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Cloud 9, a Steampunk Storybook.



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Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:08 pm
gsppcrocks10 says...



The Setting

Cloud 9 is a giant dirigible. A huge blimp city that floats a thousand feet above the Atlantic Ocean. The place is about the same size as Washington DC. People of all kinds live here. It has its own government, though it is still legally under English rule. There are several levels to the city. The top level is where the rich and royal people live. Below that is where the relatively upper-class families stay. Under that is where your average middle-class working families live, and beneath that is where the engines are, known as the citizens as “the Works”. Under the engines is where the nasty ones live; thieves and other unpleasant people, as well as the homeless. The place is normally partially flooded due to a breach in one of the water tanks that still hasn’t been fixed. Nobody can find it and it’s slowly leaking out into the lower deck.

THIS IS A STEAMPUNK RP

Excerpt from Wikipedia:

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, frequently featuring elements of fantasy, that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used — usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England — but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of "the path not taken" of such technology as dirigibles, analog computers, or digital mechanical computers (such as Charles Babbage's Analytical engine); these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or with a presumption of functionality.

Steampunk is basically what the world would be like if it had never come out of the industrial age. Most of the time it's set in the early 1900s. There is no electricity, and almost everything is powered by coal and steam. Most things are made of iron or brass. There can be some magic involved in this, but I’d prefer that we keep the magic thing to a minimum. It’s like the Golden Compass, basically.

If you have any questions please PM me or Buggy. If you want a fast response PM me.

The Plot

There is a secret organization in the city that is slowly enslaving the population. They’ve combined magic and technology in a dangerous way; they can suck your will out of you and transfer it to someone else known as a Handler. You have to do exactly as your Handler tells you to do.

I know you guys don’t like it when I’m picky, but I don’t want this thing to die out. If you want to join please post your profile in the DT. In a week I will go over the profiles and see who gets in and who doesn’t. I’ll take ten characters including my own.

(DT here: post685262.html#p685262 )

Posting Guidelines

I have three big rules on posting.

3.) If you feel the need to control other people's characters, please stick to their profile and don't just shoot in the dark. Also, no god-modding.

2.) Long posts are okay, but please try not to do posts that require scrolling to read. It just annoys people.

1.) PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE use proper grammar and spelling in your posts! If I complain to you, please fix it.

Now that I've got that out of the way, let me say that I am absolutely fine with short posts. I know people (including me) hate controlling other people's characters. If you do a short post I'm not going to yell at you, but please try to do at least one line.
Just another quack spouting psychobabble.

"If I win, I'm a prodigy. If I lose, then I'm mad. That's the way history is written."
  





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Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:52 pm
gsppcrocks10 says...



Deborah Grierson

Deb was working as usual. There was always something that had to be done on this blasted airship... If it wasn't broken it needed oiling or updating. Sweat was running down her sooty forehead. She was down in the Works, like she normally was. She'd been assigned to help the new guy, Olli Banger, and show him the ropes. So far he'd broken more things than he'd fixed She gave him an annoyed look. "For th' las' time, 's left t' loosen 'nd right t' tighten!"

Olli winced. "Right, sorry."

Deb rolled her eyes. They were working on one of the water pumps. Olli had managed to detach one of the gauges. Deb snatched it from his grip and screwed it back on tightly. When she let go of it there was a sooty marking left behind. She sighed. "Look, why don' you take a break? I'll finish th' pump."

Sam Wickens

Sam was walking down one of the long white pristine halls of the institution. His father said that white increased morale.

Sam thought it made the place look like some kind of laboratory or hospital.

He hated this place. Hated it more than anything. But his father had insisted that he stay and train and learn to be a Handler. Now that his training was almost finished, his father was looking for the perfect subject for him. Someone with a huge amount of power, the ultimate subject for his favorite son.

At that moment his father's subject, a balding man in his forties, ran up. He looked like he wanted to strike Sam across the face, but instead he said; "Your father wants to see you."
Just another quack spouting psychobabble.

"If I win, I'm a prodigy. If I lose, then I'm mad. That's the way history is written."
  





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Thu Apr 15, 2010 8:27 pm
Kelcia says...



*Sorry if it's a bit long, I wanted to show what Ashton does for a living.*

Ashton Reese

Ashton was leaning hunched against a wall, trying to be as inconspicuous as was possible.
It was the middle of the day in the busy middle section of the air ship. People went this way and that, going about their business. Aston, however, was waiting for his benefactor to show up with the cash he owed Ashton for doing his latest bit of 'work'.

