#wip: parable of the hound

[marrowwife]

- A WIP INTRO - Parable Of The Hound

"I'm sorry," Flea said, surprised to find that she did in fact feel pity for the mundie, "You're soul has been bargained to a demon."

"My soul?" The woman's mouth stuttered open in a gasp, hand crawling up to clutch the cross at her neck.

"Unfortunately so."

Flea had never understood the mundane preoccupation with the sanctity of a soul, to her it had always been just another possession. A thing that could be taken if she wasn't careful. She expected the woman to cry, but instead her eyes, brown like obsidian in the candlelight, met Flea's with a strength that twisted something in the pit below her rib cage, winding her.

"Right then," the woman said, "How do we get it back?"

- ABOUT -

Genre: queer gaslamp fantasy

POV: third person limited

Status: planning / drafting

Trigger Warnings: fantasy typical violence, body horror, death, gore, tba

- BLURB -

Magic is not natural. It is bargained for, won, bestowed or stolen. But it has never occurred on its own in the earthly plane. Not without the coaxing of a demon and the hunger of a magician.

Phoebe 'Flea' Saint Vindictus was born into a long line of magicians, nebulously tied to Saint Vindictus, one of the first. Flea hasn't played the game of the old blood for nearly ten years, however, fleeing her home after a failed ritual killed her mother. Instead, Flea has taken up the thankless title of Praetorian (refered to as the derogatory Hounds by magicians and parading as detectives for the mundanes), those who clean up the often bloody, demonic messes left by magicians who break the rules. Shunned by magician society and estranged from the mundane, the life of a Praetor is a lonely one, and Flea would choose it ten times over returning to the cult of the old blood.

But when a string of possessions begin to torment the mundane world, Flea and her partner catch onto the scent of something bigger than magician arrogance. A demon may take hold of the body of a human, may walk in their skin until it's possession eventually kills the host and the demon is sent back to its own plane. But the last time demons walked on earth with their own feet, only flood and fire and near extinction drove them back behind the gates. And someone is trying to open them again. Someone who is close to succeeding.

- CHARACTERS -

Phoebe 'Flea' Saint Vindictus; The Hound

"Flea had kept very few things from her childhood, a handful of scars and her nickname, cruelly bestowed by her brothers. Lovingly crooned by her mother. All she had left."

Thomas Harcroft; The Haunted

"Flea could never tell what exactly was spinning and weaving behind his colourless eyes, but it always led them exactly where they needed to be. That was why she never requested a transfer. Even if Thomas Harcroft was better known by magician and mundie alike as Cerberus, the last thing one saw passing through the gates of death."

Margaret 'Greta' Lowell; The Cursed

"Margaret Lowell's smile was quite lovely. Flea could almost forget the brand attached to to her soul, the slow progression of possession that would rot her flesh from the inside, when that smile was aimed at her. She wondered, briefly, if that was what mundies felt when their Christ gazed down at them from church windows; a strange, ignorant peace."

Montgomery 'Monty' Saint Alludian; The Charlatan

"'Monty!' Flea called again, her heavy handed pounding upon the door unceasing. From within she could hear the sound of someone cursing. The door wrenched open and Flea barged through, shoving past the beautiful man haloed by the light of a glittering array of stained glass at his back. Montgomery Saint Alludian, loosely garbed in vibrant silk and a tumble of dark Grecian curls, slammed his own front door behind her with a rare scowl.

'No, of course, do come in little cousin, how am I? Wonderful. Enjoying some well earned solitude actually. Very peaceful.'"

Hyacinthus 'Cin' Saint Vindictus; The Heir

"Cin reached for her, fingers faltering just short of the top of her head.

'You cut your hair.'

'You would too if you ever had to rinse demon guts out of it.'

"Of course," Cin's hand retreated to his own head of golden locks and he cast her a rueful smile. Her mother's eyes peered back at her from his face and she looked away, teeth gritted.

'Why are you here?'"

