The Cobalt Alliance is bound by no nation. They serve none but themselves, seeking fortune and adventure. Now and then--more often than not--they do some good for groups that are unknown, forgotten or cast aside by normal, lawful society. They are a group of outcaste Dragon-blooded and half-breeds, with allies that are equally eclectic, ranging from Tya to elementals to rumored Anathema. They have made enemies, as well: The pirates of Siakal's cult. The Storm Maiden Tashalmira. The Lintha of Dara-Said. It remains to be seen who else will befriend or betray them, as the Cobalt Alliance rises to prominence in the Western Seas.

The Cobalt fleet is currently five ships strong, including a proud First Age light warship, the Spring Dryad II; the fast courier Black Marlena, home to a raven-haired messenger spirit; the former pirate vessel Hammerhead, striving to build a new reputation; and Akahiro, the living island, crewed by a host of nymphs and jokun. Accompanying them as well is the Southern merchant vessel, Hirdu's Ambition, whose captain they saved from the grasp of Lintha Dara-Said Father Hazhain Sul.

It is now the month of Resplendent Earth, 768. The Cobalt Alliance has docked in the City of the Steel Lotus, An-Teng, in the tropical, temperate Southwest. Their shore leave is the first in some time as they crossed the seas from Wavecrest, battled the Lintha, explored fabulous locations, and ultimately took hold of two powerful artifacts: part of the Libram of Ancient Artifice, a treatise on First Age crafting, and the Blood Chalice of Kimbery, rumored to be the key to an awakening of Lintha pure blood.

A 'chance' meeting with the infamous Moray Darktide, pirate of Skullstone, introduced them to an unlikely ally, Silver Shell. Her motivation seems to be the destruction of the Chalice, though her association with Moray and Skullstone makes her altruism questionable. She took a gamble and revealed her Anathema nature to the Alliance as a bargaining chip--they could, at any time, turn her in to the Dragon-Blooded of An-Teng. With that, Shell made her offer: she would introduce the Alliance to artifact experts in An-Teng who could shed light on how the Blood Chalice might be destroyed.

Thus the Cobalt Alliance convened on the 14th day of Resplendent Earth to meet with the Artifact Decrypter known as Horus, the Blind Osprey. Following his elaborate directions, they split up into three groups, taking separate routes to his base of operations in An-Teng's capital. At the Thespian's Mirrored Veil, they met Horus and his allies, including Maryam Lamya-kin, a Southern mercenary tasked with bringing Horus the Sundering Sword.

Within the safety of Horus's wards, the Alliance investigated the possibility that the unusual sword--known to artifact-hunters for its potential for destruction--could rid Creation of the Chalice for good. The findings are shaky at best. The Sundering Sword has, along with its destructive power, an incredibly toxic addictive quality. It carries a sliver of the Void itself, the most powerful destructive force ever made. It could very well sunder the Lintha artifact, but at the same time, free the soul of Kimbery seething within. Kareth relates as much before leaving with Zeru and Treon to find their missing crew-members.

Kiana, Hera and Silver Shell never made it to the meeting with Horus. Chased down by a mysterious unmarked carriage, their carriage driver turned on them and grappled with Kiana as Hera and Shell attempted to escape. Jumping out only made them more of a target--in more ways than one. Another incredible artifact, the fourth they have encountered in such a short time, has fallen into the hands of enemy Lintha. A single shot in their direction killed several innocents in its path, and forced Silver Shell to defend herself with Solar Essence.

The Alliance is now split in two locations. One group stands on the streets of the City of the Steel Lotus, contending with hostile Lintha, a crowd growing wiser to Shell's true nature, and a missing Kiana. The others remain with Horus at the Thespian's, preparing at long last to unveil to him the Blood Chalice that brought them there in the first place. What will they discover, and will they have time before the greedy Lintha or the Wyld Hunt discover them and chase them from An-Teng?

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Taking the Scenic Route (Hera, Kareth, Kiana, Treon, Zeru): link to a message in this game
The Thespian's Mirrored Veil (Darel, Jadira, Lasuri, Maryam): link to a message in this game

OOC: By tomorrow these threads should have updates to them. In the meantime, why not post a bit about your character in this thread, some interesting tidbits you'd like us all to remember so that we can get back into the game? :)
This message was last updated by the GM at 07:34, Tue 14 Feb 2012.

So I guess by way of recap, heres the what's what about Kareth:

Kareth is Fire Aspect from Lookshy.  He's a magitech engineer, but not a sorcerer engineer.  In fact he's incapable of learning sorcery at all because he's a Dragon of a Different color.  Early on, Jadira and Lasuri discovered he was a Necromancer and confronted him about it, but agreed to not tell the crew.   Their acceptance of him earned his loyalty.

