubus and talking about how he lacks certain human traits, while at the same time he clearly rejects much of his incubus nature by doing things such as proudly asserting that his choice to support and protect humanity is something no ordinary incubus could do. And while most the time this conflict is hidden under the surface, it's most definitely there and influencing his actions.
Character Abilities:
Servant Abilities: To start with, as he'll be arriving as the Servant version of himself, Merlin has all the standard Servant powers of things like being able to switch to an immaterial body (capable of phasing through walls, but not capable of interacting with anything material) at will, and similarly materializing/dematerializing things like his clothing and weapon(s) at will. Injuries to his person, while they may give the superficial appearance of wounds, are simply damage to a spiritual body that can be easily healed simply by restoring sufficient amounts of magical energy, regardless of the apparent severity of the injury. Only damage to a Servant's Spiritual Core (or sufficiently draining it of power via other injuries and expenditures) will actually "kill" a Servant.
He also possesses a number of 'skills' as a Servant that he can use. These are are follows:
- Dreamlike Charisma: A skill that allows him to inspire allies, boosting their offensive power as well as replenishing some of their magical energy.
- Illusion: An ability he excels at in general (and which will be addressed later), but as a skill it specifically manifests as being able to deceive an enemy to such a degree as to render a group of allies essentially invisible and impossible to attack temporarily.
- Hero Creation: Basically Merlin gives a powerful boosts an ally, making them stronger and tougher.
- Territory Creation: One of the skills of the Caster class of Servants (to which Merlin belongs), it reflects an ability to detect and work with leylines and such natural sources of magical energy to benefit himself to a small degree. He's pretty mediocre-ranked in this one as he's so capricious and doesn't stay focused.
- Item Construction: Another class skill, this relates to making magically-enhanced tools, which again can be used to aid in whatever task (or battle) they're meant for. Again, Merlin's only so-so at this one, so don't expect anything flashy!
- Rapid Casting: Exactly what it says on the tin. In theory a mage as powerful and skilled as Merlin ought to be able to cast extra fast, and in fact he has truly fantastic pronunciation, but in reality, he's prone to biting his tongue if he goes too fast.
- Mixed Blood: This skill is a way that his hybrid nature manifests itself when Merlin's acting as a Servant. Essentially, because he has supernatural heritage, he generates/regenerates magical energy a little faster than most.
- Self-Manifestation: A skill that, essentially, allows Merlin to "summon himself" as a Servant. Given that technically he doesn't meet the qualifications to be a Heroic Spirit in the first place, this is pretty much the only way he can be a Servant. This is a very irregular skill, however, as normally only certain beings known as Beasts can use it.
Finally, like all Servants he possesses an extra powerful skill known as a Noble Phantasm. Merlin's is called Garden of Avalon, and when he uses it, it gradually heals and replenishes the energy of up to seven allies over a period of time.
Incubus Abilities: Due to his nature/heritage, Merlin has a number of powers related to his incubus side. While some of these are somewhat moot and/or no indication has been given that he's able to use them in his Servant form, they're still listed for reference:
- Dream Walking/Manipulation: Technically, Merlin's true self is that which exists in dreams. He's capable of entering the dreams of others, and exerting a degree of control over them. This is not without limits, for example, the brain activity that accompanies REM sleep can allow someone to more easily resist him. He does retain this ability in his Servant form, including to the extent that it's possible if his 'physical' Servant body is destroyed, he can still recover/regenerate from his dream self. (However the opposite, destroying his dream body, does affect both versions.)
- Immortality: To put it simply, Merlin is immortal. He's ageless, and quite possibly cannot be killed by any conventional means. It's a plot point that he cannot be a Heroic Spirit due to the fact that there's no possible timeline/future in existence in which he'd die. This only properly applies to his real body, however, his Servant self can be destroyed just as any other Servant, aside from the caveat mentioned above.
- Shapechanging: Illusions aside, it's mentioned in official side materials that Merlin is capable of changing himself into something "not human" so completely that "even the insides" are changed. In other words, a true transformation, not just an illusory appearance. Given that Servants by nature aren't "human" anyway, in that their bodies are comprised entirely of magical energy that's merely shaped in a certain way, this presumably applies to Merlin's real body.
- Emotion/Dream Eating: Incubi feed on emotions, and Merlin has inherited this trait. To be specific, it's the energy produced by the human mind, with emotions and dreams being particularly obvious manifestations of it. Merlin is apparently able to subsist solely on this to the point of not needing ordinary food or drink to live at all; this probably ties in with his immortality mentioned above. And yes, he can also alternatively do this via sex, as the magical energy that he feeds on is also readily found in bodily fluids. As a Servant, this still effectively applies, as a Servant is literally composed of magical energy and requires more on a regular basis to remain manifested.
Magecraft and Other Abilities: Of course Merlin is also a mage, and some of the things he's shown or mentioned to do don't fit neatly in the above categories, so this is essentially everything else that's noteworthy:
- Magecraft: Again, Merlin is a mage. He's capable of casting a wide variety of spells, the exact extent of which is unclear. Some examples include powerful illusions, and being able to temporarily physically alter a person (e.g. giving a woman functioning male genitals; yes, he did that in canon once). He presumably created the "Invisible Air" spell that Saber uses to conceal her sword in Fate/Stay Night, was responsible for the enchantment that held Caliburn in the stone, and somehow managed to get internet access from Avalon. As he's a Caster class Servant, his abilities in this area would be largely the same, though it's noteworthy that for all his raw power, he's capricious and lazy and tends to get tongue-tied, which somewhat limits his ability much of the time.
- Clairvoyance: This is an innate skill of Merlin's and remains active as a Servant. Quite simply, he's capable of observing any place he chooses at the present time. There are no limits to what he can observe, though there's practical limits to what's safe to. For example, in canon he refuses to attempt to spy on some goddesses on the basis that they would be able to detect what he's doing, and would probably retaliate.
