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May. 7th, 2020 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
paralyzerThe Hours is an original verse built on the back of an original mythos. Mostly, it's about an eldritch-y monster-ish group of Gods (or God-like beings) known as Hours, who exist somewhere behind this plane in a place called The Sprawl. There are 28 of them; 24 representing one hour of each day, and four "lost" Hours. Each Hour has a Hand, who acts in some way like their High Priest, or General of their army, and connects them to the modern world. These Hands are given powers, called "aspects"; they relate in some way to their Hour's domain or area of rule.
Each Hour was a human being once. They aren't anymore. The rules of magical ascension are easy: A human being, if somehow they can glimpse behind the veil and not be driven into insanity, can become an apprentice to a Hand. Only by killing that Hand can they leave their apprenticeship behind. Likewise, only through great struggle, research, and magic can a Hand become an Hour. Basically: to promote yourself up a power-level, magical murder is afoot.
This is made harder by the fact Hours have no strong weaknesses, seeing as they are basically Gods, and as the name suggests, are unkillable. Hands, however, can be killed, but with great effort.
In this universe — aka, the modern world as we know it — there exist small sects of worship of each of the Hours. (Think Atlantis, lost history, Greco-Roman mysteries, etc.) Most of it is just academic, but some of it is very, very real, and through study or worship, the greatest of all miracles can occur: magic.
There also exists a secret order named "The Arcani". They are Hourkillers. Over the years, they have managed to injure Hours, but not kill them.
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cw visual difference, madness/insanity as lovecraftian "consequence"; family death
Theodora Yarrow is a Hand of the Leashed Knight. Unlike other devotees of Hours, Theodora was given to the Knight by her father, a scholar who only ever had two moments of clarity in his life. (The first was to marry Theodora's mother; the second was to kill her, so Theodora could be born.) Consequently, she was raised in the Sprawl.
More specifically, she was raised by the Leashed Knight, the entity known as the 24th Hour. The Knight exists alone in an abandoned castle at the end of the Sprawl's boundaries. He is forever chained to its grounds, bleeding from a wound that will never heal, destined to protect every last brick and stone from the Hours' enemies that exist beyond its walls. (There were Gods before the Hours, and those Gods had children. Few of them, after all this time, remain sane.)
Possessing the ability to invoke paralysis through touch, Theodora has spent most of her life in the Sprawl, aging slowly compared to the real world, being trained for a life of battle. There, she lived meekly, more dutiful daughter than devout priest. Her knowledge on pop culture and books is limited, and she speaks in a naturally quiet, overly-formal diction. There were other, more physical effects of being raised in the Sprawl; Theodora finds it difficult to see in bright light, and finds crowds almost grotesquely unbearable. She has only ever tried once and only once to reverse that which binds her to the Knight. He scarred her, from eye to throat, to remind her that as long as he is, she is leashed too.
Her recent forays into the modern day come at necessity only: soon, she will take the Knight's place, and she is looking for the soul that will become her own Hand when that time comes.
Each Hour was a human being once. They aren't anymore. The rules of magical ascension are easy: A human being, if somehow they can glimpse behind the veil and not be driven into insanity, can become an apprentice to a Hand. Only by killing that Hand can they leave their apprenticeship behind. Likewise, only through great struggle, research, and magic can a Hand become an Hour. Basically: to promote yourself up a power-level, magical murder is afoot.
This is made harder by the fact Hours have no strong weaknesses, seeing as they are basically Gods, and as the name suggests, are unkillable. Hands, however, can be killed, but with great effort.
In this universe — aka, the modern world as we know it — there exist small sects of worship of each of the Hours. (Think Atlantis, lost history, Greco-Roman mysteries, etc.) Most of it is just academic, but some of it is very, very real, and through study or worship, the greatest of all miracles can occur: magic.
There also exists a secret order named "The Arcani". They are Hourkillers. Over the years, they have managed to injure Hours, but not kill them.
cw visual difference, madness/insanity as lovecraftian "consequence"; family death
Theodora Yarrow is a Hand of the Leashed Knight. Unlike other devotees of Hours, Theodora was given to the Knight by her father, a scholar who only ever had two moments of clarity in his life. (The first was to marry Theodora's mother; the second was to kill her, so Theodora could be born.) Consequently, she was raised in the Sprawl.
More specifically, she was raised by the Leashed Knight, the entity known as the 24th Hour. The Knight exists alone in an abandoned castle at the end of the Sprawl's boundaries. He is forever chained to its grounds, bleeding from a wound that will never heal, destined to protect every last brick and stone from the Hours' enemies that exist beyond its walls. (There were Gods before the Hours, and those Gods had children. Few of them, after all this time, remain sane.)
Possessing the ability to invoke paralysis through touch, Theodora has spent most of her life in the Sprawl, aging slowly compared to the real world, being trained for a life of battle. There, she lived meekly, more dutiful daughter than devout priest. Her knowledge on pop culture and books is limited, and she speaks in a naturally quiet, overly-formal diction. There were other, more physical effects of being raised in the Sprawl; Theodora finds it difficult to see in bright light, and finds crowds almost grotesquely unbearable. She has only ever tried once and only once to reverse that which binds her to the Knight. He scarred her, from eye to throat, to remind her that as long as he is, she is leashed too.
Her recent forays into the modern day come at necessity only: soon, she will take the Knight's place, and she is looking for the soul that will become her own Hand when that time comes.
