Basic Weaves Class (Open to all Soldiers)

[Arath Faringal]

Arath stood at the training grounds, mentally preparing himself for the class ahead.  Basic introduction to the five elements and basic weaves.  Simple enough.  He wondered how someone would screw it up this time.  Inevitably, some foolish soldier would cause some sort of ruckus on a relatively simple thing.  But that was an obstacle to deal with when he came to it.

 

He had arrived a good half hour before he had instructed his students to do so, but the time passed quickly.  Soon enough, the ragtag group of soldiers began to file in and wait in a semi-orderly line, quietly chatting amongst themselves. 

 

Arath allowed them to continue like that until it looked as though everyone had shown up.  Siezing Saidin, he wove air and fire to amplify his voice and barked, "Soldiers!"  Many of the group jumped and whirled around.  Some of the better disciplined simply stood at attention.  "No more chattering like old women in my class.  I want all of you to run a lap, fast as you can, outside the outer wall."  Many of them groaned.  The only way outside the wall was the gate, which stood directly across the tower grounds.  Arath's amplified voice rang out again, "Move!"

 

The soldiers took off as a group, some quickly outdistancing the others.  Arath chuckled slightly.  He remembered when he had stood in their place what seemed such a long time ago.  As the students made the lap, he busied himself raising training manakins out of the ground and preparing his lesson tools.

 

15 minutes later, the fastest of the soldiers began to file in.  They continued to do so for the next five minutes, arriving in various levels of tiredness.  When the last exhausted soldier finally dragged himself into line, Arath began again.

 

"I want all of you to introduce yourself.  Your name, place of origin, and why your are here."  He pointed to the soldier who had arrived first.  "Let's start with you."  This was a little redundant he supposed, since he was generally the first person a new recruit spoke with at the tower, but it was good to double check at times.

 

OOC:  Okay, this class is for all of the new people who have just started and had their bio approved.  Or anyone else who needs the class.  I'll leave this standing for a week or so to allow everyone a chance to post, then continue.  Write your introduction, and your reactions to the lap and whatnot.  Have fun with it and converse with eachother.  This is also a get to know you thread, apart from being a class.

[Khorja]

Baethen arrived at the training grounds a few minutes before the class was to start.  He'd always made the habit of arrive just a bit early to meetings, and only a few others Soldiers were gathered.  He silently acknowledged their presence when they glanced at him, but offered no words of greeting.

 

Baethen jumped only slightly when the Asha'man called them to attention, and his heart dropped just a bit at the prospect of running.  Baethen had never been much of an athletic sort, but he set off with the other men toward the gate without hesitation.  It soon became apparent just how out of shape he was, and while he wasn't the last to make it back to the training grounds, he certainly wasn't the first.  Sweat glistened on his face and the shirt beneath his black coat was damp with it.  His haggard breathing calmed as the gathered men began to introduce themselves.  Some were clearly past their prime, while others didn't seem old enough to have hair on their chests, yet.

 

Thankfully, Baethen was breathing normally again by the time it was his turn to introduce himself.  "My name is Baethen Doverell.  I come from Lugard.  I'm here because . . . I want to learn how to use the One Power."  Baethen knew his reason was generic and obvious, but he wasn't going to tell these strangers how he had failed his wife and had been unable to save her from sickness.  Baethen avoided even thinking about his wife's death and how powerless he had been.

[Briwan Dragain]

Gale was one of the last to arrive. Well, perhaps the last to arrive. He supposed he should be lucky he hadn't shown up after everyone had already started the lap, though. Sadly, he had been unable to attain any alcohol since arriving here, but the lack of heavy drinking didn't keep him from sleeping in a little when morning rose. Old habits died hard.

 

There was little time for idle chatter from him. By the time he'd settled into position, there came the sudden impossibly loud barking of a man. One of the Asha'man, no doubt. Gale was used to being yelled at, though, coming from a ship. In fact, the loudness of this man's voice wasn't something Gale found unfamiliar. It wasn't rare to have the captain start screaming right next to Gale's ear. Still, the voice was louder than even that. And, Gale hadn't been expecting it. There was a reaction, but it was more a gentle recoil that only hit his upper body. Then he rubbed at an ear. Old habits.

