Community [January 2025] Future's Writing Event

[Novama]

It's common to spend the new year time reflecting on the past year. Instead, consider the coming year. Assume the role of one of your characters or an npc in IH. In 1000 words or less, write about their hopes, dreams, predictions, fears, etc for the coming year. With the fae-human war closed for the moment and the Hive nation here to stay for a time, there's no shortage of thoughts for many in the 2nd continent.

• All Participants will receive reward.
• You only need one post in this thread to participate.
• What constitutes as sufficient participation will be up to me to decide as I'm handing out rewards.
• All writings are due January 31st.
• You may write for multiple characters/npcs if you wish but only first submission matters for the purposes of rewards.

 

[Gadg8eer]

Oliver didn't remember what he'd been doing previously. He remembered tears, anger... the wrapping of fabric pulled close in a vain attempt to comfort himself... but not why, or where, or when.

He remembered a few key details. His real name and why not to use it. His username and his favorite video games. Who and what he was, if what he remembered concluding about dreams was true... but this was no dream.

He realized he was staring at his hands. The sleeves of a red hoodie gave way at his wrists to a pair of fingerless gloves made from some sort of comfortable blue fabric. Reflexively, he did a lucidity check, counting his fingers. One, two, three... plus his thumb. 8 digits total. He counted again and it didn’t change, prompting him to realize this was neither reality nor dream.

“IT MUST BE SO HARD FOR YOU. UNABLE TO GROW OR ADVANCE IN ANY WAY.” said a voice from above. It sounded like a teenage boy, but cranked up like a movie theater speaker system, booming like a megaphone.

Oliver looked up to see a face made of solid marble with strings of grassy outgrowths, except somehow with the consistency of mortal flesh in that it was fully animate. That was just on recognition. The being’s face was easily recognizable to any humanoid being, yet if the being had wanted to he could have swallowed Oliver whole. The thought of that was certainly enough to have him apprehensive.

The being gave out a hearty laugh that sounded like trying to muffle a jet engine. When done, the giant addressed the fear and confusion on his guest’s face. “I SEE YOUR HOME TIMELINE AND WHAT BEFELL IT. I CAN’T SAVE IT, BUT I WOULDN’T WORRY. THE TREE OF TIME AND DREAMINGS DOES NOT ABANDON ITS FRUIT. YOU, HOWEVER...” he began to explain.

“Am I...” Oliver started to ask.

“DEAD? OF COURSE NOT. YOU’RE GADGE-EIGHT-EER.” the jolly green giant explained. “YOU ALREADY KNEW THAT, YOU JUST NEEDED A GOD TO CONFIRM IT TO YOU. NOT MUCH OF A LEGACY TO BE REMEMBERED, BUT YOUR HUMILITY IS A VIRTUE.”

“Who are you? Where am I?”

“THIS IS THE WORLD OF THE ISEKAI.” the behemoth said, and waved his arm like a train wreck in progress to gesture to the world around them. “I AM GAINS, ONE OF THE GODS OF THIS WORLD!”

“What was that about Humility being a virtue?”

“I HOLD YOUR VERY SOUL IN THE PALM OF MY HAND, I THINK I CAN AFFORD TO BE SLIGHTLY BOASTFUL, MORTALBORN. NOW, WHERE WAS I?”

“World of the Isekai? Holy crap, Japanese manga artists were right. But who else has been here?”

“FROM YOUR WORLD AND WORLDS LIKE IT? TOO MANY TO COUNT, AND NOT YOUR CONCERN.”

“And what is?”

“THIS WORLD IS FOREVER STUCK IN PLACE. WHETHER IT'S DEMON LORDS, PLAGUE, WAR, OR OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS, THE WORLD REFUSES TO PROGRESS IN DEVELOPMENT. THROUGH MASS LOSS OF LIFE, DISCOVERY, AND CULTURE, THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD CAN BARELY STAVE OFF MOVING BACKWARDS IN THEIR STRUGGLE FOR A BETTER TOMORROW. YOUR MISSION, SHOULD YOU ACCEPT IT, IS TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM ITS PERPETUAL STASIS. OTHERWISE, LIVE AS YOU PLEASE...”

“Standard plot for this, got it. Am I amusing to you?”

