let's set d o w n some (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
groundrules) wrote2021-01-08 03:30 pm
groundrules) wrote2021-01-08 03:30 pm
Entry tags:
applications
Eastbound is primarily an invite-only game — each existing player can currently invite up to one person per month, or get in touch about further invites. Existing players can hold two characters in game. A third character can be applied, if players can prove they have met activity requirements for two consecutive months with their existing two characters and have stayed engaged with the game. If you don't have an invite, somehow stumbled upon this neck of the woods, and you’d like to stay, drop the mod journal a line — we'll try to figure it out.
As of Oct. 1, cast/game caps are off. Please note, as of Dec. 1, Eastbound only has 3-4 months of gameplay left.
WHAT CHARACTERS CAN BE APPLIED?
YES: canon and original characters, if they have a solid and consistent personality and background. Characters brought in after they've died are a-okay. For characters taken from a time point just as they're in the process of dying, please read below on meeting medical requirements.
NO (at this time): real people, original characters set in a canon environment, characters from canons or canon instalments that have been released for less than one month, characters with imported development from other games (CRAU), alternate universe, or gender-swapped versions of canon characters.
Children or characters with very specific medical/magical/environment needs: appable, but please make a note of how your character will ICly meet their requirements and stay alive. Likewise, if you are applying for a character taken just as they're dying, provide a suggestion for how they can be kept alive on arrival (this might be easier in some app cycles than others). You can bend the world a little to make miracles happen (ex: a substitute for the medication your character needs to survive can be found for a high price at certain apothecaries, etc.)
Characters that were dropped or swept by activity checks: yes, but they’ll come back without their previous memories, if they are applied in by a different player.
APPLICATIONS CLOSED
→ NAVIGATION MENU
Zhou Zishu | Word of Honor
CONTACT:
REFERRED BY: saw Em talking about the game, and then
CHARACTER: Zhou Zishu
CANON: Word of Honor
CANON POINT: The brief moment peace of preparing for Gu Xiang's wedding, before it takes a Bad Turn
BACKGROUND: Wiki!
- Youth: The son of a marquis, Zishu was taken in and raised at Four Seasons Manor and was Qin Huaizhang's first and most promising disciple. Always a bit too serious and focused on training, Qin Huaizhang would often pretend to slack off in order to get Zishu to play and act more like a child his age. Though he loved all of his fellow sect-brothers, he particularly doted on Qin Jiuxiao and considered him a younger brother. He met a young Zhen Yan and spent a notable afternoon playing with him while his master talked to the Zhen couple. Not knowing what happened to them has been a source of guilt to Qin Huaizhang for his entire life, and Zishu inherited these troubles.
- Tian Chuang (Window of Heaven): Qin Huaizhang got sick and died when Zishu was sixteen, and as his heir, Zishu became the new Sect Leader. However, he was young and inexperienced. He ended up packing up his sect and moving to the capital. His cousin is one of the princes fighting for the throne, and Zishu decided to throw his (and his sect's) lot in with him, founding the information and assassination organization Tian Chuang. Between his sect brothers and the other assassins Zishu raised, Tian Chuang became a powerful shadow force that demands loyalty from its soldiers and anyone who wishes to leave does so with the understanding that they will be crippled in a way that is equivalent to death.
- Nails of Seven Apertures for Three Autumns: The only way to "leave" Tian Chuang. "Seven nails penetrate their most important acupuncture points on their upper body, blocking their meridians, therefore losing all their martial arts and their ability to move or speak." (from Wikia) Zishu is disillusioned with what he's done and also realizes that, over the past ten years, all of his sect brothers have died in service to Tian Chuang (and Jin Wang). The straw that breaks the camel's back is Jiuxiao's death. Zishu realizes that if a single nail is placed every three months instead of all at once, his senses will decay slowly rather than immediately, and starts this process. He leaves Jin Wang's service after the last nail is put in.
