The Blackbirders {Reposted RP}

[Miranda_]

Rules.

1. Please PM me first before joining, unless you are experienced at RPing. If you are unsure as to whether or not I consider you experienced, then I'd prefer it if you messaged me rather than just jumping in.

2. Obey the main forum rules.

3. No Mary Sues or Gary Stus. Or I will hit you.

4. Please abide by the plot rules. This universe has electricity; it's called something else in the book, but for simplicity's sake, I'm calling it electric. There are no cars, but carriages that run by electric. There are no aeroplanes, but instead people travel by zepplin airship. There are still carriages pulled by horses and people travelling by horseback, too. If you have any questions, PM me rather than asking in the RP.

~~~

Welcome to a completely new world. This world is similar to ours in some ways, but in other ways, the differences stand out markedly. In our world, our souls are one complete whole and are housed within us. In this world, half our soul remains within us and half is outside us, as a daemon. Daemons take the form of animals; they can change their shape during our childhoods, but when we mature into adults, they remain in one shape which they stay in for the rest of our lives. This usually happens after you hit sixteen, and your daemon's final shape is chosen by your personality traits, whatever they may be. After all, a daemon is part of you and therefore must show as part of you. Your daemon is your best friend, your one and only and your only true other half; no-one knows you like your daemon does. You can't imagine being parted from your daemon, ever. The thought of a person without a daemon puts you in mind of horror stories you shivered at when you were little; meeting someone who didn't have a daemon would be as unnatural as meeting a person without a head. But there is a danger. Children are being kidnapped, from the slums, the middle class areas and even from the parts of town where the rich live. No-one is safe, and no-one knows quite when the kidnappers will strike.

The children play games about these so called "Blackbirders", and pretend to themselves that they're not scared, but they are. And with good reason. The Blackbirders steal the children away and take them to a place in the north where scientists have developed a machine that will separate a person from their daemon. Anyone who goes thru this process will be sundered from half their soul, and both person and daemon will be as zombies, mindless and obedient, to their master. He keeps himself secret, only emerging every so often to check on what's going on in his headquarters, a huge building surrounded by snowy plains, where the children are taken. He has a plan; to use his creations to build up a deadly army, an army that knows no fear and attacks obediently and blindly, in order to take over the world and make himself ruler of it. He does not use this process on himself or his most trusted followers however, which to itself speaks of lies and betrayal. He justifies what he's doing by saying that it's all to the better, to keep children pure forever, as their daemon's sticking in one shape means that they have become infected with sin. But it is all a lie. If it were so good, then why does he shield himself, his daughter and his followers from it?

The severing process used to be thought permanent, and the victims of it left mindless, but a rogue scientist working at the headquarters, quite by accident, discovered a cure. She was forced to flee, fearing for her very life, in order to hide out at a secret location in a town on the other side of the world. She cannot reveal her identity or her purpose for fear that her old employer will track her down and kill her to prevent her revealing the cure to anyone or practicing it on his minions to give them their lives and souls back. Who are you in this fierce struggle? Are you a mother, perhaps, who's had a child taken and now is determined to find them, whatever the cost? Or maybe you're a child who fears the Blackbirders, yet plays the games with all the other children, knowing a friend of a friend who was taken, yet hoping against all hope that it won't happen to you. Or perhaps you used to work alongside the scientist who's discovered the cure; do you support her work or condemn it? What side have you chosen?

~~~

Rules For The Plot.

Certain elements from the book Northern Lights, which was made into the movie The Golden Compass, have been taken and adapted into this RP. I haven't taken the exact plot, as it would be too complex for an RP and also was solved in the books. The most difficult aspect for most people to understand would be the daemons, so I'll explain those in full, as well as impressing on players certain rules that must be followed as far as daemons are concerned. Here they are:

1. Daemons can change shape in childhood but are fixed in adulthood. For the sake of the RP, I'm making this as sixteen when your daemon fixes its shape. If you have problems thinking of what animal your character's daemon will be, just think of the Animagus forms in Harry Potter; ie, the animal shape can not be chosen and instead reflects the person's personality. Daemons also do this; for example, a brave person may have a lion daemon; a sneaky one a snake, an independant person a cat, a vain person a peacock and a flighty one a squirrel. Look at your character's personality, if adult, and choose a shape to fit them. If your character is a child, then their daemon can change shape at will. The daemons of servants, incidentally, are always types of dog.

2. Men have female daemons and women male. You must remember this, and choose a suitable name for your daemon. Don't forget that the daemon is not a pet, it is part of you. So your character converses with them as they would another person.