- TAGLIST -

(ask to be +/-)

@touchingmadness @dreamwolves @philocalizt @wildswrites @aeipathys

[ren-c-leyn]

something neat sunday - I'm really into worldstogetlostin's devour (tagged devour), and marrowwife's parable of the hound (tagged wip: parable of the hound) right now! the first has the worldbuilding i die for and the second has awesome graphics and a plot that is so intriguing.

A good wip you can get invested in is always a neat thing to find :D Good world building and people of many talents are a huge plus as well ^^ Sounds like @worldstogetlostin and @marrowwife both have something cool going on over there.

Thanks for stopping in for Something Neat Sunday ^^ I hope you have a nice day/evening.

[diversegaminglists]

Eldrich/Cosmic Horror/Lovecraftian Themed Games

Still a WIP and not everything has been sorted yet.

Major Theme (Serious/Horror):

Alan Wake

Alone in the Dark Franchise

Alpha Polaris : A Horror Adventure Game

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

Anchorhead

Aquaria

Arcane Mystery Serial (Link goes to the first episode, the rest of the series can be found in the sidebar)

Arkham Nightmares

Astray

At the Mountains of Madness (Early Access)

Ayumi: Enhanced Edition

Bayonetta (The creator the angels keep going on about isn’t an Abrahamic god...)

Blackbay Asylum

Bloodborne

Bloodrayne 1 & 2

The Breach

Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game (Upcoming game due 2018)

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (Basically an adaptation of the Shadow Over Insmouth with slightly less racism, the PC port is very buggy because it was made by literally one person after studio closures, but there are fan patches to help.)

Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice

Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet

Cards of Cthulhu

Cata Cthulhu

Chronicle of Innsmouth

Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross

Chzo Mythos (Yahtzee’s adventure series)

Clive Barker’s Jerico

Clive Barker’s The Undying

Clockwork Express

Conarium

The Consuming Shadow

Crawl

Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason

Crysis Franchise

CTHON

CthulhuMud

cthulhu fhtagn

Cthulhu Realms

Cult of Cthulhu (Mod for Plague Inc. Evolved)

Daily Chthonical

Dark Scavenger

Darkwood (Early Access)

The Dark Stone from Mebara

Darkest Dungeon

The Darkness Within Franchise

Dark Souls Franchise

Dawn of War

Dead Space Franchise

Deadly Premonition

Demon’s Souls

Dead by Daylight

Deathstate

Demonbane Franchise

Demon’s Souls

Discworld: Noir

Doorways: Holy Mountains of Flesh

Downwell

Earnest Evans Franchise (Hastur)

The Elder Scrolls Franchise (Most obviously with House Dagoth in Morrowind and Skyrim’s Dragonborn DLC)

Elder Sign: Omens

Elder Sign: Portents

Eldrich (Roguelike where you explore a library and enter worlds inside several Lovecraft books)

Eldritch Hunter

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem

Euclidean

Eversion

The Evil Within

Evolve

Fallen London

Fallout 3: Point Lookout (DLC)

FEAR Franchise (Alma herself)

Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Gloom (2017, not to be confused with the 90s Amiga Doom clone)

Green Mirror

Grim Dawn

Half-Life Franchise

Haunted Hotel 4

The Hound of Shadow (Text Adventure)

The Hunt for the Red Cthulhu

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

Inner Voices

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

The King of Shreds and Patches (Text Adventure)

Kingdom Hearts (The Heartless, The Nobodies and Kingdom Hearts itself)

Kingdom of Loathing

The Last Door Franchise

Layers of Fear (This is really up to interpretation of the game’s plot but it uses many of the traditional story devices associated with “lovecraftian” horror and there are rats in the walls.)

