Whispers from the Deep - Biplanes & Bisexuality

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Character Sheets
  • Informational


    • Character Sheet
    Isabelle Morgenthau
    A Fisher

    Isa (right) and her boyfriend Arren (left)

    Hard Keen Calm Daring Wild
    +4 -2 +4 +1 -1
    Moves
    Creepy: When a comrade sees you perform a ritual, overhears your prayers, or sees signs of your alienness, they lose Trust in you. Once they learn one of your Moves, they are no longer affected, but they gain Creepy as well.
    Deep Ones: You can call on your patrons to Help you on a roll. On a 1, you Break after this mission.
    Blessing: When you dab fresh blood on a piece of working equipment, roll +Calm. On a 16+, take both. On an 11-15, choose 1.
    • Take +1 Ongoing with this item this Routine. (+1 Handling for a plane)
    • The item cannot break or be lost this Routine. (+1 Armour on 1 Section of the Plane.)
    On a miss, you need a bigger sacrifice. Don't disappoint.
    Ideomotor Response: Your plane effectively has a programmable autopilot. It does not have to be switched on and off; it "knows" when you are behind the controls.
    Soul-Bound: When you paint a rune in blood on an aircraft, you are linked. While in flight, you can take incoming Structure damage as Stress, 1-1. You can take a hit that would strike a Component as Injury, or give incoming Injury to your Engine.
    Bond: (Witch move learned from Wulf) When you hold an object of significance and make an emotional connection to it, take 1 Stress. The object becomes a magical Focus, and you learn it's Nature (Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Iron, or Blood).
    Contemplation: When you draw a ritual circle and stay within it, roll +Calm. On a 16+, you come out of it about an hour later refreshed; strike 3 Stress or 2 Injury. On an 11-15, it takes the whole night, and you're unreachable in that time.

    Mastery
    The Bushwack
    Ambush Predator: When you strike an enemy who is unaware of your presence, roll with Advantage.
    Forced Evade: When you fire to scare an opponent off, spend 1 ammo and roll +Hard. On a hit, instead of dealing damage, choose one: Target dives 1, target climbs 1, target loses speed in a forced turn. On a 16+, roll attack dice on them anyway.
    Momentum: When you dive onto a target, add +1 AP.
    Scissors Snip: When you disengage, give an ally +3 towards dealing with your target.

    Familiar Vices
    - Drinking
    - Prayer
    - Dancing

    Vice Progress
    - Breaking Stuff: ☑☐☐
    - Cannabis: ☑☐☐

    Intimacy Move
    When you are intimate with another, choose one of you to get a hold. They can spend that hold to give the other a command: if followed, then forward to their next +Stat move, they will always score at least a partial hit, regardless of what the dice say.

    If you use this move in the air, there are two holds, and they can be distributed however you agree.

    The Company
    People
    • Isabelle (Fisher): The PC. She's out to find her way in the world. 1 thaler per Routine.
    • Arren (NPC- Confidant/Observer): Your cute fish boyfriend. Artist and recently trained observer. 1 thaler per Routine.
    • Wulf (Witch): Former bandit leader. Actually half wolf. Hot as hell. Ex-Goth. 1 thaler per Routine.
      • Hard +3, Keen +3, Calm -2, Daring +0, Wild +3 (Avenger)
    • Minna Hammerl (Soldier): Inexperienced but highly trained soldier and passionate duelist. Speaks all formal-like. The most beautiful woman in the world. 1 thaler per Routine.
      • Hard +4, Keen +1, Calm +2, Daring -2 (Professional)
    • Heinrich Engel (Student): Political science student working on his thesis-slash-manifesto.
    • Anny Meldgaard (NPC - Mechanic): A young half-Fischer, half-Himmilvolk woman from Piav, trained by the mechanics there. Looking for adventure and her origins. Blushes red?
    Aircraft
    • Isa & Arren's Plane: A Teicher Möwen seaplane. Steel frame, liquid-cooled engine. Deeply possessed. 1 thaler per Routine.
    • Fang Howl: Wulf's helicopter. An experimental pre-war model. Liquid-cooled radial. Three wolf moon. 1 thaler per Routine.
    • Pup: Wulf's Kreuzer Skorpion prototype retrieved from a sealed hanger. Gets a lot out of an underpowered engine.
    • Minna's Kobra: An inline-engine powered, wood framed fighter. All around an excellent machine. 1 thaler per Routine.
    • Heinrich's Reconstruction: A canard plane with a 30mm cannon in the nose. Awkward and unstable but hits like a train. 1 thaller per Routine.
    ​
    Stress XP
    3 7
    ​
    Cash Expenses
    41 10.5
     
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  • Informational
    • open_sketchbook said:
    There was a realization I had that Gail's problems are not ones that Isa can hug out. Gail is not a great person in a lot of respects, but she's righteously angry about this and she doesn't owe Minna or Isa anything. I didn't want to write her giving ground, because I really think that would have been fucked up.

