Welcome to The Dreaming [closed to ZeeBat, planning]

[Chaotic Cam]

Alright, so so far we have like a steampunk kind of a setting laid out, with powers but not necessarily superheroes. The families with the best powers ended up in, well, power. There are mega corps and both of our characters are in debt to them, and as such 'hired' as unwilling mercenaries to steal a device of unknown magical origin (to them, we know it's a Portal Creator).

My character is more of the the brains whereas you are the brawn. Your powers so far are control and manipulation of electricity, as well as general super-soldier like powers of strength, etc. My character has telekinesis and can make people do things just by asking, or make them see things in their minds. She has minor control of outward telekinesis like throwing things around, but overall she is inexperienced in battle.

Once we get to the portal, we somehow accidentally trigger it and get sucked into a portal. We can either have a little side plot where we land somewhere else first - doesn't even have to last that long - or we can be transported straight to The Dreaming (which is what it's called apparently, the realm).

From there, so far we have a standard quest with obstacles in mind as they try to reach Lord Morpheus' castle in the distance to gets some answers.

[ZeeBat]

Yeah, that sounds good so far. Though I do think we need to hash out a rough plot, or at least a clear enemy. Our longest running rps were the ones where we had a clear antagonist from the start. Also I kinda wanna read and maybe revisit those ideas someday as I've grown as a writer.

Even though reading my old stuff makes me cringe I love reading your parts. ^^

[Chaotic Cam]

Just gonna stick this here:
https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/
That way we can create our own world, we don't have to necessarily stick to whatever canon is. I know we want there to be a field they have to pass through where the air can sense their very fears and come at them with it.

And yes, I agree. And same, haha. And aww, thank you. <3 You weren't that bad.

So, plot. How much time do we want to spend in the real world away from The Dreaming? I feel like we need to set up backstories and world building, then meet, then plan the heist or something - I'm thinking a classic dinner party undercover scenario, just because I really want to do that, lol.

[ZeeBat]

That bad. :3 Damming praise lmao.

That does sound good and I do actually wanna do some setup with the megacorps and such. If you haven't noticed I have a thing for characters with a lot of power that are chained by forces beyond their control. ^^;

What are we thinking for antagonists anyway?

[Chaotic Cam]

I'm sorry I didn't mean it that way, lol. <3

Lmao you have a point. And yes, I'd like to play in the 'real world' sandbox for a little bit before entering The Dreaming.

So let's flesh this out some more. Magic was discovered to the point where technology sort of became stagnant and stopped developing. Around what era should that technology have stopped? And how will these Mega-Corporations work. What are their businesses? How did they get into that business and power?

As for antagonists, well the main one's will be the people we have to steal the device from. Another thing, are we grabbing schematics, stealing a map to something, or just outright stealing the device - how big is it? I really do want to incorporate that undercover dinner party steal the thing cliché somehow lol.

Basically I don't see one main antagonist right now, just several different bosses down the line. Unless we tie up everything in a coincidental little bow and it turns out the person who hired us to steal the device wanted to get to The Dreaming themselves. They have some nefarious plot about it or something. Like they want something from Morpheus.

[ZeeBat]

No worries it was just poking fun at myself a bit there. xD I was an edgy little shit back then.

So as to when magic was discovered, hmm. Well given that you want a steampunk aesthetic I'd say late-victorian to early-renaissance period?

As for what I imagine megacorps for all major industries including some new ones like alchemy and PMCs (private military companies). Also maybe artificial powers can be given or enhanced? We could have some real shady shit going on in the background with that.

Also maybe some lingering aristocrasy? Old money and new money conflict.

For the device to get set off by accident I imagine that there should at least be a prototype built if its gonna get set off by accident. No idea how big it should be though, but I like the idea of undercover dinner party as well!

Yeah I think we need pick more into this once we have more of the setting nailed down.

[Chaotic Cam]

lol ^^

That's what I was thinking. So we're thinking the phone has been invented at least?

