A Traditional Cult [M/F, Freeform]

[Montagne]

A Traditional Cult

Deep in the Wilderness of Utah, fifty miles from the nearest town and and hundreds of miles away from federal authorities, Reverend Jeremiah Marshal Wade Jr founded his church, The Ministry of St Bartholomew Reborn in 1984. The reverend passed away nearly two decades ago, but the society he founded "St Bartholomew's Reach" lives on, blasted into the mountains of Utah.

Finding new members to join this remote location was at first, difficult. But with the advent of the internet, what was once a struggling community reached out to the sinners of the world. St Bartholomew promised a life free of worldly vices and a renewal of traditional values, focusing on reforming the troubled, addicted and the lost.

Becoming a member of St Bartholomew's isn't easy. You are either born inside the society or you apply to join the community. Only a select few are chosen, usually those with troubled pasts that the community deems initially worthy of rescuing from sin. New members spend several years living in either male or female dormitories on the outskirts of the town proper, putting in hard work in the fields or businesses to contribute to the community. If they show themselves to be suitably dedicated to the community, able to keep out of trouble and remain sufficiently religiously dedicated, inductees will be asked to join the community proper. During this time, they will be paired by the religious council with another community member, who will become their husband/wife for life.

While it is expected that inductees initially remain chaste, once married The Church strongly encourages its members to be fruitful and multiply. Wives are expected to submit to their husbands, raise traditional homes, and most importantly, bear children for and be bred by, their husbands. Husbands are to be a guiding point for their family, provide stability, strength and structure, enforce discipline in the household and provide for the family.

St Bartholomew's Reach is entering its second generation, and the tensions inside the church are preparing to tear the town apart.

*****

Welcome to St Bartholomew's Reach! This is a freeform RP based inside of a reclusive religious cult, deep in the wilderness of Utah. Players take on the roles of either established residents of the town, or new inductees, troubled people looking for meaning in the lives. Members of the community may have arrived at any time over the past 35 years, or even been born inside the community if they are young enough, knowing very little about the outside world.

The RP is Freeform & plot focused, meaning players make their own stories within a general setting. However, what sort of things could you expect to find in St Bartholomew's Reach?: Characters overcoming personal demons, illicit romances under the eyes of religious authorities, traditional-focused arranged marriages and making them work (or not), teenage rebellion & conservative crackdowns. As for the sex and kink? Well, anything can theoretically go with the consent of your partner, but key themes would likely be: Illicit affairs, Breeding, Discipline & Submission, Dubious states of consent & Power Dynamics.

If you are interested in playing, please post your interest in a reply to this thread. Feel free to post your interest before working on creating a full character sheet.

The Aesthetic of Saint Bartholomew's Reach

The homes the community have carved out of the mountainside are no hovels and the surplus agricultural product that the community raises, controlled by the religious elders, is spent to help maintain the lifestyle of the community. The conservative religious council both wants to maintain the strict gender relations established by their founder, while encouraging the families they assign together to procreate fruitfully. If one was to walk around St Bartholomew's Reach it wouldn't be hard to believe you had stepped through a time machine into a slice of classic Americana, with conservative vintage fashion the common attire within the town. That is all unless you're an inductee. Their all white overalls distinguish them as different and clearly separate them from the community, better allowing its members to hide the towns many secrets until they know they can be trusted.

The Life of an Initiate

New initiates usually have some kind of troubled past. Drugs, Gambling, Alcoholism, Sex Addiction. They have hit rock bottom and they reach out to the salvation of the church to save them. Usually they find the church online, where it has a strong missionary presence, portraying an idyllic life away from sin. There are numerous stages of interviews and background screening done on potential members by specifically tasked missionaries within the community to weed out the uncommitted, sceptical and most importantly, reporters and federal agents trying to gain access to the community.

After months of successful screening new inductees are invited to move to St Bartholomew's Reach, members will be asked to sell any remaining things they have and make a donation to the church before moving. Inductees stay in male or female dormitories on the outskirts of town, usually for two years before being allowed to join the community proper. During this time they work the land or in the local economy. Inductees must attend church services regularly, remaining chaste, upstanding citizens that are ready and eager to help the community. Inductees, particularly new ones, are always treated with a degree of suspicion by full members of the community and it can take a significant amount of time for that wall of distrust to be broken down. In some cases members of the community have been known to try to take advantage of inductees, either from a position of power, or as an act of teenage rebellion.

