QUIETUS [S!5] [Round 3: Deluge]

Originally posted on MSPA by Sanzh.

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We are intrigued / curious / eager.

The Broadcaster's representative remained still, the bulky television that replaced his head broadcasting a frenetic stream of images. After displaying what would be a seizure-inducing introduction, it quickly cut between numerous scenes—amongst them were a jellyfish-like creature swimming, a teenage super-hero engaging numerous foes, and a wizard and its floating companion debating morality, along with many other scenes—until the resulting product blended together to exist as one kaleidoscopic montage.

The insignificant motes that flood us and invade our senses have not interested us / but we will rethink our stance in light of your proposal.

The Outsider's responses came not as spoken words as much as mental impressions, burrowing into the Gentleman's mind. It presented several separate concepts, each seemingly knotted together to produce a single distinct connotation.

The Gentleman sent on The Broadcaster's behalf nodded, as politely and deferentially as it could towards the entity opposite him. He regarded this errand as the sort of dangerous endeavor only someone in television would perform—not just plucking eight contestants from across universes for a televised fight to the death, but convincing an immeasurably ancient entity that had it was in its interest to do the same. It was the lunacy that someone doped to the metaphorical gills would think a good idea. Instead of contacting a sane Grandmaster—like The Machinist, perhaps—The Broadcaster had to reach out for the ridiculous. He had to go out and specifically request the eons-old personification of the heat death of the universe—or some caliber of insanity along those lines, the Gentleman didn't particularly care for the specifics.

The Outsider paced along the room it had constructed for the Gentleman, its position seemingly not in accordance with the movement of its limbs. The humanoid figure was clad in numerous layers of tattered robes covering any skin that could possibly be exposed, with a vivid cerulean mask skewed into a grinning rictus obscuring its face. As a whole, the humanoid looked less human in a natural sense and more as though it was a patchwork assessment of characteristics a human had, while ignoring the intrinsic elements that made such a being understandable.

The Outsider repositioned himself to address The Broadcaster's delegate, ceasing to be there and instead existing here.

We will do as you ask us to and toy with these playthings / these specks of dust you see fit to experiment with / these microscopic entities you find so fascinating.

The suited figure rolled his neck, the television adjusting past static to show a new image.

"I'm glad to hear it. Television needs visionaries like you, peop—er, entities that aren't afraid to push the envelope. To be willing to screw the rules for the sake of entertainment." The Broadcaster responded, his words coated with the weird brand of subdued emotions business-men are infected with. "We'll send the cameras over whenever you wish."

And with that, his representative vanished.

The Outsider let the temporary enclosure it had built to house the representative fall apart as the humanoid form he had briefly adopted dissociated. As it sidled into a more familiar form, the abomination began to peer into worlds that had long ceased to interest it, scrutinizing them in a new light. The Outsider had deemed these multitudes of universes as being below its attention. Yet it looked upon them once more.

They were crude. They were flawed, without the substance that suffused its existence, they were constricted and bound and limited. Yet, for all of the impositions they placed and the taxes these lower universes extracted, innumerable beings swam amongst them and proliferated. They were constrained yet seemingly ignorant of their limitations. The Outsider saw a realm it did not comprehend and it wanted to know. It wanted to see through their eyes as they struggled to understand and failed to look towards the truth it knew. The worlds below, that had never interested it, now seemed so fascinating.

We must proceed with The Broadcaster's game / folly / arrangement.

The concept The Broadcaster had presented was one that had never occurred to The Outsider, for all of its inscrutable intellect. It saw so much now that the thought of interfering was presented—incomprehensible games to play, civilizations to toy with, species to lead on endless parades. The Outsider saw many possibilities. They would be for another time. The Outsider had an errand to attend to.

We have eight of these lesser fragments / unaware curiosities / playthings to gather.

Eight tendrils, fragments of its consciousness, began to coalesce. In an instant, they were gone—dispersed across universes to collect.

