Multiple Settings Small Town Horror (Salem's Lot/ IT-esque)

[shymorgan]

I can definitely work on some side characters when I get home! Got some ideas (I read It like twenty times so I have been waiting to write those quirky side characters xD) and I’m good plotting here though if you want it organized, might be best to make a plotting thread.

I have an idea because I actually wrote a short with a similar theme to this awhile ago, hence why I was drawn to this rp idea. I had named it the Akuma, which means nightmare in Demon in Japanese. Similar to the creature in It, it can shapeshift. I imagine it was more supernatural looking: very tall with spindly limbs that bend almost awkwardly because they are so long. Basic personality was almost charming, intelligent, and liked to play games with the protagonist. The voice could be both intimating and soothing depending.

So maybe that can give a little inspiration while we brainstorm!

 

[ShiFty KrYpty]

I can definitely work on some side characters when I get home! Got some ideas (I read It like twenty times so I have been waiting to write those quirky side characters xD) and I’m good plotting here though if you want it organized, might be best to make a plotting thread.

I have an idea because I actually wrote a short with a similar theme to this awhile ago, hence why I was drawn to this rp idea. I had named it the Akuma, which means nightmare in Demon in Japanese. Similar to the creature in It, it can shapeshift. I imagine it was more supernatural looking: very tall with spindly limbs that bend almost awkwardly because they are so long. Basic personality was almost charming, intelligent, and liked to play games with the protagonist. The voice could be both intimating and soothing depending.

So maybe that can give a little inspiration while we brainstorm!

So do we want a single threat like in IT or multitudes of threats like in Salem's Lot?

 

[The Cat Man]

I feel like maybe both could work? Like, one big bad but with many around it?

 

[shymorgan]

The one threat could have little minions/mini bosses maybe? Like the big threat is a mystery and they are trying bc to solve it while trying to follow leads through the “minor’ threats?

 

[ShiFty KrYpty]

I can't post my full idea right now, but suffice to say it has everything we all want at the moment. Of course we'll have to wait for the others. However, I will say it has to do with the Native American legend of the Skadegamutc. They are similar to vampires, but also very different. They are considered the upper echelon of native folklore creatures and I'm rather surprised they haven't been featured more in horror movies or novels. I particularly like the part about how certain individuals are more immune to their curses and magic, which kinds adds more importance to our protagonists.

7 Terrifying Creatures From Native American Folklore That Will Give You The Creeps

From ghost witches who rise from the dead to the creature that lures Inuit children into the icy water, these terrifying tales will send chills down your spine.

allthatsinteresting.com

Skadegamutc (The Ghost-Witch)

For thousands of years, cultures all around the world have told stories of the dead returning to life from the grave. These creatures are kn...

demonhunterscompendium.blogspot.com

 

[shymorgan]

That would be interesting! Would it be a creature based off this legend or were you planning on using the creature as is?

 

[ShiFty KrYpty]

That would be interesting! Would it be a creature based off this legend or were you planning on using the creature as is?

I prefer an original creature that could be what the legend was partially based off of. That way we're not handcuffed by the lore. Like I said, I can't give the full pitch tonight, but I think it should make you both happy, and hopefully the others. If not, we'll think of something else.

 

[shymorgan]

Awesome! I look forward to hearing it. Is there anything else we need to plot while we wait?

 

[ShiFty KrYpty]

Mostly stuff like eventual plot points between characters might be a good idea. Rivalries, flings, stuff like that. Though I'd suggest keeping that contained to private messages might be best. Also choosing which of your support characters will live, die, or be turned and how either of those will occur might also be something you want to think about.

 

[shymorgan]

I’ll start planning out some side characters, all which are open to live or die. Hopefully I can get some written out tomorrow.

And okay, sounds like a good start!

 

[seasonedcat]

is this still open?

 

[shymorgan]

Here is one side character! I need to flesh out more characters before I can post them.

Spoiler: Aj Dillard (The Drunk)

Anderson James Dillard
FC: Jeremy Irons
Age: 60 years old
Occupation: Alcohol Removal Services

Anderson James, or as the town calls him Aj, has been labeled as the town drunk. Due to an injury in the mines in North Carolina, he cannot work anymore and spends most of his days near the bar or pub in town. Unlike many town drunks, Aj is considered one of the friendliest people one could meet. He has proven himself from time and time again to be extremely polite and pleasant. Often, parents have no problems leaving their kids out while he is around because he tends to watch over them from a distance. If women are walking alone, with their permission, he often walks with them so they may feel safer.

