Hey guys!
A note from Kero here, but seeing as it's halfwayish though the event now, and everyone is going to want a conclusion, I'm here to hit you up for some information!
As most of you know, I'm going to be writing the final scene in this event. But I don't want to do it entirely alone!! I'd probably go insane if I tried!
What I need from you guys, after you've sent me all those wonderful logs and things and stuff for the event (and even if you haven't!) is a good idea of what your characters are thinking and feeling by the end here, and what they might be able to do to help so the Bishop will be able to take off and escape where so many other ships have been failing.
This is VERY IMPORTANT if you want correct representation in the conclusion!
So just send it to me/discuss it with me over Pesterchum, or send me a note at crystal-rex on deviantart, or send me a note on here, and I'll use it in any way I can!
~Kero
The Taking of the Xantulous: Seven Minutes in Hell
Here it is.
It's been a long wait. God, has it been a long wait. For those of you that have stayed along for the ride with me on this whole shebang... thank you. Seriously, you guys make this thing worth keeping going. For those that haven't been able to keep on... thank you too. For the time you were here, you made things so much fun, and that's not the kind of thing anyone forgets.
BUT!
Right now we have an event to focus on!
I know, I know, 'Whoah Kero what kind of event is this?' and 'I didn't hear anything about this!' but that was probably because for the last several months -I've- been the one that was busy. Yeah, I know, weird right? Since when do I have a life?
Since now, apparently. Balance is hard. Still figuring that out.
But in the meantime, I've written up a little intro for you guys. It's a fun thing I did to cameo some characters, get people up to speed on events going on behind the scenes, and basically set the premise for what's going down.
Why am I doing this?
Because, dear fellow Bishops, this event does not have a day it occurs.
'What?'
Yeah you heard me. There is no day.
Schedules don't match up. No one has days off anymore and the effort to bring everyone together for one big day of RP isn't feasible anymore, and just ends up with hurt feelings most of the time, and we have to leave some people out that we'd really rather have in. So I'm doing this.
I give you the premise.
I give you the prompt.
You hit the ground running and gather up whomever you want to RP with that's available at the moment, and get your characters into whatever hard, impossible situation you want them to get into.
There's plenty to choose from.
The Empire has come. The Xantulous is under Martial Law, and the Alternian government is showing no mercy to the entertainment vessel. Contingents of drones have been sent in to quell resistance and cull those that have broken Alternian Law. There is no such thing as safety and even if you haven't broken the law, there's no guarantee that you'll come out alive. Trolls will crawl over trolls to try and escape, and though a few might slip through the Empire's grasp on the ship, fighter drones lie in wait to pick off any vessels that manage to take off from the Xantulous in an effort to abandon ship.
Your trolls have to get to the Bishop by any means possible, or if they want, some other vessel. Chances are, it probably won’t offer them much refuge, but it's still their best chance at getting out alive. What happens, either on the Bishop or off it, is up to you
This event ends on the 19th
That's ten days... and I know it's not a long time, but we have another event in the works that comes right after. The delay is my doing, I apologize.
When the RPs have been done, you have several options.
-Send the logs to "The Bad Bishop Connection" on Tumblr, note the logs to 'crystal-rex' on Deviantart, or catch me on Pesterchum on my normal gravityMortician handle.
-Make a splash page and/or a short story about what happens to your trolls. Send or post by same methods above.
-Let me know what you want to happen to your trolls in detail so I may include it in the conclusion I'll write for the event after it's done.
If you have any questions, let me know!
(Also if I didn't Cameo your troll, that doesn't mean I didn't want to! It just means that some people I weren't sure if they would want me to do that. I didn't want to step on any toes! Plus it was getting REALLY LONG!!)
The Taking of the Xantulous: Seven Minutes in Hell
It was a torture and a blessing both to hear so much that not a single thing goes unnoticed. Had he been any less practiced, maybe, or any less able to shut out the voices that weren't so important, Tanbat might have gone insane sweeps ago. To some, he may already have been.
"Helm.playSound("Captain...wav");" The ship shakes again, and only Tanbat and a few other helmsman would know why. Tattered ears that have long since been deaf and useless try to lower as the brownblooded helmsman hears them all through his psionics. They're targeting the helmsman first, crippling the ship and taking out power sources so that it can't run...
"☠ I know. ☠" And in the background, almost too quiet, Nivets speaks under her breath. "☠ We'll get out. I'm coming. Tan, I'll be there. Don't worry. ☠"
'They'll get out'. The helmsman doesn't respond to his Indigo Captain and she doesn't speak again. There's too much to listen to otherwise, anyhow. Somewhere, a secretary is rattling off names and offenses to one of the official judicial agents, in other places, fighters are being sent out to take care of escapees...
Space is soundless, but he doesn't need the sounds of the explosions to hear the reports come in of the ships that have been destroyed.
In silence and solitude, Tanbat quivers.
~~~
"Ya have ta make ssssomething other than candy! Ya can't jusssst expect the sssship ta run on nothing but ssssnack food!" Maybe for some trolls it would be a suitable diet, but not these. The tray and candy-making tools rattle as they slide down the counter, so fast that if the Indigo in her tophat hadn't slammed her hand down to stop it, everything she'd been working on for the past hour would have scattered across the floor.
"I-!"
A retort was forthcoming, but the lurch of the floor proved more pressing than a familiar fight. Surprised out of their rage, both Indigo and greenblood cling to the counters for balance.
"What the hell..."
The scream of a microphone being adjusted is like an assault. Both trolls hold their ears, wincing as the speakers even on the Bishop crackle to life and blare a voice none of them recognize.
Across all of the Xantulous, the words are the same. Through every speaker, on every intercom, the world itself is besieged by one singular voice of authority. And trolls listen. Hearts sinking, eyes searching upwards as if the announcement system of the ship comes from some heavenly force, they wait for something they know, deep in every instinctual pit of their bodies, is coming.
"[ ... ]"
And below the kitchens, where the yelling of an Indigo and Greenblood has been nothing but a muffled background to their own exuberant studies in the wonders of Navigation, a Tealblood, Brownblood, and Cerulean exchange glances-
-An instant before the Tealblood grabs the Cerulean's shirt and shakes him desperately.
"[ Rorick! Ow! I'm still heali-! ]"
"Oh my gOD I still OWE thE TROll REvENuE SERvicE tEN caEgaRs thEy'RE gOiNg tO kill mE YERmaN DO yOu havE tEN caEgaRs ON yOu I DON’t WaNt tO DiE I'm tOO bEautiful aND WONDERful I'm WORth tEN caEgaRs Right WhERE's Scat TiRRaN DO yOu havE caEgaRs plEasE say yEs!!"
~~~
▌"This║is║no║mistake."▐
The hopeful smile has long since been wiped from the darker Cerulean's face. As lavish as they are, the hotel hallways are nothing but another aspect of prison now. The frantic whispering of uncertain trolls chatter in hushed tones all around her like the voices of ghosts as she clings close to the door she had been thinking of knocking on not more than a few minutes ago. No... no, this can't be happening. Not again...
"YermAn?" Finally, her voice squeaks out, and she taps her knuckles against the door as the announcement continues on.
No answer. With a dry throat, the Cerulean steps back and stares at the door. Maybe he could be... No, no... God no...
▌"Anyone║with║the║caegars║to║pay║for║silence."▐
"Get A hold of yovrself, |<AstiA." She almost snaps at herself. There were a lot more trolls that needed her. She had a job to do, and she needed to do it. She couldn't hang around here hoping... She was a pilot. She was the pilot for the Bishop. She could do more good there... right?
Almost as soon as the thought is in her head, she turns around and takes off running down the hallway toward the elevators.
~~~
▌"Such║false║freedoms║have║their║price."▐
Silence doesn't quite prevail in a small restaurant hidden away in a more peaceful corner of the Xantulous. Just like every other troll, and just like in every other area, the seadweller and the greenblood at the table look up as the walls ring with the commanding tones of the Empire. But though the seadweller stands, her fists balled and ready, the idea of 'enemy' wasn't so simple as something physical to subdue. Defiance wouldn't matter; it was just a useless gesture thrown in the face of authority with as much effect as a wad of spit to the ground.
"/\/\/ Sit down. /\/\/" Her companion stares into the drink set in front of her. Maybe, just this once, she wishes it could have been something stronger than tea.
