Greetings, all.

As forewarned, we are temporarily disabling posting rights on the forums for all members while we work on the site.

Our goal is to house all of our main site, forums, chat and wiki under the umbrella of TheFirstAge.org.

To find the forums after the upgrades occur, please go back to The First Age website.

You can also hop into our chat room (which should remain open during this process) during this time if you have questions.

We hope this will be only for a short duration today, but one never knows when hiccups may occur.

I am incredibly excited about this. I always dreamed of having a fully integrated site all under our umbrella web page. This will do great things for any future growth as well.

Once things are up and running, additional details about the new forum functionalities, log in process, and etc, will be posted. So look out for additional information forthcoming.

Thanks all!

We owe Nox lots of praise, adoration, and chocolate.

-Asc

I'm not sure if we normally do this around here, but...

Just wanted to formally say hello to everyone (I've talked with a few of you) and introduce myself. The name is Odd or Aiden or Wally or OddPositions or whatever you want to call me. One of those is my real name.

I roleplay with Nox (and the other newcomer Vicktor Lih!) over at Dragonmount and they referred me here. I'm very glad I joined up! You all have been incredibly welcoming and helpful since I signed up. I love the story, characters, and worldbuilding I've read so far.

I hope to make a positive contribution around here. Can't wait to start crafting more stories with you all! <3

The following letter was posted to the website for the official Aiden Finnegan fanclub on 8/1/2046, Aiden's birthday.

~


Bonjour, mes amours!

I am sure you all have missed me and let me assure you that I have missed you too! Each and every one of you! Let me first apologize for my absence online and in the World. Following the release of the blockbuster hit, The Weaving Wheel, I came to realize that it was a good time to retreat and look inside myself for the next great undertaking. No. I will not say where I’ve gone, just know that it is gorgeous here! The inspiration this locale is generating cannot be put into words. Things are going so well, in fact, that I think it is time that I let my fan club in on a little secret I have…

For the last year and a half, I have been working on a new Fantasy trilogy inspired by the rich, abundant folklore and mythology of Russia, otherwise known as the First Dominance. It is a modern-day retelling of many of the region’s beloved stories with a very Finnegan twist to it! You can be sure the plot is packed with mystery, romance, action, and yes, even sex! Alpha and Beta readers have been going crazy for the next chapter and editing has gone incredibly smoothly!

Thus, it is with great pleasure that I can say to you all that my new novel, Russian Dolls and Broken Gods, will be released on the Winter Solstice of this year! Starting in February, I will be launching a worldwide tour promoting my new book, and as an exclusive fan club member, you will all be among the first to know of my list of stops! Why you may even be able to preorder your tickets for the event! Please come with any questions you have about my novel, my inspiration, and yes, even my past! No topic is taboo when you are amongst friends, and you, my dear fans, are the dearest friends I could ask for.

What could be better than that?

I’ll tell you!

We are now running a contest up until my novel is released! Any member of my fan club is eligible to enter! Simply leave your name and email in the comments of this blog entry and you will be entered into a raffle! The winner will be flown out to my private residences for the opportunity to spend an entire day with me doing anything you want! My fans mean everything to me and what better way to give back to those that have supported me throughout the years?

Je vous aime tous! Meilleurs voeux!
Aiden Finnegan


~

The letter was leaked to the press and most agree that it is a publicity stunt to garner support in the wake of his failing public image. His fans have been outspoken in their support of Aiden and laud the contest.


Edited by Aiden_Finnegan, Aug 2 2018, 10:38 PM.

Nox and Cruz were off playing in fancy clothes. Ana and Christian snuck out to go see a movie. Dorian was missing, which meant Sage only had Nova for company, and the pup was sitting happily at his feet on Christian's bed in the basement which he never used. Nox and Sage both stayed down there, though Nox's room had no door on it, he didn't really care. And Sage was rather fond of walking past and catching glimpses of him sleeping. Not that it happened often. Nox hardly slept.

