WCB █ in the event of death.
[ after her death, Ruby's personal effects can be found in the storage trunk at the end of her bed. a few items in particular are bundled up in a piece of cloth: the Flower of Glory, black bracelet, wedding ring, and ornate key. when the bundle is unwrapped, three pieces of paper fall out. one is a message written in plain but tidy script, the other in elegant cursive; the third is part of a page torn from a novel.
the plain message reads: ]
Give these to Iske van Omerta. Arundel Castle, in the Omerta duchy of Britannia.
This is the only thing I'll ever ask for, so one of you better do it or I'll haunt you forever.
[ the cursive is written with painstaking care, and reads: ]
To my beloved Iz,
I'm so sorry for everything. You were the one who had every right to kill me. I would have liked to die at your hands.
I love you. The time I spent as your wife was a happy dream. Please live well.
Forever yours,
Rudbeckia van Omerta
[ and lastly, the fragment of the novel's page: ]
Deep within her a cold despair remained unchanging and unchanged. No one would ever love her now—she would love no one. The body of love was killed in her after Winifred, there was something of the corpse in her. She would live, she would go on, but she would have no lovers, no lover would want her any more. She herself would want no lover. The vividest little flame of desire was extinct in her for ever. The tiny, vivid germ that contained the bud of her real self, her real love, was killed, she would go on growing as a plant, she would do her best to produce her minor flowers, but her leading flower was dead before it was born, all her growth was the conveying of a corpse of hope.
the plain message reads: ]
Give these to Iske van Omerta. Arundel Castle, in the Omerta duchy of Britannia.
This is the only thing I'll ever ask for, so one of you better do it or I'll haunt you forever.
[ the cursive is written with painstaking care, and reads: ]
To my beloved Iz,
I'm so sorry for everything. You were the one who had every right to kill me. I would have liked to die at your hands.
I love you. The time I spent as your wife was a happy dream. Please live well.
Forever yours,
Rudbeckia van Omerta
[ and lastly, the fragment of the novel's page: ]
Deep within her a cold despair remained unchanging and unchanged. No one would ever love her now—she would love no one. The body of love was killed in her after Winifred, there was something of the corpse in her. She would live, she would go on, but she would have no lovers, no lover would want her any more. She herself would want no lover. The vividest little flame of desire was extinct in her for ever. The tiny, vivid germ that contained the bud of her real self, her real love, was killed, she would go on growing as a plant, she would do her best to produce her minor flowers, but her leading flower was dead before it was born, all her growth was the conveying of a corpse of hope.
WCB █ narration.
✦ what the heck is this post?
✦ why'd you link me to a screened comment?
content warnings for suicidal ideation and self-loathing within.
ruby is the POV character and narrator of the novel she's from, which means she comes with internal dialogue and narration. for the sake of murdergame secrecy, i've omitted her usual thoughts from her bracket text – but i still want to preserve them somewhere! it's not necessarily that these are Big Secrets, just that it's more fun not to know what she's thinking.
✦ why'd you link me to a screened comment?
that's where the omitted narration is! once the game ends, i'll unscreen everything, so it's like bonus content when you reread threads 👍
content warnings for suicidal ideation and self-loathing within.
open post / overflow
i'm not putting any effort into this rn it's just that i realised i don't have an open post so. here it is. throw prompts / starters / texts / etc. any time + receptacle for meme continuations i guess
wcb info.
name rudbeckia de borgia
age 18
pronouns she/her
height 5'1" / 154cm
weight 84lb / 38kg
age 18
pronouns she/her
height 5'1" / 154cm
weight 84lb / 38kg
racontarovi il tutto per espresso.
+ first impressions
VISUAL: "romagna's great beauty." long, silky, golden-blonde hair that cascades down her back in waves. smooth and unblemished pale skin. bright blue eyes with long dark lashes. petite and delicate.
AURAL: bright and clear as a bell. light, sweet timbre. in singing, a light lyric soprano. aristocratic manner of speech. italian accent, obviously.