3. Any animal can be a daemon, including reptiles and birds, and also insects. Be creative. Don't just pick the same daemon as someone else did, if you figure your daemon is a cat, then choose another type of cat, for example, a serval or ocelot.

4. No-one must touch another person's daemon. It's the worst taboo you could imagine. The only exception would be between lovers, for example, but in most cases only the person who's daemon belongs to them will touch that daemon. If your daemon is hurt, then your character is hurt.

5. A person and his/her daemon must stay within a short distance of each other. Forced separation causes unimaginable pain, both mental and physical, even if both are reunited. The people who are severing the children from their daemons are doing so in the most brutal way, and some of the children die from the experience.

[Miranda_]

(Yeah, character limit. As always.)

Character Form:
Name:
Age:
Appearance: (written please, no pictures)
Personality:
Bio:
Daemon: (if a child, then just put the daemon's name)

~~~

Name: Rian Emerald
Age: 13
Appearance: Black hair, green eyes. Average height
Personality: Very childish for his age, can be rude, sulky and bratty. Likes to deliberately annoy people, steals. He's also loyal to his friends, and brave on occasion
Bio: Rian's father is in prison, and his mother couldn't cope with him so at an early age he was adopted. His adopted mother Gwen is an alcoholic, and pays little or no attention to her adopted son, instead letting him run wild. He knows of the Blackbirders and so does Gwen; but she doesn't really care, and he doesn't think it'll ever happen to him.
Daemon: Maris.

~~~

Rian crept alongside a wall behind the stalls in the marketplace, his daemon Maris in the shape of a fox at his side. "I'm not so sure about this," Maris said in barely a whisper. "What if you get caught? If you get beaten, remember, I get hurt as well." "I'm not going to get caught, and I won't get beaten," Rian muttered back to Maris in the same low tone. "You know as well as I do that Mum won't bother to get us anything to eat; she just spends all the money she can get hold of on drink. This is the only way. Either that, or we starve." Maris gave a sigh, and nodded. "Alright. Just be careful." Rian crouched down low behind a stall selling hot pies. He waited for the right moment, then pounced. He seized a pie, wincing slightly due to it burning his hands and was away, running hard with Maris flying by his head in the shape of a finch, by the time the stallholder and his jackal daemon spotted them. The stallholder shook his fist and his daemon growled angrily, but fruitlessly as Rian was well away.

Rian stopped running as soon as he got to a convienient alleyway, that ran up the side of an abandoned, derelict house. He sat down, out of breath and Maris flopped down next to him. "I didn't get caught, did I?" he said to her, before starting to eat his prize. "Not this time, true," Maris replied, "But what about next time?" "I ain't thinking about next time," Rian said between bites. "I just think about now. That, and to make sure the Blackbirders don't get me." Rian along with the other children who lived along the street in the terraced houses often shivered in delicious fear and played games about the Blackbirders, but it became real when a child they knew disappeared. Mothers often used the Blackbirders to threaten their kids with, saying, "Do your homework now or the Blackbirders will get you!" "Eat up your dinner, or the Blackbirders will come" or "Come in this instant, or I'll tell the Blackbirders to take you away!" but they too feared their children being taken by the merciless kidnappers.

[Cheshire1996]

Name: Nelle Winters
Age: 12
Appearance: Short and thin, brown eyes, chin length spiky brown hair.
Personality: Quiet, Suspicious of people she doesn't know, can be quite rude and abrupt, not good with other children, she can be pretty cold at first but is very protective of her few friends.
Bio: Her mother went missing when she wa slittle so her father and her have moved quite a bit. He's found a place at the market's around the area though and makes a small but steady income. He's too busy most of the time to pay much attention to his daughter and her whereabouts.
Daemon: Felix

Nelle stood at the edge of the market, staring at the bustle with no obvious emotion. "You know your father worried about you, not having any friends and all," Nelle's daemon, Felix, a wildcat looked up at her. Nelle frowned. "He ain't got nothing to worry about, I can look after myself, I'd hardly want friends, they ain't good for anything." Nelle answered. She was lying to herself, truthfully she envied those children who could make friends so easilly, ever since her mother had dissapeared Nelle has told herself she hadn't needed anyone much to her father's despair.
She felt around in her pocket and pulled out a small stone.

Felix jumped from her arms to the ground, "We should go, no point hanging around here all day, they'll think you're a thief." Nelle nodded and turned around, there was not much to do around the markets anyway. She ahd no interest in the games the other children played about the mysterious 'blackbirders'. Many times her father had warned her about them, If any blackirder tries to take me Nelle had told herself, I'll scratch his eyes out. With a spiteful kick she sent the stone skidding along the ground and walked slowly away from the marketplace.

