RedDeerOfSouth
{ i am. }
- One on One
- Nation Building
- Off-site
{ i am 20, and as such, will to play with people 18+ for the sake of my own comfort }
trans (mtf) -- {she/it}
trans (mtf) -- {she/it}
You may call me Doe or Noir. I have been roleplaying on and off again for at least four years at this point, so I have a decent bit of experience under my belt. I am a creative writer, and have a passion for it. I am a transgender woman, and as said above, use she and it as my pronouns. You may use either for me, though I request you never refer to me as 'he' or 'they'. I'm a college student (Junior), and therefore am often somewhat busy. However, I do my best to make time for roleplay, as well as casual conversation. Other noteworthy details include the fact that I am a furry, and therian (ΔΘ). As my profile likely indicates, my theriotype is a deer.
A few different things. I have some plots, as well as details about my intended character and setting, below. However, I want to lay out some details about what I'm searching for upfront;
- Consistent replies; hopefully once per week. Communicate with me if you have to go on hiatus for a while please. I'll do the same.
- As for post length, I tend to hover around a happy medium. I can do multi-paragraph, but I do not really enjoy writing novella or novel length posts. I like hovering around a few paragraphs at the most. It's easier for me to keep up and reply more consistently this way, as I already do a lot of exterior writing for my major and personal projects.
- In terms of romance, I am seeking out queer relationships, preferably sapphic or T4T in nature, though I am open to other possibilities.
- I like exploring themes of horror and the supernatural. If you want an idea of the sort of horror I enjoy, think in terms of Stephen King, Joe Hill, Ronald Malphi. I also like horror podcasts such as Old Gods of Appalachia, Malevolent, and The Silt Verses. In this genre, I like also engaging with themes of identity, small town culture, and societal decay.
Likes Hot coffee (latte or cortado), nighttime, folk music.
Dislikes The heat, the color red, people who dogear pages.
Love Languages Touch, gift-giving.
Alignment Neutral Good.
Fears Losing everything she has, being forced to return where she came from, being buried alive.
Priorities Personal relationships, her bookshops success.
Addictions Caffeine, nicotine.
Mental Illnesses Chronic PTSD (medicated), Persistent Depressive Disorder (medicated), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (medicated).
Jericho may strike some as asocial, and to some extent this is true. She prefers her own company most of the time, although she seeks out the company of trusted people. She is someone who is very in touch with the emotions of herself and others, though she is in the process of overcoming her habit of emotionally repressing herself. She is a disorganized sort; but also extremely curious. She almost always has a book she’s working on. She tends to be extremely secretive about her past; and tends to deflect any questions surrounding her upbringing and origins.
Dislikes The heat, the color red, people who dogear pages.
Love Languages Touch, gift-giving.
Alignment Neutral Good.
Fears Losing everything she has, being forced to return where she came from, being buried alive.
Priorities Personal relationships, her bookshops success.
Addictions Caffeine, nicotine.
Mental Illnesses Chronic PTSD (medicated), Persistent Depressive Disorder (medicated), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (medicated).
Jericho may strike some as asocial, and to some extent this is true. She prefers her own company most of the time, although she seeks out the company of trusted people. She is someone who is very in touch with the emotions of herself and others, though she is in the process of overcoming her habit of emotionally repressing herself. She is a disorganized sort; but also extremely curious. She almost always has a book she’s working on. She tends to be extremely secretive about her past; and tends to deflect any questions surrounding her upbringing and origins.
With power, comes consequence. Responsibility too, sure, but everything comes with a price. For Jericho, excessive use of her power opens her up to numerous consequences. On the comparatively minor side of things, excessive exposure to the paranatural can cause migraines, sleep deprivation, weight loss, or fainting spells. On the more extreme scale, it can open her to possession, sudden and uncontrollable outbursts of power, and localized breakdown of the laws of physics. As such, it is extremely important that she limits her exposure to a reasonable level, and uses her power only in moderation. Incidents of extreme trauma, especially those that push her sanity to its limit, may cause power to intensify or for new ones to be discovered.
---
Psychokinesis
Particularly affecting electronic or mechanical devices. Her mere presence can have this effect, causing, say, phones to function improperly. When stressed, though, this dramatically intensifies. For instance, when she was a child and was hit by a truck, the entire engine compartment was set ablaze. Another was when her father tried to kill her, and every lightbulb in the room they were in exploded. All of the clocks stopped as well.
