The Gypsy Queen
07-12-2010, 04:38 AM
Rated for mature language, nudity, sexual themes, violence, gore, drug and alcohol use, and anything else that could offend your sensibilities.
A GypsyNaz Production
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Were they were put in boxes,
And they came out all the same.
And there's doctors and lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.
- "Little Boxes," Linkin Park
Human beings have a remarkable talent for trying to force things into little uniformly sized boxes. When something don’t fit, people push and hack and tear until it does, but they don’t see that the thing they was trying to fit ain’t what it was before. It’s some kind of chopped-up deformed shadow of what it was, and people, they so short lived and short sighted they forget what it was to begin with, so what it is now is what they know, and they’re okay with it.
So people, they keep hacking and pushing and tearing till they can make the whole world fit into their little boxes. They live in little boxes, they work in little boxes, they sleep in little boxes, they travel in little boxes. Skies above, they even relieve themselves in little boxes. There ain’t nothing in life they ain’t tried treat or poke or change into something else. Now they got themselves a bundle of diseases, wars, and problems with nature they don’t know how to fix, and none of that fits in no box.
Bless ‘em, though, they don’t know no better. They can’t help it. They just like old Cody, him who stirred up the pot with all them parts of all of us he thought best and pulled out people. People can’t help but to be like him who made them. And Cody, he was just trying to make things right, damned fool that he is. Course you gonna get something like people, you take the corbae’s creativity, the bear’s strength, the turtle’s longevity, canine’s curiosity, the cuckoo’s ruthlessness, the raptor’s cunning, and the furfoot’s speed. Mix those things up without the memory of the Long Ago to temper them, you gonna get something like people, them not knowing how the world works and too blind and deaf to feel the Grace inside us all.
And these people who fill these cities, they haven’t got a clue. Never seen the way the world is in its natural form, the way it was when Raven stirred the pot to call it into being. Pristine and lovely, full of wonder and mystery. But you know how these stories go. There are things in this world that don’t fit into people’s boxes and people now, they shocked to see them. They get their world shaken right out of all their pretty boxes and the world is suddenly bigger, scarier, and more mysterious than it was before. Damn if it didn’t happen to our own Hank, just so, when he met the Crow Girls, but that’s another story for another time.
There are things in this world, and they don’t fit in people’s boxes and can’t be made to. There are those of us from the Long Ago, who were touched into life by the Grace. Me, Cody, Maida, Zia, Raven, Chloe, Ray, and that cuckoo woman whose name I’ll not speak. They call us and our descendants the animal people, and probably about a quarter of people out there got some blood in them. Then there’s the fair folk and the little people, but they ain’t nothing like people see in them movies. The Sidhe are beings of power and most people go mad at seeing them. But the wee folk, they ain’t so bad. Mostly funny little pranksters and thieves. You might even spot a numena around, them that the creators brought into the world.
Don’t change nothing, though. Everything dies. Don’t matter when or how you came into the world or what you are, we all go back to the Grace sooner or later. You hear this whispering? I was up in the hills not two days back, up at the murder them Crow Girls got put up, and plain as day some of those wild crow boys were squawking about a creator man, got his loft burned up and most of his numena with it. All of them, burned to death in front of his eyes. Police are saying arson, did you hear it? That poor boy though, don’t do him no good. He’s gone nuttier than fruitcake, that’s what the whispers say. Like watching your own children burn right in front you, and ain’t nothing you can do for it but hold them and watch. He’ll go back to the Grace soon, I reckon.
Life don’t fit into little boxes. Life is big, chaotic, and scary. Life is beautiful, inspiring, ancient, mysterious. Life is full of the magic of the Grace, and all love that brings into the world.
- Old Jack Daw, the school bus in the Tombs
Our story takes place in 1967 in a city in the Pacific Northwest called Newford, or in some circles, Crow City. Newford is a medium sized city with a significant ghetto area known as the Tombs, home to a large number of squatters and the city’s biggest junkyard, owned by a man affectionately known as Moth who is the go-to guy for all things less than legal.
The northeastern side of the city boasts the Butler University and its surrounding Little Bohemia, home to the city’s fairly significant population of artists and college students. Butler U boasts a wonderful staff, including several mythology professors who are the top minds of their field. The Rookery can be found in Little Bohemia, where some of the city’s top artists and musicians live.
