rough_draft.txt
Mar. 2nd, 2012 11:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
devolaHello, fellow captive!
The term isn't one I picked -- ask real nice and I might tell you who's to blame for that one! -- but it's a fitting one, because right now you're stuck here, same as just about everyone who's got a number pre-registered into that phone you're holding in your hot little hands. Or large clammy ones. Whichever.
Back to the topic at hand, there's five important questions one should look at when broaching a new subject, and in this case I bet the subject on your mind would be something kinda like; "what is going on here?" Let's go over what we can, using no order in particular.
--Where: An island-city called Prospero. It's located just off the eastern coast of a country called the United States of America. For completion's sakes, the planet itself is Earth.
All of us come from different backgrounds here, some of us haven't even heard of Earth, for example. If there's at least one thing we all have in common, it's that noone has ever heard of this island prior to waking up here.
--When: By the current standard of time-keeping, we're in the year 2012 AD. I'm not going to bother noting the month or day, as time flies while you're loitering about a strange island you've been abducted to.
If you've traveled backward or forwards in time, welcome to the club. If you've beaten our current record holder of years-displaced-by (around thirty-eight thousand!) we'll think up a complimentary prize for you.
--What: ...the heck is going on here? At once it's both not a whole lot, as well as some fairly bizarre circumstances. See, at midnight everything becomes strange. The sky turns green, and time stops for, as far as we can tell, an hour. During this hour, dubbed "the Dark Hour", most of the population becomes placed in some kind of stasis within coffins, while those of us who are displaced from our homes and brought here have to deal with aggressive monsters that show up and wander the streets.
I'm serious.
The monsters are called Shadows, come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and have a habit of attacking anything that isn't one of their own and isn't stuck in a coffin. There's a database compiled on the things, updated and sent out rougly every month. Ask around for it if you need one. I wish I could say more about them, but we really don't know all that much -- kinda hard to learn about something when they don't talk, and vanish before you can properly study them.
Another thing related, though not limited to, the Dark Hour are Personae. As it turns out, everyone displaced here seems to gain the power to summon a being called a "Persona" to assist them in defending themselves. Like I said, it's not a thing limited to the Dark Hour alone, but summoning it outside of the Dark Hour is incredibly stressful, comparatively. Like the Shadows, we don't know all that much about them, save a bunch of theories and guesses I won't bore you with right now. They tend to manifest when you're in danger, but if I hear about any of you using that statement as an excuse to do something stupid, I'll be very disappointed.
--How: I'm told it's a pretty flagrant violation of the laws of physics, not to mention the laws of time and space are being broken left and right to pull people here. All we've got are vague guesses.
--Who: Whoever's sending creepy messages over the phones every once in a while, probably. The kind of call that doesn't say who's calling and can't be cancelled from. Again, no real idea.
--Why: Million-dollar question, right there. Completion of the "in the dark trifecta."
Time-frame:
Under construction
2011
Before Aug - (?)
Aug - Residents feel compelled to gamble, bet, etc. A large shadow appears at the casino, shaped like a pair of dice.
Sep - No change in mindset. No large shadow. An altar reading "rest in peace" with five goblets upon it appears inside the dungeon. (Tartarus? Caliban?)
Oct - Regular people around Prospero begin to go missing, washing up on shore dead en masse. Eventually they return to life as mindless berserkers during the Dark Hour. A large, humanoid shadow appears. Upon it's defeat the townsfolk return to normal.
Nov - No change in mindset. No large shadow. Instead those brought here were accosted by doppelgangers of themselves, knowing all their originals know, and retaining any special abilities as well.
Dec - Nothing of note.
2012
Jan - People feel familial relationships where none existed previously. A large, vaguely humanoid and vaguely feminine shadow appears.
Feb - Amorous inclinations run rampant. A large, heart-shaped shadow appears.
The term isn't one I picked -- ask real nice and I might tell you who's to blame for that one! -- but it's a fitting one, because right now you're stuck here, same as just about everyone who's got a number pre-registered into that phone you're holding in your hot little hands. Or large clammy ones. Whichever.
Back to the topic at hand, there's five important questions one should look at when broaching a new subject, and in this case I bet the subject on your mind would be something kinda like; "what is going on here?" Let's go over what we can, using no order in particular.
--Where: An island-city called Prospero. It's located just off the eastern coast of a country called the United States of America. For completion's sakes, the planet itself is Earth.
All of us come from different backgrounds here, some of us haven't even heard of Earth, for example. If there's at least one thing we all have in common, it's that noone has ever heard of this island prior to waking up here.
--When: By the current standard of time-keeping, we're in the year 2012 AD. I'm not going to bother noting the month or day, as time flies while you're loitering about a strange island you've been abducted to.
If you've traveled backward or forwards in time, welcome to the club. If you've beaten our current record holder of years-displaced-by (around thirty-eight thousand!) we'll think up a complimentary prize for you.
--What: ...the heck is going on here? At once it's both not a whole lot, as well as some fairly bizarre circumstances. See, at midnight everything becomes strange. The sky turns green, and time stops for, as far as we can tell, an hour. During this hour, dubbed "the Dark Hour", most of the population becomes placed in some kind of stasis within coffins, while those of us who are displaced from our homes and brought here have to deal with aggressive monsters that show up and wander the streets.
I'm serious.
The monsters are called Shadows, come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and have a habit of attacking anything that isn't one of their own and isn't stuck in a coffin. There's a database compiled on the things, updated and sent out rougly every month. Ask around for it if you need one. I wish I could say more about them, but we really don't know all that much -- kinda hard to learn about something when they don't talk, and vanish before you can properly study them.
Another thing related, though not limited to, the Dark Hour are Personae. As it turns out, everyone displaced here seems to gain the power to summon a being called a "Persona" to assist them in defending themselves. Like I said, it's not a thing limited to the Dark Hour alone, but summoning it outside of the Dark Hour is incredibly stressful, comparatively. Like the Shadows, we don't know all that much about them, save a bunch of theories and guesses I won't bore you with right now. They tend to manifest when you're in danger, but if I hear about any of you using that statement as an excuse to do something stupid, I'll be very disappointed.
--How: I'm told it's a pretty flagrant violation of the laws of physics, not to mention the laws of time and space are being broken left and right to pull people here. All we've got are vague guesses.
--Who: Whoever's sending creepy messages over the phones every once in a while, probably. The kind of call that doesn't say who's calling and can't be cancelled from. Again, no real idea.
--Why: Million-dollar question, right there. Completion of the "in the dark trifecta."
Time-frame:
Under construction
2011
Before Aug - (?)
Aug - Residents feel compelled to gamble, bet, etc. A large shadow appears at the casino, shaped like a pair of dice.
Sep - No change in mindset. No large shadow. An altar reading "rest in peace" with five goblets upon it appears inside the dungeon. (Tartarus? Caliban?)
Oct - Regular people around Prospero begin to go missing, washing up on shore dead en masse. Eventually they return to life as mindless berserkers during the Dark Hour. A large, humanoid shadow appears. Upon it's defeat the townsfolk return to normal.
Nov - No change in mindset. No large shadow. Instead those brought here were accosted by doppelgangers of themselves, knowing all their originals know, and retaining any special abilities as well.
Dec - Nothing of note.
2012
Jan - People feel familial relationships where none existed previously. A large, vaguely humanoid and vaguely feminine shadow appears.
Feb - Amorous inclinations run rampant. A large, heart-shaped shadow appears.
