by Aaliyah Tabr on October 6th, 2015, 7:33 pm
In between stress and classes and assignments and stress, I've been fantasizing about cool adventures Aaliyah could have, and potential stories involving characters I'm intent on threading with one way or another. I figured I'd write some of these wildest-dream scenarios down so I can focus on other things, like stress and classes and assignments and stress.
As I've been trying not to yell at anyone who will listen, Aaliyah's overarching motivation will be the disappearance of her twin brother. People vanish in Nyka all the time, and most of them think little of it, but Aaliyah is intent on bringing her brother back.
Her first theory is that he was taken by the Aperture, the tremendous spooky canyon running through Nyka. She petitions the Alvina for help, she spends days scrying through the Mirror of Tanroa, asking about the Aperture, and where people go when it takes them. Her search leads her to the mysteries of Akajia, and whispers of a Night Stalker who communes with the shadows in the Aperture. There's someone who would have answers, she thinks.
One thing leads to another - read: I haven't figured this bit - and Aaliyah descends into the Aperture itself. There, in the dark, Aaliyah trades her shadow for an older, wilder one. It is willful, and tends to surge and writhe independently of any light, often wandering off without Aaliyah, leaving her with no shadow at all.
I love this idea. Go into the earth and trade your shadow. Smells like good myth. (Holy crap, I just realized she could have an awesome title like Aaliyah Wild-shade or something.)
I've got a wish-list of people I'm dying to play with, and some wild dreams for two of them: Alses and Kavala.
The Sanctuary is an enclave of healers and dreamwalkers who can mine past lives for lost knowledge. There's no way Aaliyah's search wouldn't bring her to Riverfall.
I want Aaliyah to be fatally poisoned. But in a cool way. Like, by living venom disguised as ink on a page, or something. Cue a desperate rush to the Sanctuary, and a dying Aaliyah stumbling through their doors. Finding out who tried to kill her and why would be a cool story to play out while in Riverfall, along with Aaliyah dealing with the Cytali.
By the time Aaliyah comes to Lhavit, she'll undoubtedly be powerful and frightening. She'll look to Alses for help constructing another wild-dream magic item: A crown or halo of eyes. Not sure what she'd trade for it, but it'd probably be something awesome. Plus I recently learned that Alses was straight up kidnapped and has made powerful enemies for her political reforms, so I'm thinking body guard plot woo!
Those are the biggest that have come to me so far. In case you can't tell, I'm operating on some heavy DnD inspiration. It's been a long time since I've done this kind of thing, and I'm hoping I'll be able to do more collaborative storytelling than gaming - I have a lot of peeves and bad memories from past roleplaying forums, and I want to leave all that behind and focus on the fun parts. I'm making it my mission to tell a good, cool, sexy, fun, and interesting story.