In the darkness of the Summer Solstice, she arrives. She stays on the sea, a quiet observer just out of reach, barely if ever visible in the daylight and nothing but a silhuette at night. No lights come from it, no voices, no movements.
Only music.
On the night just before she leaves - the night of the Winter Solstice - notes said to be of inhuman beauty cross the waves, reaching the ears of those who listen. Only those of pure heart can hear it - and no one who hears can ever resist it. They take small boats and sail away, not once turning back to the homes they are leaving. They leave their toys, their parents or lovers, walk or swim into the sea and disappear without a trace. No bodies are ever found. No soul ever returns.
She leaves on the dawn after the Solstice, as quietly as she came. Many ships have tried following her. Many bodies have washed to the shore several days or even months later.
They call her simply The Ghost, but if one dares to come close - close enough to see, but not to touch - they might notice the thin letters, faded but still visible on her side. They read Evangeline, and it is told it was the name of the captain's long lost love.
***
It is 1863. in what we could call the Alternate England. Industrialisation is the big news, but it takes unexpected turns - houses are built on top of each other, ports created over their roofs. Ships rest in the air, built for the sea but instead sailing high above it, leaving the ocean to the creatures resting in it. Only some are brave enough to take their ships down to it - the trained officers of the Royal Navy, and pirates.
Captain Arrow of The Wing, the Navy's pride, has heard the story of the ship of spirits more times than he could count, and never believed in them - not until he was given a piece of a map which, as told by every book and every sailor he saught help from, lead to the resting spot of Evangeline, and all those who heard its music. Knowing of the disappearances - mostly of children - and the short known history of the ship now referred to as the Ghost, he swore to be the one to find it and do all in his power to see it gone once and for all.
Captain Hutchings of The Old Maiden has heard the stories too. Sailing the seas fearlessly, even with the Navy at his tail, s/he is known for the love for treasure. The Maiden's last hunt didn't bring much gold - but in the eyes of captain Hutchings, a partial map is all that's needed. The inscriptions in a corner read the name of Evangeline. And this ship of spirits, stories say, can lead the way to treasures unimaginable.
*
So what is this about?
So what is this about?
The three ships - The Wing, Evangeline and The Old Maiden - are the center of this story. It starts with the night of the Winter Solstice, as the music is heard by those of pure hearts (meaning mostly children). They leave their homes and enter the sea, unnoticed by anyone and caring about nothing but coming close to Evangeline.
Captain Hutchings and Captain Arrow have both gathered crews of individuals ready to go on this kind of potentially dangerous adventure. They are driven by different goals, but in pursuit of the same ship, and, ultimately, the same place. What they don't know is that they're both doing that, and that each of them has one part of the map that would lead them there. What they also don't know is that there's a third piece of the map as well, in possession of Cassander Gyles, the captain of Evangeline, and that the story of the Ghost Ship isn't the only story that might come true as they sail further from their land.
The Wing is the Navy's ship, and captain Arrow is the Navy's captain. He pursues Evangeline, but will also see to fight the Maiden and stop the pirates in their quest. Captain Hutchings is a pirate. S/he will pursue Evangeline as well, but most likely also try to put Captain Arrow off the Maiden's tail. Both captains realise that children are the ones who can hear Evangeline's call, and they both might have a child or two on board to lead them. These kids would feel the need to disappear under the sea just like the others have, and hence might need a guardian of some sort.
Where do you come in?
You are a crew member of either of the three ships. All roles are playable, with only a few guidelines:
~ try to make plausible crew members - that is, these are not cruise ships. Each person should have some kind of a role
~ Captain Arrow must be male - or at least, biologically male
~ All of the captains, as well as any crew member of a higher position, should be of reasonable age
~ The era is 19th century, the place is an alternate version of Victorian England. Think steampunk, but keep as historically accurate as you can when it comes to names and alike
~ crew of Evangeline is no longer living. They can be as tangible as you wish, and come from any time starting with 15th century. Once they died, they stopped aging, and need no changing clothes, sleeping or food. They know they can't leave the ship, and they know of the song and the children, but not all of them knows the whole story behind the reason for it all. Also, they aren't necessarily mean or vengeful or anything towards the living.
~ This is a fairly good site for reference on crew positions - http://www.brethrenofthegreatlakes.com/ ... topic=72.0
Slots
~ Captains can add as many NPC crew members as they like, and I will add more slots if really necessary.
~ mind you, the captains aren't just cool spots - it means responsibility too (explained below).
~ some suggestions may include - captains, first mates, second mate, navigators, cooks, gunners, cabin boys/girls, doctors, etc.
Spoiler! :
On profiles, and other notes
- You're free to use whatever kind of template you want, but don't be too shy on words. I require more detailed info on the captains, and a picture or detailed written description of every person.
- One character per person for now, might turn to two depending on the interest and positions people play.
- The captains have the final word on what happens onboard of their ships - I have the final word on all the general things, twists which affect everyone, introducing new characters and alike, but if you have a "Can I break something on my ship?" kind of question, direct it to the person playing your captain. Captains, you direct your questions to me.
- The said captains also must include a part about their ships in their profile - what kind of the ship it is (no need to go into too many details, but tell us a bit about how many people can it hold, if it has any special colours or markings, is it old or new, is it your captain's first/only ship or not, and so on), if its name has a history, if there's something valuable and/or potentially important on it, and so on and so forth. You can change the captains' names, but I'd like to keep the ships' names as they are.
- Non-human creatures. They're a thing, but characters (except for the dead ones, who are ghosts or whatever) should be (mostly) human. As for the creatures, think mermaids, giant squids, kraken and alike, nothing too random and unrelated.
- If at some point when the crews are filled, there's lots of interest, new ships can be added and something thought on about them (there can be more than three pieces of the mentioned map, after all) - but let's keep to these three for now.
Calling people who expressed interest, people I want to lasso in, people whom I think might be interested, people who might not be interested but whatever...
Spoiler! :
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