It had been the usual assassination routine – go in, do it quietly, and leave. No screams, no blood, that’s what the man had wanted. “Make it look like an accident,” he said, his face covered by a hat, scarf and a high collar. “If it seems like she’s been murdered, things could go badly for me.” Ashton had just shrugged, asked for half the money in advance, and left. It had been a clean kill, exactly as the man had intended. Now all Ashton had to do was wait for him to show up with the rest of the money.

He drummed his fingers on the wall behind him. Where was the dratted fellow? Ashton was beginning to attract more stares. He needed to leave, and soon, but not without his money…

Ah. There he was. He edged his way through the crowd. When he met Ashton, their conversation was short.

“You did it?”

“Yes. You have my cash?”

“Yes.” A very full envelope was handed over. In return, the man received a decorative gauze shawl.

“The weapon I used to kill her,” He said as the man stowed the shawl under his coat. “As you requested.”

“Good day,” said the man, a smug, if slightly sick look coming over his face.

“Good day, sir,” Ashton replied, and turned away into the crowd, back to below the Works, where maybe he could get some rest.
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Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:01 am
Lauren2010 says...



Bianca "Marie" Cheshire

For Bianca, the best part of any day was escaping the wretched royal level to roam the midde level. There she could be Marie, the person she felt she really ought to be.

The young girl Bianca was tutoring this day was struggling with her reading. She sounded the words out slowly with an almost pained expression on her face. She looked up at Bianca and grimaced.

"Miss Marie..." she whispered, pointing to a word in her grammar book.

"Benevolence, Caity," Bianca pronounced slowly. Caity repeated the word carefully and continued reading.

A nearby clock chimed, signaling the end of the lesson as well as the end of Bianca's time in the middle level. She sighed and stood from her chair at the small oak table. "Keep practicing, Caity," she said to the girl. "Our next lesson is in two days."

She left the girls home, holding her books to her chest. She walked as slowly as she could, taking in the atmosphere of a place so different from where her family forced her to belong.
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Fri Apr 16, 2010 5:14 am
Elinor says...



Erika Lily

Saying goodbye was never easy. Now that Erika was 27, she was moving out of her adoptive father's house. One could argue that Erika should left several years ago, but her job, as much as she liked it, did not offer the best pay, and only now could she afford her own house.

Her father had made frosted sugar cookies, which they ate on the porch with Erika's one, small suitcase filled with some clothes and a few books.

"You were a miracle, darling," her father said with a twinkle in his eye, "I remember the day you came to me so well. The woman-your mother-came by and shoved you into my arms. She was quite beautiful, dressed in a silken white gown...And she told me your name, and that I should take care of you, and I have. And she told me not to say...well, now you're an adult."

Erika froze. "Wait a minute, you knew my mother? You saw her? You never told me that! And what did she tell you not to tell me?"

The twinkle in the old man's eye faded away. "I must not have," he said, "And I cannot tell you, Erika. It would cost me my life!"

"Wait a minute, why?"

The baker shook his head.

"You said she was wealthy?"

"Yes."

Erika stood up and kissed his cheek. "Goodbye, father," she said. "I'll telephone you once I get to my new home."

But once she got up with her suitcase and started walking. She didn't know what to feel; surprise or anger. If her mother had been wealthy, why had been moved down here? Why wasn't she on the top level of the blimp? Small tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

When Erika looked up, she realized that she no longer knew where she was. It was desolate, and she couldn't even see any houses any more. She tried crying out, but no one heard her. Walking in different directions, she failed to find a way back into the main hub of the village.

She sat her suitcase down, toppled to the ground and started crying. That was when her head hit something. Erika turned and realized that it was a hidden switch. A large, elegant staircase appeared. Erika smiled as she realized what this meant. She ascended the stairs.

All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them.

-- Walt Disney
  





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Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:34 pm
Theodorable says...



Jack

"But why mother?" Jack asked for the fifth time.

"Because it is what is best for the family," Her mother walked over to her dressing table and picked up her earrings.

"But what if I don't want to marry him?"

"Then you will put up with it. He's not bad, he's very refined, gentle-"

"Honorable, and not-bad-on-the-eyes. I know, I know all of that. But that's isn't what I've planne for my life," Jack plopped down onto the lounge chair and folded her hands around her head.

"Well, we don't always get what we want."