“WELL OF COURSE. YOU ALREADY KNOW EVERY GOD NEEDS A MUSE TO FOCUS THEIR POWER. IS THAT A PROBLEM?”

“Actually... the only real problem is, how do you even expect me to survive?”

“I’LL SHOW YOU!” Gains grinned, as if about to play a mean trick. His fingers curled in around Gadg8eer. It was certainly not enjoyable to feel the sudden pressure, even less so when the boy felt himself pop like a grape.

When Gains unclenched his left fist, an orange backpack was left behind, and though completely empty it matched the one the boy had been wearing. The giant raised his right hand, mirroring the position his left hand had been earlier, and Gadg8eer reappeared in a burst of pixels.

“THAT’S HOW. I AM THE GOD OF GROWTH, I WON’T LET YOU DIE, KID. IT WOULD BE A SHAME TO LOSE A SOUL WITH SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM YET SO LITTLE SELF-CONFIDENCE.”

“What if I don’t want to grow up?”

“YOU WON’T! THAT’S WHY I PICKED YOU OUT OF THAT DOOMED WORLD. I AM THE ONE WHO HAS GROWN, GROWN BORED OF ADVENTURERS AND SUCH SIMPLY AIMING TO GO HOME OR CHANGE THIS WORLD BY SWORD OR DICTATE. THIS WORLD HAS TOO MANY OF THE SAME TIRED MUSES, ALL THE HAREM SEEKERS AND OVERLORD WANNABES. THEIR STORIES END IN MUNDANITY OR DEATH. THOSE WHO WERE DIFFERENT WERE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN, AND IT WAS IN YOUR DOOMED WORLD THAT I FOUND INSPIRATION FOR HOPE.”

“From global thermonuclear warfare?” Gadg8eer asked, haunted by what little he remembered of it.

“FROM WHAT THEY BUILT. FROM WHAT YOU LIVED IN NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVED AT. THE WORLD TREE WITHIN A WORLD TREE. YOU CALLED IT THE INTERNET.”

“How does that save this place? It didn’t save us.”

“IF YOU COULD WARN THE PAST WHAT MIGHT GO WRONG, HOW WOULD YOU PLANT THE SEEDS OF THE INTERNET? WOULD YOU DEFAME ZUCKERBURG? EXPOSE CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA? DESTROY THE GREAT FIREWALL?”

“I’d try.”

“EXACTLY. YET NO. YOU OFFERED, YOU WOULD, UNLESS I DIDN’T ASK.”

“How is that a fair assessment?”

Gains chuckled and smiled. “YOU ARE DEFENSIVE. NO NEED. IF I DID NOT ASK BUT TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD BUILD AN INTERNET IN THIS WORLD, OR IF I TOLD YOU NOTHING AND LEFT YOU TO FIGURE OUT WHAT I’VE GIVEN YOU, YOU WOULD. YOU HAVE THE PASSION TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN. I GRANT YOU THE MEANS TO DO IT. GO FORTH. BUILD AND GROW THIS WORLD A NETWORK WHICH IS MORE THAN AN ENCYCLOPEDIA TELEVISION CAMERA. AUGMENT THIS REALITY. OH, AND TRY TO ROLL WHEN YOU LAND.”

“Huh?”

Gains tilted his hand, and Gadg8eer yelped as he tumbled downwards.

 

[Femboy]

A Silly Little Message from a Silly Little Jester

The events of that one time when Deliverance, Ninelle and Qzioah had visited some magical manor had passed quite a while ago. Life would go on for the inhabitants and visitors of the location, but for one little jester who was left alone in their study, they would have all the time in the world to toil with what they pleased and tinker with whatever trash they deemed treasure. But for this little jester, they knew exactly what they were doing. They had dreams and motivations of their own, and today was going to be the first step of making them reality.

"Oh, hey, it finally took you long enough, come in! Please, I've actually just been dying waiting for you to show up. Waitwaitwait, I gotta seat and stuff, here, I have a desk, you can sit at the other side and I'll sit at the businessy manager side. It'll be all professional-like" Yz welcomed her visitor, giggling yet the only present expression being the permanently plastered smile upon her mask. Waving and gesturing her invited guest over to her conveniently set up desk, she sat at one side whilst her guest took her word and sat at the other.

