Once Upon a Storybook [SUDS]

[Winter]

The story...well, it begins something like this...

Children, children, come forward and listen
For I have for you a very great mission
The land of Libris was once one of cheer and light
Before being overtaken by a queen who adored fear and night
She hated happy endings, didn't want them to come true
That is why we must put our faith in you
For now our dear Libris is filled with shadows and despair
Leaving us to seek aid from elsewhere
Dear children, you must learn how to fight and defend
In order to remove from the throne the queen of this land
And rescue Libris from the now prevalent dark
Please hurry now, before we lose heart

In a world that we know very well, there has been a string of strange occurrences. In bookstores and libraries, the pages of books have gone completely black in some places. Creative writing pieces written online and in notebooks have been covered in blacked out lines to the point some look like classified government documents. Television shows, web shows, and podcast dramas, regardless of their source, have suddenly become riddled with visual and audio static. Much the same has been happening to video games and webcomics...really, anything with a story in it has been affected, with no explanation. While some news stations suggest the issue is one of mass physical and online vandalism, there is too much left in need of an explanation.

Of course, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

And sometimes truth lies in fiction.

In this world, there exists a single, very mysterious book, a clearly very old, leatherbound tome. A handful of people have seen it, and all of them have been baffled. Every time it is opened, it opens to a different story. A number of them are in different languages, some appear ancient, others claim to have seen text from recognizable contemporary works inside, but no one can truly confirm this. As a whole, the book's existence is shrouded in mystery, and its owners have largely kept its existence a secret. That is, until what they called the "World's Storybook" disappeared two days ago, a day after one of its caretakers checked on the book and it was discovered to be plagued by blacked out pages as well. Since then, the book's disappearance and it's possible connection to the worldwide "story vandalism" has become a top news story.

What the family owning the book has not released to the public is is baffling security feed in which a young, well dressed man and his female accomplice pull themselves out of the book before taking it and leaving its holding grounds with absolutely no interruption from the guards. Experts who have looked at the footage are absolutely baffled--after all, people climbing out of books is a physical impossibility...right?

Wrong.

This young man and his accomplice come from a world on the other side of the World's Storybook's pages, and they are the book's true keepers. The world they hail from, Libris, is a world formed completely from the fiction written in our world, a real-life fantasy world. And true to most fantasy stories, Libris has recently come under the rule of a queen is...well, evil.

Formerly a wicked stepsister who managed to claw her way to the top of the food chain, then off her royal husband in order to take over his kingdom, followed by the rest of Libris, it goes without saying she is more than a little wicked. A despiser of happy endings, the new queen of the entire realm began to seek out those who had achieved what she deemed "happily ever afters," and made sure that the end of happily ever after was not so happy. Little by little, those who did not already fear her for her kingdom-conquering prowess began to fear her for her brutality. The only location in the land of Libris that Queen Sharon Hemlock and her forces could not touch was the Great Library, considered the most sacred location in Libris.

The massive building located in the dead center of the continent contains a copy of every fictional text ever written, published or not, finished or not. Overseen by a single person of great power that has been given the title of Librarian, as well as their assistants, the Great Library is the true birthplace of all of Libris’ residents. Upon birth, every resident in the land is brought to the Great Library, where a handful of books (with the aid of an animation spell) “choose” a presented child, and a several pages from each book are assigned to the child at random to serve as their life force, and establish their personalities, their likes and dislikes, these pages define them, and the rest of their lives.

Of course, not only is the Great Library sacred, and the origin of all life in Libris, it is well protected. It also houses a very powerful, very old leatherbound tome that acts as a master copy of the library’s entire contents, and which can connect those with the proper knowledge of how to use it to our world.

Fearing that all hope was lost for Libris’ inhabitants to rise up against Queen Hemlock themselves, the current Librarian and his assistant used this tome in order to travel to our world. Once there, they took our world’s double of the tome and cast a second spell, one that would locate people of our world who greatly loved the stories that served as the foundation for Libris, and bring them to a central meeting place. From there, the Librarian and his assistant intend to convince these selected people to help fight for Libris, and in turn, the stories they love so much.

But you don't know that yet. No, all you know at this moment, is that when you walked into your local bookstore or library this morning, you walked into the wrong place. You opened a door you were quite familiar with, and stepped into a building that was completely unfamiliar. It seems you were expected, however, as a young woman dressed like something out of an old novel or movie, smiles at you and greets you by name. She asks you if you’ll come with her, but there really isn't an option, she leads you to where “everyone else is waiting,” anyway, and you find yourself in a room of people who appear just as confused as yourself. Just as you resolve to ask the nearest person what they know about what’s going on, a well dressed young man steps up onto a chair and claps, grabbing everyone’s attention. When he opens his mouth, the first thing he does is apologize.

And then, he begins to tell a story...

