Applications are OPEN.
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If you're unsure of who to apply, we suggest the potential app discussion page. Filling out the small form might give you a better idea of who would work better for you and the setting!
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Player
Name: What would you like to be called?
Username: ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) username
Current/former characters: Are you already in the game? Were you here before?
Sleeper
Character: The character's name goes here, obviously.
Username: username
Canon: What series is your character from? If an original character, feel free to come up with a fake canon name to be listed on the taken page, while also listing "original". Mark AUs here.
Canon point: Where in their story do they come from?
Age: Tell us how old they are. If your character's age would be altered upon acceptance into the game, make sure to note that you are changing it here, and what their new age will be.
Appearance: Height, build, hair and eye colors, demeanor, even a general fashion sense if you want. Tell us what we would see if we took a glance at your character.
Personality: The meat of the application! This should be around four solid paragraphs describing who your character is, both inside and out. We want to make sure you understand the character and will play them accurately to the setting.
If you'd like, you can also include a paragraph on how you see them reacting to the game environment.
History: Your character's life. You may link to a wiki here, but we would love to hear your own take on it! This is nearly as important as personality, as we will be using both sections to compare to the City history and make sure it's appropriate.
Powers/skills: Be sure to explain how they'll be changed or powered down in the case of non-humans turning human or those who are overpowered.
Characters who are canonically powerless may pitch to gain a power here. All new powers need to enhance an aspect the character already has, whether it relates to their personality or lifestyle, and you will have to explain how you believe it fits with this requirement.
Skills gives us a better idea of what this character is good at in mundane terms, so that we can help with a City position if you're coming up blank.
City
Name: This shouldn't allude to their canon name.
Position: Profession or other pigeonholing as necessary. Basically, "What laws do they abide by?" for us mods to consider. This will tell us what job the character will be assigned in the Cave, as well.
History: Two paragraphs minimum, but this section doesn't need to be very long. You can contact the mods to work with us on this. Absolutely needs to relate to the character in some way or another. Ironic placement, while fun, would not work for the setting. Any powers they may have in the Cave will not be present in this history.
Remember that you need permission if you plan to include other PCs in this history.
Proof: This is what will be waiting for a character in their living quarters when they first wake up in the Cave. It should be a photo, a voice clip, a video, etc., anything that would feature the Sleeper in a way that could be recognized. An item that would make a very solid case for your character living in the Diamond City before the Disaster.
Playing
First-person sample: (Should be at least 5 or 6 sentences. Links allowed: 15 comments minimum. If AU, samples must be of the same AU.)
Third-person sample: (At least 300 words. Links allowed. If AU, samples must be of the same AU.)
Did you read the rules? |
maladicta | discworld | 1/3
Name: Anne
Username:
Current/former characters: Aziraphale
Sleeper
Character: Maladicta von Borogravia[1]
Username:
Canon: Monstrous Regiment [Discworld]
Canon point: Several months post-novel
Age: Not explicitly stated in canon; for the purposes of this game, she's 19.
Appearance: Mal is a Discworld vampire, and as such she maintains certain vampiric standards. She is pale, slim, average height, and gray-eyed. Her hair is black and cut stylishly short. Her clothes are always neat. She has abnormally, though not supernaturally, long canines. Overall, she strikes one as androgynous enough that her confidence allows her to portray herself however she desires. If someone identifies her as male, she may or may not correct them depending on the situation.
She has a very slight accent when speaking in
MorporkianEnglish, since her native language is a variant ofÜberwaldeansome Slavic thing. Overall, however, her diction is impeccable.Personality: Raised in the vampiric aristocracy, Mal was well-educated according to a very specific definition of education. She is literate, quite intelligent, and articulate. Perhaps most importantly for a vampire, she is charming and quick-witted. She can outsmart most of her peers in the army by talking circles around them. She's quick with a jibe, although they are always cleverly underhanded, and with a comeback; she is not easily offended, which is a pro considering the fact that she is canonically surrounded by people who understand neither her species nor her gender.