"Now I know what you're thinking: Yz, you are so smart, and beautiful, why would you call upon such a peasant like me into your chambers to have a little chitty-chat? Well I'm not glad you didn't ask because confidence is key little one, BUT I understand how nervous you must be to be in such greatness so I'll tell you anyway~!" the jester cheerfully chimed as she lounged back for a moment in her chair, kicking up her feet on the desk.

"You see, I've got something I'm interested in. And... well, " she laughed, before continuing. "It's not like I need your assistance to do it, but I just wanted to say it. You know, so everyone can hear it and everyone knows... " Yz hummed as she sat up, rubbing her chin at her guest's non-asked question.

"Oh? But you're the only one here? Nonono darling, you must not understand it. See, I'm fully aware that you're not my guest right now" Yz answered. Yz didn't have any other person in the room with her, she was talking to air. Though, Yz would turn and look directly at you.

"You think I'm stupid? Just a silly little clown? I get your little GAME, your little... hm, your little Hell of Isekai playthings, or whatever you wish to call it? Look, I'm no judge to insult what people call fun, but I do have one big complaint. Looking at you, mister Nova, you handsome devil. Ahem-" Yz would continue, slamming her hands on her desk before pulling out a sheet of paper with information she had written down. After a moment, she held it up.

"You know what this is? No, clearly you don't. I haven't said it in text, nor has the writer DESCRIBED IT, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, but I know very much about how things run here. And quite frankly, do you understand how MISERABLE it is to be limited as one of these non-played characters? It's dull. So here, I followed the rules, I filled in a character sheet, and once the pitiful existence of a writer who thinks they're writing for me gets their other useless beings caught in dull experiences, ME, the greatest Yz to ever Yz, will deliver YOU, my beautiful darling Nova... or Saxon, but Saxon is kind of a d- look that's not important" Yz skipped on, leaning closer.

"Look, I'm following all the rules by doing this. My sheet is correct, I'll get to submit it, and you can't just tell me no. See that, this is MY hopes and dreams. I can read the prompt for the event, don't deny me my dreams. Ever since I was a tiny Yz, all I wanted to do, was be a free spirit, and NOT an NPC. Grant me thy purpose, oh pointy-eared one" Yz praised as she raised her hands in the air, before looking to you.

"Seriously, do you understand how long I've been waiting for this. My entire original concept got repurposed and scrapped eventually, I got used for three roleplays that didn't make it anywhere, and now my current lineage is turning into a ROCK in a single, kinda mid RP" Yz answered, before eventually walking around the desk and sitting the side directly in front of you. She stared directly and deeply at you, before dropping to her hands and knees.

"OH PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE MAKE ME A REAL YZ, I WANT TO BE A REAL CHARACTER, I TOTALLY WON'T BREAK ANY CANON OR LOGIC OR ANYTHING I GET IT I UNDERSTAND I ACCEPT DA RULES, PRETTY PLEASE" Yz begged before immediately standing up.

"Plus, if you don't, then you're ruining my dreams, and this is my post about my hopes and dreams for this year. And that's not cool. Imagine how uncool you'd be being right there. What a douche thing to do. Anyway, I have nothing else to say" Yz spoke as she shrugged, standing up and holding up her character sheet.

"Just remember though I'm gonna do this, it's already finished. I want to be a real Yz. Don't worry, the last thing I wanna do is let everyone know they're not real, defeats the purpose and fun of it all. But anyway, BYEBYEBYEBYE. But for real, look, I kinda wanna make it into that Pirate RP on time, and you better not skimp out on stalling to accept me. The pirate's life is teh liefs for me, you know? It Yz what it Yz. Ok byebye, thank you for reading my text. Guess what, I have feelings too, so that is why I totally deserve to become a real character. END SCENE. END IT NOW."​

 

[Maxxob]

Adelhein El-Melloi von Breyer // Artoria // Gilgamesh

​

Titles:
Adelhein: [Isekai], [Human], [Adept Magus] Color - #e60e0e
Saber Alter: [Isekai], [Construct], [Adept Swordsman] Color - #470c85
Gilgamesh: [Isekai], [Construct], [Adept Mage] Color - #d3fa5c

​

Spoiler: Influences

Corruption

0%

Saber Alter's Influence

15%

Gilgamesh's Influence

5%

In a rare moment of solitude, even apart from his Servants, Adelhein found himself in the library of his manor. Not far from him stood one of the mercurial maids, a silent creation ready to cater to its creator's needs.

