The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ooc=Information]This thread is one of two game threads for City of the Chosen, a play-by-post strategic roleplaying game.
Rules
OOC Discussion
Characters

In this thread you, as a player, can post bits of fiction, messages to other players, or other in-character actions that you want to make visible to other players. This thread is not for posting your actions/assignments for a given turn (for that, see the City of the Chosen: Events thread).

If you have some new roleplaying/communication/fluff item, post it as a reply, rather than editing it into an existing post. This avoids the need to post "message to Jens Faber" or whatever in the discussion thread.

You should feel free to have in-character conversations with other players over IRC or chat or whatever, but if you do BE SURE TO POST A TRANSCRIPT IN THIS THREAD. Some characters have eavesdropping abilities, and it's important to keep a log of all communications.

Wrap everything that you don't want to be public in spoiler tags and list the characters that can see it in the spoiler tag title. We're using an honor system to protect privacy, so be honorable.

Remember that you control NPC allies for the purposes of roleplaying them. If you want to have a conversation with an ally, just make it up; there's no need to consult me. (Though I will speak up if you're having the NPC do something very strange.) If you want to have one of your NPC allies talk with another player's NPC ally, you and the other player should roleplay as them. If you want to talk to an unaligned NPC, feel free to roleplay them for minor actions, responses and dialog. If you want the NPC to do something drastic you'll have to let me know so that I can set it up as an event.

It's a good idea to note what characters you're controlling, so that people don't get confused.

Always include the location(s) where a conversation/bit of roleplaying occurs. Again, this is important for eavesdropping. (On the first turn the only location is the Pod Tower.)

It is strongly encouraged, though not required, to post in this thread at least once per week, even if it's just something small like your character musing to themself.[/ooc]


I'll kick things off with a minor bit of NPC fiction. I won't normally do this; I'm mostly trying to illustrate the purpose of the thread.

[ic=Jéssica (Pod Tower)]Where the bloody hell was she?! The last thing Jéssica could remember was lounging about the Flor de Seda brothel, and the next minute she's waking up in some sort of egg-bed in some kind of glowing tower!

"Where in heaven's name am I?!" she yelled out, attracting the attention of several strangers who seemed to be just as confused as she was. She smiled a bit at the whole "heaven's name" thing. She liked to pretend to be a gentle-woman from time to time. She caught a teenage boy staring at her and another smile caught her lips. She winked at him and walked to the other side of the pod so as to make him want to give chase. He was a negro, like her, but he seemed straight out of the stories of Africa; wild and nearly naked save a loincloth and a blanket worn over the shoulder.

"He couldn't afford us." said an eerily familiar voice from behind her. She turned around and, for once, her smile faded into a look of pure surprise. There in front of her was standing Jéssica. What? It was true. Jéssica the surprised was staring open-mouthed at Jéssica the amused. The amused Jéssica reached forward and closed the surprised version's mouth with a gentile hand. "Now, now. It hardly becomes a lady to stand like that." And Jéssica the amused grinned wide.

"How is this... who are you?"

"Me? I'm you." said the clone.

"You can't be me! I'm me!"

"Now now, there's plenty of us to spread around, don't you think?" said the Jéssica with the grin.

"What sort of witchcraft is this?" demanded the shocked version.

The other Jéssica stopped smiling for a bit and looked somewhat cross. "There's no need to call us a witch, Fuzzyhead. I'm practically as shocked as you. And actually, I was just a minute ago. This is a spell happenin' TO us, not FROM us, so learn to enjoy it a little."

The surprised Jéssica turned into amused Jéssica at being called "Fuzzyhead" by herself. "What do you mean by 'a minute ago'?"

"Here, Fuzzy, I'll show you. Focus on the me that first surprised you. Imagine you are her."

Jéssica closed her eyes and tried. It wasn't hard. That Jéssica was her, after all. When she opened her eyes she was standing behind herself. Her clone seemed to be amused by thinking about the boy on the other side of the egg. Jéssica wasn't about to let herself be out-amused.

