(IC thread here)
"Red Reign" is a thread which, in a nutshell, will be set in an alternate Victorian Era where Dracula rules Britain, vampires have become common, and a murderer who threatens both the new undead order and the sensibilities of those resisting them has begun stalking the streets of London. It is very much influenced by the novel Anno Dracula; but is not a direct adaptation of it and no knowledge of the book or its plot will be required to understand the thread.
The Setting:
London, 1888. To the outside observer, Britain is at its height. Its empire is world-spanning and the largest that has ever existed, its industrial and economic power is second to none, its Navy polices the sea and its Army keeps peace on land. It enjoys the trappings of enlightened government and a stable social structure. But from within, Victorian society is increasingly fragmented. The twentieth century approaches, signifying and heralding with it a seemingly never-ending series of political, economic, industrial, scientific, and sexual revolutions that threaten to overwhelm the detached, conservative, orderly mindset so valued by the Victorian elite.
Symptoms of this moral corruption have even reached the highest levels of society. As if embracing the call of the New Woman and the libertine alike, Queen Victoria has renounced her vows of chastity following Albert's death and remarried - and to a young, foreign prince of a despotic Eastern state, no less. The queen has seen fit to retire from public life and grant the authority of Lord Protector to the Prince Regent, who has imposed certain personal values of his upon the nation. And on the other end of society, a killer is loose in London, a vicious manic who delights in taking the blood of the ladies of the night, who is frightening the old Victorians and the social followers of the Prince Consort alike, radicalizing and splitting the country down the middle.
But other than that, Dracula and Jack the Ripper have nothing in common.
It is several years since Dracula arrived in London, beginning his rise to prominence with the murder of Professor Van Helsing and the turning of Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker, and concluding it with his marriage to the Queen and assumption of her constitutional duties. In the time since, the upcoming century has increasingly appeared like it will be a fall back to a previous millennium rather than a step towards the new one. Dracula has retained his heavy-handed, eastern style of governing, pushing through laws enabling severe punishments, arbitrary arrests, and brutal executions for those suspected of conspiring against the Crown or government. Stakes with the heads of would-be political reformers, social deviants, and Home Rulers line Buckingham Palace, and it is rumored that the 'guests' of the Tower of London are routinely crucified and boiled alive. His hatred of the Ottoman Empire and Muslims is still strong, and Britain is now bogged down in a costly and bloody war across the Orient as he is taking his chance to claim vengeance upon the empire that dealt him his First Death. Dracula has not yet dismissed Parliament and assumed full government authority, but the possibility is far from outlandish and the current lot of MPs are little more than frightened toadies. Worst of all, at least to the high crust of society, is that it is suspected that his conversion to Anglicanism prior to the Royal Marriage is but a ruse.
However, Dracula has brought more than his despotic government style to Britain; he has brought with it his 'royal disease' - not haemophilia, but vampirism. One of his first governing decrees was to establish Britain as a homeland with citizenship for vampires of any nationality. As a result, a large number swarmed in from the continent - most of them from Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Rumania, and all to willing to give their oath of fealty to Dracula's new neo-medieval refuge in return for the benefits they have gained. They are given the estates of the 'traitors' murdered by Dracula's new Lord Protector's Own Company and given the most prized posts in the government, military, and civil service. Additionally, it has become quite fashionable among some in society to seek the Dark Kiss from the elders, as it is a de facto fact that to advance in either societal or governmental rank in the New Order, one must seek the embrace. As such, the past several years have seen a sudden swelling of newborns, while requisitioning of silver by the government has been one of the major economic policies.