Telekinesis
A little bit more conventional. Jericho is able to move and influence objects with her mind. This normally takes extraordinary effort on her part, but similarly, in times of distress this capability intensifies. An instance of this was when Lawrence Farmson tried to shoot her when she discovered his role in the murder of the Widower. His neck was inexplicably snapped.
Intangibility
This is a power over which Jericho has developed more control. At will, she is able to choose to pass through a solid object, like a wall or door. She is generally limited to doing this once per day due to the ensuing migraine.
Selective Intangibility
Jericho is able to, at will, choose to become invisible to one of the five senses. She can change this on the fly. Most often, she chooses for her footsteps not to be heard, or on days where she misses a shower, becomes imperceptible to smell.
One With Shadow
Even when not choosing to become invisible to sight, Jericho appears to appear as a blur in dark spaces, and the shadow seems to almost wrap around her body. Whilst standing still in this state, she is almost invisible unless she is being actively searched for. Complimenting this ability, she seems to have no issue seeing in the darkness, her pupils seeming to change to something more catlike during the night, or when entering a dark room.
Connection to the Other Side
Unlike the others, this is more of a passive ability, which Jericho is always affected by. She is able to perceive, and communicate with spirits, and detect their presence via a directional headache that indicates where in the vicinity they are. She is also able to physically interact with spirits. Based on their energy and how their presence makes her feel, she is also able to detect intention. This particular ability has a couple of odd side-effects. The first is that she does not appear in reflective surfaces. The other is that her body feels unnaturally cold, and her presence can cause the temperature in a room to noticeably drop. Furthermore, she leaves no physical evidence that she has been somewhere: no fingerprints, no hair, not even footprints. In photographs or videos, there is always strange artifacting or blurring about her face.
---
Artefacts
Moonbone A dagger fashioned from pale bone, with red leather ribbons twisted in knots about the grip. Twirling designs are etched into the surface. This artefact wards against new spirits being bound to her and fends off curses.
Nameless Book An ancient tome bound in leather with crinkled, yellowed pages. It is written in Latin, and contains information regarding various spirits, including contemporary ones– which the book obviously predates. Writing things in it ensures that they are never forgotten. The book knows the name of its owner, and burns whoever tries to snoop at the touch.
---
Bonded Spirits
The Widower The founding sin of a generation of Knuckle-Deeps men. A bride drowned in Deer Creek on her wedding day for the crime of being different. They claimed that she deceived them all. Now, the men of Knuckle-Deep can never return to the shoreline, not without risking her siren song. For whatever reason, she feels attachment to the Richter girl. She appears to her on rainy days, by watersides, and in bathtubs.
Father The crime of patricide is not so easily forgotten. Father only appears to Jericho in times of great emotional distress, always at the entryway to her bedroom. He never says anything, probably because his face is nothing but ruin from a shotgun blast. He doesn’t need to, to reduce her to tears. No matter what she does, he doesn’t leave until first light.
The Men of Knuckle-Deep The sins of home don’t go away easily; not even when you leave. Knuckle-Deep sent generations of its young men to perish under the craggy flesh of the earth. They died screaming with dirt in their mouths, or on the other end of a company man's rifle. They won’t let her forget that she left them unavenged. They won’t leave her to rest until she returns to that dreaded valley. They appear only in dark, tight spaces.
---
Psychokinesis
Particularly affecting electronic or mechanical devices. Her mere presence can have this effect, causing, say, phones to function improperly. When stressed, though, this dramatically intensifies. For instance, when she was a child and was hit by a truck, the entire engine compartment was set ablaze. Another was when her father tried to kill her, and every lightbulb in the room they were in exploded. All of the clocks stopped as well.
Telekinesis
A little bit more conventional. Jericho is able to move and influence objects with her mind. This normally takes extraordinary effort on her part, but similarly, in times of distress this capability intensifies. An instance of this was when Lawrence Farmson tried to shoot her when she discovered his role in the murder of the Widower. His neck was inexplicably snapped.
Intangibility
This is a power over which Jericho has developed more control. At will, she is able to choose to pass through a solid object, like a wall or door. She is generally limited to doing this once per day due to the ensuing migraine.
Selective Intangibility
Jericho is able to, at will, choose to become invisible to one of the five senses. She can change this on the fly. Most often, she chooses for her footsteps not to be heard, or on days where she misses a shower, becomes imperceptible to smell.