As charming as she is, though, her haughtiness is often overwhelming. Polly Perks "objects to [her] permanent expression of effortless superiority," which she maintains at all times except when she is going through coffee withdrawals. Part of this is genuine and part is a defense mechanism. Mal does consider herself smarter than her peers and makes an effort to know things about them that give her an advantage. She may use such an advantage if it's helpful to her. However, she also comes from a family in which her skills and intelligence were ignored; upon arriving in the army, she immediately establishes herself as cleverer, faster, and stronger than the other recruits as a defense mechanism. This speaks to her underlying insecurity, which has multiple facets. First, she is a vampire trying to live without blood, which, in a way, is denying her own identity; on the other hand, she has entirely divorced herself from vampire culture because she considers it to be unnecessarily focused on female sexuality rather than power and because she does not feel taken seriously within that culture. She is unable to articulate this entirely clearly, although she does try to confide in Polly towards the end of Monstrous Regiment. Second (and relatedly), she constantly lives in fear of losing control of herself and hurting someone she cares about, which will be discussed in more detail later. Finally, and simply, she is very young and doesn't really understand who she is yet. She joined the army on a whim and found in it a career; she didn't choose it. So up until now she's relied largely on chance and used bluster to appear more directed than she actually is.
During the course of Monstrous Regiment, Mal develops feelings of loyalty for the first time, not to her country or to the army but to the other recruits, most likely as a result of their surprising loyalty to her. The fact that the entirety of the Ins-and-Outs stuck together and protested the status quo, despite their vastly different motivations and goals and the chances they had to opt out of confrontation, must have been surprising to someone who'd grown up in a strictly traditional aristocratic family in which nobody rocked the boat, or indeed ever wanted to. Further, the fact that her fellow recruits tried to save her during her withdrawals rather than immediately staking her in the heart led her to trust them with her life. Given that the entire novel takes place over only a few days, all of this implies that Mal is likely to become extremely loyal extremely quickly, particularly in a high-stress scenario.
Mal is a loudmouth. She is usually the first to protest a perceived injustice, as when the recruits witnessed a large group of fleeing refugees and were told to forget about it. While she often does not act on her protestations, her words can spur others to action, as often was the case when she and Polly worked together.
In the Discworld, vampires don't exactly drink blood for sustenance; they're addicted to it like a drug (although they do need some sort of blood on a regular basis to survive, it can be animal blood in very small amounts; Mal shows no signs of needing any blood whatsoever in Monstrous Regiment). In fact, the Überwald League of Temperance, or Black Ribboners, is a group analogous to Alcoholics Anonymous, which encourages its members to abstain from blood. Many vampires choose to simply replace one addiction with another. Mal's new addiction is coffee, and when she doesn't have any, as happens while the regiment is on the move, she reverts back to her original addiction and craves blood. When she reverts her cravings are so intense that she can't control herself; however, she is self-aware enough to realize that she's a danger to others. In the interim period while the effects of the coffee are wearing off, she becomes completely unaware of her surroundings and experiences "flashsides," or flashes of alternate realities. In Monstrous Regiment, she gets flashsides of the Vietnam War. During flashsides, Mal is entirely unaware that her original reality ever existed.
As a result of these periods of altered states of consciousness and her susceptibility/suggestibility during these times, Mal will be more susceptible to memory rehabilitation than most, and if her big mouth gets her into trouble (it probably will) she'll become immersed in her City memories and find it more difficult to prioritize her canon memories once rehab wears off. In other words, unless someone very persuasive convinces her otherwise, I anticipate her settling into her City life with relative ease after an initial rocky start.
maladicta | discworld | 2/3
On the Disc – an aggressively whimsical semi-parallel version of Earth – there was a country called Borogravia. Borogravia was proud; Borogravia had a mad god (Nuggan) and a dead duchess, both of whom gave a great degree of false hope to a poor and barren nation; Borogravia made war. For years and years, because it could, until there was nothing but war in Borogravia, and it had run out of sons. When a country that loves war runs out of sons, and when propaganda stops working because of that nasty tendency of people to come back from war with fewer arms and legs than they left with, those who enter into warfare tend to have very individual motivations. In the case of what came to be termed in Borogravia the Monstrous Regiment, they were also not sons.
