⇨ New Location: THE TOURIST TRAP

[ringleaders]

PREPARATION↴ Events leading up to this location will be as normal. After Mainframe, the carnival will go into its usual travelling/transitional period for a few days, with no particular warnings or expectations. Normally this would be where I explain how the characters will entering the setting and what they will immediately see, but this is not a normal occasion. Mostly because no one will have any idea how or why the carnival entered this universe - in fact, they may not remember entering anywhere at all. SETTING↴ Portland, USA is similar to the one of our modern earth in many ways, even if some of those are purely superficial. Importantly, it is the urban fantasy equivalent, meaning that standard city life is underlain with a complex civilization of 'supernaturals,' whose actions have the tendency to shake the world in unseen ways. It's a common formula in the multiverse, and some carnival workers may even come from a world much like it. The major difference here is this world in particular has managed to pull the carnival into its snare in an unprecedented way. From the start of this visit an onward, the carnival will be rewritten into this world's rules - and in more than just a superficial sense. On day one, your characters will find themselves having awoken into completely new lives, with potentially no memory of anything that came before. How exactly this transition took place will start out unclear, and this will be a plot heavy narrative centered around investigation and the discovery of what has happened, and how those trapped here can leave. Twenty five years ago, this world underwent a process sometimes know as "the Severing", in which a magical ritual of great power was used to severe the ties between earth and a number of otherworldly realms that had been cross-inhabiting it. The realms of faerie, heaven, and hell were disconnected entirely, stranding many of their members on earth with no way of returning home. The details of this ritual and its purpose are elusive, but its effects have spanned the globe. Most supernatural stuff in this world is simply referred to as "magic", which is built upon an animistic reality in which all living creatures and all objects have some essence of "spirit" that can be interacted with. Casting and ritual magic is primarily centered upon esoteric means of interacting with these spirits in order to invoke various effects, while the magic of many supernatural creatures are considered to be innate traits of their species. NOTE: This is a setting where magic is basically a "known secret", in that many people are factually aware of the supernatural, but it doesn't get talked about in public. Most people have probably seen something weird at some point in their life, but the supernatural is not officially recognized in society. Most of humanity does its best to try to pretend it doesn't exist, in order to avoid gaining the wrong kind of attention. So, you couldn't talk about doing magic on live TV, but there are a lot of places where you could get away with people seeing your supernatural traits if you keep to the 'underground.' MEMORIES↴ Upon entering this setting, every character will be mentally and physically inserted into the world, as if they've always been there. Bodies will be changed to something appropriate to the setting (which may or may not be the most similar to what they already have), and history will be rewritten to accommodate their presence. However, this rewritten history will not always be the most complete, or the most resistant to actual scrutiny. It's a patch job, and so some facts may not line up, and many details of past events may seem vague or incomplete if the character manages to think about it seriously. Locals memories of your characters will be similar - you have been inserted into their lives, but they may not be able to recall when they actually met you, or they could be missing large pieces of your childhood together. Everyone will compulsively feel the desire to ignore these inconsistencies, but the spell is not strong enough to keep them from examining these gaps if they are alerted to their presence. There are three different ways you can handle your character's memories: Full Amnesia: Your character will start out remembering nothing about their real life, and will fully believe they are a part of this world and always have been. Fuzzy bits of memories won't immediately occur to them, and they will have to regain memories as the event progresses. Half and Half: They will have some memories of their true life, but also many memories from their invented one. To them, it will seem as if they have suddenly remember a whole other life before the one they are living now, and at the beginning they will have no way of knowing for sure which is real. Complete Recovery: Your character will remember everything about their real life from day one, and it will be more or less as if they have abruptly been displaced from the carnival into someone else's shoes. They'll still be remembered by some Portland locals, but they will have to improvise in order to play along, because they won't have a clue what anyone is talking about. How long it takes your character to regain memories is purely up to you. You can allow their amnesia to affect them until the bitter end, or having it clear up after the first week. Either is fine. This event will be running for 1-2 OOC months, and so pace accordingly. The Patrons section below is filled with both the kinds of people the world is inhabited with, and also what kinds of people your characters might become. NOTE: The magic causing this will not create new humans or other creatures from scratch in order to fill backstory blanks. Any roles you need filled in your characters new life will have to be taken by either another carnival member's new identity, or by a local who was here before you arrived. That said, if you want to have locals that have odd similarities to characters from your real backstory present, that is fine, but they won't be total dopplegangers and will have lives of their own. You will be free to NPC them, however. PATRONS↴ ► HUMAN: First and foremost, you can be a regular ‘ol human. They represent the vast majority of the actual population. Their lives are the typical modern experience, except for all the places where the supernatural tends to stick its head out and wag its tongue on occasion. Many humans have had supernatural experiences in this world, but most of them aren’t commonly believed or discussed. Talking about the supernatural too loudly and too publicly tends to result in attracting the wrong sorts of attention. Both government and occult coverups have been a thing in the past. Of course, not all humans are born precisely “regular”, either. Sometimes, a human will be born already imbued with the essence of magic, resulting in a wide range of potential powers, such as psychic abilities or even things like pyrokinesis. These are most often mentally focused abilities, usually a form of ESP, but not always. Humans with these abilities can also sometimes be created with outside tampering, but that can become a nasty business. Common Features: normal human stuff, minor physical abnormalities. Potential Abilities: ESP, minor psionics, spirit medium. ► MAGE: Theoretically, any type of person can be a mage, but humans were the ones that made it popular. While other species tend to rely on inborn magical skills, being a full fledged mage is built upon a foundation of secret knowledge and ritual skills - actively learning how to bend the etheric energies of the world around them instead of simply using magic in the ways they were born to. Classically, this tends to result in a mage having less overtly ‘powerful’ but more diverse skillsets. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t spend your time learning almost exclusively how to blow things up. Knowledge is something that can be hoarded, however, which means that mage culture tends to be secretive and elitist, with ancient societies keeping a lot of the really good shit to themselves. Newer, more freeform mages are left with a few choices: to join these old covens and follow their rules in exchange for secrets, to steal that information from said covens, or to research and discover their own tricks from the world around them. It’s a tough world out there for the aspiring spellcrafter. Actual spells tend to be comprised of ritual acts, recitation of words, and other formulaic interactions with the world. If you’re good enough at a spell, then you will eventually be able to find shortcuts that allow you to ease its casting. Common Features: normal human stuff, minor physical abnormalities. Potential Abilities: ESP, psionics, ritual and casting magics of any kind. ► WARLOCK: Sort of a mage, sort of not. These humans use magic by channelling energy from a powerful supernatural entity. Demon worshippers and fae servants, and are good examples. They tend to be looked down on my “real” mages because it is considered a reckless shortcut to power that ensures that the individual is under the thumb of a supernatural creature with most likely dubious intentions. Common Features: physical abnormalities related to their supernatural patron. Potential Abilities: any kind of power that can be gifted by their patron. ► CHANGELING: When the world was cut off from outside dimensions, it left a number of fae stranded in this reality - and they have been making it everyone else’s problem ever since. While most true fae hide themselves away within their own twisted sections of reality, they also have a nasty habit of branching out from their territory long enough to create fae-human hybrids. This can happen a number of different ways, but all of them tend to be referred to as “changelings” regardless of the specifics. The classic example of a changeling is when a fae steals away a human baby, leaving a fake replacement long enough to instill their essence into the real child. The length of time they keep the baby could be months or years, but eventually they tend to give the child back to its parents, with the intent of demanding the services of that changeling once they have reached adulthood. On some occasions, that child is never returned