Grey Matters [Fantasy w/Horror themes | Guided Storytelling] - Open Recruitment

[RedPhoenix]

So many wonderful things going on in this thread! :)

gets off from her lurker chair and raises a hand in attendance I mean what's the worst that could happen?! The d20 hates... I mean... loves me ;D

Yay you got up before I had to drag you out of that chair! <3

[RampantDesires]

Hedonist sample is go!

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

<Hedonist>

Name (Current):Phaidra
Name (Former): Maikena "Mai" Birk
Physical Description: <Marie Avgeropoulos from 100> Lean and muscled the scars on her skin speak of a life of violence.  Dark hair is almost always braided into elaborate styles and she practically lives in dark leather armor that somehow manages to both protect and highlight her body.
Perk : Magical - Fire Control - Though she cannot produce flames from thin air she can manipulate existing fire, building even small sparks into a raging inferno (though briefly as it consumes the air/substance around it).  She can also decrease or smother existing flames within seconds.  While not immune entirely to fire she does seem to have some resistance. Control range - line of sight, more difficult at longer distances.
History/Archetype: Demon Hunter - Her magical heritage and resistance to even magically called flame made her a prime candidate for recruitment into a sect of knight/paladin types who hunt demons.  Sent to investigate reports of monstrous activity she found not demons but a nightmare waiting for her and quickly fell to its minions and subsequent mental domination.
Assigment/Cover Story: Underworld Enforcer -  Phaidra is the threat, the stick that nudges and keeps people in line.  She is a fan of quiet intimidation. and ruthless brutality to make a quick point.  If you need knees broken she is your girl, bigger picture planning not so much.
     <Looking for:  Mastermind/boss type to pair her with as they work to take over the city's criminal element>



Vices: Glutton/Sweet Tooth, hell yes, have you tried this, it's amazing, why would we eat anything but this delicious stuff?
Sexual Preferences: Will have sex for cake? I'm being mildly facetious here, but I AM amused by the thought of her hooking up with a chef'ly or wealthy type with a good kitchen.  The sex is fun, but she's mostly there for the food.  Open to m/f or f/f pairings, Phia's generally sexually dominant but I'm willing to be flexible on this.  I'm a little fascinated with the thought of having part of the knight thing being a vow of chastity.  Not knowing that she's a virgin and dealing with that bit of awkwardness on screen.  This is by no means required but if you're down for it let me know and we'll see what we can work out.
Expectations: I want a little story and humor with naughty time, but am down for some fairly frequently hooking up during her hedonist phase.  While I'm okay with her taking advantage of those still in their thrall state these scenes would be shorter and focus more on the lead in and aftermath rather than the sex just because it's weird to me to focus on someone who isn't fully enjoying themselves the way she is.
Hard Limits: While I'm cool with writing pegging scenes I'm burnt out right now on receiving anal and would rather avoid including that in play.

Undiscovered

The Struggle: I don't actually like hurting people, I thought I was supposed to be protecting them?  Fire is fascinating, I want to play with it but not in the arsonist kinda way that my 'boss' keeps pushing.  Guilt about having sex and enjoying it, a physical and moral weakness.



The Goal: Kill it with fire is a viable strategy in most things?  She is absolutely going to want revenge and to rid the world of this thing once and for all. A little crushed by the knowledge that she can never return to her own life, she's broken too many of their basic tenants to be allowed back in, but maybe she can salvage something and move on once the creature is dead.

The bad?
Phaidra is into some very specific things both for the general character and for the kind of sex stuff she wants to see in the game.  Still never hurts to ask, as long as you're willing to be flexible or accept that it might not happen the way you want it too should still be totally viable.

The good?
The whole magical talent thing is tied through the character, it's limited but cool flavor that shaped not just her history but also tentative plans for later.  There is totally room for other people with fire based powers and themes.

Do these help at all?  Is it making more or less sense as I put things out there?  It basically boils down to three things.

Who they were.

Who there are now (the cobbled together bits and pieces that our big bad has imprinted onto them to make them suited for their mission)

The kinds of drama and scenes you're interested in writing as those two people overlap.