 

Gale let out a quiet groan at the prospect of running. He had never enjoyed land as much as the open sea, but that could just be the Illianer heritage in him. Still, he wouldn't let it be said that he was lazy. A lap around the place wasn't anything to laugh at, but the run hardly dented Gale's endurance. He was finished relatively quickly, not liking the early morning part of it all. At least he had no hangover, though.

 

He was one of the first five or six to return, mostly because a lot of these fellows weren't in as good a shape as Gale would have expected. Spend a few years out at sea and one might be surprised how fast cardiovascular endurance built. Gale was still mastering his breathing when it came time for introduction.

 

"I do be Gale Nalineo from Illian. I do be here since I do lose a," Gale realized at that moment it might not be wise to suggest that he lost a bet. He supposed that counted as losing, finding out that he could channel. That Tairen ale might have something to do with him here. A large something, in truth, but it was more than that. "What I do mean is I do come to serve the Lord Dragon." He didn't mutter 'and all that' but the desire was strong. Besides, after saying it, Gale realized that serving the world might have a few perks. Furthermore, what use was sailing if the seas boiled up when the Dark One broke free and took over? Best to stop him first and worry about getting back on a ship later.

 

Because there would be a later.

 

Right?

[Arath Faringal]

Arath surveyed the sad group of soldiers in front of him.  Some of them didn't look like they'd be able to handle the stress of the up coming weeks, but there were a few promising souls among them.  "For any of you who don't know me, I am Attack Leader Faringal.  I am responsible for overseeing the training of Soldiers and Dedicateds here at the Black Tower."

 

Siezing Saidin, Arath raised a training dummy from the stony ground, shaping the features to look strikingly human.  "You are to learn the basics you will need to survive with Saidin.  How to create," he indicated the dummy, "and how to kill."  Whipping around suddenly, Arath let loose a barrage of fireballs, reducing the earthen man to dust and rock chips.  "To protect."  He pointed at a small tree a short distance away.  Weaving deftly, he caused a shimmering, transparent bubble to appear around the sickly looking plant.  Weaves of air caused a large rock to hurtle toward the barrier and bounce off harmlessly.  Another fireball exploded against the barrier, also leaving the tree unscathed.  "And how to destroy."  The tree appeared to writh in pain to the soldiers as Arath heated it from the inside, boiling the sap and weakening the insides.  Finally great gouts of flame erupted from the trunk and consumed the tortured shrub.

 

Some of the soldiers looked as though they would be sick.  Others looked eager.  And a few of them watched intently, seeking knowledge for whatever end.  "I want all of you to sieze Saidin.  Using earth and air, I want you to create something.  A manakin, a shelter, a bunny, I don't care.  Create something.  Once I am satisfied, you will have to protect what you have made.  I will attempt to destroy it, and I will not go easy on you.  These are the weaves you will need."

 

It took a while, but eventually every soldier had been shown the necesary weaves to raise earth and stone from the ground, and to shape and sculpt it into different forms.  They were also shown the basics of an air shield and told of different ways it could be adapted to be more useful against different attacks.  "Creativity is often the key to success in a battle," Arath said as some complained about his lack of specific detail.  "Coming up with a new way of defense or attack that your enemy has never seen before.  Surprise me."

 

As his students began to finish off their creations, Arath siezed Saidin again, preparing several destructive weaves.  This was always the most fun part of the class.

 

OOC:  Sorry this took so long to get up.  Go ahead and build yourselves a little somthing to protect and then feel free to write out my attacks.  Arath will relentlessly continue until he has destroyed your work of art, starting with simple attacks and then building up into full powered weaves.  Be realistic about your strengths, weaknesses, and experience, but have fun with it.

[Briwan Dragain]

Relax, Gale. This do no be hard. Just breathe and... try number three ended in failure. So Gale sucked in another slow breath and tried very hard to funnel all of his emotions outside of his body. Truthfully, that was the easiest part. Aside from being physically warmed up, Gale had too many emotions inside of him for any one to register. So shoving them all out of his body was easy. The hard part was grabbing the Power.

 

But, on attempt four, the male half of the One Power rushed into him. Gale was caught by surprise, but the emotion bounced off of the void in his mind. Instead, he fought to control the sudden torrent raging within him. After a few quick breaths, he had it.

 

Despite the girly sounding name, Gale knew very little about weaves. He knew something about knots, and rope, but when it came to actual sewing or anything he was in the dark. Watching Faringal start spinning some sort of colored, intangible thread into creation was quite stunning to see. And all the tricks that the man had used... well... Gale wasn't sure he'd be able to create anything like that.

