This House: A Mystery Roleplay [OOC/Sign Ups]

[Vienna Eliot]

This House
A Mystery Roleplay

March 20, 1976

IN THIS HOUSE, AS IN ITS MEMBERS,
THE LIGHT OF THE UNION ETERNAL PREVAILS.
—INSCRIPTION ON THE DOORS OF UNION HALL—

This vernal equinox, as for the past ninety-nine, the students of Marston College in Vermont walk across the Hampden River Bridge to the Caithness University campus in New Hampshire, where they will meet with Caithness students in Union Hall to begin electing the next president of the Marston-Caithness Literary Union. At the same time, the body of Caithness freshman Regina Butler lies dead on the altar of the Chapel.

The Union was long the centerpiece of college life on both campuses since Marston's founding in 1876, with nearly every student belonging as a member and most attending its weekly debates. Over the years, membership has dwindled as the twin colleges have grown and the philosophical debates of the Union have lost the interest of the student bodies.

Still, its traditions live on, and this dawn — as a brisk chill carries over the Hampden River — the eighty-one Marston members march in procession to Union Hall, where the hundred and twenty-four Caithness members wait for them in silence. In a few moments, the current Union president will announce her imminent retirement, and the race will begin to choose a successor — but only after mass at the chapel.

This is a mystery roleplay that follows students and faculty at Marston College and Caithness University, two liberal arts colleges on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire, in the wake of a murder on campus. In particular, many of the students belong to a century-old debate society of which students from both schools are members. And while, of course, such a heinous crime as murder is a big deal, so is becoming president of the Union — some might very well kill for the job.

If you like mysteries and dark academic themes (think Dead Poets and The Secret History), then try your hand at solving the murder as this story unravels. This roleplay will last seven weeks, with new clues being revealed at periodic intervals both in the IC thread and in the OOC thread and through telegram, so that players can then incorporate them into IC posts.

Use this app to apply (you can have more than one character), and feel free to ask any questions in this thread. Be sure to elaborate on if and how they're involved in the Union in the Background section.

Code: Select all

[box][b]Character App[/b]
[b]Name[/b]:
[b]School[/b]: Marston College/Caithness University
[b]Year[/b]: Freshman/Sophomore/Junior/Senior/Professor
[b]Area of Study:[/b]
[b]Description:[/b]
[b]Background[/b]:[/box]

Timeline

• OOC January 10 — IC March 20: Vernal Equinox & start of presidential election
• OOC January 14 — Day One of IC ends
• OOC January 24 — IC April 1
• OOC February 7 — IC April 16: The Annual Hullaballoo debate and ball
• OOC February 12 — Hullaballoo Night of IC ends
• OOC February 21 — IC April 28
• OOC February 25 — IC Evening of May 1: Election Night
• OOC February 28 — RP ends

[Vienna Eliot]

Here are the apps for the NPCs I'll be playing.

Character App
Name: Henry Wallows
School: Marston College
Year: Junior
Area of Study: Classics
Description: The typical politician. Business cut brown hair and a sleek jawline, hindered only by his poor vision and his round, horn rimmed glasses. Typically you'll see him on campus with a stiff dress shirt stuffed into beige trousers, an old belt wrapped around his waist and a book tucked under his arm — current favorites include Plato's Republic and Dante's Inferno. During exams, he's known to wear the school's traditional academic garb, a roundabout way of making clear his smarter-than-thou attitude.
Background: Henry came to Marston thinking he would be a priest, but his studies in Catholic theology led him down the rabbit hole of Latin, and he was a classics major before long. He isn't at the top of his class, but let's be honest: he'd rather be Union president than Marston valedictorian. Joining the Union his freshman year, Henry became known for the rhetorical flourishes of his debate performances. He's been plotting to assume the presidency for years, and the 1976-77 school year will be his last opportunity.

Character App
Name: Daniel Gaylord
School: Caithness University
Year: Sophomore
Area of Study: French
Description: You've never seen so many polo shirts! In every color — green to blue to black to red to brown — and always complimented by tan boat shoes. His strawberry hair and subtle stubble render him unmistakable, but if you're really looking for a tell-tale sign, he's got a Camus quote tattooed in white on his left wrist: "je me révolte, donc nous sommes."
Background: Regina Butler's now ex-boyfriend, since her untimely demise. The Union was never his cup of tea; he'd always much preferred campus politics, and is Vice President of the Junior Common Room at River House (after a failed run for President, of course). But once he started dating Regina, she insisted he accompany her to the weekly debates. He rarely says a word in Union Hall, but he can certainly get going about Gerald Ford.