The Uptown is where the business of Newford is located, owned by a family called the Couteaus.
Fifty miles south of Newford is the hills, where a number of blooded folk and animal people live.
Newford has a large Native American and Irish population, as well as some regular Midwestern and African Americans and a few folks of Hispanic descent.
People: Just your normal, run-of-the-mill average Joe/Joanne. The vast majority of people think magic, animal people, and things like that are myths and are happy to leave it at that. But there are a few with a natural, inborn magic, outside of any animal people family.
Creators: (restricted for play) Artists with the innate ability to call spirits from the Long Ago into being through their art. The work of art itself is a portal the resulting numena depends on for its existence, and the creator shares an intimate connection with the numena he/she brings into the world. The act of making numena is addictive to creators. The numena themselves are as varied as people but always maintain an otherworldly quality. Their magic is never as strong the First People and they never remember the Long Ago.
Seers: Prophets born with the ability to see the future, present, or past. They may have visions, dream it, or use some medium to call up the knowledge (cards, dowsing). The older they become the more control they gain over their seeing, but it often begins to cost them their sanity.
Finders: People who have the inexplicable ability to locate things or people, sometimes from great distances. The finder needs to have seen the thing or person before they can find it, and have greater difficulty over distances. Can train themselves to increase their ability but often choose to keep a low profile due to their kind being highly sought after.
Healers: Often doctors or nurses, these people are born with the ability to heal the sick and injured to varying degrees. They have a natural love of helping others but using their ability is very taxing and leaves them weak, vulnerable, and can even cost them their lives.
Animal People: Either the Firsts themselves or those with strong enough family ties. They have traits and magic specific to their family. All have magic in their family traits (ex: Corbae artists create exceptionally beautiful and compelling artwork), and stronger blooded individuals can change their form or “skin” at will.
Blooded Folk: The boy with brilliant red hair or the girl with birdlike features, the slow old man who’s been around forever or the young woman with the brilliant and charismatic smile. These are the descendants of the animal people, the first people. They have blood of one or two of the families in them and it shows in the appearances and traits. Most are very watered down, and very few direct children and grandchildren remain. The stronger the blood, the stronger the traits and the magic that comes with it.
Corbae: Crows, magpies, rooks, jays, jackdaws, and similar birds. They are creative and curious, and are forever obsessed with small shiny things. Their blooded are often artists, musicians, and writers. They were the first to awaken when the world was made, and their leader is Raven, who made the world from his magic pot.
Canidae: Dogs, wolves, foxes, coyotes, and dingos. Curious, intelligent, charismatic, and loyal to a flaw, the canidae are often given a bad rap. Their curiosity and stubbornness gets them into a lot of trouble, and their leader Cody is charged with having ruined the world Raven made by unleashing people upon it. Their blooded are often cops, lawyers, investigators, and others with a strong sense of justice.
Cuckoos: Cuckoos were once part of the corbae family, but they were ostracized for their sociopathic tendencies. Cuckoos are murderers and thieves, famous for leaving their eggs with people or blooded corbae families. When the chick hatched is old enough, it kills it’s foster family and is collected by the cuckoos. Their leader is Emilie Couteau, and they have no blooded as are the only pure and totally inbred family.
Rodentae: Rabbits, squirrels, mice, rats, weasels, and other small mammals. Cunning, quick, and decisive, the rodentae are more commonly called the furfoots and serve as the messengers between the families. They are among the most populous races and have many blooded, who often work in communications. Their leader is Ling.
Ursalae: The bears in their various species. They are physically massive, strong, and tough. They can endure nearly anything. They are gentle souls who are not that bright. When they love, they love intensely and mate for life. Their blooded are often laborers and their leader is Ben.
Testae: Turtles, tortoises, and terrapins. Slow moving and slow thinking, but always have a wealth of knowledge and are very long lived and tough. Can recover from nearly any wound. They have very few blooded, as most humans find them unattractive, but what blooded they do have are often librarians or scholars, and their leader is Mort.
Fair Folk: People know them as elves and fairies, and they have forms as varied as there are colors. They have magic on par with the first people and some of their strongest Sidhe can communicate directly with the Grace.