OLFACTORY: unremarkable. prefers fresh and floral perfumes or oils. her breath usually smells of mint.
DEMEANOUR: a friendly and sweet young lady who is, perhaps, a bit of an airhead. emotive and open, she smiles brightly and cries easily. carries herself with aristocratic poise and grace, even so. a bit oblivious. someone who doesn't like to cause trouble. rarely asserts herself or pries into others' personal affairs. quick to become flustered. never seems to get angry.
AURAL: bright and clear as a bell. light, sweet timbre. in singing, a light lyric soprano. aristocratic manner of speech. italian accent, obviously.
OLFACTORY: unremarkable. prefers fresh and floral perfumes or oils. her breath usually smells of mint.
DEMEANOUR: a friendly and sweet young lady who is, perhaps, a bit of an airhead. emotive and open, she smiles brightly and cries easily. carries herself with aristocratic poise and grace, even so. a bit oblivious. someone who doesn't like to cause trouble. rarely asserts herself or pries into others' personal affairs. quick to become flustered. never seems to get angry.
+ ic permissions
PHYSICAL AFFECTION: she frequently initiates, but she'll back off quickly if someone visibly dislikes it. when receiving affection, she might seem a little stiff at times, but never rejects it.
ROMANCE: if something happens, sure.
VIOLENCE: it's a murder game. ruby herself has no capacity to defend herself and won't do so under almost any circumstances. please note that any violence will definitely come with content warnings for abuse on her end.
MIND-READING: unlikely to come up, but hit me up if it does! she has no resistance to psychic abilities.
MAGICAL INFORMATION: there's something going on in there. ask for specifics where relevant.
MEDICAL INFORMATION: her health is bad enough that it can be noticed; in particular, she has very poor stamina and no physical strength to speak of, even for someone of her age and build. she's not outright sickly, but she is definitely frail.
CHARACTER WARNINGS: ruby's canon comes with the following content warnings to varying degrees—
ROMANCE: if something happens, sure.
VIOLENCE: it's a murder game. ruby herself has no capacity to defend herself and won't do so under almost any circumstances. please note that any violence will definitely come with content warnings for abuse on her end.
MIND-READING: unlikely to come up, but hit me up if it does! she has no resistance to psychic abilities.
MAGICAL INFORMATION: there's something going on in there. ask for specifics where relevant.
MEDICAL INFORMATION: her health is bad enough that it can be noticed; in particular, she has very poor stamina and no physical strength to speak of, even for someone of her age and build. she's not outright sickly, but she is definitely frail.
CHARACTER WARNINGS: ruby's canon comes with the following content warnings to varying degrees—
- abuse (physical & verbal) — major
- suicide & suicidal ideation — major
- pseudo-incest — moderate
- eating disorder — moderate
- racism — minor
- dysphoria — minor
- clinical depression — minor
+ ooc permissions
BACKTAGGING: pretty necessary for me because of timezones! i'll prioritise threads that are significant to plot or character development, and i'm happy to continue tagging other things on the backburner.
THREAD-HOPPING: go for it! just please use your discretion and ask first before interrupting something that might be a more private moment.
FOURTH-WALLING: leaning on the fourth wall is alright, but i'm not a fan of outright breakage and canon puncturing of the "you're a fictional character" variety. recognising the borgia name & history is fine, though! she's a blatant lucrezia borgia stand-in, it's impossible to miss.
CONTENT WARNINGS: i don't need any warnings! the only thing i'm uncomfortable with is very detailed description of general "grossness," unsanitary elements, and filth – even things like excessive saliva set off my gag reflex, so i'd just prefer to avoid this in threads where possible.
THREAD-HOPPING: go for it! just please use your discretion and ask first before interrupting something that might be a more private moment.
FOURTH-WALLING: leaning on the fourth wall is alright, but i'm not a fan of outright breakage and canon puncturing of the "you're a fictional character" variety. recognising the borgia name & history is fine, though! she's a blatant lucrezia borgia stand-in, it's impossible to miss.
