Bulldrek v3.0

Alrighty, prologue is up. Let's talk setting, characters, etc.

Setting - Modern Fantasy. A world similar to the one shown in the Dresden Files. Is it actually the world of the Dresden Files? Uh, I don't know. Does it matter? I don't really think so. Go by majority vote.

Character - Still fleshing out the details. I'm thinking a sorcerer, independent of the White Council. Rune based magic. Power a couple levels below Dresden, but knowledge on par with Bob. A wanderer. The type that is subconciously fleeing something.

Turn Order - Not counting the prologue, we'll just go in the order that people post for the first round. So the first person to post after the prologue is the 1st, second 2nd, etc. I'd like everyone to post the first round if they can, just to introduce their character. Not absolutely neccesary, it's not unheard of for major characters to come in later in the story.

Thoughts?

Have an idea for a character, as it happens, though possibly more Neverwhere than Dresden Files. Rune-based sorcery shouldn't be aaany problem, though.

Neverwhere rocks my world. Neverwhere would arguably not be out of place in a Dresden like world.

Alright, here's my character, and I've broken it into Known and Unknown information just to make things a little easier.

Chiminage

Known

Chester "Chiminage" Alger is a drifter, known primarily for trying to keep as low a profile as possible, but somehow never quite succeeding. Having ended up in more than one confrontation with the supernatural, he usually does his best to stay below the radar except when it comes to the rare few people he trusts. His talents go towards summonings and readings, as well as an uncanny knack for learning the motivations of diverse spirits and for placating them.

He is known to the supernatural community, but prefers to avoid getting mixed up in the whole business of Courts and factions whenever possible. This has made him unwelcome in several cities where paranormal beings congregate, and has resulted in a somewhat tarnished reputation, though as Chiminage rather than Chester Alger. Mildly paranoid, he prefers using his nick-name when around strangers, mostly appearing (or choosing to appear) as nothing more than a vagrant, even to most mages.


Unkonwn

Chester's paranoia has a very good reason. He's not just very good at sensing and placating spirits, he is a beacon to them, hence his inability to completely blend in or hold down a normal job. Early on in his career, this led him to make a fairly unwise pact with a spirit called Chiminage; In exchange for power, he would give the spirit access to himself, but something went very badly wrong. In short, Chester's no longer entirely human, though he's not possessed as such. This has made him understandably leery of most wizards, as he's afraid that someone will find out about his mistake and either punish him or 'help' him, possibly stripping him of his extraordinay abilities in the process. So far, he's told no-one about what happened, but it's not outside the realm of possibility that someone already knows.

Since Kai account's locked out cause I changed the email address and this is the one I can remember the password for, we're gonna roll with it. :7

Kris(short for Kristina) Kerns, 'eccentric' artist, working mostly in sculpture and other three dimensional mediums, would be a great sucess if she wasn't a flake according to most people, missing gallery openings, ruining pieces 'on accident'. To those aware of the occult, Kris is better known as Chaos, a precog who has little to no control over her visions.

The best that can be said is 9 times out of 10 if you give her something to hold whatever she sees is related to the matter at hand, other times things just come to her, often in awkward situations or in the middle of mundanes, hence the nickname. She'll speak, write, or draw what she sees as it happens, but after it passes, she remembers nothing about it.

And mine....

Randall Cassandall

Known

Randall is a runic sorcerer. Moderate ability, moderate talent, coupled with extensive knowledge make him a force to be reckoned with. Not the most powerful sorcerer around, but one that you don't want to mess with without good reason.

He's a wanderer. He rarely stays in any one place for very long. A jack of all trades, he's worked just about every non-professional job there is.

Fluent in half a dozen languages, proficient in several more, and can muddle through at lleast another dozen well enough to find the bathrooms.

He has reputation in the supernatural world. Mostly as someone who will leave you alone if you leave him alone. A watcher. He occasionally dips his hand into local occult politics, but never for reasons that are apparent to anyone else.

Late 20's, early 30's. Relatively short hair, brown, a touch of wave to it. He tends to dress somewhat out doorsy; jeans, flannel, worn hiking boots, small backpack w/ sleeping bag. Always carries a walking staff. Those that know weapons can recognize the balance as being excellent for a fighting pike.

Unknown

Randall is the adopted son of a non-court vampire (IE, WoD Caitiff), Sean Cassidy. Sean is the head of a secret US government agency, Department 13, devoted to observing the supernatural world (and occasionally curbing it's excesses). Sean was grooming Randall to succeed him until they had a falling out about 10 years ago. Randall was traumatized by the triple discovery that he was adopted, his "father" was a vampire, and his father was some kind of government super spy. Add to that the discovery that Sean intended to make Randall a vampire, and Randall hit the pavement running. While there has been some minor contact between them via intermediaries, they have not seen each other since that day.

