Lost in Dreams II (OCC)

[ericthered]

Lost in Dreams (II)

You don't know why it happens. But eventually, it always does, and you end up naked, lost, and amid the craziest situations. You must use your wits to make do where ever you may end up, lost across the worlds.

This is a series of one character campaigns, focusing on world jumpers who cannot control their ability. The jumper travels in their sleep, initially doesn't control their travel, and arrives naked.

We are always recruiting.

The game emphasis will be on roleplaying and exploration, as the dreamer is carried by the whims of fate across various worlds. As a general rule the world won't switch until the current situation is over. The character will be from our world (or a close parallel), at TL 8.

A certain willingness to engage with the world presented is required. A decent part of gameplay is finding a place where you fit in the world presented. For example, how does a computer programmer find work when he's thrust among a bunch of dwarves. Mere survival is not the goal, but gaining a satisfied place in the world. Philisophical reconcilliations also have a place. There will also be a number of chances for the character to have a bigger effect on the world around them. But most of the time for that to happen, the character will have to engage and be proactive. Another focus of the game is skill and power aquisition. Time can be spent learning new skills and traits. Be aware many abilities will not work on many worlds.

If you want the PC to see a lot of something, please let me know explicitly. This is particuarly true of combat -- by default I play this game with lots of situations where the PC is outgunned and violence is a good way to get killed. Other requests could be for lots of mysteries to solve (I'm totally fine with sticking a modern detective in ancient rome and presenting them with a murder), lots of starfish aliens, horror scenarios, or stories around a certain continueing plotline.

build the character on 100 points. The disad limit is "make them fun". Emphasis should be placed on well rounded attributes and good social advantages: you'll need to make a LOT of friends. an additional 10 points may be spent on "Flavor skills", things that are completely random and probably won't be useful, and certainly not on most worlds. For example, clerical investment, game (football), connisuer (wine), or security clearance.

The character should start out with a fairly plausible back story, and background. No hard bitten survivalists please. I'll balk at anything more "well suited" than a surgeon who happens to be a old-fashioned gunsmith and loves to hunt (I actually know one, so thats why the line is there). The character will progress fairly rapidly, and we can have some good fun as skills are picked up from world to world.

Neither cinematic, supernatural, or exotic traits are available at the beginning of play, but they can and will be aquired during it. Metagame traits such as luck should not be bought during character creation.

The character receives the following 153 point package:

    (40)Jumper (world, New worlds +50%, Naked -30%, Uncontrollable -10%, Unconscious only -20%, skill roll is dreaming, only when sleeping -20%, requires Immediate Preparation 1 hour -75%, cosmic +50%, Drift -15%) [40]
    (28) Detect (supernatural phenomenon, Reflexive +40%) [28]
    (35) Clairsentience (Requires Immediate Preparation 1 Hour -75%, skill roll is dreaming, only when sleeping -20%, Unconscious only -20%, uncontrollable -10%, cosmic +50%, Increased Range x2 Million +200%) [35]
    (50) Usual Background (Can use any Magic) [50] 
    (15) Luck [15],
    (15) Serendipidy [15],
    (-15) Weirdness Magnet[-15]
    (-15) Dead Broke (Only after jumps -40%)[-15]

please note the character is unaware of these abilities up until the first post, and can only improve these abilities in play or with earned points. I in fact give no guarantee on what magic systems will be seen.

You will be able to improve the you jumper by removing Unconscious Only, drifting, then naked, and you will be able to add some abilities as well. Uncontrollable, preparation, and only when sleeping are permanently part of the ability (and plot).

Character Creation Cost Details

Spoiler:  

Social and Financial advantages are at 40% normal cost. They will only reflect bearing, attitude, and background: it will be harder to pass yourself off as a somebody if you naturally have low status, and wealth will be something a prerequisite for things like merchant.

NPC average DX and IQ are 10.5, not 10.
ST costs 5 points/level. All other ST costs are the same. Most Adult Male NPC's have ST 11, not 10.