Sidhe: (restricted for play) The Sidhe are beings of power and beauty beyond most mortal comprehension. They befuddle even the first people. They speak in riddles and often make bewildering decisions or actions based on apparently nothing. It is rumored they have the ability to see the pattern of time and are moving towards some endgame only they can see. They have a Queen and Court that only Raven has ever seen.
Fae: Mostly human looking elves and fairies, but always have strange hair and eye colors. They command some magic and tend to prefer to either pass as humans or live in secluded glens. They are bound by promises and some clever mortals have tricked fae into swearing oaths to them, thus binding them for all time.
Wee Folk: The little people who live in burrows under the ground. They have a simple society and always stay near family burrows, but occasionally will swear loyalty to a Sidhe, fae, or even human master. Once a wee person’s loyalty is won, it is won forever.
Changelings: Mostly fae infants that are swapped with stillborn human babies while still in the womb. They compose the majority of the fair folk population and mostly live among their human families, completely oblivious to their own heritage, but always isolated because of their natural oddities.
Magic is an unconscious act for those who can manage it. It happens on its own and is often dependent on what trait in the individual is magical. Corbae for example find things very well. Fox children are quick with puzzles and riddles. Magic is always working and flowing and only the oldest and closest to a family can actively control it. Some individuals, such as creators and seers, have a magic outside of an animal family, but it follows the same principals. Magic comes from the Grace.
In the Long Ago, there was no sky. And the Crow Girls, Maida and Zia, they were set about complaining that they had the urge to fly but no place to do it. Old Raven was under siege by them, day in day out. So one day I got to thinking on it, and I wondered to myself why we hadn’t a place to fly when our bird skins had such nice wings. So I go to Raven and I ask him
“ Old Raven, you stirred up this place, your medicine lands, from out of the pot the Grace gave you, and the Grace rewarded you by calling us into being so you weren’t alone. That’s how it happened, ain’t it?”
And Raven, he turns to me and says “ Jack, you on collecting your stories again? No one here who doesn’t know how it happened.”
So I ask “ I suppose so. But it’s just got me thinking, if you could stir up the medicine lands out of your pot, why couldn’t you stir up a sky?”
“ Why do we need a sky? Have the Crow Girls sent you over here?” he asks me and me, I’m being clever for once and I ask “ No they didn’t send me. I was just curious is all. If you can’t stir up a sky, it’s all the same to me.”
“ Now hold on.” Raven cries. “ I never said I couldn’t stir a sky out of my pot. I just didn’t want to. Every time I stir the pot I have to give a piece of myself to it.”
And I say “ Oh I see, Raven. It’s not can’t. It’s won’t.”
And Raven, he goes all in a huff while I amble off, and before I know it he’s gotten his pot out of wherever he hid it that time. And he goes and dips his hand in, quick as a furfoot, and stirs real hard. We hear a rumble and a pull and in the blink of an eye, Raven’s gone and pulled all us First People into a new world, with trees and hills and rivers and beaches and rocks and grass and best of all, a sky. A big beautiful blue sky.
And us corbae, off we go, now we’ve got someplace to be flying. And away goes Cody with his canidae to run through the hills and the trees, and Old Mort with his kin to roam the lakes and rivers and seas, and Big Ben takes his folk through the forests. And it don’t seem like much to us, but a thousand years go by and Cody’s gone and stolen the pot. But that’s another story, I am sure you don’t want to hear no more of those.
-Old Jack Daw, the school bus in the Tombs.
Notes:
This RP is loosely based on the work of Charles de Lint, specifically his novels Someplace To Be Flying and Memory and Dream. Some of his characters are appearing as NPCs. We in no way claim Mr. de Lint’s work as our own and are making no profit from his work.
Rules:
1. All of RPA’s Rules and Mature Rules apply. Any questions, check here (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32).
2. In accordance with RPA’s rules, this RP is rated mature. We’re okay with as much violence and gore as you can conjure up but keep the sex under control. We’ve got the rating for some nudity and steaminess, but take it to the PMs for anything more.
3. I and Nazgul are Gods. There’s an RPA rule for that. Most folks know we’re both pretty accommodating as GMs, so if you try something and we flat tell you no, assume we have a reason, please.
4. We want to make a point to promise to any player that joins this RP right now that we will always strive to treat you fairly and kindly no matter what. We promise we will address any issues you encounter in the most timely manner possible, and we promise that we will do everything in my power to make this game as fun as we can for as many people as possible. In return, we ask the same of you.
