#walcott about

[outtofcapecod]

– FAQS

Who are the watchers? The watchers are separate individuals (or in some cases small groups) who are drawn to Walcott to warn the town of coming events. Each only possesses a small piece of the overall puzzle as they are only drawn to the group to which they are connected.

Delilah Farrow is connected deeply with the earth and can sense Walcott’s energy. She knows that the spiritual energy surrounding Walcott has reached dangerous levels. She has come to warn the Council for she can sense the imminent danger that will come to it. She hopes to convince the council members that their senseless witch hunt will only cause more damage, not less. And if they continue on this dark path, it may mean the destruction of their town, not its saving.

Andie Graves is connected to the Turner Witch Hunters, although she is not yet aware of this. While she believes her connection to be to Jane Turner only, she will soon discover that she has come to warn the Witch Hunters that their allegiances will not serve them well and that their task in Walcott is not all that it seems. She will soon realize that while Jane was merely what drew her to Walcott, her purpose in the town is much greater than even she realized.

Pinky Marshall is a psychic who can sense the danger the College Coven has created for themselves by tampering with powers they don’t understand. She believes they have heightened the energy fields in Walcott and it is this energy that called to her and to other forces that are coming. She means to find the Coven and warn them that they must stop their experiments if their town is to survive. If not, far worse will come for them. She is accompanied by Reyes who, while possibly not a watcher in his own right, knows the history of those who have come before the Coven as well as what was their ultimate fate.

Byron Wolfe is not quite a psychic but is far more in tune with the spirital plane than most. He can also sense the growing energy in Walcott and knows that the College Coven must be stopped. But when Pinky has come to warn the Coven about their present actions, Byron has come to warn them about the future. He has seen the future that is to come and knows he holds nothing that should come to pass. He has come to make the Coven realize just what will be the consequences of their actions if they were to continue their experiments and the “others” were to come. He has arrived with his brother, Damian who does not share his same abilities. But it’s possible that Damian, too, is a watcher whose purpose has not yet manifested and will only do so if certain events come to pass.

The four watchers arrive separately at different key points and predict that which is to come. Delilah and Pinky arrive before the events of Halloween and foretell what is to come. Andie and Byron arrive while the events are transpiring and mean to stop them from coming to pass.

While all of the watchers possess at least some inkling of supernatural ability, they are not the Walcott witches. They are merely meant to foreshadow coming events and guide the people of Walcott. They know that witches exist in Walcott though they know not who they are. The watchers merely sense that energy exists but cannot pinpoint its source.

The purpose of these individuals is not entirely clear at this juncture but each will be important during events to come. They merely arrive now to stake their place in this world and attempt to stop events that could destroy Walcott if left to complete their current course.

[outtofcapecod]

-- EVENTS LIST

one. Make sites and start forming plots. Begin to make assumptions concerning witches. Try to fill up the town as much as possible before jumping into bigger events. Please note, only William Johnson’s death has already occurred at this point.

two. Henry Jacobs is killed and the council receives an anonymous letter which describes an event witnessed in the woods. The council begins to form opinions about witches within Walcott and sides are chosen within the council. The first accusation is brought before the council. (You can start sending accusations now or wait until I ask for them. Either is fine.)

three. The council takes into account the first accusation and decides not to investigate the person in question. When it seems the council has decided to put the issue to rest, reinforcements are called in. // note. It is during this event that the Turner Witch Hunters and the new characters that haven’t yet been added will arrive in town.

four. An all out witch hunt begins to overtake Walcott as the council realizes the town might be full of witches after all. With the addition of the Turner Witch Hunters, all the pressure has been placed on the council to search the town for witches. The council then invokes the help of many prominent townspeople in their search. During this time, accusations will be made and trials will be held. (Again, feel free to accuse at any time. Otherwise, you can wait until I call for accusations.)

five. The council begins a mandatory investigation of every town member.... including those of their own ranks. Each must appear before the group to answer questions about their whereabouts during the murders as well as their activities conducted during their personal time. The council will then settle in to deliberate but another anonymous letter is then received.

