[b]Name:[/b] Alex Toldrel'kas (spelled without the apostrophe in all official documentation)

[b]Gender:[/b] Female
[b]Age:[/b] 15
[b]Race[/b]: Human/elkas half-breed
The elkas are a race known by most they meet as pagewalkers, talemages, or any of many names that have
been attached to them over the ages. These people come from another place not too different from our own
where the powers they wielded to connect to other worlds tore the plane asunder. Few escaped, and those
that did were scattered among many worlds, most without the ability to ever write their way to another in
their life. The few scholars who possess this knowledge lack any way to know among which of the infinite
worlds that the others had been scattered to, nor a reliable way to reach them even if they knew. The race
doomed, many of these long-lived human-like people chose to find places that reminded them of home,
where technology and family was able to thrive.

[b]Height:[/b] 155cm (5'1)

[b]Weight:[/b] 46kg (102 lb)
[b]Appearance:[/b]

[img = http://i.imgur.com/f9AcIsk.jpg]

[b]Occupation:[/b] Student
[b]Year:[/b] Year 1
[b]Class:[/b] 1-A
[b]Club:[/b] Not yet chosen

[b]Residency:[/b]
Yuri Dorm, room 110

[b]Personality:[/b]
A wonderer and a wanderer, Alex puts a positive light on the world around her. She loves to learn and to help
others to learn, though she often doesn't know how to deal with people. She was raised an only child and it
shows in her lack of skill when dealing with people that act childish. In truth, she believes the best in most
people, but she also believes that when the time comes, she should trust people as their own best authority;
after all, if they tell her they're bad with proper proof, she should listen!

She believes the world is an overall good place, but it is on her shoulders in order to keep it that way. After all,
she only has control of herself, and the world around her listens to that and brings back what she puts out
into the world. This often leads to her marginalizing larger struggles and overestimating her ability to deal
with things that are well out of her hands. Unfortunately, there sometimes are no words to handle a problem
and no knowledge that can stop a disaster.

[b]History:[/b]
Born in rural Kansas to a human mother and an elkas father, Alex grew up knowing fantastic stories of places
told in only the way an elkas scholar could tell. The plains of the Evergrey, the marshes of Tallreed and the
kind and devout people of The Howling Coast. As she grew, her mother decided that it was best that she learn
how to live what she considered a normal life and her father obliged, leaving the family and only rearriving to
visit... but even those visits stopped at some point, leaving Alex and her mother alone. The stories of the past
became just that, stories of an imaginative child who lived out her fantasies in her mind. As Alex grew, she
grew to believe that she was, albeit gifted in some ways (as she was able to write of places in a way that
brought them to life before the reader) that she was simply a talented normal girl.

When Alex's mother became ill, she kept it from Alex. The young girls was about to set out on her own life's
adventure and her mother wanted to be strong, to not burden Alex. When the letter from Senki Academy
arrived, it was a relief. Her mother brought Alex to her father's office, a room that had long since been
banned, and told Alex what she knew. She asked Alex to make a place for her, someplace beautiful where she
could go when she wanted to think of Alex while she was away. Alex, half not believing what she had been
told, obliged and with the last of her father's supplies, made a world for her mother that was a paradise. She
left this book for her mother when she went to Senki, and her mother would never return to Earth.

[b]Powers and Abilities:[/b]

Elkas guide Elkas walk through the books that they create with an ease that others aspire to grasp.
Entering a portal book for an elkas is not so much an exercise in reading as it is stepping through a
doorway. In addition, worlds traveled to via their portal books tend to interact with the elkas in a way
that allows them to be a guide for others and either lighten the load or improve the 'plot' of the
adventure.

Elkas script - Elkas can inherently write in the elkas script, a language that opens windows to other
worlds. Alex cannot currently make the ink needed to make new portal books, as that knowledge was
lost when her father left. While the language is inherent to her and the books can project realistic
images of a place or event into someone's mind, they cannot act as portals to those worlds until they are
rewritten in elkas linking ink (( An advancement plot will be done for her to learn how to make this.
Until then, the only portal books she has are Firebridge, The Howling Coast and Skyrock )). See the
section in Equipment to see how the portal books work.

Mind of the Toldrel architect The Toldrel were the clan of elkas architects and locksmiths and were
gifted with the wit of the mirrored cogs. Alex is of above average intelligence, but isn't a genius. What she
does have is an inherent understanding of how systems work and how to get them to perform a desired task.
Stunted in abstraction, she can't relate with math, and isn't good with mundane language, but what she is
abnormally good at is reverse engineering, building and reading.

[b]Equipment:[/b]

Portal books Portal books are very special, very difficult to create items that require months of
preparation, rare materials and an extra-planar catalyst in order to create the ink needed to scribe them.

Entering a book requires reading its contents. The process is obviously strange, and the reader sees
glimpses of the place that they are being transported to before they fade into the new world. Up to the
point of no return, the reader may stop reading and remain on Earth. When the book is entered, the
book is left behind. Traveling into or out of a book only transports the reader and anything they are
currently carrying. Things dragged or tethered to the adventurer are left behind.

