A Traditional Cult [M/F, Freeform]

[Bibliophilia]

She's gorgeous and seems wonderful, Peachy!  And Nathan would love to have her as his secretary, if you're still interested.

I plan to finish his sheet shortly.  I just got done building a monster cat tree and need a dinner and dessert break.

[xPeachyPuff]

She's gorgeous and seems wonderful, Peachy!  And Nathan would love to have her as his secretary, if you're still interested.

I plan to finish his sheet shortly.  I just got done building a monster cat tree and need a dinner and dessert break.

Thank you! And I would definitely love to have her as his secretary still!

A monster cat tree? o: Dafuq is that?! But yes, dinner and dessert are both very important, haha. I hope you enjoy your food!

[Bibliophilia]

In this case just a very large kitty climbing mansion.  Over 5 feet tall.

[Foxy DeVille]

In this case just a very large kitty climbing mansion.  Over 5 feet tall.

The kitty or the mansion?

[xPeachyPuff]

In this case just a very large kitty climbing mansion.  Over 5 feet tall.

Ohhhhh shit. That's some spoilt kitties!

[Bibliophilia]

-giggles.-  She's very, very spoiled, yeah.

-snickers at Foxy.-  I'm not the Tiger Queen.

[Bibliophilia]

Nathan's done.  I went a little bonkers with his backstory, sorry.

[Esoterica]

Are you still recruiting for this? I am potentially interested.

[Beorning]

I've been meaning asking the same question..?

Also, if so, I have a question: any suggestions for female characters that would struggle at the community? I may be wrong, but - so far - the female characters proposed are mostly happy at the cult? I've been thinking about a female character that would really be conflicted about her stay in there. Not sure how to fit her in, though - any inductee that wouldn't fit would have a lot of time to resign before committing and I'm not sure a woman how to make a cult-born female who would also be conflicted about it...

[Montagne]

xPeachyPuff's Character

Here's what I've got so far. I'm always up for editing, feedback and of course, creating connections with new or existing characters!

Name: Guinevere 'Gwen' Maria Addison (Surname subject to change depending on husband - 'Addison' could be her married or maiden name.)
Age: 28
Years Spent In St Bartholomew's Reach: 26
Job/Role: Secretary to Nathan Remus Lindstrom III & Homemaker/Housewife
Marital Status: Married - Looking for someone to play her husband (Read more below in 'Plot Hooks')

Characters History Before St Bartholomew's Reach: Guinevere was a child born to a women who struggled with drug addiction and alcoholism throughout her life, including through the pregnancy of her only child; the doctors thought it was a miracle the child even survived to full-term. Due to the woman's history and clear negligence, the baby was removed from her custody and after surviving a stint in the hospital was put up for adoption. That would be the only thing that Guinevere ever learned of her biological mother, a stranger by definition. Six or so months into her short life, she was adopted by Jonathan and Margaret Addison whom resided just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. At that time they already had one child of their own; an older son a few years Gwen's senior. Jon worked in printing while Margaret was a stay at home wife, looking after the children, preparing the meals and keeping the house spotless. They were devoted to the church and were overall the perfect family, at least to outsiders. In reality, Jonathan struggled greatly with alcoholism, gambling and provocative, adulterous behaviour which was impossible for him to escape, living in such proximity to the City of Sin itself. He spent the majority of his free time in Las Vegas, gambling away the family money, drinking himself blind and taking part in numerous affairs with random women all to his wife's knowledge. Margaret continued on as if they were happily married and had a picture-perfect family, turning a blind eye to her husbands behaviours despite her concern and shame.

Around a year after adopting their newly named child, Guinevere, in hopes that Jon would spend more time at home with a daughter around to keep him on his toes, Jon found an advertisement for St.Bartholomew's Reach on the internet at work, and in feeling his own shame, suggested it to his wife as a way to save himself from the temptations that continued to befall him. He believed that if they were locked away in a sanctuary of God that he may be able to 'return' to his true self without influence, and be the good husband and father he knew he could be. Margaret, of course, agreed wholeheartedly and without hesitation, and the family promptly reached out to a missionary of St.Bartholomew's Reach in order to secure themselves, and their children, acceptance within the community.

