Welcome to Gaia! ::

An old woman named Hannaniah hummed to herself as she kneaded a large ball of dough. She paused a moment to wipe her brow on her rolled up sleeve, dust some flour off of her plain brown dress, and fluff up her petticoats. Just as she was about to return to her work she heard a light thumping behind her. The woman turned her gray haired head to look at the window. There, banging desperately against the glass, was a small humanoid with violet skin and sparkling dragonfly wings. “Oh, my gracious!” Hannaniah exclaimed, rushing to the window and opening the glass. “There you are, my tiny friend.” In a flash the two-inch-tall person was out the window and up in the pure blue sky, a sky where magnificent machines and unbelievable winged beasts were as frequent as birds. Far below in the streets of Arcacia –the capitol of Flynn-, humans walked alongside goblins, fauns, centaurs, personal androids, probes, dwarfs, and so many more races. This is the World of Cairn.

The city of Arcacia itself was decked out in colourful flowers, flags, and streamers. The reason for this was a festival, and the reason for the festival was a quest. People came from far and wide to join in the quest for the fallen angel. Not more than a few weeks ago, a light had appeared in the sky and had shot above the cities and villages of Flynn and it’s surrounding kingdoms, and had clearly fallen to earth somewhere out in the wilderness. Feathers, too, had fallen from the sky like snow to the world below.

Many hundreds of years before, there had been a prophecy by an elder of one of the ancient races on her deathbed regarding these happenings. The whole of Cairn heard her dying words, for it was aired on the Holo-screens. After all, the death of the head elder of the high elves was a big deal. Her words were these:

“When feathers rain from the star,
A savior shall come,
A winged one from the heavens.
One who bears the light
That will destroy the legions of shadow
When the day of darkness comes.”

But not everyone seeks the Angel with good intention in their hearts and minds. There are others, known as the shadow legions, which have been around for much longer than the prophecy. They are the ones who fight for evil, and they are lead by the witch king, who has somehow been the same man for the entire duration of the legions. He and his followers have constantly warred with the other kingdoms for many ages and seek to rule Cairn. They wreak havoc upon the world and have sent many of the old races into near extinction. Now the Witch King wants to find the angel and destroy him before he recovers from his fall to Cairn.

All races that are good in the world wish to overthrow the evil overlord. People from all races, kingdoms, and countries now come to the capitol of Flynn in order to begin the search for the Angel, for good news spreads fast. It is widely believed that the Angel will be a great hero who will lead the peoples of Cairn against the Witch King and his shadow legions and defeat them in bloody conquest.

The rulers of many of the kingdoms including Flynn have declared that they will give a large reward sum of gold to whoever finds and retrieves the Angel. Each kingdom is desperate to get their hands on the "ultimate weapon" as some of the more snobby leaders call the Angel. Yes, many seek the Angel out of greed, but there are many who search with pure hearts.

What is your story? For what side do you fight? Do you seek the Angel, or do you just go about your business? Only you can choose the path to your destiny.

Profile Skeletons:

Just to clarify, "Player", "Discoverer", "Inventor", and "Founder" would be your Gaia name.

Discoverer: Um..God (obviously)
Race name: Angel
Characteristics: An Angel has feathery wings and a halo. They have strong powers and are know for being pure and holy. As far as anyone knows, this is the case, but the people of Cairn know little about Angels.
Specialty: Unknown
Other: Unknown


Discoverer: Kat Kazetouhi
Race name: Shade
Characteristics: A shade is normally human in appearance. However, they have the explicit ability to shape-shift into certain animals, depending on their clan and family. Their magic abilities usually have to do with their shift creature and clan.
These are the Shade clans, corresponding name, and families (and their name meanings) under each clan:


To give some examples of the shape-shifting power of a shade, A Fuka family member would be able to turn into a shark, a half-shark half-human, a human with many sharp teeth, and a reef shark (which is smaller). If the Fuka member married a Tsuru member then their child could do all that their parents could, plus turning into a winged shark (but why?), a crane with many sharp teeth, and a winged mermaid. This child would also likely have some wind and water powers, but would be much more susceptible to fire magics.
Moving onto the name. An individual tags a name title belonging to just themselves onto the end of their other names. So the format is this: Name family-clan title. A child with parents from two different families would be named in this format: Name familyfamily-clan title. So our above example (let's call him kid) would be named Kid TsuruFuka-Mizu Sharkbait. For cross-clan pairings, the child takes the name of their father's clan.
Specialty: Shape-shifting, elemental magics.
Other: Shades are a dying race.
Also, as you may have noticed, there are two "Karasu" families, each being a black bird. This is why the two families are commonly spies. A cross breed of Karasu is an exception to the name rule.
Shades live 100 times as long as a normal human. So the longest that they generally live is 10000 years, but that is a rare age to reach. A shade is not a true adult until they are 2500 years old. They are considered adolescent from the age of 600 to 2400.
Winged shades may be confused for angels, but here is how one may tell the difference: A winged shade when in Anima form, will likely have feathers on their arms, talons, beaks, or bird-like eyes as well as the standard wings. Shades are more feral and earthy than angels.