5. We view RPs as a collective effort to make something creative, so we encourage player creativity. If you see something you’d like to happen, for the most part we want you to go for it. However, we do have an overlaying story for this RP and we will occasionally railroad characters. We try not to but it happens. We want players to be aware that this is not a complete sandbox game.
6. One character per player please. No negotiations.
7. Try to keep a two paragraph minimum where possible. We’re not Nazis on this one but it’s a good guideline.
8. Let’s not spam the IC, guys. Try to let people post… a good rule we try to keep to is to let two people post before I post again.
9. We will not tolerate power gaming, godmodding, or meta gaming. If something in your post looks fishy to me, we will call you on it. We will treat the situation respectfully, but I ask the same of you.
10. We highly encourage co-op posting between players. We’re controlling a number of important NPCs (hint: if they got mentioned in the OOC you can probably assume they’re important) as well, and although we do have lives, one or both of us will always try to be available to do co-ops. Either of us can easily be reached by PM.
11. No attacking or stealing from other PCs without permission. It comes off as godmodding and is not cool
12. Be respectful in the OOC please. Nothing makes an RP less fun faster than flaming in the OOC.
13. The rules include everything you see here and everything that we may see fit to add later on.
14. Have fun!
Name:
Gender:
Age: (18 and up only, please)
Character Race: (person, animal person, fair folk)
Character Type: (finder, numena, fae, corbae, etc)
Abilities: (These should tie in directly to your character type traits. For more on these, feel free to contact us.)
Description: (pictures, drawings, written descriptions are all acceptable. No anime or dolls)
Brief Personality Description:
Background:
The Cast
The Gypsy Queen as Ciara Rowan (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=266836&postcount=3)
Nazgul as Midori (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=266836&postcount=2)
Kailya as Lyia (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=267588&postcount=12)
RubrisLibra as Shelby Crane (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=268829&postcount=18)
Enigma as Theodora Walker (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=270070&postcount=29)
Maple as Caleb Green (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=270124&postcount=30)
roan as Alisia Delheni (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=274119&postcount=33)
Ryudo as Adam Mason (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=276689&postcount=35)
Shepherd as Shane Murray (http://role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=276815&postcount=38)
A GypsyNaz Production
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Were they were put in boxes,
And they came out all the same.
And there's doctors and lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.
- "Little Boxes," Linkin Park
Human beings have a remarkable talent for trying to force things into little uniformly sized boxes. When something don’t fit, people push and hack and tear until it does, but they don’t see that the thing they was trying to fit ain’t what it was before. It’s some kind of chopped-up deformed shadow of what it was, and people, they so short lived and short sighted they forget what it was to begin with, so what it is now is what they know, and they’re okay with it.
So people, they keep hacking and pushing and tearing till they can make the whole world fit into their little boxes. They live in little boxes, they work in little boxes, they sleep in little boxes, they travel in little boxes. Skies above, they even relieve themselves in little boxes. There ain’t nothing in life they ain’t tried treat or poke or change into something else. Now they got themselves a bundle of diseases, wars, and problems with nature they don’t know how to fix, and none of that fits in no box.
Bless ‘em, though, they don’t know no better. They can’t help it. They just like old Cody, him who stirred up the pot with all them parts of all of us he thought best and pulled out people. People can’t help but to be like him who made them. And Cody, he was just trying to make things right, damned fool that he is. Course you gonna get something like people, you take the corbae’s creativity, the bear’s strength, the turtle’s longevity, canine’s curiosity, the cuckoo’s ruthlessness, the raptor’s cunning, and the furfoot’s speed. Mix those things up without the memory of the Long Ago to temper them, you gonna get something like people, them not knowing how the world works and too blind and deaf to feel the Grace inside us all.
And these people who fill these cities, they haven’t got a clue. Never seen the way the world is in its natural form, the way it was when Raven stirred the pot to call it into being. Pristine and lovely, full of wonder and mystery. But you know how these stories go. There are things in this world that don’t fit into people’s boxes and people now, they shocked to see them. They get their world shaken right out of all their pretty boxes and the world is suddenly bigger, scarier, and more mysterious than it was before. Damn if it didn’t happen to our own Hank, just so, when he met the Crow Girls, but that’s another story for another time.
