Welcome to Crater Village, a village as shrouded in mystery as it is in history. Ask around the village itself and you'll hear a hundred origin stories, a dozen names for the original settlement, and a thousand theories on what happened to the original and successive generations of vanished villagers. You'll also hear half a dozen explanations for the great crater it's built in. Everyone who lives in Crater Village has their own version of events surrounding this ancient village they believe to be the true one. General scientific consensus, however, holds that this crater was once rich with resources that the original villagers built a settlement to life off of, and once a drought dried up much of those they moved on to a nearby lake settlement instead. Similarly, later settlements arrived for reasons of curiosity, convenience, or resources in the forest and moved on once it became more convenient to do so than to leave.
There is, however, evidence for almost any of the theories should you look hard enough and with an open mind. This settlement primarily consists of the children of archaeologists, historians and other adventure buffs looking to make history and solve the riddles of the original settlers. Very little adventure actually happens in the village, however, as the mysteries of the village offer very little clues with which to solve themselves, and the crater is far out of the way of most of civilization. The people in the village are a relaxed sort, happy to be caught up in their own fantasies and their historical pursuits. You'll be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't started up their own collection of some sort of artifacts collected from the ruins of the old village, and few who haven't had a crack at the indecipherable hieroglyphs worn into much of the ruins. Despite their focus on history, the village itself is equipped with much of the most recent technology available in their version of Earth, a world without continents or countries, and maintains contact with the outside world. In fact, the villagers are preparing for a tourist boom due to the discovery of an ancient and pristine statue in the crater's forest, which has captured the fascination of the rest of the world.
Saturday, June 5th, 2460
A strong storm rolls in out of nowhere, unleashing torrents of rain, howling winds, and cloud-to-ground lighting strikes. While not particularly dangerous, the villagers lament the damage a storm of this strength could wreck on some of the more fragile ruins.
Sunday, June 6th, 2460
The lightning strikes stop, the wind ceases, and the rain reduces to a light drizzle, and the villagers rush out to check the damage. The smaller building with hieroglyphics in it has collapsed, but otherwise the damage is minute. However, all attempts at outside communication fail, and the storm continues to rumble and flash in the skies above them. A supply truck attempting to leave drives into the fog from the storm and is forced to turn around when they nearly crash due to the darkness of the storm. By the time they return, they find the battery of the truck nearly dead. A few of the villagers go out to check the condition of the known ruins in the forest.
Tuesday, June 8th, 2460
None of the villagers have returned, and an impromptu search party is sent out to find them. Only one is found, their campsite torn apart and the villager mangled almost beyond recognition. Something roars in the forest nearby, and chases the terrified villagers just out of sight all the way to the edge of the forest. Fortunately, the pursuit ends there, and the villagers make it home unharmed. That night, a small crowd of something charges out of the forest and attacks one of the far corners of the village, savaging the ruins there, collapsing buildings, and slaughtering or dragging away everyone living there.
September 26th, 2460
The storm remains over the village, often raining, but rarely howling wind and never striking lighting, but the storm is no longer the villager's worry so much as their bane. The fog encircling the crater prevents communication and hampers growth of crops due to the limited sunlight it allows, but its true danger is in trapping the villagers with the dark denizens of the forest. Since the initial raids, villagers have learned mid-morning to early afternoon means the creatures of the forest hang back to the deeper and darker recesses of the trees. Using this knowledge, they've been able to get supplies from the forest when necessary, and with the help of their modern technology have also erected a wooden fence around the city. Although it doesn't always keep the creatures out, it seems to slow them down enough to be fought off.
Friendly villagers are harried and worn now, ready and willing to fight for their lives, and desperate for any feasible escape. The fence on the far side of the village was erected not to keep monsters out, but to prevent desperate villagers from chancing the dangerous cliffs of the crater in the absolute dark of the storm. Some believe this storm may be a regular event, and one which wiped out the previous settlements due to the creatures it harbors, but others are more interested simply in survival than answering the question of why they must survive. Supplies are limited, and previously friendly people become more vicious the more desperate they become, turning their violence on each other at times, fighting over supplies and food and even over safer homes further from the line of the forest. Rather than drunkenness and mishaps, the small police force of the town has been employed to keep the peace between villagers when not fighting for survival.
When witnessed, the creatures in the forest seem to vary. Some have seen the Minotaur charging from the forest, others the Hydra striking from trees, some swear to have seen Jinni, and a statue in the forest of a previous villager bears testament to the possibility of some form of Medusa lurking inside. No one knows how the creatures arrived, though if you ask around you may hear many theories--as if turning their game of theories to the cause of the monsters is a form of coping now--and no one knows what the storm is. Neither does anyone know how people, actual people, have arrived in the ruined 'church' in the night, but despite the desperate situation and the tight supplies, the village leader, Miss Stotenheim, is willing to lend them shelter in exchange for their help in fighting off the creatures each night. The innkeep, Mr. Mellard, is likewise willing to give the strange arrivals free room and board should they need it.
Due to the remote location, most people in the village had a mobile phone. As a safety procedure now everyone is issued mobile phones. Given they lack production factories, however, most of the phones handed out were previously owned by villagers now missing.