I like that idea. Dark Arts Markets, alchemy (youth, money), and I like the idea of artificial powers being enhanced or stuff like that. Maybe when it comes to powers it's kind of like a mutant X Gene. We all have them but it's latent for some people. For those people the 'product' could unlock those powers for maybe 30 min at a time, and that's very addictive. Or even stuff where there's a drug that can take away powers and give them to someone else, yeah.
So that can be the real business, but what about the front business for the public? Maybe one of ours could be Pharmaceutical because we all know they're evil?
And yes I like the idea of a lingering aristocracy and old money and all of that stuff.

Hmm, so who are our characters. What families did they come from, and why are they bound to these other Families all of a sudden? Also how related are they to the people in power? Because if they have powers themselves they probably come from a known family - kinda like purebloods in a way.

Okay that works. Is it electronic though? If there's a prototype that is. Cause we're going to the point where we're only up to the telephone in advancement, right? Or is it purely magical? Some weird looking device? Or maybe a book? Was it made by humans, sorcerers, or something Big and Unknown?

[ZeeBat]

We can certainly have that, maybe even magic-powered handheld smartphone-type things? It'll be kind of anachronistic but we can mix and match what we want really.

Hell yeah all those ideas are awesome. Well idea of megacorps is that they're so powerful that the governments cant really operate against them. They can wear a fig leaf of a polite mask if they want but they have no need of it really.

The Corporations (Megacorporations or MegaCorps) are giant, transnational companies that dominate the world. They can range from simple media corporations to worldwide security firms, the only thing you have to remember is that they will kill anyone that stands in their way. The corps in this world are often seen as sovereign nations themselves and use their power to change the world around them.

And that is a thing to think over. Will they have normal power or 'artificial' power? Does power sometimes appear among the normals? Like muggleborn? Do power awakening drugs have side effects?

Not sure, not sure. We should tie it to at least the first antagonist somehow however I think.

[Chaotic Cam]

Yeah something like that maybe. Only for the very rich though. Maybe it's more like a holograph spell, or like runes/bio-hacking? Oooh, I like that - instead of visible electronic bio-hacks, instead you can have runes carved on you that give you certain abilities? So like a certain rune carved on the thumb could give you the power of a videophone when you put your fingers in an L shape?

And ^^ And yeah I'd imagine it's basically Big Families that are in charge, and I bet they'd have family members littered into politics as well controlling things. Plus money controls everything. I'm thinking we're talking Baron-Like families here? The ones with powers. We should have a history there. How long have powers been a thing and these families been in power?

I think the Big Families will all have regular powers, and yeah I think muggle-borns are a thing that could happen. We should have lore around that too. I mean the Families wouldn't want anyone else to have powers but them, so, and they might be scared about how this is happening and want to stop it, so like kidnapping and experiments and shit maybe?

As for power awakening drugs, I'm guessing they're super addictive like any other hard street drug. And they only last for around 30 min so that's another reason to go back and back for more. And there's also the nasty side effects that come with addiction. I'm thinking - if you don't mind - my family, the Durne family, will have that as their secret side hustle while as a front they're a pharmaceutical company - among other things.

Yeah good idea. Ugh... I have a good idea, but it would spoil The Sandman for you so I can't say it yet. >.< Hmm.

Well, what else for now?

[ZeeBat]

Oh that would be very cool. Tattooed runes could have a ton of uses and purposes. Maybe how many you can have depends on their quality and the low-quality stuff fades fast and does little?

Yeah that does sound good. Could also have some megacorps (new money?) operate as boards and that would put them in conflict with the robber baron and mafia-type families? Depends on how long everything has been in power but I think we should have them be entrenched and quite established.

Maybe styles of power run in bloodlines? Like they all have a 'theme'. I can totally see them kidnapping muggleborns to experiment on and maybe they even extract their powers somehow. Could have a lot of stuff around that, very shady. Should squibs be a thing?

Yeah that sounds good. We could also have very high quality power enhancing stuff, the real VIP drugs. I'm thinking for my character that they were a street urchin that awakened some minor power before being 'bought' by a corp for experiments and such.

Telll meeee. :3

Hmm...now onto planning the first antagonist and our characters?