I think I'm going to shift gears a bit into running down basic posting and gameplay thoughts and what not and wait to see how you guys feel about the general character creation stuff :-)  I am trying very hard here to walk that line between being comprehensive without being overwhelming :P

*again the disclaimer that this is just a sample character, not one that is actually going to be in play

[Remiel]

Intrigued by the concept.  Moreso by the energy.  I'll have to come back and read more thoroughly tomorrow, but definitely interest piqued.

[Vi Violet]

Okay, you got me. I'm interested and waving my hand. ;3

[ihinka]

Yay you got up before I had to drag you out of that chair! <3

giggles and gives Red all the hugs

So... I have an inkling of an idea about a skilled archetype that is some sort of a thinker. A scientist maybe or a profiler, mentalist, mentat (Dune reference). Someone who belonged to the team to drive our brain overlord into hiding, but on the techie/geekie side of the Scooby gang. As for her cover/drone role... I'm liking the noble one as she is made to lord over people, where in fact she can't by any further from such mentality. And I'm really keen on using Gillian Anderson as my

face claim

swoon So I'm thinking she could sorta fit under a 'Mastermind' overall archetype. And now that I think about it, I'm really leaning towards the Dune Mentat type of skilled.

And, yes, the samples did help with my idea. Also... love me some O/Blood Reina. That show broke my heart in so many ways though :'(

[Amarlo]

I'm so glad more interest has cropped up! I think this is a really good idea, and I would love to see it in action.

I know you mentioned needing 4 or 5 adventurers. Is that still the case? Because I have a feeling we have a bit more than 5. xD How do you plan to deal with that? (I'm also okay with sitting out and just watching though. ^^; )

[RampantDesires]

Oh, no, not at all, there's no limit to the number of people we can take on for this.  The more the merrier in my book really.  I needed at least four people to show some tentative interest before I dove into world building because I have more than enough unlaunched ships in my dock :P  Happily, we're more than over that bump and moving ahead nicely, you guys are awesome.  So much so that I'd better edit out interest check and move us on into open recruitment.

Yay.



That means it's also time to put up like an official claims section and move some information around so that the top few posts here are better organized and more indicative of where we're at/going with this.  I should have enough time to get to that today. 



God I love Gillian Anderson.  So much.  All the much.


This dress especially from War and Peace rocks my world so you've already got some built in 'haughty noble' options there :-)

ihinka, in terms of mentat character ... do you just mean like highly trained logic/deductive reasoning/investigative skills?  It could probably be like an easy swap over to some kind of monastic type order that focus on observation, mental mastery and the like? 

I should have made it more clear in the breakdown and world stuff, but this is very much going to be a medievlish fantasy world feel.  So there isn't really a tech side to anything.  Academic absolutely and I do think we could take the core training and themes and twist them to fit into a kind of low to mid level magic/fantasy vibe. 



With two people wanting to play some of the 'hero' types who defeated our psychic parasite the last time around that means there's probably only room for one or two more, and it will kind of be on you guys to coordinate your past histories together.  Did you work together extensively before that?  Was it a one off team up/mission that you just got assigned together on.  You have a lot of leeway in how it can be done, it's just important to make sure that everyone is on the same page when you're going for intertwined back stories like that :-)  Again it doesn't have to be extensive planning, just stuff to think and chat about.



Also Huzzah Vi and Remiel <3

<inserts her happy dance here>

[Vi Violet]

Also Huzzah Vi and Remiel <3

*awkward finger guns* <3

[ihinka]

ihinka, in terms of mentat character ... do you just mean like highly trained logic/deductive reasoning/investigative skills?

Yes, not unlike how the mentats are in Dune, someone with exceptional cognitive abilities, memory and perception, which allows for very accurate strategizing, forecasting and hypothesizing, tactics, etc. She could have well been part of a secular, academic circle training such individuals to serve as educators, councilors/consiglieri, advanced thinkers and visionaries.