"what good will th@t do? it's not like-!"
"/\/\/ Sit down, Magnia. /\/\/" Her cup hits the table solidly with a thump that cuts the young seadweller off like an axe splitting logs. Yet the silence is an uncomfortable one. Unsaid words crowd the tip of the more volatile female's tongue, kept back only by the virtue of grit teeth as she hesitates.
"f@stny?" Just as the seadweller was about to sit down, the greenblood stands up. The screech of her chair betrays the speed of the movement; though the lower castemember's face is set into an impassive mask that says nothing of her own thoughts on the matter. "but I w@s-"
"/\/\/ We're going. /\/\/" The tone brooks no argument. Magnia falters to a stop, fixing Fastny with a worried glance before she follows the greenblood out of the restaurant.
~~~
Neither of them knows they're being watched.
Just outside the restaurant, far enough away that the patrons of the Xantulous create a barrier between him and the small place to eat, there's just another figure in the crowd. Unlike the others, though, this one isn't looking up as if he expects the Empire and all it's forces to explode from the rafters like holy judgment from above. Instead, he's hunched away, his wide-brimmed hat drawn low over his eyes as a communicator shakes in his fingers. Every breath is a ragged one, screaming his thoughts for anyone that could have bothered to look. 'Can I risk it?' is written in the way he holds the communication device.
Did they already have a bug recording ship-wide communications?
Would he just be making it worse?
Did they already have him??
He has the communicator flipped open at the thought before he even knows what he's doing. Can't stop. Stopping meant doubting, stopping meant that he'd never be able to keep pressing the buttons, or that he might throw the communicator on the ground rather than grip it even harder as a familiar voice comes on over the other end of the line.
"◁◆▷Zalkes? Zalkes, what's going on? ◁◆▷"
Relief. Zalkes almost drops the communicator, and he lurches to keep a grip on it as he follows the progress of Magnia and Fastny not more than a dozen yards away. They're headed in a familiar direction... It's probably the best idea. "Get yerr assh to the ship. Don't be sheen."
That's it. That's the message. Zalkes only has time to hear the words '◁◆▷6ut I thought you were fired? ◁◆▷' come from the device before he cancels the call.
~~~
"How did thiß happen?" The warning had come early, but still far too late. No one could have predicted the kind of force the Empire would come to call with, bearing down all it's crushing power on one ship that, in it's hubris, had thought itself too large to be under the thumb of it's leaders. Only now, too late, do they realize how small they really were. Only now, when ships twice and three times the size linger just a hyperjump away, do they see just what idiots they've been.
The blueblood could scramble all he wanted, but no amount of papers, yelling, or previous experiences in the Alternian military were going to get him anywhere. He, more than most of the trolls on the ship, knew it. But still he clutched to it, digging through papers and running across the room to check on computers and communications, trying to appease that which could not be appeased.
He knew how this had happened.
"come intto my lairrr, said tthhe skeetterrr tto tthhe boll..."
The blueblood whips around, sceleras already darkening as he reaches for Remy's insufferable neck. The tattooed Indigo is surprisingly agile in avoiding the grab. He ducks under the others' hand, hissing his words into ears that don't want to hear it.
"i'll only ttake a littttle bitte; you'll barrrely feel itts ttoll."
"You did thiß!! Your blatant fetißh for chaoß and dißregard for the ruleß have-" Anger isn't something the blueblood usually shows. His face so twisted, he looks for an instant like he's about to rip Remy a new breathing hole before a metal hand claps across his mouth. The sheer shock and audacity of the movement staggers him, forcing him back.
"you know, weevil, you sound like a few ttrrrolls i know." Weevil doesn't allow the hand for long. With a snarl, he smacks Remy's arm away. A sniper rifle wasn't meant for close quarters, but at this point, it was unlikely the blueblood cares. Even as he aims, his face twists in his attempts to get a better measure of control over his own actions, breath heaving as he fixes the sights on the tattooed Indigo's damndable head.
"go ahhead and shhoott an agentt of tthhe empirrrical tthhrrrone. i'm surrre tthhe counttess would be justt overrrjoyed if i'm dead."
He gives him a long time to shoot. Remy waits, allowing the information to sink in as the gun slowly lowers and finally drops to the floor. After that, the Indigo exits without a word, leaving Weevil amid his papers and documents; he leaves the ship to it's steady rising hysteria as trolls start to realize that the Empire doesn't intend to disappear without it's pound of flesh. And when he comes to the middle of it, he just opens his arms to the rising chaos, and laughs.
"tthhe tthhing aboutt a hhouse of carrrds, junebug... itt always inevittably tturrrns intto a game of fiftty-ttwo pickup."
Every troll had to stop sometime. There was no such thing as running indefinitely, and to try could only get one so hopelessly lost in the end that finding the way became next to impossible. Still, it was unlikely that the lone jadeblood cared so much about the philosophies of running away. What mattered was that, amid the plethora of patrons that came and went on the floors of the Xantulous, there were none that took the time to notice his short, stocky figure passing by. No troll bothered to look at his bandaged face, or inquire about the way he sometimes had to feel his way along the walls as if he were blind.
No troll cared, and that was just as well.
"/greAt...\" But still, he was lost. What had started as a mad dash to escape a fate he was certain was coming for him had turned into a whole other mess, with just as much risk. The jadeblood fights not to rub at his damaged eyes any more than he already has, peering around as if the blurry shapes and blobs that were his world now would grant him any more insight onto his situation.
Nothing looked like a ship hangar, and if he started asking, he would look suspicious.
But the ship is like a giant city. There were always places, out of the way and mostly private, where one could gather their thoughts. It doesn't take the jadeblood long to find one of these deserted areas. No one comes here, and no one is going to notice a bandaged, mid-caste bum sitting on the floor. Not just for a few minutes, anyhow, just long enough to figure out where to go from here and then be on his way...
~~~~
"☠ Thank you, Tanbat. ☠"
The impassive voice comes quiet amid the backdrop of the ship's daily life. In fact, it almost goes unheard as the dark figure stares down at the slumped form of a certain bandaged jadeblood. Her hair, always so wild and defiant of gravity, overhangs her face and forces her to tilt her head slightly to the side just to see the quietly sleeping troll before her. The soft tones of her voice don't disturb him, and he sleeps on.
That's good.
"Helm.playSound("Dyrigi_Kvasir_expressed_concerns_of_his_usefulness_to_the_Bishop.wav");" Tanbat's voice, always disembodied, comes with a surprising lack of prompt. The Bishop's helmsman can't see Nivets, nor can he see the situation. Only the cameras on the Xantulous would have given him a bird's eye view of the goings on, and Dyrigi's little corner is well away from the digital eyes of the ship. So the helmsman is left only to hear the slight hints of sound as his Captain peruses the contents of her Sylladex.
"☠ He's lost most of the use of his eyes. The possibility of his sight deteriorating and eventually failing altogether is high. Manning and maintaining weaponry would be difficult, if not impossible. ☠" As flat and factual as ever, she answers. A syringe emerged from her sylladex, as well as a vial of liquid, and with the casual ease of long experience, the mowhawked troll draws out a dose... and keeps drawing.
The syringe is filled with almost ten doses before she takes it free of the vial.
Silence answers her. Tanbat had his own rules of conduct. She'd answered his 'question', and there was nothing more he could say without speaking out of turn. Still, there was a sense of something disapproving lingering in that silence, something unspoken that the helmsman may want to say, but simply wouldn't.
She ignores it. Instead, her steps draw her quietly closer to the sleeping troll. Without the bandages covering a good deal of it, his face could have been peaceful; certainly, he doesn't seem to react or be having any kind of nightmare as she reaches out and softly takes his arm in her hand. Living flesh... heh. There's a smile that plays over her painted face, and a curious light in her dark indigo eyes as she places the needle where the vein runs beneath skin.
"and hherrre i tthhoughhtt you werrre big on saving people." The sudden iron grip on her wrist is the only warning she gets. The needle never gets more than a prick into flesh before the Indigo's hand is shoved back into her armored chest with enough force that she nearly drops the syringe. "whhatt tthhe hhell arrre you even doing?"