One With Shadow
Even when not choosing to become invisible to sight, Jericho appears to appear as a blur in dark spaces, and the shadow seems to almost wrap around her body. Whilst standing still in this state, she is almost invisible unless she is being actively searched for. Complimenting this ability, she seems to have no issue seeing in the darkness, her pupils seeming to change to something more catlike during the night, or when entering a dark room.
Connection to the Other Side
Unlike the others, this is more of a passive ability, which Jericho is always affected by. She is able to perceive, and communicate with spirits, and detect their presence via a directional headache that indicates where in the vicinity they are. She is also able to physically interact with spirits. Based on their energy and how their presence makes her feel, she is also able to detect intention. This particular ability has a couple of odd side-effects. The first is that she does not appear in reflective surfaces. The other is that her body feels unnaturally cold, and her presence can cause the temperature in a room to noticeably drop. Furthermore, she leaves no physical evidence that she has been somewhere: no fingerprints, no hair, not even footprints. In photographs or videos, there is always strange artifacting or blurring about her face.
---
Artefacts
Moonbone A dagger fashioned from pale bone, with red leather ribbons twisted in knots about the grip. Twirling designs are etched into the surface. This artefact wards against new spirits being bound to her and fends off curses.
Nameless Book An ancient tome bound in leather with crinkled, yellowed pages. It is written in Latin, and contains information regarding various spirits, including contemporary ones– which the book obviously predates. Writing things in it ensures that they are never forgotten. The book knows the name of its owner, and burns whoever tries to snoop at the touch.
---
Bonded Spirits
The Widower The founding sin of a generation of Knuckle-Deeps men. A bride drowned in Deer Creek on her wedding day for the crime of being different. They claimed that she deceived them all. Now, the men of Knuckle-Deep can never return to the shoreline, not without risking her siren song. For whatever reason, she feels attachment to the Richter girl. She appears to her on rainy days, by watersides, and in bathtubs.
Father The crime of patricide is not so easily forgotten. Father only appears to Jericho in times of great emotional distress, always at the entryway to her bedroom. He never says anything, probably because his face is nothing but ruin from a shotgun blast. He doesn’t need to, to reduce her to tears. No matter what she does, he doesn’t leave until first light.
The Men of Knuckle-Deep The sins of home don’t go away easily; not even when you leave. Knuckle-Deep sent generations of its young men to perish under the craggy flesh of the earth. They died screaming with dirt in their mouths, or on the other end of a company man's rifle. They won’t let her forget that she left them unavenged. They won’t leave her to rest until she returns to that dreaded valley. They appear only in dark, tight spaces.
Tall and thin, beguiling the non-negligible strength and dexterity she possesses, she moves with confidence and the grace of witchgrass in a night breeze. Her hoof falls are strangely quiet, but fitting of her deliberate steps and crane-like strut. With a slight hourglass to her frame, budding breasts upon her chest grown by her hormone replacement therapy, she functionally passes for a cisgender woman. Even the nubs where her antlers once were have been covered in her long, jet-black hair- her medication keeping them from growing back come late spring. A time that was once made hell for her, by their doing. They too are now capped with silver adornments. Her nails are long, and often painted a coal black, or situationally, ruby red.
Ice blue eyes adorn her long face. The doe has cream soda brown fur, softly adorning her body like velvet. She walks with a limp on her right side, with a scar on her back where her shoulder came dislocated after being hit by a truck. Next to it is now a raven tattoo, with feathers of it descending down her right arm. She possesses a crescent moon tattoo on her chest.
Ice blue eyes adorn her long face. The doe has cream soda brown fur, softly adorning her body like velvet. She walks with a limp on her right side, with a scar on her back where her shoulder came dislocated after being hit by a truck. Next to it is now a raven tattoo, with feathers of it descending down her right arm. She possesses a crescent moon tattoo on her chest.
{cw: patricide (in self defense), assault, murder, incidents of bigotry (violent and not), consistent mention of death, being trapped in a small town, car accident, probably more}
The Loss (0-15)
Jericho Eden Richter, then christened Nathan “Lawrence” Richter, was born to one of Knuckle-Deep’s prestigious founding families: the Richters. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, however, that she was born into a disgraced branch of that line. Born to the then-family-patriarch’s favored son, Mitch Richter, the courtship of her parents was a whirlwind romance. Her father broke two taboos: falling in love with an outsider, and having a child with her out of wedlock. Perhaps he took it as punishment when Jericho’s mother, Mary Anne Crawford, died during childbirth despite assistance from a rather skilled midwife. Jericho’s story almost ended here, when she was born with the umbilical cord tangled about her neck. Nevertheless, she was saved.