CONTENT WARNINGS: i don't need any warnings! the only thing i'm uncomfortable with is very detailed description of general "grossness," unsanitary elements, and filth – even things like excessive saliva set off my gag reflex, so i'd just prefer to avoid this in threads where possible.
( KENOS ) COMMUNION.
come on, wake up. | you have to be careful. |
don't make mistakes. | you know how quickly kindness can turn into violence. |
Entry tags:
( NIGHTFELL ) DOOR & OTHER DETAILS.
what is a home if not the first place you learn to run from?
—clementine von radics, courtney love prays to oregon
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
IC & OOC PERMISSIONS.
IN CHARACTER
PHYSICAL AFFECTION •
YES
more often than not, Ruby will be the one to initiate physical contact as part of her friendly image. she'll back off quickly if someone visibly dislikes it. when receiving affection, observant characters might notice that she stiffens or flinches at first, but never rejects it.
ROMANCE •
YES (BUT)
I'm always down to play out ships, and Ruby is open to romance, however. due to her nature, Ruby will likely agree to a relationship under false pretences and it would take her a long while to warm up to genuine feelings even while already dating someone. it's possible that she'll view romance as just a means to secure her own safety, since she's done it before. a relationship with her can be somewhat twisted.
for more details about shipping permissions, see here.
for more details about shipping permissions, see here.
SEX •
YES (BUT)
sure! but again: there is always the possibility that Rudbeckia will agree to it for ulterior motives, not because she wants it. in canon, she doesn't hesitate at all to pursue sex with Iske purely for the sake of cementing their marriage and her safety, while still terrified of him. so there is the potential of consent issues when it comes to Ruby and sex. if you want to avoid that, we can hash things out!
for more details about smut permissions and kink list, see here.
for more details about smut permissions and kink list, see here.
VIOLENCE •
YES
a lot of Rudbeckia's trauma surrounds violence in various forms, so it's not a situation she'll casually put herself in and will in fact do anything to avoid. as a player I'm not opposed to it; however, she will not defend herself in any way, so any violence would be purely one-sided. she has no combat abilities, and I'm not interested in fight threads. please do be aware that her trauma surrounding physical abuse will feature prominently wherever violence is involved.
DEATH & INJURY •
YES
definitely talk to me about it first, but generally I'm fine with death or serious injury where it's appropriate. death is one of Ruby's biggest fears so I won't inflict it on her very often and it will have to be significant where I do, but go ahead and ask me!
MIND-READING •
YES (BUT)
she has no mental defences of any kind and personally I love mind reading and am always more than happy to provide relevant information on Ruby's current mental state & thoughts in tags when needed. but! if your character is doing any sort of deliberate digging or closely reading her thoughts, please talk to me. because lying is such a huge part of her character, I'd rather not have all her secrets come out early on. if you don't mind, I'd prefer to figure out a way for mind reading results to be vague and hint that something is wrong without completely unravelling her false persona.
CONTENT WARNINGS
please see below for a detailed list of content warnings that Ruby comes with, as well as a section to opt out of specific topics or interactions with her.
OUT OF CHARACTER
BACKTAGGING •
YES
almost always necessary due to timezone differences. I'm not the fastest tagger either, so I'm perfectly happy to backtag a thread indefinitely as long as my partner is interested, especially for meme/PSL threads. I mean it! I'm happy to get a tag even a year later.
THREADHOPPING •
YES (BUT)
within reason for the tone of a thread. if there's a sombre conversation going on, I'd rather be asked before any light-hearted or combative interjections, but for any ordinary network chatter I don't mind at all.
SHIPPING & SMUT •
YES
see above for the specifics, but blanket answer from me is yes, I love to RP ships! when it comes to memes and PSLs, I have a strong preference for shipping over gen threads. I'm always open to smut within the boundaries of my limits, too.
FOURTH WALL •
YES (BUT)
scroll down for more detail on this one. in short, I'm not a fan of canon-puncturing (of the "you're a webnovel character" variety) and don't really enjoy excessive fourth-walling without purpose. however, Ruby is a character with some meta elements going on that I like to play around with, so there are some fourth-wall things I'm very open to with communication.