 

Of course, two and a half hours later or more he knew enough of the basics that he could distinguish between the Five Powers easily enough. Furthermore, he even knew a little about shields, a matter of Air it seemed, and creation which seemed to mix Air with Earth rather heavily. And the destruction bit, well... All he had from that was what Faringal showed off earlier.

 

Armed with new knowledge and a goal, it took Gale twenty minutes to pull a ship out of the earth. It wasn't anything fantastic, in fact it was more a crude sketch of a ship made out of bits of earth and roots and rock. With a little creative polishing, shaping with Air and Earth, Gale spent another few minutes rounding the boat into a vessel worthy of the sea. Well, worthy of a small river perhaps. Or a calm lake.

 

The ship was perhaps little less than Gale's upper body in height and half the span of his arms. Air kept it rather steadily in front of him, but the strain of holding the simple weave and trying to wrap the ship in a sheild was too much. He set the boat down carefully, laying it on its side. Then he bubbled it just as he'd been shown.

 

Teeth held together against the strain of Power inside of him, the force of which continued to try and rend control from him, Gale kept himself focused. Slow, deep breaths. Then he gestured to Faringal, who didn't seem to respond to beckoning motions. As well he didn't, Gale supposed.

 

"Attack Leader Faringal, I do be ready." He managed out in one quick spit of words empty of emotion. Of course, half a minute later proved that Gale wasn't ready in the slightest. Faringal started simple, slamming the shield with easily brushed off attacks. So long as Gale kept his concentration up, nothing could get through the shield. Once things got complicated, however, and that hardly took any time at all, Gale found his weave snapping back at him and his ship reduced to tiny pieces.

 

Gale picked himself up off the ground, not realizing that he'd fallen. The fall had let saidin slip from his grasp. Dusting himself off hasitly, Gale went back to attention for Faringal's tirade. If this Attack Leader was anything like the Captain, Gale was in for a tongue lashing.

 

 

 

 

OOC: Bleh. It's been awhile since I've channeled. Hopefully I get better at this. Haha. No worries about the time length. I've been pretty busy, myself.

[Arath Faringal]

Arath thoroughly enjoyed himself as he destroyed the creations of his students one by one.  Some of them had done a fairly decent job, but most showed a staggering narrow mindedness when it came to their defense, shielding their earthen toys from only one element.  Not that there was much they could have done against the earthen spike he had raised from beneath, but still . . . perhaps they would show more initiative on attack.  That was more most men seemed to excel.

 

Arath let the class stand in a quiet and orderly line for a few minutes while he began to raise a manakin army from the ground.  Each was roughly human shaped, and spaced far enough from the others that no soldier would inadvertantly harm another.  When there were 4 dummies for each soldier, Arath released Saidin and addressed the class once again.

 

"While I wouldn't trust any of you to guard my back with those pathetic shields, I do expect you to be able to destroy an enemy without difficulty.  So, I want to see what you can do.  Each of you take a group of manakins.  Attack them individually.  One attack against each dummy.  I want to see the kind of damage you are able to inflict in a single strike.  And show me a little more creativity than you did with defensive weaves.  Try different things.  Do not disappoint me."

 

Nodding at the group in dismissal, he watched carefully as they began their destructive work. This part was always interesting, and occasionaly educational.

[Briwan Dragain]

Gale was not wildly enthused to start attack weaves yet. In truth, he would have been quite satisfied to start real small and work his way up. In no way had he felt he'd mastered any of the skills taught today and those were just the basics. Perhaps he had made a mistake in choosing this life. Then again, he could feel the Power calling to him even as he stood there in silence - watching Attack Leader Faringal start shaping various pseudo-humans from the earth. It was quite fascinating to see, truthfully, and Gale sucked in all the information that he could.

 

It was wild to even watch those thin threads get pulled and pushed and twisted about so and so. Gale likened it to rope, the only thing with any type of weave that he knew, and watched these thin strands mingle their way here and here to produce something tangible. His thoughts of desertion faded with the knowledge to learn more, even if it was all a bit overwhelming.

 

Then came the order to assault the immobile beasts. Gale assumed the attacks were meant to be with the Power. That was just as well since Gale had no faith in his ability to use a sword. The thing was just an unwelcome weight at his side in truth.