------------

Austin

Austin picked up his book and leafed through the pages. He already knew what was on every page. But now he wanted something else to read. He headed to the library and searched until he found a large volume. "Perfect."

*I'll be back on Wednesday.*
Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cake hole. -Dean, Supernatural
  





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Fri Apr 16, 2010 5:00 pm
gsppcrocks10 says...



Sam Wickens

Sam peered into his father's office hesitantly. His father was sitting in a good-sized leather armchair. His hair was silver, and his eyes were a cruel icy blue. He looked up and smiled. His teeth were unnaturally white. "Sam, my boy! Come in."

Sam bit his lip and entered the room. His father motioned for him to sit on the chair across from him. Sam did so nervously. "Morledge said you wanted to see me...?"

He nodded. "We've found the perfect subject for you. Her name is Jacquie Boleyn. She's currently engaged to one of the princes."

Sam frowned. "But father-"

"No buts! This is perfect. With your help we will finally gain control of the government! I've sent people to retrieve her now. When they bring her in, you will make her your subject. Understand?"

Sam felt bile rise in his throat. "Yes sir."

"Good. You may go."

Sam got to his feet and left the room, storming outside and into the street. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He hated what they were doing. This "Jacquie Boleyn" wouldn't have any hint of what would happen to her until it was too late. He walked down the street, not paying attention to where he was going.
Just another quack spouting psychobabble.

"If I win, I'm a prodigy. If I lose, then I'm mad. That's the way history is written."
  





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Fri Apr 16, 2010 5:05 pm
ToritheMonster says...



Seraphina Cerulean-

Sara walked towards the lower decks, her long black coat snapping satisfyingly in the wind. She had lived in what looked like a small house under there for a few years since she had run away from home, but only she knew what it really housed.She had spend months working on it. It was, essentially, an addition, one that came down from the bottom of the blimp. She had broken a hole in the floor and looked precariously down at the barren earth under the blimp. She had nearly fallen out. Then, she had used the materials her parent's money had bought to built a huge upside-down glass room of sorts. In it, she could always see the ground rushing by underneath. It was also her life line. The very bottom was always close to flooding, and if the water ever flooded, she s=would be the only safe one. Her dome would trap it all. She was currently working on a device that would lift it up so it wouldn't be crushed when the blimp landed, but they hadn't landed in as long as she could remember. It contained a couch, a few cages of spiders, and assorted knick knacks she had collected over the years. She knew it would probably stick out if a different airship passed by, but what did that matter to her? It's not as though it was hurting anybody.

She walked carefully towards the bottom decks. The people around the Works weren't always pleasant. She looked down for a moment and collided with a man holding an envelope.

"Watch where you're going!" She hissed, immediately confrontational. The man had dropped it and she snatched it up, peering at its contests: money, she saw and lots of it. The man looked ready to strangle her, and she had an uncomfortable feeling that was exactly what he was going to do if she didn't give it back. She ignored that fact. She was high class, a Handler of all things! "Who are you and what is this?" She asked, holding the envelope behind her, just out of his reach. She wasn't fond of people bumping into her without an apology.
Honey, you should see me in a crown.
  





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Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:50 pm
cheeb says...



Brian

What in blazes?
Brian swore and rolled off his desk onto the floor. He staggered to his feet: it felt like he'd been drinking the night before... and he didn't even drink.

His eyes wandered over to a bottle on the desk he'd been sleeping on. Whiskey. Ok, so that whole not-drinking thing was a lie. He groaned and stepped out onto the balcony. It had been raining over the past week so the tub he kept out here was near full. Brian took a deep breath and plunged his head in.

That was the stuff. His back was still stiff but at least he could think straight now. Speaking of which... His head spun to face the sundial in the square across from his balcony. He was late. Simply perfect. He spun on his heel and raced out, past the smaller glass tub in his office that was home to Fish (so I'm not good with names... what's it to ya?) and down to the garage, where he kept his sole means of transport, Car.

Car was getting on in years, but had always served him faithfully. Not once in several years had it broken down. Not until right now, anyway. Nothing Brian did could start this thing up. He expended his entire mechanical knowledge on it, which involved poking it with a stick, kicking it with his shoe and swearing at it with his lungs. Finally he gave up and climbed back up to his office.

"The bleedin' car won't start!" he shouted at Fish. Fish opened and closed his mouth a few times and swam away to inspect some weed he'd just noticed. Brian mulled over this advice, and decided to go outside, relax, take a breath of fresh air, and maybe punch somebody who looked at him funny.