When it is finally deemed that an inductee is ready for full admittance they will be married to another member of the community: either another graduating inductee, someone born inside the community that is coming of age, or possibly a widow if they are of appropriate age. The religious elders of course attempt to pair up people who they feel will make a good match in the community, but are fundamentally "guided by god" and marriages can range from idyllic to fractious.

The Life of a Community Member

There are two ways of becoming a member of the community, either as an inductee, as most of the older members of the community did, or by being born inside of the community. For those born in St Bartholomew's Reach, they will know very little of the outside world, having spent their entire life growing up and being educated in the community. Access to the internet and television is strictly prohibited for everyone in the community outside of those deemed trustworthy enough to engage in missionary duties. For some this leaves them as fully accepting of the rules and lifestyle of the Reach, while others spend their teenage years acting out in youthful rebellion. As the first large cohort of people born inside of the community is coming of age, this is becoming an increasing problem for the religious authorities.

All members as they approach their twenties are matched by the religious elders of the community in a "Divinely Guided Marriage". These pairings are usually selected with things like age and temperament of the individuals in mind in order to provide a good match and as much of a harmonious community as possible. Within these relationships the husband is expected to provide for the wife and instil discipline in the household, while wives are expected to portray the model of submissive femininity. These traits are particularly drilled into inductees during their trial period, however, once someone is a member of the community, things do not always work out the way the religious elders might hope.

Who can you play?

Pretty much anything is open to characters.

• A new male or female inductee, struggling to overcome their personal demons and adhere to the expectations of the community.
• An established community member, struggling with their marriage.
• A born and raised member of the reach, acting out against authority, seducing married men before the religious authorities can force her to marry.

The only limitations on who you CAN NOT play, is a member of the senior leadership of the community (IE, the heir of the founder, members of the inner religious council) as these roles will be operated as NPCs for plot purposes.

Plot Hooks - What is going on in St Bartholomew's Reach?

The plots in St Bartholomew's Reach should be character driven, focusing on the characters in the story. This is why I encourage every player to have at least 3 plot hooks that another player can interact with in order to generate content. Being able to have other players interact is key here. Deep internal conflict in a character is great and encouraged. But if it's all internal that doesn't actually generate story for other players.

Here are some examples of things that might be happening around St Bartholomew's Reach:

• A new inductee attempts to overcome their addictions after only a few months of sobriety and dedicate themselves to god with the help of a member of the church
• A fiery, free spirited woman is married to a stern older man by the religious council in order to "tame" her.
• A wife discovers the sexual bliss she never thought she would experience from her husband breeding her.
• A free spirited teenager born inside the community corrupts a new inductee who wants to remain devout.
• An established pillar of the community takes advantage of a young female inductee, knowing no one will believe her over him.
• The inner religious council is torn between conservatives who believe that divinely guided marriages are the only acceptable form of marriage, and reformers who believe those born inside the community should be allowed to decide for themselves.
• A missionary who brought an inductee to the community cannot stop mixing his feelings for her with his job.
• An ex-soldier runs away from his past and winds up as an inductee, looking to build a new life

Character Sheet

Code Select Expand


[float=left][img]*INSERT MAIN IMAGE HERE*[/img][/float]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Years Spent In St Bartholomew's Reach:[/b]
[b]Job/Role:[/b]
[b]Marital Status:[/b] Most characters should be married if they are not an inductee/ or in their teens/early twenties. If you wish for another character to play your spouse/family, please mention so here.

[b]Characters History Before St Bartholomew's Reach:[/b] What happened to your character to make them want to escape the real world and retreat to St Bartholomew's Reach. If your character grew up here, please replace this with a history of growing up in the cult, and how they felt about it.

[b]Character History After Joining St Bartholomew's Reach:[/b]

[b]Personality/Current Feelings on St Bartholomew's Reach[/b]

[b]Plot Hooks for Other Players:[/b] Please included at least 3 (can be more) plot hooks for other players to interact with. This can include ideas such as

[list]
[li]"I would like a player to play my spouse, our relationship will be X"[/li]
[li]"I would like to have an affair with a Y"[/li]
[/list]

[hr]

[img height=300]*INSERT ADDITIONAL IMAGES HERE. NSFW IMAGES SHOULD BE SPOILERED*[/img]


Character List

Male Characters | Female Characters

Montagne - Jacob Sallow - 52                               | Bibliophilia - Rebecca Sallow - 18
Aiden - Asher Nash - 43                                     | Foxy Oni - Gail Summers - 19
Bibliophilia - Nathan Lindstrom - 45                     | Dashenka - Melissa Holden - 20
Wyatt - Ever Wills - 52                                         | Bekah Boo - Reagan Everstine - 26
Love and Submission - Tyler Austin - 19               | xPeachyPuff - Gwen Addison - 28
                                                                       | Amarlo - Maddie Lennox - 32

[Bibliophilia]

I am so interested it should be illegal.