LIMBO

Lobotomy Corporation (Early Access)

Lost Souls (MUD)

The Lurking Horror (Text Adventure)

Lusternia (free 2 play MMO)

Magrunner: Dark Pulse

The Majesty of Colors

Mansions of Madness (free steam version of the board game)

Marathon Franchise

The Moaning Words

Monria (MMO)

Mystery Of Mortlake Mansion

Mystery Stories: Mountains of Madness

Mythos: The Beginning

Muv-Luv Franchise

Nasuverse Franchise (This includes games like Fate/stay night and Tsukihime)

Necronomicon (An old Japanese game, haven’t found an English translation yet, but including for completeness)

Necronomicon: The Dawning of Darkness

The Necronomicon & Necronomicon - Book of Dead Names

Nexus War (defunct) & Nexus Clash

Nightmare on Azathoth

The Nightmare from Beyond

NoseBound

Oracle of Tao

Oxenfree

Pandora's Tower

Parasite Eve Franchise

The Park (Set in the same universe as The Secret World)

Path of Exile

Pathways into Darkness

Penumbra Franchise (From the same developer as Amnesia: The Dark Descent)

Phantasmal: Survival Horror Roguelike aka Phantasmal: City of Darkness

Phoenix Point (Upcoming 2018)

Poacher

Pony Island (It’s the Devil rather than a Lovecraftian style monster, but it features many of the usual devices)

Prey (2006)

Prey (2017)

Prototype Franchise

Quake (Shub-Niggurath)

Quest Fantasy

Red Haze

Resident Evil 4 (others in the franchise may qualify but 4 is the most obvious)

Reveal the Deep

The Rise of Cthulhu: Demo

Robert D. Anderson and the Legacy of Cthulhu

Rogue Stormers

Sanity: Aiken's Artifact

Saya no Uta (A man has an accident that makes him perceive normal people as horrendous eldrich monstrosities and then he meets a girl who... looks like a pretty girl. Rape and sexual assault warnings.)

SCP Foundation Games

The Secret World (MMO)

Secret World Legends

Shadow Hearts Franchise

Shadow Over Isolation

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

Shikkoku No Sharnoth (Looking at screenshots I think this one might involve tentacles. Possible sexual assault warning.)

Shin Megami Tensei Franchise (including Persona 1, 2, and 3)

Shoggoth Rising

Shrouded In Sanity

The Shrouded Isle

Silent Hill Franchise (The town itself is alive even before you consider all the other thingies)

The Sinking City (upcoming game)

Siren (aka Forbiden Siren) Franchise

Skullgirls

Sons of Uruzime

South of Real

Splatterhouse

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Franchise

Strife

The Suffering Franchise

Sunless Sea

System Shock 2 (The Many)

Tales From the Void

Tattletail

The Terrible Old Man

They Bleed Pixels

They Breathe

This Book Is A Dungeon

Tormentum - Dark Sorrow

Transistor

Twisted Lands: Shadow Town

Undertale

Utawarerumono Franchise

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

VHS

Wait - Extended

We Need to Go Deeper

The Whisperer in Darkness

The Worry of Newport (Mod for Crysis 1)

X-COM: Terror From the Deep

Themed but Comedy/Non-Horror:

Army of Tentacles Franchise

Baobabs Mausoleum Ep. 1 Ovnifagos Don´t Eat Flamingos

The Bizarre Adventures Of Woodruff And The Schnibble

Cthulhu Saves the World

Flappy Monsters of Lovecraft

Hearthstone: Whispers Of The Old Gods

Howard Phillips Lovecar (Early Access)

Leave Cthulhu Alone

Lovecraft Word Search

Magicka: The Stars Are Left (DLC)

Mormonoids from the Deep

Pray For Death (Playable Cthulhu)

Project Starship

The Rapture Is Here And You Will Be Forcibly Removed From Your Home

Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse

Tesla vs Lovecraft

Where is the Lovecraft?