"He couldn't afford us." she told herself.[/ic]

[ic=Jens Faber (Pod Room)]
If this was some blasted starboy's idea of a prank Jens didn't find it especially funny. He felt his heart racing in time with the frantic pace of his thoughts. Maybe it was just a dream... Feeling his way he pulled out his knife pricked himself in the palm and... nope that was a stupid idea. Ok so this isn't a dream and he really had been kidnapped. Jens turned about slowly taking in the strange place. He wasn't especially familiar with startech but he recognized it well enough to know that it didn't look a thing like this place. Ships were cramped and contained, this place was way too spacious. He felt a rising mix of concern that he was lost combined with indignation that anyone would dare kidnap someone in this way. He'd figure it out, he'd been in tougher situations. The teachings of his father helped to kill the growing worry before it could bloom into full on panic. "Keep your head fixed on right" he heard the old man's voice say "flailing about never solved anything... now let's look at this one bit at a time..."

Jens took a moment to gather himself, his heart rate steadying. As he did so he felt an odd sort of freeing sensation and there was the lifting of a veil. He could see clearly again and his voice also seemed to be working now. Glancing down he saw everything fade into view. There were the familiar rough patches of skin and scar (and a fresh cut where he'd stuck himself moments ago). As he flexed his fingers Jens took a look around, noticing a very odd collection of people talking in an odd collection of languages. The concern almost rose up again when he realized he could fluently understand what they were saying. He pushed it back down and moved towards the gathering crowd. They were a motley assortment and Jens immediately latched onto the most familiar looking one he could find. He recognized the feel of her language, it was most certainly Russian and the way she stood upright with a cold yet not cruel look in her eyes reminded him of Sophie from the camp.

Holding his hand out in greeting he approached the woman respectfully. "Hello I am Jens, what is your name? Do you know where we are?" The Russian's gaze seemed to pierce him body and soul and Jens almost wanted to apologize for bothering her.

"I am Olga. I do not recognize this place."

Jens scratched at his beard absently, "This is very odd, I am sure we should gather our wits and work to discover what is going on."

Olga stared at him for a painful moment, "Yes I concur, panic will only serve to disrupt." With that she was off leaving Jens to ponder the interaction as well as what to do next.
[/ic]

[ic=Bastien Mcgregor (Pod Tower)]"Where in the world....."

Bastien couldn't end the sentence. That yell was something not easily ignored. Despite Bastien being always calm, there was something with the portuguese that make his nerves freak out.

"calm down" he said to himself.... and then realized he could understand that language.

He tried not to overthink; first things first.

"Where Am I?" the question filled his head "And why?"

There was no place on his memories that could look like the room in which he was. He has never seen these people before. And he doesn't know what was that thing that he was holding on his hand.

"A polearm?" no, the blade was so long for that. Being almost two feet higher than him and with half its lenght as a sword it was nothing like he has seen before.... or that was his thinking. Suddenly he closed his eyes and a memory came back to him. A memory he lost, but now it was so clear on his mind. He knows what it was, and more important, he knows how to use it. But where were this memory coming from?.

"Marianne" he said opening his eyes and reaching his chest.

He took a little amulet on his hand. It was heart shaped and has a lily on its center. As soon as the amulet on the necklace left his chest and entered the domain of his hand something changed. It was like passing out, but he was still there, fresh, as if just awakened. His mind took a new perspective, and began to explore the information gathered as it was an object of study.

(I'm not alone) he thought to himself ( Everybody else looks as confused as I am. They seem from different places. My amulet is tingling. This weapon it's property of Marianne, but I lost all contact with her family after her death......) a sad angered expression  filled his face just for halft a second before being again under control (.....There's no human way to find her family and bring this to me. Even this whole change on my perception is something so out of my grasp...... I wonder if it has something to do with my lost memories..... not enough information to be sure.) His mind become sharp as a sword checking all the possibilities with no results.

