It is the year 1902, in a world that is almost like ours, but not quite. Countries are almost the same, but noticeably different. Ideologies have suffered the same fate as well. And behind the scenes, Nature itself works to further the advancement of the planet. To do so, however, sometimes great sacrifices must be made.
And that is why we are here, in the North Atlantic on December 22nd. For the ocean liner SMV Autumn is the focus of one such sacrifice. A feeling of an approaching doom is upon the ship, though it is undetectable save to those who are sensitive to such things. Nature has planned something for the vessel. And those who would use these plans are there as well. Some are there to save lives; preservation via transmutation. Some are there to ensure the plans are carried out. And some are there to take a chance at rewriting history and saving a world that might not even exist yet. But not all is set in stone yet, and events still must play out.
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Okay, what we have here boys and girls is an Alternate History Fantasy Storybook. As said in the fun little two paragraph blurb up there, things are a little different in this world. England is The Golden Kingdom, and is a bit more pure and kind with its imperialist policy. The White Court is the Russia analogue, strong but with a big isolationist policy. The Affiliation takes up the eastern half of North America. They're big into this world's Industrial Revolution. In the western half of the continent is Mandaroza, an odd independent state composed of humans and centaurs, and the only place in this world where the latter creatures may be found.
Another big thing that needs to be explained are Sentinels and Adepts. Sentinels are animal spirits. They keep watch over certain groups of animals, and have names that reflect which group they watch over. Adepts are their servants and hands in human society, disguised of course. They are either animals given the ability to masquerade as humans, or humans who have been accepted by a Sentinel. They are not perfect though. Though all animals in this world are sentient to a degree, they still have instincts. And the instincts of Adepts often make them appear awkward in normal social interaction. Also, they cannot simply switch between their human and animal forms at will. When they attempt to do so, they disappear for an hour, then reappear as the other form. They only perceive this as having taken a few seconds, though.
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Now that the state of the world and the Sentinels/Adepts have been somewhat explained, we can get down to the meat and potatoes of this storybook. The setting is the ocean liner Autumn, sailing from Dublin to New Avalon over Christmas. And before you start asking, yes, this is this world's version of the Titanic. It makes it easy that way. Same big to do about the ship. Which ties into Nature's plans for it. This ship represents the peak of what humanity is able to really accomplish at this point in time. Nature is considering sinking it to send a sort of message to humanity, as if to say that for all their works they are still bound to it.
Some are here to take advantage of that. Orca, Sentinel of Whales, has sent two Adepts on the ship to be ready in case it does sink. Their task is to save as many of the passengers as possible by accepting them in Orca's name. They will become whales, but will be spared from death. Barringer, an Adept of Dog, has infiltrated the ship with the explicit purpose of causing it to sink, by steering it into an ice field.
But there is more to this voyage than just these two parties and their plans. There are the ordinary people, those who have no clue that this is going on and seek only arrival in New Avalon so that they might carry on with their lives. They have parts too to play in all of this, caught up in these machinations.
The way I see it, there will be the 22nd and the 23rd for character development and interaction, of arranging the plots and forming alliances. Then, the plot starts to move. It will continue until the morning of the 25th. And don't worry, I've got a pretty good idea of what points should happen when, but with enough leeway for the actions of players to have an actual effect on the plot.
That being said, I'm going to put a character sheet here, so that it is obvious who is playing what character. Those of you who may have seen a preliminary character sheet may notice the omission of two fairly important characters. Rest assured they will still be taking part, I simply want to keep them a sort of surprise for anyone who might be following along.
Mr. Universe- Conrad Rice
Martha Denizen- Rosey Unicorn
Ruth, Adept of Orca- sunstarfrozenlife
Barringer, Adept of Dog- Kara Hargreaves
Thomas, Adept of Orca- Apple
Patrick Nodens- kidashka
Joseph Matthews- Lumierre
Also, rules! There must be rules sadly. But they will not be too strict of rules.
* For one, I would like those participating to be able to post regularly. All that means is that I ask people to please keep pace with the story. I don't think that it will be too hard with this though.
*Also, all the rules of good writing ought to be observed here, nice grammar and whatnot.
*Posts should be around three or four long sentences at minimum, and cannot be simply filler. I am making it so little because at the beginning there is a good chance this might be dialogue heavy, and I am aware that it can be hard to negotiate that kind of stuff and cram in about 200 words per post.
* Also, minor god-moding is allowed. You can technically say that other characters do things, so long as A.) it is not out of character for them, and B.) they are doing something that ranks below throwing a punch or kissing. Notice that I said below. That means other characters may not do these two things if you are not controlling them, but that anything that is not quite so severe is probably going to fly.
All that being said, I hope that we are able to start soon and that this will end up being a very fun and fulfilling storybook.
Argh!!