Aj may be too friendly for his own good as strangers often are wary of him due to his appearance and smell. He does have an alcohol problem, though is more of a sleepy drunk versus an angry one. He has been in and out of the sheriffs several times due to sleeping on private property or drinking too much. However, most just leave the man alone. Sometimes, they will even donate clothes. While Aj doesn’t have a definite job or home, his trailer is located less than a mile from the bar. He sometimes also will help close the bar for the night and clean up around town after large celebrations. This man is also very familiar with the area and has quite the stories to share.

Spoiler: The Fathers

Archie Hartley
FC: Matt Boomer
Age: 38 years old
Occupation: Bank Accountant for Sallow, IL
Archie Hartley is a man. Plain and simple. While he is more aware of his emotions, he does struggle internally with his masculinity. Especially with regards to his new sexuality. He is a workaholic, having to be at a young age due to a young daughter to raise. He never wanted to deny Aidan anything, especially after her mother left. He made sure to spend quality time with her when he could while keeping work in mind, fearful to address the conflicted feelings in regard to being abandoned with a young child. When he met Xavier when Aidan was in middle school, Archie started coming out of his shell.

While more mild than before, Archie still struggles with change and unresolved feelings. He is very concerned for his daughter, both terrified and pleased that she remains in Sallow. He can be a bit controlling and protective at times, which causes tension in his relationship with Aidan. He is a person of logic, often finding his daughter’s job an unrealistic one and her passions to be quite silly. However, Archie keeps quiet for now, hoping that Aidan will ‘grow’ up and pursue a more sensible career.

Xavier Hartley
FC: Lee Daniels
Age: 36 years old
Occupation: General Store Assistant Manager
Xavier Hartley, formerly Wilson, was born and raised in Sallow, IL. It wasn’t the best place to grow up, unfortunately, especially for him. He struggled to connect with a community that was wary of him, dancing just out of his reach due to his race and sexuality. His family was loving enough but they struggled to make a proper living and faced heavy discrimination. However, Xavier learned to adapt, to survive. He went to school, said the right things, walked with constant paranoia and anxiety. Eventually, Xavier passed at the top of his class. He didn’t have the funds to leave and began working at the General Store in town. It was there he met Archie Hartley for the first time.

The two hit it off, Xavier smitten by Archie’s charm and Archie in love with Xavier's brain. The two wasted no time in a label and both began their healing processes. Archie respected Xavier, making every attempt to understand Xavier's perspective and how the world views him. He worked with Aidan to make sure that the home environment was safe for Xavier. In turn, Xavier worked with Archie, encouraging his boyfriend to go to therapy and to take individual breaks. It was in the summer a year after they met did they finally get married, uncaring of what their families and the town might have thought.

Xavier has a large heart and is more attuned with his emotions. He knows the world can be cruel and has to navigate differently, but that opens his perspective more than perhaps Archie’s. He and Aidan have a very good relationship, often Xavier being her confidant if Archie isn’t willing to listen. He encourages Aidan’s passions, much to Archie’s annoyance. The couple have argued about her future: Archie wanting her to pursue a more realistic job while Xavier supports Aidan, telling his husband to ‘let her live’.

And also, hello! I think we are technically full. However, we are awaiting on one more form. If we don't receive one, we might have a spot opening?

 

[seasonedcat]

Awe okay, well I will be here if that changes then -w-

 

[The Cat Man]

I'll wait up for the last CS to post my thoughts on any relationships/connections Ian could have x

 

[c h a n a]

I like the ideas posted for the lore/supernatural aspect! I feel like we could def do a lot with it. Also, do I need to make a side character or am I good for now? I can totally throw one in if we needed during rp.

 

[ShiFty KrYpty]

I like the ideas posted for the lore/supernatural aspect! I feel like we could def do a lot with it. Also, do I need to make a side character or am I good for now? I can totally throw one in if we needed during rp.