six. Decisions about the anonymous accusation are made as the council struggles to decide if the person in question is really the leader of the coven or merely a red herring. At the end of the week, the college coven is caught meeting in the woods. The accuser, who leads the council to the group, believes them to be the Walcott witches.

seven. Another town member (unportrayed) is killed, sending the council into a frenzy. The group is out for blood and searching for witches at any corner. The (known) college coven members are hauled in and questioned in an emergency "meeting" before the entire town. During the trial, accusations are made about any and everyone as townspeople begin to turn against one another. Familiy members of the college coven are especially considered in the trail as it’s decided it’s unlikely the college students acted on their own.

eight. Final decisions are made about the last trial and executions are ordered. (If any characters are found guilty, they will be executed.) The council will make arrangements to burn them at the stake, as they believe they should have 300 years ago.

please note. If we do reach the end, the witches will be revealed. Those playing witches have already been notified so they are, indeed, in your midst. That being said, please look around. Suspect your friends and neighbors. I encourage it. If, in fact, you are correct when we reach the end, sweet vindication will be yours....

** these events are subject to change; this is just an outline

[outtofcapecod]

-- FAQS

Who are the witches? Ah, well, that's a secret. This roleplay is supposed to detail the witch hunt in much the same fashion that it happened in Salem 300 years ago. The townspeople started to suspect any and everyone and they each started turning against one another.

For the purposes of this roleplay, I will tell you ONLY WHEN YOU ARE ACCEPTED whether or not your character is a witch. I will also tell you the identities of the other witches if you are, in fact, one of them. The witches are all encouraged to PRIVATELY plot with one another. But, please, this is supposed to be secret. Do not tell anyone but those of the coven that you are a witch.

If you do wish to have a plot with someone where you reveal to them that you are a witch, run that by me FIRST please. At the end, the witches will all be revealed. Oh, and they're chosen entirely at random so please keep that in mind when choosing a character. You may or may not be a witch and, sometimes, the most unlikely characters may, in fact, be the one with the most to hide...

How will we discover who the witches are? I'm hoping (*fingers crossed*) to have a trial at the end of every event (because we roleplay differently on tumblr, this won’t be a set time period but i’m hoping about every two weeks or so). At any point in this roleplay, you are free to accuse anyone of being a witch. Please just send me an ask with your accusation. (And tell me which of your characters is making it?) And all accusations are anonymous (unless you want it to be a plot device/public affair). When it’s getting close to trial time I’ll also ask if anyone has any witch accusations so you can always wait for these as well. But please GO CRAZY WITH THESE. We kind of don’t have a roleplay if we don’t have an accusations since a lot of our events will depend upon people being on trial. So if you have a problematic character, please have them accuse anyone they find suspicious.

Now, I haven't decided exactly how trials will pan out. I know I will be asking all of those playing council members to vote for each of their council member characters. However, I haven’t decided what will happen if they are found guilty. I’m thinking they will most likely be jailed and then we’ll have a bigger trial or witch burning (*cough* Salem style) at the end of this. Please note, it IS possible for your character to die but I think we'll save executions until the end of the roleplay, unless I change my mind.

What does all of this have to do with Cape Cod and why are we trying to leave it? Well, actually the fictional town of Walcott, Massachusetts is located right on Cape Cod. The entire purpose of the roleplay will be to rid Walcott of witches, i.e. getting them "out of cape cod". .... That and the idea for this roleplay can be partially credited to my looking up the lyrics/meaning behind them of Vampire Weekend's Walcott. Although the idea for witches and leaving Salem and such is entirely my own. From the song I took the title of the roleplay and the name of the town (though Mary Walcott was a real person which is partially where ideas sprang from).

Will some characters die? Yes. Please note that it is possible for some characters to be offed (wrongfully or not). However, I don't really want to get into executions until later in the roleplay so if they are killed, know that it probably won't be until in the last few events of the roleplay.

Are these the same witches that were accused in Salem? Well, yes and no. They were the same group of witches that lived in Salem but whether they were accused or not is entirely up to the players. One of the witches is actually formerly Mary Walcott but I really don't want to go very indepth with the history and everything so just know that each of the witches changed their name when they left Salem but just know they are the original coven that lived in Salem and have left to find a better life.