and the magical replacement will die an early death due to nebulous illness. In other cases, a changeling child can be conceived by literally breeding with a mortal. This is more hands on than many fae like to get, but it still happens frequently enough to be a known phenomenon. Sometimes that child is taken back to the fae parent’s realm afterwards, or sometimes it will be left under the care of the mortal. The context of these situations vary wildly, since it usually depends on the relationship between the fae and mortal, and what the intent of the birth was. If the child is left with the mortal parent, it isn’t uncommon for them to be called upon by their fae parent for service once they have become an adult. Otherwise, a changeling can be any mortal that has been “corrupted” enough by the fae to become one. All forms of changelings tend to be treated with fear and disgust by other supernaturals, as true fae are not well liked in a general sense. Most fae in this world are apparently of “the Summer Court.” Common Features: pointed ears, non-angelic/demonic wings, elemental traits (plants, fire, weather, light in particular), strange eyes, strange auras. Potential Abilities: lesser versions of powers within their fae parent’s domain, usually fire, light, nature, growth, glamour, enchantment or transfiguration focused. ► ANGEL: Fae weren’t the only extra-dimensional travellers to become stranded when the Severing happened - there were hosts of angels and demons present as well, all of which were prevented from returning to their homelands of heaven and hell. In the angels’ case most of them had been on earth for benevolent reasons, moving among the local populace as guardians, psychopomps, and warriors fighting against their counterparts, the demons. Suffice to say, reactions at having been cut off from heaven have varied. Some angels have seen it as a betrayal, coming to resent the humans for trapping them here, gradually falling away from their duties and instead focusing on enacting their will upon the world to whatever capacity they see fit. Others have simply carried on, believing that ultimately this is better than the earth being constantly under siege by demons and fae. Some were completely left without direction, utterly lost in a world without heaven. Angels vary in power depending on their rank, and while some of the higher tiers are still on earth, most are from the lower ranks - guardians and soldiers. Before the Severing, angels would help to guide souls to their destination or earth (primarily to keep them away from demonic clutches), or would occasionally award particularly virtuous souls a free pass to join heaven as an angel. That, of course, is no longer possible. Common Features: angelic wings, halos, auras of light - angels are spirits and can shape their forms in various ways, though most have a human visage that is seen by those without magic sight. Potential Abilities: holy magic, light magic, healing abilities, regeneration, purification, smiting, high speed flight, invisibility and/or intangibility, spirit guiding. ► DEMON: Demons were on earth for more nefarious reasons than angels, attempting to drag lost souls down to hell or, at best, just partying on earth as destructively as they liked. Hell isn’t that fun in the long term, after all, so many saw it as an opportunity to expand their interests and claim territory. This is bad mostly because a lot of demons are straight up assholes. When the severing happened, it prevented them from continuing to take souls to hell - of course, a lot of demons didn’t even really care about that, as they’d mostly been doing that on the orders of their Demon Lords in the first place. With no hell to return to, many demons were just pleased as punch to to continue living out their immortality with reckless abandon. Meanwhile, some of the more powerful demons were enraged to lose the resources and control their kingdoms in hell had afforded them, and have made it their mission to drag as many of the lesser demons into their services as possible, in order to recreate those kingdoms on earth. Demonkind has been in a bit of a civil war, between the demons that want to assemble as an army, and the ones that just want to be left alone to their hedonistic ways. Though, it would be easier to just chill if the angels weren’t still trying to kill them. Common Features: horns, demon wings, fire, scales, various predator traits, tails with or without blades - like angels, most will have a human visage that is seen by mundane humans. Potential Abilities: hellfire, dark magic, mind control, super strength, soul stealing, corruption, seduction. ► UNDEAD: This covers any creature that is primarily a dead thing still inhabiting the earth. Vampires, zombies, and ghosts are all forms of the undead in this word, and in most cases magic has somehow been used to keep them “living” despite being technically expired. Vampires are of a more classic Dracula-esque variety. They are actual living corpses that may or may not develop bat traits over time. They are kept living by a contagious form of blood sorcery that was started thousands of years ago, and has been mostly propagated by the act of sharing blood with an existing vampire. Presumably bats had something to do with the original magic, due to the traits vampires will sometimes pick up. Holy objects and the sun risk dispelling the blood magic that keeps them alive, meaning that exposure will hurt and possibly kill them. They tend to sleep during the day as a result, but aren’t required to. They require the blood of the living to continue extending their lives, and though animals besides humans do work, humans are by far the most delicious and nutritious. Common Features: sharp fangs, stone textured skin, red eyes, bat features. Potential Abilities: super speed, super strength, regeneration, hypnosis, turning into a bat and/or growing bat wings. Zombies are more or less just corpses that are still inhabited by the soul of the person whose body it is. There are various magical ways of attaining this status, but it isn’t a particularly fun or glamorous one. Zombie bodies don’t heal, and while additional injuries won’t kill them (obviously), they can make it nearly impossible for the zombie to function without being repaired. Sometimes mages will become liches, which are especially powerful zombies that have enough magic that they can maintain their dead bodies more effectively. Most mages abhor liches though, because people who practice necromancy tend to be pretty awful. Common Features: rotting, visible injuries, being a corpse. Potential Abilities: remaining active despite catastrophic injuries, being repaired like an object, replacing body parts with artificial ones with no loss of dexterity. Ghosts are just the souls of the dead, who haven’t passed on for whatever reason. Usually it is on account of some lingering attachment to the world of the living. Some ghosts will be nearly as present as they were when alive, but others will corrupted or obsessed from having died, and lose many aspects of their true personality. Even the most stable ghosts tend to become more imbalanced and irrational with time. Since the Severing happened, there has been a notable uptick in lost spirits, mostly due to the relative lack of psychopomps to escort them to the afterlife. Common Features: being dead, being intangible, monochrome, scary ghost mutations. Potential Abilities: intangibility, invisibility, “poltergeist” telekinesis, possessing stuff. ► WEREBEAST: Any human that can turn into a particular animal, and has the abilities or traits of said animal in day to day life. This can be pretty much any creature, though it tends towards predators. (Or, at least, those are the ones that survive.) Werebeast’s souls are at least part animal, which allows them to change their forms and draw on that spirits true power. This transformation is usually voluntary, though certain stimulus can make it happen compulsively, such as being in a great state of stress or the various equivalents of a “full moon.” While the triggers of a werewolf are the most commonly known, they are definitely not the only ones out there. The beast form of a werebeast tends to be a larger or slightly more humanoid version of whatever animal they share a spirit with. The physical nature of a beast form will vary from individual to individual. Common Features: minor animal traits while humanoid, major animal traits when transformed. Potential Abilities: super strength, super agility, animal senses, traits specific to their animal spirit. ► ETCETERA: Though these are the main categories, there is room for some edge cases. If you have a particular idea, ask the mods and we will see what we can come up with. Things like half vampires, half angels, and half demons do exist, and what they take away from their heritage can vary. These cases are rare but not unprecedented. DANGERS↴ Even if you don't remember coming from the outside... some of the people here may notice something odd about you. This has the potential to bring the carnival members a lot of attention, from both friend and foe alike. Be careful of which locals you trust, because everyone's got an agenda. CHANGES↴ All characters will be physically changed to fit their roles as soon as the event begins, which means you can have them look any way that is reasonable for Portland's native species. They can also be somewhat younger or older than they usually are, within reason, if it works better for your concept. (This isn't a de-aging event though, so no making your characters kids just for the sake of making them kids.) Participation in this event will allow them to come away with at least one uncommon change. Exceptional participation and success in unraveling the plot will allow for some rare changes to be kept as well, by individuals who have played key roles in progressing the narrative. How exactly this is handled will be a surprise at the end, but let it be know that your participation will probably affect how much you get back! Beyond that, this is a PLOTTING POST, which means you can use it to make plans! The game chat is also a great place to discuss plots, so we welcome you to pop on in if you haven't already! A mingle log will be posted this weekend.

