Role-Playing Writing, Part 4
The Empowered are still fighting the Evil One. Continued from Part 3.
Date: August 29, 2007
Categories: RRRs, RPWs, and RPGs
Friday, 26 April 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
The Empowered are still fighting the Evil One. Continued from Part 3.
Date: August 29, 2007
Categories: RRRs, RPWs, and RPGs
I’m fixing John Doe right now. It’s fun. I’ve given him amnesia. I’ll post the fix when it’s done. Anyhow, I had an idea. We could move the time of the story up a few years, to, say, 2015 or sometime like that. This would open all sorts of opportunities: new presidents, new technologies, new rules. We could have intelligent envelopes that send the letters to whoever you tell them to send it to, or something, we could do almost anything that we actually need to do. Or we could put it in an alternate universe. This would also be fun. They could have technology that we don’t, but the same kind of timeline. No one need ever know that it’s in an alternate universe, but it would aid us greatly.
Whichever you guys like best, or neither. I think it would be fun whatever we chose, though. Even if we upped it just a year, it would still open the possibilities a little.
I forgot to say: Thankee kindly, dear Admins.
So here it is. I took drastic measures, it was very fun, and E2MB will kill me if he ever comes back, but it can’t be helped! *placates the absent E2MB with pumpkin pies*
Name: John Doe (he has another one, but this is the one he goes by)
Age: Mid-to-late 40s.
Occupation: Secret Service Agent
Past: Twenty years before our story opens, John Doe was in a car wreck. Though his body remained relatively unscathed, he suffered from amnesia. He was never identified and his memory never returned. Eventually he made a new name and a new life for himself, but underneath there was always that powerful longing and curiosity to know who he once had been. Somehow this led to a love of RPGs, because any one of the intricate pasts he created for himself could be true, for all he knew. When he received a mysterious letter that said he was a magically gifted person named Nightwarrior, he decided to play along with it. He didn’t believe it; it was just another RPG, but it spoke to him nonetheless. As it got more and more climactic, he found himself believing it more and more, whether by some subtle work of Tutankhbastet or by pure weakness of nature we will never know. When Dallas was blown up, it was the final straw, and even his job ceased to matter to John Doe.
Despite Tutankhbastet’s surety, John Doe is not Nightwarrior. Nightwarrior was on the first world to fall, and he died without ever knowing that he was Empowered. John Doe shares many of his traits, enough to fool Tutankhbastet as well as himself, but he is nothing more than an ordinary, albeit gifted, civilian.
I think it would be a nice touch to knock John Doe on the head again, and all his memories will com rushing back, and he’ll be too incapacitated by this to do anything, but he won’t die. We’ll learn later that he’s not Nightwarrior.
That’s all I’m going to do right now.
THANK YOU GAPAS!!! *ultrahugs and choklit*
AH! AMNESIA! Oh well. I really don’t have any better ideas myself. It’s actually pretty good.
Now, I had some ideas for a few new requirements before posting.
REQUIREMENTS BEFORE POSTING (IF NEW)
If you are a newcomer to the thread, please at least skim over the conveniently edited version of the story located on https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=958.
If you have a new character, put it through a Mary Sue litmus test first. Google the latter and you will find a number of useful links. If your score is high, do some tinkering where necessary.
NO KILLING YOUR CHARACTER SPONTANEOUSLY. This makes the plot very hard to carry through. Before you do something big like that, discuss it with others to make it seem logical, if it is done at all.
Gack. Rubea Hawken got a 148 on the springhole test. That’s scary. Clearly, I have some work to do. But now, homework. *meh*
4- Amnesia isn’t the best way to deal with it, but it’s all I could think of.
Hmm. Interesting. May Sue litmus test. I’m off to see how Rhoda scores.
Rhoda is the Anti-Sue. She has less than ten points. Fine by me.
Here are the other two characters I’m supposed to edit, because it’s too hot to do anything else. I’ve done a lot of tinkering and elaborating, since there was never much to go on.
HANJJVAR
Name: Hanjjvar
Age: 16
Empowered name: Earthspeaker
Powers: Can speak with animals, can make golems out of clay.
Past: Hanjjvar was a demon hunter in an alternate universe for most of his life. He had a pet raven named Scliifar, and was the apprentice of an Empowered named Rancarl (his Empowered name was Stormwatcher). Hanjjvar knew he was an Empowered, but he did not know his power to make golems, as Rancarl was going to tell him that on his eighteenth birthday, when his apprenticeship ended. However, in a battle with a Corrupt Empowered named Warp, a spell malfunctioned and Hanjjvar was sent to New York in this world. Rancarl was killed by the malfunctioning spell, but not before he had killed Warp. Hanjjvar, for some inexplicable reason, thinks that Tutankhbastet killed Rancarl.
When Hanjjvar reached this world, he became a thief. Eventually he met Hedge, and this forged a fragile link between the majority of the Empowered and Hanjjvar.
He wrote one or two letters to his friend Ziilat, a nixie from his world, who lives by the Grand Canal in Venice, but soon after he started writing to the other Empowered.
His raven died in the New York episode.
I think I’ll do John Smithsonian later. Hanjjvar didn’t need much, but I had to write it all down.
To read this post, Hanjjvar looks like sort of a male Mary Sue, but maybe that’s because he comes from a world where all these things are perfectly normal.
Umina is a 16. I’m not terribly concerned.
Still homework. *brains self*
We should start calling the guys Harry-Lous.
9-
4- “Gack. Rubea Hawken got a 148 on the springhole test. That’s scary. Clearly, I have some work to do.”
What’s the springhole test?
The thing about Hanjjvar is that he had posted so little there weren’t any plot holes to fix, and th only one there was was already fixed. He already knew about the Empowered, and such-like…
So is he a Harry Lou?
It’s still too hot to go do the job that I’m supposed to do, yet the thought of trying to edit John S. is too daunting to touch. I have absolutely nothing to go on. Ugh.
8- What you need to do is find a teacher who will give you this homework assignment:
Find a Mary Sue and edit her to be a well-balanced and pleasant character.
Fun homework assignment, definitely. If only there really was a teacher who would give it to you. *sigh*
ACK! Save me! People take pictures of each other/Just to prove that they really existed/Just in case someone thought . . .
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANot-that-help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11- A Mary Sue litmus test. I think you might have gone a bit overboard with the seven languages. No offense. Though I myself would like to know Gaelic. That would be fun.
Yeah, I got a bit over-excited there.
Ooh! A new thread! GAPAs – thank you muchly!!
Alice – You are utterly amazing. Thanks for editing those characters!
I think moving the story up a decade or so would definitely help. That would give us a lot of flexibility. An alternate world would be cool, too, but I think since it was originally set on Earth (among other worlds, but mainly Earth), it will be hard to make it an alternate world. Everything is so, well, Earth-like, (locations and more), and I think moving it into the future would help enough.
err… would you guys mind if I rescued my poor character? I kind of abandond this… anyone wish to give me a quick update? or tell me what i should do?
Why thank you. *conceited bow* No, really, thanks.
Okay. So let’s make it 2017, and we can think of some handy letter-delivering thing.
By the way, Pan, have you any ideas for how Rhoda and Luna got to be penpals?
And what about the money thing?
Can someone put Luna in those Mary-Sue test things? I think she needs some work, but I’m not sure in what areas.
16 (ea) – Sure! Jump right in! I’m not sure where you left off, but here are some important places you might want to look at:
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=958 – Role-Playing Writing, Part 3
–Post 3 by Alice has a good, brief summary of where everyone is
–Post 54 by Pan (me) has sort of a brief summary of what happens in the final battle, but that’s still being edited
–Post 84 by Gwen is very very important, and it is the reason for all of our editing. I’d suggest reading all the posts after that, (you don’t have to read over the whole thing Alice posted, though – that’s just for people who want to help edit), because it should get you back on track.
If you left before Part 3, I can look back on Part 2 as well. But I’m not sure when you last posted…
16- By all means, come back! She’s been hanging out in the Otherworld while we waited for you.
I think you left a little before Lsyor took you to the Moon. Lt’s see, Rhoda’s soul shattered, you may have heard about that, and Lsyor came to th hotel in Venice and took you, John S., Miriam, Rubea, and herself to the Moon, where Rubea and Miriam put my soul back together. Then you, me, and Miriam went to the Otherworld, where we sat around practicing our powers and discussing death. Then Luna said that she was going to crack the Crystal if we didn’t stop corresponding, and so we decided it was time to go deal with her. We went to the Moon, I switched her back to the good side, and that’s all.
We’ve been editing our characters and the story for a couple of weeks. See the rest of this thread to get the hang of it.
What happened to my other posts? Why did they disappear? Oh no!
That’s okay, the second one (with a summary) would only serve to confuse Widdershins, seeing as she was gone for much longer than I thought.
But I’m confused.
Oh well.
15- Then let’s move it up to 2017 and develop a fancy letter-delivery-thing.
By the way, there are still a lot of holes in the main plot. Like the money, we never fixed that. And how did Luna and Rhoda get to b penpals?
216- By all means, come back! What has happened while you were gone…
In very short:
Luna (who was on the Moon, along with Tut, Rhoda, and the Corrupt Empowered) healed the Crystal and went back to Earth. Tut ordered Rhoda to switch Luna, and Rhoda had to, because of the oath. This led to, not only Luna being evil, but Rhoda’s soul being shattered. Lsyor took Merle, Miriam, John S., and Rubea to the Moon, where Miriam and Rubea healed Rhoda. Miriam took Merle and Rhoda to the Otherworld, where they practiced their powers and discussed death. Luna and Tut, with the help of a mysterious person/thing named Kanjal, had partially cracked the Crystal, and Luna threatened to destroy it completely if we didn’t stop corresponding. Rhoda went back to the Moon, met up with John S. and Lsyor, and switched Luna back. Near as I can tell, they’re still standing on the moon watching Luna pretend to break the Crystal and waiting for Miriam to come pick them up.
We’ve been editing and polishing our characters, and you should too.
Tutankhbastet lived during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. His original ability was that of a shape-shifter. When Akhenaten became pharaoh and revamped Egyptian theology, Tut and his family refused to give up worshiping the old gods. They were pursued into the desert and killed. Tut tried to save his family, but was mortally wounded and thrown into a crevasse while in the shape of a desert cat.
Tut barely survived. His soul refused to let go of his body, but he spent centuries in a haze of pain.
(to be continued)
Oh. They came back. Okay. Weird.
what? Alice is back? Well, that was fast.
18- You could do it yourself. Here’s a link that Lizzie posted on the first thread, complete with spaces:
www. springhole. net / quizzes/ marysue.htm
It asks you questions like, “Is this a name that you really really love?” so it’s probably best that you do it yourself.
21- *drumroll*
23- It was?
Name: John Smithsonian
Age: 39
Empowered name: Oldseeker
Power: The ability to sense hidden things, and startling, accurate, visions.
Occupation: Archaeologist
History: His childhood was almost completely ordinary, except for his interest in old and buried items and, when he was a teenager, his seizures. These, unbeknownst to his family, were actually his visions taking over for a few minutes, but eventually he grew out of them. He got an Archeology degree and went to Egypt several times. On his fifth or sixth trip, he found a crumbling scroll, bearing a strange prophecy, of which he seemed to be part. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the scroll was dated at [insert very large number here, preferably one that corresponds roughly with Tutankhbastet’s birth], he would never have believed it. As it was he still wasn’t quite sure whether or not to believe it, or take it seriously, but when he started receiving letters from other members of the prophecy, he thought it definitely worth a short jaunt to Dallas. Which was then blown up. And for John S., like John D., that was the final straw. All remnants of doubt were washed away by the time New York was inverted.
okay. I think I sort of know what we’re doing and sort of have a clue what’s going on. I’ll pick the rest up as we go. What would really help is if someone could tell me who is switched to what sort of good or evil ness. I have no clue when I left maybe the begining of part two?
Shall I give Merle a background?
Name: Merle Linwood
Age: 20
Description: Merle is a college student who helps earn her way through college (her family isn’t dirt poor but she definately needs her job to help her out) by working at a junk shop near campus. Things in said shop seem to whisper to her in a way she does not understand and this creeps her out a bit. She has a way with the wind and has the ability tell the wind to help her fly. She uses the wind to speak to birds as well. She does not speak of these abilities to anyone since she learned that it was not normal to do these things. She has her own personality which is a bright and cheerful and floaty, flowy one but it is often dampered by deep doubts she has. She feels she does not actually have herself only this odd person who can float on wind and speak through birds. She is trying to have a life that is a little more usual, only she does wish to fight the evil one as she can’t abide hateful creatures. She just wants everything to be peaceful and to have an ordinary life where she wouldn’t have to use her powers.