Women may purchase:
Social Stigma (Second-Class Citizen, sometimes -50%) [-2]
Social Stigma (Valuable Property, sometimes -50%) [-5]

I'm open to custom talents, as long as they fit a theme, are mostly within one base attribute (or combine IQ with a base), and keep combat skills seprate from other skills.

Previous characters may pick up where they left off.

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The original thread was here. I'm starting a new one because the old one was long, and I want the first post to reflect some of the things I've learned. I had to take a break from running the game, but I think its time to start up again. To those of you from the first one, welcome back.

[ericthered]

Character Submission

please submit your characters in this thread.

[Rocket Man]

If we want to bring back previous characters, will they start where they left off, or be dropped into a fresh new world?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

If we want to bring back previous characters, will they start where they left off, or be dropped into a fresh new world?

we can do either. I prefer where they left off.

[Rocket Man]

In that case, here is Chandra Morgan back again. I believe this reflects all the additions to her character sheet; if I've forgotten something, feel free to tap me on the (virtual) shoulder.

Chandra Morgan
Female, Asian Indian features, black hair, brown eyes, 5'4", 125 lbs, right handed.
Age: 23
Occupation: Medical student

ST: 10 [0] Hits: 10 [0]
DX: 11 [20] Will: 14 [5]
IQ: 13 [60] Per: 13 [0]
HT: 11 [10] Fatigue: 11 [0]
Move: 5.5 [0]
Speed: 5 [0]

Cultural Familiarity: Western (Anglo) [0], Indic [1], Homeline [1] Homeline added 1/11/2016
Languages: English*: Native/Native [0], Hindi: Native/None [3]

Advantages
Attractive [4]
Charisma +1 [5]
Dream-Walker package (Dead Broke, Detect (supernatural), Luck, Jumper, Magery, Serendipity, Talent 1 (gizmo power), Weirdness Magnet) [60 net]
Fit [5]
Reduced Consumption 1 (Cast-Iron Stomach) [1]

Disadvantages
Code of Honor (Physician's) [-5]
Nightmares (9 or less) [-7]
Pacifism (Self Defense) [-15]
Phobia (Fire) (12 or less) [-5]
Social Stigma (Second-Class Citizen, sometimes) [-2]
Social Stigma (Valuable Property, sometimes) [-5]

Quirks
• "Social Anglican," knows the rituals and attends services, but mostly agnostic in her actual belief. [-1]
• Disdains her "backward" origins, but is also a little afraid of them [-1]
• Attentive (B163; +1 to concentrate on a lengthy task, -3 to notice interruptions.) [-1]
• Mild sense of duty to children; if she meets a child in need, she will try to help or find it help. [-1]
• Music lover, always takes time during the day to hear something, whether it's her classical CDs or a sidewalk guitarist. [-1]

Skills
Acting -- 12 [1]
Area Knowledge (London) -- 13 [1]
Bicycling/TL8 -- 11 [1]
Biology/TL8 (Biochemistry) -- 12 [2]
Brawling -- 11 [1]
Computer Operation/TL8 -- 13 [1]
Connoisseur (Music) -- 12 [1]
Current Affairs (People) -- 13 [1]
Dancing -- 11 [2]
Detect Lies -- 12 [2]
Diagnosis -- 12 [2]
Diplomacy --12 [2]
Electronics Operation (Parachronic) -- 12 [1] Added 1/12/2016
Expert Skill: Epidemiology -- 11 [1]
First Aid/TL8 -- 13 [1]
Games (Card) -- 13 [1]
Gardening -- 13 [1]
Hiking -- 11 [2]
Housekeeping --13 [1]
Intimidation -- 12 [1]
Literature -- 12 [2]
Meditation -- 12 [1] Added 1/11/2016
Mimicry (Speech) -- 11 [1] Added 1/11/2016
Observation -- 12 [1]
Physician/TL8 -- 12 [2]
Physiology/TL8 -- 12 [2]
Research/TL8 -- 13 [2]
Savoir-Faire -- 13 [1] Added 2/1/2016
Sex Appeal -- 12 (Includes +1 bonus for Attractive) [2]
Speed-Reading -- 12 [1]
Stealth -- 10 [1] Added 1/11/2016
Survival (Forest) -- 12 [1] Added 1/12/2016
Swimming -- 12 [2]

Techniques
Knee Strike -- 11 [1]

Allowed points: 100 (base value) + 60 (Dream-Walker package) + 10 ("background" skills) = 170.
Character Value: 95 (Attributes) + 4 (Language and Culture) + 75 (Advantages) - 39 (Disadvantages) -5 (Quirks) + 39(Skills) + 1 (Technique) = 170.

In another lifetime in another world, Chandra might never have amounted to much. She would have been one more daughter of one more rural family in India, perhaps destined to an illegal early marriage to a boy whose relatives were a little above her own, to ensure her parents’ security. One more story, almost routine.

But Chandra’s life has never been routine.

When she was eight, a fire destroyed her village. Her parents were among the casualties. As a result, the young girl was sent to live with a distant relative in England – a relative with no suitors outside the door, but a household full of books and a desire to have this new arrival educated, to keep her out of his way.

Chandra adopted an English last name and assimilated gladly to this strange, wonderful new world. But at night, her dreams were still full of India and Hindu gods and fire ... especially fire. Dreamless sleep became something to be cherished, but seldom achieved.

Now a first-year medical student, Chandra has seemingly become as Western and secular as any of her classmates. But always, a small corner wonders why the shadows of her past continue to stalk her, and what she must do to make peace with it at last.

SINCE BECOMING LOST IN DREAMS: Chandra initially appeared in the academy for the Infinity Patrol, in the dorm room of her own double, a cadet named Chandra Gopal who was taken in by Indian relatives instead of English ones. Through a careful schedule and a couple of Gopal's friends, Chandra was able to pose as Gopal in off-hours, receive some training, and even get a little interested in a fellow cadet ... but always with the knowledge that she could be sent to an internment camp at any moment and the growing fear that Gopal would tire of the charade and turn her in.

Inevitably, the Patrol created its own enemy, When Morgan discovered a magical spy named Hailey, Chandra offered cooperation -- if she could get off world and join Hailey's people, Chandra could use her status as a double with Homeline knowledge to their advantage, maybe even abducting and replacing Gopal when the time came. Around this time, she briefly met another Dreamer, Tereza, with more control over her powers, but the two were separated by the Dream before Chandra could gain much benefit from it.

In the midst of plotting a breakout on Spring Break, the Dream came for Chandra again, this time sending her to a 1904 England where humanity shares the world with an alien race known as the Hawfax. She currently has a job typing dictation for a local doctor, a request for an appointment with a Hawfax physician, Yishim, on Denton Street ... and an encounter with a dashing man, Robert Drake, who needs her help in quickly locating a Sanskrit speaker. Drake has already tried to give her a magic-laced card, leading her to wonder if this is one of Hailey's allies, one of Haikey's pursuers, or someone with no connection at all. She does have some instruction from Hailey on how to leave a classified ad that will get her world's attention, once Chandra has the funds to do so.

Notes on the Build
-- Cast-Iron Stomach is a leftover trait from her childhood. These days, it mostly means that she can tolerate extremely spicy or strongly-flavored food, on the rare occasions she has it.
-- Acting reflects a trained reserve; she can hide her true emotions very well when she chooses to.
-- Yes, even though she hasn't finished medical school, she still considers herself under the Hippocratic Oath.
-- The Brawling skill and related Knee Strike technique were learned in a self defense course. In a country where even pepper spray is illegal, you take what advantages you can.
-- Several of her skills reflect preferred hobbies, including the hiking, swimming and card-playing. Bicycling is more practical, since she does not drive or own a car.
-- Her wealth in her own world is effectively Average; her ability to afford medical school is a combination of scholarships, help from her relative, and very careful financial planning. (I considered giving her Miserliness for a moment.)
-- Given her demeanor, her Sex Appeal skill is infrequently used. However, if she thinks playing up to someone's preconceptions will give her an edge, she's calculating enough to do it. And of course, she does occasionally meet someone she would like to know better. ;)
-- Her Current Affairs skill is particularly keen in the area of "royal watching."
-- Since she lives on her own at present, her Housekeeping skill has been vital to personal survival. :) (She tends toward neatness and order as it is.)
-- Her sheet treats English as her "native" language; she has only occasionally spoken in Hindi since coming to the UK and has never learned to read it.