For you, Summer might already have them. Support characters are just characters your protagonist will interact with or are key pieces to your character's lives (family, friend, boss...etc.). So in Summer's character sheet, you talk about her father being a surgeon who cheated and made her little brother, and her mother being a business woman in town, but also an attractive trophy wife. These are your support characters, and we now know some things about them to reference with other characters. Such as if Rile is hurt and asks if there is a doctor in town, his own support character can reference Dr. Joe Divan. Thus, everyone is world-building smoothly and with minimal effort.

We do need pictures of them all though. That way should one of the other characters interact with them, we can describe them properly. Their personalities we can learn about in your posts where they interact with Summer. Hope this helps.

 

[ShiFty KrYpty]

Ta dah! Cover art finished.

 

[shymorgan]

That’s amazing!!!

 

[themagnoliaofutah]

WHOA

 

[c h a n a]

For you, Summer might already have them. Support characters are just characters your protagonist will interact with or are key pieces to your character's lives (family, friend, boss...etc.). So in Summer's character sheet, you talk about her father being a surgeon who cheated and made her little brother, and her mother being a business woman in town, but also an attractive trophy wife. These are your support characters, and we now know some things about them to reference with other characters. Such as if Rile is hurt and asks if there is a doctor in town, his own support character can reference Dr. Joe Divan. Thus, everyone is world-building smoothly and with minimal effort.

We do need pictures of them all though. That way should one of the other characters interact with them, we can describe them properly. Their personalities we can learn about in your posts where they interact with Summer. Hope this helps.

Very helpful, thank you! And I'll add their refs either tonight or tomorrow.

 

[ShiFty KrYpty]

Hey, guys! Little Update. Fluffy Kitty will be taking the last spot as of now. Also, here are the support characters for me. If Cat Man would like to post his relationship, rival...etc. ideas now, we can start planning some things together. Also, is there any ideas you would like to suggest for the threat such as how they turn others into their kind? Weaknesses, strengths...etc.

Spoiler: Town Support Characters

Arthur ‘Art’ Fletcher is the mayor of Sallow. He is a very nervous man who seems to have a perennially shaky handshake. The pressure of trying to save his town is constantly on his mind, often times being the source of his awkward behavior. Art has launched new tourism campaigns over the years to lure others to the small town, only to watch its own residents leave in greater numbers. What once was a population of nearly 1,500 has now diminished to less than 500. All efforts to bring retail franchises to Sallow to boost the economy have failed as well due to the dwindling number of residents. Despite this, Art continues to fight for his home, much to his detriment.

Bill Rolfe is the Sheriff of Sallow, Illinois. While originally growing up in the town, and living out his wild youth with the likes of Ray Booker, Bill moved away from Sallow for many years until bad luck and new belief in God brought him back. Bill believes in an old school sense of justice, this trait often materializing as a dislike of folk that look as though they could bring trouble to his jurisdiction. People such as bikers. While this prejudice can be seen as ignorance, Bill’s heart is ultimately in a good place. He cares about Sallow and its people, and he would do whatever it takes to protect it. Bill also has a trans-child named Quintin, of whom he has a contentious relationship with.

Elliot ‘Eli’ Beck is Bill Rolfe's deputy in Sallow. Unlike Bill, Eli lacks his more honorable nature. Eli is a petty person with an inferiority complex. He often abuses his authority in small matters, and even goes so far as to arrest others on trumped up charges. Eli is a constant suitor for Sadie Atherton, despite the latter never giving him the time of day. This, however, only seems to fuel his obsession for the woman to the point that the deputy would threaten her other other suitors if they didn’t stay away from her.



Sadie Atherton is the guilty pleasure of Sallow. She is not only the main attraction at the Bottom’s Up strip club, but also holds the same status in all the male residents’ wet dreams. Sadie lives her life wildly, having slept with a good deal of the men in Sallow, both single and married. She loves the attention she gets around town, be it lusty gawking or judgmental stares from jealous women. She knows she is bad, but feels very good about it.

Ray Booker is the speck on Sallow’s previously good record. He’s spent his entire life in the town, starting first as a callous, local hoodlum with former friend Bill Rolfe, before he moved away. Many nights Ray can be found engaging in brawls at a bar over arguments that he started. Having no actual job, he profits by selling narcotics on the side. Everything from weed to his own cultivated meth. Sheriff Bill Rolfe has spent a large part of his time in Sallow either arresting his old buddy Ray on various charges, or trying to. Booker ultimately always escapes the more serious prosecution, but little does he know that there is no escape from what has come to Sallow now.

