Information Thread

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All announcements, information, and anything else extremely important will be posted here. Only I may post in this thread unless I give you permission.

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Role of a Guardian & Curse | Guardian Selection Process | Guardian Induction Ceremony

Being a Guardian.
Becoming a Guardian is one of the highest honors in Eden. Not only are you promised a life of luxury, fame, and power during your time as a Guardian. You are guaranteed a life of security afterward. Meaning you are treated as well as a noble for the rest of your life after retiring.

Yet such a “luxurious” role does come with a set of high-risk consequences. A Guardian's role is a rigorous task, before and during. A five-year selection/training process, followed by a ten-year curse that deteriorates the inside of your body causing dull and sharp pain. That is why Guardians are given regular check-ups by Healers. So, needless to say, that being a Guardian will probably be the most physically draining time of a person’s life. Your only saving grace with the curse is that you are let go of your role at the ten-year mark, thus skipping over the rapid decay followed by death part of the curse. The minute you accept the role of a Guardian at the Induction ceremony is when the curse starts and unless necessary you are stuck with the role for ten years. Only two generations of Guardians have ever been discharged; the reason is kept hidden.

The role of the Guardian in the public eye is equal to a Master and their pet. You are the only person able to easily withstand the pressure of being in the presence of a Divine. You keep the powers and strength of the Divines in check. You have the ability to stop them when they are out of control by speaking their name, thus binding them, which stops the use of their powers and strength. You are the Caretaker of the Divine. You even move into a residence that is located right beside the garden temple so you have easy access to visit the Divines. Your residence is filled with servants at your beck and call and all your needs are provided. You have absolute authority to visit the Divines, no matter when or what time it is. Now that is in the public eye.

The Ruler and highest officials use you as reassurance. You give them reports every two weeks on the conditions of the Divines, on how they are still properly controlled and tamed. Also as a Guardian, you keep a journal of your Divine that only other Guardians are allowed to view, not even the King himself can look at them. It holds the personal reports and feelings of previous Guardians. Also, it tells you of the likes and dislikes of the specific Divine.

You are truly the Divines' leash. If the Divine wants or has to go outside you must accompany them. If the Divine wants to do something they must get permission from you. You are their sole connection outside their own people.

Selection Process.
The Guardian selection process starts right in the fifth year of the previous Guardian's time.

Year 1. Application. To be considered an official candidate eligible candidates must send in their letter of interest. Three requirements are needed to apply: You must be a human; you must be 15-20, and you must have at least one recommendation from a prominent person in Eden. The process doesn’t care about a person’s status, so you can be an orphan/commoner or nobility. During the 12th month of the year, candidates receive an acceptance or rejection letter. Only 100 people are accepted.

Year 2. Testing. Month 1: The 100 candidates will have to report to a designated testing area. There are two exams candidates must complete a Written Exam and Health Exam. You must pass both to advance. The Written Exam has 200 questions. To pass the exam you must correctly answer 160 answers or higher. Your score on the Written Exam determines what Divine group you will be in. The exam covers your basic knowledge of Eden, Beasts, Divines, Guardians and other needed points. Note. All humans in Eden are given a proper education. Of course, some are more extensive training than others, but all Humans are taught how to do basic math, science, spelling, etc. Beasts aren't allowed Education if found they will be imprisoned or killed. The Health Exam is a pass or fail system. There are NO in-betweens; you must pass this section to advance. The purpose of the exam is to see rather you can handle the physical demands that are required for a Guardian to perform while in the role.

Month 2. Candidates will receive a letter indicating rather they have passed or failed the exams. If you have passed you will be invited to a small ceremony where you will be recognized by everyone for your achievement. On average only 60 candidates usual advance to this stage. The rest of the year will be a time for you to spend with family and preparing for the two-year training process.

Year 3. Training. The roughly 60 candidates will be in a 2-year program which they will spend in specific groups of four depending on how they scored on the written exam. Depending on your group you are taught different things to correspond to the Divine you are trying to take care of.