Eight young women cut off their hair, put on trousers, and joined the army to fight for the glory of the Motherland!!, except not really, because generally they were running away from rather than towards something. Maladicta certainly was. Tired of not getting respect from her family (because female vampires are meant to be sexy, not clever or strong or independent), Mal joined the Ins-and-Outs and quickly detected that her idea was not particularly original. She was surrounded by women.
Unfortunately, these eight women were the last recruits of the current war with Zlobenia, and as such were given shoddy equipment and told to go to the front lines posthaste. Before this could happen, however, the recruiting corporal (name of Strappi), a political spy for the highest Borogravian military authority, became so thrilled at the idea of heading to the front lines that he pissed himself and deserted, significant largely because a) he gave away the squad's position to the nearby Zlobenian infantry, and b) he stole Mal's coffee. Mal really needed her coffee; without coffee she would kill for a cup of . . . well, blood. [See powers section]
But speaking of the Zlobenians: those plucky girls manage to capture and humiliate (that is, kick in the fork and strip) the infantry forces, although it might have interested them to know that Prince Heinrich of Zlobenia, the heir to the Borogravian throne and a major reason for the war's outbreak, happened to be in that infantry party . . . and was the one kicked in the fork . . . and actually became quite angry about it. Due to the exciting influence of the Free and Fair Press of city-state Ankh-Morpork, the story of Prince Heinrich's ultimate humiliation at the hands of a small group of green recruits quickly became a hot topic of conversation across the Disc and instantly changed political attitudes towards Borogravia from They are insane and must be stopped (possibly accurate) to They are plucky underdogs and we should support them.
Due to confusing verbal and tactical maneuvering by the Ins-and-Outs' tremendously inexperienced Lieutenant Blouse, the regiment ultimately ended up making its way to Kneck Keep, a vital Borogravian stronghold which had been taken over by Zlobenians. Along this trip, the lack of coffee became an issue. Having substituted her addiction to human blood for an addiction to coffee, Mal began experiencing flashsides, or hallucinations of alternate realities – in this case, of the Vietnam War. As the squad made its way to the Keep, Mal got so close to reverting to her original addiction and attacking one of her fellow soldiers that she nearly had to be staked through the heart – until a blessed bag of beans dropped from the sky and nearly concussed her.[2]
An unconscious yet thoroughly caffeinated Mal (she sucked the caffeine directly from the beans through the bag, which is apparently a thing you can do if you're desperate enough) was left outside the Keep with their Sergeant Jackrum while the others disguised themselves as washerwomen to get inside the fortress. Mal was quickly caught and imprisoned by Zlobenians within the Keep; the others quickly followed (partially because no one believed they were actually women). After a complex series of power shifts within the Keep, the Borogravians retook it and, in their turn, became tremendously offended at the presence of women within their army, despite the fact that the squad (sans Mal, who was still unconscious) had freed them from their cells.
A court-martial was called – but not officially, since a court-martial is only for proper (that is, male) soldiers - and the top brass of Borogravia was about to disregard the squad's achievements and send them home when Sergeant Jackrum returned and revealed that about, oh, one third of the entire military was of the female persuasion. Halfway through this exciting development, the semi-divine Duchess of Borogravia possessed one of the recruits and demanded that Borogravia let go of her and of Nuggan and that the generals return home to save their people form starvation.
It was only after this, in the confusing and frequently condescending peace negotiations, that Mal revealed that she was really Maladicta. This was met with a general lack of offense from the squad, and everyone was sent home with a pat on the back and a none-too-subtle hint not to come back. Mal disappeared, floating around the country aimlessly, never going home and never staying in one place for too long. The female generals stayed silent about their identities. A fragile peace was brokered.