Good! It seems very Merle-ish, and evokes all kinds of cool pictures that I would certainly draw if I was any good at it.
Tutankhbastet is still evil, and Luna was evil for a while, but I switched her back. No one else is evil.
How many characters have been edited? I have trouble keeping track of all the characters.
EDITED
Umina Kadee (Gwen)
Luna (Pan)
Merle Linwood (e~a/widdershins)
Lsyor (Shadowkat)
John Doe (no one and everyone) (previously E2MB)
John Smithsonian (Pelle)
Hanjjvar (Stormy) (new nickname)
Miriam (Cinnamoon)
Rhoda (me)
NOT YET EDITED
Rubea (Traggle)
Hedge (Hedge)
Tutankhbastet’s background is in progress.
25-Thanks, Alice. I just realized that I never gave John S. a physical description. I’ll have to work on that…
We should put addresses at the top of our letters, or something like that. It’ll just make it less confusing if we all know where we are.
Should I edit Hedge? If the MB Hedge isn’t going to return for long enough to hear that his character needs editing, then someone else will have to edit him. But at any rate, we can wait a while longer.
I’m making a Word document dedicated to plot-holes, ideas to fix them, and character profiles.
Um… while reading Lsyor’s bio, I noticed something. Shadowkat writes:
She became involved with this battle because, after having a dream in which she was trying to save Tut from a terrible prison, she decided to go to Earth and find Tut, as if nothing had happened.
But in the story, she was writing letters to him as if nothing had ever happened. These can easily fit together, though, if Shadowkat would care to edit it so.
The Evil One visited Tut in his fevered dreams, tormenting and tantalizing him until everything he had ever believed in was called into question.
Nobody is entirely sure what happened next, but I believe that the Evil One had seen that while Tut was naturally good, he also had a great capacity for evil. Some of the Evil One’s psyche actually seeped into Tut’s, making his wicked side grow stronger and weakening his virtue.
A furious mental battle ensued. Tut’s good side finally became dormant in order to survive at all, leaving him completely devoted to the Evil One.
His spirit rose out of the crevasse in about 100 AD. He traveled to Scandinavia and spent quite a few centuries there, hence the name “Freya’s Steed.” He went there partly to learn dark arts from certain Corrupt Empowered, but also partly because of two prophecies. One, that the battle for Earth would take place on a great continent to the west, and two, that Norsemen would be the first to discover it.
He traveled in spirit form above ships, following the westward voyages of the Vikings. He spent time in Iceland and Greenland, but when Leif Erikson finally landed in Newfoundland, he knew that he’d found the right place.
He hung around in what would become east Canada and New England, occasionally traveling in service to his Master. As his spirit would have eventually drifted to the Otherworld, he possessed the bodies of various felines, increasing their size, ferocity and lifespan. Most legends of huge, vicious cats are actually based on sightings of Tutankhbastet.
(to be continued)
Here it is, everyone! Brace yourselves; it’s a doozy… the before and after profiles of Rubea Hawken!
Name: Rubea Hawken
Age: 15
Description:An absolutely gorgeous goth-atheist misunderstood genius with a quick temper. She lives in England (it was never specified precisely where) with her boyfriend. She can speak seven different languages, is a master at various fighting arts (including archery- what use archery has against modern weapons, I have no clue). When she first got the letters, she kinda went with it. Her boyfriend turned out to be a double agent, and was killed in Dallas. Even so, she is motivated by revenge against Tut. Her powers include affecting people by touch (ZZZZAP!) and healing, which I think sounds a bit contradictory. Birds of prey love her, and are attracted to her. She has considerable skill with them.
Bleh. I almost hurled at the cliched-ness in there. I think I may have some fixer-uppers, though. Traggle, you gotta give me feedback after.
Name: Rubea Hawken
Age: 15
Description: Lives in an unattentive foster home in Bath. She is able to sneek out for days on end without being noticed. Her mother (much like Umina probably will) gave her up because she was the child of a shaming affair. She speaks only English. She smokes, is an atheist (“if there’s a God, He would have given me iron lungs to use His creation of tobacco”), and is of slightly higher intelligence than the average bear. She is very quick-tempered. Looks-wise, she wears lots of black makeup and black clothes. Very baggy jeans, skimpy shirts. Short red hair, blue eyes, a rather timid face if all the cosmetics were taken away. She is somewhat lazy, as she regularly skips school. Rubea is not exactly a warrior, but she knows how to throw a punch. Peregrines and other birds have a tendency to follow her; this gives her the creeps, but she is a bit fond of it. People have often said she has a very painful grip, even if she’s not touching them that hard. I think the healing thing should be omitted. That just seems like to much. Besides, if Soulsinger is so powerful, she could do it herself. Rubea at first thought the letters were dumb jokes, and used them as an excuse for the jaunt to Dallas. After that, though, she took things seriously.
Okay, not much better, but I think it’s an improvement. Still gotts work out the source of income for everyone. Grr.
7- Good!
The good thing about being a mystical cat spirit is that you don’t have to pay attention to little details like airplane fare.
32- I wouldn’t like that much if it was my character, but then, I’m not one for goth characters anyway. It’s the smoking that would get me, though.
33- Good!
34- Yeah.
Money is the root of all plot-holes.
35-Yeah, money is the root of all plot-holes. I’m assuming John S. has enough money to handle plane-fare, so that’s not a problem for me. Not a big one anyway…
If you don’t think the smoking should be there, I can take it out. Doesn’t matter, either way. Just makes her less Sue-ish. Or so I thought…
36-lol. “Money is the root of all plot holes”.
Tut was eventually sent to X, where he met Lsyor. Over time, they became good friends, and Tut’s affection for her began reawakening his good side, which resurfaced as unsettling doubts. When ordered to kill one of Lsyor’s friends, he refused.
The Evil One punished him by taking away his shape-shifting power and imprisoning his spirit in a purrelys*. Then he was taken to his master’s headquarters on the first world to be corrupted, and tortured to remove any vestiges of disloyalty. After fifty hours of psychological and physical torment, he was sent back to Earth to recuperate. He found that several Empowered had been born in his short absence. Taking this enormous rise in Empowered birthrates as a sign that the battle for Earth was near, he formulated a plan. He would pretend to be a wise mentor to the young men and women who would play a pivotal role in the war, but all along be working for his master.
The first Empowered he deceived was a gullible sort named Luckmessenger, aka Bob, who was able to make sure that letters reached their destinations despite obstacles. Tut thought that this would be useful in allowing the Empowered to communicate and unite, the better for him to destroy them in a single swoop.
However, Bob found out about his friend’s true motives. He was on his way to the White House to warn “Nightwarrior” when Tut ordered the Corrupt Empowered to find and kill him. Foxfire was the first to discover him, and barbecued him on a DC street.
Luckmessenger’s spirit was damaged by Foxfire’s flame, and became unable to speak and impossible to sense, but it hung around America, the Otherworld and the Moon, making sure that the Empowered could communicate through letters at least.
*a small subspecies of Smilodon that Empowered introduced to X from Earth during the Pleistocene era. It evolved over time, adapting to the conditions on X, until it attained its current form: a large, sleek wildcat with vicious claws and teeth and black fur. It is born entirely golden-furred, and matures very slowly. At the stage in its life which Tut’s body has reached, it appears to be a young Felis domesticus with completely black fur except for a golden stripe down its back.
Howzat? Explains Tut’s form, his friendship with Lsyor, his titles, and as a bonus, how the Empowered are able to send letters to each other.
Although we will have to change Tut’s age.
Good good good. I like it, very much, though we’ll need to explain it in the story.
41- Why? I don’t get it.
can i maybe do my own edit or are you doing em all? well, i think that if john doe isnt empowered, he should tie into another of our storylines when his thoughts are revealed or something
very good explanation tut!
32- Egads. Gwen, no offense, but I had to edit your edits.
Name: Rubea Hawken
Age: 15
Description: Lives in Dublin with parents who are extremely busy with their jobs. She is able to sneak out for days on end without being noticed. She speaks only English. She smokes, is an atheist (“if there’s a God, He would have given me iron lungs to use His creation of tobacco”), and is of slightly higher intelligence than the average student. She is very quick-tempered. Looks-wise, she wears lots of black makeup and black clothes. Very baggy jeans, skimpy shirts. Short red hair, blue eyes, a rather timid face if all the cosmetics were taken away. She is somewhat lazy, as she regularly skips school. Rubea is not exactly a warrior, but she knows how to throw a punch, and has some skill in archery. She works in a local restaurant/pub, so she had money for an airplane fare. Her job is also where she met her boyfriend. Rubea at first thought the letters were dumb jokes, and used them as an excuse for the jaunt to Dallas. After that, though, she took things seriously, and, since Tut had killed her boyfriend, she now wanted revenge.
Her powers: She can hurt or kill people, or she can heal them. HOWEVER, every time she uses her powers, she is weakened. She can become extremely weakened the more difficult the task is(killing someone).
Okay, now I would like to know: which edit is better? Gwen’s, or mine?(Only people involved in this story should vote)
30-I said, “as if nothing had happened”. It was almost in hopes of having her dream not be true, that she decided to go and check things out, see how he was, and “forget about” the dream. It’s a complicated mix of emotions. In her letters, she was trying to get information out of him, to see what was up.
45-I prefer yours.
Well, Luna and Tut can travel without means of regular transportation – I guess we just “fly” there or something. But maybe we can help transport.
But yes, money is still driving me nuts. Nobody’s so incredibly rich so they could pay for all this stuff…
Are we going to work this out with only Earth stuff, or are we going to add some sort of magical thing to it?
43- Please do! I thought that maybe I should edit it if you weren’t going to be back for years, but here you are!
Waivers, people, WAIVERS! If she’s fifteen, then her parents have to sign a WAIVER! I know, I hasn’t worked that out with Rhoda, and I need to.
45- Fine by me. It’s not terribly different. But I don’t think fifteen-year-olds are allowed to work in pubs.
I have no opinion on either of them.
46- Okay.
48- Well, Luckmessenger deals with the letters, so we don’t have that problem anymore. I think we’ll just see what turns up, and maybe add some magic stuff where needed.
42- Because it says at the beginning that he’s 6000 years old, when in reality…
Akhenaten began ruling in 1353 BC. He introduced Atenism in 1357. We’ll add a couple of years to that and make the time Tut and his family were pursued 1360 BC. He would have to be around twenty or so at that time (I know Ancient Egyptians got married early, but he had kids.) So he was born in 1340 BC. The story takes place in 2015.
Thus, Tut is only about 3,355 years old.
45- No offense taken at all, traggle. I’m always open to criticism and such. Yours sounds tidier, anyway. And they’re really not all that different. I thought the smoking thing was a good, light explanation for her atheism, without having to delve into it too deeply.
It should be kind of a seedy restaurant. One that doesn’t care that she skips school. Most restaurants would fire you for that. And the pay has to be okay if she can afford a plane ticket to Dallas. A little sketchy, but I think it works.
We could say that when she was younger, her parents felt a little guilty about not being around much, and bought archery lessons for her because she had expressed interest in it the few times they were around. Yeah, that sounds good.
Rubea is an only child, I’m assuming.
Should we just kill the part about her being good with birds of prey? It’s never really played a part in the story, so it wouldn’t really matter.
I’ve decided to scratch the bit about Umina having an alcohol problem. She could have got intervention from her worried mother when she was younger, but it takes years to overcome something like that. Her dad had an alcohol problem, and that’s often hereditary, but for the sake of consistency and being realistic, let’s just say she didn’t inherit that.
Hedge! Welcome back! I know we’ve never spoken, but reading the past Empowered threads means that I know precisely who you are. We’re doing some editing of our characters and the story for plot-holes.
I’m going to be putting Umina’s profile up in a bit. So few people were at the other thread, and now there’s loads of activity here. I want everyone to critique her. I’ve put her through various Mary-Sue litmus tests, but there’s nothing that can do wonders quite like real feedback from actual people.
Name: Umina Kadee
Age: 19
Occupation: Assistant at the children’s clothing store Taylor’s Closet, located in London.
Marital Status: No spouse, but she is about four months pregnant with a baby boy. The father is a man she met one night at a club on a trip to Australia, and is unknown due to the fact he did not give his name or any form of identification (perhaps we shall meet him later?). Umina will not go in for an abortion, but has every intent of giving the child up for adoption.
Living Quarters: An apartment in London with her mother (divorced from her father, due to an alcohol problem he refused to do anything about), where she has lived since her parents’ annulment six years ago. She is an only child, and her mother has a job as a lawyer’s secretary.
Mental State: Unhappiness- all her friends drifted away after she became depressed from her parents’ divorce. She has since recovered, but remains unsatisfied with life. Her mother houses her now only out of concern for the baby. She had been threatening to kick out Umina for quite awhile until the pregnancy was discovered. Umina’s only real friend is her cousin, Bertana, who lives in Australia. Bertana is Umina’s correspondent. Bertana is a curious girl who is a few years younger than Umina. She is majoring in mythology at the University of Sydney. She finds Umina’s episodes very interesting, and is somewhat attached to her, despite her melancholy demeanor.
Ancestry: Australian Aboriginal. She doesn’t really care about that either way. Neither does her mother, who gave her a traditional name only on her (also Aboriginal) former husband’s wishes. Parents moved to England when she was a small child, hoping to find good jobs.
Proposed Power: The ability to hear the thoughts of small children (infancy-eight years old) coherently, and to see the dreams and nightmares of others- and make them realities, in some cases. She only knows of the kid-power, though. It aids her in her job, but she has told nobody but Bertana. Umina herself is really not terribly fond of children, but children love her instinctively.
Appearance: Dark skin, shoulder-length black hair, tawny eyes, and an ordinary face on the whole. Slightly on the tall side, and of course rather big around the middle owing to the pregnancy.
Correspondence letter (I’m not going to bother with British spelling- I’ll edit if she makes the story cut, maybe):
To: bertanak@sydney.co.au
From: uminak@london.co.uk
Subject: Bleh
Hey. How are things over at your end? I’m doing as well as I normally do. Hope you got moved in to your new dorm room at the university all right.
On a bit of a more serious note, did you hear about what’s been going on in America? Of course you have. What a stupid question to ask. It’s awful, though. First an entire city gets wiped out by a neutron bomb, and then that inexplicable bit with New York? I mean, at first I was all, “terrorists, really bold ones”, but that thing with NYC isn’t in the style that you see in most terrorist attacks today. And it seems physically impossible. I mean, what was up with that wall or weird fire? Then the entire city goes underground? I dunno. Crazy stuff out there. I hope they don’t come here to London. I’d have no job (as if that would be the most of my worries…). I really hope they don’t come to Sydney, though. Then you’d be dead, and I’d have nobody to talk to except for this baby.
It happened again. I’d swear I was going mad if I wasn’t already. This time I heard this little voice that said, “hungry…hungry…biscuits….”. So I popped open a tin of chocolate chip ones. I was pretty hungry, anyways. I’m not even going to question it. Stuff like that happens all the time at work, and I didn’t start hearing the voices until I started working there. Wretched little high-pitched ones, you know… really annoying. It’s probably just stress. I don’t have money to see a shrink, anyway.
No luck on finding someone who wants to adopt, still. Weird. You sure you still don’t want it? jk.
Well, write back soon. I need someone to keep me from killing my mother.
-Umina
There! I would love feedback. I want Umina to be the best character she can be.
Very nice. I already critiqued, so I won’t do it again.
51- Oh, okay. I never read the history textbook.
Rubea, if she is a smoker, definitely needs to have packs of cigarettes with her for the first bit of the journey, but when she gets on the moon and such, be sorta cantankerous because she doesn’t have her usual supply of nicotine. Mild withdrawal.
55-Lol…I like it.
Okay, I’m thinking John S. has black hair, is maybe, six feet, has green eyes, and a scar on his wrist from when he accidentally cut himself when he was, oh, 15 or so, while he was making toast. Bit of a wrong time to have a vision, really… He missed the toast and hit his wrist instead. I’ve got the money problem solved. One of his powers is “knowledge of buried and hidden things”, and I’m thinking he found buried treasure in his yard. Kinda corny, really, but it works.
57- Sounds good. But I’m not too sure about the buried treasure in his backyard. He could have found it somewhere else.
58-Yeah. It doesn’t have to be in huis yard. I just said that for simplicity.
Can we start writing letters again? I promise not to kill Miriam spontanesly? Or spontainesly? Or however you spell it?
Shadowkat drew a picture of Lsyor.
60- I guess, seeing as this editing business is slowing down extremely. And it’s spontaneously.
61- Wow . . . it’s not how I imagined her. She has scary eyes.
61 – Ooh! Spiffy!
I don’t really know how I imagined her – I did see her with blue eyes, but I must say those are definitely not what I had pictured in my head…
Has everyone edited their characters? Alice, list-keeper – do we haveth anothereth listeth?
63- Was that a mangled attempt at Elizabethan, or just for fun?
Yes, we have a list somewhere. It needs a brief update, and stuff, but I can post it in a few minutes. Seeing as I haven’t any HW. ( )
Or wait–what kind of list? List of people and their powers and stuff; lists of bios; what?
I’ll just post all the bios I have.
I transferred Shadkat’s picture of Lsyor into the document too, which is cool. I didn’t even know I could do that.
Here:
LUNA (Purple Panda)
Name: Luna
Empowered Name: Moonchild.
Powers: The ability to sense other Empowered, and to use their own power against them.
Age: 14
Looks: Thin, especially bony arms, legs, and hands. Long dark-brown hair, which is very straight and always perfectly brushed and such, even though she never brushes it. She has bright blue eyes, almost piercing crystal, and very pale skin. She has a strange aura around her – when you get close to her, you almost feel like you’ve walked into a cool mist. She is always wearing a long-sleeved black shirt and an ankle-length red cotton skirt.
Luna’s Past: Luna is a ghost. She grew up on a small dairy farm with her mother, father, and twin brother. They lived a “happy life,” with everything they ever wanted and needed right there on their farm. They were very old-fashioned, (or, maybe they were just right for their time period – Luna died long before 2017), and they had a very organized family life. Her father and brother took care of the farm, and she and her mother worked inside – cooking, sewing, etc. Luna always wanted to help her father and brother, though, because she loved all the animals. She often got bored of sewing, and her mother always scolded her when she got hardly anything done in several hours. Luna was very close with her brother, Dal. (“Luna” means Moon in Latin, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Russian, and Bulgarian. “Dal” means Moon in Korean. Maybe Luna’s parents knew something about their powers with the moon? Maybe Luna will find Dal someday, and he’ll join the “Quest”). One day, Luna and Dal were playing by a big river near their house. It had a very strong current, and a waterfall at the end (but they didn’t know about the waterfall). They dipped their feet in, and were contemplating going swimming. They were going to go in at the count of 3, but neither of them did. So Luna pushed Dal into the river, for fun. The current immediately took Dal into the center of the river, and was forcing him under. Luna realized what she had done, and jumped in (foolishly) to go save him. The current took them both, hand-in-hand, down the river. When they approached the waterfall, they started to panic. They were holding hands tightly, and Dal managed to grab onto a big rock in the river. He had a pretty strong grip on the rock, and was holding Luna against the current as well. He couldn’t hold her for long, though – he started losing his grip on both Luna and the rock. Luna knew that if he kept holding onto her, they would both die, so she let go, letting herself go over the waterfall, and Dal safely at the rock. So, yeah, she died to save him… (That might be too dramatic, but I couldn’t really think of another way for her to die, logically. But their connection might help Luna later in the “battle,” and it also gave a reason for Luna to become a ghost).
So, Luna died, and was in some in-between zone for a long time (who knows how long), until she finally became a ghost. (This process took a long time). She went back to her house to find her family, but the house was empty and looking very run-down. She looked all over for signs of her family, but she couldn’t find them. So she became a very dreary ghost for a long time, and just sort of floated in and out of life and death for decades, until she received some strange letter from a cat…and you know the story from there.
Luna decided to join this quest partly because she didn’t have anything else to do, and wanted to help, instead of being a miserable ghost, and also, because Tutankhbastet called her “Moonchild.” The only reason she became a ghost is because of her brother – she was so connected to him for some reason, and came back to life to make sure he was okay, etc. She knew his name meant “Moon” just like hers, so maybe if she joined in on this journey she would find him along the way. When they have found each other again, they’ll both die or something. But I’m not sure.
UMINA (Gwendolyn Of The Eastern Seas)
Name: Umina Kadee
Empowered Name: Childlistener.
Powers: The ability to hear the thoughts of small children (infancy-eight years old) coherently, and to see the dreams and nightmares of others- and make them realities, in some cases. She only knows of the kid-power, though. It aids her in her job, but she has told nobody but Bertana. Umina herself is really not terribly fond of children, but children love her instinctively.
Age: 19
Occupation: Cashier at the children’s clothing store Taylor’s Closet, located in London.
Marital Status: No spouse, but she is about four months pregnant with a baby boy. The father is a man she met one night at a club on a trip to Australia, and is unknown due to the fact he did not give his name or any form of identification (perhaps we shall meet him later?). Umina will not go in for an abortion, but has every intention of giving the child up for adoption.
Living Quarters: An apartment in London with her mother (divorced from her father), where she has lived since her parents’ annulment five years ago. She is an only child, and her mother has a job as a lawyer’s secretary.
Mental State: Unhappiness- all her friends drifted away after she became depressed from her parents’ divorce. She has since recovered, but remains unsatisfied with life. Her mother houses her now only out of concern for the baby. She had been threatening to kick out Umina for quite awhile until the pregnancy was discovered. Umina’s only real friend is her cousin, Bertana, who lives in Australia. Bertana is Umina’s correspondent. Bertana is a curious girl who is a few years younger than Umina. She is majoring in mythology at the University of Sydney. She finds Umina’s episodes very interesting, and is somewhat attached to her, despite her melancholy demeanor.
Ancestry: Australian Aboriginal. She doesn’t really care about that either way. Neither does her mother, who gave her a traditional name only on her (also Aboriginal) former husband’s wishes. Parents moved to England when she was a small child, hoping to find good jobs.
Appearance: Dark skin, shoulder-length black hair, tawny eyes, and an ordinary face on the whole. Slightly on the tall side, and of course rather big around the middle owing to the pregnancy.
RHODA (Alice)
Name: Rhoda Ann Gregory
Empowered name: Elderseventh
Power: “Switching,†or making things the opposite of what they are.
Age: 14
Looks: Dark brown hair in two braids, heart-shaped face, pale skin that burns easily, freckles, and hazel eyes.
Everything else: She lives with her mother, father, and six younger siblings, Jack, Great, Molly, Roger, Peter, and Ellen, in a very small, cramped, old house on the very, very, outskirts of the suburbs of a medium-sized British town (goodness knows which one, though; I can’t even remember how I ended up in Britain). Her family has lived in the house for hundreds of years.
Because of the children, she has a very great sense of responsibility, and you could say she’s more adult than most fourteen-year-olds. She also has a greater longing for privacy than most teenagers, and years of sitting on the roof has led to a love of high places, though she always prefers trees. She is rather unpopular at school, maybe because she’s too old-fashioned, maybe because she never has time to hang out with other kids after school or even on weekends, and she’s struggling to hard in school to hang out during school, or maybe simply because she’s a solitary person. But she does want company, and at age ten she found a pen-pal, a mysterious, poetic girl named Luna. Because she was only ten, and because she had been prevented from disbelieving magic for two years already, she was not especially surprised when Luna revealed herself to be a ghost.
Ah, about the magic. When she was eight years old, she overheard her parents discussing a n old family prophecy, and, being eight, she drank in every word and believed it. By the time she was of an age to doubt it, she had a correspondent who was a ghost, and magic was pretty ingrained in her. So she never did doubt it. She managed to be incredibly thick, however, when it came to letters addressed to someone named “Elderseventh.”
In the end she snapped, partly because of necessity and partly because of fourteen years of being the oldest and therefore responsible for the other children, and she ran away. It was not, as we are led to believe, completely related to the prophecy.
She is not willing to die for anyone, except, perhaps, her younger siblings, whatever it may seem like. She’s not willing to sacrifice herself for the fate Eight Worlds, either, and now she’s experienced her soul shattering, she’s even more likely to try to avoid circumstances where it could happen again.
MIRIAM (Cinnamon Moon)
Name: Miriam.
Empowered name: Soulsinger.
Power: Healing or destroying with a song. She can also get inside someone’s mind with a song.
Age: 13
Looks: ?
Background: She was a Jewish slave in Egypt, but was transported to the otherworld and so became stuck in time. When she received Merle’s letters, she began to realize that she could do something, and tried to help. But however she tried to make herself feel important, she never felt useful at all, and began to slowly build up hate and resentment inside. She has so far managed to control it, but it may get the better of her soon. She has managed it so far with singing, her power, which can help her. This is how she healed Rhoda’s soul.
She was very, very attached to her brother, and thought he was the best person in the world. Soon before she disappeared, she caught a disease that left her alive, but blinded. Her brother stayed with her throughout her sickness, but after she recovered, he caught it as well. One night he was at death’s door, and she wandered off by herself, sure he was going to die. She walked into a cave, where there were strange bursts of light, but she couldn’t see them, so she was not careful. Suddenly there was a loud bang, and she found herself in the other world. Not accepting that her brother might be dead and would never receive her letters anyway, she wrote to him. When Merle sent a talking bird to her, she gladly accepted the help to get out of her prison.
LSYOR (Shadowkat)
Name: Lsyor (last name unknown)
Age: 17
Power: Ability to read others’ moods by viewing their auras. Possesses a Mirror through which she can travel to any place she’s seen, even if only in a picture.
Empowered Name: Visiaura
Appearance: Human, except for the fact that her eyes are large, dark, and purple with silver flecks, and her hair is made of some kind of metal fiber, thin, but durable. It, too, is silver. Her nails follow suit. Also, her ears are slightly pointed. In other words, she somewhat resembles a pixie. As I said, though, she’s basically human. Fair skin, about 5’5″, slim, but athletic, build.
Bio: Lsyor was found, apparently abandoned in the woods, by the King of Planet X, the 13th planet in our solar system. She was raised as the First Maid to the Princess of X, and became almost like another daughter to the King and Queen. At one point in her childhood, when she was 5 years old, she met a young man named Tutankhbastet, who, so he said, was from the 3rd planet, Earth. Tut, as he came to be called, was a traveling bard/raconteur, and he switched planets each month, bringing with him new tales to tell and new songs to sing. Lsyor became infatuated with this young man, and she looked on him as something almost like a cousin. At one point, though, Lsyor received a letter from Tut, stating that he would not see her that month, or, possibly, the one after that. He was sorry, but something had come up. She wrote back saying that she forgave him, and hoped to see him soon (by this time, she was 9). 7 months passed, and she still had not heard from him, so she sent him a letter, asking him where she was. He replied in a letter that she has kept ever since she got it, in a bag on a silver chain that she wears around her neck (it is a gift from him that he gave her when she was 7). The letter said, simply: “Lsyor, I am sorry, but I do not think I will see you for quite some time. Possibly never again. I truly am sorry. Ever Your Humble Servant, Tut”. Why she has cherished this letter, Lsyor has never been sure, but, even so, she does. For the 8 years after she had received that letter, Lsyor has had a fairly uneventful existence…until now. She became involved with this battle because, after having a dream in which she was trying to save Tut from a terrible prison, she decided to go to Earth and find Tut, as if nothing had happened. And you know the rest. More later.
JOHN DOE (Everyone and no one; formerly E2MB)
Name: John Doe (he has another one, but this is the one he goes by)
Age: Mid-to-late 40s.
Occupation: Secret Service Agent
Past: Twenty years before our story opens, John Doe was in a car wreck. Though his body remained relatively unscathed, he suffered from amnesia. He was never identified and his memory never returned. Eventually he made a new name and a new life for himself, but underneath there was always that powerful longing and curiosity to know who he once had been. Somehow this led to a love of RPGs, because any one of the intricate pasts he created for himself could be true, for all he knew. When he received a mysterious letter that said he was a magically gifted person named Nightwarrior, he decided to play along with it. He didn’t believe it; it was just another RPG, but it spoke to him nonetheless. As it got more and more climactic, he found himself believing it more and more, whether by some subtle work of Tutankhbastet or by pure weakness of nature we will never know. When Dallas was blown up, it was the final straw, and even his job ceased to matter to John Doe.
Despite Tutankhbastet’s surety, John Doe is not Nightwarrior. Nightwarrior was on the first world to fall, and he died without ever knowing that he was Empowered. John Doe shares many of his traits, enough to fool Tutankhbastet as well as himself, but he is nothing more than an ordinary, albeit gifted, civilian.
I think it would be a nice touch to knock John Doe on the head again, and all his memories will come rushing back, and he’ll be too incapacitated by this to do anything, but he won’t die. We’ll learn later that he’s not Nightwarrior.
HANJJVAR (Stormwatcher)
Name: Hanjjvar
Age: 16
Empowered name: Earthspeaker
Powers: Can speak with animals, can make golems out of clay.
Past: Hanjjvar was a demon hunter in an alternate universe for most of his life. He had a pet raven named Scliifar, and was the apprentice of an Empowered named Rancarl (his Empowered name was Stormwatcher). Hanjjvar knew he was an Empowered, but he did not know his power to make golems, as Rancarl was going to tell him that on his eighteenth birthday, when his apprenticeship ended. However, in a battle with a Corrupt Empowered named Warp, a spell malfunctioned and Hanjjvar was sent to New York in this world. Rancarl was killed by the malfunctioning spell, but not before he had killed Warp. Hanjjvar, for some inexplicable reason, thinks that Tutankhbastet killed Rancarl.
When Hanjjvar reached this world, he became a thief. Eventually he met Hedge, and this forged a fragile link between the majority of the Empowered and Hanjjvar.
He wrote one or two letters to his friend Ziilat, a nixie from his world, who lives by the Grand Canal in Venice, but soon after he started writing to the other Empowered.
His raven died in the New York episode.
JOHN SMITHSONIAN (Stormwatcher)
Name: John Smithsonian
Age: 39
Empowered name: Oldseeker
Power: The ability to sense hidden things, and startling, accurate, visions.
Occupation: Archaeologist
Looks: Black hair, is maybe, six feet, has green eyes, and a scar on his wrist from when he accidentally cut himself when he was, oh, 15 or so, while he was making toast. Bit of a wrong time to have a vision, really… He missed the toast and hit his wrist instead.
History: His childhood was almost completely ordinary, except for his interest in old and buried items and, when he was a teenager, his seizures. These, unbeknownst to his family, were actually his visions taking over for a few minutes, but eventually he grew out of them. He got an Archeology degree and went to Egypt several times. On his fifth or sixth trip, he found a crumbling scroll, bearing a strange prophecy, of which he seemed to be part. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the scroll was dated at [insert very large number here, preferably one that corresponds roughly with Tutankhbastet’s birth], he would never have believed it. As it was he still wasn’t quite sure whether or not to believe it, or take it seriously, but when he started receiving letters from other members of the prophecy, he thought it definitely worth a short jaunt to Dallas. Which was then blown up. And for John S., like John D., that was the final straw. All remnants of doubt were washed away by the time New York was inverted.
MERLE LINWOOD (e~a/widdershins)
Name: Merle Linwood
Age: 20
Empowered name: Windwalker
Powers: Flying, talking to birds
Description: Merle is a college student who helps earn her way through college (her family isn’t dirt poor but she definitely needs her job to help her out) by working at a junk shop near campus. Things in said shop seem to whisper to her in a way she does not understand and this creeps her out a bit. She has a way with the wind and has the ability tell the wind to help her fly. She uses the wind to speak to birds as well. She does not speak of these abilities to anyone since she learned that it was not normal to do these things. She has her own personality which is a bright and cheerful and floaty, flowy one but it is often dampered by deep doubts she has. She feels she does not actually have herself only this odd person who can float on wind and speak through birds. She is trying to have a life that is a little more usual, only she does wish to fight the evil one as she can’t abide hateful creatures. She just wants everything to be peaceful and to have an ordinary life where she wouldn’t have to use her powers.
RUBEA HAWKEN (Traggle)
Name: Rubea Hawken
Age: 15
Powers: She can hurt or kill people, or she can heal them. HOWEVER, every time she uses her powers, she is weakened. She can become extremely weakened the more difficult the task is (killing someone).
Empowered name: Jewelhawk
Description: Lives in Dublin with parents who are extremely busy with their jobs. She is able to sneak out for days on end without being noticed. She speaks only English. She smokes, is an atheist (“if there’s a God, He would have given me iron lungs to use His creation of tobacco”), and is of slightly higher intelligence than the average student. She is very quick-tempered. Looks-wise, she wears lots of black makeup and black clothes. Very baggy jeans, skimpy shirts. Short red hair, blue eyes, a rather timid face if all the cosmetics were taken away. She is somewhat lazy, as she regularly skips school. Rubea is not exactly a warrior, but she knows how to throw a punch, and has some skill in archery. She works in a local restaurant/pub, so she had money for an airplane fare. Her job is also where she met her boyfriend. Rubea at first thought the letters were dumb jokes, and used them as an excuse for the jaunt to Dallas. After that, though, she took things seriously, and, since Tut had killed her boyfriend, she now wanted revenge. It should be kind of a seedy restaurant. One that doesn’t care that she skips school. Most restaurants would fire you for that. And the pay has to be okay if she can afford a plane ticket to Dallas. A little sketchy, but I think it works.
We could say that when she was younger, her parents felt a little guilty about not being around much, and bought archery lessons for her because she had expressed interest in it the few times they were around. Rubea, if she is a smoker, definitely needs to have packs of cigarettes with her for the first bit of the journey, but when she gets on the moon and such, be sorta cantankerous because she doesn’t have her usual supply of nicotine. Mild withdrawal.
TUTANKHBASTET (Prarilius Canix)
Tutankhbastet lived during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. His original ability was that of a shape-shifter. When Akhenaten became pharaoh and revamped Egyptian theology, Tut and his family refused to give up worshiping the old gods. They were pursued into the desert and killed. Tut tried to save his family, but was mortally wounded and thrown into a crevasse while in the shape of a desert cat.
Tut barely survived. His soul refused to let go of his body, but he spent centuries in a haze of pain.
The Evil One visited Tut in his fevered dreams, tormenting and tantalizing him until everything he had ever believed in was called into question.
Nobody is entirely sure what happened next, but I believe that the Evil One had seen that while Tut was naturally good, he also had a great capacity for evil. Some of the Evil One’s psyche actually seeped into Tut’s, making his wicked side grow stronger and weakening his virtue.
A furious mental battle ensued. Tut’s good side finally became dormant in order to survive at all, leaving him completely devoted to the Evil One.
His spirit rose out of the crevasse in about 100 AD. He traveled to Scandinavia and spent quite a few centuries there, hence the name “Freya’s Steed.” He went there partly to learn dark arts from certain Corrupt Empowered, but also partly because of two prophecies. One, that the battle for Earth would take place on a great continent to the west, and two, that Norsemen would be the first to discover it.
He traveled in spirit form above ships, following the westward voyages of the Vikings. He spent time in Iceland and Greenland, but when Leif Erikson finally landed in Newfoundland, he knew that he’d found the right place.
He hung around in what would become east Canada and New England, occasionally traveling in service to his Master. As his spirit would have eventually drifted to the Otherworld, he possessed the bodies of various felines, increasing their size, ferocity and lifespan. Most legends of huge, vicious cats are actually based on sightings of Tutankhbastet.
Tut was eventually sent to X, where he met Lsyor. Over time, they became good friends, and Tut’s affection for her began reawakening his good side, which resurfaced as unsettling doubts. When ordered to kill one of Lsyor’s friends, he refused.
The Evil One punished him by taking away his shape-shifting power and imprisoning his spirit in a purrelys*. Then he was taken to his master’s headquarters on the first world to be corrupted, and tortured to remove any vestiges of disloyalty. After fifty hours of psychological and physical torment, he was sent back to Earth to recuperate. He found that several Empowered had been born in his short absence. Taking this enormous rise in Empowered birthrates as a sign that the battle for Earth was near, he formulated a plan. He would pretend to be a wise mentor to the young men and women who would play a pivotal role in the war, but all along be working for his master.
The first Empowered he deceived was a gullible sort named Luckmessenger, aka Bob, who was able to make sure that letters reached their destinations despite obstacles. Tut thought that this would be useful in allowing the Empowered to communicate and unite, the better for him to destroy them in a single swoop.
However, Bob found out about his friend’s true motives. He was on his way to the White House to warn “Nightwarrior” when Tut ordered the Corrupt Empowered to find and kill him. Foxfire was the first to discover him, and barbecued him on a DC street.
Luckmessenger’s spirit was damaged by Foxfire’s flame, and became unable to speak and impossible to sense, but it hung around America, the Otherworld and the Moon, making sure that the Empowered could communicate through letters at least.
*a small subspecies of Smilodon that Empowered introduced to X from Earth during the Pleistocene era. It evolved over time, adapting to the conditions on X, until it attained its current form: a large, sleek wildcat with vicious claws and teeth and black fur. It is born entirely golden-furred, and matures very slowly. At the stage in its life which Tut’s body has reached, it appears to be a young Felis domesticus with completely black fur except for a golden stripe down its back.
woah. this looks awesome. I especially enjoyed reading praillius canix’s description. Would it be possible for me to join in? How could I? Actually, could somebody clue me in as to what’s going on?
67- I think that more new characters at this time could confuse everyone, seeing as we just added Umina, but if you really want to join, we could either make room, or you could take over John Doe. But there is one thing you have to do:
Read all the threads. Yes, all four of them. From beginning to end. You may skip the whole story that was posted on the previous thread if you wish, but that’s all you get excused from. Then you may either take over John Doe, or create a new, non-Mary-Sue/Harry-Lou character. Then you may join, if we deem you fully initiated.
It’s really hard to join these when they’re in full swing, but if you prove your dedication, you may.
66-Alice, your post says JOHN SMITHSONIAN (STORMWATCHER). Stormwatcher is Hanjjvar, and don’t you forgret it.
“Appearance: Human, except for the fact that her eyes are large, dark, and purple with silver flecks, and her hair is made of some kind of metal fiber, thin, but durable. It, too, is silver. Her nails follow suit. Also, her ears are slightly pointed. In other words, she somewhat resembles a pixie. As I said, though, she’s basically human. Fair skin, about 5’5″, slim, but athletic, build.”
That’s my description of Lsyor. I forgot the silver flecks in her eyes (and they weren’t supposed to look quite so scary), but I tried to make her hair silver, but it wasn’t working out, so I added a bunch of deep brown…there is some silver, though, if you look closely enough.
61-Thank you, Rebecca!!!
62,63-I’m glad you like it! That’s pretty much her right after she found out about Tut and his evilness…I think you can probably imagine her happy…oh, if anyone wants any more illustrations, I’d be glad to do some (when I have time)!!!
Wow, thanks, Alice! That’s awesome!
Are all of our characters active right now? (except for John Doe)? Because I think we could probably start to continue writing, if we have everyone here.
Yup. I think we have everyone. Gwen hasn’t been on a terrible lot lately, and Traggle will be gone for a couple of days, but we can still continue with our part of the story until they come back.
If I could remember what was happening, that is.
Yes, yes, yes! Let’s start writing again! Who votes to start writing?
I do!
I think we were on the Moon, and Miriam was supposed to come fetch Luna and I, but instead she was writing notes to Hanjjvar. I think that maybe we should scratch those notes, since they don’t do much and they just get in the way.
So, onward. The document says that Miriam is indeed coming to fetch us.
Gwen, reporting for duty! I thought Traggle abandoned the blog?
Ooo! I vote writing! We need a way to introduce Umina logically… gah. I’m proud of everyone for editing so thoroughly on my suggestion *tear*. Such good kids…
75- No, she’s just taking a break. Perfectly good idea.
76- Yes we do. Maybe, um, maybe she gets one of the letters “To All Empowered.” If Luckmessenger is delivering the messages, maybe he senses that there is another Empowered, previously unnoticeable in the whirlwind of power surrounding England (now that Rubea, Rhoda, and Hedge are elsewhere, Umina is much more obvious, plus she’s been using her powers in her job a LOT, so the Veil is getting a little thin around her), and delivers the letters to her too.
Make any sense?
Or wait, did we move Hedge to the Black Forest? I like that idea. Who else votes Hedge goes to live in the Black Forest?
I need to think of somewhere for Rhoda to live. I can’t remember why she was in England, but she undeniably is, so we need to be a little more specific.
can we have another version of this? different story, plot, charters, same gennily idea (a.k.a. a story in letters from people and one person contors each carter?) I think this sounds fun, but It is to late to join this one.
79- Ooh! So you admit it, do ya?
78- Try Bath.
Isn’t that where Rubea is, though?
Rubea lives in Dublin…
Alright. Then I shall live in Bath. *goes off to figure out where Bath is* Isn’t it by the sea?
Close to it.If you can find Bristol, it’s in that area.
Sorry. I haven’t been on much. Been very busy, and lost computer capabilities on Sunday.
Yes, Bath sounds lovely.
85- Bristol! That sounds even more familiar than Bath.
I looked it up and found lovely pictures. I believe I shall like living in Bath. Well, on the outskirts. Not so much a suburb as a suburb of a suburb.
But close.
We should start writing again.
Yesh. Ok.
~~~
Dear Tut,
I know what you’re doing, and I wish you wouldn’t. Why would you want to destroy us? It won’t help anything, not even help you conquer the universe, or even the world. I don’t want to hurt you, but will if I have to. *insert teardrop on letter here* Please think about what you’re doing, Tut!
Yours No Matter What,
Lsyor
~~~
Sorry, but I really couldn’t think of anything else to write, any other way to get the story going again…
88- Yay! We’re writing the story again! So much for taking a break…
87-My mom says Bath is in the southeast of England.
Okay, it is time to get Umina to meet the other Empowered!
Dear All Empowered,
Tut seems to be biding his time, so we may be able to get the upper hand if we act before he does. I can’t think what to do, but we have to do something.
-John S.
Sorry, I couldn’t think what to write. Anyone have any ideas for a plan of action?
I’ll be temporarily leaving the blog soon… but I’m a main character in this. Let me try to fix it.
Master,
I don’t know what you mean by “emotions compromising your actions,” but I will obey with zeal. I’ll be returning to you soon. I hope Kanjal will be able to command well in my absence- but no-one will question his abilities, I’m sure.
Tutankhbastet.
DRAT! That doesn’t WORK, Canix! Geez, that leaves us with what? A main character just GONE! Pfft! Vanished! It doesn’t WORK! For heaven’s sake, ask us to slow down until you return! Continue editing! Whatever! But that’s just . . . impossible! You can’t do that with a character! Now we’re just left hanging until you come back! If Tut isn’t there for Rhoda to switch, we might as well just abandon the whole project! I’m sure someone else will know what I mean.
You’ll never read this message, but that hardly matters. I might as well go do my health homework now. I hate health homework.
This is awful.
I know. If Canix doesn’t mind, and, as he’s gone I’m sure he won’t, and if no one else does, I’m happy to take over Tut. I’ve always fancied writing from the point of view of an evil person.
PC! We have worked too hard and too long on editing! GAH! *nails with rhubarb pie* CHILD!!! *goes into insane fit* I suppose I’ll get over it eventually… *back to fit*
95- I pretty much agree, but while you are shrieking your head off, I am glowering sullenly from behind my computer screen.
96-I’m pretty ticked myself…and just when we were writing, again, too…:evil:
Ack! Nooo!!
Where are you going, PC?
98- He’s just taking a break from MuseBlog for an indefinite amount of time, that’s all.
So, do we want to continue writing, take another break from writing to do some more editing, or stop everything?
That’s an excellent question.
Hmph. It’s only been 8 days since he left, and he probably won’t be back for a month at LEAST. So basically we have to wait for an indefinite amount of time to continue this. Gosh. How mean. Anyhow, I think we should all edit as much as possible because it will keep this thread from dying while we wait.
Since Prarilius C. might be gone for a while, it seems reasonable for someone else to carry on with Tut.
I repeat, I am happy to write for Tut as well, as Miriam is a minor character.
104- Okay. Go ahead. We can delete that last letter. It’s just that I’m not completely comfortable with this taking over someone else’s character business. I would hate for someone to take over Rhoda, and I would cringe at the thought of taking over anyone else. You are your character. There have been times when I’ve barely caught myself about to call someone by their character’s name. Ever notice the way “Rhoda” and “I” become interchangeable when I post on this thread?
Profuse apologies. I didn’t realize how badly you guys would take my leaving. In retrospect, it’s probably good I returned so soon.
OK, that sounded bad, as though I was shifting the blame onto you. I’m not. I should have stayed longer and handed over control of Tut to someone else. Apologies again.
106,107- It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re back. I was beginning to lose hope for the story, honestly.
Oh, thank goodness you’re back!
108-Me too…WOO-HOO FOR PC!!!!!!!!!
Bunnies, SALUTE!!!
:idea::idea::idea:, etc.
ill start on hedges thingy soon.
Hedge Atwoods
Age: 10
orphan. Lived with uncle for a while untill uncle died. left to care for himself with other empowered afterwards.
Years before when hedge was a newborn: A man stood in the desert by a deep rocky ravine. His brown hair ruffled in the little wind ther was. Beads of sweat were dripping down his face. An odd creature was sitting on his head. it was a hedgehog, with wings. He pat its britsly body. the vultures loomed above him, sensing doom. He stood there throuughout the day, untill the sunset. He finally moved. He took a scrap of paper and his pen, and wrote the following.
Eldest brother Agdu,
I cannot carry on like this. Take care of Hedge, Sarah died when he was being born. My hedgehog will find him for you. give him the hedgehog when he is ready. at a relatively young age, when he is ready to understand its puzzling structure. please keep him out of your muddling affairs with those profecies. Give him a good life. I will be gone when you get this, so dont go looking.
a last farewell,
Your brother Hafl
he tied this to the leg of the flying hedgehog and let it fly into the horizon. The vultures were closr know, the moon was allmost rising. And as the full moon rose, He leaped into the ravine. The vultures were on him before he hit.
ok thats just a beginnning thing ill do stufff actually about hedge later
*happy dance* Well, who would like to begin?
`113- Not I.
oops forgot one part of that. I need to ad this. at the end. “the last sound he made was a long echoing howl”
oops i was reading some of number 1 and found out bhedge was 13 (a lucky number)
GAAAAAA!!!!
WHERE IS E2MB???????? I think he just wrote to Muse… GAPAs, could you maybe contact him? *pant pant*
(By the way, I’m back.)
117- How long have you been gone? When did you miss the E2MB’s-parents-banning-him-from-the-computer drama?
Actually it was fairly low-key if you weren’t on the right threads, but you were.
112-Oy, hedge! You’re my brother, remember?
119- Oh yeah, he is!
Are we ever going to continue writing the story??
119: we have the same birthday
121:we are doing some charactyer back work
122-I know, but in the story, we’re long lost brother/sister.
123: that would be kindwa hard to work out being as hedge isnt an alien and isnt lysor old? hedge is 13. maybe we cfould have that happen
124- Lsyor’s 17. Also, she isn’t necessarily an alien, she just lives on X.
125-Precisely…but I was slightly affected by the “air” on X, which gave me the pointy ears and colored eyes.
ok. that would be pretty cool. you could have been abducted and taken to x before hedges father died. Hedges mother could have even been connected to x. how about she lived there but got in trouble and went to earth. She met her future husband and they marred and had kids but diied in birth of her socond child. Aliens from x could have come to take her back but finding her dead took her first born child.
127-Nice! Me likee…:mrgreen:
Hedge never knew about lysor because she reacted badly to the air on earth and was hidden because of how deathly ill she was and her perfect x skin and eyes and hair. hedge gained his fathers genes
Are we going to continue writing? Or editing?
Let’s continue writing.
I am currently on the moon in the Bower. What is the status of everyone else?
I, Rhoda, Luna and Merle are in the Otherworld.
Im not sure where i am exactly
I was with Rhoda, Luna, and Merle(I think)…
Actually, no, Rubea was still on the moon…
I believe I’m on the Moon with a couple people…I don’t remember who, though.
I’m on Earth, oblivious to the whole thing…
I love to make lists.
The Moon: Bower
Tutankbastet
Corrupt Empowered
Luna
John S.
Rhoda
Lsyor
Tutankhbastet is cracking the Crystal, Luna is pretending to help him, Lsyor, John S., and Rhoda are rescuing Luna, The Corrupt Empowered are just hanging around.
The Moon: Uncertain
Rubea
The Otherworld
Merle
Miriam
Merle isn’t doing anything in particular, Miriam is about to come pick up her friends before Tut catches them.
Earth
John D.
Umina
Hedge
Hanjjvar
Umina’s oblivious (like Gwen said), John D. is about to become very overwhelmed by his memories rushing back, Hanjjvar is trying to get to the Moon, and Hedge isn’t really doing anything.
Go slow at first, will you? At least till I get my own computer? Some friends are going to send me one soon.