Character History After Joining St Bartholomew's Reach: Growing up within the Reach was somewhat uneventful in her case. Guinevere was always a well-mannered, undesiring, 'good' child and didn't start making waves within her small circle of the community until she had reached adulthood and married. After years of trying, Guinevere could not produce a child for her husband and after expressing her concern to her mother in confidence, was treated as an extreme disappointment and failure of a woman. Margaret advised her to pray to God for the ability to birth a child, as well as to speak to the higher ups within the church of her deficiency, that they may be able to provide some way to increase her chances of pregnancy. Gwen, of course, spoke the idea over with her husband, who decided against spreading the information outside of the household. (This could be to either hide his shame or in fear of what would happen to her should she reveal her situation to the seniors of the Church, depending on the player who picks it up, if at all.)

Personality/Current Feelings on St Bartholomew's Reach: Guinevere is what is expected of a woman of St.Bartholomew's Reach; sweet, well-mannered and just the right amount of feminine. She's a great and passionate cook, and is more than capable in her abilities to look after a home. Behind closed doors, even often unknown to herself, she is sensual and free-spirited with a head full of rich imagination, often caught day dreaming when left alone. She's empathetic towards others and a protector at heart, maternal and nurturing despite her inability to bare children, and can often be found taking younger community members or initiates under her wing.

Her feelings on St.Bartholomew's Reach is simply contentment; she's known nothing else and has believed wholeheartedly in the goals and faith of the community throughout most of her life. That being said, Guinevere isn't blind to what could happen should her 'situation' be revealed beyond what it already has, and has questioned whether a women's role within the community, the world and the eyes of God are truly limited to reproduction.

Plot Hooks for Other Players:

• Marriage: I would like someone to play her husband, which could go one of two ways due to her inability to have children. He could either treat her unkindly, perhaps feeling frustrated and disappointed in his wife, blaming her for being unable to breed and using it against her. Or he could be supportive and genuinely in love with her, leaning on the more understanding side. They would have been paired and married for around 8-9 years already, and he would still be trying to in inpregnant her to present day, though he may or may not be happy with the marriage overall. Either way, I would be happy to discuss it further.
• Sibling: I'd like for someone to play Gwen's older adoptive/step-brother. Ideally he would be a few years older than her, so I would say somewhere from 30 - 33, so he would have been 4 - 7 at the time of arriving at the Reach. I'd like for the relationship to be rocky, and there could be possible non-con scenes here or simply an estranged relationship. He could know about her infertility from her mother blabbing (which I imagine would not be beneath her), but would not suffer from it himself due to his differing genes.
• Affair: Depending on the above and the players involved, I would like her to be involved in some sort of affair that would either be by choice or against her will. Perhaps a friendly male figure, in which the two get carried away, or someone who knows of her infertile situation and threatens to use it against her. An affair between a an initiate who is under their guidance upon entering the community, either non-consensual or romantic, would be really interesting to skirt around with her husband under the same roof!
• Initiates/Younger Members: Guinevere enjoys taking younger members or new initiates under her wing and aiding them in whatever way she can. There could be really interesting interactions with all kinds of people here, whether Gwen is a sort of confidant to a younger member who she sees getting in trouble, or someone who gets caught up in Initiates desires to see the outside world again; anything is possible!
• Friendship: I would really like to Guinevere to have some sort of close bond within the community, either a friendship that would serve as an outlet for both of them, able to trust one another completely. Or perhaps a new arrival to tug her into a world of mischief and trouble.

A great character xPeachyPuff! Happy to approve and have you on board.

Are you still recruiting for this? I am potentially interested.

Yep, still recruiting, feel free to drop a character sheet or float any ideas you're thinking about in this thread!

Nathan's done.  I went a little bonkers with his backstory, sorry.

Love the full details you've given here. He's a great, well fleshed out character. If you want our characters to have a deeper connection, my character could be the militia officer on call the night of his wife's death. So my character could know his secret. Depends on if you want a player character in the community to know. Just floating ideas out there!

I've been meaning asking the same question..?

Also, if so, I have a question: any suggestions for female characters that would struggle at the community? I may be wrong, but - so far - the female characters proposed are mostly happy at the cult? I've been thinking about a female character that would really be conflicted about her stay in there. Not sure how to fit her in, though - any inductee that wouldn't fit would have a lot of time to resign before committing and I'm not sure a woman how to make a cult-born female who would also be conflicted about it...

It depends what sort of conflict you might want to do. I can see basically three avenues. Someone born in the community who hates living there and dreams of leaving. Someone born in or who has come to the cult, but struggles internally with feeling they don't live up to the expectations of their society. (could lead her to question the expectations or hate herself for not meeting them). Or third a new initiate with some degree of buy-in struggling to leave their past vices behind.


If you've got any other ideas then feel free to put them out in the thread and we can chat about how that might work as a character in the setting!

