Enlightment Evolution Chronicles Vol.1

[Kiruria]

Well then, is there any place in the world where religious biases still hold? Zuri's history kind of revolves around such a religious bias, so...

Another completely unrelated question: Would firearms have still been invented by now?

[DVB]

Yes. Technology would have still progressed and in a bit so. This is 1865 where the Civil War would have occurred but hasn't. Well, that would be some parts of Europe though they are steampunk compared to the America's clockpunk. Here is the thing, she could still suffer from religious bias from her town, but her town's bias is frowned upon so there is that. If you need any help, talk to me and I can arrange something

[Chili]

And this is the Civil War right?

[DVB]

No, the Civil War didn;t happen. Did you read the back story? It's 1865 and Abe Lincoln is still president in a unified America

[Chili]

Oh. I haven't read it yet. I will soon though.

[DVB]

Once Chili and Kiruria submit their character profiles, we will start this. If I am informed that they are almost done or if one of them does post it, we will start but we do not want to leave anyone behind

[Kiruria]

OK, thank goodness! But fortunately, we won't have to wait much longer, unless Chili decides to take forever of course. So I finished my signup. Instead of Salem, I had Zuri be based in another area of Massachusetts that is famous for its history...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Name: Zuri Watkinson
Age: 18
Gender: Female

Occupation: None, besides household stuff
Ethnicity: American. Is originally of British lineage, but her ancestors have lived in America ever since British colonies started there.

Appearance: People like to call Zuri the "ghost", for she can be mistaken for one at first glance. Being an albino, her skin is very pale, and her eyes are such a light shade of blue that they look as if they are made of glass. Straight silvery-white hair flows halfway down her back, with slight hints of bangs on the sides. These like to blow back in a gust of wind, revealing earrings that look like inch-long amethyst spikes. Although her face is pale as everything else, it can easily turn a light pink at the sign of emotion. Otherwise her tendency to gaze off into the distance adds to the ghostly air about her.

There's nothing particularly special about Zuri's figure. Nobody's ever commented on it in any way. If anything, she looks a little on the fragile side, not being extremely skinny, but not having a whole lot of build either. She's anything but the athetic-type, that's for sure, given the only exercise she ever gets is carrying books around town. One can easily guess that she spends a lot of time indoors, which makes sense because she's highly prone to sunburn.

Zuri has a somewhat picky fashion sense. She'll never wear anything that's yellow, brown, orange, or red, and prefers to stick with a traditional style of clothing. Nor does she ever style her hair differently. However, she almost always wears some sort of jewelry, always wearing at least a necklace and a pair of earrings, and maybe in rare cases a bracelet or something. She always wears a piece of jewelry that once belonged to her late mother, in rememberance of what little she knew of her.

Zuri's most common outfit, the one she usually wears while exploring around town, consists of a somewhat simple long white dress, with lacy sky-blue trim at the bottom and at the ends of her mid-length sleeves. A blue ribbon also ties around her waist, and a blue floral pattern cascades down below it. On her feet are a pair of gray boots that lace up at the front and have slightly pointed toes. They look to be slightly worn, due to the amount of walking she does in them. Similarly, the bottom of her dress is starting to look more off-white, the blue floral pattern faded, from the times it's been washed and the dust it's collected. Over this, she carries around a grayish-blue satchel which always has a book or two visibly stuffed inside. A parasol which nearly matches her dress in pattern hooks over this satchel--since she burns easily, she never walks around in the sun too long without it. She also keeps a shawl in her satchel in case it gets cold. And currently she's wearing not one, but two necklaces. One is a simple little cross hanging just around her neck. Below it, a pendant featuring a silver rose and an amethyst spike identical to the ones on her earrings rests against the fabric of her dress.

Personality: Besides her appearance, one other reason why many people call Zuri the ghost is because of her relatively distant demeanour, and the solemn yet calm and mysterious vibe she gives off. She kind of drifts about the world, setting herself apart from it, a slight bit shy in terms of interacting with others, especially if they don't seem to have anything in common with her. But she is very good at remaining calm and relaxed, and she hardly ever panics in the face of danger (the most she'll do is complain about being weak). A ghost indeed--a living one, if that makes any sense.

One definite hallmark of Zuri is her interest in books. They are her most satisfying form of enjoyment, the one activity she can devote her focus and interest to. Zuri seems to like quiet, serene settings anyway--she hates noisy places and crowded gatherings. She likes to keep her mind in a hazy awareness, not exactly super focused, but not completely absent-minded--just a little in the clouds, with little or no worries to trouble their way through. This is almost the exact state she keeps her mind in while meditating, which she does quite often. With a highly spiritual nature, she keeps an open mind and accepts fate for what it is.

