Official "Tarnished Gold Hotel" Lore Post!
So I've been kind of designing my own theme park in my head for a while now, even before I saw RTC. I mean the short version is I'm ripping off the Tower of Terror because I think it was a mistake rebranding the Disney Land version to Marvel. But I've been trying to develop my own lore for this Gilded-Age themed attraction. Live theater and escape room puzzles and whathaveyou. Basically if I was a billionaire, I'd buy 50 acres of land in the Northern California mountains and decorate it like it's a much older theme park with a backstory going back to the 1800's etc.
That sounds fun! Kind of a Wild West theme?
I'm thinking the main attraction is the Art Deco tower, the "Tarnished Gold Hotel" as I've been calling it. And then down the side of the mountain, a botanical garden with animatronic scenes and other sculptures themed after the later half of the 20th century: Fallout style alternate timelines of the 50's and 60's, neon cyberwave visions of the 80's and 90's etc. Leading down into a dreamlike artificial boardwalk called the Ghost Pier.
The idea is to skew for an older crowd; teenagers and young adults who want photo ops for tiktok. The story is that while the mountains are just inherently supernatural, in 1929, an evil magician known as Isaac the Indominable bought the land and built the grand hotel because he needed plenty of guests for his dark magic. Theoretically, Isaac died along with his first batch of partygoers when the grand elevator plummeted from the twelfth floor. But ever since then, every eccentric who has tried to buy the property has ended up claiming to be possessed by Isaac.
It is themed after California Americana specifically, but it's more old hollywood, though there are western areas, or more specifically I'm thinking information on Native American culture and folklore.
You could for sure write some stories set there
The most important character to the whole park is Dolly, the prima donna of the hotel. I'm thinking the park would only be open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (maybe more days of the week during the summer months but mostly Friday and Saturday), and two or three times a day, a 45 minute show is performed on the stage of the Tarnished Gold's dining hall. The show would detail Dolly's backstory: Sometime in the 1930's a fresh-faced ingénue was struggling to get her singing career off the ground. She was in a toxic relationship with her manager, and her desperation for work led her to the remote and mysterious hotel. Isaac never appeared in person, but instead communicated with them through his parlor tricks: (pianos spitting out letters and such). Though the hotel was empty, he promised it would be a packed house that night. And so it was.
The play would tell the story of how Dolly was seduced (a la Phantom) into betraying her manager and signing a Faustian contract with Isaac. And ever since, her soul has been trapped on the park grounds animating puppets in her likeness. The park guests roleplay trying to set her free, although there is a question of what "free" really means in this context. But months ago, I had already decided the point of Dolly was to have a big showstopping musical number LIKELY A DARK CABARET PIECE LIKE "Skeletons in my Closet" from the 7th Guest soundtrack (because the hotel is more based on 7th Guest than any other franchise I'm cribbing from) and then when I got hit with "Ballad of Jane Doe" my first thought was "Exactly what I had in mind". So I'd tell the composer "Like this... but legally distinct".
Nice! Very phantom-esque backstory for Dolly. Some kind of West World-y elements too :)
Yeah that's def what I was going for. It's not subtle. I've been meaning to make a post about all this and it's easier to get the ideas out talking to someone. I don't know if you've ever heard of Paul Shapera, but his imagination scares even me. You try to get into "New Albion", you fall into a continuity hole you have to choose to get out of.
Oh yeah, talking ideas out definitely helps clarify them. It’s a super cool idea! It’s fun to have clear influences. Hell, Quentin Tarantino has made his whole career out of homages to his favorite films.
Besides, even if I don't have the money for it, the economy being what it is does cause a demand for escape rooms and other "immersive entertainment" as the internet calls it. MeowWolf and Punchdrunk set up a lot of cutting edge exhibitions. I've tried making this project in Planet Coaster, but those tools are infuriating to use sometimes. What I had didn't turn out great.
I want to go to MeowWolf so badly! And agreed, people need escapism when the political climate is so dire.
Although here, I'm trying to get meta with it, that we are recreating the precariousness of the roaring 20's.
As always, all creative works by Annie Trinty are in the public domain. Please, please comment or reblog with questions (or logistical criticisms!).
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