***

I'll be spending time with my partner for most of the bank-holiday, so my responses will be a bit slower than usual until Tuesday. Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

[Beorning]

It depends what sort of conflict you might want to do. I can see basically three avenues. Someone born in the community who hates living there and dreams of leaving. Someone born in or who has come to the cult, but struggles internally with feeling they don't live up to the expectations of their society. (could lead her to question the expectations or hate herself for not meeting them). Or third a new initiate with some degree of buy-in struggling to leave their past vices behind.

I'm considering the first option, but I'm wondering: could someone born in the cult really hate living there? With really sparse information on what the outside world is like, cult-born character wouldn't have much grounds for comparison...

My preferred idea is a situation when someone wouldn't actually buy into the cult's ideology, but would come to live there anyway. Not sure how to do that, though - it's not like the cult is kidnapping people to join...

Question: what kind of message does the cult present outside when looking for potential members? I wonder if it'd be possible for them to accidently lure in someone who, in the end, wouldn't really agree with what the community really is like - but would have nowhere else to go back to...

Anyway, I'd be interested in exploring the more oppressive side of the cult, if that fits your RP concept?

[xPeachyPuff]

A great character xPeachyPuff! Happy to approve and have you on board.

Thank you so much! I'm glad you think so and I'm excited to be on board! I'm looking forward to writing with everyone

[Bibliophilia]

I love that idea, Montagne.  It would create an interesting sort of bond between the two, one with potential friction from Nathan always wondering when/if his secret will be revealed or even if he'll be manipulated with the truth.


Boerning - They're aware that the outside world exists and if your character is raised in a home that's somehow abusive or even just extra repressive, it's not unthinkable that they might want to leave just to be away from that.  And, well, it's not like this is the Village where they have zero interaction or knowledge of the world beyond.  There are new people joining the community, some might be more loose-lipped than others, or even just inadvertently cause a child born there to wonder what it was like.

Also, it's perfectly reasonable for even someone who's 'bought in' to a cult for a long time, decades even, to suddenly begin feeling as if they've made a mistake and missing everything they've given up.  Happens all the time.  So, that's another possibility.

[Beorning]

Also, it's perfectly reasonable for even someone who's 'bought in' to a cult for a long time, decades even, to suddenly begin feeling as if they've made a mistake and missing everything they've given up.  Happens all the time.

True, but I'm wondering what kind of person would buy into such a cult - aside from someone who would be a super-conservative person in the first place?

[Esoterica]

True, but I'm wondering what kind of person would buy into such a cult - aside from someone who would be a super-conservative person in the first place?

Well some of it is a strict conservative upbringing mixed with the desire for more freedom. It happens.

[Esoterica]

Anyway, on the subject of the game, I notice there aren't many males here. I was considering making one. I just am not sure what kind of concept I might go for.

[Beorning]

A husband for my character, maybe?

[Montagne]

Anyway, on the subject of the game, I notice there aren't many males here. I was considering making one. I just am not sure what kind of concept I might go for.

Hey Esoterica, It would definitely be great to see you make a male character, as we definitely need some more (as well as anyone reading this and considering if they want to jump in or not.)

I'm considering the first option, but I'm wondering: could someone born in the cult really hate living there? With really sparse information on what the outside world is like, cult-born character wouldn't have much grounds for comparison...

My preferred idea is a situation when someone wouldn't actually buy into the cult's ideology, but would come to live there anyway. Not sure how to do that, though - it's not like the cult is kidnapping people to join...

Question: what kind of message does the cult present outside when looking for potential members? I wonder if it'd be possible for them to accidently lure in someone who, in the end, wouldn't really agree with what the community really is like - but would have nowhere else to go back to...

Anyway, I'd be interested in exploring the more oppressive side of the cult, if that fits your RP concept?

I think it certainly wouldn't be the norm to hate the place if born there, but just with all societies and all times, there are always people who question the dominant ideologies of the societies they were born into and want to escape/change them. I wouldn't see a character who is born there but wants to rebel as being any different from a rebel in any other time or place.

The other option of course is someone who bought into the cult totally, moved there, completed the process and got married. They're now expecting the dream life they were promised and that doesn't occur. Maybe the man is abusive or neglectful. This results in all the dreams they had about it collapsing away and becoming jaded to the dreams they initially had.

[Bibliophilia]

-lures in more players with soft molasses cookies and hot, sexually-deprived church ladies and dominant church daddies.-

[Dashenka]

Can the already accepted players get those as well? 

[Amarlo]

I am very much interested. Is there anything I should keep in mind?

