City of the Straits [entries|friends|calendar] City of the Straits: Out of Character City of the Straits Out of Character (PROFILE) (GAME) (CALENDAR) (FRIENDS) (©) [ userinfo | insanejournal userinfo ] [ calendar | insanejournal calendar ]

[ January 13th, 2011 1:22am ] straits_mods It’s about time to kick off the Oracle plot and this is how it’s going to start. The Oracle has been kept on Belle Isle. Part of what has been keeping her there are seals placed on the island by witchfinders who are no longer in Detroit, seals that are maintained in part by the magic forces in the city itself. Jacob’s act of destroying the Adams Theater breaks one of the seals, eroding the force that keeps the Oracle down. Afterwards, the bodies of Shaun and Cadey are found on the island, dead. There is no sign of external violence on either one of them. The Oracle is missing and now out on the streets. She is now wandering the city, prophesying and making small alterations to events. If your character is a witchfinder, they are just now becoming aware of this. If you’d like your character to have discovered these events, please feel free to comment and move forward. Mages are not yet aware of what is happening--the witchfinders are likely to make an attempt to keep this information very, very controlled. Mages can definitely have an encounter with the Oracle as an NPC who turns up and makes a strange prophesy, but they have no reason at all to know who she is or that she exists, so … they don’t. Questions? Ask them in comments. 7 comments | reply | edit | memory

gratuitous introduction part deux [ January 10th, 2011 5:51pm ] yesterdayisover [ mood | cold ] [ music | "Left Behind" - Aqualung ] So this is Cai again, introducing another tryout character. :) I bring you Gregory Fitzpatrick (Greg to pretty much everyone). He's a hereditary mage whose focus is warding using runes. After his pregnant wife was killed by Witchfinders, he decided that running and avoiding them wasn't going to cut it anymore, so he's been hunting them down in return ever since. So if any of the Witchfinders want to do a log where they get as good as they give, I'd kind of love it. :) Alternately, given his focus, he's very good at protective warding, so if someone would like to have him do some of that, that'd be fun, too. Also, something that's unique to Greg is that, once he figured out his warding for what it was, he began tattooing wards on himself. Small ones, for the most part, but also wards that would help him maintain a reliable defense against Witchfinders and their own particular abilities. This has, obviously, had consequences he didn't foresee and doesn't entirely understand. Hit me up on AIM (writteninsable) or Y (silken_sunset) - you can get me on email, too. :) Just m AIM SN at gmail. *muah* Cai 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

hiatus / afk [ December 29th, 2010 8:13pm ] divine_enforcer Hey all, kori here. So, I'll be afk / on hiatus from tomorrow until January 9 or so since I'll be out of the country and not very accessible via email / internet while in Israel & Palestine. I imagine it's still the Christmas holidays at the seminary, which can explain Ben's lack of action, but he could also be spending extended holidays with his fam. (or possibly something else I haven't thought of) 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

Weekly Mod Post, 12/28 [ December 28th, 2010 11:56am ] straits_mods [ mood | cold ] We hope everyone's rested and relaxed after their winter holiday of choice! We are now back on our usual schedule of a weekly mod post (even though this isn't Saturday). We are also out of check-free week, and we will be running activity check over the weekend, so be sure that you post, either journals or rps, to make that. And, as with mod posts, please read and comment so that we all know we're on the same page. No activity records have been kept for the last two weeks. Thanks to those of you who played nonetheless! On hiatus: Cadey Chris All other hiatuses that we were informed of have expired; let us know if that is incorrect information. New: Ben Damian Permanent Additions: Fletcher Additionally, Jillian has decided to leave the game. We wish her well with her commitments and hope to hear from her occasionally. With all of these changes, we have updated the friends-add button; please run it. The console is here; the list of names is here ( Tryout Characters ) ( Oracle ) Any questions or comments, please let us know! 6 comments | reply | edit | memory

[ December 19th, 2010 8:06am ] dented_armor Sorry I've disappeared, and to those I owe stuff to, I'm working on getting there. I've been working double what I usually work which has left me exhausted. I've been called to sub every day and then I go work at the market until late right after. And that has left me exhausted. However, since most teachers aren't allowed to take off before holiday breaks, I should have a bit more time. I know everyone is slow but I figured I'd give a heads up to why I am. Hope preparing for the holidays is going well! Ashley 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

