![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
★
Premise
Someone approaches you from the ebbs of your dream to ask if you have a wish. They're glowing, and seemingly shapeless—but since you're dreaming, this isn't particularly alarming.
Your dreaming self answers them affirmatively—yes, you do have a wish. And, being as dreams are just so ambiguous, you find yourself explaining exactly what you want.
Your friend returned to life. A position of power. Acceptance to a renowned college.
...dreamer, you may have even expressed a powerful longing for a bag of Hot Fries.
The figure considers your words, then extends a misty appendage towards you. They ask if you'd do whatever it took to make this wish of yours come true—because if so, this is their offer to give you the opportunity of a lifetime.
We don't always make the best choices while dreaming, do we.
You shake their "hand."
Their grasp is surprisingly warm and firm, until it suddenly isn't—the curious being dissipates without a trace, leaving you to stand there with your hand extended into the air. Talk about an anticlimactic exit.
So how surprised are you when you wake up in a completely unfamiliar place? ★
Your character awakens from a peculiar dream to find themselves entered into the Celestrials—a tournament taking place between heaven and space, where the grand prize is their wish and their life. Everyone is divided into teams, tasked with completing the various trials lined up for them by the self-serving Outer Lord who arranged this whole affair. And they aren't the only one with eyes on you—the Celestrials is also live-streamed across the galaxy to the many Constellations who yearn for entertainment.
In the end, each team's points from all of the previous trials are tallied up. Winners in the top half of the ranking will return home alive and well with their wishes fulfilled, while losers in the lower half are submitted to a presumably(?) permanent death.
...then the Outer Lord finds more dreamers to drag in for another round of the Celestrials.
Summary
Celestrials is a team-based RP that'll last roughly 3 months from beginning to end. I could come to run it multiple times since its basis lends itself well to that! Overall it's a short game with some elements of PvP, designed to be a quick-fix for trauma and drama, all without having to think of how to deal with the long-term repercussions of deep conflict that burns us out.
★ Short-term RP campaign that'll last 3 months from beginning to end (each go around)★ Not standard teamnesia; there's potential memory loss involved, but no standard regain
★ Games are referred to as "trials" since
★ Invite only—Marie's plurk mutuals are in, non-mutuals must know a mutual
★ Gore and violence = a-okay! Sexy stuff = FTB or taken off comm, gomen
★ Once you play a character in the Celestrials you can't play them again (unless AU)
Tone
The overall tone of Celestrials is #mariecore. This game is, by design, geared towards advocating tension between teams as they compete in trials at high stakes (with opportunities for team bonding and ridiculous shit in between.) Still, gore, violence, and body horror (as well as wherever "losing/reattaching body parts" goes) will be present.
There will (and must) always be a CW in the subject of any post/comment that dives into such content. This means I may also preemptively label any fucked up trials I run with CWs when I know I want to get extra gross with them.
Winning/Losing
At the very end of the game, all characters are removed from play around the same time, regardless of whether their team won or lost the Celestrials.
Losers are led to their presumably permanent deaths, and will be immortalized in the Celestrials records as losses.
Winners return home alive and well with their wishes, convinced it was all but a dream, though the fruition of their wish may prove otherwise.
Winning/losing is to be treated strictly as an IC concern, not an OOC one.
Memories
To keep the explanation simple here, your character's name is magic'd into another body for them to occupy while they're here in this celestial realm. Fun fact, a name is an extension of one's soul, and if their current body is tangent to their soul, it means their soul will get fucked up every time they physically get hurt. Yay! This all has repercussions.
★ Characters arrive without memory of their names (since those names are "preoccupied")★ Characters may also arrive with some missing memories (for those who want to start with instant partial/full amnesia so long as you understand there's no in-game regain)
★ Trivial wounds and injuries can temporarily affect identity
★ But if you die here, there comes with the risk of reviving without a body part
★ And body part loss results in memory/identity loss (think Land of the Lustrous/Houseki no Kuni)
★ You can replace those missing parts, though the quality varies...
★ There's no potential for regaining what's been lost during gameplay
Setting
Six words: "palace of Versailles, but in space"
Teams
Characters are placed on teams; they share a team color, living accommodations, and responsibility to help one another win the Celestrials. To win the competition, characters need to cooperate with their teammates during trials—or at the very least, tolerate them and use them to get by.
★ There will be 4-6 teams, with a max of 6 characters to each, thus a maximum capacity of 36★ Celestrials has an all-encompassing fashion style, ie the only type of fashion available.
★ It can be summed up as: fanciful, aristocratic, militaristic, regal, witchy, whimsical, elegant...
★ Here, have a link to the fashion pinterest board
Constellations
The Celestrials is being live streamed for powerful beings called Constellations. They're galaxies away, so they don't appear in person, but they do tend to comment on character's actions and donate coins when they like what they see. To them, this competition is a source of entertainment. To characters, Constellations are the ones who need to be appeased in order to get the upper hand and survive.
★ Coins are used on "specials," like cutthroat kitchen-ing a game or using an OG power★ Characters don't need to worry about buying food/items/etc; the Outer Lord has them covered
★ Upon arriving, each individual is encouraged to choose a Constellation to act as their sponsor
★ Each Constellation will bestow their chosen with a set of themed abilities/skills/powers
★ And players can app Constellations! That's right, you, too, can fuck with characters
★ (If you've read ORV, these Constellations are very definitely literally inspired by them.)