So broke the first seal.
Her father didn’t start as a bad man. Not necessarily. Yet, he always held a resentment towards his child for the price he believed he’d paid for his sin. He turned to the bottle, and became neglectful of her. In the first six years of her life, it was various women within and without the family that raised her. Even that failed midwife, a voluntary exile from the community named Noírín Braoin.
It was only when her father lost his job, and his favor with the family patriarch, that he turned outright abusive. He had his good moments, sure, but this was always when he wasn’t drunk. Even then, it could be said that he didn’t love his child for who they were, but rather, who he thought they should be: an opportunity to restore the good family name.
When Jericho was eight years old, she was struck by an inattentive driver when she’d wandered out into the road to get her ball. Due to the low-speed collision, she lived, albeit with permanent scars. The weird thing about it was that the engine of the truck burst into flames upon making contact with her body.
So broke the second seal.
Jericho started to have the notion that she was ‘different’ when she reached middle school, where she met her lifelong best friend, future lover, and fellow outcast: Lucille Keller. An orphan girl being raised by her maternal grandmother. This sense that she was different from the rest grew with age, and intensified as she reached pubescence, where she suffered severe depression and abject horror at the ways in which her body and voice were changing.
There was the other thing too, of course, but she’d learned that people think you’re crazy if you talk about seeing things that aren’t there rather early. The only person that believed her was Noírín, who she saw behind her fathers back by riding her bike out to her cottage, and showed grave concern regarding Jericho’s ‘condition’. Wouldn’t ever tell her why, though.
The Growing (16-17)
Jericho’s sixteenth birthday was when he first showed murderous intent toward her. He’d been drinking a lot that day, and when he caught her putting on fingernail polish, he’d put her hands around her neck. Just for a second; he barely even squeezed. It seemed to frighten even him.
He apologized; inadequately. He let her behavior slide, even put on a belated birthday party for her. It was the first time in her life that he’d celebrated it.
So broke the third seal.
In this stage of her life, Jericho was something of a delinquent. Though only caught once, by her uncle who chose to let it slide, she had a habit of stealing cheap makeup from the local drug store. It didn’t have any cameras or anti-shoplifting devices, so it was extremely easy. What was harder, was stealing cigarettes left unattended on front porches, or the used butts from her fathers ashtray.
She managed to hold down a job at the local Bright Mart, a small-time gas station on the north edge of town. Given that she wasn’t allowed to drive the family’s one vehicle, she and her bike became quite fast friends for getting from one end of town to the other.
Though she’d graduate later, she developed a habit of skipping school to hang out in abandoned buildings. She’d sometimes sleep in them to avoid going home to her father on nights he was drinking a lot.
She made friends with Ryan Barnes, a homeless gay kid who lived in the abandoned chemical plant. He’d been thrown out of his house for being caught with a boy. Finding themself as outcasts for similar reasons, she ended up forming a close bond with him, though this was perhaps also because he and Lucille were her only real options for friends. It was with him that she first started going by Jericho and growing out her hair.
She and Lucille’s relationship grew a bit more serious in this part of her life as well, albeit complicated. They had their first kiss under the bleachers on a game night. It was at Lucille’s house where Jericho first secretly squeezed herself into girls clothes, had her makeup properly done, and had her hair taken proper care of.
Her relationship with Noírín grew closer at this point as well, with her increased agency. The older woman, who Jericho had grown to suspect wasn’t so normal herself, served as a close confidant to Jericho. She kept trying to convince Jericho to leave home and come out to live with her, though for whatever reason she neglected to do so. Likely because she, on a primal level, feared the wrath of her father and the family connections within the police department.
These visits largely stopped after her father caught her out there. He was surprisingly calm about it, until they got home, where he gave Jericho a black eye.
Culmination (18)
After Jericho turned 18, a lot of things happened all at once.
She had spent her eighteenth birthday working, mostly, though she did celebrate a part of it with Lucille. Lucille did her makeup, painted her nails, and ironed her hair. Jericho had scrubbed off all of the makeup after work in the employee’s restroom, though she had forgotten her nails.
Jericho had gone home expecting a rough night with her father. Milestone birthdays, or “anniversaries” as she had come to call them, tended to stoke his worst rage. He was drunker than she’d seen him in years, after a period of two weeks where he had put down the bottle.
