Intricate Three-Way Fantasy Story

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Peregrine

Waiting for Wit
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
  1. Looking for partners
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per day
  2. Multiple posts per week
  3. One post per week
  4. Slow As Molasses
Online Availability
On fairly regularly, every day. I'll notice a PM almost immediately. Replies come randomly.
Writing Levels
  1. Adept
  2. Advanced
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Primarily Prefer Male
  2. No Preferences
Genres
High fantasy is my personal favorite, followed closely by modern fantasy and post-apocalyptic, but I can happily play in any genre if the plot is good enough.
Hello, friendly, potentially social person. I have an idea for a threeway story, or 1x1x1 depending on your terminology preferences, that has been slowly building in my head since the beginning of the summer. Now that I have settled down for the remainder of the year, and will be able to get online mornings and evenings, I have decided it is time to share it with the world.

However, before I introduce the concept, I'd like to get my expectations out of the way.

This is going to be an intricate, highly psychological story, and it is a world that I am going to need your help to construct. It is very possible that, before we actually get to the story, we may have to spend a couple of weeks or more fleshing out the world. I have the general idea, but it needs more. I will expect my partners to be active participants in the creation of this world.

On top of that, I need two people who are ready to be dedicated, active, and highly detailed once the roleplay actually begins. I'm not looking for perfection; this is not a Douche level story. But I am looking for someone who is ready to challenge me, and make me think about what I am putting into my posts. I am going to expect more than what is strictly necessary to continue with the plot. At the same time, I'm not looking for pages of purple prose. The things you say should have meaning. On this line, this story is not going to be on a first-come-first-serve basis. I'm going to choose the two people who I feel will best bring this story to life. Assuming more than two people apply...

If that speaks to you, and if you feel you are ready to step up to that challenge and really put your all into this, please, feel free to continue reading.

Now, onto the plot.

In this story, a powerful lawgiver wanders the world. To those who encounter him in his journeys, his actions are nothing short of heartless and sadistic. But one loyal servant who obeys his every command without hesitation, no matter how distasteful or apparently cruel. The Servant, after all, knows the truth of the Lawgiver's sorrowful mission. The Lawgiver is able to look into the eyes of a person, and see their heart and soul, their guilt and moments of redemption. Together they are traveling the world looking for the source of a great evil that has entered into their world. This evil possesses normal people, and causes them to unknowingly commit acts of great evil, using a dark magic that these demons possess. The only way to contain that evil at the moment is to slay the host, whoever they may be, and entrap the dark entity. But when a new companion joins the duo all of their careful measures begin to get twisted. In a world that hates him, the Lawgiver relies entirely upon the trust of his followers. This new follower, however, cannot help but question the orders the Lawgiver is sometimes forced to give, and cannot understand the Servant's constant willingness to obey these orders. The Follower will throw light onto every dark secret the Lawgiver and the Servant have, while the dark force continues to surge up within the world.

I will be looking for one person for each the Servant and the Follower. I suppose I may be willing to give the Lawgiver to someone else, but you would have to be very persuasive.

This is going to be a dark, heavy story. There is going to be murder of innocents who have done nothing wrong, and are only in the wrong place at the wrong time. There are probably going to be moments when you are going to be utterly disgusted by what our characters are going to have to do. If that bothers you, please don't apply.

Due to my desire to allow this story to grow and evolve once my two partners join, the things that are set in stone about the character and the plot are few in number. I'll give you the things that I really care about right now.

The Lawgiver is not a god, or any sort of immutable force. He can die, he can fail, and he most certainly can make mistakes. He also cannot do everything. He is not a particularly skilled fighter, he sucks at cooking, and he isn't particularly good at making things. That is why he relies upon the Servant, and would also rely upon the Follower. He cannot do things on his own, especially in the dangerous situations they find.

The Servant
is an individual who has, for some reason, bound him or herself, by word or magic (although I would probably prefer word), to the Lawgiver, body and soul. The Servant is, almost certainly, completely mortal, but is also a very hardy being, whether human or otherwise. This is because the Servant needs to be able to protect the Lawgiver through any set of circumstances, and once the Servant is dead, at least in the past, there would be nothing to protect the Lawgiver.

The Follower
has, for some reason, willingly joined with the Lawgiver and the Servant. The Follower has also sworn an oath of perfect obedience, but ends up breaking it on multiple occasions.

The Darkness is like pieces of sentient sludge, slowly oozing into this world. A piece of it finds as host and physically invades them, becoming an integral part of their body. From there it can take control of a person, and force them to do just about anything. It works as a sort of immediate healing process as well, allowing hosts to do things that would completely break a normal human. At the start of this story, there is no way to extract the Darkness, except through the host's death. And they can die, just not easily.