[Foxy DeVille]

Hmmm... batting around an idea for a teenager that isn't rebellious but she does find herself... curious. She doesn't mean to be bad, things just kinda happen.

[Love And Submission]

Obviously I'm interested.

[Nymphadora]

As you know, I'm so in with what we were talking about before... A young female inductee with a history of forced prostitution in her youth. Nearing the end of the inductee time. :)

Edit: I'm also interested in playing a young female born in the community.

[Bibliophilia]

I love the plot idea of the inductee and the recruit, or the deliberately seductive teen.  -grins.-

[Bibliophilia]

Name: Rebecca Sallow
Age: 18
Years Spent In St Bartholomew's Reach: 18
Job/Role: Gardener
Marital Status: Single

Character's History

Growing up a daughter of Jacob Sallow was no easy feat.  She was a headstrong, wild spirit like her mother, who did little to discourage her daughter's spirit, much to her husband's annoyance.  Being raised in a home with such conflicting views and harboring an intense desire to learn more about the world beyond the Reach fostered a restlessness in Rebecca.  She hated all of the boring tasks that she, her mother and sisters were expected to perform as the women of the house, and all of the skills she had to learn to one day be a good wife and mother.  She longed to go fishing, work the fields or even just climb trees and jump from the loft in the barn like her brothers.

Puberty made things even worse, as the relationship between Rebecca and her father grew more and more strained as the rebellious young girl's spirit refused to be broken.  She often snuck out of her room at night to wander alone in the moonlit fields, or spent what was viewed as an inappropriate amount of time and effort trying to chat with the boys her age.  (Or worse, the far older newly-inducted initiates.)  She would bother recruiters with endless questions about the world outside, even though they flatly refused to answer her questions and she often received punishments for her curiosity.

As she got older, however, Rebecca began to realize that open rebellion and flouting the church's rules only ever brought her misery, and she never received the answers she was so desperate for, anyhow.  So, she grew more devious, outwardly seeming to settle into the role of the obedient, dutiful young girl so that she could begin to gain the trust of her family and the church authorities.  She still sneaks out sometimes, and there are times when she's perfecting her hand-stitching, or waiting on a pie to bake that she has to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming in boredom, but she is determined to get more freedom.  Perhaps even enough to be allowed to spend time with one of the initiates alone, or become a recruiter...

Personality/Current Feelings on St Bartholomew's Reach -

Rebecca is clever, dangerously so, and very curious about the world beyond the Reach.  She has become quite good at deception and feels little remorse turning that tactic, and others, on the members of the church who would impede her.  While she's a good cook and even better at gardening, she finds most housework and other 'women's work' to be dull enough to drive a person mad.  She loves to read and longs to one day read something that isn't the bible or some other religious text written by the Reverend or one of his followers.  And even dreams up her own stories late at night when the summer heat's still laying thick on the house and she can't sleep for the nigh-irresistible urge to strip naked and run through the open fields beneath the moon.  She's too afraid to write her stories down, though, for she knows if they were found she'd suffer a far worse punishment than any she's experienced before.

Her feelings on the church are conflicted.  She's never known anything else and she loves her family and community, despite how suffocating they both can feel at times, but she also has an intense desire to experience life outside of the Reach.  She wants something more than what is expected of her as a wife, more than the life she sees her parents living, and seeming every other family in the Reach.

Plot Hooks for Other Players:

• I'd love for Rebecca to become friendly (at least) with one of the new initiates, male or female, so that she can learn about the world beyond the Reach from them, and prove an obstacle to their sought-for peace and redemption.
• I'd also love for her to become a vixen, seducing married men of the church as a means of seeking out that excitement and adventure she feels will be denied her once she is married.  Bonus if they're a recruiter she can try and manipulate into letting her learn more about the outside world.
• It would also be awesome if she was already arranged to marry someone, and one of the players wanted to play her future husband.  Could make for a really interesting dynamic between the two characters, with her none-too-happy about the situation, while also trying to find a way to get the upper hand in the relationship before they're even wed.  But, that's better worked out with the one playing the affianced.