Discoverer: Kat Kazetouhi
Race name: Pixie
Characteristics: These small purple skinned, dragonfly winged humanoids are known for being mischievous but kind natured, although in many kingdoms they are viewed as pests. They are well thought of in Flynn and some desert nations, however.
Pixies tend to have blue, white, or black hair, and large yellow eyes.
Specialty: Earth, wind, charms.
Other: They have an overwhelming love for sweet things, and can often be found infesting candy stores.

Kingdom: Flynn
Ruler title: King
Ruler name: King Rizzol
Geography: Mild temperatures. Never too hot or too cold. Plenty of perfectly green grass and ideally flower-filled meadows.
National Icons: The National plant is the Morning Glory. The National animal is the Unicorn. These represent peace and happiness.
Description: Flynn is an overall peaceful kingdom. It is (finish later). Smaller towns are mostly very standard and plain.
It is not, however, the best place to find an adventure.
Citizens of Flynn all dress differently, because many of them are or are descended from refugees from neighboring kingdoms.
Flag: The flag of Flynn is a sleeping white unicorn outlined in blue and surrounded by blue morning glories. These are set on a white field. (image coming soon)




Kingdom: Tashikani
Ruler title: Sheik
Ruler name: Sheik Abdul
Geography: Desert. A lot of sand, dunes, and dust. But also many beautiful oasis and exotic plants.
National Icons: The national plant is the Desert Five-spot. The national animal is the Cougar. These represent beauty and strength. The capitol of Tashikani is Midrahine (Mid-Lrah-heen).
Description: Upon entering a city in Tashikani, you will most likely see buildings carved out of stone or made from mud. Bigger cities have cobblestone streets and large marketplaces. Smaller towns may only consist of a dozen or more canvas tents.
The capitol, Midrahine, is known for it's gorgeous marble mosques, palaces, and mosaics. On many of the building there, mosaics and paintings are set into the stone building sides, providing a fascinating spectacle for visitors.
Flag: A gold cougar pouncing with a desert five-spot on it's chest. This is on a bronze field.

Founder: Kat Kazetouhi
City/town name: Midrahine (capitol)
Kingdom: Tashikani
Mayor: None (the Sheik lives here)
Description: Midrahine, is known for it's gorgeous marble mosques, palaces, and mosaics. On many of the building there, mosaics and paintings are set into the stone building sides, providing a fascinating spectacle for visitors.
In the very center of Midrahine is the Sheik's palace, which is made from marble and gold and set with many beautiful, glittering gems.

((These shall be updated whenever. If You have any Ideas for a new kingdom, let me know.))
Kingdom:
Ruler title:
Ruler name:
Geography:
National Icons: (national plant, animal, what have you.)
Description: (Give me the type of buildings, way of warfare, traditions, clothing style, anything that will bring the kingdom to life)
Flag: (optional)

Kingdom:
Ruler title:
Ruler name:
Geography:
National Icons: (national plant, animal, what have you.)
Description: (Give me the type of buildings, way of warfare, traditions, clothing style, anything that will bring the kingdom to life)
Flag: (optional)

Kingdom:
Ruler title:
Ruler name:
Geography:
National Icons: (national plant, animal, what have you.)
Description: (Give me the type of buildings, way of warfare, traditions, clothing style, anything that will bring the kingdom to life)
Flag: (optional)

[[Reserved]]

Nyx Takaneko-Tsuki Silverwing. That was her full name. But what people called her was Nyx Silverwing. It was her own name. She had given herself the name of Silverwing, as any Shade child tags their own name to the end of their sur-names. Nyx smiled slightly in the darkness that was lit only by the blue light of the plasma screens around her. She missed her old village. Well, at least the technology in this city is awesome. She thought to herself as she typed calmly but speedily on the floating blue keypad in front of her.

Nyx looked at the time-keeping screen and sighed, sitting back in the sleek streamline chair and running her hand through her short silver hair. "Time to go." She muttered. The shade girl stood up and pressed something in the air which turned off all of the screens. Then she walked a few brave steps through the complete darkness before a door opened suddenly before her.

"Have-a-nice-day-Nyx-Silver-wing." Said a mechanical voice.

"Thanks, REZ." Nyx responded casually. She walked through another set of doors (which were quite visible and nearly blindingly white) into a crowded marketplace. There were Robots and faeries, Cyborgs and people dressed in simple rough tunics. It seemed as though two worlds had come together to become one.

Nyx put her hands in her pockets and walked down the street for a time. But the street was crowded. She shook her head. "I'll never get to the assembly at this rate. Better take the better route." And without another word, Nyx rose into the sky on a pair of beautiful silver wings.