"☠ Remy?? ☠" Remy doesn't stop. Even with her hand pressed into her chest, he shoves forward. The mohawked troll is forced to step back or lose her balance. "☠ What are you-?? ☠"
"i asked you firrrstt. whhatt even is tthhis?" Metal fingers force her own open with robotic strength, dropping the syringe into a waiting hand. By the time the other troll recovers enough to snatch for it, he's already examining the liquid inside. Neither of the two Indigos have much mind for the jadeblood, nor for the sudden, soft jerk that comes before his eyes snap open. Damaged as they are, they still widen in recognition of the shapes before him, and...
...And they lock on the syringe Remy holds out accusingly at the Captain. "a letthhal overrrdose of acettaminophhen? fucking hhell, nivetts; hhe isn'tt even eighhtt sweeps old!"
It's all it takes. With a sudden lurch and a scuffle of shoes on metal floor, Dyrigi is as good as gone. "☠ Dyrigi! ☠" His name only spurs him on faster as he focuses his damaged eyes on the hallway and the shadows of trolls passing to and fro. He could lose them both, find a ship, and-
"/Let|gO|Of|me!\" Desperation has a way of making even the injured find strength. As Remy's cybernetic hand closes on Dyrigi's wrist with robotic finality, the jadeblood lurches to a stop, but only long enough to get his footing as he swings around. Ill-aimed as it might have been, the punch connects solidly with the willowy Indigo's ribs.
"fucki-! fine~"
Pit against an injured, near blind troll, even Remy's less than average strength has an advantage. The Jadeblood staggers backward, pushed hard by a thin arm, and he has an instant to see the gravity defying hair of his Captain before the world goes dark again.
"☠ Oof! ☠" Nivets' face twists as the sudden, full weight of the unconscious troll slams into her chest. With a single light shove, she lets him crumple the rest of the way to the floor. "☠ ...You have some reason to care about this. ☠"
The words aren't for Dyrigi's prone form, and it's not a question. Passive, curious eyes left from the sight of the jadeblood crumpled at her feet, studying the other Indigo. Not for an instant would she miss Remy's wince as he rubs two fingers into his chest gently. For once, there's no smug smirk. There's no smile, no jokes, no coy games... There's just a serious, businesslike Indigo staring at her without a trace of amusement. "you wantt itt bluntt, junebug...?"
And that could be the scariest thing of all.
"tthhe... tthhe empirrre will be hh-hherrre in less tthhan ttwo hhourrrs."
"☠ What. ☠" Dark indigo eyes vanish in a sudden blink, but there's no time to process or recover. Already, the other Indigo continues, his face splitting into more of a grimace than a grin.
"look att tthhatt... tthhe grrreattestt ttimerrr in tthhe univerrrse tticking down, and everrryone's littttle adventturrre getts a littttle morrre overrr witthh everrry passing second. perrrigees go fastt, and you forrrgett whhy you werrre hherrre in tthhe firrrstt place, don'tt you?" Remy's laugh is quiet and pained, and it chokes off at the end before he can even finish. Nivets doesn't have to answer; he doesn't expect her to and in the end, it doesn't matter. The soft 'plop' of spit blood splatters on the floor beneath him, and he makes a face at it before wiping his lips.
"no one's going tto waitt forrr you tto grrrow up. ttime tto ttake a crrrashh courrrse, junebug.~" The twitch of painted ears is the only indication that she even hears him. Almost balefully, Remy's split color eyes follow her movements as she reaches down to check Dyrigi's pulse.
She stands a moment later. "☠ Take him to the Bishop. ☠"
Maybe she expected the sudden snort of laughter. Nivets' eyes study Remy, as if trying to figure out the angle on this strange, tall, mutated Indigo. But any and all thoughts vanish as the ship suddenly shakes. Her head snaps up, eyes locking on the lights as each and every one across the Xantulous flickers. They struggle valiantly for several moments as if the ship is going through some strange battle of wills. But then, with sinking finality, the lights stay off, and the emergency lights come on instead. Bathed in red and yellow, she hisses to herself.
"☠ Take him, or I leave without him. ☠"
It's a death sentence, and she doesn't wait for him to give his opinion on her leaving her crewmember's fate to him. Nivets steps to the street, where dozens of trolls look up in horror at the sudden sight of the wires and metal rafters that make up the actual interior of the ship, and vanishes into the crowd.
"i know hhow muchh you enjoy hhaving tthhe exttrrra worrrk on yourrr platte."The communications booth was only one of many, spread across the Xantulous like a webwork of personal cell phone towers. They were places where the Operators worked, directing and monitoring calls from hundreds of trolls that missed their matesprits, moirails, kismesis, auspitices, or the gods knew who else. And generally, they made a good, though perhaps not entirely safe, method of getting word to any troll a certain individual felt like getting a hold of.
Generally.
When just one troll wasn't currently using them all at once, anyhow.
The troll that lounged in the Operator's seat was tall, almost too tall for the chair, and he seemed to delight in that fact by holding his legs hooked up over the side of the chair in perfect irreverence of whomever he happened to be speaking to. He leaned his head back, cracking his neck over the back of the chair as he waited for a response. It wasn't long in coming.
"all accountted forrr. my, my, mrrr. ttrrrikett. drrropping suchh ttittles on suchh an unsecurrred line. isn'tt tthhatt outt of bounds forrr tthhe vicerrroyl's emissarrry?" Nothing stopped him from dropping his own slew of names. Idly, the tall troll looked back, peering through his curled horns at the distinctly curious looking troll sitting at the miniature 'helm' station, as if asking 'are you getting this'? If the slight iota of concern coming into the yellowblood's eyes had any sway in the matter, he might be.
His concern would have been doubled if he'd been able to see the troll on the screen. "▌You║mean║to║tell║me║that║you║have║contacted║this║ship║on║ an║unsecured║channel,║Noumenon?▐"
"itt cerrrttainly makes tthhings morrre intterrrestting, doesn'tt itt? ohh, tthhe scandal! tthhe inttrrrigue! ohh, wattchh tthhe empirrre's secrrretts slip away and burrrn in tthhe pitts of tthhe hhell tthhey keep well underrr tthheirrr feett! ohh nooooo~" The 'Noumenon' laughed, leaning his head back and letting the sound bounce off the walls around him. Almost dismissively, he raised a hand, gesturing at his conversation partner. "...tthhen again, you werrre always one tto play tthhings by tthhe books, werrren'tt you, -sttockade-?"
"▌You║were║always║one║to║deliberately║pretend║you║cannot║read║between║the║lines. ║Now,║as║you║have║called║on║an║official║channel,║and║this║is║official║business,║state║your ║business,║and║provide║the║proper║documentation.▐" The slight heated edge of the other troll's words never changed, and yet there was the slightest sense of 'control' dripping from every syllable, as if the speaker were keeping himself forcefully from speaking in any other way.
"itt's on itts way." For all of that, the troll draped across the chair shrugged. Once more, eyes flicked to the side, scanning over the yellowblood that was manning the communications helm. "...in factt, i tthhink itt mighhtt be on a rrrushh deliverrry."
Silence was the smartest course of action. Any other day, maybe, the yellowblood might have been making comments, or even enjoying himself. Today had a different sense to it, and not just because the yellowblood had already hacked all of the secured files and read over them at his leisure, either. The veiled threat in the last statement didn't go over his head.
Send the files quickly, or die. That was the choice.
Still, hesitation was clear. Yellow eyes met strangely split indigo and green, challenging and searching for any way out of being the one troll that had to do this. But mercy was not in the Indigo's agenda today. A metal hand rested against his chin, one metal finger tapping oh so slowly against his lips as he waited. Silent, the question 'do you really want to risk it?' lingered unspoken, challenging back tenfold against those accusing yellow eyes.
A beep from the console could have been the hearts of every troll on the Xantulous breaking at once. In that instant, the stare off is broken, and the Indigo's gaze flicks to the screen.
▌"I║don't║see║what's║so║funny."▐ It's done. Judging by the distracted silence from the voice, he's already reading. That the Indigo is laughing as if someone had just told him a hilarious joke is just background noise. He's an Indigo, how much can one expect?
