#closed skeleton

The Curator

i am out with the lanterns looking for myself.

Profession: Chief or Lead Curator of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. 

Current Country: Suggested ~ United Kingdom, France, or Italy

Archetype #1: The Role Model

Age: 35-45s

Face Claim: Player choice

Connections:

Is rumored to have a hidden rivalry with The Classicist, who accused them of twisting history for personal gain. 

Attended a European auction with The Linguist, and rumors suggest a deal of sorts was made

Key Role:

THE CURATOR is a master of perception and narrative, seeing the story in every object and the history in every gesture. They move through the manor as if it were an exhibition, cataloging details that others overlook, connecting threads no one else notices, and quietly shaping the way events unfold. Their obsession with interpretation borders on compulsion; to The Curator, nothing is meaningless, and everything is a clue, an insistent habit born out of mistakes that still haunt them. Each room, each artifact, is another chance for atonement, another opportunity to reframe the past. Their latest exhibition, meant to define their legacy, was derailed by a scandal whose details remain murky. It is whispered that it involved ethical breaches, contested artifacts, or perhaps an estranged lover leaking secrets to the press. The truth is knotted, the facts obscured by rumor and denial. The Curator arrives at the manor, anxiety-filled, their composure a careful mask barely concealing the turmoil beneath. Every interaction is tinged with the pressure to maintain control, to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks of their carefully constructed persona. So, we ask: What does The Curator truly have to hide? And will the manor, with its watchful shadows and endless mysteries, finally reveal what even The Curator cannot admit?

“angry mothers raise daughters fierce enough to fight wolves.”

× name: aelis anouilh × age: 25 × gender identity: cis female × sexuality: pansexual × face claim: margaret qualley × faction: the covenent × element: esotera × district: cathedral haven × traits: independent, spirited, charismatic, distracted, enduring, impulsive

BLURB

shiny broken pieces all over the floor, pick them up to find red staining every part of you. there is something wrong sitting in between your rib cage, affixed to something dark deep down inside of you. every time you speak, it begins to unhinge. but you must push it back inside, just as mother taught you. the choices you make are yours alone, better choose wisely before it’s too late.

BIO

staring in a mirror, aelis never recognised the person staring back. it was her in most senses, yes. the reflection mirrored her features, and when she lifted her hand, so did her other half. but there had always been something wrong. a twitch of the lip a trick of the light?, or a word muttered without aelis’ say so. aelis thought herself insane, a reflection should not disobey. the ‘opposite’, she came to call it. a version of her that only she would see. that she made sure only she would see.

as she grew older she came to know the opposite’s true nature. esotera. a vision of the future. of what could be if she let the darkness inside of her go and her element run free. her mother, harmonia, would never know. better to hide her rotting core, the reflection she would show would be that of the cheerful, dutiful daughter.

though her mother gave her the illusion of choice and freedom, aelis understood that she would never venture far from the convenant or its control. and she would not dare test the strength of their bond by doing so. aelis had heard the rumours surrounding her father’s exit. whispers in the halls of the covenant. just how easy it was for her mother to bid him away without a second thought. how quickly would she do the same to her daughter? a daughter should not disobey.

her connection to the moon manifested not much after the opposite appeared. it filled aelis with relief. the perfect cover. no one would ever know she possessed both. she could explain away the strange manifestations of her esotera as a trick of the moon’s reflection. the moon was her element and nothing else. no one would know she was a mage. no one could know there was a side she couldn’t control.

but there is always the voice, the opposite speaking in riddles. words of power, of redemption. begging her to give in to her impulses and turn against everything she knows. it’s presence not just in the mirror now, but in any reflection. her its eyes growing darker and deeper the more aelis tries to avoid it. the chaos fighting so hard to bleed out and its voice starting to make more sense the more she is forced to listen. perhaps chaos is the answer? no. aelis has tried to bury herself in the covenant’s mission. the irony not lost on her; of preaching to others to control their affinity when she had no control of her own. her facade, just like the moon; an illusion.

illusions are easy to shatter.

