Otherworld residents

[Ashdown Crier]

No one lives there.

Right?...  

[Ashdown Crier]

otherfolk

These are sentient beings, no matter their shape. Treating them as people is your best bet: each of them will react differently to different attitudes and their allegiance will be won in different ways. They have different interests, and some may not be friendly no matter what you do.


The Peaceful One "Pax" -- friendly
A shapeshifting shadow-thing that prefers to take the form of a many-legged, many-eyed deer. It is friendly, and appears to be interested in the human world.

The Sorrowful One "???" -- ???
Referenced by Heliodora, apparently a jerk.

The Glorious One "Pridey" -- friendly??
Referenced by Heliodora. Introduced self as the Prideful One.

Burning Man "???" -- ???
Encountered by Jeremiah when he attempted to summon a memory from the fliers distributed through Ashdown. It demanded that Jeremiah agree to never befriend Sunny in exchange for one favor.

The Enemy "???" -- ???
Who even knows? It's referred to by plenty of others, but no one has ever seen it.

Smol -- friendly
A corgi-wren about big enough to fit in your palm. Has the voice of Samuel L. Jackson and the uncanny ability to find lost dreamers.

The Playful One "Gloom" -- friendly
A pine-marten or a weasel or a mink shaped creature of shadow and glowing white eyes. Treats visitors like they're part of a video game and always helpful.

The Healer "Georg" -- friendly
A small spider otherbeing that is growing and coming into power within the hospital of other ashdown. Empathic and able to heal injuries, his predecessor was encountered by Autumn before she passed on.

The Destroyer "Dee" -- aggressive
Small, tiny, as cute as a chipmunk. It’s probably a chipmunk (you hope it’s a chipmunk). It’s trapped in a cage within the other ashdown theatre and wants to be let out. It will do whatever it takes to get out of it’s cage because what it wants, above all else, is freedom.

Oh and your destruction.

The Faceless in Business Suits "???" -- friendly
First found within the other ashdown theatre. Unlike the other faceless who seem incapable of communication, this pair of is quite able to and seem to function as guides and guards within the rain soaked landscape. Within their presence it is best to do nothing that will bring harm to anyone or yourself.

 

[Ashdown Crier]

otherbeings

Sentient beings with limited communicative abilities. While the otherfolk can easily speak to and converse with dreamers and are capable of advanced reasoning, the other beings tend to see things much more simply than their more individualized peers. Once you know how to deal with one of a species of otherbeing, you know how to deal with them all.

eye-bugs -- friendly
Some sort of otherworld species of termite. They are capable of limited communication, some examples of the species more than others. While they are all connected together via their hivemind, they seem to be capable of individual thought. For a short time, they had care of a child known as Princess.
• The Queen - Encountered by Leila
• Friend - A representative of the eye-bugs, charged with carrying information to Leila

otherdriver -- friendly
A pearlescent Toyota Prius, always clouded in mist from its emissions, makes erratic rounds throughout the roadways (and sometimes off-roadways) of Other Ashdown with the guidance of a driver who can never be remembered as more than a silhouette with dully glowing eggshell-colored eyes. The Otherdriver's appearance is precluded with the faint echo of electro-funk music coming from their car radio, and if you flag them down in time they'll wordlessly take you where you need to go.

Meaning not necessarily where you want to go, but where you were meant to.

mimic -- ???
a strange creature that takes on the appearance of inanimate objects only. These objects seem to look a bit off even for other ashdown standards, but if you don't pay close enough mind you may find your hand or foot snagged by the thing if you touch the object without realizing it. It seems to want to pull you in, tugging you into what feels like cool encompassing goop but the mimic is a weak thing and can't put up a fight against even the weakest of human efforts.

jared padeerlecki -- ???
a strange creature that looks rather like a white-tailed deer, except for its gloriously maintained... mane. upon looking at it, you instantly know that its mane is coiffed just like jared padalecki's glorious locks.

hospital spiders -- neutral
small wispy shadowy spiders that are able to seemingly go back and forth between the hospital in other ashdown and it's counterpart. they work for the healer, helping to ease pain and suffering of those within the walls of the building.

the faceless -- friendly
within the businesses and other places of other ashdown, you find them, these faceless mannequins. they are dressed for the part, for the role, of the places they are in and seemingly frozen while performing or working their ‘job’. wide and varied in skin tones, just like the people of Ashdown, they seem forever caught in a moment. however, with some prompting, they can move and interact in limited ways with visitors. it seems that they are there as a means of keeping an eye on all things and if they are gathered in large numbers in one place one should likely be worried.

finch satan -- shun kuroda friendly
A cotton candy pink zebra finch with tiny red horns on its head and eyes the color of fire, this othercreature was freed from its otherworldly prison by an otherwise mundane quintet of finches owned by Julian Fitzpatrick. It has the personality and motivations of a finch, if a finch had demonic powers and a bottomless stomach -- and now that it's free, it cannot be captured or unsummoned by even the most powerful denizens of Other Ashdown.