Wynken, Blynken, Cthulhu, and Nod

Minor appearances:

Age of Decadence

Ancient Domains of Mystery aka ADOM

Baldur’s Gate 2 (Planar travel, the Demogorgon, and probably the final boss)

Battleborn

Beyond Good and Evil

The Binding of Isaac Franchise

Blood Franchise

Borderlands Franchise (Some of the vaults have big nasties in them, some of the raid bosses also qualify)

Bravely Default

Breath of Fire IV

Castlevania Franchise

Cookie Clicker

Copy Kitty

Crusader Kings II (Yes, really)

Cultist Simulator

Deadly Rooms of Death aka DROD Franchise

Destiny (The Vex and The Darkness)

Destiny: The Taken King (Raid bosses)

Dishonored Franchise

Defense of the Ancients aka DotA Franchise

Dragon Age Franchise

Drakengard Franchise

Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun

Dwarf Fortress

Pikmin Franchise (Final bosses)

Elona

Epic Mickey

Etrian Odyssey Franchise

Everlong

Fable (Jack of All Blades)

Fable III (The Crawler)

Fable: The Journey

Fatal Frame 2 (An optional boss in Survival Mode is the malice from the hellgates made manifest, rather than a ghost)

Final Fantasy Franchise (It would be easier to list which games don’t have some kind of cosmic horror eldritch abomination things in them. The most obvious ones are Jenova, Sin, and The Cloud of Darkness)

Five Nights At Freddy’s Franchise

Grey Goo

Guild Wars Franchise

Half-Life Franchise

Halo Franchise

Hatoful Boyfriend Franchise

Homeworld: Cataclysm

Immortal Defense

Jak 3: Wastelander

Knights and Dragons

La-Mulana

Legacy of Kain Franchise

League of Legends

The Legend of Spyro: Dawn Of The Dragon

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

LittleBigPlanet 2

Lunar: Eternal Blue aka Lunar 2

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis

Mass Effect Franchise

Metroid Franchise

Minecraft: Story Mode

Mother Franchise

Mugen Souls Franchise

NeverWinter Nights 2

Paradigm

Pathologic

Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium

Pokemon Platinum

Return to Krondor (The God of Evil)

Rift (MMO)

RuneScape

SaGa 3 aka Final Fantasy Legend III

Scribblenauts Franchise (You can summon Cthulhu and Shogoths)

Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator

Shadow of the Colossus (becomes more and more obvious towards the end of the game)

Slash Em Extended

SMITE

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

SoulCalibur Franchise (The Soul Edge and SoulCalibur themselves)

Stories Untold

Terraria

Thief: The Dark Project & Thief: Deadly Shadows

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

Warcraft 3

The Witcher (Dagon)

World of Warcraft

Xenogears

Xenosaga Franchise

Easter Eggs only:

Civilisation VI (A steam achievement)

PAYDAY 2 (A Cthulhu mask)

Dating Eldrich Monsters (both serious and non-serious):

Cthulhu Saves the World

Demonbane Franchise

Dra+Koi

Saya no Uta (A man has an accident that makes him perceive normal people as horrendous eldrich monstrosities and then he meets a girl who... looks like a pretty girl. Rape and sexual assault warnings.)

Unsorted:                                                                                                                 

Sonic Adventure

Sonic: Unleashed

Space Station 13

Spectrobes Franchise

The Stanley Parable

Star Control Franchise

Starbound

StarCraft

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Stellaris

Sundered

Sword of the Stars Franchise

Tales of Vesperia

Tentacult!

Turok Franchise

Touhou Franchise

UFO Afterblank

Warcraft Franchise

Warframe

Warriors Orochi

We Know the Devil

Ys Franchise

[marrowwife]

Happy STS! 🥳💕 Question of the week is: An OC of your choice (or multiple OCs) empties their pockets and/or bag. What are they carrying? - Mae (@touchingmadness)

Thanks for asking! I'll try to do one oc from each...

- THE ALEXANDRIA SOCIETY -

Ridley opens her bag (a sturdy brown leather satchel) and the first thing you notice is that it smells very strongly of antique bookstore. She begins to carefully empty it's contents onto the desk in front of her, a well-loved leather-bound notebook, several black ink pens, an old copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and curiously, a number of leather scroll cases with a stylised letter A embossed on each lid.