CONNECTIONS

harmonia ↪ mother knows best she is the only thing that you have ever known. father left before you could remember, but she has always been sitting on your bed, ready to read stories. but you hate how she looks at you like an innocent lamb.

ariande ↪ the most broken are the most dangerous your mother has taken a liking to them, but you cannot understand why. they do not seem to know what they want for anything, and are falling apart at the seams. you have your own breaks and no one is trying to fix those, but your mother had already taught you to hide those, hadn't she.

eris↪ a storm raging outside your window they are always moving, always running, constantly up to some sort of trouble. you want nothing more to figure out what draws you to them. that hidden, dark part of you aches in those moments, watching their freedom — their chaos — and you wonder if you could ever be so free.

“a hammer wrapped in layers of silk of your own creation.”

× name: tiago ixora × age: 44 × gender identity: genderfluid × sexuality: panromantic & pansexual × face claim: oscar isaac × faction: the flow × element: the sun × district: crozer haven × traits: lost, intuitive, arrogant, objective, unflappable

BLURB

a ray of light in the misty forest your eyes shine brighter every day, knowledge and discovery are your food and you shy away from nothing but people. you feel at home surrounded by the elements and by their power you feel reborn. a reckoning to any who try to shatter your world view and make you bitter and hard because they don't know what you are already capable of but choose not to do.

BIO

The Pact was where it all started.

Santiago Palache's parents were willingly sworn to their faction's ideology, and their son was raised in it to become a skilled and single-minded devotee to the cause. Aggressive and ruthless, he delighted in making other people feel inadequate, in using his knowledge of his element to gain control and power, and in pushing himself to discover what lengths he would go to in order to answer the call of the Pact.

As his parents had done with him, Santiago raised his own children to eschew nearly anything other than focused, obedient commitment to their faction. Nothing could be more important than maintaining the upper hand in the slow, ongoing war that they lived in. Anything that could be sacrificed was on the table, and Santiago was proud of any display that his offspring made of thinking just like their father.

But in his vanity and arrogance, Santiago had assumed that he could gauge the outcome of any situation. And circumstances conspired to give him the unwelcome knowledge that he couldn't.

It was a tumble from grace that pushed him into hiding for years, as he recovered and stewed over the whys and wherefores, evaluating where he could go from there. Certainly not back to the Pact; they wouldn't have him anymore. The only recourse left for his pride and his safety and his peace of mind -- if he could have such a thing, even -- was to reinvent himself.

A beard did most of the work; a name change and complete overhaul of the personality he presented did the rest. Tiago Ixora made his vows to the Flow and took up the grindstone at the mill in Crozer Haven, establishing a peaceful man, perhaps a little overfond of doling out parables and questionable baked goods of his own invention. Who would be suspicious of him? A gentle community staple who sang songs to their children in the community hall. It's a pleasant enough life if a touch dull, compared to the riotous excess and passionate bloodletting -- both literal and figurative -- of his life before. Still, Tiago would rather be alive and muted than hunted by those he once strode alongside.

The horns of war are far away, a distant echo if he hears them at all. But they grow louder, and the quiet rush of water and turning of the millstone might not be enough to drown them out.

CONNECTIONS

ourea ↪ soft and softer she is so familiar to you. you can tell she sees it too and it has drawn you two together in indescribable ways. you are as close to family as one can be without blood ties but you do not make a point of imposing yourself upon their life. you worry, you worry so much of how they might see you sometimes but you remain all the same.

dryops ↪ a sentinel it is comforting that he is there. you find yourself liking the fact that the man exists, even if some people aren't keen to notice what he does, or what he will do, but you will. you will appreciate it more than he can know because it means that you do not have to cross any lines. you will be the sun shining silently on his stoic form as he continues to protect the city.

priapus ↪ run with us if you are the evening sun, they are the morning. they are bright and beautiful and inescapable and yet overlooked. you both know that the other exist in a way that seems almost symbiotic. you spend little time together, such as the morning and dusk cannot exist at the same time, you two seem to pass time ships in the night and you both do your duty in the same vein...

“mountains aren't move, they evolve, they reshape and become different on the surface but the same at their core.”