Finch Satan has an inexplicable fondness for Ashdown PD's Detective Shun Kuroda, and his hair is its favorite place to nap.

Echomen
They'll take the words right out of your mouth, if you say a phrase three times that is. Pale and humanoid, their only real feature is the multitude of mouths covering their body. If they take a phrase from you, consider it stolen. They have a habit of using such stolen words to lure new victims in and shouting with all their many mouths at once to raise an unpleasant and even disorienting cacophony. Beware of strange voices in the woods. Beware of familiar voices in the woods.

 

[Ashdown Crier]

othercreatures

Closer to a cat or a dog than anything capable of advanced reasoning, othercreatures are one of the most dangerous facets of existence in other ashdown. While you might be able to come to some sort of agreement with one of them, they generally lack several basic concepts that we assign to sentience. These creatures should be treated with caution until you're more familiar with them.


othercats.
As exemplified by Rosalinde, these are real-world cats that have been changed by spending time in the otherworld. They tend to develop one minor appearance change along with one or two minor powers, such as 'never wet' or 'can find doors into other ashdown at will'. They can communicate with otherfolk and otherbeings, but not with humans. Existing individuals are:
• Rosalinde, the othercat matron, in the care of Autumn
  
• Bergamot, the othercat hellion, in the care of Chris
  
• Hellbine, the othercat messenger, in the care of Jeremiah
• Violetta, the othercat princess, in the care of Algernon
  
• Catwall or Thomcat Rainier, an othercat with a mysterious past. He's a large tank of cat- dark with grey ear tufts. He is massively fluffy with sad blue eyes. In fact his fluff is so extensive that it almost makes him look like he has a beard. Flower blossoms seem to sprout from his 'beard' area (chest). He seems to be able to meld with shadows but details are unknown. He could probably use a bath. First encountered and nicknamed by Cid and Wendy. (Voiced by Alistair Parker)
  
• Mako, an othercat so changed by other ashdown it's no longer able to leave. He looks very ordinary up till a point. He is a very fat cat, brown and black tabby with an improbable pink nose, green-gold eyes and the bottoms of his feet are all black fur, yet still sport little pink toe pads. Very cute, very casual.
  
  At least until he yawns. While he normally looks like a very ordinary cat, Mako is in fact, largely mouth, and stomach. He’ll happily eat rather improbably things. The secret only seen when he yawns though, is stranger when you consider that it can’t be felt if you happen to scratch along his jaw.
  
  When he yawns you’ll see his mouth goes all the way down his neck to his shoulders, and it’s lined with teeth. Not cute little kitty teeth, not past the most expected area where you’d see ... cute kitty teeth. Once that mouth opens to its full extent you see rows and rows of tiny needles of bone. They serve to help Mako clamp down on his prey, if it happens to be larger than his mouth at least.
  
  Rather like a monkfish he also has a sort of ‘gullet’ area, if you’re unfortunate enough to put something into his mouth, or silly enough to put your hand in, there is a muscular ‘flat’ that conceals yet another ring of teeth. Once something is drawn past that point you’ll have a hard time convincing the cat to hack it back up again.
  
  Fortunately for most Visitors. Mako is fat, because he is lazy. Luring in smaller prey that takes his complacency for safety, and then sucking them down.
Should you wish to acquire an othercat or have your character's pet cat become one, please apply in the quest request.

othergulls.
Like seagulls, only worse. Some of Ashdown's avian residents found themselves more suited to the other side ... turning into a shadowy version of something else altogether. Take all the worst traits of seagulls and multiply it by ten. They want what you have, they are determined to have it, they are hungry and greedy and when you think there's only one of them they (perhaps literally) turn into a hundred. Worse, they have a limited vocabulary and all of it is foul. How do you get rid of them and their attentions? Who knows. How do you get rid of regular seagulls?

murmurs.
Wispy, faintly luminescent, and lazily draping themselves along the air like terrestrial jellyfish or large dandelion seed tufts, murmurs are the unspoken words, suppressed memories and best-kept secrets of Ashdown residents given form. They float around Other Ashdown, catching on streetlamps and tree branches, seemingly waiting to be found by someone -- and when that someone touches them they spring to life, burning the secret they hold into the recipient's mind before vanishing completely.