Dorian had offered both of them a room up stairs in the house proper, but the basement was more their style. The rest of the house was always in the middle of decorating. Ana was fixing the place up but it still was horrid in places. Dorian's father was a spiteful asshole even if he was loving enough to buy the mansion for his only son.

Dr. Marcil had been busy at work but so had Sage, he had implanted tracking code in the doctors computers, his wallet, everything it was the first one he had installed after he'd gotten the upgrade and boy did this hardware hum.

Sage hadn't been sleeping much. He had a perpetual connection to the information highway and he was flying more than not. Cruz and Nox had to force him to pay attention. All those weeks without had been torture. Sage was too busy creating his scripts again, following Nick Trano and his other friends from the states.

Sage had thought about hooking up with his old friends, but The Wicked Truth was unknown. He had a lot of things to do. Sage missed his friends, but he could get those worker bees going again. It wasn't hard. But most of them he set up on his own now.

Sage had to find Connor and Ayden. He had to go on about setting up everyone else.

Most of them were easy but the software had to all be recreated. Sage was casting his nets when a certain former punk-star caught his attention. Sage hadn't been following Blarney Stoned's front man for a while. He'd avoided the dirty scandel, mostly because he had already known. Sage had watched footage of the hotel and knew something other than popular speculation had gone on. There was no profit in sharing the information. But Sage had collected it.

He'd lost all his information and it depressed him. So when an old friend was caught on a website looking up strange occurrences, that made Sage think of things Nox would hunt and do and he wondered.

Sage grinned as he hacked into the punk stars computer with a mere thought. Whoever thought they were protecting him wasn't. It was easily defeated. But there really was little that Sage couldn't get into if he tried.

Sage quickly crafted an encrypted chat application that would destroy itself when he left the system. It felt so good to be doing this again.

Sage popped open a window with a thought then sent one of his favorite punk rock stars a message.

<small>Do you want to play a game?</small>

Greetings, all.

In the next few days, we will temporarily disable posting while forum migration takes place.

I will post another note immediately before posting is disabled to give you all a heads up. But wanted to make you aware that it is likely to happen in the nearish future.

Once all is back on, let's all give our great friend, Nox, lots of praise and adoration for the hard work being put into this process.

Thanks,
Asc

Appearance – 6’0”, 170 lbs. Lean-muscular build. Irish and French ethnicity. Hazel eyes and black hair, lightly curled and thick; worn in a shaggy style. Light stubble, although if left to grow out, he could easily grow a full, thick beard and mustache. Thick eyebrows. Angular and sharp facial features, very handsome. ‘Workman’s hands.’ Dresses casually and comfortably; preferring jumpers, woolen pants, peacoats, Chelsea boots, knitted scarves, and paper-boy caps.

Often smells of whiskey, cigars, and a heavy, musky cologne. Deep and rough voice, light Louisiana accent which is odd on the ears when one considers how heavily Aiden's Irish parents have influenced his vernacular. His left arm is covered in a full-color tattoo sleeve depicting various gods of the Tuatha De Danann; he also has a very small Celtic cross tattoo behind his right ear.

Age - 33 (in 2046)

Profession – Multiple (see bio). Currently: fiction author, income is supplemented by royalty checks from previous careers.

Current Relationship - Sage Parker (Boyfriend)

Origin – Born in Dublin, Ireland during a violent thunderstorm on 08/01/2013 (Leo. Blood Type: O Negative) and raised in New Orleans, LA, USA. Aiden had a younger twin sister, Rowan. Aiden’s Father, Seamus Finnegan, came from a long line of architects and his Mother, Marie Brown, was the product of a torrid love affair between a vivacious French-man and a rebellious Irish-Catholic girl. Marie would grow up to become a very level-headed Judge, finding notoriety in the criminal justice system. The pair met at Trinity College in Dublin, during the year 2003; they quickly hit it off and married shortly after graduation. Aiden was born a few years later and the small family moved to the States. Seamus bought a parcel of land in Metairie and began building a house for the family; although almost a decade later this modest dwelling would be expanded to five times its size, rivaling any of the older plantation mansions in the area.

