While I'm not sure I have it in me to go digging around to see what, if anything, I came up with years ago for actual baronial heraldry (though I think there was something), I did just read through the last Plort story I wrote and...I feel like Eshakhar Na'Shirah's story could use an update. It's been two years, and things are a bit different IRL. I can even almost see the outline of a short story...I guess we'll see if I write it, and, if so, how long it takes me to finish!

~Z

The Wizard of Math is a strange knight indeed, with a half cloak, bright red shoes, and an odd long sleeve shirt with a red vest over it. Their brown hair touched their horse and then some, and their brown eyes looked around the scene.

"Do you happen to know where the Library is?" they asked a passerby. "The nearest one, if you could?"

"That would be down in Barony Neshomeh," said the passerby. "That is about directly south of here, two hours on horseback."

"Thank you," they said.

---

A strange knight indeed. They come from Heroes of the Robots Acadmia¹, back when it was Heroes of the Robots. It was a pleasant land, with all kinds of people, including those made of metal that towered above the normalfolk. There, the Wizard was merely known by their name given at their birth: Kittyauthor. Everything was as peaceful as it could be.

Until, of course, the Marizu attacked.

It came all at once. Some ran to the neighbor country, Robots Primary². Kittyauthor tried, but they were caught by some of the Marizu. Unlike some, Kittyauthor was actually covinced to join them in their conquest. The Marizu were just like Kittyauthor, they said. Working people from many nations. Some came from Tivit, had seen the Marizu get murdered (although from what, Kittyauthor didn't know), and had gone to the Marizu League willingly. Others came from many other lands, some invaded by the Marizu, some not. All agreed, however, that the Marizu's forces were required to change the nation they lived in for the better.

Kittyauthor, fully convinced, joined them willingly and was granted a shield with a coat of arms on it.

"What are these strange colors?" they asked.

"Well, the background is vantasable, the dragon Orzure, and the border is a color called Arghent," someone said. "All together, it is an oval shield, Vantasable, a dragon rampant Orzure; a bordure Arghent."

"Interesting," Kittyauthor said.

"You also get this," the someone said. They led a snow wolf out to Kittyauthor. "This is Snowy. Take care of her."

"I will," they said.

---

The nation, under the Marizu, changed to Heroes of the Robots Acadmia for reasons unrelated to the Marizu's leadership. Disgusted, Kittyauthor asked for a transfer to a different nation under the League. It was granted, unsurprisingly, and Kittyauthor was transfered to a base in The Dwelling of the Crescents³, where insistently not-undead beings roamed and played with the elements. Kittyauthor was also disgusted and got transfered back to Heroes of the Robots Acadmia to fight against a nation called "Union of Plort." Disgusted at the trickery tatics the Marizu was using, they hid until the conflict ended, then ran off in the direction of the Plort army.

They ran into a knight (whose name they never got), who at first acted defensive, seeing Kittyauthor's shield. But Kittyauthor said that they came in peace and threw down their Marizu shield and unnamed glittery sword.

"I don't want to be a knight of Marizu," they said. "I'm disgusted by their tactics. They fight with trickery; they seem to invade innocent nations 'for the better' but my homeland is worse off; they have nations that praise less virtuous values. I don't want to be with them."

"Some of our nations don't have the best values," said the knight. "You fled battle, did you not?"

Frustrated, Kittyauthor left.

---

After this, they changed their name (unoffically, sort of) to Wizard of Math and wandered off to another nation called "Me'Towpe'ah"⁴ and was a merely civilian there. They met David Null there, and they obtained a horse. They exchanged their Marizu clothes for the more fitting plain clothes they have now. The wizard offered David a job as their servant, which he accepted begrudgingly.

Me'Towpe'ah, for a while, was a neutral nation, siding with no dominant power. Both Marizu and members of the Plort stayed there when needed. The wizard had discussed with some of the members of the Plort nation They asked to go with the Plort army back to their home nation. The request was accepted. So they did.

They settled in a shack somewhere in the Confederation of Diskord before alerting the barons of their presence and their peace, which caused much confusion, as the barons intially thought they were someone else (another knight^). They were eventually knighted by Baron Na'Shirah and spends most of their time traveling with their servant.

---

Their new coat of arms references their old coat of arms and is as follows: Shield, per bend sable and argent; a dragon dormant agrent in sinister chief; a lion dormant sable in dexter base.ⁿ

Snowy had wandered off after the Wizard of Math left the Marizu.