Intro [ December 17th, 2010 9:28pm ] divine_enforcer Hey all- I'm kori and psyched to join this game. (I think I may know some of you, but I look forward to meeting the rest of you). I bring you Ben Patterson (well, his full name is Benedict Michael Patterson, but he says no one's allowed to call him Benedict). He's a third year student at Sacred Heart Major Seminary working on his S.T.B. (which is equivalent to a Master of Divinity). He's an ordained deacon and less than a year from being ordained a Roman Catholic priest - and also, he's a witchfinder - which he considers to be be his divine calling. He was born into a family of witchfinders, so this is what he knows, lives and breathes. I'm looking for backstory, current connections, and all that jazz. I was thinking that he might have Fr. Dan as a teacher at the seminary but beyond that, I'm wide open for plotting and mayhem. :) 9 comments | reply | edit | memory

[ December 16th, 2010 10:53pm ] relentlessfate Hey gang, This is Cait (actually on the boards.) It will be obvious to many of you that this is not working out for me timewise. Though I've been working on old threads and doing some email threading, some of which has not worked out and neither of which is resulting in me passing activity checks with Shaun, I've decided to pull Shaun rather than try to scramble to get him passing minimum activity levels. The circumstances leading up to this decision have nothing to do with the game or any of you. I have been in the past and remain extremely bad at navigating an internet life on top of my work and life commitments, and right now I am also preparing medical school applications and this simply is not working out. A major factor is that I can't access IJ while at work and since I am studying most of the time outside work, I really am not at a computer enough to justify trying to keep Shaun in. I've done disappearing acts in the past, and while I was working on things via email threads and email tagging to old IJ threads, this isn't enough to keep me visible or active. So I think the best solution is to hang him up in my mental closet. I'll be in touch with specific people about his death/exit and how some plot can come out of this, but I want to be clear that I am not leaving out of a lack of desire to write or disrespect for any of you. Traveling mercies for your continued gaming. Maybe someday when I am a retired sbrain surgeon I will have time to really give a game like this what it deserves from its players. -Cait 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

Delayed Mod Post, 12/12/10 [ December 12th, 2010 10:00pm ] straits_mods [ mood | sleepy ] The only thing we've got this week is the results of activity check, and a player leaving. For the week ending 12/10, 14 of 21 characters made check. Hiatuses: Cadey Leonard Peter (made check though) Sara Chris Missed: Juniper Sloan Yelena Cait has decided to resign from the game due to lack of time to play. We are unsure at the present time how (or if) she intends to write Shaun out, but if you have an opinion, contact her or us and we'll try to set something up. Next week is check-free week, as is the following so that we can all get out of the holidays with our sanity intact. We do encourage people to play, and we want to remind you: after the holidays, we're coming back with Oracle, so be thinking about what you'd like to do with that plot, and let us know what you have in mind. 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

[ December 10th, 2010 4:14pm ] murder_machine It's not QUITE the most wonderful time of the year yet, but it's pretty damn close. As of next Wednesday, I will be done with school for this degree AND this year, if I can get all my grading done. What that means right now is that I am trying to finish writing finals. I apologise for being slow on stuff - I do plan to spend some time on the game tomorrow - and I am also going to hiatus Cadey until Gwen, myself, and Mo have a chance to make a plan to resolve the situation there. My expectation right now is that I will be able to post for Jacob and Kiv tonight, in between writing a final paper on why not to use the Golden Ratio in your web designs and going out for drinks for a friend's birthday, so I'm not hiatusing them. And as ever, I'm AROUND - I'm just not THINKING until tomorrow. That's me in the icon. 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

Weekly Mod Post, 12/4 [ December 4th, 2010 5:23pm ] straits_mods Weekly mod post! Read, comment, go forth. First, the results of activity check: 16 of 22 characters had activity in this cycle. The following characters are on hiatus: Chris Leonard Sara The following characters did not make check: Chauncy (first warning) Mason (first warning) Shaun (Final Warning - character will be removed if check is not made next week.) Don’t forget that you can always find the spreadsheet to see whether you’re making check here (we update it pretty regularly and note when we’ve updated in the lower left corner): http://tinyurl.com/2c8mo5k ( Leaving Player; Character Shifts ) ( December ) That's all we've got - any questions or comments? 3 comments | reply | edit | memory

