Here we shall discuss initial character brainstorming and creation, character bonds and the like.  We will have a Session Zero thread once everyone is done creating so we can discuss neighborhoods and all.  Please introduce yourself here and lets get to thinking about your Vislae!

Hello!

Sort of looking at putting forward an Eremetic Empath of the Order of Makers who warps Time and Space.

I'm almost perennially fascinated by the notion that everyone neither talks about or recalls the war in any real detail so the idea of making a vislae who was irrevocably harmed by it in some fashion despite the wonders of Actuality. As a recent return I see her sort of trying to reconcile with a notion that she's still missing something beyond just a limb lost to unknown circumstances but in the meant time is making her living as an artisan of fine prosthesis (mundane and otherwise) from an old house that seems to belong to her, or at last her family, but no one can quite answer the questions of why no one is there. Possibly with a touch of inspiration from the House of Leaves for the details and nature of the house itself lol.

Just you and I so far.

Probably looking at a Gallant Goetic who Listens to the Whispers.

Probably going to be playing into the potential for horror that this game has, and making something a little unsettling.  If there are any arachnaphobes here?  Let me know and I'll abandon the concept and come up with something new.

@Amora  Similar concept to your last Maker, or very new direction?  Figure we should start chatting here while the others filter in.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 18:15, Wed 01 Jan 2020.

Probably not nearly as tortured by literal demons and Faustian bargains made to protect what she cared about and failed to? The idea is still very rough, to be honest, and sort of just spinning things out as the notion of incompleteness and trying to find that sense of wholeness is an interesting character arc especially given that Eremetic has the following potential character arcs:

Character Arcs: Build, Creation, Justice, Solve a Mystery, Train a Creature, Uncover a Secret.

What is the house, where are the rest of the family or clan that lived here once? What did I do that cost me an arm? Etc. Etc.

Fair.

Settling on an Itinerant Gallant of the Order of Goetica who Listens to the Whispers.

Going to have a beef with the Abnormous about a mile long.  Any hooks there for your Maker, or is it still too early and undeveloped?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:23, Thu 02 Jan 2020.

Given a recent return and only probably lightly advertised by word of mouth... She's probably not been around long enough to go beyond the usual trails of the Order halls or any vislae socials that might get thrown in Fartown. She would accept commissions and the like for all manner of things beyond just prosthesis/prosthetics... So depending on how violent this beef with the Abnormous might be... there's an option for some interaction there in...

For now though, it's just a sort of lose concept that needs a bit of time to ferment and get weight to it lol.

There is our third.

Hello Wynternight.

Hello all. :)

Any idea what you're going to be playing?

Amora and I are already fleshing out our core concepts.

Not a clue but it is something I shall be giving a great deal of consideration to. I want to do something...special...

You're not arachnophobic by any chance, are you?

Funny story that. I was very arachnophobic so to combat my fear I became an expert on spiders - how to identify them, effects of their venom in species with medically significant bites and how to manage them. I'm a paediatric trauma surgeon but consult freely with hospitals all over the UK as a subject matter expert. So whilst I still don't fancy them, doing what I do has lessened my fear since I understand them a lot better now. I've even played spider characters in games so if you wish to go that route rest assured it shan't bother me.

Good way about it to be honest, understanding gives a bit of armour against that initial knee jerk of fear.

Well, let me know if you have any ideas you want to brainstorm.

My Goetic is coming together in my head pretty rapidly, and I like being a sounding board for character creation.

Wynternight, probably the simplest thing to pick, of all the various aspects, would be your Order.  Which of the four (or five, with Apostates) sounds the most interesting to you?

Debating with myself as to if my crafted item is in fact a prosthetic for myself lol.

Not that this should influence you overmuch, but we have a Goetic and a Maker so far.

As far as easing into the system, I recommend a Weaver.  Vance or Apostate are the simplest, but Weaver lets you do the most in the opening scenes.  I've half a mind to switch to Weaver myself.

Nope, sticking with Goetic, but I think I'm going to be Connected instead of Ititerant.