I'm going to have to get up to speed on the Dresden Files. I'll have some time on Sunday, I'll get to it then.

I'll have something up tomorrow morning sometime. Work has stymed my creative juices, as well as most synaptic activity in general.

Is it too late to join in? This is my kind of setting.

Nah, you're in. Though I think you're the last then. That puts us at 8 writers, which will probably take a good week on average to process through.

Woot! I'll give my writeup later on today.

*walks through the thread, whistling innocently with only the hint of a smile on his face*

Should have something up Sunday or Monday since currently playing host to visiting family. Well that is if I don't end up strangling one of them and get carted off to prison.

Order up! Extra side of Sue! Who's next?

James Standing Bear Reed

Known
Looking at James Standing Bear Reed gives very little indication that he grew up in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, on the Cheyenne River reservation. Despite being 1/8 Sioux, James is about as white as you can get without being an albino, of average height with short brown hair and amber eyes. The fact that he normally gives his name as James Reed at best certainly doesn't help.

James is an elementalist, and works with water, fire, earth, air, wood and metal. Over the last seven years, he has cultivated friendships with a small handful of elementals that come and assist him when he calls.

His gifts have always made him different, and he appears very wary of other practitioners, let alone members of the Council. He tends to not stay in any one town for too long, moving about at random it seems, essentially wherever the winds take him.

Unknown
James has good reason to fear the Council, as he has broken one of their Laws, specifically the one that matches a Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Murder. The night he ran from the Reservation, James got into a fight with one of his frequent tormentors. In a fit of rage, the air elemental he knows as Stratus followed his unvoiced order and suffocated the boy. The knowledge that he can never go home doesn't bother him so much, but his mentor, an old man known only as Red Bird, had already told him about the Laws and the Wardens that enforced them. The knowledge of the sentence they would enforce has made him introverted and very careful in his use of his magic.

And I think that now you know why I said Chiminage is at least partially close to Neverwhere.

Landscaping Wanted Ads - The modern equivalent of "on the wall of the bar is a sign that says 'Adventurers wanted'...."

Well, you'd dropped it in so nicely, sooo...

Heh.

Query: Do you think there would be anything about Chiminage that a person trained in spotting supernaturals would tag onto? It would show up in the aura, but you don't wander around examining people's auras without good reason.

MooCow wrote:Heh.

Query: Do you think there would be anything about Chiminage that a person trained in spotting supernaturals would tag onto? It would show up in the aura, but you don't wander around examining people's auras without good reason.

Ah, I completely forgot. Yes, if nothing else than in the way he moves and acts. To my thinking, anyone who's a part of the supernatural community will show it somehow when around normals, since they'd find normality either very tedious or very relaxing. In Chiminage's case, he'll be a bit too happy at any kind of normal behaviour, including work, and specifically work that is unlikely to get him within miles of a supernatural being.

Also, he'll actually talk to plants as if he expets a response when he thinks no-one's watching, which he may or may not get.

Jennifer Taylor

Known

Jenny has always had the knack for finding missing things. Nothing blatant, but usually if you were missing a favorite pen, a stray pet or a wandering kid she was usually the one who could figure out where they were and find them. So it wasn't terribly surprising that she became an insurance investigator, one that specialized in stolen items. But for some reason she went on a leave of absence about three months ago and shows so inclination of going back to work anytime soon.

The first thought most people have of her, despite her rather conservation means of dress, is golden. Her thick golden blonde hair is kept short in a no-nonsense bob, her skin color is a sun kissed golden brown and even her brown eyes hold flecks of gold.

Unknown

What really happened three months ago even Jenny doesn't remember, but it was traumatizing enough for her to become something of a recluse when before she was a fairly extroverted person who loved going out with friends and family. She only relives her brush with the supernatural in her frequent nightmares.

Hey, made an edit to the prologue and my first chapter. Put us on a timeline. 14 days from the prologue is when it's going to happen. No idea what's going to happen, but 14 days is the time frame. Anyone is free to shift the time frame forward as they see fit. I placed my first chapter as happening the day before.

I completely forgot that whole physical description bit :7 Kris is average height and weight, dark brown almost black waist length hair, generally worn parted down the middle. with a 1 inch stripe near the front that is usually a green and golden blonde mix. Her almond shaped eyes indicate some oriental heritage, but not 100% as eyes change color through shades of green, going from pale jade to deep emerald depending on her mood. When she's caught in the midst of a vision its not unusual for them to turn a burnished gold color. She speaks with no accent and if asked where she's from or about her family she's dismissive and waves it off as unimportant.