We therefore have Dracula and his (mainly) Eastern European collection of vampire elders ruling Britain like a conquered country, stifling the great light of Anglo-Saxon development beneath a layer of Eastern Despotism, pretty openly hoping to reverse the trend of social reform back to 15th century Transylvania. And around them, there is a ever-growing crowd of newborns drawn from the ambitious in society. So vampires exist now in the open, but are still the vast minority compared to the 'warms', with about all of the 'warm' civil and military service continuing to follow them because, after all, they are still the legal government, with Dracula legitimate royalty, of Britain. But they are still widely feared, even hated, and their actions have accelerated the groups (suffragists, health-care reformers, Home Rulers, democrats, etc) that began to question Victorian society in real life at this time. And a growing number of the working and middle class alike are beginning to resent him for no other reason than the constantly increasing number of them drafted to go fight in his personal meat-grinder war in the Near East. Hence, when Jack the Ripper begins to appear, slaughtering women, he is seen as a rallying cry for the repressed warms, and public enemy number one by the Prince Consort and his government.
I do have a vague idea for the plot, which I'll share with the players so as not to ruin it for the general public. However it's not set in stone and I'm more than willing to work with the players, I don't want this to just be me dictating everything to everyone.
The Undead:
I would also like to keep a loose terminology/schematic for vampires. Elders are those who are at least 200 years old, newborns are those who are still within the time of their natural lifespan, and warms are their (derogatory) term for non-vampires. Silver and stakes through the heart are deadly to all vampires, but garlic, holy water, crosses, etc., only to some (based on their own physique, beliefs, etc). Elders have grown strong enough to walk in the sunlight, while it is still deadly to newborns. Similarly, newborns heal themselves much slower than elders. However, I don't want to be a martinet here. Vampires in general can be referred to as kindred, nosferatu, etc., while to become a vampire can be a turning, embrace, dark kiss, etc. Additionally (as in many early vampire works) vampires are not just the "drink blood and live forever" kind, but can also have properties such as shape-shifting into animal forms, hypnotic fascination, and the like. Basically, you can feel free to use your imagination, just don't make it too ridiculous or overpowered.
The Cast:
The thread calls for three main characters, who will be:
William Jones: A former Indiaman and an inspector in the Special Branch of Scotland Yard. Early thirties, from a middle-class family. Average looking, extremely competent, something of a no-nonsense, follow orders and get the job done kind of guy. Because of that, he is fully loyal to the Prince Consort's new regime, but as a patriot and a god-fearing man, is extremely resentful of the vampire society and would dearly like to see them dead. He is assigned to head up the Ripper investigation.
Emily Knight: A pretty young woman, mid-twenties, from an upper-crust family, perhaps even nobility? She is William's fiancee (quite possibly an illicit one given their separation in social rank), as well as a secret suffragette and journalist/underground news publisher, when she is able to do so without her family's knowledge. As one of the upper class, I imagine that she would be under pressure to become a vampire. I would assume she would be against this, but I am willing to see the opposite occur.
Carmilla Karnstein: A beautiful vampire elder from Styria, one of the ones who came to Britain following Dracula's rise to power and one of the more prominent officers in his Lord Protector's Own Company, a sort of secret police/domestic intelligence branch composed entirely of elders, loyal only to Dracula, and serving to work to preserve vampire rule in Britain. As such, she would be an arrogant, self-assured, patrician type character. She is assigned to work as the partner with William on the Ripper case. I do not believe they get along.
Now, those are the main characters, but if you have an idea for someone else feel free to bring it up, and there would most likely be chances for someone to come in mid-thread, either as a major character or just a supporting one.
At the present the three main characters are taken, but like I said, if you have an idea for someone else, please do bring it up here.
Writing Style:
Don't feel like you need to get a reply up immediately. We all have lives. If you can only get a reply up once a week, that's fine. Any quicker than that is fine also, but any less than that is perhaps a bit much.
And I also don't expect a huge novella of a response. But a few paragraphs per post would be a minimum, I think (although again, more is certainly welcome). This isn't just a thread for posting two-sentence cybersex back-and-forths, this is a big plot-driven thread. And please, please make sure you use grammar and spell-check.
Anyways, that's about it. Anyone interested please reply. And hopefully this will get more interest than most of my recent attempts have...