@Everly  means I will actually have a place of my own this time, don't need to bum off you.

It'd be a bit harder to explain said shared living conditions as an Eremetic lol.

I ended up going with Iconoclastic.

@GM  I'm pretty much done, just need my three starting Ephemera from you, and in the meantime I can get to work fleshing out my character's appearance and what her house looks like.

What sort of game were you hoping to create?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:08, Sat 04 Jan 2020.

Fussing a bit more with multiple concepts and trying to settle on something that clicks in my head. I like Empath, Eremetic, and Maker which will be staying... Forte is now sort of what I'm stumped on since it means a lot to just what a character is lol.

When doing a game with my home group, I like a character-driven game, which is what drew me to Invisible Sun in the first place.  So once people have their characters and we have an idea of what people are wanting from their characters, then I can help weave a supporting web to entangle you all nicely in it.  :)

Everly - What about Celebrates the Small Things?  That might be of interest to you.  :)

I'm kind of looking at Consorts with Demons, Hosts a Legion, or maybe Walks with a Secret Companion.

Settled on walks with a secret companion... As it oddly suits the soul guardian I chose.

Alright!

So Bhaskara is built.

They are an Iconoclastic, living in a Hidden House.

They are friends with Blue, who can be found on Secrets of the Silent Streets on page 86.  Blue is a cat that can speak a number of human languages.  In exchange for information, she always has some odd but relatively minor task she wants someone to accomplish.  One of Blue's more... interesting friends .... has been possessed by a Demon of the Abnormous.  They are trying to get said friend back, and have enlisted Bhaskara's help, as Baskara has a bit of a reputation for having beef with the Abnormous.  For their part, Bhaskara suspects that they will need a weapon first before they pick a fight with one of the more dangerous organizations in Satyrine.

Their plan is to seek out a Maker, Everly if they know them, to commission them in the construction of a knife or a sword.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:59, Sat 04 Jan 2020.

Most excellent, Bhaskara!

Everly, are you ready for ephemera?  Wynternight, how are things going?

Most everything left is descriptions and lore. Will try and get that done this evening when I get home in a few hours as well as posted up for brainstorming connections as I left an NPC bond blank toward that end too.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:28, Sun 05 Jan 2020.

Just recovering from the madness of the holidays and then I'll be able to devote free time (which I have had precious little of since November) to writing.

@Legacy  What neighborhood should I put my House in, I'm ready to start writing the description.

We shall have everyone start in Fartown, but we'll wait a wee bit for determining everyone's neighborhood specifics for the session zero proper.

I'll slow down then, as I think Everly and I are pretty far ahead of Wynternight.

To call back to Bhaskara's own outline of their character.

Everly is an Eremetic living in a Unique House.

The sole member of the Everly family, she's not even bothered to provide a given name to those scant few people beyond her clientele that she meets. Odd and enigmatic as a result the easiest way to reach her is as often as not through the Order of Makers with requests for work of one sort or another... Her greatest and most in demand skill is for her clock work creations though there've been more than one or two commissions for her metal-working expertise. Otherwise, she has a modest reputation as well spoken among her peers and generally understanding of the motivations of others.

The Everly House, or as it's more commonly known the Ever House, is no less enigmatic or odd. Most any visitor has only seen perhaps 4 or 5 rooms that branch off of the main entry hall. Those rooms seeming to have no bearing or place within the structure when compared to it's manor-like exterior. Perhaps disconcertingly, though, is the plethora of other doors that seemed to line the walls suggesting nearly if not actually infinite chambers within the house. Each dusty with the implications of long disuse. Of course, were that the only abnormality... That would be enough but those very same walls are lined with portraits, photos, and paintings of a staggering variety of Miss Everlys. The first suspicion of vanity seeming at odds with the woman rarely being composed or ready for guests in her home and each just subtly different enough in small details as to impart a haunting suspicion that they are not all the same woman... but could certainly be. Some even possessing the characteristic arm of the present Miss Everly.

