[OOC] Story of Seasons: Greener Pastures

[Dio]

Story of Seasons: Greener Pastures

A Harvest Moon & Story of Seasons Role-Play

the PLOT

At night while you dream you hear a voice telling you about a place. It doesn't give you much to go off of, but the voice is warm and soothing, and is familiar. It isn't until a few dreams in that the voice tells you her name. She calls herself the Harvest Goddess little by little she gives you details on the place she is talking about. She describes to you the endless possibilities that you can have if you find this place. The first thing you have to do is help the town thrive and become the happy place it used to be. She tells you where it is and how to get there, giving you a chance to help save HOPE VALLEY.

the TOWN

HOPE VALLEY used to be a thriving place. They were known for trading and were a popular place for families to grow together. The village and town itself is being held together by the young mayor, Chester Weston. He succeeded after his father, whom retired after Chester had graduated college five years ago.

Chester is trying to re-populate the area by giving outsiders a chance to come into the town and take over a few of the local shops, farms, restaurants, and ranches, in hopes to breathe new life into the dying town. He wants and hopes for bigger and brighter things for HOPE VALLEY because he wants to make sure his daughter has a place to call home when she grows up.

(DISCLAIMER: I am using the map of Castanet, but it fits into what I would want HOPE VALLEY to look like)

MAP OF HOPE VALLEY

A: Flower Park is located in the center of the valley. It is the one and only park that the valley has, being made up of a flower garden and playground on top of a hill. At the bottom of the hill lies the local beach, Sunset Beach, and fishing hot spot, the Docks.

B: Weston Town is the thriving and popping place of the valley. It is a port town which gives access to travelers and tourists alike and is often a pit stop for those who are traveling to the tropical islands off shore. Weston Town is named after the founding father of the Valley, Norbert Weston the III.
The local shops include clothing boutiques, dance and photography studios, the town hall, an inn, two restaurants and cafes, a school, a clinic and many other places.

C: Hope Valley Church is through the plaza of the town and up on a hill beside it. It is where local weddings and festivals are held. The church is open daily, though it isn't as used as it use to be.

D: King's District is where most of the industrial shops are. There you can find the local carpenter and his journeymen, along with inventors, blacksmiths, and jewelers. The King's District is also at the base of King's Rock, the local mining cavern and mountain of the valley.

E: Goddess' Spring is where it is said the Harvest Goddess sleeps. There are many paths that lead to the spring, but usually are never around when you want it to. The paths leading to the spring often show up to those who the goddess wants to see.

F: Evergreen Forest is where the local carpenters work. Wild animals are known to thrive within the spooky woods and it is also a favorite spot for the local teens to hang out in. You can easily get lost in the maze of shrubs and trees. It is also said that an evil witch or wizard lives deep within the forest looking for unsuspecting villagers to travel deep enough to use for their experiments.

G & H: The Farmlands is where most of the farms of the valley are located. There are many plots of land that help with farming and ranching, as it is the most nutrient-rich part of the island.

I: King's Peak is the top of the mountain. It is a popular spot to see the sunrise and sunset, and is the local honeymoon spot. It is also said that if you go up high enough, the fabled Harvest King will reach down and bestow you with all the luck and riches of the world, but that's only a local townstale.

the RULES

• Follow the general rules that have been laid out by Guild.
• For this role-play I am looking for people who want to grow together. It also means this isn't first come first serve if people want to have the same position. We'll see which character best fits and then if the other wants to work something out we can.
• Lengths of post are mid to high casual, meaning I want at least two paragraphs. Paragraph sizes are preferably three to four sentences each.
• Grammar should be great, I don't need perfection. Everyone is on different levels when it comes to this, I know I make mistakes so you don't have to be perfect either. Just make sure you know how to edit your work if need be! We want to have fun, but we want to understand what you're trying to say too.
• The OOC is for out-of-character chat where you can mention other things that aren't relevant to the RP or that are, it's also a place to get to know one another as writers OUTSIDE of the Role-Play. You can also mention if you're leaving for a period of time, make sure to keep things casual when you talk to one another. No weird stuff!
• You must wait AT LEAST two posts after yours to be able to post again!
• Make sure to have fun!
• If you have ANY questions, on ANYTHING feel free to ask.

the CHARACTER SHEET

Character Sheet

[center][h1][color???]CHARACTER'S NAME[/color][/h1]

[color=???][b][h2]General Info[/h2][/b][/color]
[color=???][b]Name:[/b][/color] First and Last Name!
[color=???][b]Birth Date:[/b][/color] Season(Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter)/Day (1-30)
[color=???][b]Age:[/b][/color] Age is going to be 18+ If you want a character under 18 talk to me and we can try to work things out.

[color=???][b]Gender:[/b][/color] Male or Female
[color=???][b]Sexuality:[/b][/color] Up to the preference of you and your character
[color=???][b]Relationship Status:[/b][/color] Single, Married?

[color=???][b]Profession:[/b][/color] What does your character do for Hope Valley?