    I personally believe very strongly in trying to help people who have escaped or wanted to escape hate groups. I think it's important and I think it gives pathways for other people who are suckered by group think, fear, or their upbringing to leave those circles. The scene with Wexler exists because I believe this. But I'm not under the illusion that it's a solution in and of itself, and further I am aware that most people don't agree with this. This is a position I hold out of privilege (because I don't really have to confront hate groups as a threat to my person) and self-interest (as I've mentioned, when I was a young teen I was very nearly recruited by neo-nazis and escaped only because my point of contact was very inept.) I don't really have any effective and non-emotional argument when people point out that resources used to get people out of hate groups are better spent helping the victims of those groups, or more efficiently simply stopping those groups by whatever means is most economical.

    This was the mindset into which I entered these scenes, realizing that writing it the way I wrote other portions of the story had the potential to be incredibly offensive. Personally, I think I still fucked it up pretty badly, but I tried.

    I decided that on the roll, on a failure she goes with the Red Talons, on a partial she quits, and on a success she tries to bury it and joins the Minnows, and I'd deal with it when I get there.
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    I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. In my experience, it is easier, and the socially recommended practice, to hate the hateful. What you are doing or are trying to do is, in my experience, more productive. It only takes conversations to get someone to leave (admittedly a different quality of connection than most people give, but I digress), and those are cheap. Plus, we have the expression, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," for a reason. If a person is no longer in the hate group, then they aren't hurting people, and if they left of their own free will, they will often talk about how glad and lucky they are that they did get out.

    Getting people out of these groups is a lot more economical than people realize. (I study hate groups and intolerance in general, so that's where I'm coming from with this perspective).

    open_sketchbook said:
    Anyway, I'm really sorry about the last little bit. I've really not been writing my best. I'm trying, I'm sorry.

    The next part will be some compressed time, finally, as the Minnows kill a week or two while the cargo plane gets finished, so keep that in mind for plans and snippets.

    I will also just stop being so fucking depressing maybe idk.
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    Let me put this out there: you're doing great. If I could write the stuff you write half as well as you do, I would be very proud of myself.

    You're fine. If we thought the quality of the writing was slipping, we'd let you know. Has anyone been doing that? No? Then breathe darling, you're doing fine.
     
    Despite desire to adopt every stray with a tragic backstory, I'm satisfied with how Gail's story ended, and I'm glad she's left the Talons at least.

    open_sketchbook said:
    As I do in real life, I have a tendency to use humour to try and diffuse tension. It can sometimes create tonal whiplash, which is something I'm working really hard on. I haven't always gotten it right.
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    Oh, sorry. I didn't mean it as criticism when I called Wulf and Heinrich's night out a rollercoaster. Honestly, I think Wulf puts a lot of effort into making things into light fun adventures (that are still sad when you think about it). That update was enjoyable and in-character.

    open_sketchbook said:
    Anyway, I'm really sorry about the last little bit. I've really not been writing my best.
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    The writing has seemed fine to me. The story is dealing with tough topics, and I think they're handled well. They don't seem too depressing either.

    EDIT:
    I forgot to vote. Okay. Stress relief. Once they're back in Piav, I think Wulf, Arren, and Isa would enjoy some dancing.

    As for shopping, Isa could use a new parachute, and it wouldn't hurt to have some spares. I'm not sure what else we need.

    Uh, maybe medical supplies? Maybe some extra handguns for the cargo plane (it would suck for whoever stays with the plane to get robbed on the ground)? I'll leave those options of my plan, but feel free to add them.

    I'm not sure if birthday plans should go in the main vote or a snippet vote. I'm putting it in a snippet.

    [X] Plan: Dancing through Life
    -[X] Isa, Wulf, and Arren go dancing (and extend an invitation to the others)
    -[X] Isa goes shopping for a parachute (maybe more than one, if possible)
    -[X] The Minnows look for a cargo pilot
    -[X] Isa uses Contemplation to reduce Stress

    Now, onto snippets.
    [] For her birthday, Isa, Wulf, and Arren go to a coastal Fischer settlement for some traditional fun, food, and f- prayer.
    [] Isa has Arren give her new tattoo in honor of the Minnows
    [] Arren and Minna spend some quality time together painting her plane (and maybe they cuddle).
     
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    open_sketchbook said:
    Anyway, I'm really sorry about the last little bit. I've really not been writing my best. I'm trying, I'm sorry.

