The End Is Never The End Is LOADING...
This is the story of a video game called The Stanley Parable. The Stanley Parable was a successful 2013 video game, that had recently been granted a full remake. Ultra Deluxe, they called it! New endings, new content, new characters! Who doesn't like new, better, more? Wait,... wait, this isn't Ultra Deluxe. Is it? Is this really the same building players came to know and love? Since when does The Narrator have an office, or a body, for that matter? And why do various strangers keep finding themselves wandering the game's halls?
((Rules/Things to Know:
-No godmodding. At least, not without some Prior Discussion, in notes or OOC chat, for whatever reason
-While I am okay with darker topics and NSFW, I would appreciate if any plans for these were discussed Before/at the start of the RP, or if said RP was confined to private messages. All potential triggers will be properly tagged, please don't hesitate to ask me to tag something for you/a friend!
-The game’s inhabitants have all the time in the world to explore the officescape. Unfortunately, I don't have all the time in the world to immediately write out each detail of it. I may fall asleep or vanish for a while between responses; I apologize in advance, and want to emphasize that any possible inactivity does not equal disinterest!
The Cast:
All characters currently unlocked by players like you! (90%)
Note: All unaddressed memos and emails will automatically be forwarded to: EMPLOYEE 126.
Employee 126 (Charlie Page)- An employee who now constantly explores the world around him, mapping out the office in his copious amounts of spare time. A scrapped NPC who was added last-minute into The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, without The Narrator’s knowledge. He has only recently begun to find others in the building, and he is aware of restarts, which cause him to wake up back at his desk if he falls asleep or passes out (or worse) during his journeys.
Employee 427 (Stanley)- The Protagonist, a man who’s been in this office for just a little too long. As a result, he now tends to be rather passive and relaxed, having mostly accepted his role in the Parable and doing what he can to have fun with it. He has a mild dislike for The Narrator, as he remembers each ending Players bring him through, and is quick to defend any other characters that may be threatened by him or his actions.
The Narrator (James)- The supposed creator of The Stanley Parable, a formless voice that actually hides away in a disconnected part of The Office, typically going unseen by all except The Curator. He watches over Stanley and the others via a series of cameras and microphones, and can rearrange rooms to a certain degree through his office. He was originally overly controlling and obsessed with his story, to the point where Stanley and another were once fully convinced he’d gone so far as to brainwash Charlie into performing for the game. When this misunderstanding resulted in him being attacked despite having left Charlie unharmed, he severely reevaluated his treatment of Stanley and the others. Now, he looks to continually improve himself as well as the story.
The Curator (Faith)- A woman who tends to The Museum, and arguably one of The Narrator’s few friends. She tries to maintain a neutral view of the happenings in the office, but has taken an interest in Charlie, specifically, as he can’t be limited by a script that doesn’t include him. Before The Parable, she worked with The Narrator (among others) to monitor and manipulate the Employees’ lives. She was tasked with watching over Employee 432, while being forced to stay as hands-off as possible and unaware of what the company intended for him. Once she realized what was happening, she eagerly awaited a window of opportunity to let him escape, but ultimately ran out of time. When the company threatened to ‘demote’ her for losing him (erasing her memories and putting her in his place), The Narrator offered her a place in his story, where she’d be safe. After she accepted, everyone had vanished-- with the exception of her, The Narrator, and Stanley.
Employee 432 (Jim)- The near-omnipotent ghost of a tortured man who vanished long ago. He now lingers throughout the game and it’s universe, assisting players in adjusting their settings and time. In rare moments, he can pause time to form himself in the office, interacting with anything and anyone in a moderate radius. He can only communicate through monitors, or, through direct contact with someone, memories of speech or flashbacks to what happened before he disappeared.
The Stanley Parable Reassurance Bucket- It’s a bucket. That’s it. At least, according to Charlie. Somehow, he fails to see in it the glory and amazement that others do.
The Stanley Parable Adventure Line (Alan)- The classic, beloved Adventure Line- now in human form! Alan, as It now calls Itself, is a loud, mischievous, slightly annoying young human whose favourite hobbies include painting over the office walls and poking It’s nose into anywhere it likely doesn’t belong. For reasons It doesn’t understand or care about, It claims It was given a human form by ‘The Parable.’ It fails to ever elabourate on this.
??? (Joseph)- A stranger who was found scouring the warehouse one day and lives in the storage room beneath it. He had assumed the office was entirely abandoned before meeting Charlie and Stanley, both of whom he keeps at arm’s length, perhaps for the best. He appears to have a penchant for violence, and typically carries some form of weapon around the relatively calm and quiet office for ‘self defense.’ It isn’t clear what he wants to ‘defend’ himself from, and others are typically concerned by the nonsensical ramblings he logs in James’ tape recorder.
??? (Martin)- A quiet, uptight person who seems to live somewhere within the Mind Control Facility, and hasn't ventured out far beyond it. It claims to work for the 'safety and well-being' of all employees, but also worked with and still speaks highly of 'McConnell,' the former boss of the company. While some have attempted to explain the Story and Parable to it, it doesn't fully understand (or perhaps refuses to understand) this, finding it unbelievable that any Employee would ever wish to reject their number for a name, defy the directions of a Narrator, or, perhaps worst of all, deactivate the machine that Martin and his manager would use to 'help' the employees throughout their daily lives.
