Oh man, I had a helluvan idea while I was working today.
I was thinking that with a Clark-tech space princess, a Magical Girl, and probably even freakin' elves, goblins, and dwarves running around in the 'Underhills', it would only make sense if we had gibbering elder beings from the edge of creation as well.
And then I remembered the Shadowspawn Girlfriend Writing Prompt...
So, we take our Tomoko-expy. Almost non-existent self-esteem, growing more and more disillusioned every day, but she has this incredible all-consuming crush on the main character. And it's not terribly unhealthy... Not like she'd start a cult or anything. :V
But she is desperate, and she has been banging her head against the walls because he's surrounded by all these incredibly powerful and beautiful girls. (Never mind that with just a bit of proper self-care she'd be rather lovely, too.) And somehow, in the aftermath of one of their adventures, she comes across some cultist arch-priest's grimoire. Without any traps or 'protections' on it.
She does pretty much exactly what the book says in order to summon an elder being with which she can make a pact - her soul for its power. But she fails to understand the full meaning behind that.
And the elder being that is summoned is bound to that poor girl's body, and the sheer weight of its mind upon hers completely destroys her own mind, leaving nothing but her memories and experiences as they simply became one with the elder being's mind.
She then looks into a mirror... and shed's a single tear. "Oh you poor, pitiful creature. Why did you do that? Why did *I* do that? Forgive me.... please forgive me..."
And then I backed up and went, "Wait a minute. These are supposed to be eldritch horrors with blue and orange morality, aren't they?"
But then.... What if that was the exception and not the rule?
What if the few that we did see that are bent on destroying our universe and remaking it in their image are simply the criminally insane among them? Eldritch horrors sealed in prisons, indeed! And by and large, the rest of these beings are quite benign and are respectful of intelligent life?
This would mean that the only ones that would answer one of these summons would be the ones that truly have no good intentions... or (much more rarely) were young and curious, not knowing any better until it was too late.
A relatively young elder being... say only a million or so years. Very young by their standards - a child, honestly - but already so ancient that a human mind, especially one so unprepared and so lacking in self-worth, would be utterly destroyed by the mere presence of the other's mind. (This would lend credence to the idea that laying eyes upon them can cause insanity in all but the most strong willed.)
And in turn, the Elder Being would be so inexperienced that they would not know how to protect the frail little light from their own overbearing power.
And so, you would have this elder being, bound into the flesh of a young girl who was so wrapped up in heartbreak, depression, and disillusionment that she might have become a sad statistic anyhow. Both of them having made foolish decisions. One left feeling heartfelt remorse at her grave error, the other having paid the ultimate price.
She soon gathers her druthers, though. She won't let this have been in vain. She will honor the poor girl by living out the life she had dearly wanted to in her stead. She will make her own existence a memorial for a life tragically lost through a horrible misunderstanding.
And then the main character's life gets that much more complicated.
The Magical Girl has to be restrained from 'exorcising the abomination' while the Clark-tech Princess is uneasy in the extreme as her people have had bad experiences with her kind before.
And all the while, our Shadowspawn Girlfriend must come to terms with having human emotions - particularly those of a young girl in the throes of a late-blooming adolescence, caught between the roiling emotions of love for the main character, sorrow for what she has done, and hurt from the treatment of the other girls.
Thoughts?
I was thinking that with a Clark-tech space princess, a Magical Girl, and probably even freakin' elves, goblins, and dwarves running around in the 'Underhills', it would only make sense if we had gibbering elder beings from the edge of creation as well.
And then I remembered the Shadowspawn Girlfriend Writing Prompt...
So, we take our Tomoko-expy. Almost non-existent self-esteem, growing more and more disillusioned every day, but she has this incredible all-consuming crush on the main character. And it's not terribly unhealthy... Not like she'd start a cult or anything. :V
But she is desperate, and she has been banging her head against the walls because he's surrounded by all these incredibly powerful and beautiful girls. (Never mind that with just a bit of proper self-care she'd be rather lovely, too.) And somehow, in the aftermath of one of their adventures, she comes across some cultist arch-priest's grimoire. Without any traps or 'protections' on it.
She does pretty much exactly what the book says in order to summon an elder being with which she can make a pact - her soul for its power. But she fails to understand the full meaning behind that.
And the elder being that is summoned is bound to that poor girl's body, and the sheer weight of its mind upon hers completely destroys her own mind, leaving nothing but her memories and experiences as they simply became one with the elder being's mind.
She then looks into a mirror... and shed's a single tear. "Oh you poor, pitiful creature. Why did you do that? Why did *I* do that? Forgive me.... please forgive me..."
And then I backed up and went, "Wait a minute. These are supposed to be eldritch horrors with blue and orange morality, aren't they?"
But then.... What if that was the exception and not the rule?
What if the few that we did see that are bent on destroying our universe and remaking it in their image are simply the criminally insane among them? Eldritch horrors sealed in prisons, indeed! And by and large, the rest of these beings are quite benign and are respectful of intelligent life?
This would mean that the only ones that would answer one of these summons would be the ones that truly have no good intentions... or (much more rarely) were young and curious, not knowing any better until it was too late.
A relatively young elder being... say only a million or so years. Very young by their standards - a child, honestly - but already so ancient that a human mind, especially one so unprepared and so lacking in self-worth, would be utterly destroyed by the mere presence of the other's mind. (This would lend credence to the idea that laying eyes upon them can cause insanity in all but the most strong willed.)
And in turn, the Elder Being would be so inexperienced that they would not know how to protect the frail little light from their own overbearing power.
And so, you would have this elder being, bound into the flesh of a young girl who was so wrapped up in heartbreak, depression, and disillusionment that she might have become a sad statistic anyhow. Both of them having made foolish decisions. One left feeling heartfelt remorse at her grave error, the other having paid the ultimate price.
She soon gathers her druthers, though. She won't let this have been in vain. She will honor the poor girl by living out the life she had dearly wanted to in her stead. She will make her own existence a memorial for a life tragically lost through a horrible misunderstanding.
And then the main character's life gets that much more complicated.
The Magical Girl has to be restrained from 'exorcising the abomination' while the Clark-tech Princess is uneasy in the extreme as her people have had bad experiences with her kind before.
And all the while, our Shadowspawn Girlfriend must come to terms with having human emotions - particularly those of a young girl in the throes of a late-blooming adolescence, caught between the roiling emotions of love for the main character, sorrow for what she has done, and hurt from the treatment of the other girls.
Thoughts?