    The next part will be some compressed time, finally, as the Minnows kill a week or two while the cargo plane gets finished, so keep that in mind for plans and snippets.

    I will also just stop being so fucking depressing maybe idk.
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    You are writing this because it's something you enjoy writing, right? We certainly enjoy reading it, and I think you've more than built enough trust that if you take it where your whims lead, we will follow. Regardless of depressing or not.

    Also, I like these:

    [] For her birthday, Isa, Wulf, and Arren go to a coastal Fischer settlement for some traditional fun, food, and f- prayer.
    [] Isa has Arren give her new tattoo in honor of the Minnows
    [] Arren and Minna spend some quality time together painting her plane (and maybe they cuddle).
     
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    okay so um. the birthday ideal there is so deeply amazing... i really want to write that. i really really do. plus we also want Anny to see the sea...

    i'm kinda feeling this arc with the cargo plane is going to be the end of the like... first book of whispers? it has that vibe right now. so i have an idea how to wrap it up, and this ties super well to it...
     
    As an aside, I'd like to say that characters like Minna have really helped me feel more comfortable about my autism.
    So thanks for that.
     
    Regarding planning for our remaining stress relief, I would like to mention once again that Contemplation exists and is really useful so please remember to include that in your plans.
     
    [X] Hydrogen's cheap here (electricity). Hydrogen/chemical filled balloons explode wonderfully when combined with lasers, or just incendiary rifle ammunition
    [X] Isa contemplates, but Arren/Wulf are present in the circle. Shenanigans occur.
     
    Dancing, contemplation and something that constitutes Quality Time all need to be part of stress plans. We should also be working on building up new vices. Weed and breaking things are the options we've already started on. Weed can happen however it happens, and should be background rather than a focus because it is honestly boring to read about alone. Breaking stuff in Piav could take the form of dropping things off of the giant dam to see what happens. I'm not a huge fan of breaking stuff personally, but that certainly sounds kind of fun. Experimenting with magic might be a good one, and is certainly potentially self destructive enough to maybe get vice status, but after the way it has gone every time so far, Isa may be hesitant. Then again, this could easily initially take the form of trying to practice to achieve basic competency and figuring out her limits, even if it mostly results in getting distracted figuring out how to make multi-colored bubbles and accidentally vomiting fish again.

    As far as non-vice relaxation goes: maybe go for a swim at some point. The reactions from those not used to Fisher cold tolerance and water breathing could be amusing. Sight-seeing in the area is also maybe nice. Isa is probably still not 100% used to the mountains. Good food and general lasing around probably goes without saying. I'd almost suggest a fishing trip, but fishing as a thing you do for fun rather than a livelihood or a necessity may be outside of fisher cultural norms. Reading a good book is always nice, but I can't really decide if Isa seems like the type.

    With this much downtime, Heinrich probably ought to work on his thesis. Or feel guilty about not working on it, or somehow manage to do both at the same time. Those are also pretty authentic grad student things.
     
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    So, because we're starting on the path to wrapping up the first bit of Whispers, I thought I'd let you know how much of an impact this story has had on the game itself.

    First of all, the impact on the character creation process, and the Fishers especially, cannot be overstated. The Fishers had only just started becoming a bunch of weirdo Cthulhu cultists when I started writing this story. What they eventually became, all the weird stuff with gills and strange blood, their culture of trust and community, the very idea of the whispers guiding them and their deep connection to the afterlife, all that stuff came about because of this quest, influenced by votes and feedback.

    Basically everything not actually about flying planes comes from Whispers in terms of tone and theme too, beyond "the world is vaguely german shaped". Some of it just as a result of the way I wrote stuff (like how all the towns are adorably well-developed politically and culturally) while other elements come from like... the people you talked to and stuff. Like... you recruiting Wulf, that whole weird thing, started a shift behind the scenes into writing Flying Circus as a game about found family and the queer metaphor of leaving home to be with People Like You that was always kind of there, but mostly subconsciously.

    Writing Piav, the weird half-fisher town you came up with, inspired the mechanic that lets you mix and match your character's cultural background to create people of mixed heritage, which seems obvious but was something I had never considered! Anny represents a way of building a character that was literally against the rules until you all brought up this idea.

    A lot of the good worldbuilding stuff arose out of the need to do it right now for Whispers instead of putting it off more to "think about it" in that way. The Goths, the prewar empires, the Fae, the nature of Magic and the Witch playbook, all that stuff.

    You guys stealing the Zeppelin, a job I was sure you'd turn down, ended up creating the system that now allows for people to make trading companies that don't even fight except in self-defense.

