You came to the circus like any other spectator. How could you not, especially after everything your friends told you! A true circus, like in the movies. Tent poles and wire acts and magicians? Not at all like the modern circus your parents took you to as a child- a few animal acts and a tight rope walk in a sports arena.
No, when you arrive at dusk like everyone else in your group, the place was so much more than a festival of carnies.
The tigers and wolves that walked the paths with an animal tamer would play with children like puppies and kittens. The acrobats walked on lines so thin, they might as well have been walking on air. And the magicians never did anything so mundane as pulling rabbits out of a hat or sawing a woman in half- the coat that transformed into a phoenix was so much more impressive than all that.
But what hangs over your head was the walk home. When you saw the performers fighting for their lives in the back alleys of your city. The animal tamer bound and destroyed a creature made of darkness, a mighty dragon. The acrobats moved stealthily along the rooftops as they dueled with dark shadows of humans. And the magician went toe to toe with a dark-robed figure as each summoned waves of fire and shadow-
And then you woke up. 6AM. Alarm going off.
Time to go back to work. Back to the land of the mundane office worker.
Life went ahead and played tricks on you again, making you want things in your dreams you could never have. Could never hope to have. Maybe tonigh you'll lay off the Corona before bed.
But as you pass your local diner on the way to work, you have a flash of deja vu as you spy a colorful group of individuals through the window...
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So I just finished reading "City of Glass" after re-reading "The Night Circus" last month, and I've been kicking around the idea of an otherworldly circus for a while now.
Without further ado, I give you...
~~THE HARLEQUIN'S SHADOW~~
~The Premise~
Your character is a performer in an paranormal circus. Long ago (or maybe not so long ago) you were offered a place by The Keeper as a performer. What The Keeper offered was too tempting to pass up- immortality, power, a chance to see the world.
What The Keeper demanded in return was your servitude. For The Keeper is in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with an ethereal rival, known only as The Harlequin. Wherever the Harlequin goes, its performers spring from the ground and gnaw on the psyches of the humans there. What the Harlequin wants and why are mysteries you might just find out, but the Keeper will not tell.
As a performer in the Circus, your immortality and power is fed on the awe and adulation of the witnesses of your acts. You must always be moving ahead, innovating, and creating new shows to sustain your power. To fail means your contract with the Keeper will be voided, and you will be returned to the mortal world- penniless, left behind during the passage of time, and vulnerable to whatever deprivations brought you to accept your contract in the first place...
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Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Interest?
No, when you arrive at dusk like everyone else in your group, the place was so much more than a festival of carnies.
The tigers and wolves that walked the paths with an animal tamer would play with children like puppies and kittens. The acrobats walked on lines so thin, they might as well have been walking on air. And the magicians never did anything so mundane as pulling rabbits out of a hat or sawing a woman in half- the coat that transformed into a phoenix was so much more impressive than all that.
But what hangs over your head was the walk home. When you saw the performers fighting for their lives in the back alleys of your city. The animal tamer bound and destroyed a creature made of darkness, a mighty dragon. The acrobats moved stealthily along the rooftops as they dueled with dark shadows of humans. And the magician went toe to toe with a dark-robed figure as each summoned waves of fire and shadow-
And then you woke up. 6AM. Alarm going off.
Time to go back to work. Back to the land of the mundane office worker.
Life went ahead and played tricks on you again, making you want things in your dreams you could never have. Could never hope to have. Maybe tonigh you'll lay off the Corona before bed.
But as you pass your local diner on the way to work, you have a flash of deja vu as you spy a colorful group of individuals through the window...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
So I just finished reading "City of Glass" after re-reading "The Night Circus" last month, and I've been kicking around the idea of an otherworldly circus for a while now.
Without further ado, I give you...
~~THE HARLEQUIN'S SHADOW~~
~The Premise~
Your character is a performer in an paranormal circus. Long ago (or maybe not so long ago) you were offered a place by The Keeper as a performer. What The Keeper offered was too tempting to pass up- immortality, power, a chance to see the world.
What The Keeper demanded in return was your servitude. For The Keeper is in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with an ethereal rival, known only as The Harlequin. Wherever the Harlequin goes, its performers spring from the ground and gnaw on the psyches of the humans there. What the Harlequin wants and why are mysteries you might just find out, but the Keeper will not tell.
As a performer in the Circus, your immortality and power is fed on the awe and adulation of the witnesses of your acts. You must always be moving ahead, innovating, and creating new shows to sustain your power. To fail means your contract with the Keeper will be voided, and you will be returned to the mortal world- penniless, left behind during the passage of time, and vulnerable to whatever deprivations brought you to accept your contract in the first place...
=====================================================================
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Interest?