When Aiden was 7 years old, many disasters struck the globe. The United States was not spared these tragedies. As sad as it was, some good did come out of it; Seamus Finnegan’s construction company was kept busy during the years of the tragedies and the small family quickly saw their financial situation turn from dismal to golden (around this time is when the family home began its rapid expansion.) Seamus suddenly found himself taking on contracts with very wealthy individuals and even some high ranking government officials. With the new found wealth, Aiden was quickly sent off to the finest schools money could buy and his young mind was allowed to flourish. The young boy proved to be a protégé of the arts; anything involving his hands, really.

At 18, Aiden found himself looking for the right college to attend, while his family’s business continued to thrive. The global recession did not affect the Finnegans as much as other families, despite a decline in the housing market. Due to previous ties, Seamus Finnegan started working almost exclusively for the United States government. After Aiden left University, he ended up working as his father’s apprentice for three years; during that time, Aiden invested all of his free time in artistic endeavors.

Over the next decade, Aiden found a place in the world and became a well-known internet personality. His initial launch to fame was through a web-comic about the Tuatha De Danann, Ireland’s very own pre-Christian pantheon of Gods, with a cyber-punk twist; young adults ate it up and started tracking everything the Aiden did. The subsequent years after the comic saw Aiden exploring many new art forms. The greatest success he found was in music. Aiden formed an Irish-punk band, named Blarney Stoned, which was met with critical acclaim amongst online critics. The group stayed together for 5 years and 3 studio albums before separating due to ‘artistic differences.’

The real reason the group split was due in part to Aiden’s wandering eye. Before the group’s inception, Aiden had been in a committed relationship with his best friend, Kyle Rice. Kyle would go on to be the band’s drummer and his relationship with Aiden spawned many of the group’s hit songs. One night after a show, Kyle caught Aiden in bed with a fan and the group promptly split; the other members wandering off to start their own projects, Aiden looking to make a name for himself with new artistic mediums. The story never made it to the tabloids because of a few well-placed bribes on Seamus Finnegan’s part.

By 30, Aiden was named number 5 in Forbe’s annual list of ‘Top 20 Young Millionaires to Watch.’ He commanded an impressive list of accomplishments that had generated countless royalty checks. Aiden  had starred in a very successful BBC drama, played the title role in a Broadway revival of Phantom of the Opera, authored three best-selling fantasy novels, had a collection of his own pottery pieces featured at the Louvre, directed five indie films, mastered several languages, and remained a constant source of tabloid rumors (although they still hadn’t discovered the truth behind Blarney Stoned’s split.) It seemed that there was nothing that Aiden Finnegan couldn’t do. He was easily pulling in nine figures a year through his work. Aiden was living a blessed life until he suddenly fell into a coma in February of the year 2043.

Aiden did not come out of his coma until Christmas day of 2044. In those 2 years, new, young faces had replaced him in the media and on the world stage. Without pause, Aiden immediately tried to jump back into the entertainment business. He moved to Los Angeles, CA and secured a leading role in a big-budget movie due out the following year. The movie was met with plenty of praise, but every review of Aiden’s performance was dismal at best. Seeking to cash in, Kyle Rice emerged from the shadows and sold his story to TMZ, resulting in endless shame on Aiden’s part. A month after the film’s release, Aiden slipped into depression and became a recluse, not responding to the frequent calls from his parents and those that had once been close to him. His art fell to the wayside and the world seemed to grow dimmer.

Like so many depressed, wealthy people, Aiden turned to drugs and alcohol in an effort to drown his emotions. He developed a heavy addiction to cocaine and methamphetamines; about a year after his descent into depression, Aiden was checked in to a well-known rehab clinic. He emerged six months later a clean man. That was when he decided to take control of his life. After much contemplation, Aiden decided to leave the United States. He did not tell anyone he was leaving, nor where he was going. He wasn’t certain if this would be a permanent move or just a temporary reprieve, but there was something deep down inside of him that was pushing him to go. So, one night Aiden boarded a plane for Moscow. He wanted to escape the public eye and countless scrutiny of American life, where better to do so than the States’ natural born enemy?

