January 2007 TOA Fight Environments

[LocoColt04]

If you have not yet read the information for this tournament, do so now.

This thread is optional.

Please do not post an environment until AFTER you have submitted your characters for review. Remember, when creating your environment, you want to choose a location that will be beneficial to your characters, in case you get the luck of the draw and end up fighting in your own environment at some point within the tournament. Every participant is only allowed to submit one environment for the tournament. You may edit your post it as many times as you like prior to the registration cutoff, so alter it until you're happy with it.

There are no real restrictions when creating an environment. Obviously, it must be realistic in the sense that actual living beings could exist in the space. It must be a decent place to fight, in the sense that there is room to move around. It does not have to be large, nor does it have to be small. Size restriction is entirely up to you.

Environments on your characters' home planet are preferred. Remember, not all characters have to come from Earth. Your environments MUST match the time period from which your characters hail.

Some environments will not be used. Please do not take offense to this.

Know now that by submitting your environment for the tournament, you are giving me the creative license to alter it in any way I see fit. I will try to keep them as close to your descriptions as possible; in theory, they won't need any modifications at all. If they are too bland, they will be expanded upon -- if they are too complex, they will be simplified.



EDIT:
I have opened this up to select writers outside of the tournament, so don't be shocked if a handful of posts come up from people who aren't participating. Due to the lack of response here, it's just as well. Also, applicants may now enter MORE THAN ONE environment if they wish to do so, so long as each environment differs greatly enough from the previous one to make it worthwhile.

[Anomaly]

Harbinger's Sanctum -

This land floats gently, endlessly in the void of space. Night and Day are hard to discern, as the light of the nearby binary suns (one a white giant, the other a blue dwarve) is ever present, either bodily or reflected by nearby floating islands. It is home to a tower which was formerly a sanctum to visitors from another world. A sanctum that now towers in crumbling imfamy, a dark reminder of the harbinger's of the Camulus Star-Clusters doom.

Here the land is warped...ancinet in some places, in other new and still hot as if erupted from volcanic seas. Old spells run wild with the wind, chilling areas with ice, flooding them, or making them arid and dry. Only at the tower sanctum, at the nexus point of these forces gone wild is there a calm eye to the storm. Here, surrounded by fallen walls, a fountain that once bubbled with life stands tallest under the roofless sky. The fountain depicts the various races of Camulus...and the hated Harbinger's celebrating their fellowship and peace. The wide expance of rubble seems unaltered by the century of elapsed time after the shattering of Camulus. The only spell still active here seems a kind of strange, deminished alteration of gravity that makes any who stand here feel an incredible lightness.

This spot enhances the magical powers of all who stand here...old energies seeking new masters to serve. However, the chaos that rages beyond these walls will seek to have its effect if magics are overtly used...lending random effects, both positive and detrimental to caster and enemy alike. Though this tower, this mound of rubble and brocken dreams, has remained untouched by time since the sundering...there is no knowing what might become of it if mages once more fought on these grounds. Not only the Harbinger's Sanctum, but all of the other islands in the Cumulus Star-Cluster could be in peril should the ancinet energies still warring here be unleashed.

[Kaiser Dragoon]

The Blazing Nation's Arena:

Much like the Roman Colosseum of Earth, the ground is covered with dirt, the seats are carved stone in a steps kind of pattern, with a row of actual steps every 15 feet across. The Arena itself is an oval shape, measuring around 2 1/2 miles north tip to southern tip, and 1 mile across. 4 trap doors are hidden in a rectangle shape at the "corners" of the arena. Entrances for the gladiators and whatever else the King of the nation wants to see fight are at the northern, and southern curvatures, and 2 placed on each of the eastern and western walls.

The Major difference between this Arena and the Roman Colosseum is the magical ground that the Gladiators fight on. Seemingly, it looks like a typical, dirt/sand ground, but, the sand itself is magically altered so that if a fighter wanted, they could shape and mold the ground into a shape that they desire, like say, if a fighter wanted a pillar to come out of the ground under them, they could will it that way, and the ground would obey. The Magically adept are not the only ones the power is limited to, the magically challenged, if they focused enough, could will the land to do what they want as well, but, the magically inclined can use the ground with more ease.

Along with the magical land, there comes magical traps. Magical traps such as fire coming out of the ground, parts of the ground freezing under contestants, and holes appearing out of nowhere, the land, although alterable, has what seems to be a mind of its own, and will randomly spring the traps on unsuspecting contestants. The traps, as an added "Bonus" are not constrained to one section, they all move freely, and pick and choose when to detonate. A contestant may stand over a flamethrower, and not have it go off for hours, then, another comes by and gets burnt seriously the second they touch it.

But, the traps, and the altering land, are two different things, the land will alter at the will of the gladiator trying to form it, no matter, it doesn't disobey, while, the traps can do what they want.