× name: dojin fenn × age: 62 × gender identity: cis male × sexuality: demisexual & demiromantic × face claim: hiryouki sanada × faction: the factionless × element: earth × district: the berg × traits: stoic, withdrawn, protective, blunt, decisive, stubborn

BLURB

a silent detractor and shield against the storm you have waited for years to be able to speak up — to speak out and tell your truth and fight for what you believe in. the powers that bind no longer hold you down and you see through clear eyes and on that horizon is glory in a new form, a world made up of all the things you dreamed as a child and your will to fight for them is absolute.

BIO

Life was never easy, but it was bearable and enjoyable with his family. As a child, his parents taught him the importance of respecting authority even though those in the positions of authority looked down upon his family. Why did a single person, corrupt or otherwise, have so much power over many? He never quite understood that, but it was something that would stay with him. The age of curiosity passed and with his own family, there were more pressing things than to call that into question. He was content with living a quiet life.

But fate wasn’t going to grant him a quiet life. While he and his wife nearly lost their lives when the Foundation fell, their son was not as lucky. While a new city was built, they could not rebuild their relationship. It wasn’t for lack of trying, but the void of their missing son and his refusal to talk about the events made it clear that they wouldn’t be able to survive together on memories of ghosts. It was a simple understanding. They would always share their past love and grief but not share their futures. Alone, Dojin embraced his connection to the earth, to feel its energy and warmth. He focused on protecting others, busying himself with training and venturing beyond the city to tackle threats. It was a good way of keeping himself occupied, as it kept him out of faction politics. Fate would deal him another blow many years later when his wife died in an accident just outside the city walls.

The factions had little appeal to him, as he had no interest in being told what and how to think. As time wore on, those at the top appeared to him to have lost their true purpose and had become blinded. He’d seen enough of human nature to know that those at the top likely enjoyed their power and would do what they could to seek more. As such, The Mason had never quite settled well with Dojin. There was something about one person holding so much power and sway, despite putting on the guise of staying out of things. No one truly steps away from something they created. But he kept that to himself.

The Mason’s death was surprising, more so because like many others, he thought the constant presence would never go away. Although, if he were to reflect on it, The Mason was as human as the rest of them and death comes to everyone. In his eyes, the aftermath of the event revealed many people’s natures. The power vacuum it created and inevitable spillover it would create. The event reignited something else in his subconscious, his dream. For the first time, he could see a way forward to make it a reality on a large scale. He decided he would do whatever he could to bring a change, balance to the city, as that was the only way to truly have peace. While he would like to see his goal achieved, so long as the idea is planted in enough minds and perhaps someone else to champion the cause, it doesn’t matter if he lives to see it come to fruition. But someone has to set things in motion, and it might as well be him.

CONNECTIONS

priapus ↪ kindred in spirit you understand that it might seem odd to those on the outside looking in as you and priapus sit in quiet conversation, your stoic face an unreadable mask with each word the other speaks but warmth radiating from your core. you have found a kindred spirit in priapus and have no intention of letting others guide where your friendship ends.

astraea ↪ curiosity killed the cat you have eyes and you see things. you have been seeing things for longer than most within the realm and you are renowned, but you see in them something to be molded and encouraged. you are not ignorant to the way they might feel about you and you have considered it but it is far more likely you will let it lie dormant unless it is brought up... it doesn't mean you won't continue to train them, either.

geras ↪ a storm raging outside your window those around you see something in the two of you that is similar, and you suppose you can agree, a touch of wisdom and age and a want to protect, but you feel yours is perhaps far more quiet. you cannot fathom having the amount of attention that they do. you two have come together on a few occasions to fight the good fight, as they asked you to help with the corruption in trilane woods once or twice but... is there more?

“i see a bad moon rising”

× name: nikrash xyris × age: 35 × gender identity: cis male × sexuality: pansexual × face claim: utkarsh ambudhkar × faction: the flow × element: the moon × district: crozer haven × traits: malleable, distinct, neat, quiet, studious, caring, pitiable

BLURB

a small cog within a larger whole you have always felt infinitesimal in your purpose but it never stopped you from trying. not every good deed goes unpunished and for you it feels as if the good deeds are all you manage and they only end in hurt as if you were born under a bad star and have never recovered in your soul the piece of you that was lost upon plummeting to earth.

