timidAristocrat
BLACKJACK!
Hey there! I'm kinda new here, specifically so I could see if this idea I couldn't find traction for would fit over here!
Before I explain the setting some inspirations:
Dishonored, Blades in the Dark, Adams Family, (weirdly) The Amazing Digital Circus, and various 'adopted by the villain' archetype manhua.
Ok cool time for me to lore dump on you.
Loredump
It's the year 1913, the Great War has yet to start, and none have realized quite yet that they live in the end of the age of absolute monarchies, especially here on the Crown Isle. From Capitol the king rules, but all the money is made right here, in the grand city of Dunwich, and Dunwich is held in the grips of one family, the Stelorana. Under a quiet alliance with the crown so old no member of either group has reported to remember it, the Stelorana have ruled Dunwich. They are the politicians, titans of industry, and heads of the underworld in this city. But above all else, they are the most magical group in the country.
Magic is scarce, used only by creatures of the deep and deals struck with them. Those deals always come with a cost, and usually are messy affairs, except with the Stelorana. The family knows her as Grandmother but she predates them all by more than eight generations. Long ago, she made a deal with a deep entity known as the Benefactor. He would bless her with a family wherein each would be given a unique ability meant to help the family in whatever ails them. In exchange, the family must sacrifice 10 innocents a year, as well as periodic sacrifices of wealth. The biggest payment though, is that no one in the family can have children.
So, if they can't have kids, how does the family persist?
In Stelorana Manor, within the sub basement, is an octagonal room with walls made of slate, and a large metal vault door. It is called the Black Slate Room, and it is the reason the Stelorana are around today. Every of age member of the family can have momentary visions of a person, usually a boy or girl of notably young age. That, is the sacrifice, as well as the newest member of the family. It usually takes a few tries, between 5 and 20, to get the process right, but one day, eventually, after the sacrifice is complete and the door is sealed, the Black Slate Room is opened to the corpse, and something new takes up the space. The corpse wakes up, healed of its injuries, and becomes a new family member. Now, they don't have the memories of their old body, nor are they blank slates. Rather, they have the memories of someone from another world. Many in the family believe it to be that the soul of someone from another dimension is brought to the room, selected by the Benefactor. Others that the Benefactor fabricates these identities to its own end.
Each member of the family has two important aspects to them, a Gift and a Scar. The gift is a magical talent, from something straightforward as pyrokinesis to the ability to stitch dolls of others and puppet them in order to control people. Every member has a gift, and they are expected to use it for the betterment of the family. A scar meanwhile is often the price of the gift, not just taking the form of actual scars, but often blemishes, mutations, or other bodily oddities. Small gifts give hard to notice scars, such as slight levitation perhaps resulting in stark paleness of skin, while larger gifts such as self duplication perhaps results in rabbit ears.
The new members are indoctrinated, and brought up again as new members of the family.
What Exactly Do You Wanna Do???
Oh thank god you asked.
Okay so, I want to play out a new member joining the family, and all sorts of family drama! Deal with external enemies, introducing the new member to the family, all sorts of stuff! I love multimusing, and would be super happy to play the new family member! But generally as long as we get to play with this family I don't mind at all. I've got some old spreadsheets with family trees (yes with plenty of open spots for you to slot in your own OC's) and like a whole thing of the manor and I just have so much of a hyperfixation on this honestly it's a problem especially after I read Raised by Villains that made me want in on this premise so FUCKING BAD.
Setting Example Characters
So I have a few ideas for my character and then I'll give you example characters you could play for this so you can get an idea for the kinds of characters this setting is best for!
Wow okay I wrote a lot for my first ever post on this website... uhhh...
Well! If you have any interest in even part of this please hit me up! I will autistically ramble about this at you for as long as you want and set up so much for the setting with any OC's you bring my way (I'm a Dungeon Master at heart after all so I love setting up your characters as much as if not more than my own!) .
Together I think we can make something really nice! Or really messed up, violent, horrifying, and darkly comedic!
Before I explain the setting some inspirations:
Dishonored, Blades in the Dark, Adams Family, (weirdly) The Amazing Digital Circus, and various 'adopted by the villain' archetype manhua.
Ok cool time for me to lore dump on you.
Loredump
It's the year 1913, the Great War has yet to start, and none have realized quite yet that they live in the end of the age of absolute monarchies, especially here on the Crown Isle. From Capitol the king rules, but all the money is made right here, in the grand city of Dunwich, and Dunwich is held in the grips of one family, the Stelorana. Under a quiet alliance with the crown so old no member of either group has reported to remember it, the Stelorana have ruled Dunwich. They are the politicians, titans of industry, and heads of the underworld in this city. But above all else, they are the most magical group in the country.
Magic is scarce, used only by creatures of the deep and deals struck with them. Those deals always come with a cost, and usually are messy affairs, except with the Stelorana. The family knows her as Grandmother but she predates them all by more than eight generations. Long ago, she made a deal with a deep entity known as the Benefactor. He would bless her with a family wherein each would be given a unique ability meant to help the family in whatever ails them. In exchange, the family must sacrifice 10 innocents a year, as well as periodic sacrifices of wealth. The biggest payment though, is that no one in the family can have children.
So, if they can't have kids, how does the family persist?