And then, a few months later, broken again. Borogravia went to war one more time. And Corporal Maladicta joined Sergeant Polly Perks serving openly in the Ins-and-Outs as women, whether the brass liked it or not. Polly determined this would be a smarter war, and she engaged that lovely Ankh-Morpork press to keep everyone honest. Mal's job became sneering recruits into shape, among other corporal-y things, and assisting Polly in the fine art of shaking things up.
Powers/skills: Mal is a goddamn vampire, and "on the Disc, all the world's vampire legends are true, even the contradictory ones. They just aren't all true for the same vampire." As stated above, Mal is a Black Ribboner and does not drink blood, having substituted the addictive properties of coffee. Once again, however, a lack of coffee will lead to delusions, hallucinations, delirium tremens, and eventually an uncontrollable craving for human blood. Since she will be human in-game, she won't crave blood in the event of withdrawals, instead becoming generally violent while experiencing flashsides of her Dream life. In other words, caffeine will function as a combined chemical and psychological dependency.
Mal is apparently not a created vampire but a genetic one, i.e. her parents are both vampires. The rules of immortality for vampires are not explicitly stated within the novels, but it's fair to assume that genetic vampires age more or less equivalently up to a certain age. Mal has not yet reached that age. In the context of the game, she will of course age normally anyway.
Mal can change into bats (not one bat but a swarm of them), although it's difficult for her and she ends up naked when she changes back (because female vampires must always be sexy). She tolerates sunlight but does not enjoy it (it tingles). She can levitate and fly for short distances but finds it difficult and physically draining. She's supernaturally strong and fast, with fantastic hearing and a really excellent sense of smell, especially if you're bleeding. She can see in the daaaaark. Canonically she's nearly invulnerable; this power will not be retained in-game.
Other skills include looking fantastically yet carelessly dressed, being smug, avoiding mobs, and sort of knowing how to fight with a pike. Skills do not include technology or flush toilets.
[1] Her last name is never stated in canon. This last name was created following the pattern of Überwaldean vampires with the surname "von Überwald". So, yes.
[2] It is worth pointing out that these were not actually divine beans. They had been delivered by the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, which for various complicated and above all political reasons had a presence within Kneck Keep. They were supposed to be on Zlobenia's side, sort of, but mostly the commander of the Watch, Sam Vimes, just liked the squad. Hence hand-delivery of beans.
maladicta | discworld | 3/3
Name: Milena Tichý[1]
Position: Cave: Supply depot temp. City: Barista at Under Pressure Cafe in the middle ring.
History: Originating in the south-southwest, Milena's family used to be landed gentry, but progress wore on them over the centuries, and by the time she was born they were aristocratic in name only. When she was two, Milena's great-uncle, who had been a general in a longstanding civil conflict, was tried for war crimes; after a bitter legal struggle, and despite the insistence of the Tichýs on his innocence, he was convicted, permanently tarnishing the family's name. Milena became conscious of her family history in bits and pieces between the ages of three and ten. Her mother, a very religious woman, tended to be strict; her father was stricter and disappointed in the fact that Milena wasn't a third son. Her brothers ignored her entirely.
Both parents were entirely focused on preparing her brothers for higher education and, to a lesser extent, her for marriage. In an effort to restore respect for the family, her father accepted a position in the Diamond City as an ambassador's assistant when Milena was eight. The only one who didn't have trouble adjusting to their new life was Milena, who immersed herself in school, particularly English classes, in hopes of finding support outside of her home. While she excelled in school and her teachers adored her, she was considered odd by her peers and generally ignored.
Around the age of fourteen, her mother became emotionally abusive, frequently questioning Milena's devotion to God and berating her for being sexually active (she wasn't). Her father, increasingly busy with and unhappy at work, refused to intervene in their increasingly frequent screaming matches. Isolated and unhappy, Milena started to protest, first in small ways, then more loudly.