"I'll deal with it later" said finally abandoning his ruminations.

Feeling his arm exhausted, holding the long weapon he decided to hold it with the other hand.
As soon as the amulet was on the other hand he felt fading away, but he was still there, anew. This time he felt happy and the weight on his hand seems to almost dissapear. This time there were no thoughts, no sharp mind.
"I Need Meat" he said before paying attention to his sword-staff-whatever-it-was weapon. It doesn't took so much time before he was trying it. His moves was faster than usual and, somehow, resembled the ones of a feral beast.
He was just so excited doing so,that he lost perception of his surroundings....[/ic]

[ooc=Note]Everyone is welcome to roleplay events from the last turn (now that the outcomes have been revealed) as well as communicate with other players and write fluff for this turn. Keep in mind that you can write communications that occur before or after any events in the turn. If you want to be clear that you're writing something that takes place after an event, just specify with a bit of ooc text (in an ooc block or not).

You're also free, as always, to reveal information which is private to you or even to lie about said information. (But you cannot lie about an event.)[/ooc]

[ic= Bastien (Pod Tower)]Well, that was no good at all. This girl, Layla, apparently being a silent girl was indeed a worthy opponent. Every word perfectly fit to discredit his possition was like a stab..... there was something strange about her; every word was so keen for her age... but it was beyond his grasp to comprehend what makes her so particular. He needs to know more about this intriguing girl, but not now.
Bastien then set his eye to an old man, an asian warrior. He started a conversation and introduced himself as Bastien of the Mcgregor Family. The man Introduced himself as Hong Gyeong-su of the Goryeo kingdom. Bastien had never heard of such a place, but was kind of familiar with his spoken language. Not as syllabic as japanese, or with enough diphthongs as Chinnese. He should be Korean. The man seems impresed with Bastien.

Hong: "The others will, sooner or later, come around to the same conclussion that I have come"

after a brief silent moment the subject changed

Bastien: "What do you think about about this arab girl?, Layla"

Hong: "Disrespectful. She shouldn't have talked like that to a man without the approval of her parents. She can have a keen eye, but I will not follow a woman"

Bastien nodded. His beliefs about women were really different from the ones of the asian man, but he will not show disrespect to the old man.

Bastien: "Any idea of how we get here?"

Hong: "I suspect it may be the spirits...... for their intentions are still unkown"

Bastien: "Indeed, the intentions.... that's the the most worryng thing about this. What do you say to stay together to find out what's going on here?"

Hong: "A wise option, but I want to know more about the others before making a move"

Batien: "I understand. We'll see later"

Hong bow his head and Bastien did likewise, then Bastien stood up and decided to see the surroundings....[/ic]

[spoiler=Only characters assigned to "Hello, My Name Is...", Layla (Pod Tower)]

[ic=Bastien]

In order to amend his broken image Bastien is the first on approach the gathering to tell his background.

"Taking into account the latest accusations against me, I think is your right to know who am I."

Addressing to the group, but especially to Layla

"I'll be the first; if that's fine for you all, of course"[/ic][/spoiler]

[ooc=GM Note]I'm considering giving character development tokens to characters who have a decent showing in the RP thread to encourage posting. These tokens could be spent, once things settle down for the chosen, on purchasing additional mental traits. I recognize that people are busy, but it's been very quiet here.[/ooc]

[ic=Blood On Her Hands]Fuck. It hurt. Like a thousand white hot knives deep in her gut, and she was screaming. She was on her back in the Airlifter, and the rhythmic hum of the thrusters beat into her skull like waves crashing over jagged rocks. The paramedics were fussing over her, cutting away her clothes, trying to get at the bleeding. But she couldn't see their faces, and shadows crept in at the edge of her vision. Why couldn't she see their faces? Why the fuck couldn't she see their faces? Something was wrong. So so wrong. Wronger than the pain in her gut, the pain that would kill her.