FORMAT •
PREFER BRACKETS
strong preference for brackets. I won't completely refuse to play in prose, but under most circumstances, I would really rather not, and it does make my tags a lot slower. I'm happy to play with mismatched formats if needed for us both to tag comfortably.
CONTENT WARNINGS
the only thing I'm uncomfortable with is very detailed description of general "grossness," unsanitary elements, and filth – even things like excessive saliva set off my gag reflex, so I'd just prefer to avoid this in threads where possible. I don't have any other sensitive subjects or any warnings I need, and I'm open to most things.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
In regards to fourthwalling permissions — blanket permission goes for any of the real world historical elements, e.g. recognising the Borgias or various place names like Romagna and Britannia, but there's an additional layer here! I'm open to modern characters having read the in-universe webnovel that Rudbeckia transmigrated into and recognising her as that fictional character. Our details on it are somewhat vague, but the necessary information is:
There's more information that can be found regarding her relationship to fiction and narratives at the bottom of her character information page.
Outside of that, I'm not interested in direct fourthwalling/canon puncturing, i.e. telling her that she herself is a fictional character in a webnovel. Characters that lean on the fourth wall are fine, especially where it serves a purpose; I just don't find it all that fun to play in excess, or for pure crack comedy.
Ruby herself is fairly pop culture savvy, making references from the Garden of Babylon to Assassin's Creed, as well as commenting on literary tropes and archetypes due to inhabiting a novel. She'll still make these comments (mostly to herself) but I will never have her recognise any character as being from a fictional property, even with permission, because again it's not something I enjoy playing. If she ever makes reference to a series that another character is from, I'll make it some kind of vague knock-off that can't be connected to any characters in-game.
- The webnovel is Sodom and the Holy Grail. It's a dark historical fantasy set in the Renaissance (but with holy magic and monsters) with a focus on politics, drama, and intrigue; I usually consider it something similar to Game of Thrones, and overall a mediocre novel that features interesting characters but poor world-building.
- It mostly follows the conflict between Romagna and Britannia. The corrupt Borgia family of Romagna secures an alliance with the Omerta Duchy of Britannia by marrying their only daughter, Rudbeckia de Borgia, with the Duke's son, Iske van Omerta. He's her fifth husband since she was 15.
- Rudbeckia is a cruel and haughty young woman who treats those around her like servants. She particularly targets Iske's childhood friend, Freya van Furiana.
- Iske and Rudbeckia's marriage is toxic; he is cold and harsh towards her, and she lashes out at the people around him. Any genuine feelings they could have had for each other are always destroyed by Rudbeckia's cruel behaviour.
- The marriage is annulled after six months, and Rudbeckia returns to the Vatican. Two weeks after she leaves, Iske's sister Ellenia dies of poisoning, and the Holy Grail is stolen from the Vatican.
- A war breaks out between the two families. After gathering allies in Romagna from all those who oppose the Borgias' corrupt rule, Iske and his paladins launch an attack on the Vatican, burning it to the ground and slaughtering the Borgias. Rudbeckia dies at his hands, provoking his anger to the very end.
- There's little information about Rudbeckia's motivations or history in the novel; it portrays her as a villainess, though there's a vague implication that she may be a more tragic figure than she appears.
There's more information that can be found regarding her relationship to fiction and narratives at the bottom of her character information page.
Outside of that, I'm not interested in direct fourthwalling/canon puncturing, i.e. telling her that she herself is a fictional character in a webnovel. Characters that lean on the fourth wall are fine, especially where it serves a purpose; I just don't find it all that fun to play in excess, or for pure crack comedy.
Ruby herself is fairly pop culture savvy, making references from the Garden of Babylon to Assassin's Creed, as well as commenting on literary tropes and archetypes due to inhabiting a novel. She'll still make these comments (mostly to herself) but I will never have her recognise any character as being from a fictional property, even with permission, because again it's not something I enjoy playing. If she ever makes reference to a series that another character is from, I'll make it some kind of vague knock-off that can't be connected to any characters in-game.