Comments

⇨ GETTING STARTED

[ringleaders]

A document containing some summary information about Portland has been included, to make it a bit easier to imagine life there. Its safe to assume that most things that exist in real Portland can exist here too, if you are inclined to do your own research. At the same time, don't sweat the small stuff, and feel free to make up new locations as well.

Player are also allowed to make up supernatural groups and organizations (with mod approval), but some default options are going to be listed here for your convenience. Having your character be related to any of these things will most likely prove advantageous:

► THE ROSE QUEEN: Also known as "The Lady of Thorn and Flower", the Rose Queen is one of the dominant fae in the Portland area - though whether its "Rose City" moniker brought her here or she inspired it to come about is unclear. Though ostensibly very powerful, she has also been especially reclusive since the Severing - though not too reclusive to create some changelings in the meantime. Her fae territory is apparently a massive, deadly garden, lined with thorns.

► TORCHLIGHT: An organization predominantly made of humans, whose purpose is to defend the world from the supernatural, and hunt down offenders. The group on a whole has been very much in favour of the Severing from day one, and some of its more radical members would like nothing more than to eliminate the remaining otherworldly populations. Werebeasts, mages, and some angel-blood are tolerated in the ranks, provided they have no history of violence against humans.

► CIRCLE OF ENLIGHTENMENT: A multinational mage club, the Circle is notorious for pushing its weight in supernatural matters all across the globe. Its recruitment process is stringent, but if you manage to become accepted, you'll have significantly above average access to magical secrets, as they've been hoarding this stuff for thousands of years, apparently. Or so they claim, anyway. They have a somewhat negative reputation with others, mostly for sounding really up their own ass about stuff like this.

► THE PACK: A very generalized name for the local alliance of werebeasts, it may also be facetiously referred to as "The Herd" or "The Flock" depending on who you speak to, as all of those included are not actually pack animals. Though this group is divided by the disparate needs of its various subcategories, it is all united in a references for the "Earth Spirit" - the supposed source of all life on earth. Beyond that, this group is too diverse to have a uniform sense of culture, outside of everyone in it being a werebeast of some type. It is not uncommon for these werebeasts to also practice magic and exchange magical secrets particular to their kind.

► DIGNITY VILLAGE: Though a real life tent city, this version of Portland has a supernatural twist. Dignity Village has a reputation of being a hotbed of supernatural activity, mostly due to some monster's tendency to prey on the homeless, and due to some supernatural's tendencies to end up on the street. As such, there is an equal desire in the magical community to keep it safe for humans that live there. At least a few guardian angels consider this area to be under their careful watch. Prey on those here at your peril.


If you want to propose any kind of organization that could include other player characters, feel free to reply to this comment!

[small_reservations]

Changeling phone tree. You can sign up to be alerted to fae kidnappings and escapes by friends, so you can help if able. Most changelings don't know each other, but instead know someone who knows someone who gossips with someone who's a warlock working for a fae. They pay attention to amber alerts and basically try to prevent more of the same as much as possible.

You don't have to be a changeling to join, but they gatekeep pretty hard, to prevent racists or torchlight from getting contact info.

Sometimes there are get-togethers in other social events.

⇨ QUESTIONS

[ringleaders]

Can I invent a fae or other particularly powerful supernatural to be part of my character's backstory?
Yes! Though, they will have to be approved by the mods when you post your proposed backstory set up. You can design their aesthetic and basic personality, but the mods will be in control of their overarching motivations, as those in high up positions will probably be relevant to the plot. Not all proposed NPCs are guaranteed to be used, but we'll do our best.

Can my character be super powerful?
Maybe, but you will need a pretty good reason for why they would be, as well as pay some Activity Points for the honour. Think of it like this: you can be Spiderman for free, but you may have to pitch in some points to be allowed to be Superman.

Do all backstories need approval?
Only if you're introducing something that the mods need to know about, like NPC organizations, a fae master, or a particularly high up position in the supernatural hierarchy. If you just want your backstory to be "my dude is a vampire who lives in a closet" you don't NEED to submit a backstory, but it would be cool if you did anyway.

Are there non-playable monsters in this setting?
Yes, you have some liberty to allow for magical creatures. However, the listed species are the only ones that would be considered sapient/of human (or greater) intelligence. Many of these creatures will have been created by some form of magic in the past.

Where do I submit a backstory?
I will making another post asking for brief backstory explanations about a week for now. Don't worry about setting anything in stone for the time being. This post is just for general spitballing.

Any additional questions can be asked here!

⇨ QUESTIONS

[dorkypantsuit]

Are the angels and demons of this world unique species with their own methods of reproduction or are they deceased humans who have been "judged"?

Additionally is there any benefit to stealing a soul for a demon other than just the points it garners them among other demons/with higher ups?

[spaghettimonster]

"every character"

enquiring minds want to know if this includes favorite NPCs like the taciturn cinder spirits or Ringmaster herself

[ringleaders]

YEP. Though the specifics of RM will initially be a mystery.

[whattaprick]

Tentative AU plans, subject to change at the drop of a hat!

Lambert, aged down to his late 20s, is a graduate student at [University], working on a PhD about the re-translation of some old obscure latin text [which I'll have to make up] where he has to argue that the previous translator (very respected, academic heavyweight) fucked it up. He spends most of his time not working on it because it stresses him out, and copes poorly by spoiling his cat, Pig, and drinking lots of coffee. Also for some reason he keeps seeing things his brain logically tells him can't exist, what's up with that??? Maybe he needs his glasses prescription updated.

He'll be 100% human with a sensitivity to magic (gets headaches when he's in its presence), the ability to see spirits/the supernatural, and weak premonitions of misfortune (and a compulsive need to go avert it -- he doesn't get more than a general sense of 'something bad is going to happen at x if I don't go there').

Hobbies: he does krav maga and rides a vespa. Part time jobs: University librarian, barista at a cat cafe in downtown Portland. He's better at the drinks than he is actually serving people, who he judges for stressing the cats out and not paying attention to body language. Tragically, cats who aren't Pig don't like him much, so he's always getting scratched up.

Potential AU CR opps:
- Coworkers/Classmates
- His thesis advisor ................
- Roommate(s) (does he look like a trust fund kid to you? rent is hard ok)
- Regulars-- both at work and supernatural types he keeps running into

[osteothropy]

so good.

Can Sans be a regular a the cat cafe who is also just a fucking death angel, so I guess Lambert's magic sight would see his angelic form? (Which is pretty much Sans except more eyes and fancy magic wings.) Sans wouldn't ever bring that part up so either Lambert just sort of endures having to look at him without saying anything or at some point he's like "hey what the fuck is with your face, man."

childermass & shima au plotting

[atouts]

I'm just combining both my jerks as I plot, so! These are all subject to change, I'm just trying to hammer out details/run them by the general court of opinion.