I wish I had caught this earlier! I'll have to keep an eye on things. I don't want to overload the rp with too many females if you've already got an iffy ratio. ^^;

[Montagne]

I am very much interested. Is there anything I should keep in mind?

I wish I had caught this earlier! I'll have to keep an eye on things. I don't want to overload the rp with too many females if you've already got an iffy ratio. ^^;

Hey Amarlo, there is definitely still room available. Feel free to put together a character sheet.

I am currently a little concerned about our gender ratio, so if we've got any male character playing lurkers now is the time to jump in!


***

I'm going to put a character thread and OOC together in the next couple of days. 

[LostWind]

Hello everyone, I just came across this and would be interested in joining in if there's still room. My ability to respond can be a bit chaotic though but I can usually respond once a day if RL stays calm. Hope to hear from you!

[Amarlo]

Name: Madeline “Maddie” Grace Lennox
Age: 32
Years Spent In St Bartholomew's Reach: 31
Job/Role: Homemaker (And I was thinking school nurse, but I’m also open to plotting other things with other people)
Marital Status: Recently remarried widow - Everson Jacob Wills (Played by Wyatt)

Characters History With St Bartholomew's Reach: Madeline Grace Lennox was born and raised in St Bartholomew's little world. As one of nine children, Maddie was the second eldest child and the oldest girl. Due to this she spent much of her life assisting her mother with the house and family, especially as her mother grew more sickly over the years. As such she grew up with quite the bossy streak and became a natural born caretaker that both loved and hated her family with equal passion. It created someone that was fiercely protective of her loved ones, and as such she ended up getting into no end of trouble in Bartholomew’s Reach.

During her teen years, Maddie railed against the status quo. Despite the sect’s values of chastity before marriage, the growing woman maintained an illicit relationship with her childhood friend and neighbor, Billy Wills. It was largely kept in secret, at least until her father caught them in the act. Maddie still has scars from that night.

Unfortunately all it did was fuel her desire for freedom. As soon as she turned 18, Madeline left town and struck out into the world on her own. She didn’t know what to expect, but what she found wasn’t at all what she had hoped for. The culture shock was very real, and although modern America wasn’t quite as oppressive as Bartholomew’s Reach, Madeline came to realize she was very much a sheltered princess. She had left her entire world behind. All of her friends and family lived in Batholomew’s Reach and she missed them dearly. She was almost relieved when her little sister begged her to return home, until she revealed why she was so desperate.

Madeline’s mother was dying. They weren’t sure why or how, but she was deteriorating quickly. At most they thought she had 6 months. While most of her children were either adults or older teenagers, she still had three children in her household under ten years old. So despite any grudges Madeline may have still had with her parents, she promptly returned home to be by her mother’s side, and help keep things going as smoothly as possible for her siblings.

A year after returning, and two months after her mother’s passing, Maddie was given to Michael Hudson in marriage despite her protests. Together they had two children, two girls they named Amelia(8) and Cordelia(5) respectively. Her relationship with Michael was often tumultuous, and hardly considered a love affair. He kept her under his thumb and on a short leash, just like the elders wanted for the notably rebellious young woman. So when he passed away in a car accident a year ago, Maddie grieved the father of her children but celebrated her new freedom. She thought, as a female in her thirties, she was just a little too old for the elders to try matching her up again. She was wrong. Bitterly, bitterly wrong.

Personality/Current Feelings on St Bartholomew's Reach

Maddie is a shackled woman under the guise of a free spirit. In a world surrounded by tradition, tradition, tradition and rules, rules, rules; she survives by creating some unconventional traditions and rules of her own. When she isn’t tending to her children or the house, she is either out exploring, caught up in some mischief or nose deep in a good book. Maddie loves to laugh and smile, and as such she loves just about anything that helps her accomplish this. She is a very social creature, despite her conflict with many of the cult’s tenants. And while she is well known for being an obstinate and opinionated woman, she is also deeply sympathetic with the other women of Bartholomew’s Reach. This has turned her into a confidant for many of the younger generations.

Plot Hooks for Other Players:

• I would like Madeline to host a women only book club, where she and the other women go to support each other and give each other advice rather than discuss the books they’re supposed to be reading.
• A ‘medicine woman’ of sorts, Madeline could maybe smuggle means of birth control to some of the women in more desperate situations?
• People that maybe help her secretly smuggle or sabotage things within the sect?
• I am totally open to people playing other family members, or other people from her history.
• I also love having enemies and frenemies. Ic drama is a blast!

[xPeachyPuff]

I would totally love for my girl to be apart of the book club! c: