eddie

also known as eve.

[aneversion]

EXTISPICY: FROM THE ENTRAILS OF THE SACRIFICED

ANATOLE LAURENT / 35 / LICENSED CHIRON RENDER 

the relentless tick of the grandfather clock. the dam keeping back the flood. a dark shape seen in the corners of sleepless eyes. fingers squeezed so tight they draw blood. the calm in the storm. the loneliness of fear. centralia, burning unseen below.

[aneversion]

SCRYING: FROM CRYSTAL GAZING

SEVERUS SNAPE / 25 / THE WORST™

the natural conclusion of thinking you’re the smartest person in a room. the shocked stillness before the drowning thrash. a clenched fist around a heart. a stab in the back and a twist of the knife. the thing you see in your sleep, creeping ever closer to wrap its fingers round your throat. regret, hot and bitter, choked back where it belongs.

[aneversion]

ASTRAPOMANCY: FROM LIGHTNING AND ELECTRICITY

JAQ BRADLEY / 29 / INFOSEC EXPERT & COLLECTIVE CO-FOUNDER

some people are born to die with their teeth in someone else’s tongue. the feel between the fingers of a freshly buzzed scalp. the exact moment the glass shatters. the shards left behind. an urban bear trap. the emergency card on a television set.

[aneversion]

absolutely raging that i need to do my actual job instead of character dev

who sanctioned this

[endbuzz]

Lore Preview: Espionage and Propaganda

The following is a preview based on our Ministry of Magic lore - specifically outlining two departments, the Ministry Communications Commission and the Witch Watchers.

Ministry Communications Commission

The Ministry Communications Commission is responsible for the regulation of all radio and text communication across the United Kingdom. In addition to curating any Ministry-sponsored communications (e.g. pamphlets, posters, and notices, aka pro-Ministry propaganda), the MCC employs witches who work as liaisons between the Ministry of Magic and all government-funded radio programs (most notably the Witching Wireless Network or WNN) and print media (including the Daily Prophet). As the war progresses and the Ministry’s need to control the narrative increases, the MCC has grown in both size and power.

Witch Watchers

The Witch Watchers are a relatively new DMLE department, established in 1980 in an effort by the Ministry to control the budding war and keep an eye on its citizens. They are the only branch of the DMLE who report directly to the Minister's office.

In 1983 the Witch Watchers perfected their Jobberknoll training program, releasing hundreds of birds throughout the United Kingdom for surveillance purposes. Jobberknolls are small speckled blue birds native to Europe. It was widely believed that jobberknolls could make no sounds until the moments before their demise, at which point they produced a loud, long scream of every sound they had ever heard. With proper charms and training Jobberknolls can be taught to repeat only human utterances. Today, several witches work in the department decoding jobberknoll speech.

In addition to Jobberknolls and charms used around the United Kingdom, the Witch Watchers employ covert law enforcement personnel in areas known for high incidence of Dark Magic, and it is widely rumored that the propaganda posters plastered around the magical UK by the MCC are the eyes and ears of the Witch Watchers.

Additional Notes

Although it's yet to be proven - some say that technology has a hand in spying on Witches. Specifically, that Blishen Metalworks is collecting data through its tickers, that the chips embedded in the skulls of seers see more than just prophecies, and that augmented eyes, ears, and limbs are collecting data on their users.

[aneversion]

Name: Severus Farid Snape Age: Twenty-Five Occupation: Anti-Rejection Developer, Chiron House/School: Slytherin / Hogwarts Wand: 12", Hawthorn, Phoenix Feather

Best Area of Magic

The part of themselves they want to show the world

The part of themselves that they want to hide from the world

Their views on blood politics/purism

Their views on magical supremacy overall

Their views on technomancy

[endbuzz]

Lore Preview: Corporations

Well before the explosion of technomancy in the witching world, corporate empires towered in the sky. Their power fell over people in waves, with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities plucking young people out of the gutter and bankruptcies sending them straight back. As their long fingers of influence spread across the continent and the world, fueled by the electricity of technomancy’s birth, there emerged three leading cities in the UK: London, Manchester, and Glasgow. The strong devoured the weak, until a few frontrunners found themselves sitting at the very top of the peak, whispering in the ears of politicians and throwing gold (and a quiet ruin) at any problem that might stand in their way.

Continue reading below the cut!

With Britain suddenly a home to new innovation, with new jobs emerging by the day, immigration skyrocketed. Those seeking opportunity flooded into the cities, and housing became a dire issue. With scarcity of most everything, the people living on the streets soon found themselves living off the ground, higher and higher until the sway of the buildings could be seen with the blustery winds of rainy days. Communities have sprung up all over, winding round the city like weeds choked of sunlight. 

MANCHESTER’S BIG HITTER: BLISHEN METALWORKS

They began their life right in Manchester, founded by Chistopher Blishen in 1851. The silent cofounder, Xurl, was a highly skilled goblin; when he is mentioned at all, it is said that he is nowhere in the paperwork because the laws at the time prohibited him from business ownership. From humble beginnings in repair work and watchmaking, they made enhancements and innovations that put them - and Manchester - on the map. A longstanding tradition of pocket watch gifting as a witch comes of age has been cemented by their craftsmanship, only made possible by Xurg’s lifetime of study in metal-charming. 

After Christopher’s death in 1880, Goblins were no longer welcome to apply to work with them. As one of the few businesses to welcome creatures into their ranks, it was taken as a blow to the wider community. This caused a great deal of tension in Manchester, and it wasn’t until the advent of Tickers, technomancy-infused pocket watches, that they changed this policy again. It is a tense proposition for these Goblins who work within Blishen’s walls; working in the business built on the back of their ancestors’ knowledge, many feeling it has been every bit stolen from them, it is a powderkeg.

This company is widely rumoured to spy on users of Tickers.

One of the few corporations to provide allocated housing, a towering megastructure that was stark white when it first sprang up, Blishen sees witches and Goblins living side by side. The party line is that they do so in harmony, but the reality is much more fraught.

GLASGOW’S BIG HITTER: PROTEGO INC

Though they have been around for a long time and under many names, first conceptualised by Artair McLean sometime in the 1890s, their real start wasn’t until 1920. It was well known that one could barter protective magics and wards from this business, even for a time specialising in bodyguards, but it was Grindelwald’s cut across Europe that saw business booming. 

The next witching war brought further business, and the model changed altogether. Sewing discord and damaging competition was more lucrative for them than investing in innovation, and so it was by consuming other businesses that they became the main interest in Glasgow - and across the country. 

Technomancy saw further changes to their business, with the PearlDust virus offering a great bright window of opportunity. Their work in wartime defenses is all but forgotten, traditional magical research at a near standstill, as they funnel their time and workforce into securing technomancy’s many conduits. 

This company strongly lobbies against legislation regarding technomancy and conduits.

It is telling that many of Protego Inc’s highest paid employees specialise in proprietary law. With their research departments going wildly underfunded as they cannibalise and buy out other companies left, right, and centre, their focus has shifted almost entirely to locking down the products they’ve made or obtained. It is a sad truth then that there is a trickle of skilled programmers and inventors leaving the business - with little to turn to but the many hacker collectives springing up around Glasgow. 

LONDON’S BIG HITTER: CHIRON 

The youngest of the corporations listed by far, but perhaps the most insidious and streamlined. So named for a renowned healer, established in 1965, this corporation has never strayed from their sleek centaur branding. They have a team hard at work developing new augmentations, and a fleet of technomancy healers, often called Renders, who install them.

With a lack of competition, prices have surged. This has led to a surge of unlicensed Renders, sometimes leading to unforeseen side effects or complete rejection. 

Those who take advantage of the services they offer have the choice of opting into a payment plan, with interest. These plans are subject to steep consequences, including but not limited to forceful surrender of the augmentation and loss of any equity offered. For all that people fear losing their homes and their valuables, there is nothing quite like the fear that runs cold across a person when a Collector comes knocking. The augment is claimed back with no replacement offered, and the client is often left with the outstanding balance of this butchery.

Despite this, the company emphasises their healing influence, and makes great efforts to appear charitable. They also heavily lobby for longer sentences for people supplying and receiving unlicensed augmentations based on Chiron technology, and worse for backalley Renders.

The landscape of London has changed drastically for their presence, with the housing situation reaching critical levels and many living in houses shared between several families. Those who seek privacy must seek it above the smog line, in high rises that seem to creak from a breath pulled in too sharply.

A quick note: Goblins are playable characters.

[endbuzz]

Technomancy: An Emerging Magic

The origin of all magic is shrouded in mystery, but this is most true of technomancy. Though it seems to draw from older magic, responding strongly to the delicate metalwork of Goblins and even to the barest sparks of fire magic coursing through, it is almost an unknown entity.

The secrets of its production are kept under the strictest contracts, with rumours that Unbreakable Vows are in use at some corporations. The products are therefore very difficult to replicate.

Because of its delicate age and the interest of powerful corporations, lawmaking has been slow going. There is little regulation over communications or amplifications, or even physical augmentations.

One most notable piece of legislation pertains to mandatory implantation. In the first law of its kind, it was mandated in 1980 that all who possessed the Sight must be fitted with a small chip behind their ear. It has become a widespread belief that, following strained relations with the fae, all witches have a right to prophecies. The implanted chip records any prophecies as they are foretold, much the same as the glass balls that are found in the Department of Mysteries. In due course, in a process that is said to be completely automated, it is broadcast to anyone possessing a Ticker (see below). This takes the form of an amplified audio recording of the prophecy in question.

Physical Augmentations

From the smallest implants to fully replaced limbs, witches are beginning to take advantage of technomancy in its most visceral sense. These are used both for convenience, like those pale eyes that act as a foe glass, and for brute strength, like an arm that hums and whirs with machinations that amplify channeled magic. It has revolutionised the lives of those who have lost limbs or functionality due to cursed wounds, taking root where no other magic would adhere. 

Those who are most invested in technomancy then are visible - shining in the sunlight, ticking in the quiet of night.

Many augmentations come from CHIRON, a technomancy giant that dominates the industry, but there are always other means to get one's hands on an augment. Illegal black market parts are installed by people known as Renders. These are less regulated not only in their installation, leading to rejection from the body, but in their content. This trade is a highly illegal and dangerous one, and there are many horror stories of backalley augments gone wrong. Renders, though they do not have any level of organisation or accreditation in their ranks, are a trade based on apprenticeship. They are teaching one another, and are therefore able to pass down a code that they largely adhere to - Jacky’s code, so named for the Render who was given a sentence to receive the Kiss after one of his clients died from augment rejection.

The code, many times transcribed and retold, is shaky at best. It states that no Render should cause a client undue harm intentionally, that no augment should be made to automate an Unforgivable Curse, that no calling cards are to be used that may draw attention - and finally, that any Render seen to betray the trade should be found and killed.

Conduits

A “conduit” is anything that can channel magic, similarly to a wand. Many conduits act as enhancements to physical augmentations, or objects.

The most common conduit, however, takes the form of a pocket watch - now commonly called a Ticker. Once a sentimental marking of a witch coming of age, it has become a communication device that rarely leaves a witches’ hands. They are able to write messages, to send their voice across the gulf, and there are further developments on the horizon. It is recently becoming common practice to channel magic from conduit to conduit, sending incantations along these lines of communications to another side. Only simple charms and hexes have been able to make it to the other side so far, but the implications of this more remote form of magic is a topic of hot debate among corporations and politicians.

Conduits come in all shapes and sizes, the most extreme of which being an augmentation to one’s wand. Many witches will not consider this, even beyond augmentation of their own body; the wand is a sacred symbol of human supremacy, and many struggle with the idea of corrupting it.

Viruses

The first viruses passed by witchkind with hardly a blip on the proverbial radar. Easily, it was assumed that technomancy, bolstered by its intertwining with magic, would not be susceptible to the same problems. It wasn’t until New Year’s Day of 1982 that they experienced a virus firsthand. 

PearlDust, named for the ingredient common to all love potions, swept across Tickers all over Europe. Non-malicious, experimentational, pulled off just to prove that it could be done - it was little more than a self-replicating bubble charm. At midnight, amid cautious celebrations tinged by a bloody war, heart shaped bubbles spewed forth in a multiplying numbers. 

Sweet though it was, accompanied by a message reading “KISS A LITTLE LONGER”, the PearlDust virus presented a large Statute of Secrecy breach, and marked the beginning of a contentious battle between corporate interests seeking to keep the market unregulated and an increasingly nervous government. 

The implications of, and indeed the viruses following, PearlDust have been much less innocuous. Those specialising in defensive technomancy, who have developed methods for protecting Ticker channeling, have seen tremendous increases in profits. Likewise, interest in using these viruses for gain or political momentum has seen an uptick in collectives forming. Their goal is usually attempting to outsmart defensive technomancy, even if only to point out its flaws.

[endbuzz]

We're pleased to announce that our reserves will be opening tomorrow (June 8th) at 6PM EST / 11PM GMT! Everyone will be entitled to two canon and two face reserves - additional details about the reservation process will come!

In the mean time, follow us for a lore preview tonight and additional previews and character dev prompts in the coming days. We are going to keep this buzz short and sweet, so we'd love to see your introductions under the tag #ENDBUZZ as soon as possible!

[aneversion]

join my new site

i worked hard on it which means u have to

endbuzz.tumblr.com

[aneversion]

Name: eddie (you may know me as eve) Age: 30 flirty and thriving Timezone: gmt Favourite tropes and/or canons: i enjoy zacharias smith and tom riddle and i know exactly what that says about me as a person What do you want to see in a cyberpunk setting?: dystopian universes are my fave and the neon / societal collapse / psycho capitalist vibes of cyberpunk are very good Most used emojis:  💀 ✨ 😩 😔

[endbuzz]

>RUN END.EXE_

> Fear is so passé. Who needs to worry about the flames of a civil war when you've got Jane Fonda tapes to work out to? The age of unfettered yuppie capitalism shakes up even the cobblestones of Diagon Alley. A world away from the quaint hand-painted signs of the former centre of the magical world, skyscrapers teetering and slick rise in Manchester and Glasgow, challenging middle England in a vicious game of who can become the richest the fastest. <

We are excited to announce the site buzz for >END_, a new Marauders alternate universe role play combining the nihilism and brutal corporate supremacy of cyberpunk with the libertarian sensibilities of the witching world. Set in an alternate timeline 1985, the prophecy has been delivered - and thanks to a new law mandating all prophecies be shared to the Ticker network, only a few hours from being broadcast to everyone in magical Britain simultaneously. Explore the hottest and most untested new magic, technomancy, and what it means for your character's bodily integrity; do away with old-fashioned quill pens in favour of instant communication through their Ticker; explore the murky depths of what it is to be human in a rapidly changing world, all against the backdrop of a raging civil war.

Follow us for more lore reveals, character dev posts and general mayhem in the coming days - and introduce yourself in our #ENDBUZZ tag with our form below.

Name: Age: Timezone: Favourite tropes and/or canons: What do you want to see in a cyberpunk setting?: Most used emojis:

[ribarjeva]

GOOD ENERGY / 001 by @ribarjeva

[themetalmassacrevault]

[luciusfelimus-nox]

Manila in pink and blue

luciusfelimus.com

[aneversion]

Found Footage: You stumble on something you shouldn’t have. Whether it’s lost tapes or a diary, something within the context of this media feels wrong. It’s looking into a life that isn’t yours and feeling the dread seep into your pores. Get up close and personal with their lives and watch as they slowly pick off one-by-one.

god, what it is to be the only man to know something. to be the one with all secrets; all the cards; all the grieving families wanting to know where their loved one is buried. 

what a rush to look into the eyes of a killer as they tell you all the sordid details - all the little things they’ve never told anyone else. this, finally, might be your magnum opus - that thing you’ll be remembered for after you’re gone.

so high you rise, the sun burns the sense from your eyes. and when you fall - when it all comes tumbling down with a smirk and three years of bullshit - how bloodily you will scramble to find those secrets again.

BILLY TOWNSEND / 34 / INFAMOUS CRIME WRITER AND FAILED GREAT AMERICAN NOVELIST

after three years of research trying to write his first non-pulp true crime book came crashing down when the famed serial killer he had been interviewing revealed he had been fucking with him the entire time, billy townsend enters bellside with but one dream: to get his story by any means necessary.

watch as he smokes grouchily around the town, barely fitting in anywhere he goes. marvel at how badly he wants to be the next great writer. be amazed at the lengths he will go to to not be made a fool of again.

[aneversion]

a specific death

calla lilies // ink // petrol

doe