The Apparitions Known as Calacas

Ven

Newbie

Gained Aura: 0
Offline

Offline

Posts: 7

Heavens No

The Apparitions Known as Calacas

« on: 04 February 2015, 00:01:36 »

Alright. First post outside of the newbie forums. :ahem:

As my first post mentions, one of my first major ideas was to integrate a unique being from Mexican folklore into the world of Caelereth. Popularly known as "Calacas" or "los Esqueletos", these creatures are often identified as "Dio de los Muertos Skeletons" elsewhere. In most art, they appear as animate skeletons with brightly colored and ornately patterned bones, and elegant clothing. Unlike many skeletons depicted in art, they are gleeful and friendly.

My plan for adapting them for the Dream is to make the Apparition class creatures, energetic spirits that appear to console mourners. They dance and sing of the exploits of the deceased, never allowing the worthy dead to be forgotten, but never allowing their loss to destroy the lives of those close to them.

Obviously, all references to real world places and traditions will be removed in the final product. So please, feel free to tell me what you think.


« Last Edit: 04 February 2015, 00:04:32 by Ven »	Logged

Ankhi Doomhand

Aspiring Member

Gained Aura: 4
Offline

Offline

Gender: Male

Posts: 35

Re: The Apparitions Known as Calacas

« Reply #1 on: 04 February 2015, 06:27:22 »

Ok, a few questions.
First of all, you're planning on making these real beings and not just myths, right? If you are, my suggestions are:
1. Find an area of Caelereth or a group of people that would fit its purpose.
2. Try to answer the 5 Ws to the best of your ability.
3. Then, try to think what effects such a being might have on the world around it. In particular, you may want to try and find an instance in the compendium when knowledge that should have been lost with someone's death was put in the compendium anyway without providing a reason. That shouldn't be too hard to find, but make sure adding your apparition wouldn't cause contradictions or massive plot holes.

From there, just develop some of your own lore around them. Don't plagiarize the Calacas ability for ability, put your own influence into the story grin

Secondly, what does their singing sound like? Is it clear or only vaguely human?

Lastly, for whom do they appear? Is it everyone or only heroes? Also, are they visible?

Just a few things to get you started. Happy Writing! evil


	Logged

Artimidor Federkiel

Administrator

Gained Aura: 537
Offline

Offline

Gender: Male

Posts: 22.998

Re: The Apparitions Known as Calacas

« Reply #2 on: 05 February 2015, 11:50:14 »

This idea sounds very interesting

The main question would be where to embed it and how. Because apparitions as such aren't necessarily real, they could also be only a thing of the mind (like the Watchers), or entirely myth/lore, or a phenomenon that is more real, but observed only under certain circumstances, e.g. like wisps tied to eerie places like swamps.

I could imagine for example that the Calacas could work as a phenomenon near the Void for tribes that live there (like the dryr or the bone tree. There's a lot of weird stuff going on near the Void where a lot of magic is in play, and its entirely unclear whether the mind is playing tricks on people or whether they are real. Just a suggestion of course.


	Logged

"Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a mediator, and this must be the heart." -- Maria (Metropolis)

Pages: [1]

Santharian Development

Forum

Organization and General Discussions

Discussions, Development Ideas & Proposals

The Apparitions Known as Calacas