[Bryan]

Poenari Castle (Ruins)

FACTS:
Located in central Romania (in the Vallachia region located on the map attached to this post), Poenari castle once was home to a man feared by those who would never even see him. A man responsible for the deaths of thousands. Vlad Dracul III.

The castle was constructed by slaves chosen by Dracul himself. Some of them were forced to work naked because they had worn their clothing to threads. Many died during the castle's construction, either by fate or by the hands of Dracul himself.

The walls of the castle have seen more ghastly and hideous deaths than any human (aside from Dracul himself) could possibly endure. Countless people were impaled both inside and outside of the castle. It has been said that mothers were forced to eat their own babies for Dracul's entertainment.

FICTION/BATTLE GROUND:
The castle sits upon a mountain. In order to access it, one must climb 1,500+ stairs ((this part is actually true)). The pathway to the stairs and surrounding area are lined with torches, giving the ruins a grim setting. Parts of the castle still stand, such as a tower and several rooms of the castle itself.

The entire area is surrounded by a lake of blood that never runs dry. There is a thick musty stench that fills the entire area, making one's stomach turn in knots when exposed to it.

RESIDUAL HAUNTINGS:

When a beating heart crosses the river of blood, residual hauntings begin. Residual hauntings are a "playback" or past events that occured in the area and in this case, the hauntings are horrible to witness and are not for the faint of heart.

The hauntings are not interactive. They are just illusions, though extremely vivid and realistic. Each person witnesses something different, though sometimes two people or a group are able to see the same thing happening at the same time.

Sometimes the hauntings come and go within seconds while others last for several minutes before coming back to reality. The hauntings sometimes be strong enough to blanket an area entirely, making it appear as though the castle were new again. It is also not uncommon to be approached by a ghost during these hauntings. In some cases, the ghosts can talk to you and even attempt to harm you yet they cannot hurt you.

[LocoColt04]

The Darkroom:

The fighters enter... pitch black. Absolute darkness. Nothing to be seen, nothing to be found. One of the most vital senses is entirely disabled, rendering all who enter completely blind.

Sound, smell, and touch are all vital in The Darkroom. An excellent memory for a mental mapping of the surrounding area would certainly be advantageous. Fighters will have to adjust to their sudden disadvantage and make it work for them.

The room is cubic in shape, approximately eight meters on each side. It's a fairly large enclosure, so there's room to move. There are tables, boxes, and shelves placed around the room, with various blunt and sharp objects on the shelves (all metal, to the tune of pipes and knives, nothing more). It is up to the writers to determine where these objects are -- and then to remember where every object is in future posts, including where it may have been moved to, or picked up, or whatever. This is a crucial point, hence the bold font. Continuity will be harshly criticized in judgement, so make sure to examine each post carefully while writing the next.

Hopefully the random draw for this environment will place it during one of the 1v1 rounds, because a 2v2 could be hectic... though it could lead to some interesting teamwork.



For the record, technological devices such as night vision or similar "special abilities" will have NO EFFECT in The Darkroom.

[Andromeda]

Loco asked me to make up some environments for the tournament, though he might regret that decision. ^^; Either way, I came up with several fields. You can pick as few or as many as you wish to use. I simply took some basic ideas and spiced them up a little bit in some cases. I provided their proper names and nicknames for simplification. I probably could have really made Loco regret the decision by going into great detail, but I restrained myself greatly. If you want more then bare minimum that I provide let me know and I can easily expand on them. You know I can Loco, ^^; As they stand now, a lot of it is left up to the imagination of those fighting it out in the fields.

And here is the list.

The Terca’nal Fault Line - Fire Field
Location – Set next to an active volcano, the land is being burned and cracked from the forces of nature. Not just near an active volcano, but there is also a major tectonic shift that is occurring splitting the land, opening fissures that spout further lava.

Terrain – The lava flow is slowly moving down the volcano with part of the land already burned and buried. Ash covers much of the rest of the terrain with fissures in the earth where the land is split from the tectonic shift. The land will eventually be completely engulfed in flames. The terrain itself is unbalanced, shaking and generally with an incline between five to twenty degrees. Some forest still exists, though it is the only thing blocking the incoming lava flow. Also much of the sky is already blotted out by ash or smoke.

The Equcia Icelands - Ice Field
Location – Set in an arctic region with the ocean nearby. The entire area is glacier during the late winter and early spring season with the ice melting and breaking into the ocean.

Terrain – The land is generally flat, but with snow and ice everywhere traction is not great. Also the glacier is breaking off and already weak from the warmer weather. The drop from the glacier is rough a thousand feet into the water. The sun is shining and the wind is blowing around the snow lowering visibility at times.