[Poonbahbah]

Alexander Green:
Player: Poonbahbah
Ht: 5’ 9”
Wt: 170 lbs
Size Modifier: 0
Age: 29
Point Total: 110 Breakdown: Attributes 20 Sec. Attr. 0 Lang/culture 15 Adv/perks 44 Disadv/quirks -25 Skill 55 unspent 1

Attributes
ST: 10 [0]
DX: 10 [0]
IQ: 11 [20]
HT: 10 [0]

Secondary Attributes
HP: 10 [0]
Will: 11 [0]
Per: 11 [0]
FP: 10 [0]

Basic Lift: 20 lbs
Damage thrust: d-2, swing d
Basic Speed: 5.00 [0]
Move: 5 [0]


Social Background [15]
TL: 8
Status +2 [0]
Cultural Familiarity: Western
East [1]
Middle East [1]
Languages: English (Native/Native)
Arabic (Accented/None) [1]
Cantonese (Accented/None) [1]
French (Accented/None) [1]
German (Accented/None) [1]
Indonesian (Accented/None) [1]
Italian (Accented/None) [1]
Japanese (Accented/None) [1]
Korean (Accented/None) [1]
Mandarin (Accented/None) [1]
Portuguese (Accented/None) [1]
Russian (Accented/None) [1]
Spanish (Accented/None) [1]
Urdu (Accented/None) [1]

Advantages [44]
Language Talent [10]
Wealth (Multi 1 Ave*1000) [30] -60% Campaign
Independent Income (10%) [4] -60% Campaign

[0] campaign given
Luck (Game time) [15]
Serendipity [15]
Jumper [30] world, New worlds +50%, Naked -30%, Uncontrollable -10%, Unconscious only -20%, skill roll is dreaming, only when sleeping -20%, requires Immediate Preparation 1 hour -75%, cosmic +50%, Drift -15%
Magery 0 [5]
Talent 1 (gizmo power)[5]
Detect (supernatural phenomenon) [20]

Perks [0]

Disadvantages [-20]
Callous [-5]
Pacifism (Reluctant Killer) [-5]
Post Combat Shakes (12) [-5] After combat roll vs SC on failure roll on fright table with Margin of Failure as a modifier.
Slow Riser [-5] -2 on SC checks and -1 to effective IQ for 1 hour after waking up from sleep lasting an hour+

[0] campaign given
Weirdness Magnet [-15]
Dead Broke (Only after jumps -40%)[-15]


Quirks [-5]
Code of Honor (Gentlemanly Behavior) [-1]
Colorblindness (abnormal green) [-1]
Dislikes (Mess) [-1]
Proud [-1]
Minor Addiction (Coffee) [-1]

Skills [55]
Acting (A) IQ+1 [4]-12
-Intimidation Acting-3 [0]-8
Carousing (E) HT [1]-10
Computer Op. (E) IQ [1]-11
Diplomacy (H) IQ [4]-11
Driving (Auto) (A) DX-1 [1]-9
Fast Talk (A) IQ+1 [4]-12
-Fortune Telling Fast Talk-3 [0]-9
-Panhandling Fast Talk-2 [0]-10
First Aid (E) IQ [1]-11
Gesture (E) IQ [1]-11
Housekeeping (E) IQ [1]-11
Leadership (A) IQ+1 [4]-12
Lip Reading (A) Per+1 [4]-12
Merchant (A) IQ+5 [20]-16 +1 to reaction rolls when buying or selling, +2 at skill 20+
-Accounting Merchant-5 [0]-11
-Administration Merchant-3 [0]-13
-Economics Merchant-6 [0]-10
-Finance Merchant-6 [0]-10
-Market Analysis Merchant-4 [0]-12
-Propaganda Merchant-5 [0]-11
Public Speaking (A) IQ+1 [4]-12
Research (A) IQ-1 [1]-10
Riding (Equine) (A) DX-1 [1]-9
Savoir Faire (High Society) (E) IQ+1 [2]-12
-Savoir Faire (Servant) HS-2 [0]-10
Swimming (E) HT [1]-10

