Boundless.

The future, like the past, is determined by decisions.

The past is made from decisions that have come and gone.
The future is made of decisions we are making now, and have yet to make.

This has been known, and said to be fact, for generations.

The time has come for a boy, still clueless in what it takes to be a man, to make his future. There is no chance he can do it alone.

"Ferren..."

Ferren, a boy of just thirteen years, was born into a nameless village riddled with despair. The land was unfit to till. The people were sapped of hope, now content to just get by.

"Our village needs help. Do you want to help them?"

His father? Death, by alcohol poisoning. He had passed so long ago. His mother? Struggling to get by and take care of herself and her only son.

If things didn't change, they would never improve, inevitably spiraling downward and leading to the depression and starvation of the entire village.

"I believe, Ferren, that you are just the person to save our village. I have a mission for you, should you agree to it. I've already spoken with your mother about the matter, and have her consent. Please, meet me at the temple tomorrow morning. Do not be afraid.

-- Hornoks, Village Elder"

This letter had been placed on the doorstep of his home and handed to him by his mother without a word.

He couldn't have possibly had any clue as to what this letter meant to his future, and the futures of those who would walk alongside him.



Setting of "Boundless":

The story is set in a world where humanity hasn't progressed much farther than what we refer to as the "middle ages". There are no kings or queens, however, or rulers at all-- there aren't even separate countries. People are divided by village, town, or city instead, with only cities having anything close to what could be called a "king". Dealing with crime, taxes, and all things to do with governing are decided on a location by location basis, leading to both pseudo-utopias and hellish slums.

Organised religion isn't commonly found, instead the focus being on personal philosophy and a general "do unto others" moral standard.

With no countries present, there is no military, but several places do hire mercenary forces as a type of police force. Some villages are purely warrior villages, focusing on hunting and gathering rather than tilling and farming.



Here is where you come in.

Your characters have been enlisted to aid Ferren on his journey, providing him with the brains and the brawn to see it to a happy end. They are just as important as Ferren himself is, so do not mistake him as the pure focus of this story.

If you aren't an experienced roleplayer, aren't good at developing a character as a story progresses, or are not capable of at least sometimes putting out more than one well-written paragraph, this may not be for you.

Click this sentence to view and copy the character template.

Fill it out, then send it to me in a private message. If it's accepted, I'll add it to the character list here and you'll be ready to join the story.

For reference, the current roster is:

1. FERREN, the Chosen (dark_wolf_33)
2. CLARE, the Strong One (Yogi_Bear)
3. RILK, the Huntsman (imaloony8.0)
4. NIGHT, the Blacksmith (nightmare2)
5. TAYUS, the Terrible (TestVirus101)
6. GERALT, the Voiceless (Craizen)
7. CERO, the Deserter (1 : 2)

Applications are closed.

« Last edited by dark_wolf_33 on Mar 26th 2012 »

// Two more spots still open, but we can start. //

The door to the village's meager temple stood before Ferren, who took an anxious gulp and tried to blink away his doubts. Holding his breath, he pushed open the wooden door and entered. The thick scent of incense met his nose, and before he could think about where the elder was, a voice pierced the smokey building.

"Ah, so you came after all, Ferren." From the shadowy corner of the room approached Hornoks, the well-respected elder of the disparaged village.
"Y-Yeah," stuttered Ferren, still scared to death.
"Then I won't waste time. Let me explain why you're here."

The old man placed his hands behind his back as his wrinkled face scrunched for a moment in deep thought, as if he was pondering how to word it for the young boy.

"You know that this town is in dire need of saving."
Ferren nodded nervously.
"I believe you can end this curse before it gets out of hand. I have never revealed this to anyone, for fear it would cause many to greedily thirst for it... but there is an item of great power capable of saving this village. Even more, if it is desired."

Hornoks paced closer to Ferren, looking into the boy's eyes with half-lidded ones of his own.
"There is a sword, fabled to have been placed in this realm since time itself began. It has power beyond the wildest dreams of even the most imaginative man. I want you, my lad, to traverse the labyrinth it is buried in and retrieve it, before the village collapses, and more importantly, before it has the chance to slip into the wrong hands."

This was too much for the boy.
"Elder! You have to reconsider, I..." Ferren's eyes shifted to the ground, "I can't do it. I'm not strong enough, and I--"
"That is why you aren't going alone. I've pooled the little remaining money this town has in reserve and hired a few accomplices for your mission. I feel that they have the utmost ability to keep you safe, and I would trust them even with my own life."

Ferren found this all to be unbelievable. Before he could air any more grievances, Hornoks spoke again.

"Ah, it seems they have arrived."