Holdtirn Castle - Trap Field
Location – An ancient castle that is protecting great treasures from raiders. The entire castle contains countless traps designed to either slow down, turn around or even kill would be thieves.

Terrain – The castle is solid and well built there is no chance of it collapsing other than through great force. There is however places that are intentionally weak to cause people to fall, just one of the countless traps through out the castle. The hallways are narrow, but there are also large open rooms. Be even more cautious of the open spaces, they are usually worse than the hallways.

Vernel Corporate Tower - Holodeck Field
Location – It is a computer simulation environment, however the computer has a virus that is corrupting the systems. The simulation is going haywire changing the environment at random.

Terrain – The land will vary being any number of conceivable terrains, such as a forest, jungle, tundra, desert, plains, river, etc. The land is constantly being generated and changed as the virus is corrupting more of the systems. The simulation itself is real and everything is can be interacted with for as long as the simulation is generating it.

Yuril River Valley - Water Field
Location – Set in a small valley of a river, the dam that was holding back the river has cracked. The water is now pouring out slowly filling up the valley.

Terrain – The river is set in a deep valley with ledges and pathways that were craved out by the river before it was dammed up. The water now is slowly pouring into the valley taking the land with it. There is only a small river to begin with that is wading depth, but will quickly take over more of the land rising up. The hole in the dam is also increasing over time as the structure is weakening, increasing the force of the water until it becomes a tidal wave.

Urai Temple of Baiyy - Ancient Temple Puzzle Field
Location – Set inside an old temple from a long extinct civilization it is protected by a constantly shifting layout.

Terrain – The temple has several floors to it, with a large main room in the middle with numerous balconies and walkways. The floor and walls however are in a constant state of shifting to prevent robbers from getting the treasures deep within. The temple is unusually well built to with stand even a great force.

The Battleship Erutik Noth - Adrift Spaceship Field
Location – A space battleship has been damage beyond repair with the aft sections already exposed to the vacuum of space.

Terrain – The battleship is a large spaceship with numerous halls and rooms; the main bridge is still intact. The stabilizers are destroyed, but the gravity generators are still working causing the ship to vibrate heavily during an explosion. The ship is also tilted, though in space this will not affect orientation much. The engines are going critical, but the ship’s bulkheads will protect the front section for a while after the engines are gone. The critical life support systems are still working, though once the engines go the ship will start thinning out the air to lengthen the survival of those stuck until a rescue ship can come.

Celestial Eight - Cloud Field
Location – A celestial view in the clouds and an ever-moving ground.

Terrain – The clouds are strong enough to support anything, however the clouds are not stable and will shift putting gaps in the ground. The air is thinner, but there is enough that is present to breathe. There are no other obstacles on the clouds it is completely barren.

Firmnin Underground - Predator Underground Field
Location – An underground network of tunnels that are home to aggressive and territorial animals.

Terrain – The tunnels are narrow in places and wide in others acting like rooms. There are numerous small dead ends that are homes to the animals. The animals have a strong sense of smell as well as memory for smells. If they feel that their territory has been invaded they will hunt down the target mercilessly. The animals themselves are small three foot in length with powerful legs and claws that can rip through flesh easily. They also have powerful jaws and two rows of teeth. Their mouths also have the ability to unhinge to open wider. They are resilient as well, though are not known to be pack hunters.

Holst Bhuia Bay - Fog Field
Location – The sleepy edge of bay with a perpetual fog problem.

Terrain – There are high cliffs surrounding the bay. At the middle of the bay where it reaches the furthest inland it meets the land in a small beach. There are rocks at the bottom around the cliffs and shallow waters making falls dangerous. The land borders a forest where the fog still penetrates, though not as thickly. In the open the fog is dense enough that it is difficult to see more than a few arm lengths ahead. Sounds will be key, as you hear the waves crashing against the cliffs you know the fall is near.

Pit of Khi’thir - Doom Field
Location – A large room that is slowly falling apart with the sudden arrival of visitors that accidentally tripped its trap.

Terrain – A large circular room of stone and tile. The part that is falling out is large stone tiles that are five feet square. The only safe locations in the room are the center that is no more than twenty feet in diameter and the five-foot ledge that goes around the entire edge of the room. These areas however are near by poisonous plants. The walls are covered in the plants as well as the center of the ceiling, which is not more than fifteen feet high. The plants emit poisonous spores when disturbed, with the falling tiles the entire room will eventually be shaking.

Lost City of Tithuraw - Desert Field
Location – Placed in the middle of a desert that wiped out an entire city in one night with a massive sandstorm.

Terrain – The land is hilly from the blowing sand and drifts up against the ruins of the town. Most of the town is buried underneath the sand with only small parts of it popping up. The sand is also not as dense in areas making it easy to fall through. There are areas where the buildings are collapsing under the weight opening up holes in the ceiling when an unsuspecting traveler walks through. The lost city was a most built out of stone and a cement like mixture, not a very advance civilization.