Now that that's out of the way, welcome to Libris.
Technology in Libris varies widely based on the area you are in, from medieval all the way up to futuristic.
Animal and plant life in Libris looks like one might expect from a land made of storybooks, and contains the animals we know and love, as well as mythical creatures, like dragons, griffons, and more. They inhabit various areas based on the genre/theme of an area.
The native residents of Libris vary in terms of shape and size, as well as level of power. Just as the land contains “real word” animals as well as mythical creatures, elves, orcs, faeries, cyborgs, and other humanoid creatures live alongside humans in Libris, though they do not always get along. Some of these races, as well as a handful of humans born with the ability can use magic to varying degrees, others have special abilities and such.
Most of Libris’ residents do not cross area borders--it just isn't done, unless there are very pressing matters which drive them to do so. The few who dare to do so have a tendency to suffer from massive culture shock. They also bleed black when cut, and are fully aware their lives are based around pages of books. It is considered rude to ask what books and/or pages someone is tied to, and joking about what they might be tied to is considered rude unless you are close with the person you are joking about.
The humans brought to Libris will also need to be bound to their own sets of books and pages to solidify their presence in the world, however this process does not affect them in the same way. Having lived their own lives and established their own personalities without interruption, the selection of book and pages define who they already are, as opposed to who they will be. The may also affect the person directly--those who are defined by a love of children’s storybooks may soon discover they have a tendency to speak in rhyme, those who would identify with manga may develop epic (or not so epic) ninja skills, or develop animal ears/tails, or become prone to making unnecessary noises/their own sounds effects, fiction lovers may find themselves able to use magic...and so on and so forth.
Anything I missed here? Feel free to ask! (Though not all questions may be answered at this time--our friend the Librarian may answer some questions once everyone is present and accounted for.)

The Laws of the Land…
All PXR rules apply, people...
1: Please avoid bunnying and godmodding
2: Let’s also avoid “invincible” characters… Most authors hate Mary Sues and and Gary Stus. Keep this in mind.
3: Please be active--if you’re going to be gone for an extended amount of time, try to notify someone in the RP beforehand
4:Be nice to everyone, guys
5: Keep posts PG-13 (on all fronts) and below, and limit use of profanity
6: Lastly, have fun!

And lastly, for record-keeping purposes, I need you to sign in...

Name: (First and last, please)
Age: (No younger than 12, no older than 30 preferred)
Gender: (Just...let’s be reasonable here)
Favorite Book Genre or Format: (I think this is simple enough)
Appearance: (1-2 paragraphs describing how your character looks, pics accepted, but not without text)
Personality: (1-2 paragraphs describing how your character acts)
History: (2+ paragraphs describing your character’s life thus far--important details, how they got into books, anything that may later become relevant, etc…)
Other: (Anything that does not fit in the above sections)

Character Index

Works in Progress

[Winter]

-Casually drops in WIP SU as a placeholder-

Spoiler:

Name: Lillian Rose Gardner
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Favorite Book Genre or Format: Fantasy, audiobooks preferred to Braille
Appearance: People often comment behind her back that it’s a shame that Miss Gardner can’t see herself, as she’s a lovely young woman. Pale brown hair falls to her waist, often straight as a board, and tied back into a loose ponytail, or twined into a neat braid--sometimes her doing, sometimes one of the maids’, while her kind blue eyes are sightless, and Lillian does little to hide the fact she’s blind unless absolutely necessary. She also does little to suggest that her lack of sight is a hindrance to her.

In public, Lillian is known to tote a cane and is often accompanied by one of her maids for the sake of both protection and convenience. She’s often found dressed in simply patterned pastel blouses and skirts that do a good job of making her look both childish and mature at the same time.
Personality: (1-2 paragraphs describing how your character acts)
History: (2+ paragraphs describing your character’s life thus far--important details, how they got into books, anything that may later become relevant, etc…)
Other: (Anything that does not fit in the above sections)

Now feel free to as for reserves/post SUs.

[Neo Emolga]

Sweet Heaven to Betsy, that's a heck of a unique storyline! I like it!

Name: Mark Sullivan
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Favorite Book Genre or Format: Fantasy / Science Fiction, prefers reading on his Kindle.

Appearance: With a tan skin tone and long, raven-black hair that Mark hasn't had cut in years, Mark stands 6'1" and has an agile and athletic frame built mainly from track and field as well as swimming team events in high school. Even though he is in college now, he keeps up with running and swimming even though he doesn't belong to any teams. He has a few scars, usually from injuries due to hiking excursions and other similar adventures outside.

Mark's jungle camouflage cargo pants, black sneakers, and gray Witcher III t-shirt have seen some abuse, as a lot of Mark's clothing tends to get frayed and worn easily from him going on outside expeditions. He also wears a black leather belt and has tribal tattoos on his upper arms.

Mark's main defining traits are his agility and speed, as well as his strong perception to pinpoint and track things that many others tend to miss.