NSFW

[Dashenka]

I'll keep an eye on this

[Montagne]

Name: Jacob Sallow
Age: 52
Years Spent In St Bartholomew's Reach: 29
Job/Role: Estate Manager/Religious Police
Marital Status: Married (Looking for a partner to play his wife & daughter)

Characters History Before St Bartholomew's Reach: Jacob doesn't talk about his time before St Bartholomew's Reach. Inside of the town he is an upstanding and long-serving member of the community, keeping his past a shameful secret. Before finding the church he was addict, wasting away his life as he couch surfed his way around Southern California, trying to find meaning, work and money to feed his addictions.

He headed east one fateful summer and stumbled in, smacked up to one of Reverend Wade's tent revivals. Rather than being expelled from the event as he had expected, the Reverend invited him up to read a verse from the bible. There he was overcome by the Holy Spirit, collapsing before the congregation. He took all of this as a sign from God, settling in Utah and with the permission of the Reverend, becoming an inductee in the church.
n
Character History After Joining St Bartholomew's Reach: Jacob worked hard for a number of years as an inductee to the church, back when the community numbered only a few dozen families and things like electricity were a rare luxury in St Bartholomew's Reach. Going cold-turkey was especially hard in the early months for Jacob, and his body was wracked with withdrawal symptoms as he tried to get himself clean. It took several years of hard toil as an inductee for the sceptical congregation to really accept him as one of their own, but slowly, month by month it became clear to more people that he had left his old lifestyle behind. He found meaning in St Bartholomew's Reach, falling in love with his new home and adoptive community. Jacob fully devoted himself to biblical study and hard work, eventually being rewarded with full membership of the community in the summer of 1994.

Jacob was paired in a divinely inspired marriage that same year. He was a particularly devout man, and the woman he was paired with was seen by the Reverend as far more of a free spirit. There were plenty of clashes in the early days of their relationship, but Jacob was dedicated to making the relationship work. After all, the match had been ordained by God, so there must be some hidden wisdom in the pairing.

It was only after the birth of their first child in '96 that Jacob and his wife began to really connect with one another on a deep level. They fell in love as they learned to navigate each other's conflicting personalities better and raise their family. She remained a fiercely independent-minded woman, tempered somewhat by her husband, while his strict, authoritarian devotion to faith was mellowed by her warmth and his new family.

The pair now have six children together and Jacob is trying for a seventh. over the intervening 24 years the community has grown with his family. He has seen the small hamlet develop into a thriving town, with electricity and a host of creature comforts the original founders could never have dreamed of. Jacob has graduated from his role as a farmhand to an estate manger, overseeing a number of the larger farms on the outskirts of town that are worked by the new inductees on behalf of the church.

When he is not serving on the farm he is a regular member of the militia, a group of voluntary "law enforcement" officers in St Bartholomew's reach that rotate, performing a few days service in the community each week. These police help keep the peace in the rare occasions there are violent altercations within the town, and outside of that ensure strict adherence to the religious codes of the church, with a particular focus on new inductees.

Personality/Current Feelings on St Bartholomew's Reach: A strict disciplinarian and believer in the tenets of the church. He loves his community and will do anything to help it and the people who live there. He leans strongly towards the conservative faction of the community, believing strongly in the concepts of the founder such as divinely inspired marriage. His most treasured possession is a bible gifted to him by Reverend Wade personally after the birth of his first child.

Inside the home, he is able to let his guard down a little more. That's not to say he doesn't have strong expectations for his family, but they get to see both sides of him, the strict yes, but also loving father figure. He has a particular weakness for his wife, whose warmth and free-spirited nature has wormed its way into his heart over many years together. He is a good provider and can even be a romantic in his rare moments

Plot Hooks for Other Players:

• The Long Suffering Wife: I would be interested in a player for Jacob's wife. Given their first child was born in '96, she should be at least 44. They've spent over two decades together at this point, and there is a genuine affection between them. He expects his wife is far more of a liberal reformer than he is, but they keep community politics out of their relationship.
  
  The story would focus on how these two very different people have managed to reach a mutual understanding between each other. Sexually, I would like to play around with breeding as a kink for both members of the couple, her finding it equally erotic to be bred by him. Lots of dirty talk around that aspect. I also see room for some disciplining scenes when he feels she's gotten a "bit too out of hand" and he needs to step in and do his husbandly duty of providing his wife "guidance".
  
  


• Like Mother Like Daughter: With Jacobs older children now in their twenties and his middle children coming of age, I would like a character to play the role of his daughter. She is as equally rebellious as her mother was when she first met him. He is furious after decades of building up a good reputation in the community, his daughter is risking it all by risking a scandal breaking out.
  