Unknown
Kris's family on her mother's side have always had a gift for prophacy and visions. An old chinese family, they wanted nothing to do with the Council and its complex rules. An agreement was reached long ago that they would have their privacy if once a generation they would provide a child with the gift for an arranged marrige with someone the Council chose.

Kris's mother was the child for her generation and her parents lived seperate lives in the same house. Her mother died when she was in high school, and her father doted and spoiled her until it was determined right before college that Kris couldn't be taught to control her inheirited ability. Being of no further use for the Council, he informed her she would marry someone he chose in hopes her children would have better control.

Kris refused, and played the card of favors owed her by the supernatural beings she had helped out so far, causing her father to not push the issue right now. She hasn't spoken to her father since, relying on the mounting number of favors owed to her by supernaturals and those who deal in the occult to hold him off.

An old begger approaches you. "Kind sir, for but a single gold piece I shall sell you this magical Landscapers Wanted ad. Guaranteed to bring you adventure and fortune."

You open the Treasure Chest!
You Get:
Landscaping Want Ad

*Level Up!*

Jason just finds that easier than any other crap out there. Think about it. He's an Elementalist. Landscaping = Win!

Oh, it makes sense, I just hadn't forseen using it as the means to bring any of the characters together. I just tossed it out there as filler.

Ok, I posted another Interlude. I just wanted to flesh the set up out a little more. In case it's not painfully obvious, the two prologue/interlude characters are Lucifer and the Archangel Michael. Obviously, they're not your traditional versions.

For Lucifer, I'm blatantly ripping off White Wolf's version from Demon: The Fallen. He did what he did because he thought it was for the best, only to have the resulting war turn out to be exactly the cataclysm he was trying to prevent. He lost, Humanity got screwed, all the rebels got tossed into hell excepting himself. He's not exactly evil, but 10,000 odd years of watching humanity fuck up has left him just a tad cynical.

As for Michael, other then he's obviously not the glowing angel of protection we've always been told he is, I don't know. Maybe he's been operating on his own for so long he's lost touch with what's really important (ala Gabriel in The Prophecy). Maybe he's in fact evil, but was not cast into Hell for some reason pertaining to God's Plan. Maybe God's dead, and Michael snapped. Feel free to start pushing him in some particular direction.

Similarly, I don't know what exactly their relation to the coming event is. I'm currently leaning towards Michael's here to do something along the lines of kicking off the apocalypse, but I could be wrong. Maybe he just ran out of twinkies. Again, feel free to start pushing it in some particular direction.

BWAHAHAHA!

"So we all chose to make a drastic career change into landscaping at the same time huh?" "Yeah." "Strange, it's like someone was writing our lives." "Tell me about it."

I laughed. Loudly. Now I need to clean my keyboard. Damn yooouuuu! *shakes fist*

The thought occurs that this sudden interest in landscaping may not be coincidental. Third party, perhaps, pulling strings and tweaking futures, breaking several of the Council's laws?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

Ooooh, spiffy (maybe) thought. What if someone enchanted that ad to draw in various talented folks?

That's not a bad idea. I hadn't intended for Randall to be responding to an ad, but I can still make it work out well. Would fit with his character I think.

Ok, post order so far....

Moo
TLM
Kai
Rico
Reika

That leaves Eliahad, Daki, and Flak. You guys still in? Can you post in the next day or two? You can pass and still stay in.

Put me down as a pass, I have a gig in the mountains so I'll be out of touch for the next couple of days. I had some rehearsals come up at the last minute so I couldn't get to this yesterday.

*Pokes Daki and Flak for signs of life*

*prepares the scented candles and the summoning circle*

*gets the crash cart, tazer and cattle prods*

Alright, we'll put them down as a pass. I'll post something by tomorrow evening.

Woot!

Ok, that's a rough and dirty post. I have a longer post on my laptop, however I can't get to it right now. There isn't really anything substantial in it, just some stuff that fleshes out Randall's background and personality a bit. The plot point is contained in the abreviated version I posted.

Basically, he goes to a job site run by Del Toro to meet a foreman he knows through a mutual friend. Foreman hires him, comments they need all the workers they can get because of a recent INS bust, Randall comments "oh, that's why you posted the ad", foreman says "what ad? we haven't posted any ad". Randall goes back, examines the paper as described, heads into the city to wait.

Will try and slap something together tomorrow. Am to tired-drunk right now, though.

I'll post something either later tonight or tomorrow before midday.

[Edit] After Kai of course.

I'll post later today, been kind of out of it the last day or so.

Yay, my brain's spooling up again. Too much time away, added on top of too much time doing the same troubleshooting steps on the phones is a Bad Thing.

Can I get everyone to post a more complete physical description of their characters? I'll put them together with the other character descriptions, and edit them into my first post so they're easily accessible to everyone.

