With Swords, Claws, and Teeth Bared

~Lava~

~Lava~

Well-known member
Guys,
Before we jump into this I need to make some things known. First and foremost, we are playing in C.S. Lewis’s sand box, so we have to abide by his rules. In other words, this RPG is based on a strict interpretation of the events that occur in the BOOK, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It is from the book that we will take our pacing and plot. We are NOT, however, going to be the Pevensies, etc. Rather, we are going to create our own characters that follow along with the events of the story. We are the commoners, the critters in the background. We are going to be random soldier #57 or a dryad whose toes got stepped upon by Peter as the bird was leading them through the woods.

Second, for continuity purposes, and so there is not an urge for the people who chose to be on the Witch’s side to tell her stuff that she is not supposed to already know, we are going to start with the dawn of the day after Edmund first comes to Narnia. Everything is going to be by the book.

Third, remember that at this time the creatures in Narnia were writing books about whether Man was a myth. Humans were a virtual unknown in Narnia and had not been around for as long as the White Witch had reigned supreme. In addition, Talking Mice need not apply. Neither humans nor talking mice existed at the time when we are starting in Narnia. If we make it past Aslan’s death we can explore why the humans came back and what it was like to have Talking Mice appear, but definitely not before then.

Fourth, though a strict interpretation is how we are going to play, I did make an attempt when creating the opening post to explain one of Lewis’s loose ends, namely how the creatures of Narnia had been surviving with a 100 year winter. In doing so, I also extrapolated that one of the ways that the White Witch kept her power was by keeping control of the food sources. It is not a huge jump since Jadis railed against the Christmas Feast as gluttony.

Lastly, the book is very clear that all of the creatures feared the Witch while she was near, and feared her spies when she wasn’t. Even the Christmas Revelers paid lip-service to the White Witch when she came upon them despite the fact that they, like all the others, knew that her power was crumbling. Even if they didn’t like Jadis, they did not come out and say it openly. They knew that they would find themselves statues if they did.

So as we embark on this journey, let us remember that the creatures of Narnia had been so long under Jadis’s power that they would have met stories of humans in Narnia or Aslan returning with great hope (possibly) but also great fear and the feeling that the people telling them the stories were trying to pull one over on them. I have a few guidelines/rules to give before I start us off.

* Be civil at all times. Disputes will be handled by referring to the book and they will not be handled in the thread, they must be taken to the OOC realm.

* Remember that commoners came in all types, from the ardently for Aslan to the wishy-washy who were willing to work for the Witch (*cough*Mr. Tumnus*cough*) to the ardently against Aslan.

* Canon characters are to be considered public property to be used by anyone to further the story but they are to only be used in absolute necessity. They are not to do anything they did not do in the book, not even sneeze. We will NOT be accepting Canon characters as playing characters. In other words, if they are named in the book, they are automatically NPCs

* Please Introduce your characters in the Character Creation thread. No Mary Sues or Gary Stus.

* I am willing to allow two Playing Characters per person with the understanding that they will not be constantly interacting with one another or exclusively interacting with one another.

* All of the rules set by Inkling and Ephinie apply, we are just going for the semi-moderated approach.

Note to the Mods, Inkling approved this via Facebook

Without Further Ado, I would like to introduce you to “With Swords, Claws, and Teeth Bared”
 
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It is still dark, the night-time animals are starting to become groggy and they have already worn out the rumors. Dawn will arise shortly and it will rise with renewed whispers. There are whispers that the queen met a human child, A SON of ADAM, in the woods of Lantern Waste yesterday. Other rumors state that there were actually two, both a Son and a DAUGHTER of Adam, in the woods yesterday. More hushed rumors say that the Daughter of Eve had been there before and met a faun, though none know the faun that she talked too. People are saying that the Prophesy is coming true at long last. There are even stories, though they are never mentioned above a hushed whisper within closed doors, that ASLAN, the Great Lion Himself, is on the move.

The hope is at a fever pitch for the first time in decades. It has been a century, or so nearly, since the White Witch closed off the Pass to Archenland with a large wall of ice. Only the hand-picked stewards of her majesty have left Narnia and returned since then. They bring in grain and other eatables a couple of times a year; the shipments are carefully rationed. The only other way to obtain food is catch as catch can. Some even maintain greenhouses. For all intents and purposes Queen and Empress Jadis rules Narnia with an Iron Fist. But all of that may be at an end if only all the whispers are true.

Even if Aslan were not come, the return of humans could spell the end of the Witch. Four Humans, two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve, would spell the end of the Witch’s reign and maybe even her life. The animals have reason to HOPE.
 
Miles east of where the rumors had begun, and oblivious to those rumors, a drafted work party was pulling a sledge carrying foodstuffs intended to go to one of the Jadis regime's distribution points. This work party, closely watched by four Ogres, consisted of two Black-Haired Dwarfs, three female Fauns, and the miserable excuse for a Satyr known as Exeter the Expendable. Exeter had scarcely dared to say anything to his co-workers the whole time they had been on this errand, for fear that some careless word of his might sound to the Ogres like thoughts of disobedience.