BIO

Two sides of the same coin, but one clearly more favorable, and it wasn’t Nikrash. He was the dark side of the moon, darkened by his sister’s shining and brilliant light, though he never blamed her for it. It wasn’t her fault he was cursed, and at least she never used that against him. In fact, she was always the first to remind him that he has a part to play in this world and to not count himself out. The words didn’t always ring true, but Nik knew she meant well. Sometimes, in his darkest hours, he wondered if she secretly enjoyed being the golden child, but as quickly as the thoughts entered his mind, Nik banished them. But just because you didn’t speak of something, didn’t mean it disappeared.

Nikrash had tried to disappear on more than one occasion, trying to swirl shadows around him, to cloud himself from everyone and everything, only it always ended up making things so much worse. He had no real control over his powers and they flickered in and out of being on a whim, taking any little act of goodness he tried and smashing it with a proverbial hammer. While his sister seemed to love her element and it matched her to her soul, Nik wondered if his own was an utter mistake. The only thing that matched up was the use of shadows, and even that was woefully beyond Nik’s reach.

But that never stopped him from trying to do good. Growing up amongst the Flow, Nik saw potential in everyone. Most days he couldn’t see it in himself, but he tried. He studied, he practiced, and he attempted to do good, even if it came back to bite him at every turn. Sometimes he wondered if part of him was missing, a chunk stolen that would make all of him make sense.

Despite not having his sister’s uncanny ability to see straight into someone’s soul, Nik wasn’t a stranger to the human experience. When he wasn’t trying to hone his abilities, he watched. He watched when others thought he wasn’t. He might not have been able to fade into the shadows using his element, but he may as well have for all the attention others gave him. More and more, Nik noticed the factions lashing out, running around untethered by the Mason in his death. He felt the balance shifting, falling out of orbit.

It was more important now than ever before to get something right, and Nik, despite his shortcomings, knew he had a part to play in what was coming.

CONNECTIONS

hemera ↪ as above so below you can’t even remember which of you was born first, but it always feel as if they’re the older one. how long have they had to fight your battles for you because of the shift of your luck? they ask, people around town, if your element isn’t actually esotera for all the good it seems to do you. you’re cursed and they’re blessed and you don’t hold it against them but it’s hard to not feel like you’re being patronized even though they don’t mean to do it.

anaxarete ↪ decidedly so they are everything you feel you are not. composed, calm, dangerous. you know they’re dangerous because you pay attention while everyone else only focuses on other things. you can see the way they carry themselves and you know not to mistake kindness for weakness. you might be a stepping stone but they aren’t and you envy that.

celtine ↪ stalwart hero you always see them for who she is: a hero. she’s protected you on multiple occasions and the two of you seem to get on well enough. you pride yourself on being one of the people that can get her to smile and she seems ready to spend time with you when you ask. you’ve never known comfort like that outside of your hemera and this one feels somehow precious.

momus ↪ got a bad feeling who even is he? you know that he’s not what he seems because you ARE what he seems. the meek thing doesn’t look right on him somehow. you know what it looks like and feels like to be forgotten, to be unimportant (at least to your knowledge) to anyone to much degree and that isn’t momus. the second you looked at him you knew, and when he met your eyes... it seemed like he knew you knew. now there’s fear in your belly and you just want to make it out alive.

CLOSED taken by Admin Cherry

- Lilith Chelsea Carter (Youngest daughter of Arthur and Genevieve/ Third child of Arthur and Genevieve, Socialite and Model, is the one screaming for attention) fc: Mia Goth

TW: MENTIONS OF NEGLECT, FAKE PREGNANCY AND AGE GAP RELATIONSHIP

Temperance Reversed

Age: 27 Faction: The Underground Faceclaim: N/A

   Your father expected the world of you, and you expected the world from him. Between the both you, a bitter chasm formed in the place of dashed hopes and dreams. A math whiz from a young age, an appreciator of art from adolescence, and a gambling macaroni from the age of eighteen, you couldn’t be further from the son your parents hoped to produce. But where they can only see ruin you find joy. A silken figure amongst a crowd of black sheep, you slink your way through the filth of the city and glory in the way it sticks.