A tall, slender teenager stepped into the temple, a beautiful bow slung over his shoulder. A shadow from his hood obscured his face, but he quickly removed it, revealing his fire-red hair and his worn, dirty face.
He gave the two a curt nod. "The Evergreen Guild sends its regards," he said. "Your mission will not fail with me at your side; I am the finest warrior the Guild has." Clearly modesty was not this man's forte.

« Last edited by imaloony8.0 on Mar 23rd 2012 »

Walking into the temple at first he ignores those around him, stopping a little ways from the man with the bow, and instead looked around at the temple itself. He too was covered by a hood which he didn't want to remove, on his way here he was approached and given money he only accepted it because it had him coming to this village; which he was already planning to come here. His head turned to the older man of the two in front of him, he bowed his head slightly then turned to the younger one and did the same.

"Sorry for not addressing you before, my name is Night and it will be my pleasure to guide you on your way."

He spoke softly and calmly, though there was also a commanding air around him. He seemed to be relaxed but at the same time he was direct. From under his hood all that was visible was his mouth which showed an friendly open smile.

The door opened for a third time, and a rather large figure entered the temple. She walked a few paces into the building and moved gracefully, even with the added weight of two blades. She quickly scanned the participants of the conversation that she had heard mutterings of outside. The red-haired man, clearly a warrior as well, the older man, surely he wouldn't be accompanying them, the hooded man, or woman, with his back to her. Her cold gaze rested on a child of no more than fifteen and her frown deepened when she saw him. "This is the one?" She asked nobody in particular, fully expecting an answer.

« Last edited by Yogi_Bear on Mar 25th 2012 »

// It's a building, not a tent, Yogi. haha. //

"He is most definitely the one." Hornoks replied to the newcomer, with a tone meant to resolve the doubt he could sense in her attitude. Ferren's eyes looked at the figures standing in front of him, each intimidating in their own way. He had never seen anyone like these people before; they almost seemed like they were from another world. Still, that could be expected from a boy as sheltered as he was.

"Allow me to make formal introductions. Ferren," Hornoks began gesturing at the first of the three people, "This is Rilk. As you have already been told, this is Night. And this is Clare. Please, treat them with respect, for their lives are now being spent to protect yours." Hornoks turned to face the three travelers. "This is Ferren. He's a bright young lad, and I hope that you three counsel him and teach him what it means to be a man. However," his tone grew a bit more serious, "you are being paid to protect him and follow him. Feel free to give him ideas and opinions, but his word on any matter is final."

Hornoks turned back to face Ferren. "Now, my boy, your adventure begins. If you feel the need to pick up more compatriots on your journey, I would suggest doing so. You can never be too sure. And with that," the elder fished in his deep robe's pockets, "take this. I've marked roughly on this map of the land where the labrynth that keeps the sword lays. It is very, very far away, and the mark isn't precise. You'll have to find it yourself, but I'm sure you'll make it in time."

The elder smiled, but there was a moment of awkward silence as the nervous Ferren simply gawked at everyone around him, as if he was mentally trying to wake himself up from a nightmare. The boy's shaky hand grasped the parchment, before he realized he had nowhere to put it.

"Uhm... I don't have a bag..."
"Simple matter. Ask one of these three to carry it for you. They seem more well-equipped, currently."
Ferren gulped. He still wasn't comfortable looking at the three. He didn't feel fit to be in their presence. Now he was supposed to make demands of them?
"I-I uhm..." his eyes glanced at the floor, "c-could one of you hold on to this?" He extended out the hand clasping the map.

Night stepped forward and took the map, he examined it then folded it up and put it inside his cloak.

"No need to be afraid young one. Now shall what shall we do first?"

Night stepped back and waited patiently he could see the boy had alot of learning and growing to do but also saw a few other things in his eyes. He continued to smile kindly at him.

Rilk slapped Ferren on the back. "No need to be nervous Ferren!" Rilk said with a laugh. "With us here, you've nothing to worry about, so lead the way!" Rilk's energy seemed almost contagious, as did his confidence.

((Temple, tent, same thing right? ;_;))

Clare approached the boy and crouched slightly so that she did not have to look down at him. "Ferren, you are safer now than you have ever been," she assured him, her expression softening. "We intend to keep it that way," she looked toward the two young men who would be accompanying them and nodded. Rising to her full height, she spoke to Ferren again, "How shall we begin?"

« Last edited by Yogi_Bear on Mar 25th 2012 »

Rilk's slap on the back almost knocked Ferren over and left a slight stinging sensation on his back, which took him a second to overcome without shedding a tear. Everyone was telling him there was no need to be nervous or afraid, but he was so nervous and afraid that he could barely utter a sound. His throat felt like it was closing shut. Now they were asking him where to go, when he had no idea what the world looked like past this meager village.

