Galatine's Thread o' Half-baked Ideas! [MUL/UN- I suppose]

[Galatine]

Galatine's Random Ideas! *Warning: Contains Walls o' Text*

Now that the warning is out of the way, we can get down to business. You, my dear reader, are looking at the deranged products of my overly active imagination. Or at least the most well developed portions of it. But even if they are my ideas, I have tried to at least leave them as open-ended as possible. None of these ideas need go into the erotic. Or they all could. Or maybe it will be a grab-bag. So therefor, first and foremost, these are story seeds. I wish for all of them to become well-grown stories in time. If they happen to develop into more sexual things then that is alright. We are all adults here after all. And if they don't develop such then I would like to think that these ideas would be interesting enough without it. So, if you see any you are interested in, or have a suggestion, criticism, or even shameless flattery for me then feel free to shoot me a PM.

#1: Considering the apparent popularity of vampires on the boards I might as well throw an idea out there.

----Legitimacy-----

While it might seem far fetched when you look at all the famous vampires, most of them are not lords. Or barons, or dukes, or any nobility at all for that matter. Being a soul-less monster who sees humans as similar to a slice of lamb tends to put a damper on most attempts. Then there is that annoying fact that only the most powerful vampires can be up and about during the day without bursting into flame, and even they can't use their abilities then. This doesn't stop vampires from trying to establish themselves though.

Enter the particular vampire that this story revolves around. They have a desire to become a vampire lord, with all the benefits there of. Easy feeding, excellent defenses, an alibi of eccentricy, and so forth. Unfortunately for them, they were not noble when they were alive, being born into a merchant class family. Of course that is down the tubes now that they are technically dead. So what is an enterprising young (ish) vampire to do? Simple. They have to find someone to manipulate into handing them nobility. The victim for this effort is the child of the Duke. By seducing them, manipulating them, and then finally discarding them, our vampire can set themself up quite nicely indeed.

This doesn't mean it will be easy. Our vampire is young (ish). Their powers are too weak to out right mind control who they need, only make suggestions and tweak things around a little bit. Using their strength to try and take things by force would just draw attention to their activities. And of course there is the whole daylight issue. Coupled with a victim raised in the often cutthroat world of court intruigue and politics, then this will prove to be quite the challenging endevour. But that will make their breaking that much sweeter, and their blood that much more delicious when the vampire is through with them.

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As you can see, I wanted to play a bit on the power dynamic in the traditional vampire - human relationship. I did however, imagine this vampire as more along the lines of Bram Stoker's Dracula than more modern and sympathetic portrayals. The vampire is a soul-less monstrosity who just happens to be very good at pretending to be human. Good enough to be able to understand how to twist human emotions towards their own ends. I do not imagine this to be a love story, though the scion of the duke may well fall in love. The vampire itself, however, is I imagine too inhuman. The closest I can see them feeling love is a certain possessiveness towards their plans. The seduction and manipulation is a means to acheive their goal, and once useless their victim will be discarded.

So anyway. One other player would be nice. I can play either side, as I find both options intruiguing from a writing perspective. I avoided gender for a reason as well, I want to keep the options open after all.



#2: Also noting the bunches of werewolf stories being posted, I shamelessly get in on the act.

The Ship of Theseus

The Ship of Theseus, is of course, built of wood. Its a very good ship too. However, even the best ship will have wooden planks that will rot. So it is replaced. Then another rots and is replaced. And so on and so forth. At what point does the original Ship cease to exist? When all the planks have been replaced? Half? Or maybe its after just the first one...

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The story is set off when one of the characters becomes infected with lycanthropy. Under the light of the full moon they loose their human minds, changing form into a ravenous wolf-like beast. Perhaps they keep it a secret from the other character for a while. Perhaps they reveal it at the very start. Regardless, the curse of the werewolf slowly worms its way into their human self, blurring the lines between their sane state and their were-wolf self. At what point does the original person cease to exist? And will that affect the relationship between the characters at all?

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While it seems to be generally assumed that the werewolf is the male in these sorts of plots, I again left the plot gender neutral. And again, I can play either side. Setting too is malleable. TAKEN



#3: Enough with the pathos and tragedy! Lets see something optimistic!

-Fish out of Water-

Ahh the classic plot! Person finds them self in a place entirely foreign to them on some level. Maybe its another country, or it could be another planet, or a "deserted" island, or even just another city. The point is, their misunderstandings of the local customs, language, or culture ensures hilarity. And despite the Fish being, out of necessity, a stranger in a strange land, this type of story is often optimistic in outlook.

So anyway, obviously enough one of the characters will be the Fish. The other will be the native of the foreign place that they interact the most with. Maybe they were assigned to keep an eye on the Fish until they figure out something to do with them? Maybe they are the person who was just unlucky enough to be the only one at the time who could speak in the Fish's language? Go wild with the ideas here! Same for the reasons the Fish is there in the first place. Maybe their ship blew off course, or they got on the wrong plane. If you want to go sci-fi then perhaps it was a time travel accident, or they were dropped off at the entirely wrong planet by their abductors. That is one of the things I love about this type of plot: it can fit just about any setting. Though I do find myself chuckling more at the sci-fi setting versions, truth be told, simply for the absurdly simple things that can be misconstrued.

Remember, the tone is supposed to be optimistic. Deep, dark secrets are discouraged here. I want to laugh at our characters' bumbling attempts at connecting to, and maybe romancing the other. I want to always leave this story with a smile on my face.



#4: Because too much excitement can get boring at times.

-Mundanity-

Think of it as a "slice-of-life" type of story. No vampires, no werewolves, no plots to kill you or me. No magic and no miracles, except maybe the small ones you can find if you know where to look. Perhaps one or both characters has a troubled past or something of the sort. But that isnt the point of this idea.