- DAWNLESS -

Willim turns out his inner pockets with a guilty smile. From the steady pile of supplies that begin to pile onto the snow before him, it is clear he was preparing for a hunt. Snares, a large hunting knife with a bone handle and a pristine leather scabbard, two carved dog whistles, wax wrappings that surely contain dried meats and winterberries, a full water skin, tinderbox and spare bowstrings. Reluctantly, Willim also reveals a small pouch of precious herbs used to ease pain.

- THE GABRIEL RATCHET -

Dot tumbles through the kitchen access to the courtyard, her skirts hiked up to carry something nestled in the basket she has made out of them. Carefully she sets the whole thing down on the kitchen counter, uncaring of her bared leggings. A large straw nest dirties the fine pattern of her clothing, six tiny eggs, fragile blue speckled things, peer up from the straw. As her sisters gather around to coo at her find, she slips a daisy into the hand of her twin, her brother, that had been hidden in her skirt pocket. Lord Farrier has had all flowers purged from the estate grounds since Dot and Edwin were eight years old. Either she found one before it could be excavated or she went beyond the estate. She does not specify.

- HOWL -

Robbie turns out his pockets in frustration, hunting for his perpetually elusive keys. Several items fall from his hoodie pockets to the soft landing of his bed, crumpled reciepts, many foil wrapped sticks of watermelon flavoured chewing gum, stones that he picked up on his way back from work and thought were cool looking, a tangled knot that was once earphones and his keys, attached to a keyring in the shape of a small vinyl record of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. He does not notice them in the mess.

- PARABLE OF THE HOUND -

Flea has only three things in her pockets; a small notebook with many years of scrawled words in a bastardised latin language no mundane would recognise, a pin pulled from the lapel of her jacket as she has donned her mundane clothing, the pin is a silvered depiction of an outstretched hand with an eye on the palm. Lastly, Flea carries with her always a silver ring inlaid with a small ruby. It was her mother's.

[marrowwife]

Red heart, yellow heart, purple heart, and blue heart!!

- PARABLE OF THE HOUND -

❤️: what’s the working title?

^^^

💛: what is the title based on?

A parable is a short story told to convey a moral and the Praetorian's (occupation of the mc) are called the Hounds by other magicians. To be perfectly honest there's no huge connection to morality in this story 'parable of the hound' was an earworm that wouldn't quit until I wrote it down for something and it suited the idea I had a little so that's how it happened

💙: how has the idea changed between starting it and where it is now?

The magic system has developed a lot, it used to be just, magician summons a demon, asks for magic, gets magic. Now its bit more complicated, when a demon is summoned it's starving and usually the magician will offer it sustenance (animal sacrifice, happiest memories, the body of their firstborn) in return the demon will impart knowledge of magic (rituals, incantations, runes etc) knowledge on how to manipulate the world around them. Most of the old blood families have specific demons they summon and have a kind of contractual obligation they fulfil that spans generations, other magicians have one or two demons that they work with exclusively and have developed a deeper knowledge of specific rituals. For example the magicians of the Saint Alludian family have an extra finger sowed onto their hands in order to better recreate the physical motions required for casting the magic they have been taught.

[marrowwife]

- HEADS UP SEVEN UP -

Rules: Post the last seven lines you have written and tag seven people

Tagged by: @elijahrichardwrites

- LINES -

Flea strode through the London grey with her head high and her nose burning, her Praetor robes exchanged for the equally as grey trouser, vest, coat combination favoured by mundie locals. They followed a woman, through the labyrinthine maze that was the lower class residential area, who littered her speech with a fascinating array of words and phrases that Flea could only parse because of near ten years of exposure. The mundie thought she was a man. Or rather, she did not want to see that she wasn't and so she addressed them both as good sirs with barely a stutter, eyes carefully sliding away from Flea to fix firmly on her partner. Thomas Harcroft struck an imposing figure in his mundie best. He was tall even as he was stooped to catch the mundie woman's conversation, but not notably so, he wore his hair, ink black, rigidly pulled out of his face with a tie, but that was still common enough for mundane men. It was his gaze that struck people still with unease

- WIP TAG - (ask to be +/-)

@touchingmadness @dreamwolves @philocalizt @wildswrites @aeipathys

- GAME TAG - (no pressure!)