[Silent_Wolf]

Name: Calli
Age: 16
Appearance: Fairly scrawny, average height. Has black hair and pale brown eyes.
Personality: Tends to snap a lot, has a short temper, but despite this she's incredibly protective of the people she cares about.
Bio: Calli has never gotten along with her mother, a former upper-class lady who married "for the stupid reason of love." Her father was a working-class butcher who swept the woman off her feet; and currently the marriage is on the rocks, prompting Calli to stay away from home as much as possible.
Daemon: Ahijit, a small black snake.

--

Calli wandered through the market, taking care to stay in the edge of the crowd near the stalls. A little farther down, she could hear a shopkeeper yelling at someone who'd stolen a pie; now, who'd do that? She shoved through the crowd to the stall and threw some money down; at least her dad still gave her some money, considering her mother hoarded everything she earned to make herself seem rich when she went out. "I'll have a pie too, there's enough cash for two. Sorry if somebody took one, sir." She used her sleeve to grab a still-hot pie, and a tiny black head stuck its head out to sniff it. "Ahijit! Stop that." She giggled. "Come on." She continued walking, squealing a little as her daemon wriggled up her sleeve to her collar. "Come on, stop it!" She smacked him lightly on the back and found her way to a derelict house. "Hello? Anybody here?" She sat down on the creaky, broken stairs. "I brought pie!"

[spirit_queen]

Name: Kiki Jackson
Age: 5
Appearance: Kiki has dark blonde hair down to her waist, and insists on always wearing pigtails. She has grey eyes and short lashes, and has a dimple on only one cheek when she smiles.
Personality: Kiki is a tattletale, but only because she hates it when people do wrong things; she wishes everybody could play nice. She’s very open, honest, and naïve.
Bio: Kiki grew up in a middle class family, and is cherished by her mother, but her father is rarely home. He occasionally beats her, so she avoids him at all costs.
Daemon: Gigi (pronounced “jee-jee”)


Name: Nicole (Nikki) Jackson
Age: 20
Appearance: Nikki is a short brunette with blue eyes, and an upturned nose. She is slightly pear shaped, and has small feet.
Personality: Nikki is a bit of a doormat, and has almost no will of her own. Her daughter is the only thing that matters in her world, and she would do anything for Kiki.
Bio: Nikki grew up with strict parents, and then married an abusive, adulterous husband because he impregnated her out of wedlock at the age of 15. She hates the fact that she can’t find it in her to even yell at her husband for cheating, let alone fight back when he hits.
Daemon: Chris, a little grey field mouse

Kiki had left the house; daddy was home. She hated daddy; he was mean, and he even once had hit Gigi. So she was wandering the streets, even though mama didn’t like it, because she was afraid of the Blackbirders. Kiki was too young to really understand the concept of the Blackbirders. So she meandered from street to street in her drab, white sundress and sandals. Gigi was nervous; while Kiki was relatively unconcerned about falling to harm, Gigi was freaked to the point of paranoia; he saw somebody hiding within every shadow, thought every footstep or voice calling out was the sound of someone following or chasing after them. So, when Kiki rounded a corner and saw a young teen shoving bits of pie into his mouth, Gigi, in the form of a parrot, quacked and turned into a ferret, then crawled into her shirt. “It’s okay, Gigi.” Kiki cooed to her daemon. “They won’t hurt us, they’re kids, like us.”

“B-but they’re b-bigger. Much bigg-ger!” Gigi protested.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now, ‘cause your noise-making was so loud that they gotsa know we’re here.” Kiki replied.


Meanwhile, Nikki had long since made dinner and was calling for Kiki and Gigi, obviously to no avail. She was worried. Beyond worried, actually; what if someone had stolen her baby, her only reason for living?

Suddenly, a large man came up behind her; he appeared to be in his late twenties, if not thirty already. “So the little brat is gone, eh? Oh, well, that means more for me!” He laughed.

How can you say that? She’s your daughter! Nikki thought. She didn’t, of course, say this aloud; that would result in a beating. “Yes, dear.” She said meekly; it was best to just placate him, stuff him full and then let him sleep. Then she would be free to search for Kiki and Gigi.

[Miranda_]

Ooc: RP is starting now.

Rian looked round suspiciously when he heard the shouting; he couldn't make out what was being said and wondered if it was someone coming to have a go at him.

Maris changed into a wildcat and jumped on to his lap. "If it's anyone bad, we can always run," she said.