They were within a quarter-mile of their goal when one of the Ogres made some random remark to another one. Exeter could not make out what was said, but now it was he who projected an imagined meaning into someone else's speech: he was afraid that the speaking Ogre was talking about him.

Instantly, Exeter cried out: "I'm innocent! I didn't do it! I've never been disloyal! Please, there must be a mistake! One of my brothers must have done whatever it was; they're younger, haven't learned obedience as well as I have! Please, arrest THEM, torture THEM, don't hurt ME, it's all a mistake, I worship Her Majesty, please please don't hurt me!!!"

The Ogres only stared at him in surprise.
 
Meanwhile, WoodSpry was just waking up. He had been keeping odd hours of late and working in the day. He was one of the people in the neighborhood who kept a greenhouse, though it was not one that the queen's grace had found out about and therefore it was not monitored like many of the others in the neighborhood. It was small, but it was planting time in his greenhouse and that necessitated him being awake during the daylight hours. He was not hiding it from the queen, rather he never had been asked and most assumed that a nocturnal carnivore would not keep a greenhouse. He had a neighboring rabbit who took in children and WoodSpry liked helping her out when he could and so he built the Greenhouse a year or two ago and has kept her little ones fed since, even when the Queen was not being terribly generous with supplies since others in the neighborhood were caught being frivilous.

NPC to Exeter going: "The Ogre was simply saying that he was hungry, Saytr. You are making a fool of yourself."
 
EXETER (still trembling): "Yes, yes, of course, I'm a fool, I never boast of being more, I'm too humble to boast, but I am the QUEEN'S fool to the death, except that I don't want to die, that is I don't want to die without cause, it would be an honor to die for omnipotent Jadis, but surely I am of more use to Her Majesty alive, though of course I'm not boasting, so please don't be angry at me."
 
On a snowy ridge, high above the work party, Cerek the Wolf was watching Exeter's frantic outburst. He found the entire distribution scheme rather odd. Small mute rabbits still roamed the woods, feeding on the mosses that still thrived beneath the snow; and they were more than enough to satisfy a hungry Wolf. Why other animals could not shift to a similarly meat-based diet was more than he could understand. It must be a real pain for the Queen, he thought, to have such picky subjects.
 
The very sight of a Wolf rendered Exeter speechless with fright. The Fauns with him had to nudge him to get back to work, lest he _actually_ get himself in trouble with the Ogres. Finally the sledge got moving properly once more.
 
Marble opened his eyes as he heard a slight comotion outside. He yawned and then stood and stretched, blinking sleepily. Not really afraid of being seen because of his well camoflouged fur, Marble poked his head out of the densely woven bush he had been sleeping in to see what was going on. Before him he saw a group of the Witch's workers hauling up a sledge of supplies. It was a satyr that had been making the noise it seemed. Marble snorted in contempt that such a trivial thing would stop him from taking a hard-earned rest.
However the disturbance did direct him to sense the large mean-looking wolf on a cliff above them. He shuddered and quickly pulled his small brown-and-white head back into his hiding spot. He had better keep moving before he was noticed, besides, Susan-his sister- would be wondering where he was after his three-day hunt for food and better shelter.
 
Cerek watched the workers for a moment longer and then slowly, carefully descended the ridge's southward face. Though still in sight of the working party, he turned his back to them; such groups were nothing unusual in Narnia, however unnecessary they might be. In his frankest opinion, only the Queen needed the sort of food most Narnian animals craved. And that was because she was human.

As he passed a thicket, he noticed a pair of small green eyes in its midst. The smaller Narnian animals always seemed to stare. Wolves considered him small; but to many Talking Beasts, being a Wolf was enough.

He veered away from the thicket and continued down the ridge.
 
As WoodSpry made his way to the greenhouse, another bird flew by twittering about how the Queen was angry at the people of his neighborhood again. Something about not alerting her to the presence of humans. He was mildly interested in light of the tracks he found but still had trouble believing it was anything more than strange dwarves in the area. He was pretty near the greenhouse when he ran across his friend the rabbit. She had a new little one with her. It meant that he would have to be extra careful with his planting to make sure the food went far enough. He wondered where all his neighbors were on this brisk morning.
 
~Lava~ said:
He was pretty near the greenhouse when he ran across his friend the rabbit. She had a new little one with her. It meant that he would have to be extra careful with his planting to make sure the food went far enough. He wondered where all his neighbors were on this brisk morning.
Click to expand...

* * Just to facilitate Lava posting again as WoodSpry:

NPC Mother Rabbit: "Friend WoodSpry, something is stirring. You remember that Beaver couple who live back that way, the only Talking Beavers in their part of the woods? Mister Beaver has been rushing about as if he knew something unusual, but I've been afraid to ask him what it is."
 