And I guess now I know where to source more pics/gifs for this build. Since what I have for Gillian is all modern/contemporary looking :D

[RainyHigh]

I see that light dice use is being talked about, but the game is not really system-based.

*grins and waves both arms around*

[Amarlo]

*awkward finger guns* <3

This made me laugh for some reason. Hahah ;D

[RampantDesires]

Hell yes Rainy, it is good to see you :-)  The rolling is definitely not system based and is going to be very simple, even more so than Deviations was.  And speaking of games past ...

Sorry for the delay in updating things, but I had to sit down and have myself a big think about how game time and rolling should probably work with more than just a handful of characters because as much as I am happy to listen to feedback and fine-tune things on the fly I don't think that my original "roll every X number of posts" plan is going to work very well if there's a bunch of us.  I don't want to 'punish' people who like making longer less frequent posts.  I don't want to 'reward' people for rapid fire chatty posts and I very much want there to be room in the group for both kinds of posting styles. 

So I think it would be better to just roll every week.  Did you make an in-character post in the group anywhere?  Awesome, you're eligible to roll. We'll pick a day, or rather a series of days (probably Friday - Monday so that everyone has a chance to get them in) Everyone who posted rolls, and we see who progresses along their mental track. It's important to note that YOU decide how your character manifests these changes when you succeed, it doesn't have to happen instantly, you're welcome to finish writing stuff in progress without changing their behavior and just weaving the changes into your future plans.

I like this group roll together more than individual post rolling because it does give us a sense of ... well togetherness even if especially at the beginning characters are very divided and off doing their own paired/small group things.  It's part of a dialogue in the ooc thread, something to look forward to as a collective rather than single rolls.  It might be slightly more bookwork on my end, but I live for that stuff and it's nothing I haven't done before.

This leads me to a discussion about how 'game time' is going to work. 

When I was initially thinking about writing this it was going to be with one or two people.  I'm beyond thrilled to have all of you here, but it's pretty clear to me that we'll need some kind of standard game time to keep everything straight especially as storylines start weaving together. 

So my plan is to have the first two weeks of writing as a free for all.  It doesn't make sense for everyone to arrive at the town at the same time, that's suspicious as fuck, but no, you've arrived in pairs and small fits and starts over the last month or so and settled into your respective roles.  You can write whatever you want during this time as you get your characters set up and established in town.

Then we're going to pick a cut off point.  By now people will have started making rolls and maybe even succeeding at moving on to the next stage and mingling.  It's important to know WHEN things happen.  So we will just call it "Day 1"  New scenes and what not should be started in the 'current' day although you can absolutely keep writing scenes already in progress.    My tentative plan is to open a new day every month, but we can absolutely adjust as we go.  Does that feel to fast?  Do you feel rushed to finish and move on to new things?  No problem maybe we'll open it as "Day 1 Day scenes " next month "Day 1 Night scenes" next month "Day 2 Day scenes"


We'll totally chat about this more as we get some IC writing out there and see how things are looking, but I wanted to give you a heads up about where I'd like to see it go. 

It has taken me longer than I thought it would to get the stuff mashed into a summary post, but I'm getting there.  Sheet stuff and claim stuff is going up now.

[Vi Violet]

Yay Rampant!

[RampantDesires]

Thank you :-)  I appreciate you guys being patient with me while we get all of this set up  :-*

I've been kind of holding off on making my own characters for this, just because I have SO MANY that I want to write it's going to be really easy for me to fill in and work around other people's stuff and I'm leery about like claiming something someone else is jazzed about

OOC probably up if and when sheets start coming in, you can post them here or PM me if you're more comfortable.  Whatever's good for you.  Keep in mind that the sheet is meant to be flexible and fleshed out AS WE WRITE in many cases, I just want to make sure that we're on the same page and you have some idea of who they were and where you'd like to see them go as we progress <3

Sorry I'm such a wordy asshat sometimes, but that's my go to, a steady stream of thought out there on the screen while I try to highlight the important bits.  If something isn't clear or is lost in in the sea of text please tell me so I can make it better :-)

[ihinka]

salivates at the additional lore and the opportunity to begin work on her sheet, but is sadly, currently during office hours, so tries hard to curb her excitement

[RampantDesires]

Boo work, but yay excitement. 

