Halcyon is a spire of modest size whose purpose is to care for people driven insane by magic or other means. It overlooks a high valley in Clypion, in the western part of Zenith – not terribly far from the Cargo road or the Weave, but lies sufficiently far from the major roads that it few people pass through except to visit the Spire itself… and the Spire does not have many visitors. Its economic presence is currently minor, and its interests in the outside world largely concern taking on new patients, returning the fortunate few who recover enough, and contributing to research into mind-altering effects.
Halcyon is run by a Board of Governors whose Chair serves as Arbiter – this is currently Eudaemon, who constiututed the spire’s first Anvil delegation in decades when he travelled there in Winter 377. Please ask if you want to become a member of the Board, especially one with a specific purpose such as Treasurer or Secretary (and remember there is plenty of room to create new titled positions).
Of course this is an asylum and many of the people here will not be entirely sane. In fact… make that most… no, all of them. From the Board members who are merely a little stressed or agitated, up to the seriously afflicted patients who can’t string two words together and must be kept away from metal objects, there is enormous scope for what you can do. You could be a lineaged character who is degenerating into madness, or someone who experienced a ritual mishap and saw too much, or an exorcist who has been exposed to one too many unquiet spirits and possessions.
The focus of the group is on black comedy and experimenting with magic and metaphysics.
An intended feature is that you can play characters for a short time, either to try out the Empire magic/healing/spirit games or as a fall-back once a character has died or retired. When you get bored of the character or want to join another group, it can be justified as your character recovering and being repatriated, or becoming so dangerous that they’re committed as a Permanent Inpatient.
The spire is specialised even by Urizen standards, and practitioners as well as patients might come from far away to access its resources and contribute to its purpose. As such, people joining are very welcome to play characters who have changed nationality to become Urizen, and plenty of variety can be accommodated.
As the concept centres on dealing with insanity and mind-altering effects, players will have most fun if they have at least one rank of Realm lore (particularly Day and Night), Physick, or Exorcism – abusing rituals and collecting emotional/spiritual traumatic wounds are highly enjoyable activities. Music and language can also be poked to your heart’s content. Other builds particularly suited include apothecaries, artisans, miscellaneous magicians and priests, but any character build can fit. All lineages are welcome.
While I don’t expect the group to really be geared towards the trade game or the military council, people should feel free to get involved with these too. (Want to be involved in trade? Play the Treasurer or an interested Board member. Want to play the military game? Play one of the security staff… or a berserker undergoing treatment. And so on.) By the same token, you can avoid a given part of the game by roleplaying an IC phobia or aversion and asking OOC for us not to try too hard to cure it. People are welcome to participate in the battles but there is no pressure to do so.
The caveats of playing here are that you should not roleplay anything likely to offend/trigger people OOC, and that you should agree in advance with the other group members how much IC trouble you will cause. “Creepy asylum” can be a lot of fun to play, but mental health issues can be triggers for some people, so I strongly recommend sticking to IC methods such as magic, liao ceremonies, or potions rather than using real-life treatment methods. Remember also that very serious cases will be staying behind in the Spire – those who are recovering or have more minor afflictions are more likely be present at Anvil.
Contact Nyeti if you’re interested or have any questions.