Randall

Late 20's, early 30's. Relatively short hair, reddish brown, a touch of wave to it. Light green eyes. No beard, but he typically has at least a days growth. His hands and lower arms are covered in tiny scars, light scars, ranging from recent to several years old (runic magic is blood fueled). His body is covered with dozens of small runic tattoos, though none visible when he has a short sleeve shirt and pants on.

He tends to dress somewhat out doorsy; jeans, flannel, worn hiking boots, small backpack w/ sleeping bag. Always carries a walking staff. Those that know weapons can recognize the balance as being excellent for a fighting pike. He wears a small razor on each thumb which he uses to cut himself for rune magic (think basically a stainless steel fake finger nail). He also carries a .45 semi auto pistol (w/ federal firearms permit).

He rides a black Honda Valkrie Rune motorcycle (I couldn't resist), with small travel bags and a "holster" for his staff. If one knows machines, you can tell that it's been suped up a bit, and that it's seen rough times (but been fully repaired).

Kris

Early 20s, average height and weight, dark brown almost black straight, waist length hair, generally worn parted down the middle. with a 1 inch stripe near the front that is usually a green and golden blonde mix. Her almond shaped eyes indicate some oriental heritage, but not 100% as eyes change color through shades of green, going from pale jade to deep emerald depending on her mood. When she's caught in the midst of a vision its not unusual for them to turn a burnished gold color. She speaks with no accent and if asked where she's from or about her family she's dismissive and waves it off as unimportant.

Her manner of dress is constanstly shifting, one day it will be a sari, another a short plaid skirt, white shirt and knee socks, another well worn jeans, boots and faded tshirt, the only consistancy seems to be that her choice is rarely appropriate or 'normal' for the activities or locations of the day.

What she carries with her varies as well, though she always has one of those small top flip address book sized notepads with a pencil stub shoved in the coil, and her cell phone, a sleek gold op of the line model, a little banged up due to wear. She uses public transport whenever available, but has an old green volkswagon van if she needs to drive places.

Jenny

The first thought most people have of her, despite her rather conservative means of dress, is golden. Her thick golden blonde hair is kept short in a no-nonsense bob, her skin color is a sun kissed golden brown and even her brown eyes hold flecks of gold. She stands around 5'10" depending on the types of shoes she's wearing. Her physique is one who spends a good bit of time working out, not just for appearance but also for toning and functionality. She tends to speak softly with no discernable accent due to all of the places she's been on her job.

She tends to carry an electronic organizer/notetaker and has a high end cellphone that's in good repair. Jenny drives a Toyota Highlander Hybrid.

James

James, much to his chagrin, carries the air of a teen about him, no matter how hard he tries to not. Still young at 22, he looks more like 17, and sometimes feels like he's treated like he's treated like he's 12. He's the typical post-teen, in that he still like somewhat baggy clothes, doesn't do much to tame his normally tousled hair, and slouches a bit.

He stands nearly six feet tall (5'10”), and weighs about 150 lbs. He's normally seen wearing a well worn t-shirt and jeans with a battered but serviceable pair of work boots, and though his clothes are often threadbare in spots, they're rarely dirty.

His normal demeanor is quiet and reserved, since he's not used to being party to much in the way of planning or organizing, though he's actually rather bright and resourceful, as he's been able to keep himself alive and out of jail (or beheaded) the last four years. He's somewhat poorly armed, with only a small folding pocket knife about three inches long, but his use of his elementals more than makes up for his lack of weaponry.

Chiminage

He's worn and weatherd, looking more than a decade older than he really is, due to the strains of always moving. Hence, at 35, he looks like he's in his late 40s, though that is added to by the beard which he keeps neatly trimmed, somehow. Chiminage is tan and lean, more wiry than muscular. His nose is a little crooked from having been broken at least once, and at least two fingers on his right hand shows signs of having been broken as well. He wears his hair long, in a braid or ponytail, almost down to the small of his back, and stands 6'2" weighing in at 170 lbs.

Usually, he adopts worn but servicable clothing, if possible a little too big for him, which gives him something of a scarecrow effect, added to by the clothes being mended. Unless specifically 'cleaning up', he wears clothes suitable for hiking and travelling, so that he's ready to leave at a moments notice. The upshot is that he's also always ready to work. He looks, in short, like a bum or vagrant, and likes it that way.

When around normals, he's reasonably easygoing if a little distant, but around mages and other supernaturals he comes across as shifty, shy or evasive. He doesn't readily volunteer information, and when he does it's always as vague as possible. Given his paranoia about the Council and what they might to to or with him, he is very hesitant to trust other mages unless there is a clear mutually beneficial arrangement.

Alright, I'm gonna have to pass this time around. Work's kicked up, and I'm battling The Plague. Too tired to think, much less think creatively.