How many witches are there? Are there any male witches or are they all female? Shhh. Secrets, secrets. Actually, I won't answer either of those questions. The only people who will know are those actually portraying witches and they (hopefully) won't tell. So, why won't I answer that? Because, quite honestly, I want you to know as little about this as possible.

The real Salem witch trials were based on a lot of false accusations. They accused witchcraft of any and everyone because they became so completely paranoid. I want that same kind of hysteria to overtake the characters here. So, please, accuse anyone: men, women, children. You can accuse everyone in the town, for all I care. It's all up to you.

Quite honestly, the most unlikely people could turn out to be the witches. Just because their occupation (ie, witch hunters) implies that they are against witches, doesn't mean they aren't one themselves...

How are occupations chosen within this town? Given that the town is so small, occupations are usually passed down to the next generation. So, generally if a parent held a certain position in the town, this position is now held by their child. IE, Michael West was the son of the mayor and when he came of age and his father died, he became the mayor. And so on throughout the rest of the town.

When a child has overtaken the occupation of their parent, that means the parent has died. For some reason, people in Walcott just don’t live that long. They have a life expectancy of about 50/60 years. Though some have even been known to die in their 40s or sooner....

Therefore, the people of Walcott were just kind of thrown into their futures. Most of the children in the town were given no option as to what they wanted to do with their life. Some embraced this because they didn't know any other life and are more than happy to carry on with the life that was all picked out for them. But some think outside the box and want nothing more than to see what's out there-- and they're probably the town's biggest witch hunters.

How does one become a member of the council? The town council is kind of like Congress in that there are a certain amount of “seats”. Each family has two seats. When a parent dies, one of the children is asked to step into their seat on the council. So each of the members we’re seeing now have taken the seat of one of their parents. If the child refuses the seat of their parent, it is given to someone else in the town which is how people like Thomas Harker (who was not grandfathered in) were able to join.

Members of the council must be at least twenty-five years of age to join. (Thus, why it was such an uproar when James Van North joined….) Sometimes, when a parent dies and their children are not yet old enough to take their seat, the seat is held for them and their vote goes with the majority. In tie situations, their vote is eliminated altogether.

If most of Walcott’s occupations are essentially useless and don’t make a lot of money, how does this town function? Much of Walcott runs on a barter system. (I did, in fact, base a lot of this roleplay off The Village so if you’ve seen that, basically picture this town being like that one.) So most supplies and things don’t really cost a lot, if anything. The entire town is then funded by the Chilton family.

The Chilton family owns a large corporation outside of Walcott that has made the family wealthy. For generations, they have been the financier of Walcott and basically the reason why the town has food and things like that. Gil Chilton is the last remaining member of the family but he’s brilliant like the rest of them so is the one carrying on his family’s legacy and basically paying for the town to exist.

If all of these people have inherited their occupations from parents, does that mean everyone in Walcott grew up here? Well, essentially yes. Though over the years there have been quite a few families that have moved into Walcott. Most of the families here are old blood and a great many of them you can literally trace their history back to when the town first started. So essentially the ancestors of all of our characters built this town.

However, sometimes outsiders would move in and make Walcott their home. That’s why we do have a few Brits in our midst. It’s entirely possible that their families moved to Walcott just a couple generations ago and made Walcott their home. Though it’s also possible the came over to America long ago and decided to settle in Walcott. That’s entirely up to you. And this probably only applies to the Black and Eaton families. So I’m going to leave the history up to the people playing those families but just know that it is a possibility.

Who are the Turner Witch Hunters? While the Turners have returned to Walcott off and on for many years, they’ve spent most of their adult lives traveling the country (and sometimes even outside of the country) hunting for witches and polishing their skills. Along the way, they’ve met several other hunters and formed relationships.

While they are called a witch hunting group, in reality they don’t really travel as a group. Membership of the Turner Witch Hunters means only that they have formed an alliance with the Turners and would be willing to show up if the Turners ever need help.

When the Turners first return to Walcott, they believe they can handle the situation themselves. But as the council refuses to believe witches are in their midst, the Turners will realize that they can’t handle this themselves and call in reinforcements.