Bollocks! I mucked up balancing my chequebook so I have to wait until payday to try and get the game. Bah!!

People keep telling me to finish the residency programme I was doing in the US where I could almost quadruple my salary. The NHS doesn't pay well at all so simple mistakes can lead to big problems.

If you need book access... I do have all of them in PDF. Was basically first thing I did given the game is quite niche and not many are willing to do the buy in for it's physical pieces.

Everly, sounds most intriguing!

--

Wynternight - alas that real life much impinge upon our games.

While you flog Shadow into submission, shall we try to help you with finding some character options that sound cool to you?  The Orders are the easiest to pick, and probably the easiest to explain briefly, so let's start there:

The four (no, five) Orders are:

Vances - Particularly scholarly, they have specific spells that they learn (or tame, as they sometimes see them as living things that one wears or collects).  They have a very defined structure, duties, and responsibilities.  You prepare your Vance spells, and then can cast your Vance spells without cost, but then they vanish from your mind.  If you wish to retain them, you pay Sorcery to do so.  As you go up in level, you can retain more spells and get better at certain spells.  You will have many people above and below you in your hierarchy, so you can call upon those ranking lower to assist you, and those above you to mentor you.  Conversely, you will guide and teach those below you, and assist those above you.

Makers - Makers create things, and their organization is less rigid than the Vances.  Each tier initiates a Maker into new mysteries of the organization.  Their magic is in locating and using various components to create items both for their own sake and to do what they (or their clients) desire.  Creating something new is a great joy to them.  They are called upon to assist higher-ranked Makers in their work, and can ask assistance from lower-ranked Makers.

Goetics - Goetics treat with otherworldly beings for power, knowledge, protection, and other services.  Their organization has elaborate, byzantine titles, rules, and hierarchies, which somewhat reflects the elaborate contracts they can use to deal with the powerful beings they call upon.  Goetics can have a number of titles and duties in the course of their career, but some are so obscure they might not know they have them until someone calls upon them!  Some Goetics treat with angels, some with demons, others with ghosts or other members of the Pale, some with various other beings from different Suns.

Weavers - Weavers are organized in small, independent cells, each with its own agenda.  Their magic is extemporaneous.  They pick a number of aggregates (or "threads") and weave those together for a magical effect at the moment they need them.  This makes Weavers very versatile.  They are in a cell to begin with, but eventually start and run their own cells of Weavers.

Apostates - These folk don't have an particular organization they belong to, and their magic is more versatile.  They have more general spells, and a range of abilities they can choose from as they gain Crux.  While they don't have responsibilities of the organizations, neither can they draw upon those resources.  You could also pick Apostate if you wanted to be a member of a much smaller organization (either one from the Path or one you've made up).
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 04:23, Tue 07 Jan 2020.

My completely unbiased reading.

Vance:  Want to be a mix of the Magicians and Harry Potter?  Here you go.  Technically get the most powerful magics in the game?

Maker:  Your classic spellbinder, alchemist, wand smith, artificer, but you're not going to get to do much magic at level 1.

Goetics:  Coolest summoning rules I've ever seen, but you're not going to get to do much magic at level 1.

Weavers:  Make spells up on the fly, lots of fun.  More flexible than Vance or Apostate, but less bizarre magic.

Apostates:  Sounds boring at first, but actually incredibly fun if you just want to dive headfirst into the magic of the system and CAST SPELLS!  A beginning character of this Order can start with up to 6 spells of much higher level than any other.  No one else comes close, not even the Vance.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:14, Tue 07 Jan 2020.

General questions to the group:

I was going to do the following for people:



Now, my question to you all is this: do you want everyone to see your Development Mode and/or House threads?  Or would you prefer those to only be seen by me?

I'm okay with mine being public to be honestly. Will help to convey oddity and identity crisis in my case. :D

For every other game system, I usually prefer private.

Invisible Sun is just narrative enough, and just weird enough, that I prefer public.

If you could share those with me I would be most grateful.

PM'd it to you since Bhaskara already has access to the same shared drive lol.