@writerfae @isherwoodj @thanatostouch @cielhelm @pinespittinink @writewithfire @thepixiediaries and anyone else who sees this and wants an open tag to give it a go

[marrowwife]

still doing 100 oc questions? IF SO: 16, 26/27, 48, 91! i'd love to hear about your Parable of the Hound characters :o

Sorry for the wait, been swamped with work and Uni...

- 100 OC QUESTIONS -

16. How affectionate is your oc and how do they convey their affection? Touchy or not touchy?

The Parable Cast range from overly and deliberately touchy to deliberately unphysical.

Monty is an asshole in that he will use affection as a manipulation tactic, to get what he wants OR to make someone uncomfortable in order to get what he wants. When he is expressing genuine affection, it is unconscious touch that shines through, touch without intent. A hand on the shoulder, the small of the back, the arm or elbow, leaning up against someone, brushing arms and hands and fingers. Monty is a very tactile person.

On the other hand, both Cin and Flea, raised in the elitist old blood circles of magicians, were not raised in an environment of affection. In fact, showing affection was taught out of them early on. Cin is incredibly touch-starved and hesitant when it comes to touch, he shows his affection through listening and memorising and providing for people without asking. Flea has been out of that environment for a while, but is still uncomfortable with initiating softness, in moments of intensity, she will initiate touch, clutching someone's shoulders, moving them bodily if they are in harms way, looking them over for injury etc. Sometimes she may punch someone's shoulder in affection, but like her brother, she shows she cares through close attention and observation rather than touch.

26. How does your oc sleep? Do they move around a lot? What position do they usually sleep in and what are their usual bedding arrangements?

Greta sleeps curled into a little ball all night because she gets cold easily and as a child she would hide in her father's office and fall asleep in random places. She can also fall asleep in very strange places, a lot of the time she does not even make it properly to bed before the early hours of the morning as she has fallen asleep so reading in a chair.

Flea falls asleep very stiffly and as the night progresses slowly relaxes into a more comfortable position, sometimes she has nightmares and will become rigid again rather than tossing and turning. She is used to sleeping alone and the precious few times she sleeps next to another person are usually shallow and unrestful.

Monty sprawls in his sleep, taking up as much space as possible. He tosses and turns a lot because he runs hot, so although his bed is piled with pillows and throws they all end up on the floor by morning

48. What are your oc's nervous tics? Are they aware of them? Do they try to hide them?

Cin flexes his hand when he is nervous, born from an injury he sustained as a child. He is aware that he does it but often the act is subconscious and he immediately hides it when he becomes aware.

Greta is a nervous fiddler but she does not allow herself to indulge very often, usually schooling herself into stillness when she feels the urge.

Monty exaggerates his personality to hide the fact that he is nervous, he is restless kind of person normally so any underlying jitteryness often goes unseen by others.

Flea likes to crack her knuckles when she is either nervous or lost in thought (they often go hand in hand), she does not bother to hide it because it comes across as satisfyingly intimidating to others.

91. What is your oc's typical posture like? Do they slouch or stand up straight? How much space do they take up, physically and figuratively?

Monty is a natural born lounger, is he is not rested up against something or someone it's very unusual. Physically he is very tall and thin, figuratively he has a huge personality and every room becomes almost stifling when he enters.

Cin has a very rigid and upright posture, he has a commanding presence due to the fact that he holds himself like he thinks he is important and that other people should too. When he is relaxed he almost fades into the background, which he won't admit that he prefers.

Greta has very proper posture, she was subject to etiquette classes as any upper-class child was in their education. She can switch between projecting her presence and dampening it, which often helps when she wants to be present during her father's business but is dismissed as a mere women by his associates.

Flea, like Cin, has an unapologetic kind of presence and posture, she does not slouch or make herself small, she does not cower or bend. Unlike Cin, when Flea relaxes her presence does not diminish but rather becomes less oppressive but still all consuming. When she is focused on something or someone, her entire world narrows into that and they can definitely feel her attention.