"of courrrse you don'tt." Metal fingers tap on his forehead as he chokes out the words. "you don'tt hhave a sense of hhumorrr~"
▌"All's║the║better."▐ A snort punctuates the sentiment as the sound of clicking keys comes faintly from the speakers. ▌"Will║that║be║all,║Noumenon?"▐
"neverrr." Before the other troll can respond, the call is cut. Left with just a blank screen and the buzzing of electricity, the Indigo's attention is free to wander. So slowly, ever so slowly, the chair turns. It's hard to say if the yellowblood's gaze has ever once moved, though. Still accusing, still angry, it lingers on him. "cowarrrd."
With that one word, the expression cracks. The yellowblood almost flinches, energy crackling around him and then being sucked away by the safety measures built into the helm station he was strapped into. "I.Am.Not.A.Coward.For.Refusing.To.Betray.My.Employer."
"you'rrre a cowarrrd forrr making some otthherrr hhelmsman do itt."
Like a slap, the retort is left to sting as the tall troll finally unfurls himself from the chair. Somewhere, one innocent helmsman has no idea that a file they were delegated to send held the fate of every troll on the Xantulous within it's digital pages. Everywhere else on the ship, life goes on as normal. The yellowblood may have even been enjoying watching it from the safety of the helm. But not today.
With a metal hand on the door, the tall, tattooed Indigo glances back. The helmsman's expression will never change, but for all his impotent rage, there's only a grin in return. "be surrre tto warrrn yourrr frrriends, rrreniga."
Laughter lingers in the air until the door shuts behind him, leaving the room in silence again but for the sudden crack of energy that even the safety regulations can't hold back.
(TL;DR: Actually, you may want to read this. So please do. If you're disappointed with reading it, yell at me in the comments for wasting a few minutes of your life. I hope you aren't, though!
This is one of the biggest issues roleplayers have that I've seen. It's easy to think of two characters, but then a hundred other questions pop up, and here I am, out to tell you the what, whys, hows, and ehs of this type of thing! So without further ado, lets focus on the first aspect of our scene creating powers...
1a. Environment
Oho, you thought it would be characters, right? Not so! In my own opinion, the most important aspect you can ever have in a scene is the setting. The environment you place your characters in MUST challenge them or complement them in some way, or your story and roleplay loses much of its intended effect. Just as a docile player may show more of their true self in a peaceful environment, they will display no initiative to move the story or plot along and may end up stagnating in boring dialogue. The same goes for a dramatic scene. If you set a fight scene that is meant to cause dramatic tension in an empty room, you are effectively cutting your own throat, because there is nothing to use other than the floor, and no one to see the action or cause NPC interaction.
But lets go on a small tangent before we get a little deeper into the necessity of environments and why a roleplay needs more than just the most generic base.
NPCs (aka Non-Player Characters).
Why would I need NPC interaction? I can just see you asking yourself that. And I ask you this. Do you buy anything when you go out to a store? Doesn't work very well when you don't have a cashier, does it? Unless everyone in your world gets the day off from work and is hopelessly addicted to the internet at home, there should be more people than your own characters drifting about. These people help set an environment, and they help flesh out a world for your character to be in, even if they're just a mention on the fly. Contrary to popular belief, your character DOES NOT have to ONLY talk to the character your RP partner(s) is providing.
In fact, it grants insight, believability, and interest to drag more characters into a scene. They are a very important and necessary part of any populated setting.
Thank you.
Now back to Environment and how it affects what you roleplay.
Basically, the simple truth of it is if you want something to happen in your roleplay, the first step is to try not to kill yourself before you start with the wrong -where- you roleplay, or god forbid forget this aspect altogether and just throw characters on a white plane of space. What are you doing?? Stop that! If you want -action-, pick a setting that caters to action. An active volcano is a wonderful place for drama. So is a bathroom, and a restaurant, and a crowded hallway. An out of the way corner or walk-in pantry can provide a good setting for a comfort RP where two characters want to be alone, but can't quite remove themselves entirely. A windowsill outside a small shop can invite scenes from the street or hallway to affect characters, or even inside the shop.
The -very first- challenge your character has is adapting to where they are. Make the most out of it.
1b. Characters
Yeah, here's a big one. Making a scene involving characters is sometimes a total flop because people chose -the wrong characters to interact-. Even I've done this on occasion. I get an RP set up. I have an environment and characters all ready, and then I get started and realize suddenly that -these characters don't fit together at all-.
In some ways, it's an exercise in foresight. You have to have a bit of an idea of how your characters respond to one another and how far you can stretch an RP so it ends up satisfying for both you and the person you're RPing with (when did RP become sex, btw?). Otherwise there are bad feelings all around (*cough cough hack cough*) and the RP usually ends up unfinished or forgotten.
Aka. Do not choose characters that SUCK when put together (*cough hack coughs some more*).
A good example would be two completely docile characters that will not make any action unless prompted by another character. You will end up with a very long, very slow RP that generally has -nothing happen- in the entire thing. You will not be happy about this. Believe me. You must choose characters that can play off from one another and keep up a steady pace of dialogue and interaction to keep interest. As for what characters can achieve that together? There are no standards that define that. You have to -know- your own creations and how you use them. So think wisely.
1c. Conflict
Too much or two little, both can be an issue. So you have your characters, you have your scene, and you have your environment, right? But ain't nothing gonna happen unless there's some sort of conflict! This is something a lot of new Rpers tend to avoid because we, as a society, are taught that CONFLICT BAD. So we often end up shy even when it's not in character to do so. But the entire basis of any story is rooted in some sort of strife. Look anywhere and you can see it, even in the driest ancient novel from the most censored Grimoire in history (disclaimer: I have no idea what book that might be, or what's actually in it, but now I'm curious).
So you can't be too afraid to cause something in an RP. I'm not saying jump in out of character and start slashing everyone a new smile on their chests just because you think an RP is too boring, I'm saying -there is always something to work toward or against-. Large scale conflict -does- tend to be more interesting, and you can involve more people and spawn more RPs, but you can't forget the small conflicts of everyday life, either. Character disagreements and NPC comments can make for great ways to illustrate an issue without throwing it in the face of someone you're RPing with. We all don't go around flying off the handle at each other because sudden mass shootouts make life more fun or anything. I don't really expect serious characters to go that route, and you shouldn't either.
However, if you are at a loss for conflict, there is advice I heard somewhere that amounts to 'when in doubt, add ninjas'. Of course it isn't (generally) literal. It means that if you simply cannot find something for your character to work toward, when you are -utterly- at a loss, then be spontaneous! If you don’t have something fully figured out yet... don't worry. Roleplay has a way of developing on it’s own, and as your characters seek to uncover the mystery of this new thing, you will slowly be able to discover what you were doing all on your own, and (hopefully) bring it to a satisfying conclusion with the sense that you really had a wild ride.
A sidenote about conflict and characters together. I talked about docile characters earlier, and how too little conflict and too little initiative can stall a plot. A mouthy character can be a wonderful thing that sparks character development, conflict, and action all on their own. However, a mouthy character that has -too much- aptitude for causing issues has a potential to completely destroy and derail a plot all on it's own. The door swings both ways. Either way, when you get on too much of a tangent from the original plot, you threaten to lose your way in the forest, and there's no magic thread that will get you back easily.
Do it, but don't -overdo- it.
Oh hey! Welcome back for section two! This section deals with another big issue people have in roleplays that I've seen (and hey, I've had these issues too!), and how to deal with them as they come up. So pull up a chair, have a sit, and clap your hands, because it's time for ACTION.
2a. Action: Fighting
Here's a doozy I've seen people pitch a fit about. Fighting. It happens, especially when you have that little thing called CONFLICT down pat. Normally, two sensible Rpers with even tempers can RP characters fighting with no issues. Rpers that have a long history together will do it commonly and make it look incredibly easy, but the truth is, feelings get hurt when your character does. You can't avoid it, it just happens.
The one thing I always recommend if you're going to have characters fight and aren’t used to your current RP partner? KEEP UP A DIALOGUE OOC. Discuss the moves you're making, clarify what you don’t understand, and above all -decide who will win or what will happen-. Do NOT fight for supremacy via your 'avatar'd characters'. That's just asking for trouble, and it isn't trouble you want when you're trying to enjoy yourselves.