Yes, that is another hallmark of Zuri: her strong belief in magic. Some people have thought she was some sort of witch or mystic, and she considers that to be true, leaving many in mystery. The few religious people still around claim Zuri to have been "possessed" by the ghosts of her parents, which makes sense since they practiced witchcraft. It is true that the books Zuri most often reads are either books of shadows found in her parents' house, or fantasy novels. She believes that everyone is united by nature, and that the world has several dimensions (though she has no idea what those other dimensions are). In her everyday life, she makes quite a few spiritual affirmations, which are not so much prayers directed at herself, but blessings of various things and acknowledgements of fate.

However, the reason why this leads to her ghostly demeanour is her ambivalence about religion, and about her life in general, as explained in her History. As someone who is denied what she wants most, yet also as someone who lacks a rebellious nature, she frequently comes across as both sad and indecisive. Indeed, it is simply not in her nature to be outwardly against something. In a way she sees good in everything, even the things that seem to be most troubling to her. So she frequently vacillates on troubling issues, at least wanting to get rid of them in the most harmless way possible. Meanwhile her depression turns inward, meaning that she doesn't eat much, frequently spends time outside when it's cold and raining, or otherwise just lets a bunch of sad thoughts fill her mind. In her mind it's always a rainy day, yet somehow a flame keeps on weakly burning.

Besides the above, one obvious weakness Zuri has is technology. The advances of clockwork technology confuse her--she has no idea how to go about using any of them, except for the simplest household devices. A part of her is curious about how these things work, but she doesn't know how to go about learning such things. And probably because she's so focused on her own problems, she's remarkably naive as far as news and current events and latest trends go. That or she just doesn't care about any of those things. She seeks wisdom, not necessarily knowledge.

History: Ever since the "Enlightenment" came to America, there have been tensions between the Abbey and Watkinson families. The Abbeys were very religious people for the most part, being very involved in the church and other more traditional practices. But the Watkinsons had a combination of witches and scientists, believing strongly in the ideas of enlightenment that came over from afar. It was when a rebel among the Abbeys married a Watkinson that the history of Zuri started. For a while she lived rather happily with her parents, who had a good relationship with both her and each other, and lived in a decently-sized house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Both parents were avid scholars of various magical practices, but Zuri was too young to understand what their spiritual beliefs truly meant.

However, just a few blocks away lived Zuri's grandmother, a true Abbey who regarded Zuri's parents as sinners and devil-worshippers, and was still in grief over the rebellious loss of her daughter. For the first three years of Zuri's life, she wasn't even important, because her parents could just ignore the pouting old crone and be done with it. But then came a day that Zuri will never forget: she discovered her parents in their seance room, lying under a blanket, motionless and cold to the touch. This really came as a shock to Zuri, especially since nobody had any idea exactly how or why they died. It would be a mystery that lingered in her mind from then on.

From then on, Zuri lived with her grandmother. Grandma thought Zuri's parents got what they deserved for "following an evil faith", and was all too glad to take Zuri in. She sought to purify her, to raise her to be a good Christian girl. Unfortunately for her, though, and fortunately for Zuri, there no longer existed any schools with a religious focus, and very few churches with any sort of prominence. All Grandma could do was keep Zuri around the house, protecting her from any other "evil influences" out there.

Whenever Grandma sent Zuri on an errand, Zuri made a habit of taking a side trip to visit her parents' house. She had heard from them that those who have died can be spiritually contacted, and so she hoped she just might discover the secret of their death by hanging around the house. But although once or twice she did see them floating about as ghosts, they never spoke a word to her. All they answered her questions with was a smile. A flat, untelling smile, rivaling the Mona Lisa's in its mystery. Still, she did find interest in the books in the house, especially those about magic and other spiritual topics. She especially enjoyed reading her parents' philosophical essays they wrote when they attended the nearby Harvard University. Zuri wondered what it would be like to follow in their footsteps...

By contrast, the errands she didn't like were ones that required her to travel into the nearby bustling city of Boston. The suburbs of Cambridge where Grandma lived was a quiet and peaceful area, even with the university nearby, but Boston was an entirely different animal. Lots of faceless people going about their daily business. Lots of unfriendly-looking buildings and shady characters. And most importantly, lots of complex gadgets that used to befuddle Zuri to no end. Clockpunk was highly prevalent here, and there was even talk about founding a new university that centred around its technology in the near future, one to be apparently based in Cambridge in the hopes of getting that area more technologically up-to-date. Zuri was not looking forward to that, that was for sure.

