#wopen

“it hurt to kill a dream, like tearing petals off a rose in full bloom.”

stats

name: CLASSIFIED wardlaw

moniker: maiden

age: CLASSIFIED

school: wardlaw

occupation: student

magic: yes

about

You were born cursed, and it’s reflected in your mother’s faces every day. She keeps them veiled, but you can see them staring at you; the face of lies, the face of truth, and the face that speaks in riddles. Your father is nowhere to be found; perhaps he died, perhaps he found a new life. But you were christened the princess of Wardlaw, the new hope that everyone sought. Pressure doesn’t become you, so you take to manipulation, a manipulation that left Lynx’s sister in her grave. After two years, you’ve returned, and my how the world has changed.

Maiden is the daughter of Lady Wardlaw and Langston’s sister and should be cast accordingly. 

connections

LYNX: They do not know it was you that forced Breeze’s hand two years ago, but everyone assumes, they’re just pushing it under the rug. While Lynx never recognized your authority in the school, they didn’t actively thwart you either. You have a begrudging respect for each other.

BREEZE: You were close once, and that is the hardest part of the betrayal. You think they attempted to take you down with them and you don’t want to know the truth. No one could hate you, you’re the nicest girl in school.

LANGSTON: There is something familiar about the older staff member at Dumfries, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Everyone talks about how similar you look; you perish the thought.

the cards

UPRIGHT: It is revealed to you that Langston is your brother and the two of you take this opportunity to search out your father. You realize that not everything may be as it seems, but the truth is something to be valued.

REVERSED: You wither under pressure that doesn’t exist and it builds up in you until you explode. Your carefully crafted image comes crashing down around you and you realize that everything you thought was true was a lie. Then one morning you awake and something is different. There are two others in bed with you and they have a message.

“coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

stats

name: CLASSIFIED

moniker: breeze

age: CLASSIFIED

school: wardlaw

occupation: student

magic: yes, but a blocker has been put on their powers

about

You thought that going to Warldaw was your way of escaping. Ever since you were young, you knew that the magic you used, cool as ice and blue as a flame, was stronger than your mother’s. The witches in your family were middle-of-the-road, nothing special, not even special enough to make their mark on Wardlaw. But when your magic burst from your veins and into your mother’s head, you knew you were something dangerous. Maybe that’s why she left, walking in a dazed state down the suburban street at midnight. Maybe that’s why they expelled you two years ago for a murder you may or may not have committed. You cannot use your powers anymore, or so they say, but one evening you find yourself pinching your fingers together once more, and there on the tip lies a blue flame.

connections

BRUISE: They are also accused of a crime they didn’t commit and it draws you to them. You have nothing in common save for your persecution, but that is commonality enough. You’d like to have someone here who doesn’t know of your past transgressions.

MAIDEN AND LYNX: It was Maiden who held your hand those years ago and told you to flip the switch. Suddenly, Lynx no longer had a sister and everyone was left pointing fingers. Now that you’re both back, you’re not too keen on reconciling with either. If they won’t believe your story, why bother?

SOLEIL: You find solace in people who don’t care for gossip, and they are one of them. Still, however, you yearn to know what others are thinking of you. They ground you somehow, they save you from yourself.

the cards

UPRIGHT: You find a way to work around the blocker and your magic develops itself as a friendly sort of fire. Avoiding Maiden and Lynx works to your advantage and while you’re lonely, Bruise seems to be a friend you can lean on. Wardlaw never truly trusts you again, but you are no longer vilified.

REVERSED: Your rage builds up in you until the damn breaks and the magic blocker with it. You attack Maiden one day, revealing that she was the one to guide your hand in killing Lynx’s sister. But it changes nothing; they still despise you. You learn that the cards were never in your favour.

“a slut and time are consubstantial, both devoid of shame and love.”

stats

name: CLASSIFIED

moniker: jezebel

age: CLASSIFIED (preferred range of 26-29)

school: wardlaw

occupation: boarding assistant

magic: yes

about

You were always a wild child. Your parents couldn’t control you, and they were grateful when you went away to a finishing school. Now you’ll finally be set straight. But you weren’t, you never could be. You knew how to game the system, ensuring you never recieved any sort of punishment, but you also knew the system was useless. Drugs, booze, illegal magic, all of it was a game to you, but you knew yourself capable of handling it. You’d never harm another. The job at Wardlaw was a peace offering of sorts, something you could use before your real profession, whatever that is. The girls think you’re cool, the administration thinks you’re a liability.

Jezebel is a character of colour and should be cast accordingly.

connections

BURGUNDY: They know about you and Suns, a wild transgression on your part. If Lady Wardlaw or Mistress Dubois ever found out that you’d been having a secret relationship with a Dumfries man, then you don’t know where your job would lie. You won’t give them the satisfaction of bending.

ANATHEMA: You’re coworkers, which should make you have some sort of love for them, and deep down you figure you must. Of the friendships you’ve had at Wardlaw, and there were very few, this was the only one forged out of sheer necessity.

SUNS: You don’t love them, that would be far too simple. Sequestered away on Wardlaw’s grounds, even the village down the road seems like a metropolis. You fancy them your rebellion of sorts, even though what you two do is as tame as a lamb.

the cards

UPRIGHT: You’re courageous, which leads you to developing a protective instinct over the girls. You’re also pushy, something even better when it comes to merging the two schools. When it comes to boarding, you take charge, creating a cohesive unit out of fractured pieces. And when tragedy strikes, you’re the pillar they turn to.