[color=???][b][h2]Physical Info[/h2][/b][/color]
[color=???][b]Appearance:[/b][/color] A paragraph or two along with a picture will suffice here. Give us details on who your character is by detailing their image.

[color=???][b]Attire/Style:[/b][/color] This portion is pretty optional, but you can also give us some details on how your character likes to dress, if they're a diva, a fashionista, or your typical farmer with no fashion sense whatsoever!

[color=???][b][h2]Mental Info[/h2][/b][/color]
[color=???][b]Personality:[/b][/color] At least two paragraphs telling us how your character thinks, acts, and behaves. We want to know about your character to get a good feel or sense of them.

[color=???][b]Likes:[/b][/color] A list of 4 or more things will be good!
[color=???][b]Dislikes:[/b][/color] Same as the likes, a list of 4 or more on things they like!

[color=???][b]History:[/b][/color] Some background information on where your character came from and how they ended up in Hope Valley.
[/center]

[Spoo]

I'd like to reserve a position of town potter, if that's alright. I've got a CS started, so it should be complete tomorrow.

Also, I'm on -5 GMT, for future reference. I figure getting time zones out there will help establish post order better.

[Stern Algorithm]

Hey, great to see this is up. Also, I thought this might be interesting, but here's a link to a site that will let you create chibi characters that look more or less like Harvest Moon characters. I thought it would be cool if all our characters had a unified look/feel. What I did was after I created my character, I took a screencapture and uploaded the cropped image to imgur.

Here's my CS. She can be a bit antagonistic, but she means well:

Sierra

General Info

Name: Sierra Hamilton
Birth Date: Fall 30
Age: 22

Gender: Female
Sexuality: Aromantic heterosexual
Relationship Status: Single

Profession: Miner

Physical Info

Appearance: Sierra has dark skin, long black hair, and critical red eyes.


Attire/Style: She wears plain workman's clothing and chooses utility over style or fashion.

Mental Info

Personality: Sierra has been described as someone with a 'mind of metal and wheels', though that is not to say that she has a heart of stone. Sierra simply desires practicality and efficiency, which may come off as a need to control. She lives a simple life, feeling that excess dulls the mind and weakens the body. Sierra shows care through action instead of words, so while she's terrible at comforting people, she may attempt to solve their problem or simply do chores around their house for them. She derives self-worth from being useful to others. She secretly, and not-so-secretly, judges others based on their usefulness and extravagance, and doesn't trust those who are rich or have lived a comfortable life. Sierra believes that the prosperity of Hope Valley lies under the earth rather than above it and seeks to save Hope Valley by finding a motherlode in the mines. If she is unable to succeed at that, she would resort to 'saving' Hope Valley through modernization and industrialization, putting her at odds with those who would prefer to keep Hope Valley natural and pastoral. Despite having dreams about the Harvest Goddess, Sierra doesn't believe in the Harvest Goddess, or the supernatural. Sierra is also something of a penny-pincher having lived a relatively poor life. She likes simple foods that give her long-lasting energy and foods that last a long time. She often conflates enjoyment and decoration with decadence and opulence.

Likes: Rice balls, butter, cooking oil, bread, potatoes, corn, salted fish, hard boiled eggs, milk, cheese, pickles, preserved foods, sandwiches. All ores and gems. Tools.
Dislikes: Sweets, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables. All flowers and grasses.

History: Sierra was born in Hope Valley. Sierra's father used to be the foreman of King's Rock Mine until Hope Valley came under hard times. A series of unfortunate cave-ins and accidents as well as a sudden inability to locate rich ore deposits led to the mine being deemed exhausted and subsequently shut down. When Sierra was 10, the Hamilton's moved to the city where Sierra's father became a factory worker, while her mother became a teacher, though previously she had been a homemaker. In Hope Valley, Sierra was able to spend plenty of time with both parents, but in the city, they needed to both have jobs to support the high cost of living. Sierra felt neglected and kept to herself, blaming the mine's closure for her misfortune and the exhaustion she saw in both her parents' attempts at trying to earn a living wage. Upon graduating high school, Sierra took hard labor jobs to help contribute to the family, knowing they didn't have enough to send her to college. The night she had her last dream of the Goddess, her parents surprised her with a secret stash of money that they had been saving up. They remembered how much happier she was in the town she was born, and they had saved this money so that she could start a new life and make her way in the world back in Hope Valley. She had initially intended to ignore her dream and the pleas of the 'Goddess', but she saw this as an opportunity to make Hope Valley great again, and when she had succeeded, she would save her parents from the city and let them retire in peace, comfort and dignity.

[Dio]

I want to mention that I'll be away from my computer or any computer this weekend and will be back on Monday! I'll be checking in with my phone and whatnot but no major postings until then! See you all later and have a great weekend!