Honestly if I wasn't so in love with the Summoning rules I think I'd go Apostate.

Just getting to use the spells is fun.

House threads are up for Bhaskara and Everly!  Glad you guys decided on open threads, as I think the various narratives in this game are so very interesting to read.

Awesome.

Is this an OOC thread where I talk with you about it, or an IC thread where I write a detailed description?

More an IC thread.  If we need specific question, you can PM me or talk about it here.

Will try and get a house description up and ready for you then... Going to fuss at getting something initial out lol.

It's just a start, and I'm pretty much going to redo all of the writing when I have more brains, but I at least have something up.


This message was last updated by the player at 05:11, Fri 10 Jan 2020.

I’ll have my character ready this weekend. Work has been insane since the end of the holidays.

Work.  Bah.  A vile construct of Shadow!  :D

-cries in Maker-

@Wynternight

What you making?

In reply to Bhaskara Kohli (msg # 51):

I'm trying to decide between a Vance or an Apostate.

Depends on what you're looking for in your magic? A sort of academic and scholarly approach or... just figuring it out how you feel it?

I think Apostate is more fun, but only because I think the General Spells are more flavorful than the Vance Spells.

I'd be inclined to agree on the apostate front admittedly but don't want to sway one way or the other. Vances are fun too if you want To just be the magical equivalent of a howitzer lol.


This message was last edited by the player at 04:51, Sun 12 Jan 2020.

Apostate has more flexibility, but Vance has more resource to draw on in terms of their organization.

How goes the character generation Wynter? Anything we can help with or attempt some input on?

Just dealing with a lot of personal and work stuff that has kept me off RPoL lately. It seems like it's been one kicking of my arse after another. :(

I'm really sorry to hear that Wynter.

I mean this with the best of intentions, but do you think you're going to be able to keep up with 2-3 posts a week given your schedule?

I will. Work is normalising and I’m feeling a little more emotionally balanced after the death of a dear friend.

I'm sorry to hear that, Wynternight. :( *hugs*

I'm so sorry man.

My condolences, not an easy thing to contend with.

Thank you. **hugs**

He died far, far too young and much quicker then any of us, his doctors included, expected.

Honored vislae, may I introduce the newest member of our little band, Tryvv Lorent, who is currently considering A Connected Stoneheart of the Order of Weavers, who Turns Tales into Reality.

Hi all! Definitely looking forward to getting involved in this, and hopefully the remaining process of character creation doesn't take much longer!

Let us know if you need help.

@Storyteller. I don't know if you want us tracking this, but I think I've fulfilled the Opening of my character arc and found someone who can build me a weapon.

Thank you Bhaskara!

I have posted up to my home thread. I may tinker with it (nothing set in stone until it is set in stone...and hey, this is Invisible Sun, where change is almost as common as anything else even according to canon!), but for now that is what I have down. In a bit of a rush, so I actually planned to work ore on it this evening instead, but I decided to get something posted earlier at least to get input!

Bhaskara, very good!  I go double-check the arcs when I get back to my books so I can reward appropriately.

And we shall need a Path of Suns thread with the current Sooth Card!

Hi everyone...  again.

Here is my first go at a character sentence and one that seems to round out the current group.  Jonah is a Bizarre Ardent of the Order of the Vance who Warps Time and Space.  He is more physically inclined than the average Vislae, and very much so for the average Vance.  That said, he is odd and that infuses much of his personality from the clothes he wears to his propensity for collecting (note not stealing).  He is on one hand a hoarder, but on the other he is remarkably organized.

Anyway that is the really short version of him.  I’m leaning towards His initial arc being completing a great work.  I have some ideas for that, but it could definitely be directed in a way that would make him fit in or be useful to the party if that would help.

Have you ever played Invisible Sun before?

Yes I have.  Honestly the character is mechanically done and I’m mostly looking for feedback and ideas to get him to fit nicely into the group.

Awesome.

Okay, so my first question for you is "what does Jonah do when he's working, and what does he do when he's not working?"

