Steinbach isn't like most realms. Directly in the center of it lies Fran's mansion, and it's massive enough to be considered its own province. It's approximately twice the size of a high god's temple, and its architecture is Gothic. Surrounding the mansion is the Forest of Dread. It's two miles long at its thinnest, and four miles at the longest, and completely surrounds the mansion. All sorts of escaped experiments live here, along with a variety of wild beasts. North of the forest is the city of Franken, the architecture reminiscent of modern Japan. South-east of the forest is a ruined city, the true history of which is lost to all but the most wizened of scholars. South-east of the forest is a mountain range, the tallest of which is viewable from almost any location in the realm.

Fran's people are sepperated into three groups. The first group, the Cotrucii (The plural of Cotrucis), are basically people that were heavily modified/saved/reconstructed/whatever by Fran. They are loyal to her to a degree, and are extremely diverse. They make up about 4 to 5% of the total population. The second group, the Shellies, and normal humanoids, with the sole exception that they seem to be able to adapt to almost any sort of injury or modification that they receive, whether it be mundane, magical or divine in nature. They make up about 90% of the population. The final group, the Forsaken, are Cotrucii that have either view Fran as a twisted monster, gone insane due to the surgeries or otherwise turn away from her. They are a threat only to Fran and the Cutrucii in most cases, and they make up the last part of the population.

Fran appears in her mansion, a dazed and absent minded look on her face. "Well, what now?" She asks herself, looking around for anything interesting.

She'd awoken in her bedchambers. At her side, a long drought of some liquor or another. The room was very dark. There was a bookcase, there, too - and a workbench.

Fran walks over to the bookcase and skims through the titles, before leaving the room.

They were mostly medical journals and manuals, though there was a little fiction, and a few mystical books, such as Msonus's An Eye to the Heavens.

Outside the room was a wide, empty dining hall. The cutlery remained still.

"Well, that's an odd place for a dining room." Fran mutters to herself, walking down the room, grabbing a piece of cutlery in the process.

The knife is silver, sharp, and designed for cutting beef and similar meats.

Knife in hand, Fran heads towards the closest exit, intent on exploring more of the mansion.

The nearest exit lead to a supply chamber, filled with food and drink (amongst other things), and dust. It was relatively empty, though Fran knew that there was enough food there to last a family a year.

"Alright. Not the kind of exit I was looking for, but..." Fran mutters to herself, looking for yet another unexplored doorway to wander through.

The doorway leads to stairs; the stairs, to a common room.

There, Fran is met by another exit, leading to what appears to be a garden.

Fran heads up (or down) the stairs and into the common room. Taking a quick glance around for anything interesting, she then heads into the garden.

Within the garden is a strange creature, made of arms and hands - and, it appears, mouths.

"Hellllllooo, missstress," it crooned.

The garden was otherwise beautiful.

Fran smiles at the creature. "Hello." She says curtsying. "Has anything happened recently?"

"Misstress," said the thing made of things, "There has beeeeen nothinggg of note.. nothingg except the crusadddddes of the foooolish Vactrn, misstesss.."

"Well, if they're foolish, then we should go stop them." Fran says. "Do you know where they are?"

"Theyyy come from the ciiiiiityyyy, misss... with knivvvesss and flammessss they come..."

The thing made of things was scared of fire, Fran recalled.

"Well if they are in the city we should go there." Fran says, ignoring the fact that there were probably more of them then she should be dealing with. "Now... where's the closest exit to the city..." She mutters to herself, wracking her brain.

"Ccccccome thrrrouuuugh the gardensssss.. and down the dirrrrrrt pathhhh, missstresss.."

The thing gave her adequate directions for the city.

Fran follows the thing's instructions, heading through the garden and down the dirt path to grandmother's house, making her way towards the city.

The city was short and squat and filthy. Still, Fran saw - form a distance - that the soldiers wore their shining blades with pride, and that the standard of living couldn't have been that bad - there were no homeless, and everyone seemed to have a purpose. The city was protected by extremely high walls, easily twice the height of the tallest building and made of solid brick.