---

¹ Rescue Bots Academy

² Transformers Prime (following off of the Robot trend)

³ House of Night (Dwelling for house, and Crescents to represent the marks the Vampyres wear)

⁴ Miitopia (this is just spelled like it sounds. Feel free to change it!)

^ In reference to the fact that I joined Discord before I joined the Board and was mistaken for another member named Kitty.

ⁿ I used a website, but hS can remake if he wants. Here is the site.

---

A lot of this story references bits in my own life leading up to the PPC.

Joining the Marizu, but not fighting: My love for some badfics (after all, that's how I found out about the PPC: looking for more badfic).

Snowy the snow wolf: My first every OC. She was a Mary Sue (but also a vampire. I changed it to a wolf because it made more sense).

Disgust in two nations (Hero of the Robots Acadmia, The Dwelling of the Crescents): Me hating Rescue Bot Academy (former) and me realizing that my once-favorite series sucks (latter).

Not wanting to fight with the Marizu, but being called a coward by another knight: I took a break from the PPC for some months before coming back. In this time, I neither read fanfic nor wrote missions (I didn't have Permission at that time). I, effectively, fled.

The Me'Towpe'ah thing, rebranding under a different name: I came back to the PPC and realized how nicknames worked on Discord.

Settling without alerting anyone: I joined Discord before making an introduction post.

"Spends most of their time traveling": The vagueness represents me not publishing finished missions, either due to no betas or I don't want to publish it right yet. The traveling represents, well, writing missions.

I hope I didn't shpx up the canon. I think I'm good? I might not be? I did wiki walk for quite a bit.

Oh! And the design (I keep calling it a coat of arms) represents things. The black and white represents the black and white thinking that the Wizard of Math once held, but, with Argent meaning silver, it also means that they think the Plort is not necessarily an entirely good nation, but the Marizu messing everything up, so they fight against the Marizu. The dormant dragon represent the past as a bad writer. It is asleep because I still write bad things, in my opnion. The lion is there to represent bravery. It is asleep because it looks cool I sometimes am not brave enough to write a mission over some of the badfic I run into.

I hope this is good, honestly.

-kA

I know there's an Alvish shield still to do, but I think this is the Inglish stuff that's been requested.

Sir Claire Book, the Fiddler-Mage:

Sable, on a bend sinister argent, an open book proper.

Nienor, identity-thieving Marizu:

Vantasable, on a bend sinister épiné arghent, a book proper.

('épiné' is also known as 'acacia thorned', fyi)

Linstar, newcomer in Plort:

Vert, on a chevron sable a star Or, a vial of glitter urpure.

(It is not typical to use a Suvian colour on a Plortian shield, but glitter is an exception. There is debate over whether it is Properly urpure or arghent, so it needs to be defined whichever is used.)

Linstar, troll of Kwotef:

Per fess apilakoro, urpure and vantasable, guttée-de-paillettes arghent, crossed swords Orzure flaming gewels.

(Marizu heraldry is so much fun - and so much work. "Guttée" is a special term for a scattering of droplets; the real versions include guttée-de-sang (red, for blood) and guttée-d'olives (green, for... olives).)

Knight Fox of Orange, definitely human:

Or, a fess tenné, a circle Or.

(I love the simplicity of this. Could have used 'orange' as a colour, but as far as I can tell it isn't actually different from Tenné.)

Wear your shields with pride! Except the ones which are of Marizu origin, in which case set them on fire and laugh as they burn.

~Baron Huinesoron, Head of the College of Arms, Castle Maklaur

Read stuff on the wiki, but how does this work? Like, the heraldry-crafting and the lore-crafting and all that stuff. Do we just write it out at any point or is there a longer process to it?

-OrangeFox, trying to get out of a slump and actually write again

There is always a risk in naming an era before its true nature is known. When the end of the Fourth Age of Konti-Nyuum was recognised, the historians of Plort optimistically named the coming age the Age of Change. Yet with hindsight, it is clear that it is in truth the Age of Storms.

The new Age began with the election of four new barons, among whom Baron Thanasius Ampelius was notable for his origin in the lands beyond the mysterious Mistwall. With Konti-Nyuum now divided between eleven baronies - eight of them in Borrd and Ozerbord - tensions grew high as barons old and new vied for control of the isle.