Murmurs tend to explode in number during holidays and other stressful times of the year, and they are also often found in clusters around what would be public spaces in the normal world, making some areas of Other Ashdown precarious to tread.

the autocorrect.
The Autocorrect is a strange creature, on its own it has no real form, it appears as a tenacious shadow despite lighting and seems to have no real concern for utter darkness, at such times producing a small luminescence at it’s edges.Separated from a human it bears a generic form, nothing to determine gender, when it attaches itself to someone though, it adjusts to match their own shadow. There, it ‘stands’ at a slight angle from the person’s actual shadow, appearing darker and more solid. It produced little sensation when it attaches save for the strange feeling of your fingers pressing against a keyboard, though only for a moment.

Once attached there is no further sensation to be had, however, the person so afflicted will find that certain words will change themselves as they are spoken and might become bland, an offer for hugs might then become and offer for mugs.If they tried to write out their statement, the results would be the same. Not every sentence is so afflicted though, just enough to be aggravating and to prevent it from being predictable.

To rid yourself of the Autocorrect you need only leave Other Ashdown, but be sure it will remember you and may seek you out again when you least expect it.

korats
Creatures that look rather like black cats with furred crows' heads. There seem to be a few of them, though one rarely sees more than one at a time. They are the size of a large cat, heavy and warm with slightly coarse fur; they are independent, fairly smart for animals, and somewhat contrary. They have a knack for silently appearing and disappearing when one's back is turned.

Most importantly, they can record and repeat short clips of speech and sound. They make their own decisions as to what they will remember and repeat. They can sometimes be persuaded to remember messages, but whether the message will be delivered in a timely fashion, or to the correct person, is questionable. Besides these recordings, they can clack, creak, and caw, much like the crows they partially resemble.

 

[Ashdown Crier]

otherflora

Flora in the otherworld seem to exist largely in the exact same form as they do in the real world. Those that don't will be listed here.

pomidour.
They're just tomatoes, but always puckered and wrinkled up in such a way that each one of them appears to have a face with a grumpy, displeased expression. As they grow and ripen, they develop a tangible aura of intense disapproval that inspires feelings of anxiety or shame in those who get close enough to one. You can eat them, but doing so causes intense guilt, so why would you?

snow glass apples.
The skin of these apples are a ghostly aged white of old bones. The touch of them feels not unlike the wax of a candle, and to smell them, there is a strange smell like the whiff of smoke from a freshly extinguished candle and just a hint of cloves.

They grow on branches that bear no leaves even at the best of times, the bark is thick, black and bitter and leaves a strange numbing sensation on the tongue. The sap is thick, and red and when tasted, with or without the bark, evokes a curious sensation of inarticulate whispers.

Cutting an apple reveals flesh that is so translucence and clear the seeds can be seen in entirety. Thinner slices are as clear as glass.

Biting into the apple it is at once flavorless, and disappointing, not even truly refreshing despite the juicy nature of them. The feeling on the tongue is that of fine ground glass, prickling and uncomfortable and with increased consumption the taste of blood rises from the pulp, though those whom eat the apple suffer no actual physical harm from them. They also feel very cold when bitten into, not in such that your teeth hurt, but there is a distinct feeling a memory almost of biting into a handful of snow.

Needless to say most creatures, short of those whom crave a more sanguine meal leave them alone.

The most curious thing you can do with these apples is light their stem, which produces a smokeless blue candle -like light, the apple itself will melt slowly over your fingers, with no discernible sensation, but while it will leave a waxy residue that is a strange transition from white near what remains to clear at the drips - it will always leave a shape not unlike a face in some, otherworldly agony.

vigour.
The plant looks exactly like lavender - except where lavender is purple, this plant has deep maroon and yellow buds. It smells faintly of citrus and cinnamon and gives an energizing feeling. It can be used an an energizer, but too much of it and the user can suffer from rather terrifying hallucinations.

tithe blossom.
these orchid like flowers have only appeared in the ‘Other Garden’ since the blood was spilled for the tithe on the blood moon. They bear thick succulent pedaled flowers that have an eerie masklike quality to them. A white ‘hood’ shrouding lower petals of more eerily skin toned quality, it is inevitable that you will find at least one flower in their midst that matches your own skin tone right down to your freckles. The pistil of the flower, looks eerily like a mouth, the stamen placements like both a tongue and eerie eyes peering from the hooded ‘mask’ portion of the flower; each blossom bringing to mind a horrified face, some perhaps too familiar.