On her fifteenth birthday, Milena cut off all her hair; nothing her mother said ever convinced her to let it grow back. On her sixteenth birthday, she calmly cut up a dress her mother had made for her, stole a pair of her brother's pants, and stated her refusal to ever wear a skirt again. On her seventeenth birthday, after a particularly bitter battle with her mother, she shoved her hope chest, which she had received upon their arrival to the Center, under her bed and stormed out of the house to apply for a job at the local coffee shop. On her eighteenth birthday, she left home for good, rented a small and squalid apartment in the outer ring with money saved up from her job, and settled in to save some more. Even she wasn't sure what her ultimate goal was; all she knew was the routine of waking up every morning, opening the store, and coming home in the afternoon smelling like coffee grounds to a gloriously empty flat.
Nobody bothered her; she was intimidating and therefore fit in perfectly at Under Pressure, which was a little bit alternative for the middle ring. She took to wearing black, partially as a fashion statement but mostly because it was easy, and became used to being mistaken for a boy. She liked it; she felt people took her more seriously that way. Near her nineteenth birthday, she tried to get into university, but a combination of lack of enthusiasm, lackluster essays, and her parents' refusal to fill out financial aid forms made this impossible. And just after she turned nineteen, the Disaster struck, which made it all a moot point anyway.
Proof: A photo of her scowling while holding a plaque - Milena Tichý: Barista of the Month. (The plaque has a picture of a coffee bean on it.)
[1] "Gracious silence."
Playing
First-person sample: Does this work?
Third-person sample: Shufti had once told her – oh, beg pardon, Betty had once told her – that in difficult and unfamiliar situations, it was often helpful to make a list of pros and cons. Since Betty was generally a clever enough girl despite her sudden and unexpected motherhood, Mal decided to give it a try.
Pro: She was in a cave. Caves, as a generally rule, were advantageous for her kind; no sun, no trees to make stakes out of, the occasional dwarf settlement (although perhaps not here).
Pro: She'd found coffee. There was a warehouse with a surprisingly wide variety of supplies, although she'd gotten coffee and bread and nothing else. She didn't need anything else.
Pro: She hadn't met any . . . family, so to speak. Which meant no one would try to squeeze her into a corset anytime soon. She'd had quite enough of corsets for several lifetimes, and considering who she was that was a very long time.
However, con: Because she hadn't met any other vampires, she also hadn't met any Ribboners, and therefore no one who'd know where to find the heart should supplies run out. This, she had to admit, had her slightly jittery. She shouldn't have been nervous at all – after all, it had worked out fine the last time – but this situation was somewhat different.
Direct segue into con: Where was the regiment? Naturally she was more concerned for Polly than for herself. A life without Mal was a dangerous life indeed, especially in the Ins-and-Outs, where a lady soldier was liable to get stabbed in the back for Being Political without her trusty vampire sidekick (excellent track record or no, and they did have an excellent track record). Not to mention it would be so dull. Mal provided the wit and the womanpower, and dear Polly made people angry.
Altogether this was an entirely mixed bag – quite similar to the one Mal was currently holding, which reminded her: jitters. With a half-sideways turn, she glanced back into the depot and smiled her toothiest smile. “I don't suppose any of you gentlemen have something along the lines of a coffee pot?”
Did you read the rules? Indeedly.
Revision
Almost there!
Your application is good! We just have a few questions about your app before we can decide to accept or decline. Please expand on...
Powers
While we like the idea of Maladicta experiencing flashsides, we're afraid that the nature of the game's mystery would make it a very tricky thing to manage. We would instead like to offer this idea: while durations can still be given for periods when City memories will overshadow Dream memories before both sets settle, Maladicta may find herself slipping back into any City memories she recovers through rehabilitation without prompting if ever she should fall into withdrawal. Would that work for you?
Revision
accepted!
Welcome to the game!
Now that you've been accepted:
1. Confirm that you are using the same character journal as in your application, then please join
1½. If you wish, you may also join landofglass and gdbatcave with your personal journal.
2. Comment to the taken characters page, and then locations to let us know where your character will be working.
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5. Go ahead and introduce yourself if you like!
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accepted!