 

Seizing the Power proved to be easier this time around, drawing in the tainted half of the One Power until he felt himself both sickened and overjoyed to hold it. He took a slow, calming breath to keep his mind steady. Okay, Gale, be easy. How hard do th-- but his thoughts were cut short by an explosion to one side of him. And then another, if not quite the same, from his other side. Gale found it hard not to jump in surprise. More explosions, fireballs going off or the ground erupting beneath one of the things. Gale's adrenaline shot up near instantly, sending his heart beat racing beneath that black coat.

 

He pulled in his focus, fed the sounds to the silence of his mind. In a moment, he was ready to start on his own. After all, copying a bit of what those other fellows were doing could not be hard. He pulled up a rock with a weave of Air, managing to lift something about the size of his hand without too much trouble. What had the others done? Fire and Earth were woven into the stone, trickles at first for it wasn't easy to manage so many weaves at once, until the thing took on this indescribable quality. It was as if he could feel power in it, though it was not giving off a glow or any heat that he could tell.

 

Using Air, he lobbed the rock at one of the mannequins. The explosion took him aback, the rock landing around the feet of one of the standing things. Of course, it was gone in a moment... with mild damage done to one or two of the others. Interesting.

 

Gale attempted a fireball next, though it wasn't easy to weave or hurl. It took two to actually destroy the mannequin in question, seeing as the power was so light within the tiny ball that it barely had enough explosive power to decimate the thing. It would have definitely put a stop to anyone coming at him, but it was complete destruction he was going for.

 

Satisfied, he wove Air around the throat of one of the crude shapes. And then he pulled the weave tighter. And tighter. And tighter. The head popped from the shape with little fanfare; making a light jump from the body and falling to the ground instead of sailing wildly into the air. With a few more minutes time, Gale had sharpened a thin weave of Air enough that it acted as a thin knife. Another minute later and he'd managed another. He threw them at the headless thing, piercing rather ineffectively into the shape. He tried again and again, getting the weave down a little faster each time. And more effective, too, even if he only managed two of the thin weaves at once. By the end he was up to three, though he felt this to be a great strain.

 

Gale took a break before going after the fourth creature. He wasn't sure why he felt so... exhausted... when he'd barely done more than a lap around the Tower. His mouth was open and he pulled in air in slow, controlled gulps. There were a few others around him doing the same, so he didn't feel quite so bad. Still, Faringal didn't seem to take well to any of them slacking - not with the look he gave them - so it was back to work.

 

In a last bit of effort, Gale just wove Fire and Earth into the thing until, as so many of the others before it, bits of soil and grass showered the few feet around the field. The explosion wasn't wildly impressive, but it was decent enough for a beginner Gale thought. With a heavy sigh, he released the Power reluctantly... and felt even more strength drain out of him. Gale had to catch his legs before they folded beneath him, but he managed to stay standing. And, from the way Faringal was chewing out another of the soldiers, Gale kept himself standing pretty straight and still. No reason to get called out for anything.

[Arath Faringal]

Arath shook his head wearily as the last explosions died away.  Some of the dummies still stood, seemingly unharmed by the attacks of the soldiers, but most lay in ruins.  The sparse grass was covered in large chunks of soft earth and stone.  Kicking at a particularly large clod of dirt, Arath once again addressed his class.

 

"It seems most of you show a proficiency for crude destruction at least.  Now we will see if you can manage a more fine control."  A weave of air brought a large sack which had been laying against a large rock over to the Attack Leader.  Several of the students looked curiously, straining their necks to see what was inside.  Some of them were disappointed, and many of them confused by what was contained inside.

 

"Cooking," Arath began with a wry grin, "can be more difficult with the power than without.  It takes a great deal of control with fire to maintain the correct heat for cooking.  It takes skill with air to cut your food into acceptable pieces for cooking.  It takes a great deal of fortitude," he added with a grin, "to stomach the food that you will be cooking for yourselves.  From now on you will not only perform all of your chores with the power, but you will cook all of your own meals with it.  Raw food will be provided at the inn for you, but you will be expected to prepare it as best you can on your own.  I will show you how you will do this."

 

Many of the soldiers looked on aprehensively as Arath showed them how to use fine weaves of air to slice and dice the meat and vegetables.  Some of them looked completely depressed as he showed them how to weave fine threads of fire throughout the water to bring it to a slow, comfortable boil.  Every last one of them jumped as he showed them the consequences of cooking 'too fast'.  Using thicker, heavier weaves of fire, he instantly heated a pot of water to vapor, causing it to erupt out of the now twisted pot in a wet, steamy burst.

 

"Now then," he said cheerfully as he began dividing out the individual rations, "Let's eat."

 

OOC:  Cooking . . . fun fun fun :)

[Briwan Dragain]

Gale was not in the slightest bit enthusiastic about beginning the cooking side of channeling. In truth, he was exhausted from his first real day of channeling. He had only learned how to seize the Power this morning and already he felt he was pushed beyond his limit. Still, if the only way he was going to be able to eat was through his own cooking... Light.

 

Gale took in a quick breath to try and steady his nerves, dipping into his reserves to keep on his feet. This do no be difficult, Gale thought to himself. He had it harder on ship than he did here. Or so he tried to tell himself. It didn't stop the weariness, something different than a real physical tired. His body didn't want to go on, but it struck deeper than just his muscles. Gale put it out of mind as he seized the Power. He got it on the first

 

He accepted the food with thin flows of Air, able to channel two weaves at once with a moderate level of difficulty. It certainly wasn't getting any easier, but now that the Power rushed through him he felt as if he'd gained a second wind. For the time being, anyway. This food thing was going to be... interesting.

 

For a few long moments, he merely stared at the pieces assembled before him. Many of the other Soldiers were going off on their own to start about their meals, picking up enough from what Faringal had shown them to make due with what they'd learned. Gale had to watch a few other Soldiers perform the weaves before he felt comfortable enough to attempt it. He found a place not too far from where they had all been gathered, one that appeared it had been used as a cooking pit before, and focused.

 

It took some time, struggling with a pot and even more with the water. After a half our or so, and several reminders that raw meat was bad for the system, he had at least the beginnings of a boil on the pot. Patience was indeed a virtue but one this Illianer lacked. If not for the Void, he may have kicked over the pot a few times during the attempt. With that emptiness surrounding him, anger and frustration rolled off of him the way water did a rock.

 

With some more peaking and minor adjustments, he had the water up to a boil and started cooking the vegetables. How the meat was going to get cooked, that was another story. Had he known anything of weaves, he may have tried tying off the one used to boil the water. Unfortunately, he didn't, and had to hold the tender weave while he started up with a second for the meat. Really, it was the third. He had to use a flow of air to keep the beat floating above the new fire he was conjuring.

 

The strain was unbelievable. Gale remained seated in the grass, hands gripping his knees as he just focused on maintaining the three weaves against the torrent of the tainted half of the One Power. The sheer strength of it was daunting. Every second was a struggle for control, one that Gale continuously felt he could lose any moment. Still, he managed to hang out. Was this as bad as it got? Somehow he felt it was only the beginning. Faringal had said all of their chores must be done with the One Power now? Light, it was too much. Faringal had another thing coming if he thought Gale was about to subject himself to this kind of torture.

 

Light, but he needed a drink.

 

It was the smell of burning that caught his attention... and not burning of meat. Fabric. He leapt back in shock, more rolling over himself as he couldn't leap from his cross-legged position. At least that little effort put out the little bit of flame that had ignited on his pants. When he was standing, adrenaline momentarily giving him another burst of energy, he noted that his weaves had all been released in surprise.

 

Fire erupted in a quick, surprising burst once he'd left it to its own will. It went out as quickly as any blaze with nothing left to burn, sending his pot and vegetables into the air with a quick pop and his meat nicely scorched without being fully cooked. That bit got dropped right into the dirt where the fire had been more or less hovering. Gale kicked the pot as hard as he could, sending it sailing off into the distance.

 

He regretted the action almost instantly, of course, and trotted after the thing before he got chewed out for it. Disciplinary figures were always around at the worst opportune moment, it seemed, but perhaps Gale would get lucky.

 

When he got back to his dirty meat and ruined vegetables, Gale merely started again. First seizing the Power, then setting about cleaning off the chunk of meat as best he could. After that came the cooking, which went a bit faster now that he was more focused on his task. He kept his mind to the job at hand, that second wind of his in full force. After this meal, though, he was done and he knew it. It might not be dark yet, but it was getting there and Gale was ready for a heavy sleep.

 

 

OOC: Sorry, my internet has been dead for a week. Haha.