Our First Carcosan Campaign

 

The words "Our first Carcosan campaign" rendered by the Gallifreyan Translator (resized) courtesy of BBC Studios

Once my husband Alkius and I figured out what we wanted out of the eldritch, we started new campaigns to begin developing our ideas in earnest. I let him know how much I wanted to have a different experience with Carcosa than what I'd had or heard about, and he was all ears. Many years before, I played a scenario in which the King in Yellow was a factor. It was dreamlike, mysterious, and fun, but didn't run for long. It left me wanting so much more and by the time I talked with my husband, I finally knew why.

My Wish List

I wanted dreams and mystery, but not rooted in decay and tentacles. I wanted a character who could have a more personal experience of the King in Yellow without spending the rest of her life on the run or inside a padded cell. I wanted a Carcosa away from horror fantasy...and I wanted a shot at romancing Crescenzo, a vampire NPC my previous character, Grace, could only get so close to. Our games usually involve romance but we also enjoyed how Robert Chambers' stories often included it; in fact, romance books were his bread and butter for years. So it was easy for us to agree romance would play a part.

How It Began

Instead of choosing a whole new system and setting than what we'd been using before, Alkius stuck with his long-standing city - St. Louis - in the heavily homebrewed World of Darkness we use. We both looked forward to adding the eldritch to the mix he usually has going, a blend that tends to involve all of the supernatural types (a.k.a. splats) and a few hundred years of history. Since he'd previously added the God-Machine after another series of talks we had, he'd touched on a larger cosmic scale, but nothing with such a grand scope. But I knew he was up to the challenge.

I developed an outline of my character Angela's life before the current story because I enjoy doing backstories. But I kept it to an outline because I wanted it to be easy for Alkius to use what he liked and leave the rest. Looking back on those old notes, I can see that a lot changed when it came up at the table. For instance, she was adopted as an infant and didn't know her birth parents, so I threw in some possibilities about what happened. Was a cult involved, like I originally posited? Yes. Were they after the same thing I put forth? No. It worked out well because there was always more to discover.

I also left the choice of exactly what my character was and how she would be tied to Carcosa up to my husband so he could surprise me during play. He invited me to make a character sheet for a Deviant to start with, but we both knew she would probably end up with abilities outside of any splat. Since we have a purely narrative style of play when we run for each other, we don't tend to sweat the rules. A player character's sheet mostly serves as a guide to what they know and can do.

Behold The Ant Princess!

My character Angela started out knowing nothing substantial about the supernatural world, including Carcosa. The family into which she was adopted wasn't in the know and she had a rather safe and wholesome upbringing. She didn't end up in St. Louis to get away from her family or her college life; they were good. She fled to get away from her fiance, who grew more abusive and controlling after reconnecting with his affluent family ahead of the wedding.

A New "Family"

When the chronicle started, Angela only had what she managed to stuff in her car after ditching her old accounts and electronics. She went from a motel to a studio apartment without a problem, and it just so happened that the first place she went to inquire about a job was where she met her new family. The little Italian restaurant was run by a former Mob assassin and his crew of mostly retired old buddies - including the vampire Crescenzo - hung around often. It didn't take long for them to suss out that she was in trouble and offer to help her hide.

Carcosa Dreamin'

Strange dreams seemed normal, given the circumstances, and some of them even were. But in successive dreams, she visited a marble throne room more richly detailed than anyplace she'd ever dreamt of before and then its crowned, golden-draped king went from watching her to addressing her. Finally, the gold amulet it gave her was beside her in bed when she woke up - solid proof that something otherworldly was going on. That did it for Angela. Afraid she was losing her mind, she went to Crescenzo. As the local Kindred consigliere, he wasn't sure what was going on but he was in a good position to help. And since theirs was love at first sight, he felt compelled to.

Of course, she didn't know he was a vampire and wasn't supposed to find out, but he knew it was only a matter of time before she did. It didn't matter, though, because what she described sounded too much like a visit from a Keeper for comfort. Crescenzo enlisted the aid of the best dream specialist he knew: the changeling Fantasy King, Jack (who happens to be Alkius' old player character from a game I ran years ago, and is now an NPC in his setting). But Jack began visiting her dream space at a delicate time and got a trip on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride as a result.