Perhaps sensing this weakness, a slew of invaders turned their eyes upon Plort. First came the vile Green Ads, bandits and masters of stealth, swarmed across Borrd, rendering travel between its cities and towns perilous even for the best-armed among its people. All effort was made to banish them, led by two key figures: Huinesoron, who beseeched the gods Spelin Tam-Ara and Kanun Syorn for relief, and Tomash, mayor of the town Teebor, who sought to cast great wards about the whole of Plort.

The confrontation between the two leaders was brought to a head by the arrival of the Inter'Nelerors, savage flying beasts from beyond the Mistwall that swarmed across Borrd and Ozerbord alike. With their refuge shattered, the people fled to Wechi, turning in fear to the gods of distant Wechi-Ah; yet it was not gods who brought salvation. By the power of Programm'an, Tomash spread his protection across the skies of Ozerbord, creating the Refuge anew. In doing so he laid claim to the title of Lord Protector, ousting Baron Huinesoron from the position.

Confined to Borrd, the Inter'Nelerors were swiftly dispatched, but they were only the first crisis to come from the Mistwall. A great storm rode in their wake, driving vast waves up the river Gotfik and swamping the Coastal Forest; in the disaster, the great fortress of Ofum was broken and ruined. The knights of Plort wavered, unable to press their attacks against the Marizu.

The Baronial Council convened in an atmosphere of despair, yet from it sprang hope anew. Forts were raised in Ozerbord and Wechi, to take up the burden of Ofum's loss. A new city was inaugrated at Critta-Kalthin, to trade with distant lands. And a new nation was created: the Riding of Sittorese between Borrd and Iric, taking the fertile lands that were once Thalia's and using them to feed the armies of Plort.

Iric did not protest the appropriation of its lands. In fact, very little news was had out of the far eastern lands, and over the months that followed the council, utter silence fell. None travelled down the untended roads between Tumblar and La Wunj; no ships sailed the sea routes between them. The land of Iric was deserted, and when Baron Huinesoron in his wanderings brought its tattered banner to Borrd, the nation was declared lost.

Over time the people drifted back, from Borrd, the Riding, and lands overseas, drawn by the lure of empty fields ripe for the taking. They had no leaders, no laws or structures of politics; discord reigned among the rivers between the mountains. But out of it something new arose, a nation of factions and divisions, unlike anything that had been seen on Konti-Nyuum.

The war was so subtle that it might not even be called a war. Overnight, the lands of southern Ozerbord changed their allegiance, and in harmony with the eastern regions, raised the flag of the Confederation of Diskord. Their Mords immediately sought the blessing of the Baronial Council, and in a turn of events that surprised many, Baron Huinesoron himself supported their statehood. The baron stood before the council and proposed a great change: that the Council become a true Council of Plort, allowing the rulers of all its nations to be heard. Many deemed this a new beginning, the dawn of a bright future for Konti-Nyuum.

Yet the storms had not subsided. Even as the enlarged Council met in Borrd, Critta-Kalthin was struck by a tidal surge almost as great as that which had destroyed Ofum. The many channels of the Gu-Gel delta were reshaped by the roaring sea, and though the city itself was preserved the flood passed far upriver. Odolotos was once again brought to ruin, and all the lands between the Wep and Friwep became one vast swamp, the Neosity.

Aid flowed in from Wechi and the Diskord, turning the skills employed in the raising of Los Taelis and Ba-Korp to recovery and restoration. The people of Plort congratulated themselves on their swift response, and their salvaging of all but a few of the historic buildings in the region.

Then the next storm struck.

Ozerbord was struck first: great waves tore at its cliffs and rent vast canyons through its highlands. The last inhabitants fled; the refuge of Plort was brought to naught.

Shielded by the Wattufs and the Hustits, Critta-Kalthin was once again left unscathed. The workers in the Neosity hurried downriver, but their aid was unneeded. All they could do was gaze east as the vast stormclouds passed over the ruins of Ofum, and the waves thundered into the bay of Borrd itself.

The people of Borrd fled screaming. So great was the storm's fury that none should have survived, and even Otik's inviolable rock should have been torn down. And yet, even as lightning stabbed at the town, something else appeared in the sky. Vine-bedecked, held aloft by unimaginable arcane forces, the castle Tegnoh had left its long home in the Kar'eer Forest and come to Borrd at last.