Jonah doesn’t actually “work” all of his funds come from investments, generally ones that seemed foolish at first sight but which always seem to work out.  He always seems to be on the look out for what he refers to as “apples” but he disdains the fruit and refuses to explain more.  He occasionally works for pay when either his personal research interests (which no, you wouldn’t understand) align with what others might want or need and he will Infrequently sell some of his found items for a bit of cash.

As for personal free time, he mostly wanders and collects things.  Much of his time is spent in the Celestial Bazaar rummaging through shops and stalls.  There is no overall theme for his collection and few of the items make it past the foyer of his home, but he has a bit of everything...  Art, skills, small rocks, thoughts, books, clothing, anything that tickles his fancy.  Much of the rest of his time could be described as college student-esque going to classes on the Vancian campus, sitting in prosodies and cafes thinking, carousing though mostly awkwardly.

You say he's physically inclined... Is there a particular expression of that? Is he rather passionate about a given sport or group of sports? How does his ability to warp space and time play into his day to day and how he arranges his home or impact his work as it clearly seems to when it comes to his investments being initial duds and later successes?

How is he bizarre as well beyond just an unusual fashion sense?

He would never play a sport.  Pointless really running around after a ball or some such when, for all intents and purposes the field may as well be a single point in space and the game a single moment of time.  No he’s much more inclined to climb a mountain or hike through a sun.  To use an example from shadow he sees himself a sir Edmund Hillary type.  He would also likely walk (Jog)anywhere in Satyrine rather than take any other form of transportation.He is tall and lean, but beneath the suit and tie quite fit.

Jonah is working to refine his control over space and time. Strangely, he has found it quite easy to sequester small pockets of space for use as storage.  His handbag is one example and anyone who knows him has seen him pull impossible items from within.  He seems to overprepare and the bag is usually full of a large amount of junk just in case.  His house is another.  A single door into an elaborate multidimensional space of his own creation.  In his every day activities his relationship with time and space manifests in slight stutters of form as he skips over some intervening space and or time (no mechanical effect yet).  It gets worse when he hurries which is most always.

Jonahs weirdness manifests in a few ways...  I mean first he is just an awkward dude with weird taste.  The time and space thing puts a lot of people off especially because he struggles to work in the terms of most people. He has been known to wish people a good tomorrow or to have a good yesterday,  oh and never ask him for directions.  He can find his way but relating that, no.  There is a bit of weirdness with mirrors though no more quirky than other vislae though he’s quite sure it is caused by warping of time and space though some days maybe the other way around. He displays some Obsessive Compulsive-like behavior as well.  It isn’t actually that, but a shadow psychiatrist would definitely consider the diagnosis.  Really, it’s just him trying to perfect time at least from his point of view,  he will even have the same conversation with people over multiple times (record is 23) to make sure it goes right.  Think ground hog day without the resets.  The compulsion that he does have is his collecting even he couldn’t tell you why he gathers most of the things that he does.  He does have two rules to “keep his habit from becoming a problem.”  First, nothing from his collection can go beyond the foyer of his house unless he intends to keep it.  This works pretty well as he knows that most of his objects are with him only temporarily.  The second rule is that when he can’t keep a clear path from the front door to the hallway door he has to sell some of his collection or at least get rid of it.

I can keep going but a lot will make more sense when revealed in play.

Why does he collect things?  What need is he fulfilling their?

How is Jonah's relationship with the Order of Vislae? Is he seen as a bit of a nutty professor or eccentric researcher?  So mad he has to be a genius?  Or more of an exceedingly quirky guy that managed to just pull it out of the bag (sometimes literally) at the last moment?

He collects things for two reasons,  the first being he wants to be prepared for anything and the second because the object speaks to him though generally not literally.  Is trying to create the magical equivalent of what people now call every day carry.  The trouble is, with the variety of things that can be done by magic and the various counters to them what you need is effectively infinite.  That doesn’t stop Jonah from trying to be prepared for all events.  The things that speak to him are things that he often thinks might be useful in the future, but then once he gets them home are probably at best a nick nack and at worst junk.  Those items go to purgatory in the foyer until he gets back to dealing with them.