  This again has opportunities for disciplining and corporal punishment. Just how inappropriately sexual daddy gets with his daughter during these punishments is up for discussion. - Claimed by Bibliophilia
  
  


• Sound of the Police!:Woop Woop! As one of the community's religious enforcement officers Jacob is always on the lookout for those who are breaking the rules. Drinking, Drugs, Sex, in fact FUN of any kind, is strictly forbidden, especially among inductees. I would love for Jacob to uncover some scandal between other players in the community. Using it as potential blackmail fodder rather than turning them into the religious council.
  
  This can involve non-consensual scenes between Jacob and X player. As far as he sees it, sex used as punishment and guidance for wayward "criminals" isn't really cheating, it's doing the lords work.

[Montagne]

Hmmm... batting around an idea for a teenager that isn't rebellious but she does find herself... curious. She doesn't mean to be bad, things just kinda happen.

Obviously I'm interested.

As you know, I'm so in with what we were talking about before... A young female inductee with a history of forced prostitution in her youth. Nearing the end of the inductee time. :)

Edit: I'm also interested in playing a young female born in the community.

I'll keep an eye on this

I'm glad to see you're all interested so early on. I'd love to have all of you come and play. Feel free to post any questions you have either here (so other people can see the answer) or shoot me a PM.

Bibliophilia's Character

Name: Rebecca Clarence
Age: 18
Years Spent In St Bartholomew's Reach: 18
Job/Role: Gardener
Marital Status: Single

Character's History

Rebecca's parents were a former alcoholic, sex-addicted Wall Street bachelor and a truck stop waitress-cum-lot lizard who both found their separate ways to the church in times of desolation and despair.  Her father brought with him an impressive wealth accumulated in the stock market, which he surrendered to Reverend Wade Jr upon joining the church and shedding his old life along with his vices.  Her mother came with considerably less material offerings, but with a fervent desire to be reborn under the teachings of the good Reverend.  The two spent three years in dedicated service before being wed to one another and starting a family.

Rebecca's eldest brother, Jonah, was born first, followed by Gavin two years later and finally herself 3 years after him.  Rebecca's mother was happy to finally have a little girl, and the two were quite close as she grew up.  Childhood was somewhat difficult for Rebecca, as she found herself often bored with the skills her mother (and the church) believed were most important for a young woman to learn.  She longed to go fishing, work the fields or even just climb trees and jump from the loft in the barn like her brothers.

Puberty made things even worse, as the relationship between Rebecca and her mother grew more and more strained as the rebellious young girl's spirit refused to be broken.  She often snuck out of her room at night to wander alone in the moonlit fields, or spent what was viewed as an inappropriate amount of time and effort trying to chat with the boys her age.  (Or worse, the far older newly-inducted initiates.)  She would bother recruiters with endless questions about the world outside, even though they flatly refused to answer her questions and she often received punishments for her curiosity.

As she got older, however, Rebecca began to realize that open rebellion and flouting the church's rules only ever brought her misery, and she never received the answers she was so desperate for, anyhow.  So, she grew more devious, outwardly seeming to settle into the role of the obedient, dutiful young girl so that she could begin to gain the trust of her family and the church authorities.  She still sneaks out sometimes, and there are times when she's perfecting her hand-stitching, or waiting on a pie to bake that she has to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming in boredom, but she is determined to get more freedom.  Perhaps even enough to be allowed to spend time with one of the initiates alone, or become a recruiter...

Personality/Current Feelings on St Bartholomew's Reach -

Rebecca is clever, dangerously so, and very curious about the world beyond the Reach.  She has become quite good at deception and feels little remorse turning that tactic, and others, on the members of the church who would impede her.  While she's a good cook and even better at gardening, she finds most housework and other 'women's work' to be dull enough to drive a person mad.  She loves to read and longs to one day read something that isn't the bible or some other religious text written by the Reverend or one of his followers.  And even dreams up her own stories late at night when the summer heat's still laying thick on the house and she can't sleep for the nigh-irresistible urge to strip naked and run through the open fields beneath the moon.  She's too afraid to write her stories down, though, for she knows if they were found she'd suffer a far worse punishment than any she's experienced before.

Her feelings on the church are conflicted.  She's never known anything else and she loves her family and community, despite how suffocating they both can feel at times, but she also has an intense desire to experience life outside of the Reach.  She wants something more than what is expected of her as a wife, more than the life she sees her parents living, and seeming every other family in the Reach.