REVERSED: Burgundy reveals your affair with Suns, something that causes the whole school to shame you. Both the principal of Dumfries and Lady Wardlaw grow tire of your antics and threaten to fire you. In a last-ditch effort, you claim Burgundy was lying, throwing them under the bus.

“if you get hungry enough, they say, you start eating your own heart.”

stats

name: CLASSIFIED

moniker: amira

age: CLASSIFIED

school: wardlaw

occupation: student

magic: yes

about

As far as everyone is concerned, everything you’ve ever had came easy. The truth of the matter is you just knew to reach for the low-hanging fruit. You were a handful of blessings in birth: a pleasing face, like your mother’s; a strong voice, like your father’s; the magic in your veins, entirely your own. Every day since then you’ve used them, collecting the attention of your peers like precious gems, clutching them close, and counting each one before bed. You don’t remember when you started searching for something beyond the laughter and a reserved seat in the dining hall, only that one morning you awoke with an ache in your bones and a voice in the back of your head that cried for more.

connections

LUNAR AND LYNX: Your first, best friends. A strange collection, you suppose, of unbalanced girls who were hungry for things they could only find in each other. But tragedy warped Lynx into something cruel, and now even Lunar hides secrets from you. You want to pick their brain, if only you could get them alone.

DELPHI: You want to blame them for the fire that burns a hole in you, but something in you knows it started long before. Still, they are the epicentre of your greatest shame, your deepest curiosity, and though you’ve never truly mastered facing your fears, you certainly know how to play games.

PRESLEY: You swear you don’t care, that they’re just one more Dumfries nobody encroaching on your territory, but you’d be blind not to see how the hollow parts of you are whole in them. You’d never let yourself become something so mundane, but maybe, they can lend some insight, even if they won’t look you in the eye.

the cards

UPRIGHT: The hunger in you never settles, not really, but it becomes something of a propeller; a constant drive forward, a whisper in your ear to never take less than you deserve. Lunar by your side, you finally begin to grab for the fruit at the top of the tree.

REVERSED: You try to quench the fire, but instead it burns you alive. Searching for meaning in Delphi’s riddles and half-truths leads you down a path you can’t take back, gives you answers you can’t un-know. The voice in your head takes on a new mantra: ashes to ashes, dust to dust. 

“unbeing dead isn't being alive.”

stats

name: CLASSIFIED

moniker: zoya

age: CLASSIFIED

school: wardlaw

occupation: student

magic: yes

about

When you were young, you were told you were going to die. Not in body, but in spirit. It came from the mouths of your elders, from the village square, from the whispers in the woods of the Russian countryside. So you decided it would be to your benefit to leave the town and seek something better in the city. A magical school with a name no one in England can pronounce welcomed you, but you grew tired and powerful, leading to your transfer to Wardlaw. You family has money, that was never the problem, but the whispers still find you. You will die, and it will be at your own hand.

connections

YORICK: You became obsessed with death as you stared at the waning lives of the Dumfries boys in the sick wing. One stood out beyond the others, a soul close to the edge, and you decided to bring them back; a penance of sorts. Now you’re linked and you can’t shake it.

RACHMANINOV: Your constant presence around the Dumfries students has a few people asking questions, but they aren’t one of them. Quiet, perhaps, but then again, so are you. In class you find them a worthy adversary, even if they’re picked over by others.

REQUIEM: The only one who knows the secret of the resurrection. You know that somewhere they must have powers; how else would they know so much about Wardlaw? Around them, you speak in your native tongue, but you have the nagging feeling that they know exactly what you’re saying.

the cards

UPRIGHT: You bond with Yorick strengthens you, but you’re still missing something. The acceptance of your home village matters more than you believe and you return, seeking out what you’ve missed. 

REVERSED: You cannot stand another presence in your brain and the ill-fated death predicted by your birth claims not only you, but Yorick as well. You are cursed and you don’t even bother to fight.

“it is the task of the translator to release in his own language that pure language that is under the spell of another.”

stats

name: CLASSIFIED

moniker: soleil

age: CLASSIFIED

school: wardlaw

occupation: student

magic: yes, specifying in translations

about

You were always supposed to be a witch; your whole family is and out of nine siblings, you’re not allowed to be an oddity. But an oddity you are, and you keep the secret close to your chest like you’re fit to burst. From your mother’s teachings to that of Wardlaw, you haven’t been allowed to breathe in the outside world for even a moment. You retreat to a world of books and words; of symbols no one can comprehend but you, and you live there in safety.

Soleil is a character of colour and should be cast accordingly.

connections

ANATHEMA: There wasn’t another teacher available to observe your independent study, and you feel like you should be grateful it’s Anathema and not one of the old crones, but you can’t help but feel as if there’s something off about them.

BREEZE: You were always a lonely child and your reclusive nature extended to Wardlaw as well, but Breeze is a rather low-impact friend to have around. The only issue would be if you cared anything for your reputation, but you never had one to begin with.

QUEST: Your family raised you steeped in witch culture, so you’ve never had much of a chance to try the technology of the outside world. It’s a bit of a forbidden fruit to you but you’re almost dying to bite.

the cards

UPRIGHT: The grimoire that you’re translating for class has spells and potions lost to the ages, ones that can revive Dumfries to what it once was. However, it cannot erase their knowledge of witchcraft and that is where you feel as if you’ve stopped short.

REVERSED: There is a spell deep in the grimoire that has unintended consequences for those around you. Anathema uses it, twists its words to suit her own purpose and brings their daughter as well as Lynx’s sister back from the dead.