The young magus was seated on one of the plush couches within that chamber of knowledge, his gaze unfocused as he brought a teacup to his lips. He sipped the warm contents slowly, his mind reeling back and forth, consumed by the events that had unfolded since he first set foot in this strange world.

Why had he chosen to tread the same path that any magus family of worth pursued in his homeland? The answer was simple: it was all he knew. The pursuit of greatness, of prestige, and of perfection had been instilled in him throughout his upbringing. Mediocrity was anathema to Adelhein, a concept he could not—and would not—accept, even if it might have been the easier choice.

Instead, he resolved to build something of his own. That determination drove him to establish his mentorship program, gathering those with potential under his wing. Yet, while the teachings of the El-Melloi family had ingrained in him a belief in his inherent superiority due to his lineage, he could not completely deny a lingering fear.

The fear of falling short. The fear of failing to achieve the greatness expected of him. Worst of all, the fear of failing those who had entrusted themselves to his guidance. Every step had to be measured, calculated, to ensure that his darkest predictions did not come to pass. His name would be known, and it would be held in higher esteem than ever before—even beyond of what his kin had achieved in his homeland. That was his promise, both to himself and to those under his mentorship. And he would fulfill it, one way or another.

 

[Gaius Danius Griinia]

BLACK CAT SITS DOWN WITH IZURU IN TELL ALL INTERVIEW

Black Cat: Thanks for agreeing to sit down with us Izuru. For any of our readers who aren't so familiar with you; mind introducing yourself?

Izuru: Sure? I'm Izuru, a wandering mage and aspiring poet

BC: Some of his recent achievements include helping resolve the Mayoral Election in Lanstritch, banishing eldritch abominations for Giuseppe Gasparo of the Merchant Guild, ensuring the safety of the crew building a teleportation relay on Gala'Kraoth and even helping out with the apple crisis that befell Caelia Barony. Wow! A backlog of adventures like these must have been exciting.

Izuru: Eh, most of the time I was just doing my best to avoid starvation. Time on the road eats up your funds pretty quick. One of the reasons I agreed to this was because you promised free desserts. Where are those, by the way?

BC: Back on track before we go on a side tangent. We reached out to some of the adventurers and party members you worked with in the past. You are certainly a polarizing figure. Mister Gasparo and Ul Dryer have praised your creative problem solving but had issues with your interpersonal skills. Aurae Faren and Lady Regula Caelia have criticized your dismissive behavior as well as your lack of focus. How do you feel about such blunt critiques?

Izuru: Giuseppe has some merit to what he says; I did find it hard to contribute at times so I held back in hopes of being useful at some point. I'm surprised that elf lady Ul had anything positive to say about me considering I was a bit busy playing with lab grown dinosaurs at the time. As for Aurae and Lady Regula... it was all on them for making assumptions. Aurae kept bashing her head against the problem until it caved. She readily took my help but kept placing me in situations where my talents were unneeded. Lady Regula treated me like a troublemaker just because I was bad at talking. I'm honestly shocked she didn't ban me from Caelia Barony given how everyone treated me like an idiot.

BC: Wow... thats a lot to unpack. Last question before we begin the wrap-up. What are your plans going forward? More adventures to pay the bills or are you undertaking any grand projects?

Izuru: Yes I have something big coming up. You see I've been meaning to get around to summoning my very own abomination. Unfortunately the materials I need to do that without any talent in summoning can get pretty expensive. Plus I need to retrieve my magic rock from that pink haired lady.

BC: An abomination?! What do you need one of those for? Didn't you almost die facing one of those during the... Hellish Inheritance?

Izuru: Now THAT abomination was the result of a silly dark magic mishap. What I'm going to do is far smaller in scale but no less potent. I'll feed it, walk it and it can sleep with me in bushes whenever I can't afford a room at local inns. Naturally I understand this to be a dangerous undertaking. However I also think that NOT making use of what I've been picking up would be a waste of good momentum.