Plot Hooks for Other Players:

• I'd love for Rebecca to become friendly (at least) with one of the new initiates, male or female, so that she can learn about the world beyond the Reach from them, and prove an obstacle to their sought-for peace and redemption.
• I'd also love for her to become a vixen, seducing married men of the church as a means of seeking out that excitement and adventure she feels will be denied her once she is married.  Bonus if they're a recruiter she can try and manipulate into letting her learn more about the outside world.
• It would also be awesome if she was already arranged to marry someone, and one of the players wanted to play her future husband.  Could make for a really interesting dynamic between the two characters, with her none-too-happy about the situation, while also trying to find a way to get the upper hand in the relationship before they're even wed.  But, that's better worked out with the one playing the affianced.

NSFW

An amazing start to things, I can see she's going to be causing a lot of trouble around the place. Happy to approve her as our first member of the community!

Feel free to do any edits at later dates as more people join, if you want her to have other players as family etc.

[Dashenka]

My main 'concern' is a large number of similar characters.

[Beorning]

I might be interested, but I suck at group games...

[Foxy DeVille]

Name: Abigail "Gail" Summers
Age: 19
Years Spent In St Bartholomew's Reach: 19
Job/Role: Assistant Librarian
Marital Status: Single

Character's History:

Charles and Elaine Summers were a pair of former college professors whose meet-cute wouldn't make it into any rom-com... they were in group therapy after they were both fired for having sexual relations with students. Giving each other support turned to something more and the two got married. Deciding they need to take further steps in handling their demons, the newlyweds were early converts to Reverend Wade's cause. They resumed their calling in St Bartholomew's Reach, teaching the children in the community. They eventually had a couple of their own, a daughter named Abigail with their son Christopher arriving two years later.

Gail, as most people called her, was a bright child with an endless hunger for reading. Being educators, her parents encouraged this. At a young age she went from reading children's books to classic literature. Gail's thirst wasn't limited to fiction. She was also naturally curious and would read encyclopedias from front to back. Gail's favorite place was the library, ran by the old and kindly Mr. Oswald. When she wasn't there she went on hikes and pretended she was having adventures like the heroes and heroines she had read about.

As their daughter matured, Charles and Elaine worried that Gail would want to leave the community. She was such a curious young lady and they thought she might wish to attend college to learn more. To their relief this was not the case. As a teenager Gail had begun helping out Mr. Oswald in the library. As the dear old fellow grew more scatter-brained and spent more time napping than awake, the elders decided he need an "assistant." Gail was the obvious choice, she knew every inch of the place. For the past year she has been living her best life. As there is little online access in the community, the library is an important source for information and Gail is equipped to help people find out what they need. She does regular readings for the local children and contacts acceptable churches for book donations. Gail is truly living her best life.

Personality/Current Feelings on St Bartholomew's Reach: 

If St. Bartholomew's Reach ever wanted a poster girl, Gail would be ideal. She truly loves her church, her community and her family... even her obnoxious brother Christopher. She is always happy to lend a hand and rarely argues. Not even the leaders' strict rules on what books are allowed gets her down, she does her best to get her neighbors the best reading that she can.

Recently Gail discovered a box of donated books that were in French. As she could read the language she was shocked to discover they were some of the most notorious works of erotica ever written... The Story of O, Justine, Juliette, Les Onze Mille Verges, The Way of a Man with a Maid, Story of the Eye, L'Image... Gail knew these were forbidden texts and yet casually glancing through them soon turned into reading each one from cover to cover. The young assistant librarian became fascinated with the two-headed demon of sadism and masochism. Her thought frequently turned to fantasies of enslavement and her dreams were orgies of punishment. Gail knows she will be wed within the next few years and is more than willing to be a dutiful wife. But she wonders if her future husband would be able to give her the strong hand she needs. Gail is tempted to find someone that can sate those desires on her own.

Plot Hooks for Other Players:

• As Gail still lives with her family, she takes her "French books" with her on her hikes so she can find a secluded place to properly enjoy them. What happens if it isn't as secluded as she thought?
• Her desire to find someone to take a firm hand to her has led Gail to be a bit more nosy into the personal lives of others. She might find out something she shouldn't. She also is curious to where the books came from. Were they sent from elsewhere or does someone in the community share her thoughts?
• Charles and Elaine have been happily married for several years now. But what if their longing for younger flesh isn't in their past like they claim? Their daughter knows many of her peers in the community...