I'm still working on reworking the first post to a more accurate reflection of game info.. but I'm struggling a little because I don't want to just like axe it completely ... I might just spoiler it and slap a filled out Moraline's list on the top part to make it easier for new people coming in :P

[RedPhoenix]

I probably won't get a chance to really sit down and think about a sheet until this weekend, but I'm very excited to do so! <3

[Chou chou rheastar]

Will make sheet soonly, just feeling poor today.

[ihinka]

Sooooo, I started tentative work on my character. Just broad strokes for now, but I got to the Vice section and... Now I have an idea which would/could play well with her noble cover... Buuuuut... it is pretty much the opposite of "what revs your character's engine?" XD If you've guessed it, yes, I'm talking about sloth/indolence/apathy... boredom... I'm not sure how one indulges in... sloth XD Something to this affect: "I can’t be bothered! Let the servants do it. And if they won’t or can’t, put them in the pits. Good entertainment is hard to find nowadays." However, too slothy, and how is she gonna perform her duties for brain boss :D

Anyways... just some random thoughts while I work on my character.

[RampantDesires]

The whole hedonist phase is designed to highlight some personal needs and wants coming back on line, so these things can and will run contrary to their programming.  For your sloth example ... she's suddenly looking for excuses to NOT do the stuff she knows she is supposed to and that is absolutely progress of a sort when compared to soulless automaton :P Vices - really soft beds and foot rubs ;)  totally works.

That's why there is a sexual expectations section instead of just linking your O/O's .  How much do you see sex being a factor if at all?  While there is that hedonist phase which seems to lend itself to the naughty exploration everyone's going to be different, there's room along the full spectrum from no sex ever to mostly sex all the time.

I hope you feel better Rhea <3

And there's absolutely no hurry on these sheets.  I too am excited, but the slow roll out build works well for this I think.  No stress or time line really.

[ihinka]

Well, what do you know, I though of something good by change XD But this clarification actually helps me further hone in on the character ;D

[Amarlo]

That's so cool. I love the ideas coming forward.

As for me I am truly struggling to narrow down what I personally want to write. -taps chin.- there's so many good options!

[RedPhoenix]

So here is the proposed sheet for my character!

ihinka I am thinking maybe, since my character is designed as having been a servant of the brain-thing for quite some time, that perhaps she was already its slave when it captured your character? And maybe my character was actually rather involved in that, which could be something that causes some sort of fun tension as they both start to remember it? :D

<Thrall>

Name (Current): Valrika
Name (Former): Lael'alera Rae'eral ("Sweet Rain of the Secret Moon")
Physical Description: An imperious and gorgeous dark elf, Valrika has her people's typical dark grey skin and pure white hair. Her demeanor is a smug and sensual strut, and she always seems prepared for action, of any sort. Her generous curves can distract from her toned build, and she is equally comfortable in games of seduction, intrigue, infiltration, and assassination. She uses the innate minor magical abilities of her kind to accentuate her talents and appearance.
Perk : Skilled

History/Archetype:
Several years ago, a shadow fell across the minds of a remote elven kingdom. The high elves of this land trained themselves rigorously in martial and mental skills. They rejected many of the tolerant ways of their elven kindred, and insisted on isolationism, xenophobia (especially towards their hated cousins the dark elves) and rigorous mental discipline to resist the urge of Corellon's Curse (as they called it) which would shift the bodies of elves between gendered and non-binary expressions. Ever watchful for the slightest sign of lack of conformity or deviation, the Prince quickly spotted when some members of the kingdom were being manipulated mentally, and arranged a hunt for the manipulative creature. They found it weak against their swords, slew the beast and drove it from their kingdom. Prince Lael'alera led the squad of heroes that put the beast down for good, and returned to his father's hall where their victory was celebrated.