[LocoColt04]

Thank you so very much, Andro. Depending upon how many more environments come through the thread, I may only pick and choose some, or I may use all of them. Either way, I really appreciate it. And yes, I will want you to help expand upon whichever ones do end up being chosen. I want the environments to be open-ended enough that the writers can pick and choose some details, but solid enough that they're all distinctly different from one another.

I'll let you know what's up when the time arrives.

[Anomaly]

Well, here's two more environments. Use them or lose them, either way I love creating them.

Dural Way Station - In the far future, the universe will be completely mapped, leading to the discovery of several new multiverses beyound the scope of imagining in our dimensions. The Dural Spatial Anomaly exists at the membrane between these universes.

At the end of the known universe, space does not always conform to the laws we know. Here the fourth dimension is altered, causing a perceptable, and dramatic change in time. On the side of the dimensional membrane you enter, time slows to a crawl, making even the slightest movement agonizingly slow, yet having no effect on the eventual outcome (blood will still flow from a cut, a bullet will still rip through a body). The mind is aware of this, however, and its speed remains uneffected. Leaving the membrane the opposit is true, as the world seems to shift into blinding speed, almost too fast for the mind to understand what the body is doing. Many races have died upon exiting the universal membrane from remaining too long on the otherside of the Dural Anomaly.

The Anomaly itself can, not very accurately, but be best described as a kind of whirlpool that fills the gaps between dimensions. At the center of the membrane, there is a clam, where the dramatic effects of the anomaly are almost in balance. Almost, but never quiet. Time storms still rage, from time to time, making even the center of the whirlpool an unpredictable hazard.

It is here that a way point has been artificially built, after eons of painstaking effort and the loss of countless lives. At this way point travelers can stop to collect themselves before making that final, terrifying, and potentially fatal leap into another universe. The way station is equiped with time dampening fields that protect the station from the ravages of the anomaly...but in the midst of a storm, sometimes even those fail.

It is here, on the deck of this way station during one of these spectacular storms that combatants will find there bodies and minds tested to the limit. The area itself is clear of all obstruction save one or two unfortunate space cruisers that have been left on the main deck. The void all around is completely absent of stars, but is lit with a strange blue glow to the south, a red light to the north, and a green glow on either side. All of this fluctuate horrible during a temporal storm, which causes time to slow down one moment, and speed up the very next in unpredictable jolts.

Crystal Moon Tarsus - One of the many moons that once surrounded Camulus before the planet was shattered, Tarsus is perhaps one of the most missed jewels of the evening. Like its sisters, it was thrown out of orbit by the planets destruction, and has now been cast far off into deep space. The large moon, large enough to support an atmosphere similar to Camulus while producing only slightly less gravity, was unique in that its entire surface was composed of dense crystal. There were very few craters on Tarsus, rendering its appearance as a smooth glass orb from a distance. Close to, it had mountains of jagged crystal and valleys of smooth, clear crystal that were once believed to be lakes of pure magic by the inhabatants of Camulus.

At the point in time when the combatants will fight on Tarsus, the planet Camulus is still whole, and one of the most spectacular phenomina the planet has to offer is about to take place. Unlike other moons that merely reflect pale sunlight, the light from the binary stars of the Camulus system is actually magnified by passing through the clear crystal surface os Tarsus and reflecting off the dense metal core inside the moon. At certain times of the month, when the stars and planet are in proper alignment and Tarsus orbit has brought it to the right angle, the moon blazes with as much light as the suns.

Though this causes the moons surface to be bright to the point of blinding anyone that looks at it, let alone stands on it, the special properties of the crystal dimenishes the heat of the light rays. On the surface of Camulus it is the longest day of the month. On the surface of Tarsus, the planetoid becomes a blinding land of light and sharp crystal. The 'Light of Tarsus' will begin shortly after battle begins, making it difficult to see, but not impossible if one is willing to risk their vision.

[LocoColt04]

Okay, I'll assign each of these letters and we'll go from there. There are 18, so whichever four are at the end of the list will be cropped. I'm going to have Hohenheim make a post here mixing the letters A-R in whichever order he chooses. The fields are assigned letters based in reverse order, meaning the bottom of the list is A and the very first is R.

[Hohenheim]

This is Hohenheim. Cez0r has asked me to randomized the environments and such for the tournament for him.

So, without even reading teh environments, here goes.

"Lets do this! Leeeeeeeeeerooooooy Jennnnkinnnnns!"

BHJNEQGDAIOPMRCFKL

"It's over NINE THOUOUOUOUOUOUOUSANNNNNDDDDD!"

>_>;;