[0]Campaign Given
Animal Handling (Equine) (A) IQ-1 [1]-9
Dancing (A) DX-1 [1]-9
Erotic Art (A) DX-1 [1]-9
Games (Chess) (E) IQ [1]-11
Games (Go) (E) IQ [1]-11
Games (Mah Jongg) (A) IQ [1]-11
Games (Mancala) (E) IQ [1]-11
Gardening (E) IQ [1]-11
Law (International Business of his world) (H) IQ-2 [1]-9
Piloting (light Aircraft) (A) DX-1 [1]-9

Equipment

Combat Load:

Travel Load:

Encumbrance:Combat load - x lbs (none -0 move)

Travel Load - x lbs (none -0 move)

Offense

Defenses
Dodge-
Parry () –

Back Story:
A successful businessman.

Appearance
Caucasian, brown hair, green eyes, light tan.

So let me know what you think.

Deuteranomaly: In males with deuteranomaly, the green cone photopigment is abnormal. Yellow and green appear redder and it is difficult to tell violet from blue. This condition is mild and doesn’t interfere with daily living. Deuteranomaly is the most common form of color blindness and is an X-linked disorder affecting 5 percent of*males.

From here

P.S. Yay!
P.P.S. Now to reread Green's story so far.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

We are always recruiting.

So... Is this still true? I mean you wrote this about five years ago, so assuming yes might be a bit presumptuous.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

So... Is this still true? I mean you wrote this about five years ago, so assuming yes might be a bit presumptuous.

Yes, it is still true. It might be less true if I wasn't posting in this forum. Lost in dreams was intentionally designed to be easy for me to run.


EDIT: Which is to say, I'd love to have you. What sort of character are you looking at?

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

What sort of character are you looking at?

Julian Hayden
Not the hall of concise summaries! The only way out here is concise summaries!
Appearance
Julian Hayden has a slight, waifish build, quite literally ninety pounds soaking wet. He stands about a hundred and sixty centimeters tall, and weighing about forty kg makes him look frail and a little boney. He has yet to develop any facial hair, his eyes are grey and his brown hair is kept relatively short. Despite a history of abuse, Julian has minimal to no scarring.

Julian’s boyish looks coupled with his skittish demeanor and smaller give him a cute and harmless appearance. Unfortunately, his self esteem is so poor he doesn’t recognize how his appearance is perceived nor does he cultivate these reactions. In fact, because of social pressures, he is often inclined to act out in ways he is not well equipped for.

His appearance is currently marred by the fact that he has been living rough for the past month or so. He was most recently wearing a filthy and tattered school uniform, mostly because he was going to sleep and wanted to keep other clothes clean.

Biography
Julian Hayden does not remember a time when he wasn’t living in an institution. In fact, his earliest memories are of living in the Charitable Hands Youth Shelter, at the age of six. The steady churn of children through the shelter made it hard for him to make friends, but at the age of eight (and a half!), he made his first long-term friend with Rupert. At ten, he befriended a fellow student, Lloyd.

Both Rupert and Lloyd were kind of bookish, Lloyd more so than Rupert. Rupert kept himself busy with a lemonade stand he ran near the beach, and occasionally had time to play video games. Julian was a little jealous of both of them. They both had family (Rupert’s was his sister Rose), both were taller, and both seemed much more confident than him. He was a lot more jealous of the those who got to leave the orphanage, at least until August 2021.

