Shiva is calling...


Shiva is the new collaborative screenwriting game/exercise that puts your character into survival mode.  


A virulent airborne form of rabies decimates the human  population and leaves the animals mad. People band together into small groups or tribes to  try to survive in this strange new world.


But they are plagued by visions and  dreams of a creature both frightening and comforting at the same  time, a creature that is reminiscent of the Hindu god Shiva.  It's calling them to Niagara Falls and they have no choice but to obey the  call -- no matter how dangerous the journey may be.


Some want to kill the creature, some want to worship it.  Whoever  survives the dangers of the journey will write the ending.


This game will start on Dec 7th. and will run for at least two weeks - possibly a bit longer.


Based on what we learned from the Killer game there will be a number of new rules designed around the collaboration aspect in order to get a more logical and story oriented script from this exercise.


The first step is to provide a character background.


Post your character background in this thread in order to join the game.


People are encouraged to provide comments on your background and you may adjust any aspect of your character until the close date. Please use the modify button on your character post to make these changes.


The upper limit on the number of characters is 21. The minimum number to play is 7. Entry will close on Nov 30th.

Reminder: If you have any questions about this game either post them in this thread, PM me, or email me.  



Character backgrounds:


Character backgrounds should be a paragraph or two about  your character. They should provide enough  information about your character to assist anyone introducing them or writing  for them.

Your character should have strengths but it should also have a weakness or fear that they will  overcome during the course of the story. Otherwise your character should have some  other kind of arc. Your character's arc should be  apparent in its background. You don't  have to say exactly what the arc is just hinting at it should be sufficient.

Your character will also need to take a stance on the  creature, either kill or worship, even if they are unsure at the start. You should mention the character's stance in your  background no matter what it is.

You are welcome to work with other authors to develop  relationships with other characters and you can mention these relationships in  your background but please leave room for some reveals. However, since most  people would not have known each other before they banded into tribes it is not  likely that you want that much of a  relationship with other characters. Also you won't be certain who is in  your character's tribe until the start of the game.

Your character does not have to look like you or be  connected with you in any way.  Try to pick characters that complement the other characters.

For this game you should think: Stephen King.

It will be very similar to Killer but more serious.


Brief rules:

Create a character to play.  

Write two scenes when instructed based on the instructions given and hope your character is compelling enough to survive until the end.

Each player will have one kill available, they can take the kill on either scene.  Unlike Killer - I'm not going to choose when the kills happen.  

A player cannot be killed before their first turn so you will always have one turn available with your character.

The first two characters killed will get a second chance, "reincarnated" as another character.

When there are two players left the winner will be determined by vote and will write the ending.

Colin O'Riely (40s) was a science reporter for a major newspaper when the madness started.  Before he was quite sociable, but now he mostly spends his time talking into his hand-held recorder as if he were trying to find the magic words to make it all go away. But it won't, ever, this new world is here to stay and Colin's wide-staring eyes won't even let him shut it out.


Most of his tribe are wary of him. He's tense and on the verge of a breakdown. If only he could sleep, then he would feel so much better.  But those damn dreams keep him awake.  If he could just get rid of those dreams he could feel human again.

Bobby Hunt (Mid 20s) was attending film school in Canada when he was forced into a new life by the fall of mankind. In his life he was a class clown and always trying to make his friends laugh. He still puts on a comedic front to hide his true feelings and his secret.

Before Bobby left school and in the panic of it all he had filled a backpack with a camcorder, batteries and film. The video would serve as his way of becoming famous. Filming his own history for the new world to see years down the line.

Hugh Jarse, late 20's, Australian. Just arrived in the US for the first time to join up with his girlfriend Lara, a cocktail waitress from Vegas that he met online. He is on route to Las Vegas not only to meet her for the first time but to get married.



Please  change the name of this character for this game and don't change it to Hugh Jorgan .  You can use this character name for the next Killer game if you want. Cheers Michael.

Michael B. Webster (17), a high school honor roll student, one year away from becoming a Harvard student and soon realizing his dream of becoming a scientist, is now a absolute nobody. But that's nothing new to him, having sacrificed his social life for work.  