Naturally, Grandma was not pleased when she found out about Zuri's ventures to her parents' house, especially since she was taking home books from that place. Whenever she was feeling under the weather, she would blame Zuri on it, for bringing evil influence into the house. She even went so far as to burn one or two of the books in the fireplace. But devastating though that was, that was the worst sort of "punishment" Zuri ever received from her. Apparently Grandma didn't really have it in her heart to punish her in any other way. And Grandma still did a good job in taking care of her otherwise. Zuri especially liked it when she got to sample a herbal tea that Grandma was becoming locally famous for whenever she caught a cold. If there was one thing Zuri liked about her grandmother, it was her skill with herbal remedies. They even kept an herb garden, which she enjoyed tending to--provided she didn't have to work in the sun of course.

Zuri's parents' house could not stay abandoned forever, though. There eventually came a day when the government stepped in with orders to refurbish it, and apparently the ghosts of Zuri's parents had no trouble with that. To save any more of her parents' books from being burned though, Zuri opted for them to be donated to the library at Harvard. It made sense, since they studied there and all. And besides, this gave Zuri an excuse to visit that library on several occasions from then on. Grandma didn't seem to mind this as much as going to her parents' house, as long as she didn't bring back any books on any occult topics.

Over time, Zuri became quite well-known by the librarian at Harvard, due to her frequent trips there. Though Zuri was shy around most people, she at least accepted this relationship with the librarian because A) she knew he liked books, and B) he just might be able to help her become a student at the university herself someday. When she finally worked up the courage to ask him about that, he was sympathetic, thinking Zuri would make a great student. However, she would have to pass an entrance exam before being admitted, and since she didn't have much education completed before then, this was going to be a problem.

Well, there was a decent prep school in Boston where she could study for the exam, as the librarian pointed out, but there was still a problem: Grandma. Grandma would by no means allow Zuri to go after any type of higher education, believing it would be highly unnecessary for her. She believed that school had a very masculine nature to it, that education revolves around discipline and order and all you get handed in the end is a measly slip of paper. She believed there were many wonderful things a woman can do that didn't require a degree. However, she also believed that an absolute must for any woman is finding a husband. Zuri was in her teens by then, so it was time for her to start focusing on marriage and starting a family before she became too old to do so.

And Zuri saw where she was coming from. Now that she thought about it, if she did pass that entrance exam and got admitted into Harvard, she had no idea what she would want to study. She thought about studying philosophy like her parents, but wasn't too keen on having to write essays all the time. Math required no essays, but she was no good with that either. She could study medicine, and that was in fact the thing she was most interested in by now, but there were already lots of effective medicines that can be discovered in an herb garden, right? And Zuri wasn't sure how she could handle living in a dorm or dealing with classmates, and was used to doing stuff at home by now. But then again, the thought of marriage didn't excite her either, especially since she showed no interest in the church boys Grandma introduced her to. Nor did she really want to abandon Grandma, especially since she was overall nice despite her restrictions, and needed proper care in her old age.

Then one day when Zuri was at the library as usual, a mysterious cloaked figure entered, hunched over and coughing occasionally. Zuri could see some sort of strange symbol on the cloak, but it was one she had never seen in any magical texts. Apparently this man was in dire need of a particular book, and thus decided to come here despite his bad cold. Noticing this, Zuri offered him a bag of her grandmother's herbal cold remedy, and also helped him find the book he wanted. Without another word, the man thanked her and walked away with the book, hacking away as before...

A few days later, Zuri came into the library again to find the librarian waving a fancy black envelope at her, mentioning that the mysterious cloaked figure from before had left it here for her. First he thanked her for the cold remedy, saying it worked well and that he felt much better now. But then it got very strange, inviting her to some meeting all the way in Washington. The way he wrote the letter made it sound like he insisted on her being there, but Zuri wasn't sure she was ready for such travel when she hadn't been any place further away than Boston before. And Grandma would most certainly forbid her from such a journey...

So, as much as she didn't want to do it, she lied. At the time, Grandma was coming down with an illness she was sure wasn't a cold, and had asked Zuri to fetch her some medicine from a pharmacy in Boston. Zuri told her that the pharmacy there didn't have it, and that the closest pharmacy that did was in Washington. Though it was far, Zuri promised her that she would get her the medicine, and Grandma seemed thankful. Grandma even told her that she would buy her a beautiful wedding dress after she felt better. Zuri wasn't thrilled about the dress, but headed off to Washington anyway, deciding not to mind the awkward gear-powered car she traveled in to get there. Maybe at some point in her life she would just have to find out how these things worked...

[DVB]

VERY MUCH ACCEPTED!

By the way, our characters will simply have to report to a trainstation and they will be taking it to Washington. They will have a car reserved for them/

[DVB]

THE RPG has officially started! Sign-ups will remain open as I examine who and who will not be participating as we move through the first stages.