[ December 3rd, 2010 1:01pm ] inasinglebound Hey guys, it's Ashley! So I'm a little behind on this try-out character but since I've had a bit of extra time staying at home, I thought I'd bring one in. This is Damian Fontaine. He's a conflict mage, with a focus in the martial art of Parkour so he's extra quick and agile. He was born and raised in Detroit, and basically raised by his older brother Thomas who was also a mage. His brother ran a gang which Damian joined, but about a year ago, his brother was killed in a robbery gone wrong. Damian now runs the gang and he feels that with his abilities, they are entitled to anything they want and have no care who gets in their way. He can be a villain and a general pain in the ass, and can get quite obnoxious with his pompousness. He can be charming if he needs to be, but generally likes to use brute force to get his way instead. If anyone wants to plot with me about him, feel free to let me know. 7 comments | reply | edit | memory

[ November 30th, 2010 8:21am ] dented_armor [ mood | shocked ] If there's anyone around at current moment, I need a distraction. I got into a car accident this morning on the way to work. I'm totally fine but my car is less so. Now, some of you who knew me a few years back may remember my mentioning being in another car accident. This was the car I finally saved up tons of money for to buy and now it is smashed up. So, I'm writing so if I'm a bit sporadic, it's due to that and dealing with all that comes with it. And also, I need a distraction so badly right now. So if anyone wants to thread right now, be it for fun or for plot purposes--let me know. Otherwise, we can still thread later. Anyway, Ashley, over and out. 11 comments | reply | edit | memory

Personal Plots: Kiv and Cadey [ November 26th, 2010 4:00pm ] murder_machine [ mood | mischievous ] [ music | "Oboes Bleat and Triangles Tink" :: Say Hi ] I'm posting these because I've realised that a lot of stuff is happening behind the scenes with each character, so this is a heads up of what I'm doing. ( Kiv ) ( Cadey ) So that's what's happening there. If you want a piece of this for some reason, let me know! 6 comments | reply | edit | memory

Weekly Mod Post, 11/27 [ November 27th, 2010 5:37am ] straits_mods [ mood | bouncy ] Weekly mod post! Note use of the word mod: confirm you've read this by commenting. First, the results of activity check: 19 of 25 characters had activity in this cycle. The following characters are on hiatus: Alfie Chris Evran Johnny The following characters did not make check: Sara (second consecutive week) Shaun (second week, nonconsecutive) Don’t forget that you can always find the spreadsheet to see whether you’re making check here (we update it pretty regularly and note when we’ve updated in the lower left corner): http://tinyurl.com/2c8mo5k ( Activity Check Rules ) ( Character Plots ) ( Header Information And Tags ) That's all we've got - any questions or comments? 7 comments | reply | edit | memory

For a limited time... [ November 23rd, 2010 11:07am ] _sevenyears This is Gwen. So I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon and point out my interim character while Pete is off in Oregon doing horrible things to good people (and forests). There is actually purpose to her which will become clear... *cue evil laughter*. Behind this journal is Yelena Gaskow. Yelena is a luck mage who was born in Flint, Michigan and has ties to the Detroit area but, as an ancestral mage, spent a good part of her life outrunning the witchfinders. Her magic works a little differently than one might expect--luck, good and bad, does affect her but it also takes a physical toll on her body. Most superstitions do apply to her--she's on her fifth life, so to speak. She can't enter a building with a horseshoe nailed over the door. Black cats drive her crazy, &c. &c. I'm very open to using her should your character want something very random to occur or just in general use. Hit me up if you like! 19 comments | reply | edit | memory