NSFW

[Dashenka]

I have a question....


Let's say my character is sent as a bit of a last chance before prison or something. How would she be 'convinced' to stay? (If at all..)

[Montagne]

I have a question....


Let's say my character is sent as a bit of a last chance before prison or something. How would she be 'convinced' to stay? (If at all..)

Do you have any ideas for who would have sent her? Obviously the idea of the remoteness of the cult is that it is not linked to federal authorities. But perhaps she is sent by her family, who have some sort of special relationship to the religious council they can leverage to get her admitted as an inductee?

The convincing would depend upon how open you would want her to be to the reform process. There is a theoretical life of meaning (for some) awaiting her at the end of the process. Otherwise, a combination of harsh religious authorities, and the fact a remote location in the middle of wasteland makes it pretty inescapable.

[Dashenka]

I was thinking an out of control young woman. Tattoo's, drugs, alcohol.. maybe sex. Got arrested (again).. her father managed to convince the local sheriff to let her go if he would send her to some reform programme. Bartholomew is the one they found.

So she'd be rebellious and reluctant to go there. At first at least.



Would a character like that work at all?

[Montagne]

I was thinking an out of control young woman. Tattoo's, drugs, alcohol.. maybe sex. Got arrested (again).. her father managed to convince the local sheriff to let her go if he would send her to some reform programme. Bartholomew is the one they found.

So she'd be rebellious and reluctant to go there. At first at least.

Would a character like that work at all?

I think something like this could work out. I would replace the local sheriff sending her there, with her father being some sort of political ally of the late reverend. (I can imagine this remote church extending a web of donations courting local Utah politicians to keep themselves shielded from local authorities paying any interest in them.)

Your Character is becoming a dangerous embarrassment to her fathers political career, after risking serious arrest he ships her out as an inductee to get her out of the public eye and hopefully instil some discipline. The community wouldn't normally do this, but the father offers some sort political of quid-pro-quo.

She could both hate being there, but have no other choice but "accept" going. She'd of course need to be kept on a very short leash by the religious authorities, but I imagine that is what you're looking for anyway. 

[Beorning]

Huh. Dash, that's the story idea I've trying to find partners for for years now...

Back to the drawing board for me, I guess

Question: what is the life in community like in general? Is there any entertainment at all? Books? Comic books? Movies? What do people born there know about the outside world? Do they vote?

[Dashenka]

I think something like this could work out. I would replace the local sheriff sending her there, with her father being some sort of political ally of the late reverend. (I can imagine this remote church extending a web of donations courting local Utah politicians to keep themselves shielded from local authorities paying any interest in them.)

Your Character is becoming a dangerous embarrassment to her fathers political career, after risking serious arrest he ships her out as an inductee to get her out of the public eye and hopefully instil some discipline. The community wouldn't normally do this, but the father offers some sort political of quid-pro-quo.

She could both hate being there, but have no other choice but "accept" going. She'd of course need to be kept on a very short leash by the religious authorities, but I imagine that is what you're looking for anyway. 

Yeah I didn't mean the sheriff sending her there. He lets her off because he trusts her father to send her away.

And yes, the short leash is what I am after :)

Huh. Dash, that's the story idea I've trying to find partners for for years now...

Back to the drawing board for me, I guess

Question: what is the life in community like in general? Is there any entertainment at all? Books? Comic books? Movies? What do people born there know about the outside world? Do they vote?

I can think of something else if you really want this. It was mostly an example on what was acceptable and what not. Or maybe our characters can in someway be related? (friends, drug buddies, etc)

[Montagne]

Question: what is the life in community like in general? Is there any entertainment at all? Books? Comic books? Movies? What do people born there know about the outside world? Do they vote?

In general, quite restrictive. Discipline would be administered by the head of the household, which would also be the centre of someones family/personal life. People would basically do whatever people did pre-1900 to amuse themselves. Singing, sowing, storytelling, cooking, taking rest from usually quite physical work, Fuck like rabbits. But I'm sure a bit of crushing boredom on occasion can prompt people to get up to trouble.

Devices that broadcast in from the outside world are banned. No TV, Phones, Internet or Radio except for select church business like missionary work and then it is closely monitored. There is a library, where select screened books are allowed. There is also a community projector that shows suitably wholesome and religiously appropriate movies every-other evening.

The community is definitely non-voting, to encourage minimal interest from the outside world.

[Foxy DeVille]

For some reason I keep thinking of M*A*S*H and how the Army would restrict what movies they could get. Hey, maybe there could be a PA system that plays wholesome pre-rock 'n' roll songs.