I think jonahs relationship with the Order would be akin to a PhD student who had completed all the coursework and most of his thesis, but then just kinda lost steam and focus.  They keep him around because he can be given the shit work teaching basic boring classes or doing tedious tasks for higher members of the order and doesn’t mind because it keeps him from finishing his real task and he knows that if he complains too much someone might point out that he has real work to be doing.  I hadn’t considered it till now, but maybe the work he is trying to finish is something related to him trying to finish whatever he is doing in the Order (likely developing or modifying a spell) originally I was thinking it might have to do with his house which I’m still open to.  To give some more depth to his relationship with the Order, I’m sure that there are some instructors who think Jonah is a waste of their time because of his distraction and likely don’t like him for that though I would guess his immediate supervisor probably loves him because he is willing to do anything.

So I'm not sure I'd call this the main plot line, but as things stand two of us have had people we are attached to abducted by the Abnormous.

Currently, we are collecting supplies to build a weapon, so that we may follow up a lead at Zeros.

How might your Collector have an arc tied to that?

Something with Demons in general, the Abnormous specifically?

I actually think ideally my arc shouldn’t be connected.  It would be far better to connect us with pc bonds.  I mean Jonah is easy to get involved in your schemes if you are going somewhere interesting or searching for something.

I think Tryv is PC bondless at this time.

Unfortunately Tryvv hasn't posted in a month and hasn't logged in in over two weeks, so that might not be something we can do at the moment.  We could also allow Jonah to develop a bond with Bhaskara or Everly over time - since you guys are currently looking for a great deal of information and items, it's entirely possible that we could have someone point you in Jonah's direction for something you need.

I could definitely see someone pointing in his direction for having something effectively “random” or even suggesting that he might know where to...  etc.  honestly, he’s easy to get involved.  If he doesn’t have it and knows where to get it he would just suggest going to get it (which might need assistance from other PCs). It is my full intention to have him become a useful person to have along even if starting vislae seem less expert than is useful. He does have access to the the Vancian libraries though so that’s a thing.

Useful how?

In reply to Bhaskara Kohli (msg # 85):

Good at finding things and going places.

I can absolutely see how that would be useful, but the question I'm trying to pose to you is "why do we know he's useful?"   Like Bhaskara definitely needs to find things right now, that is a damn good skill to have.  Why does she know you?  Why does she know you're good to help?

Were we Shadow Freinds?

Maybe Bhaskara has something you want, and thus an Unrequited Bond?

Were we Students together?

Were we Friends From the Past who just happened to bump into one another?

Maybe Bhaskara stole a Mentor Spirit from you with a bit of magic gone awry, and now is trying to make it up to you.  Or maybe you accidentally destroyed the Secret of Speaking to Spiders moments before they could learn it, and now owe them?

What is the connection?

Aah, didn’t realize you were asking about bonds.  To reply to some of your suggestions since everything gives insight to character.

Were we Shadow Freinds?   Definitely not for reasons that are my own.

Maybe Bhaskara has something you want, and thus an Unrequited Bond? I don’t know anything about her.  Maybe?  Well, probably.  Everyone could have somethingJonah wants.  That’s how he looks at it by the way not some sort of leading statement.

Were we Students together? No.  I’m a Vance, you’re a Goetic it just won’t work out.

Were we Friends From the Past who just happened to bump into one another? Absolutely possible, though I would ask how they met?  Before the war perhaps?  What do we remember of each other if that’s the case?

Maybe Bhaskara stole a Mentor Spirit from you with a bit of magic gone awry, and now is trying to make it up to you.  Or maybe you accidentally destroyed the Secret of Speaking to Spiders moments before they could learn it, and now owe them?  Jonah isn’t a spirit kinda guy so I doubt it’s much of part A.  I suppose he could have destroyed a secret you were looking for, but I don’t know why and I don’t love the idea Of a chance accident.  Everything happens for a reason...