Your character is not invincible; they WILL get hurt unless the fight is a more friendly or very short one. This is the one area where people get up in arms about most, and generally, I find that letting go is a good policy. Do not baby your character; they got into a fight and now they have to deal with it if it hurts. On the opposite route, do not put your character on the 'I am the best' pedestal and powerplay your way to victory, ignoring all wounds in the meantime. You will lose respect and often, you will lose most (if not all) RP you used to get from your opponent. It's not that hard to ask someone if you can do a cool move you just thought up that involves having to autohit, but it is VERY hard to be forgiven for ignoring your opponent's wishes.
Be sensible. Be smart. And be sociable. Fighting doesn't have to be this huge and terrible challenge.
2b. Action: Body Language
This is something so many people miss, and I thought it deserved it's own section because it gets ignored so often.
You see; humans (and most other creatures) are a highly visual species. Normally, this behavior can migrate to RPs, though it -rarely- does beyond the obvious for the sake of speed. A smile is an example of obvious body language. So is a laugh, or a frown, or giving someone the finger.
But what about the more subtle cues? Here. Let me lay down a good example to show you just what I mean about all of this:
'He walked to the counter angrily, put down his drink, and said, "I need my money."'
This gets the point across, right? Guy's angry. He wants his money, and he has a drink. What kind of drink is it? Don't care; don't need to be that specific. The fact that he has one is enough. But lets try this again using body cues, the language that can say so much more without having to say much at all:
'He moved to the counter stiffly, hitting his drink down with a hard 'CLUNK' as he growled, "I need my money."'
Wow, look at that! You don't even have to know what emotion the character is conveying to know he's PISSED. In the first sentence, if we took out the word 'angrily'... well, the character could very well just be ambling up and mentioning something politely. He certainly doesn't seem angry.
Even in our minds, we as humans are visual creatures. We -need- these body cues to really get a sense of things. So while I will agree that just saying outright is a -faster- method, if you want that extra oomph to what you do, use the kind of actions that people have to really read into. It's amazingly helpful with characters that aren't inclined to talk much, and show most of their opinion in how they carry themselves.
2c. Dialogue
Oh, man this one. I think I could write for years and never actually convey everything there is about good dialogue. Or... bad dialogue, as the case may be. In fact I kind of dread even touching this subject, so I may end up giving some links to some great dialogue based tip essays to help you out on some of the other aspects. Here, for THIS tip segment, I want to focus on one thing I see happen in more RPs than I like.
Writing without a voice.
...I'm sure that's not the technical term for things. But basically, this is writing a character in your own OOC 'voice' that you use online. Believe it or not, people can actually tell if you're using a different 'tone' when you're writing your characters. So you have to be able to cultivate more than one dialogue style, or every single one of your characters will end up sounding -exactly the same-.
It does not matter if they all sound different in your head. You need to be able to use a different dialogue style for each one. That means each character says the same thing differently, depending on their personality.
I'll give some examples here. Let's try a simple one. These are all my own characters, so if you know them, try and guess before going to the next section where I'll explain each one.
~~~~~
1. "I don't know what you're talking about."
2. "I do not know what it is you speak of."
3. "I don't know, and you have more important things to be worrying about."
4. "I ah... yeah, I don't know."
5. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
6. "Mmn... And what if I don't know?"
~~~~~
Hey look, spoilers. I'm going to give you the characters and what aspects of them are displayed right here.
The first line is Nivets. By far one of the most direct of my characters when she -does- speak, Nivets has a casual cant, but she also seeks to get the point across without being too confusing. She knows what she's going to say, so there's no pausing.
The second line is Keshke. With an exotic background, Keshke seeks to speak in very clear enunciation, so she rarely uses contractions. Coupled with the way her words get paired together, and the words she uses, she ends up with a tone that seems somewhat unfamiliar with the language she's speaking, which is perfect for her character.
Third is Eitira, a character to which the welfare of others ends up more important than his own. Firm and businesslike, he gets right to the point and then extends that point to ask why YOU aren't thinking of better things to ask him than what he doesn't know. He's getting you back on track, but fairly gently, and that's in his character to do.
On the forth line, we have Trebillie. Always a little unsure of himself, Trebillie second-guesses himself often, which is why he ends up stammering a little in most of what he says. He knows he doesn't know, but he still has to check himself to make sure he's saying the right thing before he says it.
For the fifth line, we have the always-exuberant Rorick. Rorick rarely does anything quietly, and he can either be taken as offended by the question or excited. Either one is in his nature to be, though body language could define which one is in this particular sentence. Exclamation point for emphasis!
Sixth is definitely Remy. Suave and calm, he not only takes the question and turns it around, he almost -dares- the questioner to give him a better reason to answer it or not answer it as he sees fit. He's not going to give away if he even can or not, he just wants to see them squirm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You see what I mean now? While I can't give you a tutorial on how to do a good solid back and forth dialogue in your RPs, this is what I -can- give you. So if you start suspecting all your characters are starting to sound similar to one another, try an exercise like I just did. If they all have the exact same line written, you might really need to get some variation in there. Think about how they sound in your head, think about the voices you associate with them in everyday life, and try to emulate the parts of those things that can work for you AND them.
Useful links for using dialogue in a more bookish environment (and just fun to read anyway)
droemar.deviantart.com/journal…
droemar.deviantart.com/journal…
2d. Making Things Happen
Most people don't actually think they need help with this. But oh man have I seen so, SO many times when you get all your characters in a place, you have everything set up -perfectly-, and you know what happens? No one does anything. They just stand around and shrug or they offer some bland, sort of action(ish) idea that gets them nothing but a few moments to rope characters into pointless and roundabout dialogue.
And yeah, that's kind of boring. Sure, standing around and talking DOES have a place. Deep character development can be made there. But sometimes, you just can't stand to sit there anymore.
So you gotta MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN.
I will say this. I have seen things done to death and beyond where a character randomly pulls out some weapon/potion/box/mental disorder and suddenly throws it at everyone. Sure, this is GREAT for Crack RPs where nothing you're doing needs to really be canon, but seriously? Nothing you do in the 'make something happen' department should force other characters OR YOUR OWN to have to act out of character just to be involved. That will only make you lose your grasp on who your character even is, and it will put other people out of touch with any story you might have going.
Not to say you can't crack it up. But everyone should be on board, and it shouldn't be required to be canon. Crack is crack, story is story, and the two should only intermix SPARSELY if at all.
So how do we make shit go down?
Easy. Remember the 'Conflict' blurb from the last section? You're gonna need that. Say that your character has some issues (not mental issues, mental has been done to death and beyond) with either a person or something that can conceivably come up in this current roleplay. Maybe he/she knows someone else where this is taking place? You can easily add another character, and have a sudden interaction play out there, where your RP partner has the opportunity to become involved and either exacerbate the situation or quell a rising outburst. But that's small scale, too. After all, you can always 'add ninjas', aka have some sudden and unexpected outside force enter at an inopportune moment.
Remember, our everyday lives are not really that exciting, and the everyday moments of our characters really aren't either. Stories are meant to follow a plot, and in a book, there are generally very few scenes that actually derail from that plot and they usually end up factoring into the main plot later on. RPs with a plot (or even just a small idea of a plot) should not be different from this. Whether you are exploring new characters, developing old ones, or simply want to have a bit of fun, you should always be seeking to move -forward- toward a goal. When you allow yourself to sit in one place for too long, things decay like a gangrenous wound. I know this, I've been on that boat more than I want to admit.
Don't sit there staring at one another and hoping that one of you has a plan. Make one. Carry it out. Be bold.
Thus concludes our second section.
Ahhh, here's a subject I've been wanting to write about. As writers and Rpers and gods know what we are, I have rarely come across anything that irritates me quite so much as the 'I want to RP but I caaaaaan't' subject. There are several repeated complaints that I've seen through the years, complaints that really should not occur, and in this section, I will outline those complaints, why they really should not be made, and what you can easily do to get around them.
Because seriously, if you want to RP, take the initiative and actually write.
3a. 'I have no idea what to write.'
...Few things bother me so much as this statement. Especially when it is uttered -after a scene is already established-. If that is the case, then this is truly an example of lazy writing, ESPECIALLY if the person saying it was involved in setting up the scene plan. I admit there ARE moments where a writer has writer's block. Those moments can be legitimate, but honestly anyone that writes in a group setting already has plenty of available people involved to use as a springboard for ideas. You should never have to simply 'bow out' of a post because you don't have any ideas.
ASK people what you can do. ASK if they had anything in mind.