    This quest hasn't quite had the effect that Aircraft Design Quest had on the mechanics of the game, but it's done so much for the world. Thank you so much.
     
    open_sketchbook said:
    There was a realization I had that Gail's problems are not ones that Isa can hug out. Gail is not a great person in a lot of respects, but she's righteously angry about this and she doesn't owe Minna or Isa anything. I didn't want to write her giving ground, because I really think that would have been fucked up.

    I personally believe very strongly in trying to help people who have escaped or wanted to escape hate groups. I think it's important and I think it gives pathways for other people who are suckered by group think, fear, or their upbringing to leave those circles. The scene with Wexler exists because I believe this. But I'm not under the illusion that it's a solution in and of itself, and further I am aware that most people don't agree with this. This is a position I hold out of privilege (because I don't really have to confront hate groups as a threat to my person) and self-interest (as I've mentioned, when I was a young teen I was very nearly recruited by neo-nazis and escaped only because my point of contact was very inept.) I don't really have any effective and non-emotional argument when people point out that resources used to get people out of hate groups are better spent helping the victims of those groups, or more efficiently simply stopping those groups by whatever means is most economical.

    This was the mindset into which I entered these scenes, realizing that writing it the way I wrote other portions of the story had the potential to be incredibly offensive. Personally, I think I still fucked it up pretty badly, but I tried.

    I decided that on the roll, on a failure she goes with the Red Talons, on a partial she quits, and on a success she tries to bury it and joins the Minnows, and I'd deal with it when I get there.
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    There is a very good reason to support rehabilitation in the sort of conflict shown here between militias and warlords. This isn't a antifa-versus-fash conflict in first world democracies. Getting involved with Nazis there is something that people have at least some control over, and they're small enough that they can be quarantined from the rest of society with no-platforming, throwing them in jail, etc. etc.

    The situation with Wexler, Wulf and Minna is far more akin to what happens with groups like Boko Haram and the Lord's Resistance Army, kidnapping and brainwashing children as fighters and slaves, or with dictatorships like North Korea where people are raised on propaganda from birth. In those sorts of situations, deprogramming child soldiers once you've beaten them in combat is absolutely necessary, unless one wants prison camps stuffed full of children or indoctrinated, traumatized people whose only skill is violence pushed to the margins and unable to make new lives. In those cases good luck not having round two.
     
    10ebbor10 said:
    Odd.
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    Speaking as someone else with left-leaning sympathies that don't always point in (ironically) the orthodox direction for the left, I can say that I find this totally unsurprising.

    The intensity of the circular firing squads has been growing year by year, and the left is increasingly vulnerable* to people who enter it and use its rhetoric as a tool for bullying. Even politically sincere people associated with the left can be guilty of this, and it is arguably the left's greatest political weakness. Because the bullies are loud, and conspicuous, and they perpetuate an image of the left as a bunch of intrusive and unreasonable bullies.
    __________________________________

    *(In the literal sense of 'able to be harmed by')
     
    "[A writer] should make it clear that his writing is a thing apart. And he should be able to act co-operatively while, if he chooses, completely rejecting the official ideology. He should never turn back from a train of thought because it may lead to a heresy, and he should not mind very much if his unorthodoxy is smelt out, as it probably will be. Perhaps it is even a bad sign in a writer if he is not suspected of reactionary tendencies today, just as it was a bad sign if he was not suspected of Communist tendencies twenty years ago."

    -George Orwell, 1948, in correspondence while working on the novel 1984. Still socialist and proud, he was- but heavily besieged by very loud tankies.
     
    open_sketchbook said:
    i've been yelled at and accused of fascist sympathies enough to know to hedge when i talk about this stuff.
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    The thing that makes Goths (and marauders) scary is that they are not inhuman monsters. They are a very human sort of monster.

    And therein lies the true horror: that maybe, if things had been different, Hund* would have been one of the Goths leading the raids on towns.
    That the Minnows are a few botched jobs from becoming what the Talons are.
    That every decision Greifenburg's leadership made seemed reasonable**, and maybe, just maybe, the players would make the same decisions in those circumstances.

    *(Yes, I recognize that this was something very distressing for Wulf and I feel something of an ass for using it to make a point)
    **"Evil is always having reason."

    [ ] Wulf and Arren try to make one of Isa's favorite foods. Now where are they going to get some smoked fish at this time of night?
     
    [ ] Wulf and Arren try to make one of Isa's favorite foods. Now where are they going to get some smoked fish at this time of night?

    Yay midnight feasts!
     
    @open_sketchbook

    Isabelle's eyes widened, her fingers tightening on the grip of her pistol. Minna drew steel and dropped into guard position. Wulf unholstered a heavy automatic with a piratical gleam in her eye, her free hand dropping to her dagger. Arren's eyes focused on the horizon as he half-raised his rifle.

    And Heinrich... was there.
     
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