Character App
Name: Sylvia Caithness
School: Caithness University
Year: Junior
Area of Study: Business and Comparative Literature
Description: No turtleneck is complete without a blazer, and though she prefers pants she has been known to sport a series of plaid skirts in the spring. With long, light brown hair, she can easily blend in with the sort she hangs around with, but the gold locket around her wrist gives away her identity to the keen observer. Casual observers will be drawn to her proclivity to have two books open in front of her at the same time, but friends and mentors will note that one is simply an English translation of the other.
Background: Heir to the Caithness fortune, Sylvia may not be set to become President of the University (that is her older brother's purview), but she certainly intends to be President of the Union during her final year. But all is unfair in youth and peace, and her father's plans for her to become a businessperson cast a long shadow over her academic aspirations. So far she has compromised, getting a dual degree in business and comparative literature, but compromising between an MBA and a PhD may prove much more difficult.

Character App
Name: Darius Slaczynski
School: Marston College
Year: Chaplain
Area of Study: N/A
Description: Priestly robes at mass, though he can often be seen leaving campus in jeans with a tucked in plaid dress shirt. With the white collar, of course.
Background: Father Darius spent ten years as a lawyer before he figured he ought to drop everything and become a Jesuit, and that is exactly what he did. Though his reported past is storied — rumor has it he served as an apostolic nuncio to a a Soviet country — now he is merely the campus priest, administering mass every Saturday evening and Sunday morning, and leading Bible study on Wednesdays.

Character App
Name: David Longfellow
School: Marston College
Year: Professor
Area of Study: Classics
Description: The most handsome professor at Marston, according to a ten year old note in a time capsule dug up last fall, he is perhaps best known for his more casual dress: a sweater, typically wool, over a plain shirt, seen only when the hotter months switch out the sweater for a sports coat. He wears reading glasses, usually, and his large build sits uneasily in the small seminars that he teaches. Never, ever seen without his copy of Homer's Iliad, edited by yours truly.
Background: Longfellow is perhaps the most renowned scholar of Homer in America, and has been since his brilliant paper, Homer's Iliad: Discourse and Nihilism, won the ACGA's Paper of the Decade award in 1970. But after a ruinous disagreement with a senior colleague saw his chapter at Harvard close, he accepted an offer of tenure at his undergraduate alma mater, Marston College, hoping to get away from the fame that academia had brought him in Cambridge. He remembers fondly his time in the Union as a student at Marston, and relishes being on campus. His wife, on the other hand, is leaving him to move back to Boston.

[The Grand Duchy Of Nova Capile]

Tag for interest, but I don't feel intellectual enough for this, lol.

[Talchyon]

Tag. I will have more time earlier than later. But I do like a good mystery. (Also, I take it that no characters are allowed to be faculty or staff, only students).

[Vienna Eliot]

Tag. I will have more time earlier than later. But I do like a good mystery. (Also, I take it that no characters are allowed to be faculty or staff, only students).

You can have faculty characters, but they should be secondary — you should have them in addition to student characters.

Hope to see you both app!

[Ard al Islam]

This looks promising, but I can't say for sure until I read the first post. You're probably wondering why I haven't read it, to which I respond, ugh....

[Talchyon]

Character App
Name: James Callow
School: Caithness University
Year: Freshman
Area of Study: Pre-Law
Description: Physically speaking, James is blonde haired, is smaller in physique and often carries at least three books. James may be thought of as shy by others at first. However, he is quite analytical and possesses a keen mind, taking time to observe where others are coming from so that he knows where he might find allies... and rivals.

Background: A young man, James is a first year student feeling the pressure to be perfect and follow in his father's footsteps by graduating Magna Cum Laude at Caithness University. His first semester on campus, he is trying to spend his time in the library getting a better edge on his studies. He knows the traditions of Caithness and the Union, even as he secretly despises having to be forced to be his just like his father, more or less.

Born in 1958 to a brilliant criminal defense attorney and an equally brilliant court clerk, James Callow was an only child who never really had much of a normal childhood. Pushed to excel as far back as he can remember, James has not always lived up to his parent's high expectations. It' is not that he hasn't tried. He pushes himself to try, studying constantly and afraid of their disapproval. But for whatever reason, he has lacked some of the instincts of his parents. James' path in pre-law at Caithness was a given decided for him, not that he himself was asked what he wished nor would he have had the courage to defy his parents.

One thing about James - he despises some of the reckless behavior of many of the youths he has heard of. Binge drinking, free sex, illegal drugs and the sort has always both terrified and disgusted James, as he can't see why anyone would subject themselves to such things. Things of that sort make one lose his mental edge - and as one trying to show he can measure up to his parent's expectations, James will have nothing of it.

James also is a bit stand-offish and snobbish to the other students at Marston. Though he knows there is a union and a long history between the two schools, James has been taught all his life that Marston was for those who couldn't cut it at Caithness. Some of his parent's prejudices have rubbed off on him. That said, he may learn through experience that the way he was taught to see the world is not the only way.

[Vienna Eliot]

James Callow

Accepted! Welcome to the Caithness Class of '79, future valedictorian.

[Vienna Eliot]

In theory we are slated to begin in a few days, but I can push the start back a bit if there’s some more interest and people need time to work on their applications.

[Talchyon]

In theory we are slated to begin in a few days, but I can push the start back a bit if there’s some more interest and people need time to work on their applications.

I think that's a wise idea. I'd like to see more join in on this. It looks like fun.