- Jianghu: Disguising himself as a sick hobo, Zishu wanders the jianghu, intent on drinking until he dies. He accidentally ends up with a duckling and a flirty stalker that he can't shake. Over the course of the next few weeks, he realizes that he does actually kind of like Wen Kexing. They also end up in the middle of some really obscure jianghu political treasure hunt, that ends up not being so accidental since his not-husband-wife is the one that is orchestrating this drama in the first place, what the fuck, Lao Wen. Also, Zishu kind of realizes that maybe he doesn't really want to die anymore.
- Identity Porn: Zishu made information his business, and even though he doesn't really want to get involved with politics and drama, he also is nosy by nature and can't help it. He's also very good at putting things together and realizes relatively quickly that Wen Kexing is more than he appears, and starts waiting for Wen Kexing to tell him. This goes significantly better in theory than practice. They figure it out in the end, though, and Zishu vows to help Wen Kexing with whatever the fuck he needs to get done.
- Shit Hits the Fan: Jin Wang decides that no, actually, he's not okay with letting Zishu go and decides to force him to come back to the capital, torching his childhood home in the process. Zishu is less okay with this and ends up getting tossed into the torture chamber. He's rescued by some Tian Chuang boys who are still loyal, and then Lao Wen shows up in all his Valley Master glory. (They have a very loving reunion that includes the Gay Ancient China equivalent of giving an engagement ring.) Then Wen Kexing decides to run off and fake his death, without telling Zishu that he's faking his death, so of course Zishu thinks the whole drama he orchestrated is real.
- A Series of Unfortunate Events: He passes out and wakes up alone in an inn. Instead of learning from literally everyone who was in on the plot that Lao Wen is not actually dead, Zishu hears people talking about how the Valley Master was killed, and goes looking for the body. He finds the fake body that Wen Kexing had prepared, but doesn't have the chance to examine itl. He then proceeds to forcibly expel the nails from his body, giving him the strength to face down basically everyone he has to Fight to avenge Wen Kexing but also basically cutting his lifespan down to (undefined very short time, possibly days, possibly a week). Wen Kexing shows up Very Dramatically and they unmask the Big Bad and have a mostly happy celebration about the culmination of Wen Kexing's revenge plots, all the while completely unknowing that Zhou Zishu is About To Die.
- Red Wedding: Everyone goes back to Ghost Valley to prepare for Wen Kexing's (and by now, also Zhou Zishu's) sister-daughter's wedding and it's all very cute and soft until it isn't and the children are killed and there's a whole ass massacre but he's being taken from while everything is cute and soft still.
ABILITIES | POWERS:
- Martial arts: what it says on the tin! Specifically of the Four Seasons Manor style, but he's easily one of the most powerful people in the jianghu. This includes things like qinggong, the Swift Moving Steps (a certain step pattern that makes him very slippery and difficult to attack or target), hand-to-hand, and other such things. He has extremely good control of his qi, though not the same level of fine control as Wen Kexing, and uses it very efficiently.
- Exceptional Senses (not anymore): this technically relates to the above, since he has these because of his martial arts abilities. However, due to the nails, he's since lost his sense of taste and smell, and occasionally has a ringing in his ears. His sense of touch and pain comes and goes, and isn't as sensitive as it once was.
- Master of Disguise: taught by his master, he's basically unrecognizable when in disguise. He prefers disguising himself to look sickly and gross.
- Drugs, etc: while not the expert that Wu Xi is, Zishu knows his herbs, medicines, and posions well enough to have invented Drunk Like A Dream. It's implied that he developed what Tian Chuang uses as well. Also, he used to peddle drugs with Wu Xi. He also knows how to use all of the many many herbs left behind at Four Seasons Manor to promote healing after they fought (and lost badly) to Ye Baiyi.