1. Divine One: 200 - 190
2. Divine Two: 189 - 180
3. Divine Three: 179 - 170
4. Divine Four: 169 - 160

Once grouped you will be trained and tested according to the Divine you are working towards. As the process goes on people will be weeded out. By the end of the 2-year training, only 3 candidates will be left in each group. One of the lessons you are taught in the 2-year program is how to speak the Beast language, so you can communicate with the Divines.

Year 5. Shadowing & Final Selection. The 3 candidates of each group will be assigned to their corresponding Guardian and will shadow them. After a year of shadowing a panel of teachers and other officials will choose which of the 3 will become the new Guardian. Once selected you are allowed to go home for the remainder of the next five years until the Induction Ceremony, which is the 2nd to last day of the tenth year.

Induction Ceremony
The Ceremony is scheduled on the 2nd to last day of the tenth year.

6 Hours. Early morning (5 am), both generation Guardians are self-contained in individual rooms where they will fast on nothing but water and pray to the previous generation Guardians who have passed on. Fasting and prayers last for three hours. The next three hours you may rest or read the scrolls in your room. Scrolls filled with the history of the Kingdom and Divines.

6 Hours. After resting a group of Saints (Members of the Church underneath the Priests and Priestesses.) will come to the Guardians room and began preparing them for the induction ceremony. The rest of the time before the ceremony consists of a feast filled with fruits, meats, wine, and any other foods the Guardian desires. A hot fragrant bath filled with holy water where the Guardians are washed and allowed to soak, followed by a deep massage. Afterward, the Guardians are dressed in the ceremonial robes and cape. Previous Guardians wear a grey robe with a blue hooded-cape. New Guardians wear a grey robe with a blue hooded-cape.

4 Hours. The induction ceremony is located in the main church of Eden and lead by the Head Priestess. The ceremony is only open to high ranked officials and the family members of the new Guardians. The ceremony begins with the previous Guardians being blessed at the altar by the Presitess. The blessing is intended to be a send off to the previous generation so they have a safe journey after releasing the curse. Once blessed, it is time for the Passing. The new Guardians will kneel in front of their previous Guardians, who are standing at the altar. The previous Guardians, with their hands lightly touching the new Guardians so their heads are lifted, will speak the Passover prayer, which the new Guardians will repeat after them. “Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus. Benedictus, eleison et libera nos.” "Holy, Holy, Holy. Blessed, have mercy and deliver us." After repeating, everyone in the church must chant those words as loudly as possible as the Old Guardians whisper the name of the Divine in the ear of the New Guardian, sealing the transfer of the curse. Once the name is passed the previous Guardian is no longer allowed or able to speak it. If they do they will die. At this time a mark will appear on the new Guardian's chest, over their heart, of the symbol of your Divine; ending the ceremony. Meaning the curse has settled on you.

4 Hours. After the Induction Ceremony, a celebration is held at the Guardian Residence. At this point, the public is allowed to attend and meet the new Guardians. The rest of the night will be filled with music, dancing, and a huge feast. The Divines aren’t required to attend.

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Guardian Role Descriptions

Let me make a point: You are the one designing this character. These descriptions are simply a soft guideline to help you get started in your creation. Meaning how they act, present themselves, and believe is ALL up to you. I highly recommend you adding to these descriptions, flushing them out. Note: If unsure I would approve of your choices, simply ask. I love new ideas and directions. Impress me. I did not establish genders or ages for these characters because I wanted them to be left open to your discretion. So there is no wrong gender or age for the character. I also left out the reasons why your character wanted to become a Guardian. I feel that leaving that up to you is the best course of action. Note: Once again, ask me if you are worried. Have fun with these roles, as long as you make them realistic in terms of the storyline, let your creativity run wild!

Descendant of the Priestess. This character is a direct descendant of the first Priestess, creator of Eden. They have been raised listening to all the glorious things she has done for Eden. Rather your character found enjoyment in hearing these stories or not is up to you. Because of their blood relations to the 1st Priestess being so pure, they have a certain set of special privileges. For instance: if your character ever went to the Holy Church they will be allowed to read most of their documents, their only limit is the restricted section. Note: If you think of any more privileges that would be appropriate, let me know. Being of the 1st Priestesses bloodline their family is automatically nobles, not once has their ancestors been anything less. But because of this importance of bloodline keeping it pure is a big thing in their family, so there a lot of consanguineous marriages. This character is from the Main Branch, so their blood is purest and closet to the Presitess. There are two other branches beside this character's family. They have a section in Eden where they live as noblemen and have roughly around 100 or more people in each branch. The higher your branch the more respect you receive.

74th Guardian’s Child. This character grew up knowing about the Guardian's role and had a general idea of the requirements needed to become one. Rather it was your character's choice or their Parent's to become a Guardian, I leave it up to you to decide. But this character has inherited the same Divine as their Parent, because of this they have met with opposition by other candidates, that failed, who believe that they acquired the role because of their Parent. Since their Parent was a Guardian they didn't live at home with the character, but when they did visit the character the Parent would diligently teach the character about the basics of being a Guardian, like the Beast Language and some other, more personal, information. People have always praised your character, trying to get close to them because of their Parent's status. Your character, no matter where they went, was referred to as the "74th Guardian's child."

Ruler’s 3rd Child. This character is the Ruler of Eden’s 3rd and last child. They are the child from the Ruler’s second marriage, while their two older siblings belong to his first. Since their Mother is the second wife and they're the youngest child they don’t have the power to inherit the throne. The relationship you have with your family is up to you. Because this child was the youngest not a lot was expected of them from anyone. Of course, they were treated with respect by the citizens of Eden, but if anyone was asked about this character and who they were they couldn't tell you anything significant. This character is still a royal, despite their less than impressive impression on people, so they have all the privileges any other royal in their family has, which is a wide variety of things. This character often secretly communicates with some of the Beast in the kingdom, of course, no one knows because a royal conversing with a Beast in a non-royal setting is unheard. Rather they get along or not is also up to you.

Beast/Human Hybrid. This character has no idea of who their parents were. All their life they were raised in Eden's human orphanage along with the rest of the abandoned children. They found out about their Beast half by running into a child Beast at a young age and being able to understand what the Beast was saying. Which they learned later on that it is impossible for a human, without training, to speak the Beast's language. This character also has more strength, along with heightened senses, than a normal human, but not as much a Beast. They learned quickly to hide their identity from everyone, Beasts included. This character's existence in Eden is a sin itself. And so far the no one has caught on to this character's differences, because of how careful they have been. A note to remember is that Divine’s have sovereignty over all Beasts so a part of your character will resonate with them, but because your character's human side is stronger it doesn’t control them. The Divine will be able to notice the difference in your character after spending enough time with them, not at first glance, but they will be able to sense that there is a difference, so be careful.

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Divine Role Descriptions

Note: I didn't give as much information about the Divines as I did for the Guardians. The reason for this is because if I gave a bigger description that means I need to choose the Beast form of the characters, their personality, and other things. I don't want that. Thus I am giving those who choose a Divine a certain amount of creative freedom, more than those who choose Guardians. Now with this, I will be following the development of your character closely.

Note Two: These descriptions have nothing to do with the maturity levels of each Divine, just cause they are young doesn't mean they act like children and vice versa. It simply means Divine 3 & 4's natural instinct is to seek safety from the elders and Divine 1 & 2's are to keep safe the younger ones.

Divine One & Divine Two. Divine One is the elder of the group. They have lived the longest out of the rest of the Divines. In that sense, they are very protective of the rest of the Divines, which is natural since they have watched them all grow up. The word Leader doesn't exist within the Divines group dynamic, because they are all equally powerful, but when it comes to experience it is natural for the rest to follow Divine One's guidance. Divine Two is the 2nd eldest in the group, so naturally, they have the most experience after Divine One. They are the one who spoke to the Priestess at the Banquet 751 years ago. Along with Divine One, they hate the Humans the most because of their memories of being defeated and captured. Once again there aren't Hierarchies in the Divines group, unlike Humans, things are based on age and experience. Saying this means that Divine Two is natural who the two younger Divines seek guidance from when Divine One isn't available. Though it is also a known fact that Divine Two is the Divine that the younger go to when escaping trouble from Divine One and vice versa with Divine One.

Divine Three & Divine Four. They are the newly reincarnated Divines, being only 11 years old when the Priestess and Siblings perished. Now they are 759 years old, which compared to the other Divines, is extremely young. In a sense, these two Divines are twins, because they were "born" together. Though, Divine Three did form their body when they were orbs one minute faster than Divine Four. Neither have memories of their previous lives so all their knowledge of the past, before the captivity, comes from Divine One and Two. This also means that the two have lived in the Temple Garden all their lives. Their dislike for Humans isn't as strong as the other Divines, but it is very present. They are also more comfortable showing their Beast forms to the Humans than the older Divines. These two Divines are "liked" more by the Nobility and public because they have more patience, when it comes to public and private events, unlike their older counterparts.

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Beasts & Divines

Note: There is simply too much information regarding Divines and Beasts that I can't remember. I made sure to put down as much relevant information needed for you guys to successfully understand the Beasts and Divines. Regardless I probably did miss something, so if you read this and have a question please ask, so it can trigger my memory.

Beasts & Divines.
Divines and Beasts have been residents/slaves of Eden for 761 years. They are history, the existence of Eden that reassures the Humans that they are the good ones. Beasts are naturally drawn to the Divines and as long as they are locked away the Beasts can't retaliate, in fear of the Divines demise. During the annual Eclipse Festival, the 1st day, Beasts are permitted to visit the Divines, during this time not one Beast misses this chance. Though there are some Beasts who secretly visit the Divines, usual ones so are tiny enough to sneak around, water types who are able to connect/travel to/through the lake inside the garden, etc.

Beasts & Roles. Firstly, Beasts can be found in every section of the country, so unlike the Divines who the public rarely get to see, Beasts are a common appearance. Now the types of Beasts residing in Eden is endless. Their appearance is based on mythical animals like mermaids, sirens, sirins, fairies, griffins, orcs, hell hounds, elves, centaurs, dwarves, etc. Honestly, any fantasy or mythical being/creature you can think of is a Beast. So, you guys will have creative freedom when it comes to interacting with Beasts in the RP and describing them.

All Beasts are collared, these collars indicate their status in Eden and used as a taming device. The collars are voice activated and designed to respond to the Owner(s) voice who controls the Beast(s). Commands are specific to each Owner(s), for example, a Beast needs to be restrained or disciplined all the Owner(s) have to do is say their command and the Beast(s) are sent a high voltage of electricity that runs through their body. Of course, there are other tools for discipline and control like whips, spears to poke them, etc.

There are six types of collars:

• White. Servants of royalty, nobility, and the Holy Church. These Beasts usually are the ones who care for the house. Tend to the garden, keep the home tidy, serve their Owner(s), care for the children. Bulters, maids, cooks, gardeners, etc. These Beasts don't really do any hard labor; so they consist of the more delicate and humanoid Beasts.
  
• Brown. Labor Slaves. These type of Beasts work for the Commoners. A blacksmith will use them to help craft weapons, an architect will use them as builders or for the more dangerous tasks that they don't want humans to do, and there are those who pull carts or carry litters that nobility or people of higher ranking sit on. The list goes on. They range from full beast types to humanoid type beasts. Usual the least appealing ones.
  
• Purple. These are Beasts belonging to the Nobility, Royalty, and even some Priests and Priestesses as pets. They are the most exotic and rare Beasts. Like mermaids, fairies, etc. The more beautiful and delicate the better.
  
• Black. Beasts who Humans gamble on and use as entertainment in coliseum fights. These are the more robust and violent types of Beasts. Can be both humanoid or full beast types.
  
• Red. Guards used as security and warriors to protect nobility, royalty, and any other high ranked individuals. Less violent than the ones who wear black collars, but just as big or robust. They are only humanoid types, no full beasts.

Basically, Beasts have taken the more demanding and demeaning jobs that lower class humans would usually perform. It goes without saying that most of them are treated poorly by the Humans of Eden. There are some advances in treatment over the course of History. There are Orphanages where orphaned Beasts live until they are bought to be put to work. There is a Beast hospital where Beasts go for care. There are also some Humans that secretly care for Beasts, treating them with respect. Of course, this is kept hidden from the authorities since these actions are punishable by prison or beating. Beasts aren't allowed to have a proper education unless their job requires them to learn certain information, most of them are taught basic manners or other things related to their type of job. Note: Beast and Divine have their own language they can speak. The Guardians have learned this language. But for the public, they don't know the Beast language so they teach Beast the basic of the human language. Enough so they can do their specific jobs. So some can fully speak the Human language while others only know simply words or phrases.

Beasts v. Divine. So after learning about Beasts, the question arises, what is the difference between the Beasts and Divines. Beasts only have one form, which are never fully human, even if some of them have human parts. Divines have three forms: Full human, half beast (where a part of their body changes like growing wings, a tail, claws, their eyes changing, etc) and full beast. A Divines beast form is much larger than even the biggest of Beasts and their strength is a hundred times more powerful. Beasts have shorter life spans than Divines. The longest a Beast can live is around 600 hundred years depending on the species, but Divines are eternal, not immortal. Beasts use normal means to reproduce while there has been no record of a Divine truly reproducing before, though it isn't impossible. They simply reincarnate when their bodies are too broken. Divines can speak and understand the human tongue fulently, they just choose not too. Beasts, if learned, can speak in human tongue fluently, but the majority of them can't and simply just know how to form simple sentences/answers.

Divines. Divine's are like the royal pets, but because of their wild nature and powerful presence, they are kept in a temple garden. Which those of high ranking do come to visit and watch them. creeps. They are treated well considering the situation they are in. They have servants who care for them, Beast types and Human. Note: Human servants aren't allowed to enter the Garden without a Guardian present, for their own safety. They have their own rooms within the garden tailored to their liking that they can stay in or sleep. They have special Healers that come in when they don't look well or are acting strange, even though they are often not needed because Divines have the ability to heal themselves and others. Honestly, at first glance, the place they live and their treatment is great. Still, the Divines have a lot of restrictions placed on them. They aren't allowed to exit the Temple Garden unless escorted by their Guardian on special occasions, which are to the Guardian residence or parties. They must attend private and public events whenever requested. If someone comes to visit them they have to stay in an area where the individual(s) can look at them. creepy. And there have been cases where they have been abused and mistreated by either those of high ranking that come to visit them or their own Guardians. But those are just rumors...

Even though it was the Guardians who were cursed, the Divines have their own form of a curse placed on them. When they gave up their names a curse was placed on them that reduced their powers to almost nothing, and their strength in half. Though they still possess the ability to use some of their powers, just on a much smaller scale, and they are still stronger than any Beast or Human. Note: Divines have powers, but they are very weak. They can heal themselves and others, heightened sense, etc. They even have other abilities individual to each Divine. But the curse placed on them is basically a leash that the Guardians can pull at any moment. How the curse works is that the Guardians have to speak the name of the Divine, thus freezing the use of their abilities and strength. If done when a Divine is rampaging they could pass out, because of the sudden strain.