There are things in this world, and they don’t fit in people’s boxes and can’t be made to. There are those of us from the Long Ago, who were touched into life by the Grace. Me, Cody, Maida, Zia, Raven, Chloe, Ray, and that cuckoo woman whose name I’ll not speak. They call us and our descendants the animal people, and probably about a quarter of people out there got some blood in them. Then there’s the fair folk and the little people, but they ain’t nothing like people see in them movies. The Sidhe are beings of power and most people go mad at seeing them. But the wee folk, they ain’t so bad. Mostly funny little pranksters and thieves. You might even spot a numena around, them that the creators brought into the world.
Don’t change nothing, though. Everything dies. Don’t matter when or how you came into the world or what you are, we all go back to the Grace sooner or later. You hear this whispering? I was up in the hills not two days back, up at the murder them Crow Girls got put up, and plain as day some of those wild crow boys were squawking about a creator man, got his loft burned up and most of his numena with it. All of them, burned to death in front of his eyes. Police are saying arson, did you hear it? That poor boy though, don’t do him no good. He’s gone nuttier than fruitcake, that’s what the whispers say. Like watching your own children burn right in front you, and ain’t nothing you can do for it but hold them and watch. He’ll go back to the Grace soon, I reckon.
Life don’t fit into little boxes. Life is big, chaotic, and scary. Life is beautiful, inspiring, ancient, mysterious. Life is full of the magic of the Grace, and all love that brings into the world.
- Old Jack Daw, the school bus in the Tombs
Our story takes place in 1967 in a city in the Pacific Northwest called Newford, or in some circles, Crow City. Newford is a medium sized city with a significant ghetto area known as the Tombs, home to a large number of squatters and the city’s biggest junkyard, owned by a man affectionately known as Moth who is the go-to guy for all things less than legal.
The northeastern side of the city boasts the Butler University and its surrounding Little Bohemia, home to the city’s fairly significant population of artists and college students. Butler U boasts a wonderful staff, including several mythology professors who are the top minds of their field. The Rookery can be found in Little Bohemia, where some of the city’s top artists and musicians live.
The Uptown is where the business of Newford is located, owned by a family called the Couteaus.
Fifty miles south of Newford is the hills, where a number of blooded folk and animal people live.
Newford has a large Native American and Irish population, as well as some regular Midwestern and African Americans and a few folks of Hispanic descent.
People: Just your normal, run-of-the-mill average Joe/Joanne. The vast majority of people think magic, animal people, and things like that are myths and are happy to leave it at that. But there are a few with a natural, inborn magic, outside of any animal people family.
Creators: (restricted for play) Artists with the innate ability to call spirits from the Long Ago into being through their art. The work of art itself is a portal the resulting numena depends on for its existence, and the creator shares an intimate connection with the numena he/she brings into the world. The act of making numena is addictive to creators. The numena themselves are as varied as people but always maintain an otherworldly quality. Their magic is never as strong the First People and they never remember the Long Ago.
Seers: Prophets born with the ability to see the future, present, or past. They may have visions, dream it, or use some medium to call up the knowledge (cards, dowsing). The older they become the more control they gain over their seeing, but it often begins to cost them their sanity.
Finders: People who have the inexplicable ability to locate things or people, sometimes from great distances. The finder needs to have seen the thing or person before they can find it, and have greater difficulty over distances. Can train themselves to increase their ability but often choose to keep a low profile due to their kind being highly sought after.
Healers: Often doctors or nurses, these people are born with the ability to heal the sick and injured to varying degrees. They have a natural love of helping others but using their ability is very taxing and leaves them weak, vulnerable, and can even cost them their lives.
Animal People: Either the Firsts themselves or those with strong enough family ties. They have traits and magic specific to their family. All have magic in their family traits (ex: Corbae artists create exceptionally beautiful and compelling artwork), and stronger blooded individuals can change their form or “skin” at will.
Blooded Folk: The boy with brilliant red hair or the girl with birdlike features, the slow old man who’s been around forever or the young woman with the brilliant and charismatic smile. These are the descendants of the animal people, the first people. They have blood of one or two of the families in them and it shows in the appearances and traits. Most are very watered down, and very few direct children and grandchildren remain. The stronger the blood, the stronger the traits and the magic that comes with it.