In Stelorana Manor, within the sub basement, is an octagonal room with walls made of slate, and a large metal vault door. It is called the Black Slate Room, and it is the reason the Stelorana are around today. Every of age member of the family can have momentary visions of a person, usually a boy or girl of notably young age. That, is the sacrifice, as well as the newest member of the family. It usually takes a few tries, between 5 and 20, to get the process right, but one day, eventually, after the sacrifice is complete and the door is sealed, the Black Slate Room is opened to the corpse, and something new takes up the space. The corpse wakes up, healed of its injuries, and becomes a new family member. Now, they don't have the memories of their old body, nor are they blank slates. Rather, they have the memories of someone from another world. Many in the family believe it to be that the soul of someone from another dimension is brought to the room, selected by the Benefactor. Others that the Benefactor fabricates these identities to its own end.
Each member of the family has two important aspects to them, a Gift and a Scar. The gift is a magical talent, from something straightforward as pyrokinesis to the ability to stitch dolls of others and puppet them in order to control people. Every member has a gift, and they are expected to use it for the betterment of the family. A scar meanwhile is often the price of the gift, not just taking the form of actual scars, but often blemishes, mutations, or other bodily oddities. Small gifts give hard to notice scars, such as slight levitation perhaps resulting in stark paleness of skin, while larger gifts such as self duplication perhaps results in rabbit ears.
The new members are indoctrinated, and brought up again as new members of the family.
What Exactly Do You Wanna Do???
Oh thank god you asked.
Okay so, I want to play out a new member joining the family, and all sorts of family drama! Deal with external enemies, introducing the new member to the family, all sorts of stuff! I love multimusing, and would be super happy to play the new family member! But generally as long as we get to play with this family I don't mind at all. I've got some old spreadsheets with family trees (yes with plenty of open spots for you to slot in your own OC's) and like a whole thing of the manor and I just have so much of a hyperfixation on this honestly it's a problem especially after I read Raised by Villains that made me want in on this premise so FUCKING BAD.
Setting Example Characters
So I have a few ideas for my character and then I'll give you example characters you could play for this so you can get an idea for the kinds of characters this setting is best for!
- A former phd student who now is having trouble remembering exactly what her degree was in, Deloris is terrified of this place. She knows a lot about science, and that over half the things she's seen so far either havent abided by any of it. Her new self is meant to be 'cute' or that's what Grandmother said, but really she comes off with a slightly uncanny doll-like visage. Her ability is to change others like how dolls change. She can change her appearance to others, or one day will be able to change other's appearance. Right now, it just means her appearance is never totally static.
- Horror enthusiast Jenny, who's in way over her head. She woke up looking similar to the girl from the ring, Sadako. Long black hair covering her face, and two small additional eyes underneath the hair. She's dealing with living in a real life horror movie, the bodies are real, the eldritch creatures aren't cgi, and all the tropes are just spread out in front of her. Her ability is invisibility and intangibility, making her a passive observer much of the time. She could one day be a great spy, if she can pull herself together and fully side with the family.
- Once a wealthy architect, Rosalyn highly valued herself and her place in society. Likely to be the most resistant to having a new space in a hierarchy (ie, having to exist underneath all of the older members of the family) she would be the easiest to convince towards the dark side. She looks fairly normal, but wears long arm length gloves all the time, due to everything under having random protruding bits of stone coming out. Her power is to shape, she can mold things like clay that touch the stones, which has resulted in a lot of new doorhandles and silverware needing to be ordered while she gets used to how things work.
- Vivian doesn't know who she was. She knows her name, she knows she doesnt belong here, but what she was before is wiped clean. The few images she's seen however are terrifying. Blood, gore, sinew, torn by her own hand. Was she more of a monster before, or now? Her abilities stem from her black-charred fingers, brought to claws that allow her to control blood. However, like her memories, Vivian's control is shaky at best, and her fear of violence only makes this power a worse burden for her.
- Victoria was a seamstress in her last existence, within a early modern world. But once she awoke here, her ambition became true. Now part of the older generation of the Stelora Family, she is known as the businesswoman of the family, from corrupt boar member to ruthless (murderous) stock trader. She wears all red, including a large wide brimmed hat that never lets you fully see her eyes. She is cunning, quick, and intelligent, willing to do anything for the success of the family. Her ability is mind reading, which comes very handy for dealing with outsiders to the family, and in controlling her 'kids' too.
- Alexander was always a man of faith. Though, it didn't matter quite what faith it was, swapping between them as they felt fit. But once in his new world things changed. Objectively real gods, that can talk back to him, he was obsessed. His new self has goat-like eyes, and he never takes his shoes off, making the family think he may have cloven hooves. He has no 'kids', having chosen none of the new ones to appear in the house as his own, and acts as more of an uncle role to those around him, and the local 'man of the cloth'. Alexander's ability is to see one's immediate future, seeing further the longer and more elaborate the ritual.
- Rell is considered quite protective of her family. She never speaks of her past, or the type of world she came from, but most can surmise she lacked the familial structure she has now. Now she's an older sister or older cousin to many of those in the house, she'll offer to accompany anyone to events or walk them to school. Just to keep an eye on them. Her only quirk are bright red irises, to match her dark black hair. Her ability is inflicting feelings on people she's touching, typically meaning excruciating pain, but she can be versatile with it.
Wow okay I wrote a lot for my first ever post on this website... uhhh...
Well! If you have any interest in even part of this please hit me up! I will autistically ramble about this at you for as long as you want and set up so much for the setting with any OC's you bring my way (I'm a Dungeon Master at heart after all so I love setting up your characters as much as if not more than my own!) .
Together I think we can make something really nice! Or really messed up, violent, horrifying, and darkly comedic!