Aiden took to life in Moscow with ease. Like his father, he purchased a plot of land outside the heavy confines of the city and set to building his own home. In the present day, the house is only half done, but all of the main areas are completed enough for Aiden to reside there permanently. During his time in Russia, Aiden has begun picking up pieces of the local folklore and mythology. When not working on his home, Aiden has been penning a new fantasy trilogy inspired by the Russian stories that he has been collecting during his time in the old USSR. A story about gods reborn on an Earth in turmoil, loaded with plenty of politically charged statements (astute readers will instantly draw parallels between the trilogy's main character and the real world figure, the Ascendancy.)

Everything started to look up for Aiden… That is until very strange things started happening to him… It was almost as if the events of his novel were manifesting in the real world. Aiden knew that was pure fancy, but every time he finished a scene, something happened the next day that inevitably put Aiden in a situation that played out almost exactly as it did on the page. Several times he contemplated throwing the novel away, convinced the story was cursed, but even Aiden could not deny the strangeness of the situation. If his words were causing a change in the real world, then he needed to see the story through to the end… even if it killed him.

Skill Sets – Unnatural control over the elements Fire and Air. Both elements tend to respond to his emotions and heavy thoughts. Fireballs tend to pop up around his head when he is angry or passionate and people have been known to be bound against their will, by unseen hands, when incurring Aiden's displeasure.

Aiden's art inspires awe in all of those that view it, so long as he was inspired when creating it.Those in touch with their spiritual side (Channelers) have been known to see images of the future when viewing Aiden's art. The viewings are typically brief and vague.

Aiden is not a Dreamer, but he has occasionally had dreams that have guided him to certain paths of life. He views these dreams as prophetic, however the exact nature of these dreams remains unknown.

Psych Description - Warm, action-oriented and driven by the desire to be loved and admired, Aiden has a royal air about him. Admired for his kind and helpful nature. Energetic, has a tendency to inspire positivity in those that congregate around him.

Driven and ambitious, to the point of excess. Sees the glass half-full and always tries to come out on top. Never minces words, unless he feels someone's feelings may be hurt. Loyal and trustworthy. Opinionated and headstrong, rarely listens to other people's opinions unless they act out. Vain and narcisistic with a fragile ego, Aiden cares very much for outward appearances. He can be incredibly arrogant and self-centered at times.

Aiden always acts as if he is in control of the situation, thus expects those around him to obey his commands. He always wants to get this over and done with as soon as possible; Aiden does not tolerate laziness or insolence.

In relationships, Aiden is loving, amorous, chivalrous, and loyal; until you act against his wishes. Once the relationship takes a left turn, Aiden is susceptible to self-sabotage and destructive behavior.

Aiden has an addictive personality. He finds it hard to let go of a high once he has tasted it.

Block - Aiden can only channel when he is being creative, aside from the spontaneous manifestations of fairy fire (the fireballs that appear around his head) and the unseen hands (the flows of air.) 

He has recently discovered the block and has found it easy to bypass through singing, but only if he allows himself to actually feel the music.

<big>Viktor Lih
</big>
Age: 26
Current residence: Moscow

Occupation: Viktor, or "Vitya" as is his love-name from his parents, is a regular cop, just your run-of-the-mill inspector from CCDPD. He spends his days at the station mostly intercepting transmissions via the micro-bead woven into his uniform, smoking cigarettes, and making that sweet CCD cash.

Vitya doesn't know it yet, but he's joining the domovoi off the books due to an incident in 2046 with monsters that got him noticed. See character history.

Psychological description:

Quiet, modest, restraint. Cool headed under pressure. Admires those who blazed with confidence, power and drive due to his own awkwardness around others. Enjoys a good smoke.