For Childermass, I am pretty sure I am going with a Changeling. He'll either have no clue who his faerie father is or, pending mod approval in the future, it'll be some asshole who goes by the Count of Crows, because I am a loser who likes my corvid theme way too much. Current ideas include:

- aged down from mid-40s to mid/early 30s, not a big change but I figure Changelings may age slower??? idek
- transfiguration magic (stuff like changes into a flock of crows, etc), some kind of wind magic? or other element, depending.
- pending mod approval for whenever we can submit NPCs, he might be a Winter Court Changeling and in Summer Court territory to avoid his jerk dad, maybe he has a deal with the Rose Queen to that effect
- early life still falls in line with "mother was some kind of criminal and he grew up around that life", so he is definitely a skilled thief and that's probably the main purpose any Faerie or other master uses him for
- should I include Baker (his Growlithe) in his AU? :|a

CR ideas:
- have a Changeling? do they know him? are they somehow allies? enemies? he's kind of a shady character, though not evil or anything.
- got a mage or warlock in need of a Changeling servant (are those even a thing)? maybe a warlock with an arrangement with the Count of Crows? or he's just ordered by the Rose Queen to help a particular magic user or another, who knows.
- probably deals in black market magical goods, steals from mages, brokers information between anyone willing to pay, or something along those lines, which could be a way of knowing him?

For Shima, I'm less sure on what to make him and open to ideas! Right now I'm thinking either demon or shapeshifter. Demon's a pretty easy one since he'd be mostly based off of his demon summon, Yamantaka, somewhat. As a Shapeshifter, he would be a were-tanuki, please feel free to get all your giant ball jokes out of the way now.

He's liable to be a troublemaking teen no matter which way I go, although I guess demon him would only be pretending to be a teen or a recently created demon, perhaps, and therefore still a teen anyway? My life as a shitty teenage demon, oops.

[kingsroads]

The ONE TIME Strange manages to summon a faerie servant and it's just Childermass.

aka I'm still writing up my summary post but I am 100% up for making Childermass's life awful via servants and summoning.

[kingsroads]

so these are also very tentative! But I'm probably going to go with mage for Strange, even though I was worried it'd be a bit too similar to canon, because then I looked at the information about the Circle and realized Strange can be a total dickbag.

- aged up a smidge to his early forties.
- his specialty is summoning and binding. thinks that mirrors are creepy and refuses to do any magic with them. not very good with elemental magic because that is changeling magic and that is lesser magic, tyvm. as always, completely awful with any sort of physical exercise.
- 100% up his own ass about his own skills and abilities but in SUCH A DOUCHY WAY. as such, a bit prejudiced towards most of the other supernatural! sorry changelings, have you considered the fact that you'll never succeed at things the way humans or faeries do? sorry warlocks, your magic just sucks. werebeasts, y'all just smell.
- straight up joined the coven and started kissing butt pretty early to gain access to magical spells. Man alive it is awful when you're an arrogant prick and the Circle just feeds your arrogance.
- recently divorced because the masquerade kills your dating life. this is probably a good 70% of why he's so awful all of the time.

CR IDEAS:
- changelings! even in the douchebag au, he'd still be nosy as hell about faeries and has probably paid some people off for information about said faeries.
- warlocks & mages! so Strange's magic does look pretty warlocky based on the summonning aspects, but I definitely wanted to play with the 'snooty asshole because of the Circle' idea. I imagine he'd be a black sheep among the mages due to his faerie obsession and his warlocky magic and a black sheep among the warlocks due to his Circle affiliation and the fact that he's just a huge jerk to said warlocks. so basically who wants some negative cr with that?
- I have no clue what his day job would be so possibly cr there once I hammer that out
- he's a horrible person who's probably pissed off half the supernatural community by being a horrible person. whoops.

[whattaprick]

All of this is tentative, but jumping off points if any of this strikes your fancy!

> Lambert's shitty Latin thesis might actually turn out to be some dead mage's ciphered text or whatever, so potential point of connection there?? Is it a good mage/bad mage/BANNED MAGE idk i'm still debating and maybe so are the other mages!! I'm thinking riffing off canon and going with spells for tearing open portals to other worlds, if that's helpful
> Classics PhD student so he works handling the Greek/Roman/OLD SHIT reference section of the local university -- is Strange a frequent visitor or is he TOO RICH FOR THAT SHIT
> BAD LUCK/DISASTER SENSE maybe he saves his life or just keeps him from getting coffee thrown over him for being a dick???

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy is going ghost. He's going to be perpetually dripping wet with open wounds on his head, chest and arms. Those with any forensic or medical skills will be able to place the injures as indicative of a terrible car accident.

He'll be in the total amnesia crowd, having his memory being shredded by a number of things. Haunting (hur hur) any of the supernatural sanctuary areas with a strong aversion to bright lights and large bodies of water.

[sweatsthesmallstuff]

Heck yes, he can accompany Will on his rounds or they can just sit around and talk during downtimes.

[sweatsthesmallstuff]

Will is going to be a werecat, and have total amnesia (because I have canon proof that if he's suddenly not sure which reality is true he will take Drastic Measures to try and fix it. Gradual recovery is a much better plan) and working for Helen in this world's version of a Sanctuary.

[hippocarnival]

Since Yuya's gonna have a history of stopping by the Sanctuary to practice his ESP and just generally mingle, he's prolly met Will a few times? Maybe he's accidentally knocked paperwork around with telekinesis or something.

[otoko]

I GOT TWO CHARACTERS AND THEY'RE BOTH GONNA HAVE LOTS TO 'M SO IM DIVIDING SHIT INTO TWO COMMENTS HERE UH

CARLY

[otoko]

Carly, like Gongenzaka remembers Nothing...but someone else does remember the Real World, and they're about to take full advantage.

Aslla Piscu and Carly Nagisa enter as a pair; in terms of what Carly knows, Aslla was a demon of shadows, with whom she forged a bond with on her deathbed in order to be with the one she loved. Ironically, hazy events caused that someone to 'vanish'-she won't be able to say if he died or what if she dwells, but she doesn't want to dwell in the first place after all.

And Aslla Piscu will take advantage. Despite knowing nothing about the world around them, he's able to glean more than enough from Carly's habit of muttering to herself-what he learns from her, he uses to form a plan.

And that plan is to take advantage of the obvious fact that the Ringmaster is somehow...unavailable. Obviously he can't plan anything enormous. He has no idea how he got here in the first place! But what he does do is start to point Carly in questionable directions, searching into more power and more things to benefit him-and if it comes to it, that will include souls.

While Aslla Piscu lies within her shadow still, it can't do more than speak this time around-though he can also manifest in Carly's reflection, albeit only if he really wants it.

And now we come to Carly herself!

Carly, in this world, is more or less of the same cut from canon. Growing up just a hair away from being on the street, she swore to do whatever it took to never go back there, but her kind heart stil drove her to stick with what she felt was 'right'. She decided to, for naive reasons, become a reporter-and ended up knee deep in the investigations of a massive gang war in the very slums she grew up in.

Among the ones she came to meet in this gang, there was someone named 'Jack' (not That Jack, obviously. Just 'Jack'. It's a common name yo.)-she fell in love, and began to go out of her way to try and help him despite having her duties to her job...and then she got herself and Jack in a bit of a bind.