In August of 2021, Julian learned the ugly truth behind the orphanage. The orphanage’s caretaker, Wyatt Beatty, is corrupt and demand payments from the wards under his care in exchange for not selling them off. He keeps his activities hidden through a mix of intimidation, bribery, and murder. Julian began spent his summer break working odd jobs hoping he would be able to meet Beatty’s demands. Unfortunately, he was unable to make enough money during the summer, and eventually had to take a part-time job at a local café during the school year.

One of his odd jobs was particularly emasculating for Julian and led to unwanted attention from other students at Port Royale Grammar School. This unwanted attention led to harassment at the café, and a poor response by his employer and need for more money led Julian to rob his employer. This did not go well; his colleague and fellow orphan Wilt was blamed, and forcibly disappeared. Beatty took the money back Julian stole with only a warning.

The attention Julian received wasn’t all bad. It led to a relationship with Aura Perry, a rich and popular girl in an upper year. Aura gave Julian an entrance into an in-crowd of careless and wealthy students. Julian began to rob them too, stealing loose cash and electronics (he eventually found a buyer for these, by the name of Hendry). Aura wasn’t in the relationship purely out of infatuation or love, she knew that Julian would be easy to manipulate. She pressured him into intimate activity, including taking naughty pictures, by offering him small sums of money. Julian wasn’t entirely comfortable but participated anyway.

Rupert had been paying Beatty for a much longer period of time than Julian. Beatty had begun extorting Rupert over his sister since she was eight years old. Rupert began to spend his savings trying to keep both him and his sister afloat, and eventually asked Julian to pay for his sister Rose, if he was taken away. This came sooner than Julian expected, as in February of 2022, Beatty had come to take Rupert away. The only thing Julian got trying to stop Beatty was hurt and poorer.

Rupert’s disappearance put considerable strain on Julian, so much so he ended up spilling everything to the new math teacher, Ms. Rivers. Ms. Rivers was too new in town and made the mistake of threatening Beatty. If she weren’t quick thinking enough to take the wrap for Julian telling her everything, Julian would have been done for. Instead, he just had to dig a grave and live with her blood on his hands. Between the late hour he got back to the orphanage at, and under intense self-loathing, Julian decided to snub Aura. This was a mistake. A couple days later when he met with Aura again, she was very mad. She told him in no uncertain terms that if he left her, all the pictures she took would come out. Aura began to grow more demanding and forceful, and Julian had no choice but to accept.

Julian eventually had a dream. He called them “pins and needles” dreams, because they left him with the strange pain in the neck the morning after. In this dream, he saw pearls on the ocean floor. This gave Julian the idea to free dive for valuables to sell to tourists. It would be legitimate form of income, and probably more lucrative than the café. As an accomplished swimmer, he figured this would be reasonably doable. Over the spring break, Julian began his attempts at gathering these pearls. There were hiccups along the way (including an encounter with a shark) but he made a tidy profit off the pearls he gathered. He decided to begin again once the holiday season resumed in December.

As the parties began to die off with the end of tourist season, and Beatty’s demands spiked again after he took on Rupert’s responsibility for paying for Rose, Julian began looking for a replacement source of income. He eventually made the decision to rob the now mostly unoccupied summer homes in a relatively remote part of Rattan. While most valuables were removed from the summer homes (and others were simply not portable for a teenager without a car), he did manage to steal many bicycles and power tools and turn a meaningful profit.

Between the demands of Aura, café work, and theft, Julian was left with very little time to spend at school. His grades began to steadily decline, and his relationship with Lloyd became more frayed. He only barely passed Year 8. He had another strange dream, where he learned about a necklace at the bottom of a cove. The necklace gave him the familiar pins and needles feeling, and he was reluctant to sell it for this reason. This was until a man who gave him the same feeling offered him an enormous sum for the necklace. Only a few days later, the body of a kid of similar appearance to Julian was found in the cove.