- Swordsmanship: In the Fate/ universe, it was Merlin himself who taught the young, future King Arthur swordsmanship. Needless to say, he's quite capable at it, and in fact prefers the straightforward method of using a sword to dispatch an enemy to the effort and hassle of casting a spell.
- Affinity for plants: Merlin seems to have an affinity for plants, especially flowers, that goes far beyond mere magecraft. For example, the game Fate/Grand Order goes so far as showing flowers spontaneously blooming at the feet of his sprite. He also is known by the nickname "Mage of Flowers" for this reason, and this ability is present in his Servant form as well.
- Threat to humanity: While official materials have been extremely vague on the details, it's been mentioned that Merlin, perhaps due to his heritage, is technically considered a "juvenile" of a being that in its mature form would be an incredibly dangerous threat to humanity. Nothing about what this means has been revealed, however, but it's probably safe to assume that this applies to something to do with the nature of his real body, and probably wouldn't be invoked in his current Servant form. Probably.
Items: The clothes on his back, and a nice tall wizard staff that conveniently has a short sword mounted in it. It should be noted that as a Servant, both of these would count as part of his Servant "body" in that they're materializations of it, hence the above note about being able to dematerialize either or both at will. So it's debatable whether they truly count as items, but probably worth listing here anyway!
Other:
Imprint
You may provide *up to three options* for your initial imprint. If you do not use all three, you may delete the extra space. We recommend including at least one scenery imprint.
Imprint Type: Scenery
Summary: An unearthly beautiful field of gently rolling hills, covered in grass and fragrant flowers.
Full Details: An imprint of the vast, flower-filled fields of Avalon, it resembles a grassy plain filled with beautiful flowers. It has an unearthly feel to it, a little too vivid, perhaps, or too fragrant, and the flowers don't quite match any known variety, while on the whole it exudes a sense of peaceful beauty. Avalon is a land of the faeries, after all. It's also quite, well, magical. That is, imbued with a certain inherent, latent magical energy that those who come from eras or places without it might find uncomfortable, even dangerous... And that those with the proper knowhow could tap into. Not to mention, it's the sort of place that would seem naturally to be home to various manner of magical creatures, benign or not. A beautiful and peaceful place, but dangerous for anyone who doesn't belong there.
Imprint Type: Species
Summary: Incubi/succubi - magical beings that feed on human emotions through dreams and sex.
Full Details: An incubus (or succubus) is an inherently magical creature that preys upon humans. More specifically, it feeds on the energy generated from human thoughts and emotions. There are several ways an incubus can access this, from relatively small amounts in just normal day to day matters, to more intense amounts from dreams--which an incubus can influence, often towards causing nightmares--or the exchange of bodily fluids that occurs during sex. Incubi also lack fixed forms, being able to change their appearance at will; this means that in some cases, whether an individual is an "incubus" or a "succubus" may simply be a matter of which form is convenient at the time.
Imprint Type: Species
Summary: Dragons - huge, reptilian magical creatures with four legs, two wings, and the ability to use powerful breath attacks.
Full Details: One of the most powerful and fearsome of phantasmal creatures, there's a good reason dragons inspired so many legends. They are huge, highly magical creatures capable of incredible destruction if angered. The greatest of true dragons have four legs and two wings, though subspecies like the two-legged two-winged wyvern also exist. Aside from their claws, teeth, tail, and such other natural attributes, dragons also possess the ability to use powerful breath attacks, spewing a large cone of fire or acid or such.
Samples
Crouched in the grass, heedless of any possibility of dirt staining the white of his long robes, Merlin reached out to the small flower. His fingertips gently brushed its stem and caressed its pale blossoms, while he meanwhile bent all his focus on the seedling. Attempting to sense it, to will it to spread its blooms just a little further. But there was nothing. Not that he seemed to be lacking in anything, as far as he could detect, there were no bonds, nothing in particular suppressing his power. It was more like it simply... Didn't exist outside of him.
He sat back with a small huff, more out of habit than any actual true annoyance. So, this place truly did play by its own rules, in some bizarre way. It was frankly a little disconcerting; for all he seemed to lack any need for sustenance, even his incubus instincts found the sensation of being completely unable to sense the emotions and dreams of humans disturbing. Like suddenly both not needing and not being able to breathe.
Not that Merlin had any intent of letting on to any of these thoughts, of course. Even now, were someone to stumble across him despite his efforts to happen to wander off to as remote a spot as he could manage, he probably looked like he was merely idly enjoying the scenery. The utter strangeness of this place, this world, was enough of a concern, but that there were other people here as well... Well, that could bode well, ill, or anything in between. Until he had a better grasp of what was going on, and what if anything to do about it, Merlin saw no reason to be anything more than the aloof and good-humored, mysterious and occasionally helpful mage that he's always presented himself as. Or tried to, in any case.
Which meant that he really ought to be getting back to see if anyone else had chanced upon anything of interest. A flicker of a hint of annoyance crossed his mind at that thought, as he was reminded once again that his Clairvoyance, too, seemed to be useless. Which meant that he really did have to walk all the way back, rather than lay here in the flowers and merely watch from afar. It was all so terribly inconvenient and troublesome.
Alas.
Well, best to just get it over with, in any case. Or so Merlin reasoned as he heaved himself back to his feet. At least now he had a fair idea of the limits of what he could and couldn't do at present, which in turn would hopefully begin to give him a feel for how this strange place operated in general. But he may as well go and see if anyone else had uncovered something useful, the more he found out without having to do the work himself, the better!
Besides, a few of the ladies were rather good-looking, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to see if he could convince one to spend an evening with him.