While in a book, one may not use a book to travel to another plane unless one has made the first books'
world their home. To do this, one must consistently live more than half of the time for a year and a day
in the other world. By doing this, one's old world ceases being the return point, and one can never use
the exit of the traveled world that is now their home.

Exiting the book is particular to each book. Some have literal portals, others require rituals to be
completed. Each has a point of arrival in the adventurer's home world that they exit into as a result of
these exits. Alternatively, there may be other ways out depending on certain powers used in the place.
While in a book, one does not inherently know the exit, but subconsciously those that are trying to find
an exit will take actions to help them find it.

Books also reward those that go through with their plot, bestowing their specific plot effect upon them
(basically the treasure chest at the end of the dungeon).

META RULE: TELL A STORY

If your character ends up in a book, the rule to get out is to tell a story. The books are trying inherently
to complete themselves in a plot and don't want to see their current 'protagonist' simply die, so even the
most meek of people can potentially make it through, that is if you want them to. These places are no
joke and can easily be a character's end, but the deck is stacked in their favor. The worst thing that has
to happen is that the character must come out through the exit and has to have encountered challenges
along the way. That is, challenges, not a monster they blew up by looking at it. There should be some
sense of trial (except for in Skyrock, as it was written by a 4-year-old, just walk out of that one). Trials
can be physical, mental, social or even internal, but without them, the plot can never be completed, and
that's what the magic is trying to do.

Portal books possessed The Howling Coast (Author: Makai Toldrel'kas), Firebridge (Author: Makai
Toldrel'kas), Skyrock (Author: Alex Toldrel'kas)

Elkas script writing book holds many descriptions and stories that play out before the reader's eyes,
but do not transport like the portal books as they are not written in the correct medium, but simply in
Bic ink.

Redstone pendant This gemstone pendant was left to Alex by her father. She has always felt very
connected to it.

Messenger bag-style purse Usually containing a few meals worth of traveling money, the books she
possesses, a few toiletries and her identification. She has an old flip-style cell phone that she's meant to
replace for nearly a decade, and its battery life sucks, so she turns it off when it's not in use.

The Howling Coast

Book Text:
Out to the sea the howling gale carries voices to the void-dotted sky
Out to the sky kites soar, nets cast below to give praise to bounty
Out to the cliffs the people seek to shelter from the wind
Out to the seas, life finds respite from the burning winds
POINT OF NO RETURN
Into the walls, wealth awaits those who seek it

Description:
The howling coast is a windswept plains that leads to a hundred-foot cliffside that looms over endless
ocean. The brushland-plains, ocean and cliffside extend forever, but not far from the entry point, kites
can be seen, soaring from some place near the horizon. The winds are strong enough that it requires
significant effort constantly pushing against them to not be barreled over, and many prefer to crawl
rather than attempt walking against the buffeting gusts. It is no wonder that the tribe by the horizon
chose to live on the cliffside, in the shelter from the winds, using great kites that strain against sinew
and plant fibers expertly woven to resist the winds.

Denizens:
The Hilla are a clever and ingenious people that appear as humanoids with coarse hair,
disproportionately strong forearms and prehensile tails. Generally peaceful, they have only the simple
tools of hunter gatherers to defend themselves with and are slow to anger. They live almost exclusively
on the cliffside, sheltered from the winds that buffet the plains above. Supremely religious, the Hilla
tribe knows with no doubt that the elkas are gods, and expect the behavior of them to be such. It is
unclear as to what causes them to come to this belief, as creatures nearly identical in appearance such
as humans, while usually greeted warmly, have no such high expectations placed upon them. These
people live mostly upon a diet of fish and sea plants, using an advanced set of kites and nets to fish far
from the cliffside without having to leave the safety of their woven homes.

Plainsclingers are noctournal creatures with short, hooked front legs and long, grasshopper-like back
legs. These horse-headed carnivores bear a row of hooked teeth and size around the same as a cougar.
They stalk the windswept plains of The Howling Coast.

Windskimmers are tiny pteradon-like creatures that dart at the cliff's edge. Usually friendly, they can be
aggressive around food, taking up an only slightly more dangerous position in the food chain than
seagulls.

The Great Thornmaw is a massive seabeast that resembles the head of an overly large sperm whale
with no orifaces other than a mouth. Eyeless, it uses a series of light sensing dots on its snout to seek
shadows above it in the water and comes up below to swallow them whole. Anything larger than a tuna
is fair game, as this creature uses very little energy in its hunt. In truth, the Thornmaw is a giant worm
that sits on the sea bed, extending its head upward only when it senses prey.

Exit:
The exit is a restful night's sleep after wishing to be home. Those that rest for the evening without
interruption or major discomfort awaken in their bed, or there lacking, an abandoned or unused bed
nearby where they entered the portal book. For those that don't sleep, performing a meditative or
repetitive activity can serve the same purpose.

Story:
The story of The Howling Coast is of coming to peace with the land. The comforts of The Howling
coast are hard to find, but for those that carve a niche out, the bounties of this world are plentiful

Elkas Guide Effect:

The Elkas are seen as gods in this world, but are inherently still their mortal selves. For better or worse,
they must uphold this appearance or face the cultural backlash that is the slight of a deceiver god.

