What light through yonder window breaks...
TL;DR Summary:
- Lovecraftian modern fantasy/horror in scenic Baltimore
- Characters are otherwise 'normal' people who have been beginning to collectively dream strange, moderately prophetic dreams
- Overarching plot with heavy alterations based on character actions, decisions, and backgrounds
- Down-The-Rabbit-Hole theme in which characters find themselves increasingly (and dangerosly) involved in hidden world machinations
- Slumbering eldritch horrors galore!
- Please post your character sheet in the Character Sheet Tab.
In Character Info
From: kAPLAN--university (no-reply@vnn.vn)
To: you@yourmail.com
Subject: dorothy!! You may be eligible for a BIG scholarship!
Attachment: dreamaLittleDreamOfMe.mp3
Why is this message in Spam? It's similar to other messages that were detected by our spam filters. Learn more
Hello Dorothy,
For most people, the world rolls on. They wake up, go to work, come back home and sleep. They live without knowing, thinking, or caring about what goes on under their feet, or in that alley over there. It's not important--probably Crime, Capital C, the sort that they read about in the paper and then casually recycle while trying to remember if their wife needs another pack of cigarettes yet (she does). The way that light over there blinks in morse-code, the pattern their footsteps might take on a particular street, the particular mumbling of that homeless guy who, by the way, is the same one they passed two minutes go, isn't important to them.
Just like it isn't important to you.
Chances are you're a busy girl. Or guy--prophecy's pretty equal-opportunity these days. You've got a mommy and daddy who want the best for you (even if they don't love you as much as either of you think they do), a place to stay. Food. Maybe a kid already, if you were sort of a fuck-up. But lemme tell you, Dorothy, Kansas is about to have a heap-big tornado run through it and all the storm cellars in the world won't help you now.
They better not. We need you on this one.
For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I'd do it if I could but its your turn now.
See you soon, Dorothy.
To: you@yourmail.com
Subject: dorothy!! You may be eligible for a BIG scholarship!
Attachment: dreamaLittleDreamOfMe.mp3
Why is this message in Spam? It's similar to other messages that were detected by our spam filters. Learn more
Hello Dorothy,
For most people, the world rolls on. They wake up, go to work, come back home and sleep. They live without knowing, thinking, or caring about what goes on under their feet, or in that alley over there. It's not important--probably Crime, Capital C, the sort that they read about in the paper and then casually recycle while trying to remember if their wife needs another pack of cigarettes yet (she does). The way that light over there blinks in morse-code, the pattern their footsteps might take on a particular street, the particular mumbling of that homeless guy who, by the way, is the same one they passed two minutes go, isn't important to them.
Just like it isn't important to you.
Chances are you're a busy girl. Or guy--prophecy's pretty equal-opportunity these days. You've got a mommy and daddy who want the best for you (even if they don't love you as much as either of you think they do), a place to stay. Food. Maybe a kid already, if you were sort of a fuck-up. But lemme tell you, Dorothy, Kansas is about to have a heap-big tornado run through it and all the storm cellars in the world won't help you now.
They better not. We need you on this one.
For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I'd do it if I could but its your turn now.
See you soon, Dorothy.
Out of Character Info
Still with me? Good.
For both @CorneredBliss and @Culluket for whom this post is directly intended, welcome. I hope you won't be disappointed. For anyone else coming across it, slightly less welcome but a similar hope. This is something of a brain child of mind that I've had for a while now and I'm very much looking forward to it, so if you're here to hit-it-and-quit it then there's the door.
Chesapeake is, primarily, a Modern Lovecratian Fantasy Horror story. Once upon a time, a group of what began as plucky young occultists and became what was affectionately known (by those in the know) as the Old Guard did their best to keep the Chesapeake Bay area safe from what is an unusually high concentration of Bad Things. But that was once upon a time, and in the here-and-now only one of them is still fighting the good fight. Even the infamous Calico Jack can't beat the devil forever.
But maybe you can.
Your characters are otherwise ordinary people (as much as anyone is really 'ordinary) who will suddenly find themselves thrust through the looking glass darkly, to mix literary metaphors. In the weeks preceding the beginning of the RP they have been finding their sleep increasingly less restful, filled with half-remembered dreams of a David-O'Hara-on-two-packs-a-day voice and flashes of streets, homeless, churches. Docks. Sewers. All culminating in the one that will be placed in the IC.