That's as much detail as she has; now, she's still investigating on her own time on what was going on, which leads her to focus her searching at Dignity Village...

As a Warlock, Carly has a fair bit of power, and there's something 'not quite right' about her as well. Nothing obvious; but there IS a strange triangular birthmark on her cheek that seems as red as fresh blood. Her eyes also glow when she uses magic. Which, in this case, focuses largely on Hellfire, a fire that burns with all the might of the unholy!

Aside from Hellfire, she could possibly even steal a soul for her dear partner-albeit with a fairly complex and time consuming ritual that can't really be done on the spot.

Yuya

[hippocarnival]

So Yuya is going to remain human, but psychic! It'll be ESP, specifically telekinesis and enhanced empathy. The tentative idea I have so far is:

. Started showing abilities around age 5, obviously with no control or restraint. At age 6 he was moved from his parents into the custody of a distant relative, a very serious guy with a vague resemblance to Reiji Akaba from his canon but... obviously older. ANYWAY said relative pulled some strings and shady bribery to get custody of Yuya because of his psychic abilities.

. PENDING BACKSTORY APPROVAL he works in legal matters for some sort of either government section or independent research where they monitor Yuya's progress with his abilities as he ages. There's nothing traumatic here but Yuya's unaware of their motives for being so invested in his ESP.

. Slightly aged up to 15 so he's in his first year of public school at some unassuming high school. He's supposed to be keeping the ESP on the low down but you can bet he uses it when no one's supposed to be looking (although the empath stuff results in him making weird reactions anyway).

. Except that he sneaks out a lot to go hang out with supernatural people/creatures because he finds camaraderie with them.

He's also going to start totally amnesiac and regain memories as they're actually triggered in threads.

EDIT: Thanks to chat the relative is Bartholomew De'Clan, but he usually goes by Bob.

CR Ideas

. Are you a supernatural creature lurking around the middle of the night/on the weekends? Perhaps you've befriended Yuya already, or maybe he's just been weirdly following you for the past 30 minutes instead of going home.

. Anyone who might attend/work at a fairly normal high school.

. Family members would actually be hella cool, like siblings, in-laws, strange grandparents or his actual parents.

. Or maybe you know Yuya through knowing Bob. He's upper class and prolly involved in legal matters related to supernatural stuff that isn't usually brought into the open. He's polite and stern but not very friendly or nice.

. TBH if you have a really cool idea shoot it at me, this stuff is totally flexible around cool AU CR. :u

[walkonedge]

first year of high school the same year he's in his last? I have him as graduating this year but they could totally have overlapped for a while :|a

i mean, it's not that difficult to figure out that he's a were if you look closely enough at him!!!

HELEN MAGNUS | THE SANCTUARY | PLOTTING

[promnibusanctis]

The Sanctuary is just that, a sanctuary and a refuge for any and all non-human creatures or those with strange abilities in this world. Helen has chosen to call them Abnormals, not freaks or weirdos, or monsters.

Abnormals.

When there are dangerous Abnormals loose, the staff of the Sanctuary are on hand to forcibly secure and contain them for the safety of the Abnormal in question and to preserve the safety of Abnormals and Humans city and indeed worldwide.

This helps keep what peace the Sanctuary can between the two delicately balanced worlds.

But for the most part, if they're well-mannered, everyone who comes to the Sanctuary is allowed free run of the place. The Sanctuary Network itself was created by Helen sometime in the late 1800s to early 1900s and is currently run by the very same woman. Helen, in this AU, is angel guardian-warrior, who also does both those things in addition to her Sanctuary duties. Any and all of the supernatural beings in this world are welcome at the Sanctuary be it for safe haven or other reasons including to learn about their powers in a safe place, or if dangerous, need or choose to be contained.

Helen has also set up, over the period of time she's been running the Sanctuary, various safe houses and refuges for people who might not be comfortable going to a place full of other Abnormals or might not get along with certain other species. There are, admittedly, those who might not be comfortable in her angelic presence, though that, like a great deal in her life, does little to dissuade her from her goal of aiding.

She also has a program set in place to aid the Changeling Network that consists of an outreach and intake/placement program. She provides food, clothing and bedding for anyone in need and regularly does runs herself or has other staff do so on her behalf.

[sweatsthesmallstuff]

Will is second in command here, since honestly this AU won't be too far removed from his real canon life. Other than the werecat-thing, of course.

So yeah, the upshot is he'll be around and will probably be willing to do almost anything to get out of paperwork /shakes fist at paperwork.

Hinawa

[sunflowerfields]

So I'm torn between mom being either A) A human with strong psychic powers or B) an angel or half-angel. Either way she's going to be a protagonist of a cozy mystery series. :Ub

-She has a FAMILY! With a husband and 2.5 kids!
-A teacher??? maybe??
-If not a teacher then the owner of a cute (knitting/antique/bakery/???) shop
-In her spare time she solves ~mysteries~ with her abilities, sometimes ends up butting heads with actual law enforcement

She won't have any of her actual memories to start with, and when everyone does start remembering things, she'll have to reconcile the fact that she forgot her real family and has real feelings for this fake family the world invented for her. It'll be tons of fun.

CR IDEAS: Her husband! Children! Co-workers! The law enforcement that wants this lady to leave the investigation to the professionals!

[pipers_son]

Whichever way she goes, Joker probably finds it hilarious that law enforcement can't keep this lady out of their investigations, and has definitely slid her clues or directions to go if he knows any, just because he's bored. She can know it's him or he can be her ~mystery sponsor~, whichever works.

Greg Universe

[fragileandsoft]

Greg's a human warlock who calls on the powers of the Rose Queen herself. In exchange for doing whatever tasks within Portland that she can't be bothered to address herself, he's granted incredible earth and nature abilities to use as he wills... so long as it's also what she wills.

It sounded like a great idea when he was young and new to magic, and he got in way deep with the Rose Queen... way, way deep. When their son was born, he took a break from magic to raise young Changeling Steven. She didn't much care for this, and a few years ago Steven was taken to her territory to be raised as she saw fit. Greg had to get back to work doing as she desired, or his son (and, to a lesser extent, his magic) would be forfeit.

Since then, Greg's been playing it safe and keeping to the rules, while trying to make as many friends as he can to make it easier to one day get his son back.

He will start out with some of his memories, but has a lot of trouble parsing out which ones belong to which reality.

CR IDEAS:
-Greg gets around a lot doing business for the Rose Queen! If your character has any reason to get involved with the fae courts (or has pissed them off somehow) there's a good chance they've crossed paths.
-After his son was taken away, Greg's made an effort to get a lot of contacts within the various circles, just in case word of Steven pops up. He's spent a lot of time in Dignity Village, hoping to make friends and hear word of any young Changelings in need... which, as it turns out, there's a lot of.
-He has a day job as a gardener. Maybe you have a garden? i mean it's the city but. y'know.
-Also he's got this weird little dog named Lil who isn't very friendly but is surprisingly attuned to nature spirits, and will start barking his head off if you're in that realm of supernatural creatures.

[kingsroads]

So SORRY GREG, but douchebag mage Strange is far too interested in the fae for his own good and has probably bothered the shit out of Greg a few times once he learned that the man was working for the Rose Queen.