What no one knows is that Michael cheated to get where he is now. He received visions that helped him in the past either by supplying him answers to an exam or informing of surprise quizzes. He has grown to trust his visions. Quite recently his visions have surrounded one animal...a dangerous animal. Now, his new journey is to find this creature and destroy it.

      

I'll be able to participate this time around...

My character is Heidi Winslow. Mid 30's and beautiful (she was married to a rock star in the early 90's), she's a profiteer, plain and simple. If there is a way to make money from people, she will do it- regardless of the human cost. She worked on Wall Street and enjoyed the good life. Heidi feels like she earned her position in life, regardless of the fact that the rules all changed. She wants Shiva killed so that she may go about rebuilding the world to her liking-She hates the new world and wants to take revenge upon it personally. Her challenge (among several) is to learn to value people and friendship over money and material wealth.

Leona Carter, 20, was a student, studying theology at a private university. She kept her heart sealed away and her head buried deep into books. When IT happened, the entire campus was wiped clean in one day and she found herself even more alone. They found her a week later, hiding up in the bell tower of the school’s church ; rosary beads in one hand and a copy of Dante’s Inferno in the other.

Connection with other people in these crazy times have brought out feelings she forgot she had. Now she prays to the owner of her dreams, the ones that keep her awake at night, convinced that a pilgrimage is all she needs to rid her mind of the scourge she calls temptation. And she’ll do anything to get there, even venture out by herself into this new cold and desolate world armed only with her rosary's, a shotgun and an orange backpack filled with ammo.

Alex J. Miller is a hunter. He is obsessed in collecting the heads of the animals he kills and he has seen all of them. Another obsession of him is his cowboy hat which he never takes off.

For some time, Alex has some weird dreams where he is alone in a forest running like a crazy, haunted by some unexplainable creatures.
Even the heads of the animals in his house start moving and pronouncing a name which he cannot clearly understand. Alex decides to find out more about this...

Seven characters already.  Wow!  

A reminder to everyone this isn't Killer, it's a different game, a more serious one, so your characters should be appropriate for such an environment.

Secondly remember to read what's written.  

I notice a couple of people forgot to include how their character felt about the Shiva dreams.  This is very important because you don't want other authors putting words in your character's mouth about the main through line.  It could very easily be the determining factor on whether your character survives or not.

I rather single out someone who followed the directions for a character description than single out someone who didn't.  So look at Orange's character and see if yours measures up.  If it doesn't, change it.

If you still don't have a clue what I'm talking about or think you need some help with your character description then PM me.  

Looking forward to seeing who else is going to play.

Cheers.  

Samantha Visione (Vis-e-oh-nee), 37, is a natural beauty of French and Italian descent. Growing up, she had a strong connection to her grandmother, the owner of a vineyard in northern Italy.  She spent many of her summers learning about farming and horticulture.

Her mesmerizing eyes are sparking blue (A sharp contrast to her long dark hair) and seem to lock into the deep recesses of your soul.  She has traveled the world as a famous and respected clairvoyant, sought after for her insight into the world beyond our natural sight.  Six months ago her reoccurring dreams led her to the high desert town of Sedona to seek the power of the vortex in order to locate the "Book of Mysteries" and a key that will open the words.

Samantha's dreams started 2 years ago, showing her a world so desolate and lost she could barely comprehend it.  After finding the book, much of it is still a mystery...but the message of her dreams is becoming stronger and clearer.  She is committed to journey to the center of her fear in order to warn those that are left and reveal the truth and deception of the one that calls them all...to the Falls.  

Eddy Steiner arrived in the States with a dream of being a movie star but ending up working as waiter. He lost his job after countless warnings about his drug and alcohol binges. His days are now spent smoking his special cigarettes, which he calls 'johnny big smokes'.

He started having strange dreams about large animals taking over the world, but he put them down to his drug taking. Now the dreams have become reality he believes he has a special bond with them and will be safe in any situation...but is he just a wasted fool?

A couple of more characters, cool - I like them!

I thought I'd let you in a bit on how the dreams will work for this game.  

Announcement:

We have our very own Dream Master.  

Sandra will be in charge of dreams for this journey.  What she will do is write a dream, post it, and then you will follow with your scene.   The dreams will pose a special challenge to you for your next scene - only the challenge will be hidden in dream language so it will be up to you to decipher it and act upon it.

