The Cataclysmic Endeavour - SIGNUPS OPEN

In a world where life was still new, in a garden of plenty where death was just an idea, as easily shrugged off as a blanket that has become uncomfortably warm, in a pristine black and gold temple where pleasure was all and forever and everything was perfect, a god grew bored.

And one day to her most devoted of acolytes The Creator said: “I have grown tired with this stagnant world, this aimless purgatory where every day is the same and no need is ever unanswered. I will tear this world to the foundation and in its place I will build something new, something crueler perhaps, but something capable of change, of surprise. A world where the brevity of life allows it to have some kind of meaning, some kind of purpose.”

And the Tourist asked: “But how, with a brief lifespan, could one being expect to experience the boundless wonders of your creation? Even I have scarcely whet my palette on what might be seen.”

And the Populist asked: “Surely it would not be right to do this without first listening to the people of this world? Many would happily trade purpose for eternal comfort and they should have the voice to say so.”

And the Libertine asked: “I fear you may be mistaken. I worry that pain and death would not enhance the joys of life but poison it with fear and anxiety and in doing so detract from the wonders you have created. Please might you reconsider?”

And the Judge asked: “A permanent death may be a useful tool, but like all tools it should not be wielded indiscriminately. Against the wicked, certainly, but surely you would not wish this fate upon the most righteous of your devotees?”

And the Hobbyist asked: “You would doom the world to decay and death simply because you are bored? Have you sampled all the meals your chefs might make? Listened to all the tales your storytellers might tell? The songs your bards might sing? We live upon a wellspring of infinite potential, please don’t throw that away because of a malady as easily treated as boredom.”

And so she relented. The Creator announced instead that she would take a week and she would think it over before she did anything rash, giving serious consideration to her acolytes’ arguments.

And yet before that week was over, before she had time to announce her decision one way or another, the acolytes, fearful that their perfect world would be despoiled, met in secret, plotted and schemed and carried out a binding magic.

From the outside it would have been childsplay to dispel the ritual that trapped her within her own temple. From the inside? The acolytes were thorough, no gaps for her to slip through, no means for her to demand aid from any who would willingly provide it.

For eons nothing changed. Nobody entered the temple, and nobody exited it. Inside days had turned to months had turned to years and though she began her confinement furiously tearing at the walls, desperate to force her way out, eventually that fire was quelled by the simple passage of time. Eventually it was rekindled by that same passage of time, a colder flame, boiling under her every action. She willed herself to become the monster that they decided that she was, that one day when she leaves this place she will unleash that slow boiling rage upon the universe itself, and plunge everyone and everything into oblivion.

Eventually, long after hope has been abandoned, she senses the tiniest of cracks in her cage. A hole through which she’s able to poke the thinnest sliver of her influence through. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, not enough that she can undo her prison, though she knows she will be able to widen that crack with time. Her escape, her revenge, her victory, and with it the obliteration of all things, it’s all just a matter of time now.

She is impatient though. Certainly she could wait an unknown amount of time longer to do this the easy way, but perhaps others could be recruited, or forced if necessary, to her cause and serve as her eyes and ears, and blades, in the world outside. If the acolytes were killed, then her bonds would break and she would finally be free, now. Not in some hypothetical time that might come centuries in the future. If she acted quickly it could be soon, weeks or even days.

And so she reached out into the worlds beyond to try to find those who could aid her in this task, and bind them to her service, and perhaps if they were skilled and obedient when all this was over they might be permitted to sit by her side in the wreckage of the world.

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SpoilerHi welcome to a new Grand Battle adjacent thing. If you're here then you probably don't need to have the concept of Grand Battles explained to you, but I will do so anyway because thats how its done.

WHAT IS A GRAND BATTLE?

Grand Battles are collaborative writing contests, that over time have trended away from being contests and more towards being simply collaborative writing projects. Traditionally the format is that eight participants are taken from their everyday lives by a powerful Grandmaster and forced to kill one another across seven different locales until only one remains, and those eliminations are decided by their author's writing ability, or often their inactivity.  The Cataclysmic Endeavour is based on this format but with some notable differences.