He flew into a rage with her when he saw her nails, and when she did something she didn’t often do: snap back at him. This was when he broke her nose, and tried to strangle her to death. He almost did, too.
Jericho had seen on the internet that someone putting their hands around your neck in anger was the biggest sign that they’d one day kill you.
This was when everything inside of Jericho was unleashed.
All of the lights in the house exploded, and malfunctioned, setting the curtains alight. After a bloody struggle between her and her father, she ended up killing him with his own shotgun. That he didn’t even know Jericho knew how to use.
She’d practiced in case she ever had to defend herself.
The Loss (0-15)
Jericho Eden Richter, then christened Nathan “Lawrence” Richter, was born to one of Knuckle-Deep’s prestigious founding families: the Richters. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, however, that she was born into a disgraced branch of that line. Born to the then-family-patriarch’s favored son, Mitch Richter, the courtship of her parents was a whirlwind romance. Her father broke two taboos: falling in love with an outsider, and having a child with her out of wedlock. Perhaps he took it as punishment when Jericho’s mother, Mary Anne Crawford, died during childbirth despite assistance from a rather skilled midwife. Jericho’s story almost ended here, when she was born with the umbilical cord tangled about her neck. Nevertheless, she was saved.
So broke the first seal.
Her father didn’t start as a bad man. Not necessarily. Yet, he always held a resentment towards his child for the price he believed he’d paid for his sin. He turned to the bottle, and became neglectful of her. In the first six years of her life, it was various women within and without the family that raised her. Even that failed midwife, a voluntary exile from the community named Noírín Braoin.
It was only when her father lost his job, and his favor with the family patriarch, that he turned outright abusive. He had his good moments, sure, but this was always when he wasn’t drunk. Even then, it could be said that he didn’t love his child for who they were, but rather, who he thought they should be: an opportunity to restore the good family name.
When Jericho was eight years old, she was struck by an inattentive driver when she’d wandered out into the road to get her ball. Due to the low-speed collision, she lived, albeit with permanent scars. The weird thing about it was that the engine of the truck burst into flames upon making contact with her body.
So broke the second seal.
Jericho started to have the notion that she was ‘different’ when she reached middle school, where she met her lifelong best friend, future lover, and fellow outcast: Lucille Keller. An orphan girl being raised by her maternal grandmother. This sense that she was different from the rest grew with age, and intensified as she reached pubescence, where she suffered severe depression and abject horror at the ways in which her body and voice were changing.
There was the other thing too, of course, but she’d learned that people think you’re crazy if you talk about seeing things that aren’t there rather early. The only person that believed her was Noírín, who she saw behind her fathers back by riding her bike out to her cottage, and showed grave concern regarding Jericho’s ‘condition’. Wouldn’t ever tell her why, though.
The Growing (16-17)
Jericho’s sixteenth birthday was when he first showed murderous intent toward her. He’d been drinking a lot that day, and when he caught her putting on fingernail polish, he’d put her hands around her neck. Just for a second; he barely even squeezed. It seemed to frighten even him.
He apologized; inadequately. He let her behavior slide, even put on a belated birthday party for her. It was the first time in her life that he’d celebrated it.
So broke the third seal.
In this stage of her life, Jericho was something of a delinquent. Though only caught once, by her uncle who chose to let it slide, she had a habit of stealing cheap makeup from the local drug store. It didn’t have any cameras or anti-shoplifting devices, so it was extremely easy. What was harder, was stealing cigarettes left unattended on front porches, or the used butts from her fathers ashtray.
She managed to hold down a job at the local Bright Mart, a small-time gas station on the north edge of town. Given that she wasn’t allowed to drive the family’s one vehicle, she and her bike became quite fast friends for getting from one end of town to the other.
Though she’d graduate later, she developed a habit of skipping school to hang out in abandoned buildings. She’d sometimes sleep in them to avoid going home to her father on nights he was drinking a lot.
She made friends with Ryan Barnes, a homeless gay kid who lived in the abandoned chemical plant. He’d been thrown out of his house for being caught with a boy. Finding themself as outcasts for similar reasons, she ended up forming a close bond with him, though this was perhaps also because he and Lucille were her only real options for friends. It was with him that she first started going by Jericho and growing out her hair.
She and Lucille’s relationship grew a bit more serious in this part of her life as well, albeit complicated. They had their first kiss under the bleachers on a game night. It was at Lucille’s house where Jericho first secretly squeezed herself into girls clothes, had her makeup properly done, and had her hair taken proper care of.