 

[seasonedcat]

Hi Hi! Just wondering if we are planning on using different threads for this such as a cs and ooc thread along with IC thread when the time comes to keep everything organized? Or are we planning on working here? ^^

 

[seasonedcat]

Even more questions I should have just asked them all at once X~X

first off do you want realistic face claims only or does it not matter?

also also do you want me to make a sheriff's child as the previous one was making or would you rather me not. I have no issue with it as it can easily work with my character idea but I can go either way ^^

 

[seasonedcat]

I will post my cs here since I don't know if we are getting a cs page ^^

~Sheiff's Child~​

name: Martha Quintin Rolfe
gender: closeted trans man
pronouns: he/him
age: 19
occupation: Cup o' Frank barista(an extremely unpopular coffee shop that hardly anyone knows about that also doubles as a bookstore/library)
persona:
Quintin is someone full of anxiety and indecisiveness. He can hardly handle the spotlight in any measurement. He hardly even knows who he is anymore, the way he acts and presents being far from how he feels inside at all. He acts like a very conservative person, going to church often and respecting all the rules. Never stepping on anyone's toes and the first person to run to the teacher if people miss behaving. But the hardest part of it all is playing the part of a girl. He feels himself falling apart but pretends everything is fine, lying to himself just as easily as he lies with his personality. Everyone knows him as Martha the daughter of the town's sheriff and the purest girl around. He hopes one day to be able to find out what he is really like under the mask.
bio:
tw|mentions attempted suicide and transphobia
Quintin's story has always been the tale of someone else, even down the very basics. His father grew up here, a rebel and a punk who 'terrorized' the town. He did drugs, skipped class, and committed petty crimes, getting away from it because the previous town sheriff took pity on him. The sheriff wanted him to see his potential, his father didn't. So when his father was 15 he ran away to the big city. It took years of homelessness, waking up in ditches, and eating out of trashcans for 6 years before he came crawling back, at his rock bottom. This is the part in the story where his father always says was a miracle. He claims that as he entered the church a 'goddess' stood before him with bright red hair and green eyes as if presented to him by god.

from there the two fell in love and stayed in the town he used to try and run from. The old sheriff passed his badge onto Quintin's father and gave him a whole new life. His father took to god then, becoming more faithful than he had ever been and doing so with his family and his newly born 'daughter'. The story loses its happy ending when Quintin's mom got hit by a speeding car that slipped on ice. His father spiralled down and it was up to Quintin to keep up faces. The pressure was put on him to be perfect. His dad became strict, angry all the time, and wouldn't take anything but perfecting from Quintin.

Quintin struggled against it all, his father keeping a kind face to everyone but him, the anger of it all being saved only for Quintin. From there he spent his life trying to live up to it all, be perfect, believe in god, be the daughter that his father wanted. But it didn't work. He couldn't take all the pressure and in desperation, attempted to take his life by jumping in an icy river. His father was furious and tried to reach out to him for the first time. So Quintin told him he was not a girl. His dad laughed at him, before asking him what was really wrong. After finally convincing his father he was curious, he was instead punished. His father made him wear more girly things, sent him to church to find God and realize this was all wrong. His father tried to ease back on grades and other things, but it didn't help. The real pressure and what was getting at Quintin were still there. He just hopes one day he can finally not be Martha.
fears: water(only if above waist)
strong dislikes: the cold

 

[shymorgan]

Aidan is open for any kind of plotting in regards to relationships: friends, enemies, etc! I also added her fathers’ sheets, who are open to interact with any characters throughout the story. I’m still working on some other side characters, all open for interaction.

As for the threats’ weaknesses and strengths, I can only think of cliche things like fire, since that is pretty common in many myths. Maybe it’s also something like the cold slows it down? So winter is safer than say summer? We could also do another cliche like iron or silver being something that can harm them? Maybe there is some kind of herb combination (made up of herbs used for protection) that when burned, the smoke is actually toxic to them? Not like killing (maybe in higher amounts) but it causes irritation to the lungs.