Alice – I can send you the edited document whenever you get a computer…unless you already have it saved somewhere else.
139- Nope. I lost it all. I’ll tell you when I have a compy.
Bye!
138-Oh, me too! I made four lists today. People in Math Class, British/Canadian Musical Artists I Listen To, Hits from 2005, and WIki Articles I Like. I’m sooo bored.
Ill write something
Dear all empowered somewhere in my vicinity,
I need some help. I wish to go into my late uncles study, but this is proving quite difficult. All the entrances are locked with some unpickable lock (ive tried it) and not even the strength of a large wolf can break through the walls. It seems he did lots of work in protection before he passed. So, please, if you think you could come to europe and help me, I would like it a bunch.
-Hedge
141-Congratulations…lolz.
So… I’m back, but my character is as good as dead! No can take him to the moon!! %*#@! *sigh*
144 you could herlp me break into my uncles room
145-Good idea…Stormwatcher, do it.
Can I just say, I’m still here. Just waiting for something to happen.
Where’s Prarilius Canix? We could really use some evil Tutankhbastet right now…
Kanjal,
I have information that certain Empowered are coming toward the Bower with intent to remove Moonchild. Find and kill them. As painfully as possible.
Your Master
Uh oh.
Right, so I’m still in the other world, but I am just about to leave to get Rhoda, John S and Lysor. Merle is waiting here. Luna is going to meet them somewhere, and I’m going to try, with Luna, to take everyone back to the otherworld. Yes? But tut knows that we are trying to come, so we need to try and get away without him knowing.
I think this is right, but correct me if I’m wrong, PC. Tut thinks that Rhoda is dead, so he won’t expect her, especially as he doesn’t know that anyone could heal her. He doesn’t know that Miriam (me) exsists either, because we have never made contact. Same with Merle. So, I guess he is expecting Lysor, John S to try and rescue Luna. He won’t be expecting Rhoda to be there, nor will he be expecting Miriam. If Merle turns up, he won’t expect her either. So we have a bit of an element of surprise on our side. How do we use this?
150- He’s been informed that Empowered are on the Moon and attempting to rescue Luna. He doesn’t know who they are, he just “knows” that none of them will be Rhoda. He also doesn’t know Lsyor is among them, otherwise he would probably have told Kanjal to capture them or some such, considering his lingering affection for her. This will plunge him even deeper into guilt if it turns out he’s signed Lsyor’s death warrant himself.
So John S. or Lsyor should write a letter to someone describing Kanjal’s attack (we’ll finally find out who, and what, he is,) and the consequences (injuries or deaths). Shadowkat? Whoever John S. is?
Feel free to have me injured if you want. It’s highly possible that Miriam was injured or killed – she’s blind, so she might not know that Kanjal was there.
Just kill Rubea. I really don’t care anymore.
BTW, I am Raven of the Hawk, just blogging from school.
Hi, guys. Bye, guys.
i need people to help me get into my uncles room
Why? does ur uncle lead a secret happy life without you that you simply must know about?
157 (greekgurl) – No, it’s part of a story.
So Tutankhbastet thinks Rhoda is dead and that I am still bad. But actually, Rhoda’s alive and I’m good (though pretending to be bad). Or was I not switched back yet? I forget…
145-Okay, but I’m a little confuzzled; why are we breaking into Hedge’s uncle’s room?
158- You’re good. He also doesn’t know that me and Merle exsist.
159 because he’s deadand there are secrets in there that weill help me control the worlddddddd…. i mean save the world!
161-You forgot the evil laugh.
so who is in my group to help me? soon i will letter in describing it
Dear Edal,
I would like you to travel to my old house and help me with something. I wil not tell you in this normal post for fear of interception.
Sincerely,
Hedge Atwoods
Rhoda,
I suddenly feel weak and powerless. Does Tutankhbastet still believe my act? I do not know how much more I can pretend to crack the crystal. It is becoming worn and tired, and I fear its life will not last much longer with all the evil swirling around it. Please help.
Luna
I can’t work on this yet! Ack!
blork i hate life (but not really)
165 (Alice Charette) – That’s okay, I just wrote something to move the story forward a bit, because it was dying. Just reply whenever you want.
166 (OMGMPAOF) – Please don’t post that here. You can talk about that on the random thread or rant thread, but this is a thread for the Role-Playing Writing story.
Pan, could you please send me the story in a text document? I’m ready now.
168 (Alice) – Yep, I’ll send it as soon as I finish posting this. I forgot what thread I was on when I told you I would send the Sea Roc and it wouldn’t have all the fonts, but by the fonts I meant to say that on this thread, because there are different fonts for each character.
::skips off to send::
163-I’m helping.
Dear Hedge,
I will help you search your uncles house.
~Hanjjvar
Man its been ages since I’ve done that!
I will eventually send the GAPAs a picture(s) of Ranncarl and Hanjjvar.
hey GAPAs, can we have another one of these? not of this, but RPW V.2?
pwelse?
and why does that not have a name in the HG2MB?
oh, come on!
utwhever, luvvies, let’s jsut revivify this thread!
can i join in?
it seems cool.
how does it work?
174- You have to read it all from the beginning. The VERY beginning. Go back to Part One and start at Post Zero, then come all the way down to post 180 here.
175- even if you do that, your person will be put in rather late.
It would be cool to have a new one for the people who would join, but can’t.
can a GAPA plese tell me if we might get a new one?
please?
Let’s see, what is TMFA asking for? A second Role-Playing Writing thread? RPW 2007.2, this late in the year? Well, why not? There seems to be interest.
179- yeah, RPW 2007.2. or we can skip the 2007 and have it be RPW V.2.0
Everyone in this story: do you think we should come up with a title for the story? I thought it might be nice to be called something other than “Role-Playing Writing, v.2007.1” in the future. Ideas?
181- Yeah. Hmmm. How about, “The Empowered”? Boring. “”The Battle for the Eight Worlds”? Er…no. Hmmm.
Perhaps those gave other people some ideas, because they’re both total failures.
So I’ve been trying to sort out fonts and stuff, and I’ve made some minor edits so far, namely, I changed the year 2007 to the year 2017, like we were talking about a while back. This brings up a problem. We need to change the President to someone else. Who? How about . . . Julio Gethers? Or Hans Stellmacher? Or Lance Nibert?Or Jess Wilfred? Or Humbert Marx? Or something else?
I also think we should eliminate the parts where Tutankhbastet is really communicating through MuseBlog. It adds nothing, and detracts from the whole secrecy of his campaign.
Alice (183): Any of the president names will work. I agree about the MuseBlog part.
I’ve also been thinking about names to call the story, but I haven’t come up with anything more interesting than “The Empowered.” *sigh*
For my reference:
Tutankhbastet–Papyrus
Hedge–Comic Sans MS
John Doe– Lucida Sans Typewriter
Rhoda–Lucida Handwriting
Rubea Hawkin–Marker Felt
John Smithsonian–Courier
Luna–Edwardian Script ITC (17pt)
Lsyor–Brush Script MT
Miriam–Herculanum
Merle–Apple Chancery
Umina–
Edal–Chalkboard
Hospital–Baskerville
Adelaide–Humana Serif ITC TT
184- How about, “The Empowered Ones”? Just kidding. It’s no better than the others.
I think the president should be Lance Nibert.
Will we include Umina in the story if Gwen hasn’t shown up for ages?
Alright. Back to work.
We still haven’t worked out the money/planes. Lessee….
Rubea is easy. She had money from her job, and her boyfriend forged her parents signatures so they could get to Dallas.
Lsyor was paid for by the King of X.
Tut doesn’t need plane fare, and neither does Luna (being a ghost, and all). Miriam doesn’t do much traveling, and she’s also a ghost so it’s easy enough for her.
That leaves Merle, Hedge, John and John, Rhoda, Hanjjvar, and Edal, Hedge’s friend.
John S. is obviously somewhat well-to-do from things he found while digging about in Egypt, and able to take long leaves-of-absence from his job as a policeman in order to go on archaeological expeditions. So clearly he pretended he was going on an expedition and paid his own plane fare.
John D. is harder. He can’t quit his job like this, but let’s say that he was in a rather frenzied state from all the excitement (and he’s not an Empowered, remember), so he pleaded unable to continue with his job at the moment and left. He won’t be able to get back.
Merle can fly. Who needs a plane when they can fly?
And then there’s only Hedge, Rhoda, Hanjjvar, and Edal, and my imagination is failing me. I’ll get back to them later.
Oh right. Hanjjvar never uses a plane, besides he’s a thief.
Any ideas for Hedge, Rhoda, and Edal?
In the meantime, I shall try to tackle the problem of the Luna/Rhoda correspondence.
Here’s a thought, albeit a less-than-perfect one.
When Rhoda was a bored ten-year-old with no friends, she decided to get a penpal. But she hated penpal agencies and such, because they seemed so contrived, so she wrote a letter, put it in a bottle, and tossed it into the sea. It came back. She tried again. And again. On the third time, she took the letter–by now quite wet–, put it into an envelope, and mailed it to an address she had picked at random. Luna found the letter and wrote back. A friendship ensued.
It could certainly be better, but on the other hand, it could be worse. What does Pan think?
Doesn’t Hedge ride a hedgehog or something? ::memory fails:: If so, that could be his transportation.
I can see the others being problems, though. Maybe one of them is from a wealthy family?
190- He sends his mail by flying hedgehog.
Oh GOD. I’m reading this thing again and my heart is racing. It’s so exciting! I swear, I can’t even concentrate.
Then again, that could be those two cups of coffee.
I’m very inspired, though, so I don’t mind if it’s the coffee.
We need to devise a letter-sending system so that we can have the letters sent quickly.
190 again- Rhoda’s definitely not from a wealthy family. Edal might be, though. He gets a very large allowance, and after a few months of saving he has almost enough money for plane fare. He coaxes his parents to let him go visit his friend, and they give him the rest of the necessary money (after some correspondence with forged letters that Edal claims are from Hedge’s parents.
That works, somewhat.
So. A few things we should deal with:
Why do the Empowered still communicate by letter when they are all in the tree home?
What is the tree home, exactly?
After the Dallas explosion, everyone was acting as though people had died but no one had. We never really said this, though. We just forgot about it.
Everything needs streamlining. I don’t know, it seems really messy. Maybe we should organize it into sections by day, or – AHA! Maybe we can have a little section of narrative every time the writer of the letter changes, explaining where they are, the date, etc. For example:
March 15, 2017
Tutankhbastet sits on a desk, dipping his tail into the ink and writing a letter.
[Tut’s letter]
March 16, 2017
Rhoda chews her pen thoughtfully.
[3 letters by Rhoda]
This would help explain where the characters are, like we considered doing once, and it would be especially nice for the big sections where there are like five letters by a character because they left the blog for a day and their letters piled up. It might be a bit overkill, though, for the letters written after the story had been going a while.
I dunno. After the letter-sending system is worked out, things might become clearer.
The letter-sending system:
Oh dear. I think this about sums up everyone’s view of it. Oh dear. Regular mail is too slow, and for a lot of us email won’t work because we don’t have computers.
Hedge scravenged through his house and found some money, worked for people in the city cutting grass and feildworking and scravenged enough money. He the slipped the flight papers under the attic door and his uncle signed them. Edal Is a more independent teen, and with his odd computer and electronic abilities, could probably hack himself a ticket if he couldnt afford it and just ask for his parents signature
dear Hanjjvar,
My friend Edal is also helping. He has allready arrived at my house. Please come when possible. You, from a different dimension may now some of the protections my uncle has set up.
-Hedge
Cant hanjjvar talk to animals? He could get the pidgeons the fly him saway
194- No, Earthspeaker talks to animals.
I think that we should add a loittle bit more drama to my death. (Although I would say that, wouldn’t I?) I mean, there’s all this agonized writing leading up to it, and then-
Oh, I guess we should go bring Rhoda back to life.
Shouldn’t we have a gloating letter by Tut or something?
Ugh. Fontwork is tedious. And this story needs work. Quite a lot of work.
PAN! Come here, fellow Editor! I need thy help!
The notes between Miriam and Hanjjvar written recently pose a bit of a problem. There is no way the letters could zip back and forth that fast. Should we maybe just delete them? They don’t say much:
Hanjjvar,
What have you done? I felt you use power. Don’t deny it! The only place you can use it safely is in the other world, so do not unless it is necessary!
Miriam
Miriam,
I cannot make it to the otherworld!
~Hanjjvar
Hanjjvar,
Then stop using power unless you have to!