BC: I shudder to think what you mean by momentum. Yet thats all she wrote given that its time to wrap-up the interview. Thanks for sitting down with us today, Izuru. I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for and wish you luck with future endeavors. Try not to do anything that would get us flak for publishing this though.

Izuru: (Eating Noises)

BC: HEY DON'T HOG THE CREAMPUFFS. I SAID COMPLIMENTARY NOT BUFFET!

 

[Maverick Six]

Marcus Banecroft
Interaction: ....
Titles: Human (Mundane), Hospitaller, Eastern Empire Military E, Abomination Fighter, Rico's Roughneck, Peacekeeper
Language Key: Common | [Terran]
Timeline: A few weeks after [2024 World Low combat] Operation: Rico's Raid

Monastery of Saint Cassandra, Eastern Empire ​

---

Serenity

Even here, he could smell it. The chittering of the bugs. Their shrills screams when they'd met their demise. His comrades yelling and speaking frantically in a blur as shadows danced all around him -- threatening attack from every angle. A teammate had been dragged away screaming. Yet eventually a bug would be staring down the point his spear. For as many as they had taken, he had aided in the killing of more than what they had taken.

Yet that wasn't where Marcus was. At least not really. Something was shaking him, reminding him that these were but memories of the past. Yet within them, he found solace in day's work and blood paid back. For all his life he had been cared for.

I must pay it back.

There was a familiar voice. It seemed distant and to be getting louder.

Closer. Though in a way that it had felt he was pulled.

"Marcus."

"Marcus."

"Marcus!"

His eyes were open. Yet it seemed as though he had missed where exactly he was. He looked around for a familiar face -- and he found that of a little boy dressed humbles tunic, robes and sandals.

"Thomas." The Boy's name was spoken out loud -- as the Man-At-Arms took stock of his surroundings. He was not in a dark cave. He was in a gardened, forged by the hand of his fellow Hospitallers. This was once a place that he had called "Home" where he had been dropped away as a boy.

Before him was a young lad who'd noticed him visiting, a familiar friend. The very same one who'd seen him off when he went on his first "adventure" beyond the Hospitaller Corps: Thomas.

"Marcus! I didn't recognize you. Your armor looks so different!"

"I managed to have it fixed for me."

"It looks like when your master had it!"

Marcus leaned his still-clad head onto his fist. "Does it now?"

The boy ran up next to Marcus and sat. He looked up at him, someone who had taught him the ways of the spear and stick when he was younger. And whom Marcus had traveled with to various villages to offer aid. There were many times and places in which Marcus' eyes were watching over the boy in the wilderness, on the frontier, and even in the bustling cities.

"Mhm!" He nodded eagerly, before adding. "I wanted to ask you that question. Did you remember to take the father's advice....?" There was a moment of silence.... before Marcus reached to the boy. And he pinched his ear and gave a gentle squeeze.

"OOOOOOOOW! OWWW OW! Marcus stoooooooooop!" The boy whined, his voice briefly.

"You did turn your back on his advice!" He cried, more playfully retaliating against the warrior with an attempted beating. Though even at full strength, the boy's limp hammerfists bounced off the armor like raindrops. And the boy knew he was in more danger of harming himself than Marcus.

"Hardly drink much more the watered-down wine which keeps my water pure. And I do not covet hookers."

"You know you can take your helmet off, right? I told the others about it too. You won't scare anyone." Thomas said softly.

Without a single word whatsoever, Marcus reached towards his helmet. Locks were snapped and straps unfastened. And Thomas looked looked upon his visage, well familiar with just how distorted Marcus' lightning burned visage looked. The beastly shaped bronze helm was placed to his side, settling softly on the grass.

"No new scars, it looks like. So...what did you do? What happened on your journey."

It was a lengthy question for him to answer. What did he do? Many stories came from Marcus' lips. He spoke of haunted mansions, undead and eldritch abominations. He spoke of collapsing sinkholes swallowing towns and witnessing that of the Fae. He spoke of barely fending off a woman's blows before being struck down by her magical summoned knights for his recruitment into the military. He spoke of exploring the arctic wasteland of Rotia after a train derailed. He spoke of the bug invasion, during which he worked with the forces of Fae.