Her relationship with Noírín grew closer at this point as well, with her increased agency. The older woman, who Jericho had grown to suspect wasn’t so normal herself, served as a close confidant to Jericho. She kept trying to convince Jericho to leave home and come out to live with her, though for whatever reason she neglected to do so. Likely because she, on a primal level, feared the wrath of her father and the family connections within the police department.
These visits largely stopped after her father caught her out there. He was surprisingly calm about it, until they got home, where he gave Jericho a black eye.
Culmination (18)
After Jericho turned 18, a lot of things happened all at once.
She had spent her eighteenth birthday working, mostly, though she did celebrate a part of it with Lucille. Lucille did her makeup, painted her nails, and ironed her hair. Jericho had scrubbed off all of the makeup after work in the employee’s restroom, though she had forgotten her nails.
Jericho had gone home expecting a rough night with her father. Milestone birthdays, or “anniversaries” as she had come to call them, tended to stoke his worst rage. He was drunker than she’d seen him in years, after a period of two weeks where he had put down the bottle.
He flew into a rage with her when he saw her nails, and when she did something she didn’t often do: snap back at him. This was when he broke her nose, and tried to strangle her to death. He almost did, too.
Jericho had seen on the internet that someone putting their hands around your neck in anger was the biggest sign that they’d one day kill you.
This was when everything inside of Jericho was unleashed.
All of the lights in the house exploded, and malfunctioned, setting the curtains alight. After a bloody struggle between her and her father, she ended up killing him with his own shotgun. That he didn’t even know Jericho knew how to use.
She’d practiced in case she ever had to defend herself.
Split off from Haywood and Madison County in 1871, Iron County, North Carolina has been inhabited long before the Europeans took this land. Its first inhabitants were generations of indigenous peoples, members of the Cherokee tribe. That is, until their population sharply declined following a smallpox outbreak in 1715. In 1776, their populations declined further following the campaign of General Griffith Rutherford through this part of the state, who destroyed their settlements and burned their crops. Small populations would cling on until 1838, following the Indian Removal Act passed eight years earlier by President Andrew Jackson.
They were replaced by settlers of German, Irish, Scottish and Dutch descent. In this particular area, Irish settlers were the most prevalent. Such populations soared in 1845 and 1852, as many left the home country in order to survive the Great Hunger.
In the Civil War, Iron County remained loyal to the Union, alongside its neighboring Buncombe County. During the war, it saw relatively little bloodshed, the only notable event being the so-called Battle of Deer Creek on the 7th of June, 1864, where a skirmish took place between pro-Confederate and pro-Union militants. Only three people died in the skirmish, one on the side of the pro-Union forces, and two on the side of the pro-Confederate, the latter retreating into the hills following the skirmish.
When Iron County became independent in 1871, the at the time largest settlement named Knuckle-Deep became the county seat, although this was moved to the closeby settlement of Bauerberg in 1998. At the time, the iron and coal industries were the dominant forces of the economy, leading to a large enterprise for both. Notably, these industries suffered quite a few disasters, starting in 1921 following the Number 9 Mineshaft Disaster. For reasons unclear, although largely suspected to be due to unsafe working conditions and lack of proper storage, a cache of dynamite detonated and caved in the mineshaft. This resulted in 312 deaths, making it the worst industrial accident in North Carolina history. This was followed up by the 1923 Mount Heron Massacre, in which twelve striking miners were shot dead after company-hired strikebreakers shot into a crowd.
Misfortune would continue to follow the county afterward, with continuing accidents and disappearances in the mines persisting until 1980, when they were finally shuttered. These industries were replaced by the Deer Creek Chemical Plant, specializing in manufacturing plastics and polymers. The plant closed in 1995 following a chemical spill into Deer Creek. This chemical spill was caused by a flood induced by Hurricane Felix, which caused severe damage throughout Iron County.
Another incident that has recently affected the county, is the disappearance of six children from across it who never came home from school on September 6th, 1996. This group would become known as the “Iron County Six”. These children were named Ralphie Underwood, Sahrah Connors, Jacob Roland, Cathie Steele, Eloise Farmerson, and Mason Black. All of these children were unrelated, knew each other only loosely, and were from various communities around the county. They shared only one characteristic in common; they were all descendants of the founding families of their respective settlements. Ralphie and Sahrah from Knuckle-Deep, Jacob and Eloise from Deer Creek, and Mason and Cathie from Bauerberg. The search for them went on for two months by police, and four more by volunteers, before being called off. They vanished, it would seem, with no trace.