THE SPECIFICS OF THIS BATTLE

1. The participants aren't here to kill each other explicitly. They may still form emnities, get in each others ways etc, but their goal is to kill a specific named individual in each of the rounds they go to. As such each round does not have to end with the death of a player character. Player character deaths are entirely at the discretion of their authors in terms of both when and if they occur.

(I appreciate that having an author's presence in the battle contingent on the existence of their character can create a disincentive to kill that character even if the narrative would benefit. I'd offer anyone who did this the opportunity to write in a new character, control NPCs or even just to defy death (especially possible given our setting) if they wished to continue participating past the point at which it narratively made sense to write out their character.)

2. There's probably only going to be five or six rounds, each set in the same mostly deathless universe.

3. I don't know that there's a huge demand for Grand Battles any more so, I'm not putting a hard requirement on having a full eight participants. I think as long as we have at least four then we should be good to go.

4. As the host I might choose to participate and write posts from the perspective of the acolytes the participants have been sent to kill. Maybe. Not 100% sure whether I'm doing this yet or not, and potentially willing to step away from this idea entirely if someone voices an objection to it.

5. Though our primary setting is a universe that has existed for centuries without permanent death your character does not need to be tailored to be from this universe.

THE GRAND BATTLE RULEBOOK

• Play nice with your fellow authors. Don't make huge decisions for or about their characters without getting their input. Collaboration is important.
  
• In theory you can reserve a post and then everyone has to wait until you’ve finished before they can post again. How long a reserve lasts for is kind of variable based on how far along a battle is and how busy it is. Use your best discretion and if in doubt communicate with other authors.
  

APPLICATIONS:
Applications will be open until 7th January.

Post a reserve in the thread if you want to make me smile and feel like I’m popular. I can be flexible if you’re writing up a profile and you need a little more time but let me know in some way. I am accessible via PMs or Discord or whatever.

THE PROFILE FORM:
(you can rearrange these categories into whatever order you like if it helps the flow of your profile or you just think it’d be fun.)

Username: It’s a tradition.
Name: Picking names for my characters is often somehow more difficult than it was picking my actual real life name.
Gender: Just like in real life you can be whatever gender you want. Primarily here so we know what pronouns to use for your character.
Species: Just like in real life you can be whatever species you want.
Colour: Like typing quirks for long form writing, can also include background tags but those specific combinations included above are taken.
Description: A physical and mental description of your character and their behaviour. Foxes and mask wearers are accepted automatically.
Items/Abilities: If in doubt give them a sword of dubious origins.
Biography: Give a brief summary of your character’s backstory, or write out a brief engaging scene that only vaguely hints at important aspects of your character if you want to be cryptic about it.
Theme Song: Optional. Make me feel inadequate in my knowledge of music.

Username: Pharmacy

Name: Wane

Gender: Genderless but uses she/her pronouns.

Species: Vampiric Moonbeast

Colour: Shiner (#7E4071)

Description:

A fox-cat-snakey hybrid about the size of a family SUV. She is off-gray peachy-whitish that gradients to bruise-y colors at the extremities (like a more macabre version of a siamese cat). In lieu of a face, she has a medieval torture device-like mask festooned with crescent moon teeth. She probably has other armor bits with moon-themed scrolling. Personality wise, Wane is persistent, hedonistic, and self-satisfying. These would be relatively neutral traits if it weren’t for the fact the tippy-top point of her “Hierarchy of Needs” pyramid is “eat other people’s life force.” She is not a nice person! But at least she doesn’t kill! :)

Items/Abilities:

She is very noodly and her teeth have a turbo-grip that can dent iron and break bones. She has a prehensile tail that can cause gory lashes like her claws. What separates her from your usual monster, is she has the ability to consume life-force, visualized as a mist being forced out of people’s face-orifices into her mouth. Being on the business end of this atrocity is excruciatingly painful and indeed pain and suffering might make the meal more nutritious and flavorful to her, as she sometimes “spices” up on her meal by playing rough or playing mind-games with her target.