"Get the fuck off me!" she screamed, and she lashed out with a fist. There was nothing there, and she was alone. She was nowhere, and blackness was all about her. There was no sky, no horizon, just the endless dark. She could see though, see herself, see forever into that blackness. The pain hadn't left her, and there was so much blood. She huddled over herself, trying to keep everything inside, but the blood ran over her hands. There was so much blood on her hands. The bullets, she could feel them inside her. The bullets were inside her, and she had to get them out. She dug through her own torn flesh then, her hand slick with hot, wet blood. She had something, and the pain seemed to reach an apex, and there were flashes of white behind her eyes, and she screamed her throat raw, and blood ran down her lips and from her chin. But she had it in her hands, and she took it out from inside of her. And then the pain was gone, and she held it before her. A disc, small and dark, but glowing with so much red. It had drank of her blood, she knew. Drank it all up. Killed her, just like that.

She felt so small, so insignificant. She cried as she held the disc. When was the last time she'd cried? She just wanted another chance. She just wanted to do it right this time. She was sorry. Sorry for all the people she'd hurt, sorry that it had to be this way, sorry that it was all such a waste. Her heart was beating so fast. So so fast. She tried to get up, but she couldn't. She was too weak, too tired. The disc only glowed brighter, and she hated it then. But it seemed to comfort her nonetheless, and she knew in that moment that it was her salvation, that someday it would save her. Today was not that day. Her heart stopped beating, and then she was gone.[/ic]

[ic="Memory Of The Great Library" (Kixthish Dream)]
A pleasant afternoon indeed, a good place to read a book,right between those Doric pillars.

What kind of book should he read? It doesn't matter to him. He opened the book and take a glance inside. Then he immersed on the book, between its pages, and then he was in a completely different location. In front of his eyes there was a library of overwhelming proportions filled with all kind of books; filled with knowledge.
He took one book and everything vanished.

He could feel the breeze on his hair. He was not inside the book, he was between those Doric pillars, with the book he took from the library on his hands. What kind of book he should read next? It doesn't matter... to him...

[.....]

Bastien began to recover consciousness.... there was the floor in which he lies.... the tower.... the "replica spillover" (whatever that means)... he needs to stand up
Bastien, move....[/ic]

[ic=Bastien (Pod Tower)]
It wasn't hard to feel in a dangerous position after being unconscious on the floor.
Bastien helped the others to get up and then looked his surroundings again: the hallway went down to the right, and up to the left, and tehre was a door right in front of them.
"where should we go?" he said addressing the whole group
[/ic]

[ooc] Maybe a little of coordination could be helpful for exploration[/ooc]

[ic=Saitoro (the Æther)]
Saitoro drifted, feeling the same wind he had felt before in the Pod Tower drag and pull on the outer extremities of his weightless body.
Opening his eyes, he saw nothing but the endless blue of the sky lit by a directionless luminescence - no landmarks, no features - and closed them again, as the unending stretch of blank sky was no more informative than the darkness of the inside of his eyelids.
Feeling the wind continue to tug him this way and that, Saitoro concentrated and began attempting to work out how to move in this strange new place and why he was here, idly wondering for a moment as to the nature of the 'replica spillover' that had catalyzed his transportation here before setting the thought aside in favor of contemplating his current circumstances.[/ic]

[ooc=Note]I'll be participating in the roleplaying thread more. In some cases I'll be posting dialog prompts for NPCs that I mention in the events thread. In other situations I may write dialog prompts for allied NPCs. If you have a request for a prompt for a specific event or character, feel free to PM me. I'll probably start with the prompts tomorrow or the next day.[/ooc]

[ic=*In utter Darkness, falling, drowning* ]

"Death..... I have been near that state for three times.
First, that damn uncle of Marianne: he staved me to the wall while I was a child; it hurt.

Second, The day of her death: I almost bled to death; it hurt.