"I-I don't--"
"Allow me to give a hint or two." Hornoks spoke up, getting the attention of the newly-formed group. "To the west of here is a small town called Wiston. It's a mercantile town, so you should be able to get a much better map for general traveling there, as well as some supplies. If you can get a map, you'll then want to head north to the grand city of Salsbury. You'll begin finding answers there, I'd say."

There was another moment of awkward silence, before Hornoks cleared his throat and looked at Ferren expectantly.

"Ah, I... I suppose we'll head to Wiston."

He was still scared to death, but there was no way he could go back now.

Tayus sat atop the roof of the temple, watching the clouds go by and scribbling down ideas for a story on pieces of parchment. He had paid very little attention to what he could hear going on below him despite the fact that it was highly unusual.
A large gust of wind blew across the rooftop and sent his pages of parchment scattering into the wind, he briefly considered teleporting into the air and catching them all - it wouldn't be too hard - but knew that it would be pointless; he'd never actually seen any of these stories through to the end, so throwing this one away earlier would only be saving him unnecessary effort anyway.

However, having nothing to keep him preoccupied, he began to listen more intently to the conversation taking place below. It seemed Hornok was sending young Ferren off with a bunch of mercenaries, but whatever for? This, he realised, was why he needed to pay attention to more than half of each sentence.
He wasn't usually one to question Hornok's judgement, having taken a shine to the old man ever since moving here nearly three years ago, however while he did not know Ferren very well, he wouldn't be the first Tayus would choose for any task deemed important. This was a little hypocritical of him; he didn't earn the title "the Terrible" by topping his armed combat training classes, quite the opposite in fact. His skill as a scout though was amongst the best around, so perhaps Ferren possessed a gift only Hornok could ascertain.

"Wiston?" he called aloud for all to hear, his voice carrying through the open window and into the temple. "I'd hold tightly onto your purse while you're there kid," he said rather loudly, not actually knowing exactly where Ferren was within the temple. "They'll take you for everything you're worth and then some if you aren't careful. And you'll want the coin for Salsbury, you never know who you're going to have to bribe to get anywhere in that pretentious commune. Either that or you'll want to hope your friends are as good at protecting you as they claim."

He paused for a moment and then teleported to the inside of the temple and surveyed his surroudings, he spotted Hornok, Ferren and the three mercenaries whose names he had only half-bothered to note and let out a small chuckle; Ferren looked beside himself, the sight was almost as bizzare as it had sounded from above.

« Last edited by TestVirus101 on Mar 25th 2012 »

Hornoks furrowed his brow upon Tayus's entrance and his words to Ferren.

"Try not to scare the boy too much now. Him going on this journey is extremely important, even to you, Tayus. You are a resident of this village, after all. A resident of this entire land." The elder didn't put any inflection into his words, but he stared right into Tayrus's eyes with a look that spoke all on its own.

Ferren's jaws, in the meantime, were agape at the fact that someone had just appeared out of thin air in front of his eyes. Nobody else seemed to particularly care, which made him question reality even more.

"Ferren! Time is of the essence. You must leave now, there is no more time to waste." The elder's words brought him out of his mental quandary and back the issue at hand. When Ferren didn't move an inch, Hornoks let out a little chuckle and looked at who would be Ferren's companions.

"One of you may have to lead for a bit, it seems."

"huh..."

He let out a long sigh and decided to step forward again, he reached down and patted Ferren on the head.

"Alright Fherren, no time for you to being standing there like a statue, none of us are gonna harm you. Come on don't you have any questions to ask? Wanna get to know everyone better, wouldn't you?"

He turned around and walked out of the temple and waited for Fherren to follow.

Tayus paused for a moment as Night walked out of the temple, attempting to get Ferren to follow him. This was so important that Hornok deemed it important to the entire land? Surely that was even more of a reason to pick anyone but Ferren for the task, but surely Hornok didn't become the village elder by fumbling his way through life; he was obviously setting something important in motion here.

"I've decided," said Tayus suddenly, breaking the brief moment of silence. "I'm going to come along with you guys... at least as far as Salsbury, I haven't been there for a few months, and the walk could help me drum up some more ideas." The truth was that neither of these were the reasons he wished to come along, Hornok's expression had convinced him that something extremely important was tied to Ferren's fate and he wasn't likely to live to fulfill his potential without a good support team.

Tayus let out a yawn, and began stretching, attempting to hide the hints of fear on his face as he ran over Hornok's words again and again. Finally, he pushed them out of his mind and teleported next to Night outside of the temple.