The rest of the crew did not know he was a necromancer until just before he left the group at the Thespian's Mirrored Veil to come look for the Kiana, Hera, and Silver Shell. While running a test on the sword that Maryam brought with her, Kareth decided to use Iron Circle Countermagic on the sword to see how it reacted.

He has recently acquired a pet for the purposes of helping he guard the chalice.  It's a kind of dog called a brine mutt (don't go looking for it, it's custom made).  Long Story short, Brine Mutts were bread to be useful on ships.  His pet's name is Fall.

While Kareth tends to be cold and aloof, people can see a softer side of him when he deals with the dog.  His perceived attitude is more a product of being socially awkward than mean.

His main area of expertise is dealing with artifacts.

Ooh Ooh My turn.

Peleps Zeru is one of 3 sons of Peleps Kaizoku and grew up aboard a ship named the Marianna's Ghost. He learned to fight from the boarders and to sail from the crew. He is most at home in the rigging of a ship, but he's no stranger to being behind the helm.

He left the empire because he couldn't deal with the intrigue and the politics (being not very good at them), not that anyone knows that of course. He was shipped off to the House of Ancient Stone where he perfected his current use of the Seafaring Hero Style.

Oft found in his pocket is a white cat with turquoise spots named Lucky Coral, or Coral for short. It's interestingly intelligent for an animal, and Zeru seems to be able to communicate with it, despite it only making 1 regular sound. Coral has some kind of rapport with Fall, although she finds fall to be too friendly and therefor suspicious. she still finds herself enjoying the dog's company.

Since coming aboard the Cobalt Alliance Zeru has proven himself a navigator and a salesman, as well as taking a small boarding party aboard a lintha stolen ship and acquiring it for the alliance. The ship, named the Black Marlena, has taken a liking to him and has shown some remarkable powers. Like making the ship grow wings and skim across the tops of the waves. She's kind of possessive, and has expensive tastes but she's got a soft spot for the crew that lives on her now.

Speaking of crew, Zeru's crew is a small one, but they are quite effective. Cinna is Zeru's first mate and his lovely love, Antov has been teaching Zeru to cook and is a stable fighter although he was wounded in the lintha fight. Brogan and Curran are born sailors although not incredibly bright and ex-slaves if my memory serves me right. Sunden is a mute and acrobat. And from the inside of Rakatau there is a nymph Melusine who has joined the Marlena's crew to better herself. She was struck blind by the chalice.

Guess I'll drop a little something here for those who might have forgotten about our Earth Princess!

Kiana White-Fist is the newest captain in the Cobalt Alliance.  Her 'Ship' is actually a large earth elemental named Akihiro, and her crew is composed of water nymphs and another race of earth elementals called Jokun.  She was awarded this honor after the Battle of Rakatau (calling it that!), shortly after liberating the Chalice of Kimberly from the mamoth elemental.

Originally, Kiana heralds from a powerful City-State called the Crimson Isles, which is actually a collection of three large islands.  The Isle is home to many rich resources, and thanks to its geographic features, is nearly impossible for the Realm to conquer.  It is, however, an ally to the Realm, providing resources and trade.  Kiana was the daughter of the General-King Mehkong Kiando, who lead the Crimson Isles with brilliant tactics and a firm, yet generous hand.  It was he who taught Kiana the Immaculate Earth Dragon Style (as himself was an exiled monk) and instilled within her a staunch moral compass, as well as her yearning for knowledge and amazing tactical mind.  When Kiando died in battle, however, Remori was subjected to myriad torture and shame by her Mother.  It was during this horrible time in her life that Kiana eventually 'hatched', and decided it was best if she left, taking only what she could carry of her father's armor.  This is how she was eventually brought into the Cobalt Alliance.

Kiana is only 17 years old, which makes her one of the youngest captains to ever sail the seas of creation, but Lasuri was right to give her such responsibilities.  Kiana is easily one of the most brilliant tactical minds of the current age, and has shown in several battles that she is quickly becoming a master of her father's form of the Earth Dragon Style.  Kiana is fairly quite, and many would consider her somber, but thanks to her time with the Alliance, she has become much more friendly and outgoing.

My turn then!

Darel Arwan is an outcaste Dragon-Blooded native from the West, who Exalted while a Wyld Hunt savagely hunted down an Anathema - and punished those who had unwittingly associated with it, he and his master included. His Second Breath saved him from a deadly fall, and it finished to convince him that the Realm had no business whatsoever in this Direction of Creation.

Several years later, Darel is an accomplished sorcerer, a member of the Emissaries of Perfect Waters and their ambassador to the Cobalt Alliance.