Personality: As a guy that loves to party, Mark gets bored and impatient easily, and as a result, often resorts to mischief and pranks when that kind of thing happens. He is imaginative and creative in this sense, and intends to become a graphic designer as a professional occupation once he gets out of college. He's often late to class, but most of the classwork is stuff he knows how to do already, so teachers and professors are often irked that despite not listening to lectures and showing up late to class, if at all, he can still ace assignments and exams, obviously not being the kind of model student that his college, Stanwright University, wants to promote. In all, he's a guy that likes to have fun and enjoy a good time, and can often be found at college dorm parties well into the wee hours of the morning..

Mark's passions are video games and fantasy novels, and when it comes to Dungeons and Dragons, he makes a heck of a Dungeon Master, even though he's wanted to play his own character for quite some time now. He's definitely not a stickler for the rules and enjoys putting his own take on things, which most people appreciate. Mark also enjoys newer fantasy novels. He enjoys the classics like Lord of the Rings and the Dragonlance series, but he'll often see what's new in the section and dig right into it, even if it hasn't gotten too many reviews yet.

History: Mark was born in Seattle, Washington, to George Sullivan and Mary Sullivan. Even as kids, he would get into relentless mischief with his older sister Vicky and his younger brother Nathan. Most of the time, it was nothing really hurtful or damaging, but the pranks were rampant much more than usual.

His father George often had to relocate for his job, and as such, the family has had to move to cities all over the country, including Charlotte, North Carolina, St. Louis, Missouri, and at the current moment, now reside in Phoenix, Arizona. While in school, Mark wasn't the best of students, often getting into trouble for mischief, but his grades were also just average for the most part even though he was just not motivated enough to study for tests and complete assignments he just wasn't interested in at all. He did, however, really excel in art classes and literature classes provided they were based on books he liked. But if he was required to read the more "classic" fiction like The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, or Farewell to Arms, he'd barely bother and his grades would reflect that.

Now that Mark is in college, he's all about having fun and mainly only focuses on the classes he enjoys. He definitely doesn't care for math and history, and often just barely passes those kinds of classes. He also works as a barista part time just to help pay for books and classes.

With regards to the current situation in Libris, Mark had walked into a Barnes & Noble out to see what new fantasy books had been released, even though he usually reads books on his Kindle. However, this time, nothing seemed right at all. The young girl that he encountered greeted him, and he was really draw to her and her appearance, especially the difference in her clothing.

Other: N/A

[Winter]

@Neo Emolga

Thank you--I'm glad to hear someone likes it! Mark is accepted--sounds like he's going to be interesting!

[FedoraChar]

ERMERGERSH IT'S HERE

Totally signing up, but I still got to work on a character concept xD Dragons will definitely be involved. ~Dragon Warrior Priestess :P~

[Winter]

YES IT'S HERE!

That is totally fine, I got an SU to finish and possibly two more to do just to keep info on record for the Librarian and his assistant.

And hopefully we'll get a few more on board, too!

[Neo Emolga]

ERMERGERSH IT'S HERE

Totally signing up, but I still got to work on a character concept xD Dragons will definitely be involved. ~Dragon Warrior Priestess :P~

The masterful Char has arrived!

Dragons are always awesome. As always, looking forward to seeing what you dish out.

[Saraibre Ryu]

Giving this a boost while claiming Fables and Folklore.

[Winter]

Alrighty @Saraibre Ryu, claim noted (though for those reading this, there is no restriction on genres).

...I really need to get on my computer and edit that first post. XD It's an enormous pain on mobile.

[FedoraChar]

I'm slowly working on this xDDD Gonna go ahead and post what I got so far...

Name: Skye Sigrid (WIP)

Age: 21

Gender: Female

Favorite Book Genre or Format: Fantasy, particularly anything with dragons

Appearance: Skye’s looks compliment her odd behavior. She’s of average height and weight—perhaps a little rounded in the face—but what’s most striking about her appearance is her short-cropped platinum blonde hair that is dyed a pastel purple. (more coming soon)

Personality: Skye is… eccentric. Maybe a little odd. One can safely say that she’s easily excitable and has a tendency to ramble (and talk so fast that people have a hard time understanding her). She has been known to “fan-girl” over things that interest her—but please, she has taste; vampire/werewolf romance novels? Gag her with a spoon! But give her anything with even the mere mention of dragons and she’s all over it.

Skye very little social grace and tends to keep to herself, though a favorite pastime of hers is creating chaos and memes on the internet. Thus she has a bit of an odd sense of humor, and a rather unfortunate weakness for puns. She does also, however, have a few anger issues, as she’s easily offended and quick to jump to conclusions. Like most folks, she has a hard time admitting she was wrong about something; those who do her wrong better watch out—she has a sharp memory and can hold on to grudges for ages.

History: (2+ paragraphs describing your character’s life thus far--important details, how they got into books, anything that may later become relevant, etc…)

Other: (Anything that does not fit in the above sections)