Or so he thought. Slowly the illusions cracked and it became apparent that the elf had not killed the monster as false memories had told him he had. Trapped in a world of illusion, the creature had the necessary time to escape the traps set for it, flee the realm, and take the hated Prince who had discovered him away with it for special punishment. Lael'alera does not remember how long it took but eventually the constrained, righteous, intolerant high elf prince ceased to exist and a salacious beautiful drow named Valrika had taken his place. Valrika became a prized servant of the very monster she had believed she slew, and assisted it as it grew in power, never remembering who she had once been.

Assignment/Cover Story: A sexy, silver-tongued mercenary looking to establish her reputation in a new part of the world, ready to show off her talents at fancy events and bar brawls alike, with a ready made excuse to be in the thick of the action and sticking her nose into everyone's business. Her flirtatious attitude and promises of discretion in her dealings give her many excuses for being alone with people before they vanish.



Vices: Power, Feeling in Control, Being Desired, Freedom.
Sexual Preferences: Free of control, Lael'alera remembers being taught that love is meant to be pure, based in poetry and swooning, and hardly ever involving actual sex. Given how much she's had doing the exact opposite it will be very hard for her to be satisfied with this. Valrika the forced identity is a savagely dominant persona who enjoys taunting, teasing, bossing, and very much enjoys pushing her partners beyond their limits and taking without asking, knowing that her smitten toys will let her get away with it.
Expectations: I love smut, especially when it drives the plot which I think it very much can in this kind of setting. Fill that cup up.
Hard Limits: Rather not having any involvement with short races (gnomes, halflings, etc). Don't want to actually write out any non-con type scenes, although I'm okay with them happening in a very early fade to black, regardless of whether Valrika is on the giving or receiving end of it. I'm not sure much else comes to mind.



The Struggle: Lael'alera will be horrified as they realize what they are doing and what they have done. Memories of debauchery and murder will cause a strong reaction from what was once a puritanical and disciplined soul who thought they would be a king one day. That being said, the memory of how good it all felt to be a seductive assassin will also be very, very hard to ignore. Being left with a taste for action, both of the the carnal and the carnage variety, and the memories of an upbringing that told her all such things were immoral, will be very difficult for the elf to handle. How much of it is unlocking parts of her that she'd let be repressed, and how much of it was actually the actions of a totally different person, she won't be sure. The implications of this will be disturbing, and so very tempting. Also she won't really be sure that her 'real' memories are real memories. Or are they just another layer of the mind-dragon fucking with her? She'll remember being tricked into thinking she'd beaten it before....



The Goal:  I think she'll be of similar use to the group as she was to the mind-dragon. The same skills she has as a thrall can be carried over to work as an adventurer or one of the good guys just as easily in many ways. She will be looking for a voice of reason, a conscience, to sound off of when she isn't really able to hear her own. There could be all sorts of fun ways her hard to ignore desires make things fun, or complicated.

[Amarlo]

@Rampant - I'm not sure if this was touched on already or not. Forgive me if it has, but what sort of things would the Brain thing be having his slaves do?

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

<Thrall>

Name (Current): Valrika
Name (Former): Lael'alera Rae'eral ("Sweet Rain of the Secret Moon")
Physical Description: An imperious and gorgeous dark elf, Valrika has her people's typical dark grey skin and pure white hair. Her demeanor is a smug and sensual strut, and she always seems prepared for action, of any sort. Her generous curves can distract from her toned build, and she is equally comfortable in games of seduction, intrigue, infiltration, and assassination. She uses the innate minor magical abilities of her kind to accentuate her talents and appearance.
Perk : Skilled

History/Archetype:
Several years ago, a shadow fell across the minds of a remote elven kingdom. The high elves of this land trained themselves rigorously in martial and mental skills. They rejected many of the tolerant ways of their elven kindred, and insisted on isolationism, xenophobia (especially towards their hated cousins the dark elves) and rigorous mental discipline to resist the urge of Corellon's Curse (as they called it) which would shift the bodies of elves between gendered and non-binary expressions. Ever watchful for the slightest sign of lack of conformity or deviation, the Prince quickly spotted when some members of the kingdom were being manipulated mentally, and arranged a hunt for the manipulative creature. They found it weak against their swords, slew the beast and drove it from their kingdom. Prince Lael'alera led the squad of heroes that put the beast down for good, and returned to his father's hall where their victory was celebrated.