Sherlock Holmes

[thevictoriandetective]

Tentative plans, but at least I finally decided! T^T

Sherlock is going to be a 160-year old zombie. He was locked in a battle to the death with his archenemy, an evil maths professor who was dead set on proving himself to be the cleverest man in the world, setting up murderous games to lure in other geniuses to kill them. In 1893, Sherlock grappled with him at the Reichenbach Falls, but both fell to their deaths.

Sherlock wasn't sure how, and it remains his greatest mystery, of how he 'survived.' Perhaps the Professor had dabbled in some magic, perhaps someone had cursed him. Regardless, Helen Magnus found Sherlock washed up on the shore downstream, and assisted him henceforth. Especially when he needed patching up and putting back together, which, considering his general recklessness, happened occasionally.

Sherlock continued his detective work, going on crime-solving adventures with Helen.

Eventually he ended up in Portland, wanting to be close to the Sanctuary and Helen, as he was more than a century old and in constant need of repair. He retained none of his original limbs, opting to use prosthetics, but mostly other people's limbs, bits and bobs from the hospital morgue where he currently works as a forensic pathologist (basically he does what Molly Hooper does from his canon). He basically has full run of the place and fills in for whatever is needed morgue-wise because most people would gladly let a zombie deal with the dead since they don't have to worry about it themselves. Or the smell. He's still a consulting detective and is often hired by the Coroner to determine causes of death, as he's an expert. He would have gotten the proper degrees at some point for this job too, since he's had quite a bit of time to himself.

He's led a quiet life since leaving England and most people don't remember Sherlock Holmes, despite having been semi-famous in the turn of the century. He's faced entirely too much discrimination against the dead, and doesn't want to risk getting that famous again as it's tedious. So he quietly solves mysteries in Portland. And Totally Helps Gon Out With Stuff.

His body is a mess by now, a patchwork job of replacement parts, and he has no idea how or why he's still around. However his head is still in fairly good shape, and he only looks gray and pale, with dark circles under his near-white, frosted eyes. He wears gloves and his long coat to hide everything else.

He tries to use febreeze a lot.

Memories will be completely rewritten with bits and pieces returning as time passes.

CR Potential:
-Access to bodies
-Access to hospital and blood bank
-Any detective work to be done
-Anyone who knows him from England
-Monty Python-style-losing-limbs hilarity

Re: Sherlock Holmes

[sweatsthesmallstuff]

Here's a question: you say that people don't really remember Sherlock Holmes. Does that mean the books were never written, or perhaps that they just never took off and became famous? I'm just wondering because I would like Will to be a Sherlock Holmes fan in this world, too.

But on the other hand, my current plan is to have Will be part of the Sanctuary and living there under Helen's literal wing since he was like 16 or so. So he'd have plenty of time to meet Sherlock Holmes in person, perhaps before he heard about him otherwise. In that case he could do research after hearing about the man. Idk, something like that.

THAT GUY

[dorkypantsuit]

Race: Demon
Memory: FULL AMNESIA
Name: ?????

Psi is just about the worst demon ever. He can't steal a soul to save his life, and in fact he kind of doesn't want to, but shhh that's a secret. Among demons he has a notorious reputation for being particularly spineless and completely incompetent. His response to danger? Run. Sure it's a cowardly move, but it's also why he's managed to live this long despite being only barely tolerated (at best) by other demons.

Demons are known for being complete and total assholes and to be honest Psi isn't a huge exception. His people skills are lacking, he's crude, and he has no sense of propriety. But at least he tries to avoid actively fucking people over or committing grand acts of violence on a regular basis? Despite the whole "demons are dicks" stereotype (which is completely true 99.99% of the time!) most of the people who know Psi think of him as 'the demon who isn't a bastard.'

His general wimpiness and cowardly rep mean most people tolerate him places where they wouldn't normally tolerate a demon. He's not part of any specific crowd, (not belonging with demons, but not really belonging with anyone else either) and as such can get away with intermingling among people of different groups freely. As a result if you need something he generally 'knows a guy' that can help with that.

He spends his days on earth overindulging in whatever he can and generally "sticking his nose where it doesn't belong" (to quote a certain someone). He never gives out his name and as a result answers to basically anything. If pressed he'll say his name is John Doe or something equally generic. Feel free to call him Hey You, Demon Dude, Idiot, or whatever else you'd like. He will literally do nothing about it.

CR IDEAS
~Ideally I'd like Psi to be the guy "everybody knows." So if your character would tolerate a demon hanging around let me know. They might know each other.
~Maybe you're an angel/torchlight person hellbent on killing him. Maybe he stiffed you on something? He doesn't like to kill people or take their souls, but he isn't above petty theft, cruel pranks, or other non-violent crimes.
~Psi makes his living mostly by doing favors for people. Hey can get you what you need (because he knows a guy), but he'll expect you to return the favor if the time ever comes. Normally the time comes when he's got a bad hangover and left his clothes somewhere down the street. He's not the kind of person to demand life or death favors, he'd just like some aspirin and an hour or two asleep on your couch.
~If we're going with sins as a vice here, Psi's would definitely be lust. It's entirely likely he's hooked up with your character sometime if that's the kind of thing they're into.

[sweatsthesmallstuff]

He could be the demon liaison to the Sanctuary network, lol. Rowan tells me that Helen is willing to hand over bad guy souls to him if he asks nicely, so there's a nice little perk for him too.

Will will totally call him 'that guy'. Apparently Helen will call him 'Max'.

Pearl

[myownpearl]

(I'll probably need to get approval for some of this...but as it stands Pearl is former human/mage, currently changeling/mage. Complete memory wipe, though she'll slowly regain over time.)

A young woman (though she is actually MUCH older than she looks because being around fae extended her life PLUS losing track of time) who was originally human, started studying magic at a young age. As a teen she joined a coven as a “rebellious phase” but then started taking it seriously. While still a teenager (19?) she met the Rose Queen and was immediately attracted. She started following her around. Conveniently, Summer Court was in need of a human representative -- a knight -- and Pearl was eventually bestowed this mantle. Basically it meant she got a boost in power and also a sword to carry as a sign of her status/power. She is kind of a protector of fae, servant to the queen, errand gal, and general enforcer of fae laws/rules. In this position, she then started having “relations” with the Queen -- it was at about this time that her body started to change: insect wings (hidden beneath her jacket) and pointy ears.

She's good at glamours, light magic, wears “charmed” jewelry that she stores spells in for easy use (hey, she's still a mage after all).

After she started to exhibit signs of being a Changeling her original coven kicked her out. Pearl formed her own, converting it into a biker gang as a kind of cover. She takes in outcasts of all kinds, though naturally her group has a heavy fae emphasis.

Often she will sneak away to attend night classes; she’s studying linguistics and communication as navigating amongst the fae is tricky

Her current mission is to “Find Steven” however the fae failed to specify what to do after that so for now she’s just being a friendly follower.

---

CR Potential:
-Members of her biker gang/coven (should probably mention it's predominately female oriented)
-Fellow "college" students taking night classes
-Fae/Changelings, because if you piss off the queen it's likely she's been sent after you
-Members from her "former" coven
-Encounters on her motorcycle (maybe she almost ran you over, maybe you saw her fixing her bike somewhere?)
-Charm maker (she makes charms for a living, hit her up if you need one)

Re: Pearl

[dorkypantsuit]

I feel like Psi would know of sometimes chill with this group of biker outcasts. Also do you have any charms that will stop angels from smiting you? He's very interested in that.