The Leaves of this plant are hugely variable, they all look like fine fabrics, the youngest leaves bearing a velvety quality, the middle growth ones of a fine silk or satin, and the oldest turning white, or black and crumbling with dryness into a brittle but beautiful lace.

The smell of these flowers is like a too heavy blend of ‘iris’ extract, and it is mingled with an odor that brings to mind the taste of pennies on your tongue.

Should you choose to pluck the flowers, the sap will run red, should you choose to pluck the leaves though, it will run black.

Left to their own devices, these flowers will grow in rings, leaves overlapping one and other, and flowers bowing towards the center of their circle as though they were engaged in a dance, or perhaps, some dark council.

anxietree.
The Anxietree serves no apparent purpose, though it’s growth is most certainly eerie. Their seeds look like gaping skulls, who’s craniums rattle with a thick sound reminiscent of a death rattle.

Growth is marked first by fingers, then hands… arms, and so forth reaching up through the soil. A very young Anxietree looks like a person, contorted and screaming into the sky like some illustration from Dante sprung full fledged from the earth.

Mature Anxietree’s appear as clusters of people in similar positions, sometimes, but not always you will see extra limbs attached to a body, extra faces as though motion were caught and embellished in wood and smooth bark.

If you for some reason stand close to these ghastly trees, they seem to provide an actually calming effect, somehow evening out the brain chemistry of the person who rests under the spread of its reaching branches.

Depression, anxiety, even pain becomes dulled and a sense of calm and even drowsiness is instilled. Effects that can seem to be beneficial, though if you sleep there, for one reason or another, you will find that it has started to wrap roots, or bark around you as though it seeks to promote its own growth with the body of the unwitting dreamer in question.

 

[Ashdown Crier]

interacting with other things

You can interact with otherbeings, othercreatures, and otherfauna with impunity, except where otherwise marked. Otherfolk, however, are individuals who must be played by a DM or RP mod.


shibrogane.
Pax, The Sorrowful One, The Glorious One, Burning Man, the Enemy


azuredreams.
Gloom, The Healer, The Faceless in Business Suits

 

[Ashdown Crier]

creating an other thing

Ashdown is a collaborative world, and so you're more than welcome to contribute to our other ashdown residency compendium here. A couple dos and don'ts:

DO
++Create creatures that are weird, spooky, and otherwise unsettling!
++Create creatures that can be interacted with in many ways: creatures you must negotiate with are as important to the setting as creatures you must fight.
++Create flora with odd effects, such as a flower that makes you sing everything in an operatic falsetto should you consume it.
++Create things that reference modern-day technology, like a floating camera that stalks you and also eats concrete.
++Create creatures and flora that bring you delight!
++Ask questions if you're uncertain!
++Post your creature here in the thread. A mod will come along to organize it into its proper first-page post.

DON'T
++You cannot create a being of human-level sentience. So no otherworld dolphins, nothing along the lines of Pax or Smol. These types of characters are limited to RP mods, and also there's that rule on the front page where it says players will never play other ashdown creatures.
++You cannot create a being with a long history with any NPC. So "Sunny's othercat" can't be a thing, and neither can "the weird shadowmonster that stalks the Burning Man and feeds him coals".
++Please don't make a creature that is intended for only one purpose in one plot. These creatures are all open season, and can be used by everyone.

So here's the code:


[list][b]name of being/creature/flora.[/b][list]description[/list][/list]


HAVE AT IT!!

 

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treaties with other things

Details details details

 

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a pocket full of six-pence, a pocket full of rye  

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four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie!  

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when the pie was opened, the birds began to sing  

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now isn't THAT a tasty dish to set before a king!  

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the king is in his counting-house, counting out his money  

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the queen was in her parlor, eating bread and honey  

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the maid was in the garden, hanging out the clothes



then along came a blackbird, and pecked off her nose!