None of them knew about Carcosa, so none of them understood the stakes. Angela had used some of her inherent power unconsciously as she made her way to St. Louis. Alone and afraid she'd been followed, she'd called upon her ability to alter luck to keep her safe. And it worked, albeit in subtle ways. But there were unintended consequences. The first was putting out a signal Carcosa caught onto: Angela was beginning to Resonate and become one of them. The time for an Avatar to visit her astrally and deliver her Yellow Sign had come. As the daughter of two distinguished Carcosans, it was expected for her to know something of her heritage. The Yellow Sign wasn't meant to be a complete surprise, and no one else was supposed to be in her dream space for the messages the King in Yellow had to deliver.

But Carcosa hadn't kept track of her parents after they left to breed. In fact, no one knew just how skewed the plan for her birth and childhood had gone, but all of them were about to find out.

Movin' on Up

Angela began to have more contact with Carcosa, first in dreams with Jack along for the ride and then on her own, first with the King and then with the Moth Queen, the Avatar of the House of Moths. Realizing how out of touch they were with far-flung Carcosans, the Moth Queen stepped in to discover how the lines of communication were so badly cut. But only so much could be revealed right away; there was too much to cover, especially if they wanted Angela to keep control of her mind, and too many unknowns. So Angela was given nuggets of truth and left to speculate about the rest, leading to plenty of half-baked theories. Not all of her assumptions were wrong but none of them could be completely right.

What's Up with "Ant Princess??"

This is where the "ant princess" title comes in. It started as a joke during a session, but it encapsulates a common experience with the eldritch. It came about because Angela kept discovering things that made her seem dreadfully significant in one scene, only to feel insignificant in the next. And how could it be otherwise when she was dealing with the cosmic for the first time?

This social media post from June 23, 2024, captures the moment:

Looking back on the post now, I see the errors in my assumptions: Angela isn't just part Carcosan, they don't have royal houses, and her relation to Hastur is complicated; those were just the best guesses she and I had at the time. What she took as deferential treatment from Carcosans was more about respect for kin and making amends for dropping the ball with her family. But as the game proceeded, more things clicked into place; over time, connecting more of the dots wasn't just possible but happened in powerful ways.

Ambassador Angela

As Angela learned about Carcosa, she also got crash courses about other supernatural types in the city and earned their trust. With their help, she recovered both of her biological parents and learned of all the dangers that had driven them apart. She began to meet more Avatars than most Carcosans ever do and with help from the Keeper of Salt, Avatar of the House of Gates, she was able to visit Carcosa astrally. She even encountered a local family descended from Carcosans that had fallen far out of contact and was being destroyed from within.

Putting these experiences together, she formed a plan to create a Carcosan embassy in the Gateway City. That way, those who were tied to Carcosa on Earth would have somewhere to go for help. Fewer would get lost and fewer tragedies would go on for long before being discovered. The Avatars could continue delivering their cryptic dreams to those who began to Resonate, but people in the know might find them if they began to lose their minds. Since Carcosans would be able to help take care of major threats in the area, the supernatural leaders were on board.

The meeting with the God-Machine's resident angels was tense but fruitful. With some careful stipulations, it was better for the Machine to give in than resist. Carcosans would become part of the Infrastructure guarding Earth from eldritch threats. It was better to know where they were and it would make getting them back home easier. As part of the agreement, Fallen angels and Infernals - along with their descendents - could approach the embassy and try to learn how to Resonate. Of course, the Carcosans would have to make their own deals with such troublemakers and keep them in line, but if it worked, those threats would leave without messing up the Machine's plans in the meantime. But Angela insisted everyone be given the chance to try without being hunted, and the Keeper of Salt confirmed that it was possible for even Infernals, who predate Carcosa, to Resonate.

With the great threat of the Carcosan "treaty" already in place, what else could the God-Machine do without risking everything it had made?

So Angela set up the first incarnation of the embassy. Various supernaturals helped to obtain property and ensure privacy, and soon its first crew took shape. Angela was the ambassador between the embassy and everyone else, with Crescenzo as her partner. Her parents moved in to help newly arrived Carcosans acclimate, and a group was sent from Carcosa to secure and staff the main house. Local people with ties to Carcosa began working in their information center, looking into lost Carcosans and possible eldritch threats. And that set up what was needed for my next character to take the stage.

<< Musings Index