Ginko and Miko

[dontpokethat]

Ginko is going to be a changeling! Taken as a baby to serve the Rose Queen, he was returned to his family when he was ten years old with a missing eye, weirdly petal-like white hair, a lot of feelings about plants, and no idea how to live among humans.

This was made all the more… awkward by the fact that his family is pretty highly-ranked in Torchlight’s numbers, and his parents weren’t super pleased about their son being instilled with fae magic. As such, Ginko has been out of contact with his whole family (with the exception of his younger sister, Tanyuu) for quite some time now, and, at 24, he’s pretty much living out of his car these days. He's going half and half on memories and it's gonna freak him out.

Miko is a werewolf! Or a… weredog, more accurately. Occupying a really unfortunate space between a wolf and a pomeranian. She's still 16 and lives with her older siblings, Peridot and Lambert, and probably spends a lot of time avoiding going to school or being responsible in any way in favor of knocking over trash cans and committing acts of petty vandalism. What a punk. She might be trying to start a band too?? We will see.

Anyway, she's going FULL AMNESIA so that will be an adventure.

[dorkypantsuit]

You know if you just stole money from people you wouldn't need to live out of your car.

I'd very much like to see Ginko freak out about memories of Psi as not a demon.

ISHIDA YAMATO

[walkonedge]

I'm going to be kind of uncreative, and also because I'm a damn sucker for cliches.

Yamato is going to be a werewolf with half-and-half memories. Here's a reference picture for his wolf spirit, although the black fur bits are probably going to be leaning a little bit more on really dark blue because supernatural wolf spirit I mean. In his humanoid form, what he's going to retain in terms of wolf-like traits are probably going to be more acute senses, scarily accurate night vision and pack-like mentality. In that sense, I also plan on him being more heavily involved with the Pack, especially with the younger members (if there are any! don't fuck with his Big Brother Instincts.)

AU-history wise, here's what I've got for him so far:
- Matt Durand, son of a French immigrant couple.
- Has been living in Portland his entire life aka long enough for English to be his main language. Reasonably fluent in French only because his parents speak it. HE KNOWS NO JAPANESE IN THIS AU.
- Sliiiightly aged up to 18 only so he can be a graduating high school student who's intent on getting into college, he's gunning for an aerospace engineering major, how fun.
- Which also means he's currently hashing out college applications and looking for a part time job. HOW FUN.
- ( specifics need to be ironed out BUT ) Discovers he's a werewolf when he's a teenager. Was lucky enough to have a teacher in his school introduce him to The Pack, and he's sort of made himself the unofficial big brother figure to the younger members, especially those high school aged and below.
- Still has a Big Brother Complex but it's especially for those who are still unused to the change and struggling with their were forms. He also has a Reputation even before the were changes for throwing himself into fights to protect younger kids/kids who were being bullied, he's a pure bean, fight me.
- Still has his own indie rock band because some things never change no matter what AU it is. ╮(╯▽╰)╭ they're relatively popular for a high school act, probably have played some local gigs before for extra cash. HE PLAYS BASS.

CR POTENTIAL, come at me bruh: younger kids he can look out for, bonus points if they're also supers. somewhere i can chuck him for a part time job. people who recognise him from rock band shenanigans. Gimme all the CR I'll take anything and everything!!

I'm especially interested in people who would have run into him while in his wolf form! Like, give me positive/negative CR, I want all of it. Other weres? Other supernaturals that he would have run into while in transformed state or no?? People who have seen him transform accidentally???? listen, i'm not picky, give me shenanigans. I intend on hitting up almost everyone in this post one way or another, so help me.

[whattaprick]

Miko and Peridot are both werebeasts LIKE I PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED... I'm not sure how involved with the Pack they may or may not be and how aware Lambert is of that, but I guess if Yamato and Miko go to the same school he'd be tangentially aware he exists. SHE'S ALSO IN A BAND or trying if that makes a difference.

FOR PART TIME JOBS I was going to suggest Yamato could possibly be working at the same cat cafe but AHAHA A WEREWOLF AT A CAT CAFE ... I was considering the idea of it being possibly a were-owned establishment (rumor is some of the cats are actual werepeople! RUH ROH) but I haven't decided yet. The cats dislike Lambert mostly so it's not like that's a barrier to employment. |D;

STEVEN UNIVERSE

[starseedling]

Steven is the changeling son of Greg Universe and the Rose Queen. Conceived while Greg was working in her service as a warlock, Steven was born a healthy and almost normal seeming child, and was handed over to his human father to be raised through his infancy. Unfortunately, apparently this wasn't a permanent arrangement, because before he'd turned ten the Rose Queen kidnapped him back to her fae realm to finish raising him her way.

As such, he's spent the last 4 years or so having bizarre things done to him by faeries, as well as working in some secluded part of her massive gardens. Being there has caused him to develop some more overt changeling traits, including thorns that grow on some parts of his body and tend to multiply when stressed, leafy ears, and small wings that have leaves and rose petals instead of feathers. He'll also have the natural ability to grow and control plant life, and an immunity to thorns.

He'll be escaping the fae realm right around when the event starts, and is going to be found by a couple other changelings (Ginko and Axel), and eventually brought to the Sanctuary while people try to figure out what to do with him.

Bud is going to be with him in the form of a small flower sprite that has just followed him out of the Rose Queen's gardens. Lion is going to be a big ass dog, and probably retain his memories, so he's mostly going to be trying to figure out where the hell his people went. He still acts like Lion, though.

Steven will have full amnesia, but he'll probably start remembering some random details as he sorts himself out after escaping the fae.

POTENTIAL CR:
► Having known him when he was little, before he was stolen away. He was raised pretty normally by Greg for the first 8-10 years of his life, so there's definitely room for family friends. Greg was one of the Rose Queens warlocks and had connections to the supernatural community.
► Other changelings who might have been in the fae realms at the same time he was. Obviously this is easiest if they are also the Rose Queen's, but they could have potentially known each other there even if they had different owners in the Summer Court.
► People he'll meet in the Sanctuary when he goes there.
► Potentially someone who "owns" Lion??

[atouts]

Childermass knows his dad via working for the Rose Queen and is probably on friendly-ish terms with him, but plot twist, maybe he was the one the queen sent to kidnap him back to her four years ago? He is a thief, so kidnapping is just a little shady step to the side of that, I guess.

Plotting for Dandy!

[puddingemote]

I'm going to put my dude and lady in separate comments under this lol.

Tamaki

[puddingemote]

Tamaki is going to be a ghost who has full amnesia. He "died" somewhat recently (maybe two years ago or so, he doesn't remember for sure) due to severe neglect (I don't have exact concrete details thought out and I might just leave it vague but the point is life was Rough).

He's currently haunting the college dorm that Snake and Sora live in! He's a temper-tantruming throwing brat who kicks things around the room when people aren't paying adequate attention to him. Also he's always hungry but can't eat anything.

CR Opportunities!

1. Other people in the dorm if there are any - Tamaki will mostly hang around Snake's room but he might come out into the common areas or float around outside.

2. People who knew Tamaki before his death? He was an orphan who lived in a really shitty and overcrowded foster home and probably spent a lot of time roaming the streets.

3. Possible run-ins with the law? He's gotten in trouble for minor things like truancy and graffiti and skateboarding where he's not supposed to be.