[Montagne]

For some reason I keep thinking of M*A*S*H and how the Army would restrict what movies they could get. Hey, maybe there could be a PA system that plays wholesome pre-rock 'n' roll songs.

"GOOOOODDD MMOOOORRRNNIINNGGGG REEEELLLLIIGGGIIOUUUSSS CCCUUULLLTTTT!"

Oh wait that was a different fictional Vietnam radio show.

[Bekah Boo]

*pokes in* I've been watching this for a bit, certainly has a lot of fun to be had. I was toying with the idea of an already established woman who's husband she doesn't much care for, there has been a rumor he's actually infertile, and she acts out passive aggressively to sate her desire to become a mother and do her part for the cult.

Am I way off base with this? Lol.

[Beorning]

In general, quite restrictive. Discipline would be administered by the head of the household, which would also be the centre of someones family/personal life. People would basically do whatever people did pre-1900 to amuse themselves. Singing, sowing, storytelling, cooking, taking rest from usually quite physical work, Fuck like rabbits. But I'm sure a bit of crushing boredom on occasion can prompt people to get up to trouble.

Devices that broadcast in from the outside world are banned. No TV, Phones, Internet or Radio except for select church business like missionary work and then it is closely monitored. There is a library, where select screened books are allowed. There is also a community projector that shows suitably wholesome and religiously appropriate movies every-other evening.

The community is definitely non-voting, to encourage minimal interest from the outside world.

How does education work there? Do these people know the basic facts about the world, i.e. what country they live in etc.? What is being told of the outside world?

Also, what would happen if someone decided to leave?

[Dashenka]

Name: Melissa Holden
Age: 20
Years Spent In St Bartholomew's Reach: 0
Job/Role: Inductee
Marital Status: None

Characters History Before St Bartholomew's Reach: Her life had sucked from the moment she was born and it probably would until she would die. It was well past 2 in the morning when she walked out into the Nevada night and closed and locked the door of the blue building behind her. With Mel's Diner now locked up, Melissa turned herself around in the direction of her trailer and sighed. Everything about Beatty was hopeless. It was Nevada's last settlement before entering Death Valley and the people here were only too proud too show that. Across from the diner, a huge billboard shouted that the new RV park of the Death Valley Inn had high speed internet and cable tv, listing a couple of tv channels that Melissa had never even heard of. It also boasted a pool, a jacuzzi and a laundromat. Making the rooms in the Inn more luxurious than her trailer, which had none of those.

She had been here since her parents had thrown her out. Hitchhiking along with a trucker, she got off at Beatty when she saw the sign for the Gentlemen's club. To her shock and anger she wasn't even considered to work there because 'in order to work here in a bikini, you need to have tits love'.

Not having any money to go anywhere else, she walked north along the state route 95 until she came across Mel's Diner. With her last money she bought a coffee and was hired on the spot when the owners told her they needed somebody to work for them. They had failed to mention that they would only pay her a pitance. In fact Melissa was certain that what they were paying her was illegal but never had the saying 'beggars can't be choosers' been more relevant. They even let her stay in the caravan. It didn't have an official address as it wasn't technically in the trailer park but just off the highway.

Since then her life had been Mel's Diner and everything on the south end of Beatty, Nevada. Every week she made the half hour walk to the north of the town to buy some cigarettes. Without money or even a driver's license, she couldn't get out of town either. This was it and it was hopeless. She worked the diner from morning until closing. She could eat and drink whatever she wanted and since her trailer didn't have a flushing toilet, Melissa used the toilet at the diner.

One night a woman walked into the diner and enchanted Melissa. She was free, taking shit from nobody and when she invited Melissa to come and join her on the open road, Melissa joined. Six weeks and a crime spree later, Melissa walked away, knowing she had been used as bait or decoy. She remembered one of the guests of the diner one day mentioning St Bartholomew's Reach and with nowhere else to go, and Utah being the state she wasn't wanted in, she found it, hoping for a better life.

Character History After Joining St Bartholomew's Reach: None yet.

Personality/Current Feelings on St Bartholomew's Reach Hoping for a new, better life with more meaning than what she had so far.

Plot Hooks for Other Players: Please included at least 3 (can be more) plot hooks for other players to interact with. This can include ideas such as

• Melissa is new to the place and very confused about life in general.
• Having lived most of her life, taking things as they go, discipline is a rather alien thing to her.
• She would definitely struggle with the choice of clothing, music, etc.

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