If uninterrupted, the end-game of her consumption results in a barely cognizant but alive husk.

Biography:

Remorseless beast from the alien realm of Entropy. She loved maiming and killing, until people had enough and sealed her on the moon. She didn’t starve to death as people hoped, consuming the moon as the body regenerates. Eventually, the star aligned and she finally finished off the moon. Free from her celestial prison, she is eager to continue her banquet on the very concept of existence itself!

Theme Song: Alice Glass - BABY TEETH

Username: Sollie
Name: Cia Holiday
Gender: she/they
Species: Augmented Human
Colour: A foresty #0B6623 perhaps
Biography:

Detective Holiday
First of all, I understand that you are a busy person, so I apologize for having to take so much of your time with something so vague, however, the guilt is somewhat assuaged by the fact that compared to the act of an acquaintance of mine, this intrusion will be quite minor.

The purpose of this letter is to make a request of you, to stop the murder of an individual who you will meet shortly in circumstances most extraordinary. Due to the laws that bind my kind, I can not give you many details about this individual at present, but I trust that your keen instinct, along with hopefully some more clues produced by yours truly, will assist you in discovering and then saving the life of the individual.

What I can say about this individual is that you will meet them soon, and you will be ordered to kill them soon. While I know that someone like you would not normally agree to kill someone under any orders, I must stress that these circumstances will be quite odd. In three weeks you will be abducted from your home by an extra-planar entity. There is nothing that you can do to prevent this, I suggest you prepare as best you can. You must ensure that the individual survives, if you succeed in this mission, you will be rewarded with something beyond your imagination.

I understand that this letter seems like the work of a madman, whether you heed it or not though, know that your fate is to be abducted, I am simply giving you a warning and a request. You will find attached to this letter a list of events that have occurred today, will continue today, as well as three miracles that you will witness in the next two days. I hope that convinces you, and that you will agree to my terms.

-Sincerely, An Acolyte

P.S. This letter will dispose of itself in 48 hours, to hinder otherworldly prying eyes.

"Hmmm."

Cia read over the other letter and mentally filed it away. She mused on the letter, and decided to take a plunge.

Their breathing began to slow as they sunk themselves deep into their own mind, where the link to the ancient Library of Sages laid. They raised a hand as a book placed itself in it, and she took one last deep breath before opening it.

She closed the book instantly and opened her eyes, returning to her office and hearing once again the whirrs and buzzings of modern society, the information they desired at the surface, along with some other, at the moment, needless nonsense.

"Shit."

Cia wiped their brow and stood up, getting various things in order and making calls. Three weeks to prepare wouldn't be enough, but maybe one of these miracles could help. She'd have to make a call to get some upgrades, ensure that her affairs were in order, just in case, and finally, they'd have to make sure to hire a bird sitter.

Description: Tall and a bit broad humanoid in a bulletproof black trenchcoat, black boots, and dark brown pants with a stylish detectives fedora with a silver ribbon. Their dark green hair is scruffy, wild, and uneven, very often getting in front of their eyes. Her face often has a kind smile, but it can also turn into a smirk when she has you cornered. Notably while most of her dark skin seems humanlike, her fingers are a dark metal grey with notable joints.
Items/Abilities: As an augmented human, Cia is extremely durable, can endure weeks without food without food or water, and has far above average athletic skill. They are additionally skilled in a large number of weapons, with a speciality in concealed defensive weaponry, such as their signature baton that is able to slide out of the bottom of their wrist.

She is also a world class detective, capable of advanced levels of reasoning even prior to going through augmentation. In addition to the various benefits of augmentation, Cia has also connected to a mysterious database called the Library of Sages, allowing her to consult an entire cosmic library of information. It is her last resort due to the toll that accessing an entire civilizations knowledgebase takes.
Theme Song: The Sanctuary (Darling Violetta)