« Last edited by TestVirus101 on Mar 25th 2012 »

Clare glanced at the newcomer and sized him up. Teleporter, she thought bitterly, nothing but thorns in my side. She did not let the grimace that she was feeling at recounting an old memory show, however, and retained her staid countenance. She urged Ferren forward with a soft nudge, whispering in his ear quietly, "We had best get going, Ferren." The tall woman pushed him forward slightly harder, although not hard enough to knock him down. "Don't worry," she continued soothingly, "I'm not a fan of teleporting either."

Geralt had very well disappeared into the scenery, his presence never really notifying or alerting, a trait of his own and of the assassin's guild. His shirt lightly fluttered in the breeze, as he had appeared after Tayus. His axe hilt gleamed in the light, and he had yet to speak a word. He looked at the Elder Hornok with a soft gaze, saying a reassuring thought without a word. It told he fully excepted the terms on which he had been hired.

He observed the group, The blacksmith and the Lady Warrior interesting him. The blacksmith simply because he had yet to see one like him, not coated in the metal and dirt most have. The Warrior simply because she was everything he was not and should be. Sure, he had the skill and ability, but not the lust, the coldness a warrior should have. This Tayus was a loud mouth, nervous with a side of over doing to hide it. Rilk to him was the mysterious one, he wondered the full extent of his skill. All in all, he wondered how the group would work. With a slight head shake, he walked up to Ferren and gave a bow, his hands clasped in front of him as he looked upon the boy, seeing the potential of one probably seen only as weak.

He smiled to himself at Clare. As motherly as she tried to be, nothing was going to break her true nature, the coldness she could produce and had at Tayus.

« Last edited by Craizen on Mar 25th 2012 »

// Hornoks, people. haha. //

"It seems you'll have even more company starting off than I imagined. You should be optimistic about this, Ferren." Hornoks placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You've nothing to fear now, my boy. I don't expect you to instantly be a fearless leader, but you must summon the courage to at least play the part you're expected to play. No one else can, Ferren, and that is the truth."

Ferren's eyes found the floor again, but this time he looked to be thinking. That was right, this wasn't something he had chosen to do, so of course it would be scary and hard. Every fiber of his being just wanted to run home, lock the doors, and forget this day ever happened. He clenched his fists. Clare's reassuring words, Rilk's jolliness, and the rest of them... they all seemed like alright people. Could he trust them with his life, however? He didn't really have a choice.

Ferren took a deep breath and rolled up the long sleeves of his tattered jacket so they didn't cover his hands. Without a word, he walked out of the front door of the temple. His eyes looked up to the deep cerulean sky, before he looked at Night, who was already walking. He turned back around to look at the others.

"I guess... we'd better be going, then." His left foot went forward, and then his right, and before he knew it, he was beginning his trek west and out of the town.

// Slight timeskip here. Next few posts should probably be just as they reach the outskirts of the town and began heading west toward Wiston. Focus on letting everyone get mildly accustomed to everyone else for a bit, perhaps some idle chatter as they walk along the path. I'll move the plot forward when I feel we're all ready. //

Night chose to walk a little behind Fherren. From there he just watched the scenery go by for a few seconds before looking back at his companions. Each far different from the next. First was the local of Fherren's vilage who could teleport but other than that did not look much of a fighter. Then there was the girl, Clare, who was quite the opposite being quite the intimidating warrior. After that was the hunter Rilk who was certainly skilled from how he spoke. Finally was the mysterious one who had yet to speak but he could already tell he had talent.

"So since it looks like we will be travelling together for some time..."

He spoke to no one in particular, turning around and walking in reverse he let his eyes wander over them.

"I believe I only introduced myself to Fherren, atleast formally. I am Night, a simple blacksmith, and it is my pleasure to be travelling with you guys."

Tayus only smiled a little following Night's introduction. He knew that he'd already been judged by all of them and had judged them all in turn, but decided that it was better to get introductions out of the way now to save himself having to make as much small talk later.
"Tayus," he said blandly, looking in Night's direction, "Just a simple scout." He said, mimicking Night's tone of voice. He wondered why of all people, a blacksmith had accepted money to protect Ferren and travel around the countryside. The others all looked the part so this made the comparison even more jarring. Perhaps business was slow.

"I'm Rilk Creon, and as I said before, I'm the finest Ranger the Evergreen Guild has to offer," he smiled. "The Guild didn't actually send me here, however, this is more of a personal interest." Rilk hadn't bothered to give much thought to the others, since he'd already figured that he'd be carrying this group on his shoulders and hadn't yet seen reason to believe otherwise. The only one who had caught his interest thus far was Tayus and his teleportation. It could prove useful or could get them all killed depending on how competent Tayus himself was.