Otherwise, it is unfair to the people that are writing in your place. If you just have one RP partner, this can be understood to an extent if the scene is long and involved and one has to have more material before they can post. If you are continually bowing out simply because you can't be bothered to think of what to write, though, then you really need to take a good look at yourself and address whatever problem you have that is making it impossible for you to write.
Either that, or you need to kick your own butt into gear and work your brain some before people decide that trying to write with you is too much trouble. Before you decide to utter the phrase 'I don't know what to write', stop yourself, shake your head free of distractions, and -think-.
Rephrase it.
'I need some help in thinking of what to write here.'
RP is a team effort. Make it so.
3b. 'My character can't do anything in this scene.'
And here... I'm going to shake my head and sigh. Anyone who has RPed in a group has probably encountered this phrase, and some of your might have uttered it yourselves. The fact is, this is probably one of the most untrue statements that can -ever- be made in writing, ever. I have seen countless young Rpers say this when a larger scene is going on; keeping their characters in the background to watch while plenty of action is going on in the foreground. There is nothing actively keeping them from doing anything, but because they have not been -directly- involved, they think they can't do anything.
Let me illustrate something very simple.
If you see a car crash going on, do you just stand there and watch, without doing a -single thing-?
That's the feeling I get from a character whose creator is saying they can't do anything in a scene. As humans, we tend to constantly be doing something, be it scratch our ass or put a hand up to our mouth in horror when we see something particularly disturbing. We DON'T tend to melt into a wall or turn into a statue unless someone comes up to say hi, and we generally -answer- him or her when that happens as well.
(Exceptions: Your character has been turned to stone and/or petrified in some way, OR IS DEAD. There can be ways to get around this though. I've RPed a rock before, and if I can successfully RP a small slab of granite, you can probably figure out how to RP a dead guy.)
Characters that simply stay silent and skip posts during a scene (and sometimes even when people give them a clear opportunity to come in) can be likened to cardboard cutouts. Few people generally want to RP with them, because they are so dependent on the action of other characters that trying to get anything out of them becomes a task of questions and attempts repeated ad nauseam. They end up seeming shallow and impossible to draw into the action, so it's easy to drift away from them, even if they may have hidden qualities that make them interesting. After all, why spent two hours poking a player before they'll do anything when you have a player over in this corner that's already willing and able to respond and add to the action on their own?
The answer is, unless you are a VERY KIND AND UNDERSTANDING PERSON, that there is no reason to spend that long trying to get someone to react.
If you think your character can't do anything in a scene, then stop for a second before you say that. Think to yourself: 'well, if I were in this situation, would I be standing still and quiet?'... You generally would not in most scenes unless you are an accomplished professional wallflower. The fact is: there is never 'nothing' for your character to do. They can be thinking to themselves, waiting, they can be watching, they can be having an internal reaction to the scene at hand, they can drum their fingers or god forbid, they can actually jump in at an appropriate time once you have an idea of what's going down.
Basically, don't take the easy way out and throw up your hands and be silent. It won't get you anywhere but alone in a corner feeling sorry for yourself.
3c. 'We've Rped everything.'
This one. This is one of the hard ones, because if you do have a regular RP partner, scenes can be eaten up pretty quick, and eventually you will get to a point where neither of you can think of an idea of anything new that won't basically be that 'stagnating' issue I've spoken about before. When this happens, there are a few things you can actually do. I've done this before, and my personal solution is probably the simplest one out there.
Find something new to RP.
That right. Drop your current characters like hot potatoes. Throw them back into the abyss from whence they came and drag someone else out. Whoah, suddenly there's a whole new WORLD to explore. You and your RP partner(s) can not only gather ideas for your old RP in the background, but you get to play and enjoy the idea of some entirely different thing in the meantime. And when you finally do reach a point where you say 'I need a break from these guys', guess what?
Your old world is there, ready and waiting, and you -probably- have a new perspective on how to go about things to move the story.
Don't force yourself to come up with ideas and inspiration for a story you're not really inspired for, because it'll only come out one way. Forced. Take a break, change it up, get new situations and try new things, and come back when the nostalgia calls.
3d. 'This scene doesn't follow what I like to RP.'
Honestly, this one is a toss up. In a group RP, there's generally leeway. You can probably just bow out, and there's no harm done anywhere. However, this complaint is HIGHLY DEPENDANT on the context. So I have advice for each.
Read on.
1. This scene deals with issues and situations I am uncomfortable with and don't want to RP.
If this is the case, please don't think you need to be forced to RP anything. My best advice is to say if you are uncomfortable RPing a certain situation or scene. If your RP partner is understanding, they will generally find ways to work around what you need so neither of you have to be uncomfortable. If they are not, it is probably best for you to drop the RP entirely rather than go through with it. No one should -ever- have to do something they don't want to for the sake of a story. It is the choice of the others in your group (if there are more than one) to go through with a scene on their own. But you are -not- required to be involved.
2. I want this scene to turn toward something I want to RP more, but my RP partner(s) doesn't want to.
In this case, keep up a dialogue with your RP partner(s). But for god's sake try not to argue. Sometimes RP and the like seem really important, but it's really not. It's imaginary characters in an imaginary world, and we all have to make sacrifices sometimes, but we don't absolutely have to make all of them on the whims of others. If you can't all find something fun for you to RP, or can't reach an agreement, then set it up and away for a while. Don't cause unnecessary drama or act like children because someone has a problem, either. And above all? Be patient! Sometimes, and RP needs time to develop into a more exciting scene. Sometimes it never will, but you know what?
That's the price you pay, and the risk you take, when you bring more people into your writing. Accept it on all sides.
3. I'm not used to RPing this and I'm lost!
Here's another big reason to keep contact with the person BEHIND the character(s) you're RPing with. There are going to be times when you encounter situations you may not be used to RPing. God knows I have encountered several of these, and rather than immediately repelling yourself from them, sometimes it's a great idea to do your research. Your RP partner(s) will be a great help, but if you want to keep on with the scene, nothing helps more than a little good old-fashioned initiative. If you don't know something, take charge and learn it, and let your partner(s) know that you need time to do your research on the subject before you respond.
RPing things you never have before (If you're okay with RPing them!) can actually be a great way to learn more about writing a vast variety of subjects, which is something any writer needs to get better at what they do. Don't shy at the extra work, embrace the chance to learn something new, and give it a chance.
Ahhh, finally. Here we have the very last section of this essay/writeup/what have you. Following Through. So you have your RP? You have your world and characters and you have a plot in mind that everyone seems to be into? Great!
But there are two things you should know and think about.
4a. Setting a Goal
This can be as simple as setting a goal for how many times you'd like to RP in a week, to setting a goal for the entire RP and plot to reach. Both can be excellent tools to use, and it's -always- a good idea to know where you're going and what you should do.
In setting a goal for a plotline, it is best to establish a few key plot points in your story that you want the entire group (however many there may be) to aspire toward. You should -always- have an ending in mind. ALWAYS. Sometimes, you should have multiple courses for an end to account for the fact that the story is NOT always going to follow predictable routes.
In setting a goal for a scene, it can be as simple as just saying 'I would like my character to not be mauled at the end of this scene'. Individual scenes will generally not be as difficult to set a goal for, not in the least, but you SHOULD have something to work for, otherwise you're just floating in an ocean with no current.
And if you're dedicated enough to set up an RP schedule as a goal for moving the plot along, please make sure that every member of your RP group agrees to this before you implement it, or you're just going to end up with drama. It can be a great tool to keep a story moving, but... Well, talking about this leads me to my last note in this entire essay: people and their lives.
4b. People and Lives
People are not tools to an end, as much as you may love and admire their writing and characters. Every single one of us has something behind the screen, be it school, a home life, a job, or pets. It's called a Life, and you should not ever expect someone to give up his or hers for your own entertainment.
If you plan to RP with someone, you both must be able to be flexible and understanding. Sometimes, an RP will go on for months, and that's perfectly fine. Sometimes it'll only go on for a week or so, and that's great too! It's just what people want out of something, and what they can afford to do. After all, you are asking someone to invest time and effort on you, even when there is risk that it probably won't pay off at all in the long run of things.
It's more important to be someone's friend than his or her writing partner.