Corbae: Crows, magpies, rooks, jays, jackdaws, and similar birds. They are creative and curious, and are forever obsessed with small shiny things. Their blooded are often artists, musicians, and writers. They were the first to awaken when the world was made, and their leader is Raven, who made the world from his magic pot.
Canidae: Dogs, wolves, foxes, coyotes, and dingos. Curious, intelligent, charismatic, and loyal to a flaw, the canidae are often given a bad rap. Their curiosity and stubbornness gets them into a lot of trouble, and their leader Cody is charged with having ruined the world Raven made by unleashing people upon it. Their blooded are often cops, lawyers, investigators, and others with a strong sense of justice.
Cuckoos: Cuckoos were once part of the corbae family, but they were ostracized for their sociopathic tendencies. Cuckoos are murderers and thieves, famous for leaving their eggs with people or blooded corbae families. When the chick hatched is old enough, it kills it’s foster family and is collected by the cuckoos. Their leader is Emilie Couteau, and they have no blooded as are the only pure and totally inbred family.
Rodentae: Rabbits, squirrels, mice, rats, weasels, and other small mammals. Cunning, quick, and decisive, the rodentae are more commonly called the furfoots and serve as the messengers between the families. They are among the most populous races and have many blooded, who often work in communications. Their leader is Ling.
Ursalae: The bears in their various species. They are physically massive, strong, and tough. They can endure nearly anything. They are gentle souls who are not that bright. When they love, they love intensely and mate for life. Their blooded are often laborers and their leader is Ben.
Testae: Turtles, tortoises, and terrapins. Slow moving and slow thinking, but always have a wealth of knowledge and are very long lived and tough. Can recover from nearly any wound. They have very few blooded, as most humans find them unattractive, but what blooded they do have are often librarians or scholars, and their leader is Mort.
Fair Folk: People know them as elves and fairies, and they have forms as varied as there are colors. They have magic on par with the first people and some of their strongest Sidhe can communicate directly with the Grace.
Sidhe: (restricted for play) The Sidhe are beings of power and beauty beyond most mortal comprehension. They befuddle even the first people. They speak in riddles and often make bewildering decisions or actions based on apparently nothing. It is rumored they have the ability to see the pattern of time and are moving towards some endgame only they can see. They have a Queen and Court that only Raven has ever seen.
Fae: Mostly human looking elves and fairies, but always have strange hair and eye colors. They command some magic and tend to prefer to either pass as humans or live in secluded glens. They are bound by promises and some clever mortals have tricked fae into swearing oaths to them, thus binding them for all time.
Wee Folk: The little people who live in burrows under the ground. They have a simple society and always stay near family burrows, but occasionally will swear loyalty to a Sidhe, fae, or even human master. Once a wee person’s loyalty is won, it is won forever.
Changelings: Mostly fae infants that are swapped with stillborn human babies while still in the womb. They compose the majority of the fair folk population and mostly live among their human families, completely oblivious to their own heritage, but always isolated because of their natural oddities.
Magic is an unconscious act for those who can manage it. It happens on its own and is often dependent on what trait in the individual is magical. Corbae for example find things very well. Fox children are quick with puzzles and riddles. Magic is always working and flowing and only the oldest and closest to a family can actively control it. Some individuals, such as creators and seers, have a magic outside of an animal family, but it follows the same principals. Magic comes from the Grace.
In the Long Ago, there was no sky. And the Crow Girls, Maida and Zia, they were set about complaining that they had the urge to fly but no place to do it. Old Raven was under siege by them, day in day out. So one day I got to thinking on it, and I wondered to myself why we hadn’t a place to fly when our bird skins had such nice wings. So I go to Raven and I ask him
“ Old Raven, you stirred up this place, your medicine lands, from out of the pot the Grace gave you, and the Grace rewarded you by calling us into being so you weren’t alone. That’s how it happened, ain’t it?”
And Raven, he turns to me and says “ Jack, you on collecting your stories again? No one here who doesn’t know how it happened.”
So I ask “ I suppose so. But it’s just got me thinking, if you could stir up the medicine lands out of your pot, why couldn’t you stir up a sky?”
“ Why do we need a sky? Have the Crow Girls sent you over here?” he asks me and me, I’m being clever for once and I ask “ No they didn’t send me. I was just curious is all. If you can’t stir up a sky, it’s all the same to me.”