The Turners will then put out a call to all of the other hunters in their alliance. The ones listed as characters here are the ones who answer the call. Therefore, these hunters might not all know one another (though it’s very likely that they do) and they might not have seen the Turners in a number of years. They all just happened to show up to help.

The Turner group is actually huge since they’ve been traveling for a lot of years and have met a lot of other hunters. So the ones who answer this call are just a small number of all the hunters that are in the group. Although they probably called a lot of others, some might not be able to travel or might be busy doing other things.

While the Turner Witch Hunters are listed with our characters now and have all already been taken, they won’t show up in Walcott until a bit deeper into our events. Though the Turners themselves arrive in Walcott almost immediately after the roleplay begins.

What is the College Coven? This is a group made up of the siblings (and in one case the child) of prominent council members. But don’t be deceived by the name. These kids are not actual witches. They are simply a red herring.

The group was formed by Julia Greene, Jake Leister and Maddie Winslow. The three have been friends since childhood and completely believe that witches exist in Walcott. Therefore, they have asked a group of their closest friends (or, at least, a group of other kids they’ve known for a long time) to join their “coven”.

Their intent is to try to harness the power they believe is flowing through Walcott and see if they can feed off of it. They wish to seek out the witches they know are hiding in Walcott (before the council gets ahold of them) and see if they can learn their secrets. But, until they are able to find the Walcott witches, they have started meeting in the woods and trying their hand at witchcraft.

For the purposes of this roleplay, one of their meetings in the woods will be witnessed by someone in town and reported to the council. Although the council doesn’t know of the existence of the coven or who is a member, they will know by the end of the roleplay.

The coven is meant to be one of the catalysts in this roleplay to help keep the witch rumors alive and well since, as their secrets begin to be discovered, they will start finding new creative places to hold their meetings.

Also, not all of the members of the coven are to be trusted. Anna Black and Sam Eaton are anything but believers (which can “harm the energy” of the coven), Hannah Clarke is on a mission of revenge, and Alice Cooper and Zack Gardiner are trying their hand at destroying Julia. May Harris may be the only other member who truly believes in their cause.

Whatever the case, the college coven is completely against the witch hunt though they’re too young to be council members. So they’ll fight in their own way.

And did I also mention they will also end up starting the witch hunt? Oops.

[outtofcapecod]

-- MAY 1693 --

The last trial is held to search out the famous witches of Salem. The subject is put to rest and the search is at its end. But the story is far from over. At the end of the trials, a group left Salem to find a new beginning-- one where they could live out their lives in peace. Lead by Mary Walcott, they created a new town which was named in her honor. It was a small town that could only be found by those who knew where to go. But, for a hundred years, they lived in peace. Then, they were infiltrated by outsiders. And, slowly, their little town began to grow. They found that, once more, they had to hide themselves from the world. They had to blend.

But blend they did. The witches lived on. They never truly aged. They never died. They held prominent places in town and, when someone got to close to the truth, they died. The coven remained tight-knit and, together, they managed to strengthen their magic. They vowed to never again face the horrors they'd faced in Salem. Thus as their powers grew, they learned to manipulate the town for their own good. Essentially, they learned to live harmoniously with the outsiders. They learned how to hide in plain sight...

-- PRESENT DAY --

Although the trials ended over 300 years prior, the witches have lived on. Although the town expanded, it's still populated by a little less than a hundred individuals. Everyone knows one another and lives together harmoniously. However, unbeknownst to the rest of the town, the witches have carefully controlled the towns people for far too long. Their magic is stronger than ever and only growing with each passing day.

But when William Johnson, a townsman, is killed-- seemingly by a wild animal-- followed closely by the death of Henry Jacobs, the local blacksmith, suspicions start to arise. It is then that an anonymous letter is read before the town council, describing a scene witnessed in the woods. A group were witnessed dancing and chanting around an open fire. The names of the two victims could be heard clearly. The letter didn't name any names but it started what it believed them to be: witches.

And now, 300 hundred years later, the hunt will begin again. The Salem Witches will, once more, be sought out, accused and tried before the people they thought they could trust in a town where they thought they'd remain safe. In the small town of Walcott, Massachusetts, it's become a modern day Salem and, this time, the townspeople won't rest until the witches are dead-- each and every one of them.