Basically I would like one other player and myself to create two characters completely and entirely without input from each other. No checking for compatible personalities or interests, no setting up a good match of characters. A complete information blockade. After both are finished we reveal a specifically written introduction paragraph that gives a very basic overview of the personality and looks of the characters. No details. Think of it like what you would put in a response to a letter asking about you. Probably glossing over the perceived bad points, emphasizing the good, etc.

The characters would be new room mates, or possibly co-workers, whose only experience with the other person is through that introduction. I want to see how two fleshed out characters interact when even the authors don't know anything. I want to see what sort of relationship develops between them more or less naturally, rather than one developed by author fiat. Of course this approach to things might backfire spectacularly, but hopefully it will at least be interesting!

Note that you are free to develop a supporting cast around your character, we just need to let the other player know the names and relationship to the 'main' character you are writing.
TAKEN

Widowed Settings:
(settings without a plot)

-"Mustard-seed"- (fantasy)

The theory of consensus reality holds that if enough people believe in something, that makes it true. Belief truly can move mountains, or it can shatter them. The setting itself I imagine to be based loosely upon the various city states of Italy that existed throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Age of Enlightenment. You can divide people in the setting quite cleanly into two groups: Mages, and those that they rule over. Magic in this setting requires two things and a trick. The two things are an iron-clad willpower, a sense of identity and self so strong that it could be described as inhuman. The other thing is a fierce desire to extend one's will over others, whether for benevolent or tyrannical purposes. A will to rule, or to power if you want to go Nietzschian on me.

If, you are one of the rare handful of people who have these two qualities then you might be lucky enough to learn the trick behind magic: Its a show. A Mage doesn't do magic. What they do is exert their will over people's beliefs. If you can convince enough people that you can immolate them with only a word, ingrain that into their minds so deeply that their minds cannot for a moment doubt that lie, then you can set fire to them. If you are a good enough showman, you can make them believe you can make yourself immortal, can change form into a dragon a mile long, can create monsters with but a word. And because they believe you can, you can. And if enough people believe your power, you might as well be a god.

Thus, it is never easy when two mages fight each other directly. It tends to be pointless when both of you might as well be gods. Oh sure one might eventually win. But the fight could last for years and leave the victor with nothing but blasted out ruins. Even killing your opponent might not be permanent: they might have spread a widely believed story that they always come back to life a few days, weeks, or months after they die. This means that for all their god-like power, Mages seldom take to the field personally. They employ rumor to spread stories of their power, armies to conquer, mercenaries and assassins to prevent other Mages from doing the same, and occasionally very public "demonstrations" to cement the belief in their absolute power. It doesn't mean that it is always this way, of course. And it is trivially easy to find people who hate and fear the Mages for their cruelty. But revolution would be fruitless. A coup suicidal. An army going up against a single mage is like an assembled host of ants marching against an elephant. You may annoy it if you get very lucky, but you will all be crushed in the end.

In this setting all the monsters, spirits, and demons were brought about when one mage or another attempted to use human belief and fear for their own ends, with everyone but the Mages never knowing that these creatures are only existent because people believe they do. But this can work against a mage too. For example: there once was a mage who came into power at the age of ten. A frightened child, who could no longer be one. People he loved died, and in his grief he lost himself for a time, carving their names into the stone of his castle, attempting to cement their memory there. Servants saw him at this and the rumor spread that the child mage was carving their names so that their spirits would be bound to the castle, strengthening it with each death. The rumor grew in the telling. He could bind spirits, he could call up ghosts, he could force them into dead corpses, he could give those corpses a new, dark life. He talked with Death as a friend. And because the people about him were so afraid of him, and believed these stories with the intense fervor that only fear of great and unknown power can bring, the child could not help but play in the role cast for him. That child is the Necromancer, arguably the most powerful Mage in the setting. Because everyone knows of him, and everyone fears him. He was just a boy, an innocent child, but because he knows the trick, he knows he is trapped in his part. He cannot help now but to play the distant and alien monster, no matter how much he might wish it were otherwise.

Mages and their creations aren't the only strange things extant in this setting though. Human belief and fear are powerful things, and can give life to things that they hate, fear, love, and cherish the most. Death, for instance, does indeed wander the world. Sometimes he appears as a young man with pale hair and blue eyes, dressed in black and carrying a double edged sword. Other times he appears as a skeleton with a crown, long scythe in hand, ready to reap the harvest. And still other times he is a monster with ash gray skin and with the skull of a great stag for a head. Surrounded by fog so cold it freezes the sweat on your brow, with inhuman eyes of cold blue fire, and its lean, powerful body so impossibly huge that it seems to barely fit wherever one sees it. A predator that nothing can escape. A thing that inspires such deep terror that you can feel it in your very bones when you see it. Death is all these things, and others. Such things with as Death, with the multitude of complex feelings and fears and hopes surrounding it is simply too BIG a concept for any one form.

Somewhere in the world is Love. Maybe they are looking for someone? Maybe that child looking at you is Innocence. And perhaps they are running from Corruption. Perhaps that merchant who cheated you out of your hard earned pay is Greed. And the one who gave you the shirt off their back Mercy.

This setting is one that has been bouncing around in my head for a while now, and is still growing as I add new thoughts to it. I would like to play in it, but I would also enjoy watching others do so as well, even without my participation. It would help me see where it needs shoring up, and how I could make it better. So feel free to use all of it, or even just a part of it. Just please let me know what story you are going to put in it so that I can see what other people make of the setting and what stories they put into it. Of course, if you have any plot type ideas for me, then that is a great thing too!