I'm not sure everyone will end up with a dream to decipher but I am certain it should provide the story with interesting twists.

In order to better explain this Sandra is going to post the first dream in this thread.  Then when the game starts and I post the first scene you will understand how I interpreted it.

Cheers.

Shiva

Bells of the Rainbow Tower (Colin's dream)

Colin's eyes close briefly, eyelids flutter. Three blinks only; then in two shakes of a lamb's tale he sees

A lamb, pure white with blood painting its neck upon a black stone altar of death.

Three more blinks, and the lamb turns to a great black dog; the black stone altar rises up into a gelatinous window which Colin tries to lift, but to pull at this substance has only the effect of drawing back like a rubber band.

Three blinks again and that's nine. Nine rainbows over a bridge rising across the water, and on the bridge is where the great black dog grows fierce, ugly growls aimed at a little girl. Whose little girl?

Ribbons and bows in her hair. Sugar and spice and everything nice in the basket she carries like Little Red Riding Hood. Save her Colin!

He pulls at the gelatin window. It draws back. He bears his weight into it. It stretches like putty, some of it globs into his airways. He chokes and backs off helplessly as:

The child is attacked.

Into Colin's OPEN EYES: only his wide eyed stare, while the sound of the kill rises then falls above the sound of rushing waters.

Flashes of rushing waters, then back atop the bridge again where we see it finished:

The ribbons and bows and pretty fabric lie shredded and nothing else exists. Neither a ringlet of hair nor a piece of flesh and bone. Gone too, is the dog. But the bridge stands empty, cold steel against a sudden fog.

Bits of light shoot towards us like tiny arrows.

A sinuous cloud of bluish arms silhouette under the mist.
It's hard to see what it is.

A great head crowned with living creatures bows before us.

Three more blinks and that's twelve. Twelve hours around the clock as big as the screen. "Twelve around twice", Colin hears a skipping rhyme song. The little girl's voice?

Twelve around once,
Twelve around twice,
Round at the place where the maple leaf falls,
This is good advice.

Carillon bells chime from the Rainbow Tower on Canada's side of the bridge. Collin awakes. He rubs his eyes. They turn blackened. Some kind of ash.

CORDELIA (13)

Cordelia is a young girl originating from a small town in Texas. She is smart  and soft-spoken; but occassionally shows an impulsive side. Her entire family was slaughtered by anarchists shortly after the virus hit. She is now holed up in the ruins of a house with a few other people.

Before the virus hit, she suffered from depression because of her neglectful mother. This was followed by dreams in which a terrifying, but beautiful entity repeadetly offered her absolute power over others and a severe punishment for her mother. Cordie denied the offer, stating that happiness was what she desired most, not power or vengeance.  The virus hit the next morning, right after she refused the entity's offer. She is now a shell of the girl she once was, mentally-unbalanced after her family's death. She is now deceptive and uses her soft-spoken and intelligent demeanor to hide her rage and anger. Now the entity is calling to her again, and she will do anything to silence it.

...is this okay?

--Julio

Quoted from ReaperCreeper CORDELIA (13) Cordelia is a young girl originating from a small town in Texas. She is smart  and soft-spoken; but occassionally shows an impulsive side. Her entire family was slaughtered by anarchists shortly after the virus hit. She is now holed up in the ruins of a house with a few other people. Before the virus hit, she suffered from depression because of her neglectful mother. This was followed by dreams in which a terrifying, but beautiful entity repeadetly offered her absolute power over others and a severe punishment for her mother. Cordie denied the offer, stating that happiness was what she desired most, not power or vengeance.  The virus hit the next morning, right after she refused the entity's offer. She is now a shell of the girl she once was, mentally-unbalanced after her family's death. She is now deceptive and uses her soft-spoken and intelligent demeanor to hide her rage and anger, ...is this okay? --Julio

Julio, I love the idea of someone hiding how they really feel by a mask they put over their feelings.

I think we all do this to some extent. To watch it on the big screen-- amplified and larger than life-- I think it helps us understand ourselves and deal with our own struggles.

Thanks for this.

Sandra