“ Now hold on.” Raven cries. “ I never said I couldn’t stir a sky out of my pot. I just didn’t want to. Every time I stir the pot I have to give a piece of myself to it.”
And I say “ Oh I see, Raven. It’s not can’t. It’s won’t.”
And Raven, he goes all in a huff while I amble off, and before I know it he’s gotten his pot out of wherever he hid it that time. And he goes and dips his hand in, quick as a furfoot, and stirs real hard. We hear a rumble and a pull and in the blink of an eye, Raven’s gone and pulled all us First People into a new world, with trees and hills and rivers and beaches and rocks and grass and best of all, a sky. A big beautiful blue sky.
And us corbae, off we go, now we’ve got someplace to be flying. And away goes Cody with his canidae to run through the hills and the trees, and Old Mort with his kin to roam the lakes and rivers and seas, and Big Ben takes his folk through the forests. And it don’t seem like much to us, but a thousand years go by and Cody’s gone and stolen the pot. But that’s another story, I am sure you don’t want to hear no more of those.
-Old Jack Daw, the school bus in the Tombs.
Notes:
This RP is loosely based on the work of Charles de Lint, specifically his novels Someplace To Be Flying and Memory and Dream. Some of his characters are appearing as NPCs. We in no way claim Mr. de Lint’s work as our own and are making no profit from his work.
Rules:
1. All of RPA’s Rules and Mature Rules apply. Any questions, check here (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32).
2. In accordance with RPA’s rules, this RP is rated mature. We’re okay with as much violence and gore as you can conjure up but keep the sex under control. We’ve got the rating for some nudity and steaminess, but take it to the PMs for anything more.
3. I and Nazgul are Gods. There’s an RPA rule for that. Most folks know we’re both pretty accommodating as GMs, so if you try something and we flat tell you no, assume we have a reason, please.
4. We want to make a point to promise to any player that joins this RP right now that we will always strive to treat you fairly and kindly no matter what. We promise we will address any issues you encounter in the most timely manner possible, and we promise that we will do everything in my power to make this game as fun as we can for as many people as possible. In return, we ask the same of you.
5. We view RPs as a collective effort to make something creative, so we encourage player creativity. If you see something you’d like to happen, for the most part we want you to go for it. However, we do have an overlaying story for this RP and we will occasionally railroad characters. We try not to but it happens. We want players to be aware that this is not a complete sandbox game.
6. One character per player please. No negotiations.
7. Try to keep a two paragraph minimum where possible. We’re not Nazis on this one but it’s a good guideline.
8. Let’s not spam the IC, guys. Try to let people post… a good rule we try to keep to is to let two people post before I post again.
9. We will not tolerate power gaming, godmodding, or meta gaming. If something in your post looks fishy to me, we will call you on it. We will treat the situation respectfully, but I ask the same of you.
10. We highly encourage co-op posting between players. We’re controlling a number of important NPCs (hint: if they got mentioned in the OOC you can probably assume they’re important) as well, and although we do have lives, one or both of us will always try to be available to do co-ops. Either of us can easily be reached by PM.
11. No attacking or stealing from other PCs without permission. It comes off as godmodding and is not cool
12. Be respectful in the OOC please. Nothing makes an RP less fun faster than flaming in the OOC.
13. The rules include everything you see here and everything that we may see fit to add later on.
14. Have fun!
Name:
Gender:
Age: (18 and up only, please)
Character Race: (person, animal person, fair folk)
Character Type: (finder, numena, fae, corbae, etc)
Abilities: (These should tie in directly to your character type traits. For more on these, feel free to contact us.)
Description: (pictures, drawings, written descriptions are all acceptable. No anime or dolls)
Brief Personality Description:
Background:
The Cast
The Gypsy Queen as Ciara Rowan (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=266836&postcount=3)
Nazgul as Midori (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=266836&postcount=2)
Kailya as Lyia (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=267588&postcount=12)
RubrisLibra as Shelby Crane (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=268829&postcount=18)
Enigma as Theodora Walker (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=270070&postcount=29)
Maple as Caleb Green (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=270124&postcount=30)
roan as Alisia Delheni (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=274119&postcount=33)
Ryudo as Adam Mason (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=276689&postcount=35)
Shepherd as Shane Murray (http://role-player.net/forum/showpost.php?p=276815&postcount=38)