4. Ghost Parties?? idek

Axel - This is long, Sorry

[small_reservations]

First and foremost, Axel will be a changeling! His hair will be fire, his ears pointed, and his eyes aglow. He may or may not have small, flightless dragonfly wings. He will also be a full amnesiac, though he'll get random memories back over time.

He'll run a music store, known for being safe haven for changelings due to its steel frame construction. He's also going to be studying psychology for a master's degree.

Axel will have been taken as a baby from his parents, a musician and a warlock, the price for a fae lord, a peer of the summer court, a spirit of fire and life (and his mom's patron), to cure their infertility. His birth parents died a while back, while he was in the clutches of the fae in question, who, pending mod approval, may be an antagonistic NPC. He was kept to be trained as a tool, an agent of the court in the mortal side of things, but ran away at age 14. From there he was placed in a foster home, taught glamour, and eventually sent to high school and college, where he studied business. At 18 he inherited his bio-dad's music shop, and still works and lives there.

Connections (? marks uncertain connections that have been suggested but not confirmed):
-Ash, Ginko, and Foster are some of his exes
-Helped Steven after his escape
-Changeling Network participant
-Regular at Lambert's Cafe
-Sibling, foster or otherwise, to Scout(?)
-Contacts among the Sanctuary(?)
-Escaped the Fae realms with Ginko

Possible Connections:
-Classmate
-Changeling network buddy
-MORE EXES
-Patron of his shop
-Old friends from school
-Sanctuary contact
-Anything else you can think of!

[myownpearl]

Oh Pearl would definitely be on the changeling network. Not sure how much you want to do with that -- maybe they just nod at each other when they see each other? XDb

Snake

[ophidiarex]

Snake is going to be a weresnake because lazy. He will have white hair and yellow eyes, and in times of stress, scales will pop up on his skin and his pupils will slit. He's going to be a college student, majoring in literary studies, and go 50/50 on his memories.

Snake's AU life is a simple one, but happy. He was shy and selectively mute as a child, but therapy brought him most of the way out of his shell. He went through normal school and normal life, but awakened as a werebeast somewhere in the way. While his confidence crumbled, he also gained a new support group in the form of the Pack, and they helped him through his struggles into college. He keeps snakes as court-sanctioned emotional support animals.

Upon waking up in this event, people who remember this world will notice Snake speaking less. And he still needs a human name.

Connections:
-Roommate with Sora
-Tamaki haunts their room
-Joker is Sora's guardian angel (I think?)
-Member of the Pack

Possible Connections
-Classmates or teachers
-Dormmates
-Packmates
-Maybe a SO
-Old friends

[walkonedge]

powerslides in here /o/ points at eyes points at youuuuu fellow weres cr pls

member of the Pack, yaaas. out of curiosity how did snake find out about the Pack?

Peridot

[periphrasing]

So Peridoodle is gonna be a werebat, because her having to aggressively insist that she's NOT A VAMPIRE is hilarious to me. She looks like a normal human most of the time, but when she gets REALLY upset or stressed out sometimes her ears will grow really huge and she starts to develop a snout/fangs. She also has a full on werebat form wherein she gets a bat head, and her arms turn into wings and she gets covered with fur, but it's not really threatening at all bc she looks like a squeaky cotton ball.

Peridot is getting aged down from several thousand to 20 years old. For memories I'm going half and half with her, which is going to make her super cranky and stressed out! She's going to be living with her adoptive older brother Lambert and younger sister Miko, who all grew up in the foster system together and just wound up sticking together. Memories of her life before age 14 get really hazy, and she gets really confused and keyed up if you ask her about her early childhood.

She does have some aspirations for eventually joining the Circle, mostly because she's hoping that maybe having access to their information and secrets will help her to figure out what the heck's up with her fragmented memories. Her mage and occult studies come second to her plans to be a mechanical engineer, though, which she is attending various community college courses for. She does work study at the public library near campus to help pay for those classes, and that job has her filling the role of "that one cranky person at the guest services counter that you never want to talk to unless you REALLY have to".

I'm imagining her experience with other supernatural entities (aside from her sister) is probably pretty minimal, because despite her curiosity she's a pretty naturally reclusive and abrasive person? So I don't know that she'd be a part of any support networks or anything unless someone directly reached out to her. BUT. I'm flexible on that so if you can think of something good for CR just let me know o/

Oh, her wimpod Stumpy has been incarnated as her pet hermit crab, too. She's very intense about the care of this hermit crab. Like, all her spare money goes into building it a bigger enclosure and providing it with the right nutrition and stuff.

Pumpkin will probably be a small dog but I don't know yet whether she or Lapis is gonna have her.

POTENTIAL CONNECTIONS:
-Community college. Either in the same classes or just around campus in general.
-Library patron
-Friend of either of her siblings
-Past high school connection
-Potential Circle, Sanctuary or Pack contacts?

If you've got any other ideas just feel free to ask C:

[osteothropy]

Sans has been sort of stalking Lambert a bit ever since he found out that he has mild precognitive abilities that are capable of averting a human's destined death. (Which he discovered when Lambert messed up one of his soul collections.)

So if you see a death angel watching your house from the street that's probably why.

Ash

[amusicaladventure]

Ash is going to have complete amnesia and be a mage in this AU -- specifically, a mage with a strong penchant for technology. Digital libraries, spell forms and processes calculated by program, even working on developing a magical programming language that can itself cast simple spells.

She is also, please forgive the gendered insult, a cast-iron bitch. Her focus is entirely on advancement and development of magical power. She has as much heart as your average politician; only interested in people who she can get something out of. To that end, she's had several relationships that were entirely self-serving (e.g. Foster, Axel) and that she ended once they stopped giving her what she wanted out of them.

Despite her coldness and ambition, she maintains very close ties with every other mage she can, because she's well aware the biggest danger she risks is from her peers. Similarly, she always tries to approach others professionally, well aware than behaving like a jackass is going to accomplish nothing.

CR potential:

Exes -- especially anyone with anything supernatural about them.

Mages -- If you're a mage, Ash has attempted to establish a courteous professional relationship with you. I am going to request in her official background that she have a position of power and standing within the Circle, so she may be your boss!

Contacts -- other supernatural beings are of interest to her, in her efforts to learn and study, so she tries to get to know any of them.

Anything else -- A roommate? A current SO? An apprentice? Whatever!

[control_freak]

I'm still really excited about Foster being one of Ash's exes. He probably has An Opinion about being used, but it may not be exactly negative? Well. It's not entirely positive, either.

EDIT: actually, do they still have contact? It can't have been that long ago, Foster hasn't been a warlock for more than a year, maybe.........?

Zecora

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Zecora is a normal human woman with full amnesia in this AU. Her role is a doctor -- an actual MD with a family practice specialty, and most important, a knowledge of the supernatural and willingness to both treat it and use it for treatments. Though she doesn't have magical potential herself, she can use charms and potions and scrolls or whatever exists in this world to aid treatment.

CR Potential:

PATIENTS -- this is the big one. Zecora is a doctor who anyone with supernatural inclinations can trust, and who can diagnose and treat supernatural ailments as well as normal ones. She has her own practice and is willing to make arrangements to see people without involving bureaucracy.

Providers -- who does she get her potions and spells and magical tools from?

Employees -- anyone need a job as a receptionist, or a nurse?

Family of all sort

Relationships, past or present

[otoko]

inb4 Zecora only recently realizes 'hey one of those biohazard disposal guys hasn't aged a day what'