I want to stress one more thing before I depart, and leave you to your day. The Follower is going to be an incredibly difficult role. If you want to try and take that character, you are going to need to create someone who has a reason to stay with the Lawgiver and the Servant, even though what they are doing goes against every fiber in their body. You are going to need to create someone who can realistically push them, and who has a greater level of depth than "We can't kill anyone; we have to save everyone." The Follower also needs to have a reason to continue to rebel against the Lawgiver, even when he attempts to explain about the darkness, without coming across as a stubborn jack-ass. Even I don't know how I would attempt this character. You are going to need to get very creative to come up with the character that is the driving-force of pretty much all of the internal conflict for this story.

... That's it. That's all I've got for right now. Please ask any and all questions that come to mind. I'm sure there are holes in my reasoning, but I won't find them without your contributions.
 
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An integral part to understanding this all is the place and extent of the lawgiver. What is he or she? The lawgiver is stated to be a powerful entity but this doesn't tell us his nature. He would be a literal force behind the creation and balance of the world, a primal force given form. He could be a normal human who has attained power and immortality to give him the ability to do the things that the lawgiver does. He could be a person who has the powers of the lawgiver but is still finite and human, required to find a successor to be the new lawgiver when he becomes too old or dies. Or any other number of possibilities. The servant's state of being is also important though less pivotal than the lawgiver. Knowing these things can help give us an idea of why the follower would join, why he would be allowed to join, and how it would work out.
 
Thank you. You are completely right, and I'm sorry that I didn't think to add that information in.

In my original concept of him, the Lawgiver had obtained his position through the government that rules this land. I wasn't thinking of him as any sort of divine power, but as a judge, legislator, or someone given right and power by a king. I thought that was the only denotation for a lawgiver, so I apologize. His ability to see into the hearts and souls of people is not a "mystical" ability, but rather something that was a basic empathetic instinct within him, which he has tailored into an almost divine-like skill. However, this is a fantasy land, so the little pieces and details could definitely be changed, most notably how he obtained his ability, and what effect it has had on his mortality. I'm not even completely set on the fact that he was given this mission by the king/government, because them sending men to try and catch him could add a whole new level of complication and sorrow to this...

Sorry. That probably isn't helping. Let me see... Things on which I am completely set. He is not a god, or any sort of immutable force. He can die, he can fail, and he most certainly can make mistakes. He also cannot do everything. He is not a particularly skilled fighter, he sucks at cooking, and he isn't particularly good at making things. That is why he relies upon the Servant, and would also rely upon the Follower. He cannot do things on his own, especially in the dangerous situations they find.

The Servant is an individual who has, for some reason, bound him or herself, by word or magic (although I would probably prefer word), to the Lawgiver, body and soul. The Servant is, almost certainly, completely mortal, but is also a very hardy being, whether human or otherwise. This is because the Servant needs to be able to protect the Lawgiver through any set of circumstances, and once the Servant is dead, at least in the past, there would be nothing to protect the Lawgiver.

I'm sorry it is so vague, but I really did try my best to leave this story open to be tailored by the other people who are going to participate in it. And that may be part of the reason that the Follower is such a difficult character to create at the moment, because what is set in stone about each of the characters can be summarized in about two sentences or less, each.
 
Then a premise for the follower is easy. It can be done in any number of ways.

For better or for worse, the lawgiver is a lawful neutral. He does not seem to let his own moral compass guide him. In the mild fantasy setting, it is perfectly reasonable for the hero worship case to bind the follower to the lawgiver. Simply saving him could be enough to invoke a life debt by word, spurred by idealistic hero worship. However, the lawgiver was never really the kind of hero that he is seen as by the follower who sees him as one who saves and while feeling out of place in doing so at points would certainly come to contest how things are done a s the limitations and humanity of the lawgiver show themselves. In other words, no man is perfect and being given a license to kill by the government doesn't give one the moral right to exercise it without the utmost care and consideration. With great power comes the necessity to hold yourself to a higher standard while wielding it. So comes a question of human integrity.

There's plenty of other ways but that's the simplest, I think, just to give an idea on how to spin it.
 
I'm not entirely sure I get what you are trying to say. I think you are suggesting that the Follower is trying to get the Lawgiver to not kill unless it is absolutely necessary, and hold himself to a high moral standard. But part of the story is that there is no choice but to kill innocent people who have, under their own power, done nothing wrong. How does that relate to what you were saying? Because there really can be no "standard of morality" in that situation.

Of course, it is also very possible I misinterpreted what you were saying. Either way, thank you very much for your contributions. They've already come in handy.
 
Who ever said that the follower or lawgiver had to be entirely right?
 
I never said anything of the sort. I'm trying to understand if you are suggesting that the Follower is trying to insist on morality in a situation where morality can't really apply and, if you are suggesting that, how the Follower could maintain that position when he or she is told that the only way to contain the spread of the Darkness is the death of the host.
 
Idealists don't believe in "the only way". It comes with the package.
 
Very true. Although that could wind up falling into the "can't kill anyone, must save everyone" category without care.

I'm sorry, you never exactly made it clear. Were you looking to become a partner in this, or just reveal a possible character?
 
The idealist also has issues with debts and promises which lead to personal conflict. It isn't completely lopsided.

I don't know yet. I'll see how it fleshes out.
 
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