They were replaced by settlers of German, Irish, Scottish and Dutch descent. In this particular area, Irish settlers were the most prevalent. Such populations soared in 1845 and 1852, as many left the home country in order to survive the Great Hunger.
In the Civil War, Iron County remained loyal to the Union, alongside its neighboring Buncombe County. During the war, it saw relatively little bloodshed, the only notable event being the so-called Battle of Deer Creek on the 7th of June, 1864, where a skirmish took place between pro-Confederate and pro-Union militants. Only three people died in the skirmish, one on the side of the pro-Union forces, and two on the side of the pro-Confederate, the latter retreating into the hills following the skirmish.
When Iron County became independent in 1871, the at the time largest settlement named Knuckle-Deep became the county seat, although this was moved to the closeby settlement of Bauerberg in 1998. At the time, the iron and coal industries were the dominant forces of the economy, leading to a large enterprise for both. Notably, these industries suffered quite a few disasters, starting in 1921 following the Number 9 Mineshaft Disaster. For reasons unclear, although largely suspected to be due to unsafe working conditions and lack of proper storage, a cache of dynamite detonated and caved in the mineshaft. This resulted in 312 deaths, making it the worst industrial accident in North Carolina history. This was followed up by the 1923 Mount Heron Massacre, in which twelve striking miners were shot dead after company-hired strikebreakers shot into a crowd.
Misfortune would continue to follow the county afterward, with continuing accidents and disappearances in the mines persisting until 1980, when they were finally shuttered. These industries were replaced by the Deer Creek Chemical Plant, specializing in manufacturing plastics and polymers. The plant closed in 1995 following a chemical spill into Deer Creek. This chemical spill was caused by a flood induced by Hurricane Felix, which caused severe damage throughout Iron County.
Another incident that has recently affected the county, is the disappearance of six children from across it who never came home from school on September 6th, 1996. This group would become known as the “Iron County Six”. These children were named Ralphie Underwood, Sahrah Connors, Jacob Roland, Cathie Steele, Eloise Farmerson, and Mason Black. All of these children were unrelated, knew each other only loosely, and were from various communities around the county. They shared only one characteristic in common; they were all descendants of the founding families of their respective settlements. Ralphie and Sahrah from Knuckle-Deep, Jacob and Eloise from Deer Creek, and Mason and Cathie from Bauerberg. The search for them went on for two months by police, and four more by volunteers, before being called off. They vanished, it would seem, with no trace.
Fork in The Road
You're driving through some backwater town in rural North Carolina. While you're cruising down a county road of which you don't know the name, you come across a blood-soaked young woman standing by the side of the road, clearly in distress. It would only be right of you to help her, right...?
Perhaps, This is Hell
Jericho is a slightly older woman, burdened with a station that she doesn't want; the inheritor of witchlike powers in addition to her current peculiarities. This has bound her to the valley, stuck serving a community she deeply resents. Perhaps you can offer her escape, or allay her plight.
After it All
You meet Jericho after all of the chaos in her life unfolds. Perhaps she's a co-worker, a friend, or even owns a quaint bookshop down the street from you. She's always been rather cagey about her past. Perhaps you're drawn to her air of mystery?
You're driving through some backwater town in rural North Carolina. While you're cruising down a county road of which you don't know the name, you come across a blood-soaked young woman standing by the side of the road, clearly in distress. It would only be right of you to help her, right...?
Perhaps, This is Hell
Jericho is a slightly older woman, burdened with a station that she doesn't want; the inheritor of witchlike powers in addition to her current peculiarities. This has bound her to the valley, stuck serving a community she deeply resents. Perhaps you can offer her escape, or allay her plight.
After it All
You meet Jericho after all of the chaos in her life unfolds. Perhaps she's a co-worker, a friend, or even owns a quaint bookshop down the street from you. She's always been rather cagey about her past. Perhaps you're drawn to her air of mystery?
Thank you kindly for reading all of that, if indeed you have. Note that the furry nature of this proposed roleplay is optional; as I am happy to play Jericho as an ordinary human girl. Please, feel free to come up with your own plots and ideas for this, should you be interested! I look forward to hearing from folks. If you're curious, too, I have further information on the locale she inhabits.
