Throne of Harlots

[Zanyuki]

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

-- Revelation Chapter 17:4-6

What is the Throne of Harlots?

Throne of Harlots (ToH) is a series of character short stories, each independent of one another, loosely based from the urban legend of the Holders. in Throne of Harlots, members who have chosen their Holders and their Objects can write a one-shot story of their Holder, exploring how they have obtained their Object/s and a general background narrative on the Holder.

the background story of the Throne of Harlots is 3000 years into the future, where humanity is enslaved by a race of interstellar parasites called the tronos (pl. tronii). the tronii attach themselves into a human's central nervous system and generally lie dormant for about 2 years, from where it would change the host's habits by making them subject to the will of a central organic computer, Babel. Babel, the mother of the tronii, crashed to the Pacific Ocean 4000 years ago.

in the year 5000, humanity has long been since subject to the dominant and extremely repressive will of Babel and its Court of Chamberlains, the ten queens or "harlots" who are in charge of birthing the human species. in the world of ToH, any female children are forbidden, especially since the genetic code of humanity has been altered to prevent females from being born. thus, the lineage of the human race is all dependent upon the Court, who demand sperm from their male subjects and store them in highly-secure storage areas (called "Arks"). Chamberlains cannot bear a child within themselves, however; they particularly engage in orgies with hundreds of men at a time, after which their servants would compile the seminal samples of her lovers and decide which of them was most virile, which would become her next son in a high-tech incubation chamber.

with this system in place the story surmises the inadvertent birth of a female child, purged by the Babel yet had miraculously survived. named Hail, the child grows on to age 20 and learns of the Holders, possessors of demonic relics that could destroy humanity. hunted by Babel and the Court, all alone until she finds and gathers the Holders, Hail sets out to find the only redemption for a depraved race forever chained to thralldom--destruction.

how the members write the story of their Holders is up to them, and will influence the canon narrative of Hail and her recruitment of the Holders. please remember, however, that since ToH is just loosely based off the legend, we will be doing away with the halfhouse/asylum thing and instead encourage the members to explore means on finding the Objects outside of these mental institutions.

i'll be open to suggestions and comments.

special thanks to yuki as well.

[kittikai]

related ba ito dun sa first idea mo? http://ichiraku.org/forums/ichiraku-...ons-plans.html

parang si Hail yung magiging leader ng cult?

[Zanyuki]

no. this is a new thing entirely, and it's probably the final storyline. i'll put up a sample chapter of HAIL MARY (the chapter "zero" of Throne of Harlots) soon.

Hail won't lead a cult, but she'll find and gather the Holders.

[kittikai]

may naisip nakong holder ko, pero nahihiya ako ilagay dito kasi di ako magaling magformulate ng story in english.

will you help me later?

gusto kong maging "Holder of memories"

and what im holding is a camera obscura box, im not sure how big it is pero ang concept ko is.. well. lets talk about it later. di ko parin alam kung pano ko ippiece yung story, like what you said.. no mental institution

regarding the story, si hail.. igagather nya lahat ngholders.. pero diba they must not come together? - chaka yung holder, may option silang sirain yung hawak nila. kaso may cost, either mamatay or mabaliw. something like that. what will happen?

[Zanyuki]

there will be some kinds of... "special institutions", for the care of "special people". by this i mean everyone suspected of treason and sedition to the rule of Babel and the Court, which society treats as a physiological disorder (read: disease) since the person's tronos can't pick up the influence signal from Babel.

so yeah, there'd still be mental hospitals, but remade to feature not only real crazies, but rebels and the whole lot as well, tortured and generally abused by monstrous wardens.

[kittikai]

can you explain further? the disease is what causing people to follow babel? anong relashon ni babel dun sa sampung babae na part ng court?

[Zanyuki]

Babel is a huge alien that fell to Earth on early 11th century (1000s). think of it as Clover, but practically immobile, and its location kept secret. Babel is the "mother of the harlots" (as Hail call them), and in reality Babel controls the alien parasites called "tronii" who are actually harmless enough. for 2 years that is.

after 2 years, the tronos embeds itself into your brain and influences your thought processes. how they do this is to pickup "signals" from Babel. in this way, Babel literally mind-controls every human on Earth, from the lowliest peasant to the highest nobility. everything that happens is the will of Babel.

now, since Babel is in control of the human race, it logically follows that it will try to keep its order imposed at all times. this means that even the rate of breeding of its slave race must be controlled. to do this, Babel killed off every woman on Earth in a hundred-year-period, using its mind-controlled slaves to hunt down every female and kill them. afterwards, Babel chose ten females and cloned them, giving them bodily perfection to bear the future generations of mankind. with this, now known as the Court of Chamberlains, humanity's propagation will be kept in check. human genetic stock was also modified to prevent female embryos from developing into fetuses.

now the Sickness is a kind of an umbrella term to denote anarchists, renegades and rebels to the world order of Babel. although most of humanity doesn't even know that they're being manipulated by an alien called Babel--only knowing that they're ruled by the Queens, the Court of Chamberlains--Babel regularly sniffs out people who have weakening tronii and, acting through its agents, captures them, and either kills them on the spot or places them in rehabilitation centers, the Vaults. these Vaults are ToH's equivalent of the mental hospitals in the Holders. here, insane people, those who have used surgery to destroy their tronii or else forsaken by it, supernaturally-inclined people, deviants and whatnot are kept in never-ending torment under the monstrosities of the jailkeepers--Wardens who are genetic crosses between man and beast.

true to the Holders series, some--but not all--Holders can be seen originating from the Vaults, and Hail will try to contact them and recruit them.

[kittikai]

oohh. i see.

this is great! gawin natin rpg. posible ba yun?

[Zanyuki]

pwede rin, kaso pano un? i'm envisioning more of... an interactive story.

[kittikai]

whats an interactive story? di pa rpg yun? magccontribute ang mga members ng sarili nilang story.

[Zanyuki]

yes, but what they contribute will affect the flow of the main story of Hail.

[kittikai]

ohh. sige sige. sali ako baby. magbibgay din ako ng story, and a few artworks as well. pag my time ako (siguro) i cannot commit but ill try for you

[Zanyuki]

ikaw nlng magmarket ng ToH. hehe.

[kittikai]

to whom? sa mga members? ill try to make an art cover. mamaya pag may time pako

[Zanyuki]

di bagay sa style mo ToH kasi masyadong dark to eh. kumbaga ang ESRB rating nito is M (baka nga Adult-Only eh). kelangan natin ng artist na ang style nya is dark, bleak, and post-modern.