Proud of his work, his place in society; loyal to the CCD. He's interested in, but not quite believes in, strange creatures and loves to read stories.

Physical description:

Hair: white blonde all over, even his eyebrows and eyelashes are so pale they look barely there

Vitya's feline blue gaze is bright, striking even-- but his eyesight is poor in strong light. He often wears sunglasses inside to shield his eyes from the fluorescent lights, much to the consternation of his senior CCDPD officers.

Vitya is pale skinned, lithe and extraordinarily graceful thanks to his years of ballet training. If he didn't join the police force, he could have forged a career as a celebrated dancer.

His refined features are inherited from his Japanese immigrant father. His slenderness and height are from his mother, who worked as an in house fit model for a designer couture house.

Year 2018

Viktor “Vitya” Lih was born to a small, interracial family in the heart of a major port known to the outside world as Sevastopol. Interracial couplings were not uncommon in Lih’s hometown. Consider for a moment, the accessibility and location of the city’s harbors. Its robust economy boosted by foreign trade on the back of the CCD cash. It was a peaceful place, filled with warm summers. Tourists came and spent their credits, often at an unfavorable exchange for CCD credit, at their famed seaside resorts.

Vitya’s father was a trader on a Japanese oil boat who toured all over asia and europe until he settled down here with Vitya's mother, a Russian model turned dancer. It was a summer love which resolved into pregnancy and an unexpectedly happy marriage. They did not have a lot in common except their shared interest in studying archaic lore, texts and histories. When Vitya was young, both his parents would read him bedtime stories of folk legends and mythos from their respective countries.

He was a “half”, mixed genetically and perhaps it was due to this odd recessive gene somewhere Vitya was an albino, colorless except his blue bright eyes and red lips. It was partially due to his unusual looks he was bullied during school. The main reason he’d been bullied was because of his taking ballet at his mother’s insistence.

However, Vitya did not wish to become a dancer.

He moved to Moscow and tested for the CCDPD as soon as he reached the age requirement. It was the only way he knew how to live, to find her.

He remembered when his dream first occurred, then re-occurred from time to time of a Furia. Always the same dream.

Unlike his parents’ stories she was beautiful, not the ugly hag of retribution he'd heard about.

Surrounded by a golden light. It hurt his light-sensitive eyes.

The Furia wore a suit of intricately-worked armor so fine and form-fitting it was dazzling. Beneath the golden plate, she wore a tightly-wound body suit. Her head was covered by a white battle helm. Eyes an impossible green, so fierce and bright Vitya had to look away. She was terrible to look at, her body under its golden armor and clawed gloves incomprehensible to him.

She smiled, looking down at Vitya.

What a terrible smile to behold.

“Let us seek justice and clean this land."

“Yes,” was all he could say. Resentment and vengeance simmered inside him...

When he woke he realized he was weeping, but he didn’t care. Devotion to her kept him true to his sworn duty.

But one day Vitya hoped to find her. He kept looking for signs of her existence. She'd know him.


2046 current day

Vitya rested for five minutes in front of the station, and sat on his own in a doorway, hunched up, hands twitching, smoking a cigarette. There was a taste of bile in his mouth that would not go away, and his eyes kept watering. He was looking for signs of their existence. The monsters. For all the sickness and fear he felt, now more than ever he knew his dream --the only one that mattered-- was right. He just had to be brave enough to look.

“Wha-” Vitya muttered as he got up and crushed the stub underfoot. His unit’s dispatch officer ran up smartly.

“There’s been a disturbance called in at this abandoned nightclub. It’s on your beat, can you go there now?”

Vitya checked his charts. Soric Street was close to the tunnels.

“Clear. Heading for the nightclub on Soric Street, sir.”

The communications officer nodded, and walked back into the station as started speaking quickly into his earpiece as he adjusted the tuning dial. But by then, Vitya was already thumping away down the street toward the underground.