Introduction [ November 23rd, 2010 9:24am ] knightcaptain Hey all, this is Mo' with my tryout character :) This is Malachi "Kai" Knight, he's originally from Yugoslavia, but was adopted by the Knight family here in Detroit and grew up here. He doesn't remember Yugoslavia at all (though he is sort of curious which side he's from). He's a demolitions engineer for Knight Construction, which is the construction company his father owns, though it is now run by his older brother. He's the 4th of 9 kids. He's been away for a few years, after graduating from UofM he moved to Houston, Tx for a job which sent him over to Iraq quite a bit as a civilian contractor. While there the delirium lifted and he was inducted as a witchfinder. He was also injured by an IED. He now has a prosthetic left leg. The injuries prompted him to quit his job and move back to Detroit and he bought a house earlier this year that he is (of course) renovating, though most of the renovations are done and he is now on to furniture :D 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

[ November 23rd, 2010 12:37am ] tarnishedshield Amy here, intro-ing my tryout character. This is homicide Detective Roshan Vargas. She has two older brothers: one who lives in California and one who still lives in Detroit, when he isn't overseas on active-duty as a Marine. Right now, he's in Afghanistan, so Roshan is staying with her sister-in-law and twin seven-year-old nieces (both she and her bro feel better about them with an extra adult in the house. Especially when the extra adult packs heat). Roshan is a mage, and has just been starting to figure out what she does might be this "magic" stuff everyone is talking about so much. She's an oneirocritic - a dream interpreter/dream reader. Meaning doesn't usually come through very clearly, and what does come through doesn't come with a "this will/has happen(ed) at x time, x place" stamp on it. That part's kind of annoying to her. 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

[ November 22nd, 2010 7:59pm ] nowillbutthis Sorry, guys, but I couldn't go much longer without macroing something... ( A Visual Aid for Meric ) 3 comments | reply | edit | memory

Weekly Mod Announcements 11-20 [ November 20th, 2010 9:27pm ] straits_mods It seems like a good idea to just do quick updates weekly rather than bombarding you with a lot of information throughout the week so whee! Here goes! First, activity check results! 19 of 20 characters had activity this cycle. *cheers* The following characters did not make this check: Sara Don’t forget that you can always find the spreadsheet to see whether you’re making check here (we update it pretty regularly and note when we’ve updated in the lower left corner): http://tinyurl.com/2c8mo5k ( Thanksgiving Hiatus ) ( Plot Chat ) ( Character Tryouts, part deux ) Well, we think that's it... any questions? 15 comments | reply | edit | memory

[ November 16th, 2010 12:15pm ] trustyoureyes Hey folks, to help with bills I'm starting a season job in December. This means I won't have time to play for that month. So this is me taking a month long hiatus. If it doesn't work to get me back in in January, I will understand. I am having fun, sorry if this causes problems. I was thinking Chris's family can go away on some trip for the holidays to explain his absence. But I'm open to suggestions. -Jason 2 comments | reply | edit | memory

Mod Announcements [ November 13th, 2010 1:06pm ] straits_mods So, we've got a few things for the week ahead. We'll likely be trying from this point on just to make our announcements when we do activity checks to consolidate things as a general FYI. As ever, we'd like to hear comments, feedbacks--hey, just general chatter about these points or how the game is going. :) First, activity check results! 17 of 20 characters had activity this cycle. (Woot!) The following characters will be removed due to non-confirmation: Christos, Jesse, and Marina The following characters did not make the first check: Shaun The following characters are new or are on hiatus (exempt from this cycle): Alfie, Evran, and Johnny (though the latter did make check) Please run the Friends Button for all of your characters. ( Reminders on Hiatus/Activity ) ( The Oracle Plot ) ( Character Tryouts and Holiday Fun--PLEASE READ THIS ) Well, we think that's it... any questions? 6 comments | reply | edit | memory

[ November 10th, 2010 9:27pm ] trustyoureyes So... Chris's post was supposed to be private to Jacob. I messed up the cut text, so we will say that Chris did that too. What, if anything, will people do to find him now? I'm open to anything you can think of, just give me an idea and we can work out RP and plot and stuff. Let me know, either her or email. -Jason 4 comments | reply | edit | memory