I'm not going to lie to those present--it's going to get rough. Your characters may not return whole, with sanity an unfortunate but likely casualty. The world of Chesapeake-Baltimore is a dark and dangerous place where under the surface of every day life is a sea of broken fingernails and teeth, eldritch things and the people they've dragged down with them clawing to get back in sun. This is a story about desperation and the things that drive people to it. About being pulled through the cracks instead of falling, and about what's necessary instead of what's even tentatively alright. About people--real people--given vague orders and no weapons and standing against the awful things that go bump in the night.
And, if everyone is very lucky, holding the line.
That being said, for those of you hoping to join: I am not going to be nice. I have a vision in my head of how I'd like this to go and I'm going to be that guy and not bend on it. Having already discussed as much with the previously mentioned, I will be accepting precious few applicants that are absolutely not first-come-first-serve. I'm frankly looking to push myself and my collaborators on this one, to try and write something that we can be collectively proud of, so this isn't the one I'm going to bandy about with. I'm not saying don't try, but please don't take it personally if I reject you out of hand. It's not you, it's me.
Similarly, I'm shooting for A Game. Posts may take a few days or what-not, which is fine. I'm shooting for no more than a week between full progressions, hopefully less if we can get a rhythm down, but my personal schedule is wacky. I may be able to post several times in a few days, or I may be able to get one up a week. I'm more concerned with quality than quantity, but I will do my absolute best to keep this moving and would like similar commitment from anyone I bring into it.
Still with me?
Good.
P.S. Still working on finding a bloody good picture for the top of the page. Thank you to HeySeuss for his OOC and Character Sheet templates.
For both @CorneredBliss and @Culluket for whom this post is directly intended, welcome. I hope you won't be disappointed. For anyone else coming across it, slightly less welcome but a similar hope. This is something of a brain child of mind that I've had for a while now and I'm very much looking forward to it, so if you're here to hit-it-and-quit it then there's the door.
Chesapeake is, primarily, a Modern Lovecratian Fantasy Horror story. Once upon a time, a group of what began as plucky young occultists and became what was affectionately known (by those in the know) as the Old Guard did their best to keep the Chesapeake Bay area safe from what is an unusually high concentration of Bad Things. But that was once upon a time, and in the here-and-now only one of them is still fighting the good fight. Even the infamous Calico Jack can't beat the devil forever.
But maybe you can.
Your characters are otherwise ordinary people (as much as anyone is really 'ordinary) who will suddenly find themselves thrust through the looking glass darkly, to mix literary metaphors. In the weeks preceding the beginning of the RP they have been finding their sleep increasingly less restful, filled with half-remembered dreams of a David-O'Hara-on-two-packs-a-day voice and flashes of streets, homeless, churches. Docks. Sewers. All culminating in the one that will be placed in the IC.
I'm not going to lie to those present--it's going to get rough. Your characters may not return whole, with sanity an unfortunate but likely casualty. The world of Chesapeake-Baltimore is a dark and dangerous place where under the surface of every day life is a sea of broken fingernails and teeth, eldritch things and the people they've dragged down with them clawing to get back in sun. This is a story about desperation and the things that drive people to it. About being pulled through the cracks instead of falling, and about what's necessary instead of what's even tentatively alright. About people--real people--given vague orders and no weapons and standing against the awful things that go bump in the night.
And, if everyone is very lucky, holding the line.
That being said, for those of you hoping to join: I am not going to be nice. I have a vision in my head of how I'd like this to go and I'm going to be that guy and not bend on it. Having already discussed as much with the previously mentioned, I will be accepting precious few applicants that are absolutely not first-come-first-serve. I'm frankly looking to push myself and my collaborators on this one, to try and write something that we can be collectively proud of, so this isn't the one I'm going to bandy about with. I'm not saying don't try, but please don't take it personally if I reject you out of hand. It's not you, it's me.
Similarly, I'm shooting for A Game. Posts may take a few days or what-not, which is fine. I'm shooting for no more than a week between full progressions, hopefully less if we can get a rhythm down, but my personal schedule is wacky. I may be able to post several times in a few days, or I may be able to get one up a week. I'm more concerned with quality than quantity, but I will do my absolute best to keep this moving and would like similar commitment from anyone I bring into it.
Still with me?
Good.
P.S. Still working on finding a bloody good picture for the top of the page. Thank you to HeySeuss for his OOC and Character Sheet templates.