Quick, long strides took Vitya past the city center, through the warrens of its habitats, and into its periphery full of warehouses and seedy clubs. His job was to follow orders and make a good job of it, too. That was a cop’s job. In simple terms. In black and white. That was the duty. And Vitya was nothing if not a slave to duty.

In the dim light of the club, Vitya tripped and fell flat on his face. His pistol bounced away into the shadows. He cursed his stupid self and looked back at what he’d fallen over.

He froze.

He’d tripped over a woman. She was dead, exploded, ripped apart in the club around. Vitya slowly perceived the other bodies in the darkness. Two others, all dead. All women. Dressed as night butterflies, for hire.

“Oh sh-,” he mumbled and reached for his tech wallet. Then he froze again. Above the smell of soot and blood, he could suddenly detect a stink like rancid milk.

He glanced up and saw them slithering toward the bled-out bodies. Though two, they moved sinuously as one. Their eyes no longer human as they sank their human teeth into the female body farthest from him. Feeding on the meat, flesh. Warped.

For a moment, Vitya almost let his camo jacket drop so they could see him. He could kill them while hidden in the shadows. But he knew they would smell him before long. His fear, it was there to keep him on his toes, forcing his stomach to twist. He took a deep breath—the fear deep in his bowels, his gut, his throat.

He’d never believed Rougarou existed. Heard stories, bragging from the other men as they cleaned their kits, but never saw the cannibals for himself. The pair were smartly dressed, and looked like normal people of the functioning society, except the two men were feasting on the dead woman they killed, blood and guts smearing their suits. It was a genuinely terrifying display of speed, hunger and aggression.

Vitya reached for his fallen pistol, but it was too far away. Rolling, he wrenched out his back-up, a long-nose standard issue railgun.

He fired it...
Edited by Lih, Jul 27 2018, 10:32 PM.

All:

It seems that zetaboards and their parent company zathayus, have been acquired by Tapatalk. There will be a migration process to take place soon for our First Age forums. The following are some informational emails I have received about this process for those interested in the nitty gritty of the techy details.

In summary, here are some benefits to the migration to tapatalk:

Some of the benefits of the new platform include:

• <li style="display:none">
  </li>
  
• Revenue Sharing of advertising revenue
  
  
  
• Full mobile support including native iOS/Android App, a
  
• responsive mobile theme as well as AMP support out of the box.
  
  
  
• The option to accept donations for your forum
  
  
  
• The option to Premium memberships to access designated forums
  
  
  
• Single Sign-on support for multi forums.
  
  
  
• Robust GDPR support for European Union visitors.
  
  
  
• Enhanced spam detection and removal.
  
  
  

MV lives! *pokes at it. Unless it’s a ghost? In which case, someone get the salt.

Good to see you!

Most of you know I like making random things with code. The Story So Far being the last one.

I made one for Dragonmount RP a bit back and redid it a month or so ago which you might find fun:

But I decided to play with chat bots in the IRC channel. At present it doesn't do much.

But it does welcome each person randomly. Jaxen made a request to add to the list, so I decided I'd give you the full list here, and if you wanted to add to it, funny, serious or otherwise (just so long as you aren't insulting) I'd love to add

who + ', welcome back!',
who + ', what\'s new?',
'Howdy, ' + who + '!',
'Oh, no! Not ' + who + 'again.'
'Hey there, ' + who + "!",
'What\'s happenin\', ' + who + "?",
'Hi, '+ who +'!',
'Here\'s ' + who + "!",
'Greetings and salutations, '+ who + '!',
'Oh, no! Not ' + who + 'again.'
'Oh, yoohoo, '+ who + '!',
'Aloha, ' + who + "!",
'Hola, ' + who + '!',
'Que Pasa, ' + who + "?",
'Konnichiwa,' + who + '!',
'Namaste, ' + who + '!',
'Oh, no! Not ' + who + 'again.' more.

I did add Jaxen's request multiple times to get it to pop up more often as it's a random number generated to pull which one.

It should show up at some point though i've not pushed it to the live server yet.