Honestly I find friends from the past to be most interesting. I like the idea of someone who knows Jonahs house and maybe even drops by unannounced and just lets themselves in.  That said I can work on many other things.

Alright!  I'll talk backstory, so you actually have some meat to grab onto.

So, before the War, Bhaskara was an amateur Goetic, a fledgling just coming into their magic.  That didn't stop them from becoming an active participant in the War, summoning and allowing themselves to be possessed by Demons of the Red in order to turn themselves into an agent of war and destruction.  Their skills as a Goetic flatlined, because it doesn't take that much skill to let a much more powerful Demon take the reins.  They lost more and more of themselves to it, memories mostly, and eventually fled to Shadow when they realized that even if they won, most of their soul wasn't going to come through.

When they returned to the Actuality, they were horrified to discover that they were no longer in control of themselves.  They were a puppet to an Arch Demon of the Red named Kiitral.  They would likely still be Kiitral's play thing had they not had a chance encountered with a Truespider named Raajathamos.  Raajathamos reached out through the web and touched their mind, and Bhaskara found themselves free of Kiitral's influence.  Yet there were new voices in their mind, chittering voices that speak madness, words they cannot understand.  So Bhaskara has sought out any rumor of Raajathamos, and seeks to aid anyone who they perceive as a friend to Spiderkind.  They are trying to build Connections to the Truespider, and thus right now are seeking a Spider who was taken by the Abnormous.

Does that give you anything to grab onto or should I keep going?

Well I saw that post and then promptly forgot to go back to it...  Better late than never

Perhaps they did know each other before the war...  Jonahs memories from before shadow are spotty at best though that can be said about his more recent memories from a certain point of view too.  Perhaps he and Bhaskara were co-conspirators (aquaintences and friends) before the war.  They met by chance, just out for drinks with other students and colleagues, perhaps took up some revolutionary cause together and then the inklings of the war began.  Like a good patriotic son, Jonah intended to fight for the cause even if now he can’t quite remember what it was.  He was there one of the first times Bhaskara summoned a demon, he was even brought along to help with his ability to warp time and space.   He was horrified with what he saw and left without any notice, fled to shadow.  Perhaps Bhaskara even thought he was dead killed by the demon.

On his return from shadow, he reclaimed his house, It miraculously having survived the war.  He didn’t think much of finding his old companions until one day one of them found him.  He returned home to find Bhaskara in his house, going through his things in an attempt to reconcile her past maybe?  It wasn’t like old times, but perhaps the new will be better.

Everly is something of an interesting creature in her own right since, well, she's trapped in an interesting dilemma of doubting the authenticity of her own identity in part because of the nature of her home, the Ever House, being decorated with various pictures of women quite like herself... but just different enough to be a different person. And the house having a reputation of always having some kind of Madame Everly residing there. She's certain of some aspects of her persona like having lost her arm during the War and building a replacement for herself and knows she's had some relationships from before... It's led to a strange footing in her social life where everything is met with internal questions and uncertainty even as she goes through the apparent motions of her 'role' in everything like a precious little doll.

Past that she has her reputation as an excellent metal worker and clock-maker with a particular specialty and fame when it comes to making prosthetics for those who've lost a limb and need a replacement but may not be able to get back the flesh through one means or another.

In reply to Jonah Ophidon (msg # 90):

That works!

Sounds like Friends From the Past.  So we need to pick a group we both have a connection with.

If your memory is hazy, then you're pretty sure Bhaskara is radically different than they were before the war.  Not traumatized and nihilistic, but certainly a little dissociative?  They burn with a desire for something, but what exactly isn't clear.

Whatever it is, they seem very, VERY interested in their new friends.

I don’t have a name off the top of my head but maybe it’s the revolutionary organization that I mentioned earlier?  I’m thinking they are still militant...  perhaps akin to a militia in the United States now?  Or maybe more like a group of agitators before ww1?  The communists/socialists/fascists of the actuality.

I doubt Jonah would maintain any sort of membership though he would still know the old conspirators and, while not part of the movement, would still have access of a sort.