Young Writers Society

In a world quite similar to our own, ghosts wander among the living. Only one in a thousand people can see them. Out of that small handful, very few chose to use their ability to see them. And a handful of these few created a small organization many years ago. This organization, known as the Stargazers, has three goals. The first is to help the living with problems involving the deceased. The second is to help the deceased pass on. And the last is to give those who can see ghosts a place to be themselves.

Your character has either been invited to join the Stargazers because of their ability to see ghosts, has been a living member for some time, or is a ghost.

It is theorized that ghosts are manifestations of someone's soul. If they have strong regrets when they die, their soul will leave the body and take on a form that only some living humans can see. There are some ghosts that were created despite having no regrets, but they are far and few in between. Regrets can either be viewed as positive, negative or personal. Positive ones involve wanting to help others. Negative ones involve wanting to harm others. Personal ones are ones that only affect the ghost in question.

Ghosts look like the person did when they died. If they had a wound that killed them, the wound remains when they take on a ghostly form. Despite their portrayal in stories, the only objects that they can go through are living ones – like a person. They can't walk through things like walls. They also can't float.

Ghosts are dealt with when causing trouble by talking with them or trapping them if worse comes to worse. Any method used in exorcisms is highly frowned upon in the organization; when successful, an exorcism will destroy the soul of a ghost and therefore the actual ghost. The person that they were will cease to exist.

Please introduce yourself here!

I'll start. My name's Mage. If we haven't met before, it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm the one running this storybook, so please ask me for help if you have any questions. I'll be playing the part of a new member and the current head of the Stargazers.

I should have the character templates up tomorrow, so please keep an eye out for them!

I'm thinking of potentially putting up a CP for this, once I have an idea of what kind of person I'm playing. But first I'd like to know what kind of world this is (I get the sense that it's a basic modern city, but I'd like to know wether it's a bigger or smaller one, if there's anything it's known for, stuff like that) and how dark the tone is likely to get inbetween cooldown scenes.

Also is there an overarching goal for this group that's going to make up the plot?
That'd be great, to keep us oriented.

Hello, @SirenCymbaline! As of right now, I was actually thinking that the main building for the Stargazers would be located in a large town. But if the other participants of the storybook of the storybook would like it to be a city, I'm fine with that too! The characters don't necessarily have to live in the town at the start of the storybook, though most will probably end up doing so by the end of it or at least get a home in a nearby town.

It does have the potential to be dark because the members of this agency usually have a bad history up until this point.

I was actually thinking of discussing that with the rest of the participants once they join! I know that the characters will come to terms with their pasts and find a place where they belong - the agency - over the course of the storybook, but I'm not sure what their first job will be. It'll probably be dealing with some sort of ghost that's causing trouble for someone who is living, but the specifics of that will be decided by everyone involved.

I hope that answers your questions!

I'm sorry for not getting the character templates up today. I went out with family, so I'll make sure to make them tomorrow morning instead. Some of the other, more recent storybooks I've created have similar formats for their character templates, so you can check those out if want to get an idea of what they'll look like.

The character templates have been posted!

hmMMMMMmmmMm i am thINKING of joining, but I don't know how active I can be?? I can try my best though! I've just signed up for like,,, two sb's and i'm like omg idk what i'm doing (why not dive in head first amiright)

I'm thinking of maybeeeee being a ghost or a new recruit

Okay! I'd love to have you as a member no matter how active you can be!

The character templates are posted in the main topic, so you can check them out there. If you want something to reference for the creation of them, you can check out my two ones.

Also, I'm leaving to go camping today. I won't be back until sometime on Wednesday. So I apologize in advance if I can't answer any questions any of the participants of this storybook have.

Is it okay if I join?

I'm thinking of making a character that has been a Stargazers member for some time, who could perhaps take on an apprentice during the SB?

Hope you have fun on your camping trip, @Mage! ^_^

You can definitely join! And I love your idea of having a more experienced member.

Apologies if my CP takes a while. I tend to create characters better based on what I think would compliment existing character casts, so I may be a little stuck until a few more come out.

Until then, I'll still try to come up with ideas anyway.

I submitted my CP!!!

Ooh, I like your character, @soundofmind!

I also made my CP.