The Woken Dream: A Plot Driven Horror Game on LJ
Welcome to Crater Village, a village as shrouded in mystery as it is in history. Ask around the village itself and you'll hear a hundred origin stories, a dozen names for the original settlement, and a thousand theories on what happened to the original and successive generations of vanished villagers. You'll also hear half a dozen explanations for the great crater it's built in. Everyone who lives in Crater Village has their own version of events surrounding this ancient village they believe to be the true one. General scientific consensus, however, holds that this crater was once rich with resources that the original villagers built a settlement to life off of, and once a drought dried up much of those they moved on to a nearby lake settlement instead. Similarly, later settlements arrived for reasons of curiosity, convenience, or resources in the forest and moved on once it became more convenient to do so than to leave.
There is, however, evidence for almost any of the theories should you look hard enough and with an open mind. This settlement primarily consists of the children of archaeologists, historians and other adventure buffs looking to make history and solve the riddles of the original settlers. Very little adventure actually happens in the village, however, as the mysteries of the village offer very little clues with which to solve themselves, and the crater is far out of the way of most of civilization. The people in the village are a relaxed sort, happy to be caught up in their own fantasies and their historical pursuits. You'll be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't started up their own collection of some sort of artifacts collected from the ruins of the old village, and few who haven't had a crack at the indecipherable hieroglyphs worn into much of the ruins. Despite their focus on history, the village itself is equipped with much of the most recent technology available in their version of Earth, a world without continents or countries, and maintains contact with the outside world. In fact, the villagers are preparing for a tourist boom due to the discovery of an ancient and pristine statue in the crater's forest, which has captured the fascination of the rest of the world.
Saturday, June 5th, 2460
A strong storm rolls in out of nowhere, unleashing torrents of rain, howling winds, and cloud-to-ground lighting strikes. While not particularly dangerous, the villagers lament the damage a storm of this strength could wreck on some of the more fragile ruins.
Sunday, June 6th, 2460
The lightning strikes stop, the wind ceases, and the rain reduces to a light drizzle, and the villagers rush out to check the damage. The smaller building with hieroglyphics in it has collapsed, but otherwise the damage is minute. However, all attempts at outside communication fail, and the storm continues to rumble and flash in the skies above them. A supply truck attempting to leave drives into the fog from the storm and is forced to turn around when they nearly crash due to the darkness of the storm. By the time they return, they find the battery of the truck nearly dead. A few of the villagers go out to check the condition of the known ruins in the forest.
Tuesday, June 8th, 2460
None of the villagers have returned, and an impromptu search party is sent out to find them. Only one is found, their campsite torn apart and the villager mangled almost beyond recognition. Something roars in the forest nearby, and chases the terrified villagers just out of sight all the way to the edge of the forest. Fortunately, the pursuit ends there, and the villagers make it home unharmed. That night, a small crowd of something charges out of the forest and attacks one of the far corners of the village, savaging the ruins there, collapsing buildings, and slaughtering or dragging away everyone living there.
September 26th, 2460
The storm remains over the village, often raining, but rarely howling wind and never striking lighting, but the storm is no longer the villager's worry so much as their bane. The fog encircling the crater prevents communication and hampers growth of crops due to the limited sunlight it allows, but its true danger is in trapping the villagers with the dark denizens of the forest. Since the initial raids, villagers have learned mid-morning to early afternoon means the creatures of the forest hang back to the deeper and darker recesses of the trees. Using this knowledge, they've been able to get supplies from the forest when necessary, and with the help of their modern technology have also erected a wooden fence around the city. Although it doesn't always keep the creatures out, it seems to slow them down enough to be fought off.
Friendly villagers are harried and worn now, ready and willing to fight for their lives, and desperate for any feasible escape. The fence on the far side of the village was erected not to keep monsters out, but to prevent desperate villagers from chancing the dangerous cliffs of the crater in the absolute dark of the storm. Some believe this storm may be a regular event, and one which wiped out the previous settlements due to the creatures it harbors, but others are more interested simply in survival than answering the question of why they must survive. Supplies are limited, and previously friendly people become more vicious the more desperate they become, turning their violence on each other at times, fighting over supplies and food and even over safer homes further from the line of the forest. Rather than drunkenness and mishaps, the small police force of the town has been employed to keep the peace between villagers when not fighting for survival.
When witnessed, the creatures in the forest seem to vary. Some have seen the Minotaur charging from the forest, others the Hydra striking from trees, some swear to have seen Jinni, and a statue in the forest of a previous villager bears testament to the possibility of some form of Medusa lurking inside. No one knows how the creatures arrived, though if you ask around you may hear many theories--as if turning their game of theories to the cause of the monsters is a form of coping now--and no one knows what the storm is. Neither does anyone know how people, actual people, have arrived in the ruined 'church' in the night, but despite the desperate situation and the tight supplies, the village leader, Miss Stotenheim, is willing to lend them shelter in exchange for their help in fighting off the creatures each night. The innkeep, Mr. Mellard, is likewise willing to give the strange arrivals free room and board should they need it.
Due to the remote location, most people in the village had a mobile phone. As a safety procedure now everyone is issued mobile phones. Given they lack production factories, however, most of the phones handed out were previously owned by villagers now missing.
Setting Rules FAQ Taken Characters Reserves Application NPCs Rooming Arrangements Mod Contact Player Contact Hiatus and Drops