In its highest turret, the Barons of Plort stood in a circle about Tomash, Protector of broken Ozerbord. From the Protector's lips poured sigils of power and summoning, and by the will of the barons they were shaped and sent forth. Vast barriers of protection rose about Otik, and about the citizens fleeing from the form; and even as Old Borrd was crushed beneath the flood, a new city rose in its place. White towers, raised long before in Teebor, were brought forth to the home they had been destined for; and when the waves and the gale subsided, a New Borrd stood on the shores of the bay where the old once sat.

Of the ancient city, only Oitk itself survived, its rock rising now from the iron-grey sea; and, in what was once the eastern quarter of the city, a small cluster of buildings huddled still on the shore. These had been saved not by design of Tomash, but by Huinesoron's intransigence; for, breaking from the circle, the baron had invoked the aspects of departed knights and barons even back to Jay and Acacia themselves, and by their memory preserved some small part of their city.

In the aftermath of the disaster, fearing future crises, Huinesoron established the Academy d'As to study the cause of the storms. The scholars of d'As quickly learned that the Mistwall, that mysterious northern barrier between their world and another, had shifted south. Nor was Plort the only realm affected: the marauders of So Shall Medea had been cast into disarray, and the Gods of Wechi-Ah had been overthrown by a new divinity known only as Phantom. Some among them even began to link the fall of Iric to the shift in the Mistwall - but ere they could study it further, a new trial came upon them.

The Plague of Corvids, a swarm of black birds that emerged from the Mistwall to descend upon Weab, sent Plort even further into disarray. Castles and libraries were sealed; knights and barons retreated to their holds; few dared to venture across the sea to battle the Marizu. The Academy d'As was closed, its doors sealed - which turned out to be a good thing, as another storm caused the river Jid'ryv to burst its banks and wash the Academy's buildings away. Many of the barons of Plort departed its shores, and for a time it seemed that the legacy of Jay and Acacia would be entirely forsaken.

And yet even in this climate of despair, there was hope. The Council of Plort, though weary and diminished by the Age of Storms, assembled once more in wave-washed Otik: the barons, Protector Tomash of Borrd, and the Mords of the Diskord. Together they proclaimed a greater unity: though the four surviving nations would maintain their separate ways, the Union of Plort would once again be known as the Protectorate of Plort, Konti-Nyuum.

"Oh," said Baron Neshomeh as the council adjourned, "and I'm making Storme of Hauk a baron; hope nobody minds."

---

Changed the fall of Ofum slightly (it was previously said to be burned by unknown hands), but other than that I think it's pure additions.

It's been a rough 9 years.

hS

It is not made clear whether Marizu is a political or species descriptor. To avoid overtly linking the things we kill to the authors we wish would improve, it might be better to be a Marizu sympathiser in Kwotef. You could have had Marizu staying at your castle and suchlike.

Trolls, meanwhile (addressing Linstar here), are intelligent monsters with magical shapeshifting. There is no obvious reason one couldn't repent and move to Plort; changing their minds is what intelligent creatures do best!

In both cases, your heraldry would probably have an older Marizu form, which will amuse me immensely to make. :D

hS

It was raining that evening. A thin, tallish person came into the courtyard. They weren't exactly sneaking, but they weren't just walking in, either. They looked around. All the doors were shut, so they curled up in a slightly less windy and damp corner, setting a long rectangular box down beside them. They tried to get some sleep, but the cold made their cough worse, and the rain didn't help. They eventually drifted off to sleep.

I wrote a thing to introduce it earlier today but then the computer crashed, and I Do Not Have The Energy again, so I'll just say "yes".

I will work on an update to the History (stuff has /changed/ in the past 5 years), but for now I'll just say that Ozerbord is now Teebor and is an empty wasteland, and the remaining four nations are collectively calling themselves the Protectorate of Plort, Konti-Nyuum again. Because authorial fiat; I'll come up with a justification in the history. The four nations still exist though.

I'll also poke the Barony situation; I believe PC, Hieronymus, and Larf are empty, and I'm not sure about Phobos and Juliette. Everyone else I've seen. Storme, if you're reading, the Edict of Bast wants to know which part(s) of the PPC community you feel the most connected to: the Board, the Discord, the Wiki, or the writing.

And, heraldry. If you describe (either casually or in formal style) an Inglish or Alvish shield - yes, or both - I'll put it together for you. That's 'you' broadly defined, and if you've already got one, you can update or ask for the other type.

But be aware my energy and time remain low, so things could take a while.

hS

Since Novastorme is a Permission Giver now, doesn't that mean that he is a Baron and presumably gets a barony somewhere?

This sounds very fun.