Miriam
I think we should delete the last two. Stormwatvher seems to have vanished anyway. If he doesn’t come back we can assume the power was too much and he broke through the Veil.
195-Same thing. Sheesh.
I’ve been very bored, so I’m expanding the history of the Empowered of Stlyn (Hanjjvar’s world). More about that later. All I’ll say is Hanjjvar belongs to the Order of Adantduvan (Hidden clan of shadows) an organization neither good nor evil formed by one of the first three empowered of Stlyn, Farandu. (One of the shadows)
194- Oh, wait, duh. Hanjjvar is Earthspeaker. Yes, he talks to animals.
Okay, so. Summary:
Luna is healing the crystal while pretending to crack it, Rhoda, John S., and Lsyor are hiding nearby and waiting for Miriam to come and rescue them. Tutankhbastet is right beside Luna. Kanjal is coming, which results in a weakening of power for Luna, and probably the others but I’m not sure yet.
Hanjjvar, Hedge, and Edal are at Hedge’s house, trying to get into Hedge’s uncle’s study.
John D. is strangely unable to make any move.
Rubea is somewhere unspecified. I believe she too is on the Moon.
Merle is in the Otherworld.
Oh, right, you want me to come and get you. Do you reckon I should encounter some difficulty along the way that prevents me from getting there before Tut finds you?
RE- mail.
Umm… I had a vauge idea. It involves basic otherworld transportation though…
I think all of the letters need to be a certain length. It wouldn’t be realistic if people just wrote a few lines, since it isn’t like email or something–it takes time for the letters to be received. All short, unnecessary letters can be omitted, or perhaps combined with other letters.
About the tree home: I’m really not sure. All I know is that it is a safe-haven for the good Empowered. It definitely doesn’t make much sense for the people in the tree home to write letters to each other. Maybe someone in the tree home can write a letter so someone else outside of the tree home, explaining what is going on and such. They could also include things like: “John Doe is wondering which method of transportation you want to use, and Rhoda wants to know if you read the prophecy,” etc. That would make it easier to put together the tree-home letters.
I’m still puzzled with the transportation and letter system problems. Would it make sense to just use a regular postal system?
Rubea, I believe, is on the moon, trying to find Tut and kill him. That’s really all Rubea cares about at this point, killing Tut. The other good characters won’t be able to reason with her, and none of them will be willing to help her either. This means that Rubea will most likely die in her mad attempt to kill Tut. Yay. Rubea wasn’t a very important character anyways.
203- It wouldn’t work to use regular mail because it takes too long. We didn’t pay ANY attention to time when we were writing, ao a lot of the letters are unreasonably close together.
204- Death is over-glorified. We kill off our characters when we’re bored.
I think we can use regular mail. The letter were getting cramped because of full moon dates, but we can edit out the whole Hedge-turns-into-wolf-on-full-moon and make it Hedge-turns-into-wolf-whenever. I’ll also combine some letters if necessary. Then we’ll see how things look.
206- Exactly. I’m bored with Rubea. Notice the last two sentences in 204.
This post is going to be a bit scattered: Each paragraph is a different thought. Sorry, the brain is scattered too
I think we can combine a lot of the letters. If we make more time in between each letter–say, a week or so–then regular Postal Service-ish mail will work.
Does everyone really like the year 2017? I am always hesitant when writing futuristic books and putting dates. Because what happens when it is 2017? On second thought, I don’t see how anything else would work. (After thinking for a good five minutes about alternate years). So, never mind.
On transportation: maybe there could be some new form of transportation? I don’t think it should be some completely futuristic type, like hovercrafts or something. But maybe cars could just go extra-fast. Maybe the train system has advanced significantly, and they just speed around the world. That sounds really appealing to me, actually.
Also, who was that character that just died randomly? I don’t remember if that was ever resolved, but I think that death was unnecessary and un-fitting. If that person is still dead, can we fix that as well? ::ponders::
Alice – do you think you could send me your most recent RPW edit? I’d like to look over it
209-
1. You mean a week in between a letter and its response, right? That would work. But if Transportation is twice as fast, shouldn’t it be like three or four days? (Actually, I wrote a post about that, see bottom of this post.)
2. Well, it’s ten years from now, and it seems okay. Could be better, could be worse.
3. Yes. That would help with the letters too.
4. I don’t think anyone died randomly. Cinnamoon wanted her character to die, I died but was revived, and E2MB left, leaving the story in shambles. Lsyor almost never came back, Canix left for eight days…Hmm…
5. It’s hardly changed. But sure. If I ever have enough internet.
I think we should determine where all the characters live, and how long it takes a letter to get from one point to another. We could probably halve the time it takes now and just say that the postal service in 2017 is really, really fast.
Come to that, much traveling is done in this book. Places we visit are Dallas, The Moon, Egypt, Dublin, Venice, New York, X, the Otherworld, Washington D.C. (I think?), Bath, somewhere else in England, somewhere in Canada. I don’t know where Merle or Luna lives or where Tut makes his headquarters, among other things.
209-
4. I died randomly, but we deleted those posts, because it was too fast.
Hedge can freak change into a wolf any time, but must on full moons.
later today i will writether letter of the study break in
212- Oh.
*awkward*
That’s a problem. If we make his letters coincide with the full moons, everything gets all cramped and letters end up getting delivered freakishly fast. Plus I don’t even know the full moons of 2017!
213: there are just a couple full moons where he writes about transforming. you could maybe move em around a bit
I’ve got yet another idea. It concerns an Empowered. Not just any Empowered. One empowered who is not accounted for. Zan. The Shape-shifter. That doesn’t really concern the story unless someone wants it to.
I’ve got yet another idea. It concerns an Empowered. Not just any Empowered. One empowered who is not accounted for. Zan. The Shape-shifter. That doesn’t really concern the story unless someone wants it to.
No posts since yesterday… Or am I early?
I’m working on this. Oh, and I would send it to Pan but I don’t know how to send an Appleworks document.
218-I’ve tried it. Save it as a Jpeg file.
Where IS everyone??
I’m here, but I’m waiting for someone to write about the attack by Kanjal, telling who survived and who didn’t.
221- Well obviously I didn’t die, because I’m already dead, and I’m not going to decide for Koko du Pelle and Shadowkat if they’ve died. Though Pelle hasn’t been around for a while…
220- I’ll be here whenever the story gets going again. Homework has been getting in the way.
I check this every day, but nothing’s happening.
I check it every few days. I was the last on the Moon to write a letter, I think.
No, wait- Luna wrote after me.
Yeah, Luna.
Rhoda,
Are you alright? I’m sending this message via a special spirit-bird that lives in the other world. I’m going to come and get all of you, or at least try to help. I’m getting worried now. Please wait until I get there.
Miriam.
I basically can’t continue until we find out who died. And that means that we need KdP and SK to come here prontissimo.
228- *summons*
::sigh::
This story has been dead for awhile. Is there any hope for reviving it?
230- There has to be!
Grr.
I didn’t know prontisimo was a word, but it’s a good one.
This name ought to get it across.
234- One week and no response. I hope that one of them will see this in the recent comments section and click the link to this page.
Ugh. Come on, you two. Or we’ll have to say they’ve died.
Yes, Shadowkat and Koko Due Pelle, that last post does refer to YOU.
Dear Lsyor,
I need you to come to my uncles house pronto. I have very important news I found in his room. I can not tell you in a letter, it could be intercepted.
-Hedge
Whats the font for Hedge in the story? Just wondering.
Gosh darnit, I’m so effing BORED!!!!!
238- Comic Sans. I think.
ty
We need some sort of something to revive this.
Wow, that was descriptive, and helpful.
-sigh-
242- Agreed.
Time for my list of resurrection techniques…
*cries on thread* *nothing happens*
*claps hands* *nothing happens*
*gives CPR* *nothing happens*
*defibrillates* *nothing happens*
What to do…
Has anyone seen KdP, S-kitty, or Stormwatcher?
No.
*sadness*
Both RPWs are dead. I think there is no hope for them.
There’s still hope!
Let’s make a pact. Whichever of the two parties, namely Koko du Pelle or Shadowkat, shows up first, we will forcibly drag to this thread and force to write a letter explaining the effects of Kanjal’s attack.
me to.
246- Okie-doke! Sounds like a plan.
OH!! No. Never mind.
It seems like all of the RRRs and RPWs are dying. Maybe if we found out the reason for this, we would do a better job trying to remedy the situation?
249 – Yeah, I know. RRR SMAS-TT died, the Muse Academy RPG is slowing down already, and very little else seems to be going on on any of the other writing threads. I think that people join them because they think they’ll be interesting, and then once they move off the “Most Recent Posts” thing they’re forgotten by all except a dedicated few.
250- I check most of them. but except on RRR SMAS-TT, I’m the last pesron to have written.
This could be a good topic for a thread?
249- I’ve been trying to think of a way to fix that. So far I’ve had no luck.
This thread seems to have slowed down. If anyone can write a brief summary of what has happened so far, I’d be happy to help speed things up a bit.
253- While I appreciate the gesture, I’m not entirely sure it’ll work. In the past, we made anyone who wanted to join read all the threads. However, seeing as we’re very far along and pretty much dying, how about you just follow the directions listed in post 4. It’s not much, Gwen’s standards were simultaneously higher and lower than mine and Pan’s. If you don’t want to do that, then… then I’m not sure.
254- Wow! That was a lot to read. Will I get to be one of the Empowered? If so, I would like to keep my name “IBCF”. I’ll think of more later tonight.
255- Yes, you will get to be one of the Empowered. If you want your name to be IBCF, that works. Post a profile soon!
Oh. Wait. After I posted that draft, I think we might have written some more. Just a little though. Here it is.
Hanjjvar,
What have you done? I felt you use power. Don’t deny it! The only place you can use it safely is in the other world, so do not unless it is necessary!
Miriam
Dear Tut,
I know what you’re doing, and I wish you wouldn’t. Why would you want to destroy us? It won’t help anything, not even help you conquer the universe, or even the world. I don’t want to hurt you, but will if I have to. *insert teardrop on letter here* Please think about what you’re doing, Tut!
Yours No Matter What,
Lsyor
Dear all empowered somewhere in my vicinity,
I need some help. I wish to go into my late uncles study, but this is proving quite difficult. All the entrances are locked with some unpickable lock (ive tried it) and not even the strength of a large wolf can break through the walls. It seems he did lots of work in protection before he passed. So, please, if you think you could come to europe and help me, I would like it a bunch.
-Hedge
Kanjal,
I have information that certain Empowered are coming toward the Bower with intent to remove Moonchild. Find and kill them. As painfully as possible.
Your Master
Dear Edal,
I would like you to travel to my old house and help me with something. I wil not tell you in this normal post for fear of interception.
Sincerely,
Hedge Atwoods
Rhoda,
I suddenly feel weak and powerless. Does Tutankhbastet still believe my act? I do not know how much more I can pretend to crack the crystal. It is becoming worn and tired, and I fear its life will not last much longer with all the evil swirling around it. Please help.
Luna
Dear Hedge,
I will help you search your uncles house.
~Hanjjvar
Dear Hanjjvar,
My friend Edal is also helping. He has already arrived at my house. Please come when possible. You, from a different dimension may now some of the protections my uncle has set up.
-Hedge
Rhoda,
Are you alright? I’m sending this message via a special spirit-bird that lives in the other world. I’m going to come and get all of you, or at least try to help. I’m getting worried now. Please wait until I get there.
Miriam.
Dear Lsyor,
I need you to come to my uncles house pronto. I have very important news I found in his room. I can not tell you in a letter, it could be intercepted.
-Hedge
Anyhow, Kanjal just killed or tried to kill Rhoda, Lsyor, and John S. Maybe Luna too.
Miriam,
We nearly escaped. We were so close, but then . . . I’m not sure what happened. Some terrible black magic. I can hardly write, I can hardly think. I thought that because I was a ghost I was immune. I’m not. I’m unraveling. I’m not sure how much longer I can stay together . . . I don’t know what happened to Mr. Smithsonian or Lsyor or Luna . . .
I don’t know what to do . . . I don’t know where I am . . . I think I might be back on earth, but I’m not sure . . .
Try to find the others . . .
Rhoda
Okay. So here’s what I think. Lsyor and John S. must have died, because Shadowkat left the blog and KdP hasn’t been on for months. So if they died, it provides an easy solution. Luna and Rhoda, being ghosts and so unable to die, were sent back to earth, with their spirits beginning to wander and fall apart. I think IBCF could find one of us and possibly help us, depending on his power. Miriam could probably help as well, if she could get to us.