Plot Effect:
While in the Howling Coast, adventurers who have carved out a niche for themselves that they consider
a livable condition

Firebridge

Book Text:
Fire roars to both path's sides, far from the land alight.
Yet luminescence guides the way through dark and endless night.
Though time and test, the clouded air chokes weakness, kindles strength,
The treasure to be had within for those who trek its length.

Riches within guarded chests, the Firebridge ahead.

POINT OF NO RETURN
After all you're stronger still, as long as you're not dead.

Description:
To the left and the right of this long stone bridge hundreds of feet below lies a blazing pine forest. The
popping and crackling of green wood is ceaseless as trees grow as quickly as they are burned down.
The endless inferno chokes the sky in black smoke. The epicenter, an eye in the storming calamity, the
air around the bridge is on the friendly side of smothering

Uncomfortable at best, hazardous at worst, this bridge suspended hundreds of feet in the choking air is
filled with pitfalls and dotted with terrible beasts. The landing place, the top of a tower at one end of
the bridge blackened by the blazes below, and the end point, another similar tower which has a safe
housing for a portal are the only stable points along it. Great rifts, loose bricks, sudden gouts of flame
and unexpected updrafts begin the trials of Firebridge, while the ever-present eye of emberwyrms and
smoking wraiths bring the test to a harried pace as they hover above the everdying verdance, scanning
for scarce flesh and life to feed upon respectively.

Denizens:
Small but vicious, emberwyrms are snakelike creatures with long, leathery wings. Jagged beaks belie
toothless maws that spit hot ash in puffs large enough to cover a man. These carrion-eaters prefer to
harass adventurers on hazardous precipices, hoping to cause them to fall to the forest below.

Smoking wraiths are slow, choking entities that attempt to corner adventurers and enter their lungs to
smother the life out of them, the process feeding the spectral creatures that are misnamed. As elemental
spirits rather than undead, these negative energy fueled specters are an anomaly unique to the ever-
dying forest.

Exit:
The opposite tower some miles away from the start of the long stone bridge has a portal within. On
reaching the portal and throwing oneself into the light, one finds it leads to the inside of a random tall
building's storage closet that has been recently surreptitiously smoked in a reasonable radius from
where the reader started.

Story:
Physical trial. Firebridge is a story of man vs nature, the importance of perseverance against seemingly
impossible odds.

Elkas Guide Effect:

While someone with a Elkas guide may walk through with fewer hazards risked, the pagewalkers
cannot perfect this chaotic place and must make a sacrifice of pride in order to cross with their group.

Plot Effect:
Those who complete the trial of Firebridge successfully by persevering through the hazards with
bravery find themselves miraculously full of vigor despite the trials they have been through. Injuries
remain, but any physical exhaustion from the adventure or hindrance from minor pain is eliminated.
Those who do not face life-threatening hardship do not gain any such benefit (though they probably
didn't get too tired to start with!)

Skyrock

Book Text:
There is earth. It's in the air. There's a tree. It has apples. There's a bed. It is soft and warm. There is
pure water in a small stream.
POINT OF NO RETURN
There is nothing else.

Description:
Floating? Or falling? Endless air in a soft upward breeze surrounds this stone platform. This small
island, written by Alex when she was a child is the simplest of the three worlds she possesses. The
entirety of the world smells of apple pie. In it is an oak tree which grows small, bright red apples the
size of a tennis ball, a bed of moss that is soft, as good as any sleeping mat beneath the tree's boughs.
The air is warm, the sky is near twilight illumination at all times, a dull yellow-orange light shining
from above at all hours, just enough to comfortably read by. A small, seemingly sourceless stream
trickles down one side of the platform, swept up by the warm winds into a mist that showers that side
of the stone. All things here regrow swiftly, apples quickly sprouting in place of those plucked, the
moss resorting to its full when disturbed, and branches and sticks regrowing when snapped from the
tree.

Denizens:
Flier-fires are small insects that glow with tiny embers. These insects hate large flame and will try to
avoid landing on flammable things. They are the reason the island smells of apple pie, as they feast on
cores that are left abandoned, trying specifically to get to the seeds. It is easy to tell if an apple is
infested, as it will be consistently smoking.

Exit:
Stepping off the edge of Skyrock causes the adventurer to fall, then be swept upwards into the light
above the place, where they are transported to a place nearby where they read the book, looking into a
light source.

Story:
Skyrock's story is simple comfort. Written by a child, the idea of a safe quiet space was the only
concern when making this world.

Elkas Guide Effect:

With an elkas tending this place, the water and apples are a perfect nutritional balance, a single apple
and a small cup of water sustaining a humanoid for a full day.

Plot Effect:
Skyrock is a consistently comfortable place and extends that comfort to the mental state of those that
stay here. Resting here removes most mundane exhaustion from mental work, as if one had had a nice
weekend off.
TEMPLATE

Description:

Denizens:

Exit:

Story:

Elkas Guide Effect:

Plot Effect: