Phantom Grey

Well, I had nothing to blog about, and then the Aiel Reindeer suggested I do Phantom Grey. So I am.

Phantom Grey, you see, is a name that originated when my uncle got a new car. It was a bit dark outside, so we were looking at it out the living room window, and wanting to know what color it was, because it was hard to tell. So my mom asked, and he gets this funny look on his face and says, "Phantom Grey." So we all laughed about the funny color, but it instantly made me think of, well, the Phantom. And it just so happened that LDM was doing a Best RPG Idea contest at that point in time, so I came up with a story around the name Phantom Grey:

The name crept in among them. Nobody knew how…but one thing was certain: the night before the sudden assassination of the King's Heir, a daughter Silvryn Seilhera and the most promising Princess to grace Kytana's streets in a century, there had been no Phantom Grey. No whispers in the night, no mutters in the day.

Stories of him varied. To the nobles he was a dastardly villain, murderer of their precious Princess - a yarn said to have been circulated by the High Vizier, who now would ascend to the throne after the king's imminent demise. To the traders he was a thief and a trickster, a dancing shadow of moon and stars. To the children he was a bedtime story, a tale to be told in hushed tones by the fire. But to the peasants, perhaps most accurately, he was Phantom Grey - secretive and sinister but at times unexpectedly noble, a rescuer.

Events took their course, as events will, and presently the King did indeed die, and his Vizier ascended to Regentship until an heir was a come of age. There were several, nephews and nieces of the Royal family, and for a time all was thought to be well and good, or as well and good as could be under the circumstances.

But first one little niece died. Then the oldest nephew. And in the course of a grief-filled six months the rest were laid to rest by some disease that came like a thief in the night - like a phantom, though he was not its cause - and the Regent looked very much like ascending completely to Kingship and control over Kytana.

But the Phantom's strikes increased forthwith until the Regent could not so much as send a caravan to the nearby sea for salt and fish than they came tearing back, money stolen and prize possessions likewise spirited away. Strangely, the peasants endured no such hardship, indeed they almost appeared to be benefiting. And young men who would prove valuable to the Regent's army disappeared overnight, their families hard-faced and uncommunicative as to their whereabouts. Young women, too, left their kin suddenly while disapproving elders muttered about their duty to marry and bear children. And occasionally whole families disappeared altogether, almost always ones who were desperately in debt or convicted of some crime.

And the Phantom's power grew, even though none had ever seen him.

But so much more than the nobles or the Regent ever suspected was at the Phantom's disposal. In a great network of caves deep underneath the Earth's Teeth, a formidable mountain range skirting Kytana and separating it from nearby Vidyr, a growing community exists - and a devoted band of the Phantom's followers.

But the Regent is not content to sit docile, allowing what he now thinks of as his kingdom to have its resources sucked dry by some taunting rebel. He begins to arrest many, often on little or no charges. But some of his attacks have struck their target…and will the Phantom be next, to join the growing ranks of his imprisoned followers? To hang dangling from a noose as the sun sets, abandoning Kytana to a merciless usurper?

Find out.

And that was Phantom. His actual name is Phaerin Grey and he's the son of a high-ranking nobleman, but not many people actually know that. His second-in-command as of now is Jamie's Kjan Armadur, who's an extremely amusing character. In total the party of main characters consists of:
Phantom Grey, leader (me)
Eledhe Darkstar, resident mercenary and magic-user (me)
Kjan Armadur, second-in-command (Jamie/PotR)
Silvryn Seilhera, *supposed* heir to the throne (created by me, but played by Jamie/PotR)
[those are the main four, who've been there all through the story]
Jateyani Ralkaien, actual heir to the throne (though the characters haven't discovered it yet) (Nurrantiel Mashiara)
Ash and Threng, don't-really-know-what-they-are (Elenya and Nauriel Rochnur)
Jais, comic relief (LDM)
Belnarr, resident dwarf (LDM)
Falch'nus, convenient villain to be brought in when needed (LDM)
Dante Salone, who used to court Kjan's older sister. Actual profession: cartographer/guide. (Fencing Maiden)
and most recently:
Ayden Mandar, other possible heir to the throne. Gotta have possibilities. (zeh Reindeer)

Only the first four have been there all through, and the others have had bits where they've come in. I don't think I forgot anyone. Anyway, you can find the thread here.

~Sil

"You know, I think we're two of the only people who regularly adjust our schedules to suit that of someone diagonally across the continent."