As I said before, roleplay will come and go. These are imaginary characters being written on a screen, sometimes in universes that don't even belong to either of the people writing. Giving it more importance than that is silly. This essay has illustrated ways to improve your writing and characters in an RP to get the most out of enjoying the plot (and to improve YOURSELF if you feel you need better standards), but the truth of things is that the friendships we form and the people we meet are so much more significant than any of that.
So on that note, I ask that you think about the people behind the RP for a moment. Everyone you've met, everyone you hope to talk to in the future, and let yourself for just that instant feel just how much they all mean to you.
Good luck, everyone. Happy writing, and may your plots always keep moving.
Main Interests/Hobbies: Porn director, causing mayhem, stirring up trouble, videotaping trolls, tricking them into signing contracts, lazing about on pillows, running away from said trouble.
About:
Your name is ZALKES MADIYA, and you can see right through this PATHETIC attempt to get info out of you. Any INFORMATION about you is strictly NEED TO KNOW, and NO ONE needs to know. Frankly, it’s NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS.
Quadrants:
<3: Nice try
<>: Nice try.
<3<: Again, nice try.
c3<: Do we need to go through this again? NOPE
Trivia:
As you can probably tell, Zalkes is extremely paranoid. He has trust issues. His past isn’t anything he likes letting people know about, and trying to get anything out of him is harder than trying to hug a greased eel. The more personal something is, the more evasive he gets. If you pressure him too much you’ll get a dildo to the face. That’s usually successful at discouraging the curious.
As the Bishop undergoes repairs and it's crew remain in tense wait for the moment they will be ushered onto the ship once more, life goes on. The Xantulous is still the social and entertainment hub it always was, drawing in even the hardest of hearts and minds and making them forget why they were there in the first place. As such, Nivets is having a hard time keeping tabs on and controlling her crewmembers.
It doesn't help that it's the crew adults, and not so much the children, that are getting in trouble. Nivets has been attempting to deal with the repairs, which is a massive undertaking in and of itself, but her eye being elsewhere leaves others free to cause trouble. Cirrus has already gotten complaints from several restaurant chains after they were left with little stock and even less money. Vritra has wasted no time seeking out other pursuits, complicating her already complex personal life even more than ever, and bringing a new Indigo closer and closer to becoming a surprise crew member. Zalkes, ever the troublemaker, is dealing with the effects of Itadha's disappearance. With that stress, he causes more issues than ever, bringing the interest of the dangerous and unpredictable Remy more on the Bishop and it's crew.
In disguise, Adromi finds that every day on the ship is another day closer to discovery... and she's proven right as Borian and Dyrigi are forced into a cage fight for the entertainment of the Xantulous crew. With Dyrigi receiving grave injuries to his face and body, it forces the Xantulous crew to take the young troll into custody, and send him to the infirmary.
They have very little time.
Nivets has rallied whom she can find. There's one whisper among the Bishop crew now, for those that care enough to listen. 'Stay close to the ship, and be ready.'. Those that she can save, she will, especially as the eyes of the ship's captain are sure to turn her way soon enough. All it will take is looking at the report left on his desk.
Dyrigi is Underaged. So is most of the crew. Unless they can rally together and muster up a winning gamble when the chips are down, they may very well end up damned before they have a chance to enter hell.
To the Indigo Caste, they are Gods. To each other, they are rivals. To the universe? They are the End.
Mega Terrors are simply the name they've been classified with. In truth, these horrorterrors are the vastly intelligent, incredibly long-lived adult form of the tinyterrors. They make their home in the forth dimension, where other dimensions and universes are like flies to brush off or use as they will. The trolls' universe is simply an idle distraction to these beings, a game that they play to pass the time, though as of late it has become more interesting to many of the oldest of these beings.
They are not used to resistance, or even being known about enough to have a resistance formed. This amuses them.
To say it is possible to kill one of these beings, or even to thwart their plans, is like saying it's possible to move a sun with one's bare hands. The chance that it would succeed, especially without leaving those that attempt as much as a burning pile of ash, is so miniscule it might as well not exist. Even alone, they are a massive force to be reckoned with. Their abilities allow them to manipulate what the trolls sense as space and time, giving them the appearance of being in multiple places at once, or even partially here and there, twisting and breaking reality as they see fit.
But despite this, these beings are incapable of entering or manipulating anything within the third dimension. They are so firmly rooted in their own dimension that the act of trying to force their vast and complex bodies into such a restricting space is simply not possible. So they must watch from afar instead, and use their avatars as their means to their ends.
If they did find a way to enter the trolls' universe, the destruction that would be wrought could only be likened to the apocalypse.
Nightmares are what occurs when a Horrorterror is too powerful to take on a 'mortal' form. In general essence, they are much like Stalkers, and tend to attempt the same general tactics and movements of the Stalker criteria. However, the difference is that a Nightmare will begin to deteriorate as soon as it's formed. This makes their general 'lifespans' very short in comparison with every other horrorterror form, and often turns their 'bodies' into writhing, screeching masses of tentacles, mouths, and eyes where none should ever exist.
Because of this, they make excellent special operatives. Not bound by conventional restrictions, their abilities allow them to perform special 'strike' jobs that otherwise may be too difficult for a Stalker or Tinyterror to execute without major risk. Nightmares are -very- hard to kill, using wounds as opportunities to grow new mouths and eyes, and utilizing their advanced connections with their own world to effectively 'phase' in and out of reality at will.
Far more dangerous than the TinyTerrors, even a single Stalker represents a mortal threat to anyone unfortunate enough to face one alone. Startlingly intelligent, possessing demonic strength, and utterly silent when they want to be, Stalkers operate alone or in hunting packs as strike units, to devastating effect against those unprepared for them.
That, at least, describes the creatures at a glance, however their interference in mortal affairs on their masters' behalf runs deeper than serving as blades in the dark. Some say they can hear them speak from across a veil, in a place where there is no sound; some say the the beasts can bend space itself, appearing and disappearing without warning; and some hushed rumors say that throughout history, they've kidnapped select grubs from the breeding caverns, stolen them from their proper lusii, and raised them as their own. For what purpose... none can say.
The smallest kind of Horrorterror known to manifest in the physical world, the TinyTerror is, as its name suggests, very tiny. At their largest, these strange, squid-like creatures measure four feet in length, with most never reaching more than two or three. Nevertheless, they make a formidable adversary even when faced alone, and can easily be lethal in numbers.
Tinyterrors possess a hive-mind structure that increases their intelligence with the number of each individual that comes into range. Alone, a Tinyterror's intelligence can only be compared with that of an animal or an infant child; it knows instincts and will respond to danger, but for the most part it will only act to protect itself and it's base needs. In an aptly named 'swarm', these creatures act as one unit, and can solve complex problems, destroy massive amounts of property, and communicate on a sentient level.
They are the tiny foot soldiers of the horrorterror forces, and can easily be killed or stopped by conventional means. They are very expendable.
Kalika is actually used to doing whatever is necessary to accomplish her goals. She has been a slaver, a guard, a pirate, and hired help, as versatile as she needs to be in order to remain near Towan, or on his trail.
She has no current intentions of being a member of the Imperial Court, or anything else that's more befitting her caste, as of yet.
Main Interests/Hobbies:
Towan. Her main interest, her main hobby, her main goal.
Otherwise, Kalika enjoys the finer things in life. It isn't uncommon to see her admiring the expensive things that linger in store windows, and she highly enjoys keeping her nails painted with a special fingernail polish that strengthens them even more than usual. She likes to swim and keep herself fit, and sparring is not uncommon for her. What's one more scar to add to the many she already has, hm?
She is also highly, highly interested in the many different and creative ways she can torment or murder any troll that decides to get too close to Towan for her liking. As of yet, the young Indigo is still unaware of this particular hobby.
~~~~~~
About:
Your name is Kalika Corane, and you are a woman on a mission.
It's a difficult mission, and you are well aware of it. When you were young, a long time ago (but no so long that you can forget), you had a chance at having a normal kind of life. In fact, it could have been a life with a friend that you loved dearly and might have had a chance at something more with, and a little slice of heaven on Alternia to go with it. That changed with the arrival of one accursed brownblood and his equally annoying friends.
All it took was one look at that brownblood, and your entire world fell apart. Everything you'd been working so hard for was dashed to pieces, and your little slice of heaven became your personal hell as you were forced to watch some selfish group of lowbloods steal everything you'd been working toward. What's worse, the one troll you were attached to most in all the world took to these others like... like...