While the death was disturbing, it didn’t really bother Julian, until Aura tried to pressure him into going to the cove for an intimate encounter. His flat refusal led her to release the enormous library of embarrassing pictures Aura had gathered on him. He soon lost his job at the café, he almost pushed Lloyd away from himself completely, and he passed out at an assembly that everyone knew was prompted by the pictures of him. The school organized sessions with a therapist for him, which he ducked out of to meet his financial obligations.

In December, he once again went hunting for pearls. He purchased a rebreather to extend the time he could search for pearls underwater. He managed to find an enormous number of pearls, perhaps enough to pay Beatty for a year! Then, a pair of corrupt officers began accosting him for a “permit”. When he refused to pay, they smashed his rebreather and stole his entire catch.

Julian had no choice but to revert to stealing. Unfortunately, he picked the wrong house, and the owner caught him in the act. The owner recognized him, and he attempted to assault Julian. Julian stabbed the man and was unable to raise enough money to pay Beatty. He chose to flee than face the consequence of not paying Beatty, giving Rose what little he had, so she would have something to pay Beatty with. He then began living on the street for two weeks, before jumping to another world, and being lost in dreams…

[TGLS]

Peculiarities
OK, these are things that I have weaved into Julian’s longer biography that might butt up against setting assumptions you may have (actually, I just reread the first post so I’m sure most of them butt up against them). Just listing them off:

• Julian keeps a diary. The diary is special or something because it follows him as he jumps between worlds. This is for two reasons: one, having Julian go looking for a pen and paper all the time so I can fulfill a quirk would be a pain; two, because Julian does not appreciate the transience of all things and would probably give up keeping a diary after the second jump.
• Julian begins to use some of the abilities (the supernatural detect, dream clairsentience) in the package for quite some time before the first jump.
• The supernatural detect is mostly used to detect dream clairsentience. It is also set off by the diary, at a cove, a strange necklace in the cove, and the buyer of the necklace. It manifests as a “pins and needles” feeling in the back of the neck. He pays attention to these feelings, but hasn’t a clue what the feeling is indicating, beyond “pins and needles” dreams tend to happen.
• I use dream clairsentience in about three times in the story I had written out. The first leads Julian to the diary. The second shows him pearls under the sea, giving him the idea to go diving for pearls. The third leads him to a strange necklace, which he later sells.

If any of these are too much, I can remove them. If the first one is problematic, then I’m probably just going to drop the keeping a diary bit entirely. Would be a shame; it’s half done.

Timeline Differences
Julian comes from a close parallel of Earth. Divergence point is in 1650, when an unseasonal storm defeated the Spanish force that had come to evict the English settlers and pirates from the Bay Islands of Honduras. The islands were eventually ceded in the Treaty of Madrid (1670). This has had three repercussions:

• The colony established by Claiborne in 1638 steadily grew and eventually began to thrive. Thus, the names of the islands and cities are different. It was periodically attacked by the Spanish throughout the 18th century during the Anglo-Spanish wars.
• William Walker didn’t travel to the Bay Islands to instigate rebellion against Honduras. He instead joined the Confederate Army, and was shot by a union soldier, coincidentally named Noel Salmon.
• The Bay Islands remain a British Overseas Territory in the present day (January 2023), with an economy like the Cayman Islands (Tourism, Finance). The Bay Islands has a slightly rougher character, and more of a reputation for organized crime.

Despite the relatively early divergence point, there are very few changes to events and persons far removed from the Bay Islands. There’s no COVID on this Earth, but most other 2020s era Earths don’t have it either, so that’s not notable.

Extraneous Setting Details
Development of the Bay Islands was periodically interrupted by hurricanes, which in turn led to delayed self-government. The Bay Islands use the Bay Islands Pound, which tracks closer to the GBP because it achieved self-government following decimalization. The Bay Islands have a screwed-up school calendar, with holidays starting the first Monday of December, April, and August. School resumes the first Monday of September, January, and May.

---

Just as an aside, I plan on completing the diary entries first so...