And now.... beaten by myself, and drowning on a... "thing"; but it feels good.
In the darkness, it feels good.... It fills me, it's... joyful. But I'm dying.....
I can't accept that, not now... not now that I can remember Marianne Last Words to me: 'Live'....."

He opened his eyes, and there was a face, a woman face. Olga was staring at him with her shoulder-length blond hair slicked with black goop, and a smile of relief on her face. She looks beautiful. Then she stand up quickly, returning her face to her normally serious demeanour.

"Это хорошо, чтобы видеть' тебя живым"("It is a good thing to see you alive.")

"I'm happy to see you too" He said with a smile.
Standing up and looking the surroundings he continue
"where are we?"[/ic]

[spoiler=For Saitoro][ic=An Unexpected Visitor]The man is there without warning. Not even the breeze flows with his sudden appearance. He's only a bit taller than you, and dressed in a style similar to the man who called himself John Dante. If Saitoro were more familiar with the clothing of the future, he'd recognize the business suit with necktie. The man is clean shaven and his hair is well cut. When he speaks it becomes clear he isn't Japanese, even though he has the look.

"Ah baik, aku senang aku menemukanmu, Saitoro-san." (Ah good, I'm glad I found you, Saitoro.)

His gaze, previously fixed on the floor, lifts to meet yours, and you can see that his eyes gleam with a metallic shimmer; his irises are completely silver. In his arms is a large, leather-bound book.

"You'll forgive me if I don't stay long. I just wanted to talk to you before..." He hesitates. "I am getting ahead of myself. I have a question for you, if you don't mind." A small smile comes to the man's lips, but his eyes... His eyes are a mystery.[/ic][/spoiler]

[spoiler=For Bastien][ooc]It's TheMeanestGuest's choice where Bastien and Olga end up, and as such I'm not in a position to answer your question. Juliet can, though, and I've sent a message to TMG encouraging him to respond.

The following RP blurb is part of meeting the "stranger" that I mentioned in the events thread. It's not dependent on location, so it works regardless of where Juliet chooses. It happens significantly after you recover, though, so it's not meant to be a response to your most recent post.[/ooc]

[ic=Stranger]A gust of wind disrupts your explorations.

"Halo, Bastien. Saya harap saya tidak mengganggu." (Hello, Bastien. I hope I'm not interrupting anything.)

Behind you is a man in a business suit. His features and language imply an Asian origin, though he doesn't sound Chinese or Japanese. He's shorter than you, is in his early 30s or late 20s, and wears a business suit with necktie. His irises appear to be silver, and his eyes generally have a strange, metallic shine. He holds a large book in his arms. Bound in leather, you can see no indication of the tome's contents on its cover. Memories of your dream drift back to you as you recognize it. On either side of him are two tall white trees, their trunks reminiscent of pillars...

The man sees you eye the book, and holds it out for you to take. "My gift to you. I hope you like to read." The man smiles knowingly.[/ic][/spoiler]

I'll post more prompts later in the week. Remember that allied NPCs are always under your control, so there's no need for me to write half of any dialogs you wish to have with them.

[ic=In The Garden]"Yeah, great. We're all fucking alive, congratulations." Juliet said as she tried to scrape the slime out of her hair and off of her clothes, anger and frustration writ plain on her delicate face. She gestured grandiosely, waving her arms at their surroundings. "And God planted a garden, welcome to fucking Eden." A tree leaned over the pool, and she reached up and picked an apple from its branch, taking a huge bite out of it almost immediately. "No need to thank me for saving your damn life or anything. And yeah, there's food." She picked another apple and threw it - not so gently - at Bastien. "I just can't seem to get away from you people, can I? No matter how hard I try. I was fine on my own for fifteen fucking years, and I sure as shit don't need anyone now. So, I'm gonna get this shit off me, and I'm gonna eat everything I can see, and then I'm gonna peace the fuck out. Right? Have a nice life, Olga."[/ic]