[Dio]

Chester

General Info

Name: Chester Weston
Birth Date: Summer 16th
Age: 31

Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Relationship Status: Divorced, but currently Single

Profession: Mayor

Physical Info

Chester

Appearance: Chester is a handsome man. He's the new, fresh face of Hope Valley. Having a pair of very beautiful olive-green eyes and pale complexion he is the ideal poster boy. He stands with an intimidating and bulky stance, with broad shoulders and muscles on every inch of his body. He is a brunette with messy, boyish hair that has charm. If his pretty eyes don't catch your attention the second noticeable feature is his charming smile. He also wears brown rimmed glasses, being far-sighted.

Attire/Style: Chester isn't one for fashion. He can often be seen wearing button ups, both plaid and single-toned, with a plain white or black tee underneath. Often in blue jeans, he can sometimes be found in black jeans or joggers.

Mental Info

Personality: Chester is a genuinely good guy. He's kind and caring to just about everybody, whether he knows them or not. He is a guy who is willing to do whatever he can to help the majority, and is a big believer in hope and faith. There are times that can make him seem vain and narcissistic, but in the end he is truly and genuinely sweet and caring.

His goody two-shoe attitude can and does bother a lot of people though, so he tries his best to lay low on the positivity and optimism around some of the townsfolk. He is determined to help Hope Vally prosper and has big dreams for it as his father, grandfather, and family before him all did too.

Chester is not only a good person, he is a good father too. He has a daughter whom he loves and cherish with all his heart. He is only a good father in terms of his love for her, but as a parent in general he still has a lot of learning to do as every day has a new lesson for him in terms of taking care of her.

Likes: Books; Berries; Jams; Milk; Silver Ores; Flowers;
Dislikes: Mayonnaise; Candy; Fish; Turnips; Beets; Alcohol;

History: Chester comes from one of the founding families of Hope Valley, the Westons. His great-great-great-grandfather was one of the original founding fathers and helped pave way for those who came after him. He was a gentle giant of a man who helped shape the town into the kind and loving place that it became.

Generation after generation, the Weston's grew to become leaders within the town so it was only natural that when Chester was born he was going to be raised for greatness. The only thing was is that he didn't want it. Growing up he got into a lot of trouble with the law around town and with Hope Valley being a small one the town grew pretty tired of his antics and behavior. It wasn't until he met Eve, that his attitude changed. He became better behaved and attended school regularly and also applied himself in it.

The reason behind that was that Eve was trying to get out of Hope Valley and attend a big Ivy League school and all the love that Weston had for her made him want to try too for her. He became a reformed, genuinely sweet citizen of Hope Valley and was soon offered a chance of a lifetime to attend a prestigious school many hours away.

At the age of nineteen, having only a year behind him in college, Eve had gotten pregnant. The news spread quickly throughout the town even though the two were in college. This complicated their relationship as now they were at a crossroads. Chester wanted to finish college and Eve wanted to go back to Hope Valley to raise their daughter, Frankie. The two made a compromise that since Eve wanted to go back home she could, and that Chester would say in college. The thing was though, he would be going back home every weekend to spend time with his new family as he had a responsibility and duty to perform now. With the help of both their families the young couple accomplished their goal. Chester graduated college and returned home with a degree and new hopes and dreams.

Throughout their time apart, the feelings of love and affection for one another disappeared too and began the stages of pain through their relationship. Arguments over the little things became arguments that affected how they treated and acted towards each other and things just turned dark. With Hope Valley being a small town it was a shock and surprise when the young couple announced they would be divorcing and going their separate ways. The hardest part was having to come up with a solution for Frankie.

Chester and Eve both wanted something more for their daughter. They loved the fact that Hope Valley could supply and endless amount of love from all of the people there, but the believed she needed to see life more freely, as they believed they needed too. The two moved to a big city half way across the country to do just that and live freely. During their time divorced, they had shared custody and spent every extra moment with their daughter. They didn't want Frankie not knowing the other as they still had respect for one another just not the intimate love they once had.

Both Chester and Eve applied for school again, Eve finishing off her undergraduate and Chester going for his Masters. Chester finished program with a plan and dream in sight, and that was to return to Hope Valley and help it grow and advance. Eve found herself in love with the city and was hesitant of her ex-husbands dream, because that meant that Frankie would be without him if he were to move back or she would be without her mom if Frankie went to Hope Valley with him. The final decision for the two and their dreams finally came when they decided that it was up to their daughter on what she wanted to do.

So at the age of eight, they gave her the option of either staying with Eve in the city or moving back to Hope Valley with Chester. She choose the latter, having the desire to move back to see her family once again in Hope Valley. So with his daughter in hand, Chester moved back to the village he grew up in with dreams of change.

That was years ago, now as the new appointed Mayor of Hope Valley, Chester is doing well and executing his plan with his full effort in hopes of the town becoming something once again.

[Stern Algorithm]

Sierra and Chester probably know, or know of, each other. She was 10 when her family left Hope Valley 12 years ago, so Chester was 19 at they time. They probably didn't interact much as he was a young adult when she was still a kid, but some knowledge of the others' existence seems the most likely.

[Dio]

@Stern Algorithm Yeah they would know each other! Him being the mayors sun and now the mayor he would know a lot of people and the townsfolk would know him.