"Red Reign" is a thread which, in a nutshell, will be set in an alternate Victorian Era where Dracula rules Britain, vampires have become common, and a murderer who threatens both the new undead order and the sensibilities of those resisting them has begun stalking the streets of London. It is very much influenced by the novel Anno Dracula; but is not a direct adaptation of it and no knowledge of the book or its plot will be required to understand the thread.
The Setting:
London, 1888. To the outside observer, Britain is at its height. Its empire is world-spanning and the largest that has ever existed, its industrial and economic power is second to none, its Navy polices the sea and its Army keeps peace on land. It enjoys the trappings of enlightened government and a stable social structure. But from within, Victorian society is increasingly fragmented. The twentieth century approaches, signifying and heralding with it a seemingly never-ending series of political, economic, industrial, scientific, and sexual revolutions that threaten to overwhelm the detached, conservative, orderly mindset so valued by the Victorian elite.
Symptoms of this moral corruption have even reached the highest levels of society. As if embracing the call of the New Woman and the libertine alike, Queen Victoria has renounced her vows of chastity following Albert's death and remarried - and to a young, foreign prince of a despotic Eastern state, no less. The queen has seen fit to retire from public life and grant the authority of Lord Protector to the Prince Regent, who has imposed certain personal values of his upon the nation. And on the other end of society, a killer is loose in London, a vicious manic who delights in taking the blood of the ladies of the night, who is frightening the old Victorians and the social followers of the Prince Consort alike, radicalizing and splitting the country down the middle.
But other than that, Dracula and Jack the Ripper have nothing in common.
It is several years since Dracula arrived in London, beginning his rise to prominence with the murder of Professor Van Helsing and the turning of Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker, and concluding it with his marriage to the Queen and assumption of her constitutional duties. In the time since, the upcoming century has increasingly appeared like it will be a fall back to a previous millennium rather than a step towards the new one. Dracula has retained his heavy-handed, eastern style of governing, pushing through laws enabling severe punishments, arbitrary arrests, and brutal executions for those suspected of conspiring against the Crown or government. Stakes with the heads of would-be political reformers, social deviants, and Home Rulers line Buckingham Palace, and it is rumored that the 'guests' of the Tower of London are routinely crucified and boiled alive. His hatred of the Ottoman Empire and Muslims is still strong, and Britain is now bogged down in a costly and bloody war across the Orient as he is taking his chance to claim vengeance upon the empire that dealt him his First Death. Dracula has not yet dismissed Parliament and assumed full government authority, but the possibility is far from outlandish and the current lot of MPs are little more than frightened toadies. Worst of all, at least to the high crust of society, is that it is suspected that his conversion to Anglicanism prior to the Royal Marriage is but a ruse.
However, Dracula has brought more than his despotic government style to Britain; he has brought with it his 'royal disease' - not haemophilia, but vampirism. One of his first governing decrees was to establish Britain as a homeland with citizenship for vampires of any nationality. As a result, a large number swarmed in from the continent - most of them from Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Rumania, and all to willing to give their oath of fealty to Dracula's new neo-medieval refuge in return for the benefits they have gained. They are given the estates of the 'traitors' murdered by Dracula's new Lord Protector's Own Company and given the most prized posts in the government, military, and civil service. Additionally, it has become quite fashionable among some in society to seek the Dark Kiss from the elders, as it is a de facto fact that to advance in either societal or governmental rank in the New Order, one must seek the embrace. As such, the past several years have seen a sudden swelling of newborns, while requisitioning of silver by the government has been one of the major economic policies.