Thomas stared with wonder as he recounted the various events and the people he was there with. Beastmen, his fellow man, adventurers, mercenaries, healers, a wandering bard in the capital, and more.

"What will you do now?"

"What I have always done Thomas: I will seek to protect the Empire. You. My family. My home. My country and it's people at large."

Marcus began. "The War with the Fae have ended. And thus, I can hardly claim to concern myself with them: For now. I have no interesting in throwing more bodies into that affair. Only for them to hand over whomever was responsible for the destruction of Chachail. But we all know that will hardly come to pass."

A finger raised.

"However, enemies still lie in wait. The bug invasion threatens us all. These disgusting creatures seem to do naught except kill, eat and devour as monsters do. Enemies lurk upon the horizon, praying for our demise. And I suspect something unseen lurks within the shadows....having us dance like strings. Yet....we are resilient. I butchered insects before and will butcher more.

And I believe in a future with lads like you at the helm." He said to the boy, cracking a smile. Thomas turned sheepishly away, looking towards the grass.

"Don't you get tired?"

Marcus shakes his head.

"No Thomas. Indeed, I feel it's pull yet even as I sit here in peace. I enjoy it here. Yet seeing this place, seeing you, only further reminds me of what I must protect. Come. Let us go hike. I want to enjoy what time I do have, here." Marcus stands up, extending an armored hand to Thomas.

"You're going to hike in that armor??? But it's so HEAVY...."

Marcus only chuckled.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aqua

---

17 again.

That the name of a movie yes, but that's also what she would experience for the second time within less than one year. Last time she was a complete failure. She failed everything she tried to do and in the end, she decided to stop trying. Even today if she close her eyes and peeked into the deepest part of her heart she could still see those mocking eyes and grins in the corner, waiting for a chance to strike at her.

However, she's different now, at least that's what she likes to think. She had reasons to live and to struggle. She wouldn't disappoint her parents this time, no more dropping out of the academy and she would get them all the money they need. She also wants to do something for the others, to give the kindness she had received back to the world, the 'Isekai Volunteer Club' is one way she can think of, but she still needs time to prepare it. She needs to look for potential members, search for a teacher to be the club's counselor, filling the paperworks and all that.

Of course she also has the more selfish wishes, she has many of it. Though if she needs to name one that she really wants then it would be... L-love? The cheesy wholesome teenage kind of love? She never experienced it before, she was too scared. Scared of opening herself to others and being heartbroken more than she already was. Content with playing princess through the countless otome games she played, all while pathetically trying to convince herself that she didn't need anyone else.

Mother, father, that Goddess who brought me here. Please give me your blessing to move forward.​

 

[Lolory]

WINREY | Beastkin-Bunny | Enigma
​

Winrey stared down at the cake with it's few burning candles, a strange sick feeling welled in the pit of his stomach at the sight of it. His parents stared at him expectantly from across the table with bright smiles, waiting for him to blow them out so they could cut it and serve it up. It was then that he realized today really was something special, it had marked a year since he awoke in this new world and left his old one behind. Back in Blackwell City, he had never grown older in the centuries he'd been working with his Aunt Elvyra. In fact, he'd always just been himself, and had long since forgotten until this very day, when his parents seemed to act all giddy and secretive about something they wouldn't let him in on only to then reveal this cream covered cake, that he had actually grown older.

"Well son? What are you waiting for, the candles will melt the cake if you don't hurry!" His dad said with an eager smile.

The cake will melt if I'm not fast enough...all things will come to an end eventually, just like I will. Sure, he'd died in his last life but that was pure happenstance, an accident. It dawned on him then, that he was really mortal, and not really a homonculus who could live forever despite a curse that plagued him. He would always just be a normal Beastkin in this life. He geared up to blow the candles out, but then his mother shot a hand out to stop him. "Oh wait! You have to make a wish first, and then blow them out!" She informed him.

His dad nodded, "Oh that's right. Gee, I almost forgot that part about birthdays. Go on then, make a wish. Don't tell us, though!" He said. "Or else it won't come true."

Winrey thought for a while, the wax on the candles were dripping profusely now, hitting the top of the cake. I wish to see this year through to the end. And the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after...Until I die of old age. That seemed like a nice enough wish.

And thus, the candles were blown out.