Or so he thought. Slowly the illusions cracked and it became apparent that the elf had not killed the monster as false memories had told him he had. Trapped in a world of illusion, the creature had the necessary time to escape the traps set for it, flee the realm, and take the hated Prince who had discovered him away with it for special punishment. Lael'alera does not remember how long it took but eventually the constrained, righteous, intolerant high elf prince ceased to exist and a salacious beautiful drow named Valrika had taken his place. Valrika became a prized servant of the very monster she had believed she slew, and assisted it as it grew in power, never remembering who she had once been.

Assignment/Cover Story: A sexy, silver-tongued mercenary looking to establish her reputation in a new part of the world, ready to show off her talents at fancy events and bar brawls alike, with a ready made excuse to be in the thick of the action and sticking her nose into everyone's business. Her flirtatious attitude and promises of discretion in her dealings give her many excuses for being alone with people before they vanish.



Vices: Power, Feeling in Control, Being Desired, Freedom.
Sexual Preferences: Free of control, Lael'alera remembers being taught that love is meant to be pure, based in poetry and swooning, and hardly ever involving actual sex. Given how much she's had doing the exact opposite it will be very hard for her to be satisfied with this. Valrika the forced identity is a savagely dominant persona who enjoys taunting, teasing, bossing, and very much enjoys pushing her partners beyond their limits and taking without asking, knowing that her smitten toys will let her get away with it.
Expectations: I love smut, especially when it drives the plot which I think it very much can in this kind of setting. Fill that cup up.
Hard Limits: Rather not having any involvement with short races (gnomes, halflings, etc). Don't want to actually write out any non-con type scenes, although I'm okay with them happening in a very early fade to black, regardless of whether Valrika is on the giving or receiving end of it. I'm not sure much else comes to mind.



The Struggle: Lael'alera will be horrified as they realize what they are doing and what they have done. Memories of debauchery and murder will cause a strong reaction from what was once a puritanical and disciplined soul who thought they would be a king one day. That being said, the memory of how good it all felt to be a seductive assassin will also be very, very hard to ignore. Being left with a taste for action, both of the the carnal and the carnage variety, and the memories of an upbringing that told her all such things were immoral, will be very difficult for the elf to handle. How much of it is unlocking parts of her that she'd let be repressed, and how much of it was actually the actions of a totally different person, she won't be sure. The implications of this will be disturbing, and so very tempting. Also she won't really be sure that her 'real' memories are real memories. Or are they just another layer of the mind-dragon fucking with her? She'll remember being tricked into thinking she'd beaten it before....



The Goal:  I think she'll be of similar use to the group as she was to the mind-dragon. The same skills she has as a thrall can be carried over to work as an adventurer or one of the good guys just as easily in many ways. She will be looking for a voice of reason, a conscience, to sound off of when she isn't really able to hear her own. There could be all sorts of fun ways her hard to ignore desires make things fun, or complicated.

What a goddess.  :o

[RampantDesires]

Your 'mission' is somewhat tailored to fit you and what you want to write, but in general they are there to gather information (and/or spread misinformation) , slowly take over positions of influence and power in the town, and perhaps most importantly send back more people for him to consume or repurpose :P

Some samples of things I thought might work are found https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=336705.msg15996699#msg15996699 there in the world building thread as well as a kind of loose idea of how the initial threads might be organized.  Those are just suggestions not hard lines or limits you're welcome to come up with your own just have a tentative idea of which section they might go in :-)

Speaking of threads now that we have our first completed character I'mma get off my bum and put those up tonight/maybe in the morning since it is 1AM we'll see how cooperative the brain is. 

I also still need to finish reworking this opening post so that it is more streamlined.  Gah stop getting distracted by pictures Rampant. 

Valrika is go for move over once I get threads up <3  Yay Red!