As he stepped briskly along the footpath muttering obscenities to himself, a young blonde-haired chap just happened to look at him funny. Without a moment's hesitation he smacked the boy across the jaw and began dragging his limp body back to his office, ignoring the odd looks he was getting from the morning crowd.

A few minutes later, the boy came to in Brian's office.
"I supposed you've been wondering why I've gathered you here today," Brian said. The kid just sat there, wide-eyed.
"So... where were you last night?" Brian questioned, wondering where he was going with this.
"In bed?" the boy replied.
"Hm. Good answer." Brian stepped around the desk. "Can I see some ID?"
The boy reluctantly handed over his wallet. Brian inspected it. "Sam Wickens, eh -"
He stopped short. Wickens... there's something familiar about that name... Brian kicked his desk drawer open and began riffling through its contents, finally stopping at a notepad he'd written himself.

Wickens. Seems to be quite advanced in the ranks of Handler Gang.

"Wickens, eh?" Brian repeated. The boy looked a little sweaty.
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Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:45 pm
Elinor says...



Erika Lily

She ascended to the agonizing steps toward the top level. She no longer had any idea what she wanted or why she she was going where she was going. She just knew that she wanted she get to there. Her mother was rich, so maybe she could find her there.

But she was beginning to get second thoughts. Erika, her hand tight on her suitcase, glanced downward. She couldn't even see the bottom, the place from where she had come. It was too late to turn back now.

She soon came to piercing light. The top level. Running up eagerly, she was amazed at what she saw. It was so lush and luxurious; with pastel-colored stone walkways and a fountain chiming in the background. Rose vines grew around the marble houses, which were decorated with beautiful gardens. She stared down at her own white, red-laced dress and felt out of place.

Erika began to walk and explore, wondering where she would go next. That was when a girl in a purple dress with blonde hair saw her and screamed to her mother.

"Someone's just come up here!"

All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them.

-- Walt Disney
  





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Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:52 pm
Kelcia says...



Ashton Reese

Ashton glared at the young woman who had snatched his money so boldly. How dare she?

“I don’t see,” he growled, his eyes blazing, “what business is it of yours. Give it back.” He made a snatch for the envelope. The woman dodged out of the way.

“Answer the question,” she said, obviously irritated.

“Look, kid, give it back before things get rough, alright?” He clenched one fist and reached with the other for his knife.
Last edited by Kelcia on Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Sat Apr 17, 2010 1:19 am
ToritheMonster says...



Saraphina-

So now he was getting nasty. He wouldn't stab me in broad daylight, would he? No matter. I had my own, I I put my free hand on its hilt. "My,my. Touchy, aren't you? I think it might interest you to know that I am a government officer. And I guarantee you that I am faster than you with that knife you're reaching for. So answer my question, before somebody gets hurt and you get yourself in trouble. Who are you? And where did you get this money?"

So maybe I was laying it on a bit thick. I wasn't really a government officer, I was a Handler... but he certainly didn't know that. And handlers were far more powerful than little government suits, anyway. People just didn't know it.
Honey, you should see me in a crown.
  





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Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:37 am
Kelcia says...



Ashton Reese

Ashton grimaced. Great, just what he needed. A prying government goon.

“My name’s Reese,” He said, spitting the words out through clenched teeth. “And I got that money from a friend of mine. I’m in some financial trouble, and he’s helping me out.” They weren’t technically lies. All he had said was at least partly true. “Anything else you wanna know, sweetie?” he growled, eyes on the envelope still clutched in her hand.
Mutant Plot Bunnies

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Sat Apr 17, 2010 2:56 pm
ToritheMonster says...



Saraphina-

Sweetie? He had called me sweetie? I chucked the envelope as far as I could behind me. "Go get it, Reese. And don't ever call me sweetie." I said, walking away. He was hiding something, but I didn't care. So was I.
Honey, you should see me in a crown.
  





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Sat Apr 17, 2010 6:34 pm
Kelcia says...



Ashton Reese

Ashton swore and lunged after the money. The envelope, upon hitting the ground, split open and spilled its contents onto the surrounding sidewalk. Hurriedly, and before anyone could notice, Ashton shoved the money into his pockets. When he turned back around, the young woman was gone. He swore again and called her a few nasty names, but not loudly enough for anyone to really hear.

And so, still in a stormy mood, Ashton made his way back to the lower level, sat down in the building he used as his home and office, and promptly fell asleep.
Mutant Plot Bunnies

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