We have so much to discover / manipulate / subvert.

And for seven of the entities The Outsider had collected, this would be their quietus.



Read This:

SpoilerShow

Rules format slightly pilfered from Ix.

What:
Right so, welcome to Quietus, the fifth battle in Season Intermission. There's quite a bit of explanation as to what a Grand Battle is, but I'll offer my own explanation and say that it consists of eight characters being forced into a battle to the death across seven locations, with one character eliminated each round until there's one survivor. Despite this description, these aren't really focused on the combat as much as the writing provided—you can have a robotic dragon that breathes nuclear waste and there's no guarantee it will survive longer than a confused teenager or whatever. Having a powerful character is less important than having an interesting character—there's a greater focus on writing characters interacting in unusual settings and writing well.

Rules:
Generally speaking there's a lot of rules and such you can read from other battles, but these are a few points I would like to emphasize.

• If you plan on posting something that will affect other writers—which will likely be most of your posts—make some note of your intention to do so. This is called a reserve. If you do post a reserve, try to follow up on it as soon as possible. Three days is fine, a week is stretching it. Post a month-long reserve and I will softly weep to myself.
• Try to keep in contact. Co-operation is pretty essential for a collaborative endeavor like Grand Battles, so don't try to go without interacting with others. You will be expected to write for characters other than your own, and clarifying characterization with other authors helps with that a bit. Don't inflict major injuries or character changes on others without asking, don't plan things out too much that other authors are constricted, and for what plans others set in place don't deliberately go out to ruin them. There's an IRC channel for Grand Battle stuff (#grandbattle at irc.esper.net), using it isn't necessary but it does help.
• Don't be a jerk. This includes killing or maiming other characters when you aren't supposed to (which is most of the time), repeatedly dominating the plot at the expense of others, and mis-characterization of other contestants—stuff like that. A corollary to this is that, should you be having problems—with other authors or their writing, the round locations I've given, your character and how they aren't fun to write for anymore, what have you—you shouldn't hesitate to let me know. My interest is in creating something others can have fun writing for, I don't want writing for this to become a begrudging obligation.

Judging:
So this is based on writing. While this does mean your technical ability as a writer, I will be more interested in you doing the following: making and developing an interesting characters, interacting with other characters, and holding your own plot-wise and carrying a story. Activity and interaction with your fellow writers is important but a little bit more peripheral, I'm fine with waiting if things are worth the wait (although other writers might not like that).

Applications:
Applications are open for two weeks or so, with possible time above that to allow reserves to be fulfilled. Use the following application as a guide. Feel free to put the sections in different orders; non-profiles are valid if they convey all of the information a normal profile would have. The main point is something that convinces me I want to see more of your character.

Username: Your username. Sort of a relic of an older time but still nice to have.
Name: What do we call your character?
Sex: Male, female, none, both? Something for pronoun purposes.
Race: Human, elf, sentient bear, robot god, whatever. If you wish include a description if it isn't readily obvious what it is.
Color: A text color for your character, not particularly important but fun to play with. Don't pick the Grandmaster's colors.
Description: A description of your character's appearance and personality, as well as other things that help define them.
Items/Abilities: What cool things can your character do or have? Please don't go overboard here.
Biography: What has your character done or what were they doing prior to becoming a questionably sane god's plaything?
Other: An optional section. Include writing samples here if you feel your profile doesn't actually convey your writing ability or whatever. Your choice.

Character Roster:

• XX: Sonora
• Ixcalibur: Florica Hearn (#797979)
• Schazer: Robin Pearson, D.Asc (#0C690C)
• Seedy: Amaranth Benedicta (#CBA9CF on #403B4A)
• One: Arokht (#003366)
• Anomaly: Anila Vakmero and [nameless] (#FF4E00 and #0078FF)
• Jacquerel: Chaete (#A21D00)
• Agent: Rachel Wylite (#CC5000)

Planning Document