Like -they- were all he needed.
He has no idea what path these lowbloods lead him down, he has no idea what he could have had, and what weakness these... -things- force on him every day. The brownblood is just a phase, for him... he has to be. There's no way anyone could really have a red affection for that bastard. And if you have to follow them both across the edge of the universe and back again, you're going to -prove- to him that you're the one he was always meant to be with.
Your going to prove how weak each and every troll he took as a quadrant really is.
Even if you have to kill them all to make your point.
~~~~~~
Quadrants:
<3 - She'd like it to be Towan Mayhem, but in reality, there's no one here
<3< - She has black crushes, but no actual Black Quads
<> - As far as she's concerned, she doesn't need one.
o8<- ^~
~~~~~~~
Trivia:
- Kalika was a character created by the creator of Towan and Aloren!
- Her various scarring was caused by Towan, and in many ways, it was the worst day of her life. She was left barely alive, and it was only her determination, hatred, and rage that kept her going after that day. But these scars remain a very tender point for her, as she thinks they make her far less attractive and they're make a harsher barb because they're a constant reminder that Towan chose Aloren over her.
- While she is filled with rage and hatred and bitterness, Kalika most often sounds cheerful and chipper. If she does sound more serious, it's actually a sign of respect and maybe a little despair. Her attitude is partially a defensive mechanism against the world.
- She is well aware she is obsessive, possessive, and a little insane. She's decided to own that, rather than deny it.
- Aloren makes for a hard subject for her to figure out. She wants desperately to kill him, and yet sometimes she works with him, and has been alone with him on several occasions without actually murdering him. It bothers her greatly.
Main Interests/Hobbies: Doesn’t dare have any. Unless ‘suffering’ counts.
About:
Your name is TANBAT AVAZAH, and your life SUCKS. The memory of your life on Alternia has been SUPPRESSED and deliberately FORGOTTEN, removing most of WHO YOU ARE in the process.
Ever since you left Alternia and were ‘recruited’ to be a Helmsman, your life has not only gone downhill, but it involved a sheer cliff into an abyss. Picked up by an extremely sadistic seadweller Captain, he found cruel joy into reducing you down to a scrap of a troll… literally. Any possible kind of torture and mutilation, physical, mental, or emotional, has happened to you. Twelve sweeps later, and you were ‘rescued’ from it all by Pegasi, a space pirate. Three sweeps of being coddled didn’t really do much for your mental state either, as you kept waiting for the stick after the carrot.
And then the stick came, and you were ‘given’ a new body but then abandoned on a planetoid. You gave up. Nivets picked you up from there, but you haven’t been useful to her. She refuses to end your life, which should have ended naturally sweeps ago. Until then, you’ll just do as you’re told, which you’ve been forcibly conditioned to do.
Quadrants:
<3: N/A
<>: Trebillie Kellis, though Tanbat will deny it to anyone else.
<3<: N/A
c3<: N/A
Trivia:
-Tanbat is incapable of referring to himself in first person. He is always ‘we’, ‘our’, or ‘this one’ because he believes he is nothing
-He also wants to die, though again is incapable of doing so himself. If someone or something would happen to do so, he would let them without any resistance. He would not deliberately put himself in danger, but if danger happened to come his way, well.
-Passive to the extreme, occasionally crossing the line into passive aggressive. Has a smartass personality on the rare occasions someone not a seadweller pisses him off.
-His psionics are sound-based and extremely powerful. Sweeps of conditioning prevent him from using them against another troll except very rarely, such as protecting his ‘owner’. He is capable of hearing anything… so long as there’s no vacuum of space to get in the way. He can also block sound where it is, and create sound where there shouldn’t be.
Strife Specibus: candykind: pop rock smoke bombs, sticky gummy goo, gummy worm lassos, and her candy cane (the size of a real walking cane)
Job: Bringing in loads of money. Also keeping everyone well fed with candy that probably isn't dangerous, probably.
Main Interests/Hobbies: Candymaking, of course! Other than that, she goes through hobbies quickly, getting bored with them in a matter of weeks.
About: Candy is your passion. Your goal in life is to bring others into a world of pure imagination! You made a name for yourself back on Alternia, "employing" lowbloods (who definitely weren't compelled by your chucklevoodoos, not at all) in your factory. Since then you've successfully opened new factories on other planets, expanding your little empire and raking in a shitton of cash too. You have little to no respect for lowbloods-- after all, they're short lived, unintelligent, and really only suited for manual labour. You also have an interest in your indigo cousins the subjugglators, and your minimal face paint declares your curiosity as well as your allegiance.
You're definitely a good person. You're successful and you bring happiness to thousands. You certainly would not have it any other way.
Quadrants:
<3 - None
<3< - Vritra Haiyet
<> - None
o8<- None
Trivia:
-Her chucklevoodoos are similar to what Vriska can do. She can compel lowbloods to follow her orders-- not mind control, and the strong minded can resist them, but the not-so-strong-minded find it hard to resist.
-Her other horn, hidden under her hat, is shaped like a candy cane.
Adult Title: Title? What title? Just call him the kilt guy.
Age: 12 sweeps/25 years
Gender: Male
Height: 5"11
Caste: Blue, but prefers to stay anonymous
Trollhandle: borealPansophy
Strife Specibus: bowkind
Job: Keeping track of any books or objects of cultural value; also tends to clean up after others.
Main Interests/Hobbies: Gathering and studying artifacts, hunting (not really possible now that he's back on a ship), reading, organizing/cleaning everything
About: Even a highblood can be an outcast if they're too outspoken about their beliefs. When he was still on Alternia he constantly criticized the selfish and hypocritical ways of the other highbloods he lived with, and inevitably, people got mad. When he began getting death threats, he left with his owl griffin lusus and wandered into the wilderness, eventually entering a mountain range, where he found a small community of similar outcasts-- rebels, the disabled, anyone who would be culled in any other circumstances. It was through this community that he learned about the pirates, and it seemed like a natural transition to make.
It was after he left Alternia that shit got real. In the last whirlwind of a sweep, a lot has changed. He's met trolls that he cares about a lot, which is a relatively new occurrence. Now he's lost one, and without the other, he doesn't know what he'd do. He isn't sure what this ship's purpose is and he doesn't know where it's going, but as long as he has a moirail, he has a purpose, and that purpose is to help her as best he can.
Quadrants:
<3 - Tecuca Tecnox (planetoid, they'll probably never see each other again, but he WON'T take another matesprit)
<3< - None
<> - Vritra Haiyet
o8<- None
Trivia:
-It's a kilt. It's steeped in culture. Call it a skirt and he'll throw things at you.
-He's a natural at knowing when someone is lying. 90% of the time he'll pick up on it and call them out on it, and proceed to lecture them on the importance of honesty.
-Sexual things make him very awkward and uncomfortable.
-He has an affinity for birds, especially owls.
Name: Adromi Izirah (alias: Reiyna Tzheol)
Age: 23 sweeps
Gender: Female
Height: 7' 2"
Caste: Violet
Trolltag: aberrantConundrum
Strife Specibus: chairkind, flaskkind
Job: Pharmacist, Finances
Main Interests/Hobbies: Toxicology, Politics, Divination
About:
Your name was Adromi Izirah. You were once someone important. Something happened. Then it was just Adromi.
You swore to protect your moirail, no matter what the price. It turned out the price was your caste, your status, your fortunes, your dignity, and your freedom. You spent it all willingly. Then she died.
Your name was Adromi. But you don't go by that name anymore. Now it's Reiyna Tzheol.
You still cannot be officially recognized for your caste because you have no records, but your royal violet blood will always carry weight among trolls, records or not. You will do your part as a member of the Bad Bishop's crew, keeping the medbay stocked with the necessary drugs, managing the ship's expenses along with your fellow accounting expert, Zalkes, and advising the young captain on legal matters.
You will do all of this for as long as it takes without complaint. After all, beneath the alias, and in spite of your exile, you are still Adromi Izirah. You are a woman with revenge to be taken and a point to prove. Fate willing, you will ensure the man who murdered your moirail will not go unpunished and you will show them all that you were always more deserving of your royal blood than the pompous fools who now sit in court, incapable of anything more than being served.