256- IBCF is able to build and rip apart molecular structures. Would that help?
What? You wouldn’t let me join when l tried to, which was before lBCF was blogging!
l tried to join, and looked on old threads, but now so much has happened…
just a random note on this thread, but… has anyone seen POSOC?
260- Nope, he’s been gone for a while. I wonder where he is…?
257- Not with this.
258- That was for a few reasons. Come to that I can’t remember what they were. *looks back* It was because you weren’t introducing yourself logically. There was no way at that point that you would actually know who Tut was and would have been receiving his letters. Also, we already had a were-beast, and you were coming in a very crucial moment and not giving enough information. And then you never said that you had read the entire thread, which back then was a requirement.
260- No, I haven’t. And if he quits MuseBlog just as we bring this back to life I will never forgive him.
262- Hm. What would help?
263- I don’t mean it wouldn’t help with the goal, I just mean it wouldn’t help revive Luna or Rhoda.
I think it’s time I brushed up on people’s powers. I’m starting to forget.
Tutankhbastet = Not an Empowered, I don’t think. Currently on the wrong side. (Prarilius Canix)
Lysor = Also not an Empowered. An old friend of Tut’s. (Shadowkat)
Luna = Moonchild = Sensing other Empowered and, with practice, using their own powers against them. A ghost. (Purple Panda)
Merle Linwood = Birdwatcher (e~a, is that right? You never got back to me on that.) = Speaking with birds, flying. (e~a)
Hedge = Duskwolf = A werewolf. (hedgehogboy5)
John Doe = Nightwarrior = The ability to be invisible in darkness, to knock out or kill people with only a touch, and instinctive expertise with weapons. (E2MB)
John Smithsonian = Oldseeker = Knowledge of buried and hidden things, heightened senses, and strange, unpredictable, yet always accurate visions. (Koko du Pelle)
Rubea Hawken = Jewelhawk = Affecting people with a touch (“zapping”) (La Mort)
Miriam = Soulsinger = I’m not sure, and I’m too lazy to go back and check. Refresh my memory, Cinnamoon? (Cinnamon Moon)
Hanjjvar = Raventamer = Almost the same as Merle. (Stormwatcher)
Rhoda = Elderseventh = Making something the opposite of what it is. (Alice)
fAZE = Not an Empowered. A mysterious person who sends mysterious messages that only Tutankhbastet can read.
NPCs
Edal = Hedge’s friend.
Wait wait wait. Merle’s name is Windwalker. Miriam’s power is getting inside people’s minds with a song. She can heal, or, with much more effort, she can destroy.
Yes, I have wondered about POSOC/Prarilius Canix’s absence as well. I hope he comes back soon!
Alice: thanks for the compilation! It was starting to forget powers and names as well.
267- It’s an old compilation, hence the inconsistencies.
Nevertheless, it’s quite helpful.
I think I’ll keep my molecule rearranging ability.
Fine. May l join?
271- You may. But you have to read the edited version on the previous thread*, create a character that doesn’t clash with the ones listed in the above comment 265, follow the directions in comment 4, and find a logical way to introduce your character. Then you may join.
*That not all, though. There are a few more letters after that:
Hanjjvar,
What have you done? I felt you use power. Don’t deny it! The only place you can use it safely is in the other world, so do not unless it is necessary!
Miriam
Dear Tut,
I know what you’re doing, and I wish you wouldn’t. Why would you want to destroy us? It won’t help anything, not even help you conquer the universe, or even the world. I don’t want to hurt you, but will if I have to. *insert teardrop on letter here* Please think about what you’re doing, Tut!
Yours No Matter What,
Lsyor
Dear all empowered somewhere in my vicinity,
I need some help. I wish to go into my late uncles study, but this is proving quite difficult. All the entrances are locked with some unpickable lock (ive tried it) and not even the strength of a large wolf can break through the walls. It seems he did lots of work in protection before he passed. So, please, if you think you could come to europe and help me, I would like it a bunch.
-Hedge
Kanjal,
I have information that certain Empowered are coming toward the Bower with intent to remove Moonchild. Find and kill them. As painfully as possible.
Your Master
Dear Edal,
I would like you to travel to my old house and help me with something. I wil not tell you in this normal post for fear of interception.
Sincerely,
Hedge Atwoods
Rhoda,
I suddenly feel weak and powerless. Does Tutankhbastet still believe my act? I do not know how much more I can pretend to crack the crystal. It is becoming worn and tired, and I fear its life will not last much longer with all the evil swirling around it. Please help.
Luna
Dear Hedge,
I will help you search your uncles house.
~Hanjjvar
Dear Hanjjvar,
My friend Edal is also helping. He has already arrived at my house. Please come when possible. You, from a different dimension may now some of the protections my uncle has set up.
-Hedge
Rhoda,
Are you alright? I’m sending this message via a special spirit-bird that lives in the other world. I’m going to come and get all of you, or at least try to help. I’m getting worried now. Please wait until I get there.
Miriam.
Dear Lsyor,
I need you to come to my uncles house pronto. I have very important news I found in his room. I can not tell you in a letter, it could be intercepted.
-Hedge
Miriam,
We nearly escaped. We were so close, but then . . . I’m not sure what happened. Some terrible black magic. I can hardly write, I can hardly think. I thought that because I was a ghost I was immune. I’m not. I’m unraveling. I’m not sure how much longer I can stay together . . . I don’t know what happened to Mr. Smithsonian or Lsyor or Luna . . .
I don’t know what to do . . . I don’t know where I am . . . I think I might be back on earth, but I’m not sure . . .
Try to find the others . . .
Rhoda
I think the main problem with this RPW is that so many of the characters have left. And it’s hard to remedy that situation.
273- Let’s kill them.
Screw this, all the research isn’t worth the effort. G’bye.
Dear Rhoda (or anyone who will listen),
Help! I can’t think of a way to incorperate myself into the story!
-IBCF
TMFA (274): Well, killing them makes the story weak. Since so much of the story has been built around them, it will leave us with hardly any plot at all, and basically ruin the story. Killing them without the blogger’s knowledge also isn’t really fair, in case they come back, etc.
IBCF – It might be easier to think of a character. Describe their characteristics, mannerisms, personality, background, etc., and then we can figure out how the character will best fit into the story.
273, 274- Is POSOC back yet (sorry, just got home)? Because I’ve already figured out a highly flawed method of getting John D. out of the way, and Lsyor and John S. both died in Kanjal’s attack…
276- Well, here’s a suggestion. Write a letter to a friend about how you think there’s a ghost in the woods. We can take it from there.
Kill Rubea. She never was a major part of the story anyways.
Great. So we’ve killed three characters, incapacitated one, one is practically nonexistent, and we’re introducing another. Pathetic.
IBCF-Usually cheerful and friendly, small, and has thick brown hair and brown eyes. Gained power unwittingly when he stayed out in the sun too long and got mutated by the radiation.
281- Well…not quite. The powers aren’t really acquired, they belong to the Empowered, which is basically incarnated into the character.
Although now I think about it, it might be interesting to have a character that has a power but is not an Empowered. Sort of give us an edge over the Evil One.
Feedback?
282- Yes, that would be an interesting plot twist. In my opinion, anyway.
Hey. I’m here. I will be home tommorow, and I’ll help then.
284- Cool.
284- It is now tomorrow. Are you here?
I am back after… two weeks? I lost track. What’s happened?
This is really weird. I’d almost forgotten what this place looks like. I feel like a neophyte again.
POSOC!!!!!!!!!!
Where have you been? *splatters with welcome pies*
Not much has happened, actually. Not on this thread, anyway.
287-that’s okay. we’re just glad to see you again.
287- POSOC!!! Where were you? No, that’s a silly question. Why did you leave?
290- Since the Pie War ended, I realized I had no obligations that would require me to be on every day (OK, this, but it’s been dead for ages), and I just, in the words of P. Opus, “quit cold puffin” to see if I could do it. I came back because I got bored. But I’m no longer addicted to MB.
291- Gotcha.
Well, it’s good to see you around again, ΡÖŞÎĈ. A pink grapefruit/mint meringue pie to you. Or blueberry if you prefer.
Grapefruit/mint/meringue? Sounds far more interesting than blueberry, if a little sour. *assumes stance*
Welcome back, POSOC! We’ve all missed you and wondered where you went!
*launches pie in ΡÖŞÎĈ’s general direction*
As you’ll see, it’s not tooooo sour. Just perfectly tangy.
*pies ΡÖŞÎĈ with cherry/pecan/lime*
Hello, ΡÖŞÎĈ. Wait a minute. I just looked at the “Who’s Here” — YOU are Prarilius Canix and Oob???
Gasp!!! I never knew that!!! *pies*
286- Yes. So, what should happen now? I think we probably need to be drawing near to a climax. I don’t really have any ideas, but does anyone else?
299- Alice or POSOC will probably figure that out.
Well, here’s the basic plan. The Empowered travel to the Moon, have a big epic battle with the Corrupt. Meanwhile, Tut forces Luna to crack the Crystal. Finally, the Empowered battle their way through to the crack. Tutankhbastet’s remaining virtuous impulses manifest in Rhoda’s mind, ordering her to switch him. She does so. He collapses, and Kanjal shows up(whatever he is: we haven’t figured that out yet). The Empowered do their best against him, but they don’t make much progress until Tut wakes up. Together, they fling Kanjal into the crack, and Tut frees Rhoda from her oath. Some Empowered with healing abilities (Soulsinger?) heals her spirit, and she switches Luna back to the good side. Luna subsequently heals the crack in the Crystal. They all return to Earth and begin preparing for the next confrontation with the Evil One…
301- Wait is that what’s happened or what’s going to happen? Because I’m a bit confused. The current status of the Empowered is as follows: Rhoda and Luna have been scattered throughout Earth, or the Moon, or something, by Kanjal’s force. The Crystal remains uncracked, but believe me, it won’t take much more for it to split into myriad pieces. John Doe is missing, Hedge and Co. are discovering some great secrets in Hedge’s uncle’s attic. Miriam and Merle are in the otherworld, unable to locate Rhoda and Luna. Lsyor and Rubea may or may not be dead. IBCF has yet to discover his powers.
This is a mess. Why don’t we go back to before Kanjal went and practically destroyed Rhoda and possibly Luna (now I think of it, Pan hasn’t said anything about Luna’s status so I shouldn’t make assumptions). Rhoda, John S., and Lsyor are hiding out in the Bower while they wait for Miriam to come and take them and Luna away (Luna has been switched). In the attic of Hedge’s uncle, Hedge, Hanjvar, etc. discover that there is, in fact, one more Empowered, who is neither Corrupt nor Pure (this is IBCF, who needs and Empowered name). THEN we can proceed with POSOC’s plan.
302- Sounds good to me!
I’m sorry if my arrival has caused confusing plot twists, though…
Please don’t kill me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stormwatcher! Where have you been? Remember me, ol’ Captain HAWK? Well, you and the others have been gone from the Seahawk for so long I have been offering your positions. So far almost none have been taken, so if you still want to stay with us please do…
Red-tailed HAWK
304- Then stick around this time.
Dead thread…
No! It shall not be so!
The problem with this layout is that someone can’t join at any time. You killed yourself by being so inflexible. lf we do try to join, we have to basically read a novel.
Also, if l were empowered, l wouldn’t try to protect the president. By contrast, l would do what l could to stop war, including his.
309- Well, we can’t really be more flexible.
I guess maybe I have issues. I don’t mind reading an entire novel, and so I don’t understand that other people would. I mean, I haven’t any more time than the next person, but I . . . prioritize differently.
And about the president thing, that always bothered me.
Dead red thread…
311- I agree.
No! No! *gives life* *life runs away* *cries*
Urgh. It’s dead AGAIN.
309- to me it’s no the novel, but the fact it’s so confusingly placed.
This thread is not dead. It is merely inactive.
I definitely agree about the president thing, Alice.
315- Right.
What should we do about the president thing?
…hello?
Hi.
317, 318- Hola.
317,318,319- lo (Hello! in ble.)
ug
321- Why don’t you try staying long enough to say more than “this thread is dead”? I’m not saying that’s a solution to the problem, but the more active people, the better.
Hey, I’m active, I just haven’t done anything. Sheesh.
323- OK, then.
hey. I will be looking back here as much as I can cause i do want t keep going.
sorry for double posting but maybe a new thread would help.