⇨ OOC GREETINGS & PLOTTING

[ringleaders]

THE PLOT THICKENS↴ Congrats to everyone who has had their application accepted so far, and welcome to Lost Carnival! The game isn't planned to start until Saturday, but in the meantime this is going to be our great big CR planning and plotting post to get us ready to go. I'm going to be outlining some of the more recent events in carnival history in more detail, which is mostly going to be useful to veteran players, but it'll also be good to know for new arrivals to give them a better idea of the atmosphere their character are entering into. As many of you likely know, the most relevant event in the carnival's recent history is the VAMPIRE WAR. That is, when a mercenary job taken on by the Nightrider's team on a particular world resulted in a group of vampire sorcerers following them back to the carnival and wrecking the place. (Check out the extended history for more info.) A lot of damage was done in the fighting, and while the vampires were eventually killed/ousted, around 4-5 carnival members were killed. This disaster resulted in a large portion of the carnival's employees finishing up their contracts and returning home in the following months, discouraged by the destruction. Death and violence is not something the carnival sees a lot of in the average season, and so it was very much considered to be a turn for the worst. In the comments below, there is going to be a top level encouraging the discussing and brainstorming of specific identities to give those killed in the attack, since there were not that many of them over all and presumably veterans should have names associated with those lost. At least one of the was the previous Warden, who was drained of her blood and killed during the battle. The other four can be potentially anyone, so if you have any concepts for victims that would help your veteran backstory, let us know below! As it often goes with vampires, a large portion of vampire forces were neonates - that is, young vampires that were only recently made. A large number of neonates were killed during the fighting, but it seems like most of the elders that came along retreated at the end without being destroyed. The older the vampire, the more powerful their magic, and in this case the strength of those elders was much more than even the Ringmaster was expecting. The vampires were wielding a variety of spells, most of which fit in the category of what you would call black or infernal magic. Beyond that, vampire abilities seemed to average out at invulnerability to most physical wounds (fire, blows to the heart, and decapitation being the exceptions), super speed, super strength, and a natural skill for hypnosis and mind control. It's entirely possible that some of the veterans present were bewitched into aiding the vampires temporarily during the attack. THE SUMMERLANDS↴ After the vampire attack, the carnival was completely out of commission. Its grounds were left smoldering, and its employees were traumatized - so the Ringmaster decided to send everyone on vacation, to one of the few places she considers truly safe. That is, the Summerlands. The Summerlands is an idyllic realm inhabited by a population of summer fae, as the Ringmaster calls them. Generally speaking, they are a species of magical humanoids with pointed ears, unearthly beauty, sometimes wings, and a penchant for magic associated with the power of the sun and growth. The Ringmaster will refer to them as old allies of hers, though not the same kind of fae as she is. She won't be inclined to go into much more detail than that. While not exactly aloof, the summer fae there tend to be somewhat uncomprehending of the problems most mortals face. While they do have a concept of ethics, it is hard to compare to that of most of the carnival's employees, and their outlook on things tends towards that of a very neutral perspective. Rather than having much interest in war or politics, they are primarily focused on enjoying existence and the celebration of nature. Either way, they are gracious hosts, and for the two months or so the carnival lingered there the workers were treated to no shortage of food and wine, and eternally perfect weather. This queen of this realm is a fae called the Summer Maiden, who apparently has a close relationship with the Ringmaster. So much in fact that the two of them disappeared together for almost the entire duration, leaving the carnival to relax and perform at their leisure. The Ringmaster was having such a good time that she almost forgot to leave. THE CROSSROADS↴ The Crossroads is essentially a mega mall, except built in a rift between dimensions, kept stable by a mixture of magic and technology from a council that the Ringmaster doesn't care enough to know the details of. There are not that many species out there that can cross between universes freely, but in a multiverse of thousands of worlds, even a very small percentage can add up to a lot of visitors. Or, in this case, a lot of alien strip malls. The stores in the crossroads sell goods from all over the multiverse, sometimes with a barter system and sometimes with something simply called "currency" that one can convert items of value into when they arrive. The Ringmaster gifted all her remaining employees with an "allowance" to spend in their time there, so if they needed new clothes or other supplies, this was the time to do it. It wasn't enough to buy any high end relics or technology, but it was certainly enough to buy more novelty t-shirts than you can easily hold. Along with being given spending money, they were all put up in various hotels for the duration, while the carnival was being repaired. There was seemingly an infinite quantity of strange goods, foods, and attractions to see in the duration, but even in a three month stay it'd be impossible to see everything. The local culture of the Crossroads can be sort of difficult to grasp for outsiders, though, so exploring the whole thing may have not felt very inviting in the first place. With every market there is a black market, after all. THE IMPORTANT PART↴ And that brings us to the present carnival timeline! Having finally returned to duty (the last "season" has mostly been hanging out with the summer fae and doing the occasional "performances" in the Crossroads without any of the carnival's equipment) the Ringmaster is recruiting non stop to try to refill the ranks. A promising batch of newbies have been claimed as the veteran get used to their rebuilt home, and the whole gang tries to press forward. This post is for vets to plot out backstory, and for everyone to plot for the future ahead. There will be a couple top levels below, but after that it's open season! Please introduce yourself OOCly and tell us about your characters, and what you'd like to achieve with them. For veterans, feel free to include as much additional timeline information as you see fit - some people have made history outlines where they write down what your character was doing at each stop they were present for, so go ahead and link those if you have them. Newbies, now is the time to meet your new coworkers! Welcome to Lost Carnival, and I hope you all enjoy your time playing here.