We therefore have Dracula and his (mainly) Eastern European collection of vampire elders ruling Britain like a conquered country, stifling the great light of Anglo-Saxon development beneath a layer of Eastern Despotism, pretty openly hoping to reverse the trend of social reform back to 15th century Transylvania. And around them, there is a ever-growing crowd of newborns drawn from the ambitious in society. So vampires exist now in the open, but are still the vast minority compared to the 'warms', with about all of the 'warm' civil and military service continuing to follow them because, after all, they are still the legal government, with Dracula legitimate royalty, of Britain. But they are still widely feared, even hated, and their actions have accelerated the groups (suffragists, health-care reformers, Home Rulers, democrats, etc) that began to question Victorian society in real life at this time. And a growing number of the working and middle class alike are beginning to resent him for no other reason than the constantly increasing number of them drafted to go fight in his personal meat-grinder war in the Near East. Hence, when Jack the Ripper begins to appear, slaughtering women, he is seen as a rallying cry for the repressed warms, and public enemy number one by the Prince Consort and his government.
I do have a vague idea for the plot, which I'll share with the players so as not to ruin it for the general public. However it's not set in stone and I'm more than willing to work with the players, I don't want this to just be me dictating everything to everyone.
The Undead:
I would also like to keep a loose terminology/schematic for vampires. Elders are those who are at least 200 years old, newborns are those who are still within the time of their natural lifespan, and warms are their (derogatory) term for non-vampires. Silver and stakes through the heart are deadly to all vampires, but garlic, holy water, crosses, etc., only to some (based on their own physique, beliefs, etc). Elders have grown strong enough to walk in the sunlight, while it is still deadly to newborns. Similarly, newborns heal themselves much slower than elders. However, I don't want to be a martinet here. Vampires in general can be referred to as kindred, nosferatu, etc., while to become a vampire can be a turning, embrace, dark kiss, etc. Additionally (as in many early vampire works) vampires are not just the "drink blood and live forever" kind, but can also have properties such as shape-shifting into animal forms, hypnotic fascination, and the like. Basically, you can feel free to use your imagination, just don't make it too ridiculous or overpowered.
The Cast:
The thread calls for three main characters, who will be:
William Jones: A former Indiaman and an inspector in the Special Branch of Scotland Yard. Early thirties, from a middle-class family. Average looking, extremely competent, something of a no-nonsense, follow orders and get the job done kind of guy. Because of that, he is fully loyal to the Prince Consort's new regime, but as a patriot and a god-fearing man, is extremely resentful of the vampire society and would dearly like to see them dead. He is assigned to head up the Ripper investigation.
Emily Knight: A pretty young woman, mid-twenties, from an upper-crust family, perhaps even nobility? She is William's fiancee (quite possibly an illicit one given their separation in social rank), as well as a secret suffragette and journalist/underground news publisher, when she is able to do so without her family's knowledge. As one of the upper class, I imagine that she would be under pressure to become a vampire. I would assume she would be against this, but I am willing to see the opposite occur.
Carmilla Karnstein: A beautiful vampire elder from Styria, one of the ones who came to Britain following Dracula's rise to power and one of the more prominent officers in his Lord Protector's Own Company, a sort of secret police/domestic intelligence branch composed entirely of elders, loyal only to Dracula, and serving to work to preserve vampire rule in Britain. As such, she would be an arrogant, self-assured, patrician type character. She is assigned to work as the partner with William on the Ripper case. I do not believe they get along.
Now, those are the main characters, but if you have an idea for someone else feel free to bring it up, and there would most likely be chances for someone to come in mid-thread, either as a major character or just a supporting one.
At the present the three main characters are taken, but like I said, if you have an idea for someone else, please do bring it up here.
Writing Style:
Don't feel like you need to get a reply up immediately. We all have lives. If you can only get a reply up once a week, that's fine. Any quicker than that is fine also, but any less than that is perhaps a bit much.
And I also don't expect a huge novella of a response. But a few paragraphs per post would be a minimum, I think (although again, more is certainly welcome). This isn't just a thread for posting two-sentence cybersex back-and-forths, this is a big plot-driven thread. And please, please make sure you use grammar and spell-check.
Anyways, that's about it. Anyone interested please reply. And hopefully this will get more interest than most of my recent attempts have...
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