[DVB]

Sign-ups are still open everyone! We are about to start moving ahead.

[deltakurumiru4]

Name: Halt Chrono

Age: 20

Gender: Male

Occupation: Clock worker, makes and repairs anything made of clockwork materials

Ethnicity: European

Appearance: Halt wears substandard clothes for the era. He prefers to wear a white cotton shirt all the time, and over that he wears a variety of vests that leave his arms open to work on clocks or other machinery that he works on for a job. In the various vests he owns he houses multiple pockets, each with a specific item for each. Inside the vests are multiple pockets big enough for Halt to carry his tools around in as well as any small portable piece he is working on at the moment. A sizable pocket on the right side of the vests on the inside holds a large rack of cigars for him to smoke when his anxiety gets too high. Under that pocket he holds a small pistol shaped lighter made of clock parts that use a piece of flint to light the cigars. In the front of each vest he keeps a pocket that holds his personally pocket watch that he made during his apprenticeship.

His hair is messy and black, with bits and flecks or copper often in it from when he works on larger machines. His eyes are a golden copper color that his parents and master joke about being the copper of clockwork in his veins. His skin is a little tan, but is still mostly pale from his time indoors perfecting his craft. He is thin, as most of his money goes into gears and copper for his clock work projects.

Personality: Halt is very eccentric, often going on rants about his or other designs in clockwork or steampunk technology. He is highly cheerful, always beaming a smile in his shop, which earns him a lot of satisfied costumers. He is also very energetic, and tends to move around a lot in his shop. He has a bit of a problem when it comes to his anxiety, and it causes his hands to shake uncontrollable. He smokes to calm himself down, and his personality loses its eccentric and energetic vibe and replaces it with a much calmer and less energetic personality. He prefers to spend time alone despite this, and will rather work on a clockwork piece. He has a heavy conscious, and will try to make the decisions that will weigh on him the least.

History: Halt was born in Europe in 1845, and was born into a fairly average family of a writing father and a steampunk building mother. They weren’t the richest, as the mother used the money for her projects while the father was forced to provide most of the money with his poems and writings. This got his parents into many conflicts, and Halt would hide himself away during such arguments, as his father got quite violent during these arguments. His father never actually attacked either one, but he often got so aggressive that he would punch holes in the walls, and even smash the steampunk gadgets that his wife made in rage. Halt was always terrified of these moments, and when he was five, asked to go into apprenticeship with the only clock worker in Europe, an old Japanese clock worker who was infamous for being a harsh master. His father agreed with joy, and sent Halt away with little money.

Halt began his apprenticeship, and the Japanese master was harsh. He started Halt off with learning how to make karakuri dolls out of wood, and then move up to bronze and copper gears. Halt took each task with gusto, but his master berated him every time he made a small mistake. Halt at first thought it was because his master hated him, but he soon learned that he was taking second looks at each piece and finding less and less mistakes. His master was using tough love as a method to teach Halt how to notice more about the machines and less about what he did. He taught Halt that if he focused on what he did and the problems in that, then he would miss the mistakes in the machine as a whole. When Halt turned ten, his master gave him the chance to make his own pocket watch. Halt loved the chance, and began working on the piece without a second hesitation. Halt worked on every piece for the watch, and spent two days and two nights just working on it. He fell asleep when he finished, and his master used some acid to engrave a crescent moon on the surface and the kanjin symbol for ‘moon’ in the middle of the actual clock. From that day forward, Halt and his master became closer, the master almost becoming a father figure. Also, Halt's master began to teach Halt a few steampunk designs and technics, but Halt didn't find it good and prefered his clockwork designs.

When Halt became 18, his master said with a heavy heart that his apprenticeship was done, and that he was being sent to America to run his master’s old clockwork shop. On the three month voyage, Halt became addicted to smoking, and this led him to steal a few cigars before they landed. Halt renovated the shop, and spent the last two years making and creating different clock work pieces, mostly automatic pocket watches.

Has a SU

[DVB]

ACCEPTED! Looks like Halt will get along with Diego both having some experience with clockwork.

[Billy Mays]

I just had an idea for a character for this RP, so I'd like to reserve. Just a question though: what is Russia's current status, and what is their current relations with America?

[DVB]

Hoo boy. I am not sure. I will have to do the reseach of how Russia was in 1865 and try and delve from there. Though they might be steampunk, it will not be as advanced as Western Europe, I will need to the research.

[DVB]

Well, the signups are still open. We may be losing a few more people and I would really like for this to continue.

[Billy Mays]

Sorry for being a little late. I'll post a sign up either today or tomorrow. I'll probably just have my character already be in Washington D.C. or somewhere closeby when he helps one of those mysterious robed people.