Fran walks back a few meters, making sure that nobody sees her. She pauses for a while, thinking to herself. "Now, which would be better, over or under..."

(All good.)

The soldiers looked heavily armed. Blades and bows. Still enough to kill a God. Luckily, it was night, and they hadn't seen her..

Fran concentrates on the ground, attempting to open a small tunnel using her Earth magic, so she can enter the city from below.

Fran knew how to conduct the ritual. She would need to draw the circular outline of the tunnel with a sharp stick or knife, then bathing the inside of the circle with fresh waters. She must then then add a single drop of her own blood to the water, ordering the earth to follow her command, and visualize where she wanted the tunnel to open.

Fran goes about finding a suitably sharp stick and draws a circle in the earth. She then uses her water magic to shower the inside of the circle with water, and punctures her finger with the stick. She visualised the tunnel opening up just on the inside of the brick wall.

Fran felt exhaustion knock her; she was sure that the magic had worked.

In front of her was a long, dark, deep hole - the tunnel - that, she believed, led to the city.

Fran walks down the tunnel slowly, just in case someone on the other side had seen it open.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:30, Sun 31 Jan 2010.

No one tried to halt her. She made it to the other end easily - the hold came out behind an inn, of sorts, and only the rats witnessed her ascent.

Fran walks to the corner of the inn and peeks around, hoping not to startle anyone.

The inn was crowded and busy. Filled with life. as Fran entered, however, all went dead. They recognized the bolts. The lab-coat..

"The Bloody-Handed Surgeon," one of them muttered, and they all went for their weapons.

(*Note to self; Make more coherent posts)

"Uh-oh." Fran mutters to herself, stepping backwards and turning around. She hurries for the tunnel she made, while attempting to figure out the easiest way to make it collapse.

Fran was stopped by the booming of a cannon. The stone wall to her side cracked, hit by the massive impact. Fran turned a corner, but was thrown to the ground as a horrific pain lurched in her stomach - she'd been shot from behind. Stumbling, she fell, still trying to scramble towards the mansion.

(*Note to self: Stop getting in over my head. Portals are my friend)

"It'll take alot more then that to kill me." Fran mutters to herself, opening a portal infront of herself and crawling though. It didn't matter to her where she went.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:39, Thu 18 Feb 2010.

Fran wheezed. It was getting harder to breathe. The pain in her gut only grew more intense as she stepped through the portal -

- through heat - the crying of scorpions - an ancient curse -

- and into driest Desolace.

Fran sits up in her bed, in a cold sweat. "Well... that could have gone way better." She slowly gets out of her bed, checking to see if she's still injured.

Her leg throbbed. Sand had gotten caught in the wound. She'd need a doctor if it wasn't going to get infected..

Fortunately for Fran she was not only a doctor, but also a god and quite good at Life magic. She ponders about how to cure her leg not only with Life magic, but with seeing if there was a way to do it with Earth or Order, if possible.

With Earth magic, she could tap into the natural life-lines of the Earth and channel it into her being, staving off infection and speeding up recovery time. With Order magic, she could try and restore her original body as it was intended to be - but this, she knew, could be disastrous. It would take a large amount of energy to close her wound with Life magic, but possible.

Fran concentrates on her leg, using her Earth magic to cure it. After she finishes, she gets up and leaves the mansion, heading in the opposite direction as last time.

A slow hour passed, as Fran's leg bathed in the energies of the Earth. It passed.. and she'd recovered.

Fran soon found herself in a bathing area, of sorts. Within, there was a single individual: a dashingly attractive, fully unclothed, man. A long iron blade and assorted clothes lined the bath behind him. What was he doing here?

(Woohoo necropostan')

Fran stayed where she was and watched and waited, she didn't know what to make of the situation.

"Hello, mistress," said the man, and continued to tend to the pools of the bathing area. Lilly flowers floated in the water and steam rose softly from the baths.