PERSONALITY: as Wen Kexing put it, he's got a sharp tongue but a soft heart (and a narrow waist and long legs.....). He's serious and not prone to comfort or compliments, but is also very caring and compassionate--though he won't admit this. He can be pretty calculating and ruthless, and has zero qualms about killing those who need to be killed or to kill those that threaten him and his, but also avoids killing innocents and children if he can. While he's done it in the past, that's also a big part of the guilt that weighs on him. He is rather self-loathing, and morally, doesn't think of himself as particularly worth admiring. As one of the strongest people of the jianghu, though, he's also very self-aware and extremely proud of his martial ability, though he has very little ambition to be seen or acknowledged as an Important Person. There are just very few people who are an actual match or threat to him, and he knows it. He's also...very nosy, and prefers knowing everything that's going on and who the important people are.
SAMPLE: TDM threads
INVENTORY:
- wine gourd, mostly full
- whip sword Baiyi, and the belt-sheath he keeps it in
- the fancy blue robes he was wearing
- the jade hairpin that Lao Wen gave him (armory key, though he doesn't know it)
- a selection of small pots of poisons and medicines that he keeps on him
SUITABILITY: He was the head of an intelligence and assassination organization; he'll be fine. He's also going to try and do his best to not get involved, though I suspect this will not actually go very well because he's a nosy fuck who can't leave well alone. That said, he'll probably just follow WKX's lead here.
NOTES:
- He is...dying??? But this can either be held in stasis or they can find a healer to at least hold him in stasis if they can't heal him or he can just.. die......... (WKX may not be very happy about this though)
APPLICATION RECEIVED
no subject
no subject
OH YES, SORRY!
no subject
no subject
"Lao Wen" is also Wen Kexing! I should have probably stuck to one, I'm so sorry! 🫣
ACCEPTED
ADMIN
NOTES
INTRO
Your character joins the party during its sojourn in the opulent citadel of Ephes, home to a mysteriously skilled army, the Hand. Undead lady Messalina has approached Ephes’ ruling Senate to request the Hand, in a bid to allegedly ‘liberate’ fellow undead from under the enslavement of the vicious dead Brotherhood. The Senate is still deliberating on her request. A fresh OOC wrap of recent clues uncovered in Ephes (which you can assume known ICly, if you so choose!) will be posted on 29 October.
Your character arrives during the events of our latest test drive event.
While in Ephes, the Merchant will sponsor your character with passport papers and enough silver and documentation to assume a civilian role — pick whatever strikes your fancy (to the tune of Ephes’ Ancient-Rome-inspired aesthetic).
Since Zhou Zishu has deep experience in subterfuge, he might be of the rare breed that has good luck infiltrating and reaping information from the Hand — though careful, as the party is now warning of the dangers of engaging Ephes' elite army any further...
Certain magical and reality-bending turbulences take place and can affect those who emerged from the test drive event earthquakes. If you'd like a short-term roll affecting your character for up to a week after arrival in game, pick: trick (angst/light horror), treat (fluff/humour) or skip!
Re: ACCEPTED
WHOO! How exciting!!
I'm going to go with treat, just to help me get my feet under me in game! And as for his dying-ness, I think I'd like him to work on trying to find a solution with the help of healers!
I'd also like to retcon his TDM threads, since I hadn't decided on a set canon point yet at the time, and I realized late that I also misunderstood some things. Is there anything specific I should do beyond letting the people I threaded with know?
no subject
eta: okay, just took a look through all the thread submissions, and it doesn't seem as if anyone used a thread with Zhou Zishu to get their clues, so at least that's more facilitating. If your thread partners agree to retcon, it should be fine — if they express concern over any investigating they did while threading with you, we may need to come up with a different way for them to get that same clue or investigating experience.
Tell them to get in touch with me, if that happens, and I'll see what I can do, so they don't have to lose their clue.
no subject
Great, thank you so much! I really, really appreciate it.
no subject
For Zhou Zishu's treat, let's give him the beautiful turn of luck that, whenever he enters a tavern or establishment that offers drink, someone is just buying a free round for the entire place, or perhaps for him specifically (he just has the kind of face that invites charity!)
no subject
LOVELY! The best sort of treat!
The main retcon I needed to do was with Wen Kexing, and I've already discussed it with his player, so we're all set there. I'll also message Jacob's player to see how they want to roll with things :Db Thank you again!