Plot: Scatterheart [ November 7th, 2010 6:33pm ] straits_mods We (the mods) have been talking for a while about different plot ideas and we came up with one that might be a little quirky but that we think would be interesting to throw out there. This one involves the Oracle on Belle Isle. The original writeup on the Oracle is here: http://wiki.cityofthestraits.com/wiki/Belle_Isle It still holds true but with gameplay, it seems that there are a couple things that have arisen to alter the story a little. The first being that the mages are, for whatever reason, afraid of the Oracle. The second, that the witchfinders, having been left without leadership in the wake of West’s death, don’t seem to go to Belle Isle that much (other than to get the potion) and don’t really understand what the Oracle is or why she’s being locked away. The Oracle is, as we see it, a creature of time and magic. Time is an artificial constraint and she prophesies not in the traditional manner but because she is able to step outside of time itself and be a part of past, present, and future. She has, in fact, been kept under control through the use of drugs but that’s about to change. Vincent, the ex-witchfinder who’s caused some minor trouble for the faction, is out for power and to grab power and control of the faction, he feels that he needs to create chaos. He stops the drug, kills the Keepers, and releases the Oracle out into the streets. The Oracle looks like a young woman, no more or less remarkable than any other young woman, save for the fact that she’s muttering to herself as she wanders through the streets. What happens, however, is that she begins telling characters the past and suddenly, it starts to repeat itself, in different contexts, in the future. She’ll be an NPC for NPC use and any character who would like to have her tell their story is welcome either to use her or to email the mods and ask for a post from her. She will have her own journal, located at cos_oracle. (The pass is the same as our Twitter.) For example--she might tell one character about a man who walked into an elementary school classroom and shot several students (Vincent’s past) only for the news the next day to reveal that three children were killed in another classroom, with a different witchfinder there who this time tries to stop it. The witchfinders, of course, want her back under their control and the mages want the same (or may want her dead). At this time, we do not have a finite end to the plot as it has so many plausible outcomes but would like to launch it in December. Thoughts, questions, feedback? (And did any of this make sense?) * * * For purposes of tagging, this plot is called "Scatterheart." 6 comments | reply | edit | memory

Mod post: state of the state [ November 7th, 2010 4:32pm ] straits_mods [ mood | chipper ] A few items of housekeeping for your perusal! Please note that this is a mod post; we want you to comment that you've read it (even though you all read the email, and we appreciate that, this is a) a mod post; b) has a change to what the email said.) 1) Activity check is now go. However, based on regaining our sanity, it's not going to run Sunday-Saturday; instead, we're thinking Saturday to the following Friday, with the check posts on either Saturday or Sunday as time allows. If you're not sure if your characters are going to make check, go here to look. Remember, activity is either one posted journal entry or one posted rp per week - more is always fine, that's minimum guidelines. Also remember, we have no problem with hiatuses as long as they are not excessive; if you know you won't be able to make check because of other commitments that are going to take too much of your time, by all means, hiatus is fine. 2) Current players We have lost some players as a result of the mod email that we sent out last week. We are currently clarifying with Cait as to whether she's still in or not, but right now, the list of the lost is as follows: Cait Kami Mary Nicki We are not going to write their characters out at this time; we are going to go another week to give players who have rps and storylines with these characters the chance to come up with a workaround for their characters. However, at that time, the characters that these players brought in will be rendered unplayable - because this is an OCs game, we are not going to allow people to NPC characters. If Cait is, in fact, out of the game, we will allow Shaun, who had a significant connection to a number of people, to be killed off for plot purposes, but our consideration of the other characters is that they did not develop attachments in game and it's preferable to simply edit them out of the wiki and the game and leave them be. Additionally: we will not be updating the friends button until next week; please hold off on defriending people just yet. 3) Factions We realise we're harping, but if you have a character who is not yet aligned with a faction (that you want to align) send an email to the mods and we'll help you with that. Plots will be coming up soon that will require people to know where they stand. While it's fine to not yet align, we do want to get a sense (particularly on the mages side) of whether we've got one faction, two, three, or more. 4) Questions? Contact us. 22 comments | reply | edit | memory

hiatus! again! [ November 6th, 2010 11:42pm ] ashina [ music | elvis - don't be cruel ] Hey guys! Sorry, I meant to post this last night, but life, of course, caught up with me. My parents are down to visit this weekend so I'm not really going to be around much at all until Monday. And then I will play until my fingers are stumps of bloody bones. I promise. - teri 7 comments | reply | edit | memory

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