Copperfox said:
* * Just to facilitate Lava posting again as WoodSpry:

NPC Mother Rabbit: "Friend WoodSpry, something is stirring. You remember that Beaver couple who live back that way, the only Talking Beavers in their part of the woods? Mister Beaver has been rushing about as if he knew something unusual, but I've been afraid to ask him what it is."
Click to expand...

"Yes, something very unusual is going on. A lot of animals were talking about humans yesterday. I myself saw some strange tracks. A bird was twittering earlier about how the Queen was very Angry with our neighborhood again." Here WoodSpry breaks off and continues in a very low voice, "In your own private ear, if something earth-shaking is not happening, something that will break this Witch's power, we will have troubles this year with getting enough food, I am heading to the Greenhouse now and I think I will use more pots and plant more than I did last year." Then he stopped whispering and bid her a good day in as cheery a voice as he could muster. He went into his greenhouse and set up his pots for a long day of planting.
 

Meanwhile, Exeter the Expendable, having completed his job and having received a grudging little ration of dried vegetables, trudged home. Awaiting him there was his ancient (and widowed) mother, Ellamina the Exhausted. Exeter was about to offer her a bite to eat, when she said to him: "Save that for yourself, son. I know that all the conditions around us make it hard for anyone to show any courage, or even the slightest unselfishness; against THAT background, it warms my soul that you even show AS MUCH goodness as to try to care for me."

Her words made the de-horned Satyr weep with shame. Ellamina went on, actually smiling:

"I am about to depart from this life of bondage and misery. Aslan Himself has appeared to me, telling me that I will soon be in His country, where there is warmth and light, and where your father awaits me. Listen closely: I want you and your brothers to know that I do not blame you for what the evil of Jadis has done to you. Aslan does not condemn you either; since He gave you no power to resist, He judges you mercifully. But you still may hope..."

This was all she managed to say before she breathed her last. As soon as he was sure she was dead, Exeter dashed outside to find some of his neighbors and tell them, so that no one would accuse him of having murdered her in order to have more food himself. (Exeter lived in constant fear of being accused of something.)

Ellamina's body would be tossed out in the woods for wild animals to eat. Given the state of semi-famine in Narnia, this was done routinely, to reduce the hazard of wild carnivores coming right into settlements in search of living prey.


 
Agraf the Wolf had no interest in Ellamina, dead or alive. A lieutenant of Jadis, he had been sent to search the wood for a very different creature--a small human. He had spent the last day scanning every inch of snow in Lantern Waste for footprints of "human size." "Human size" was what the White Queen had said. Unfortunately, Agraf had no idea what "human size" meant, and he had found no unusual footprints anyway. Beaver and Badger, Stag and Centaur were of no concern to him. The failure of his mission had set Agraf in an incredibly bad mood; and he determined that, if he could not find a human, he would at least find something.

This particular neighborhood had a reputation for thievery; that is, the Talking Beasts seemed better fed than most, which raised Agraf's suspicions that someone was hoarding food. Ah, well, he thought. I'll find something for Her Majesty, and that without much trouble. No one dares challenge the Secret Police.

So thinking, he stalked forward through the snow, forgetting to keep an eye for what might be flitting through the branches above him.
 
OOC: Just so I can be perfectly clear, the only reason why no one really knows about WoodSpry's greenhouse is that no one cared to ask. He has not broken any laws or really intended to hide it from anyone.

IC: Planting had taken a surprisingly short amount of time this time despite his careful handling of the seeds. Mayhaps he was getting used to the whole notion of being a gardener and learned ways to make it quicker. Less than an hour and half, after he went into the greenhouse all of the seeds he had were sown in the appropriate boxes and pots. He merrily shut up his little greenhouse, cleaned all the excess dirts and grimes from his coat and went on his way again finding himself with time that he had not accounted for. He was nearly a mile away from his greenhouse when he ran into the cross wolf almost literally. "Hello friend wolf, what brings you to our little neighborhood today." He was a little wary of the wolf but tried to act as normal as he possibly could. Wolves had a special place with Her Majesty and WoodSpry had no intention of making trouble, at least not until he had something concrete that would mean an end to the Her Majesty's tyranical reign. He respected the Wand more than anything. Her Majesty herself did not necesarily scare him but the Wand was indeed scary.
 
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Flakefeather was the only Talking Bluejay remaining in Narnia; all of his kinsfowl had escaped by flying over the southern mountains, being too small to be readily noticed by Harpies who flew occasional border patrols for Jadis. But within Flakefeather's lifetime, one of his grandfathers had temporarily come back from Archenland, bringing eyewitness confirmation that there WERE humans there. Flakefeather had eventually passed this news to a certain Badger who was friends with the Beaver couple near Lantern Waste.

Now, the Bluejay was watching Woodspry's encounter with the Wolf.
 
Susan had been hunting when she smelled the wolf. Instantly on alert she hid near the base of a tree. Her ears pricked up to listen and a little ways away she could hear voices. She debated between running away and investigating and in the end the latter won. She crept forward almost silently, as if she were stalking prey. Before her she saw a wolf and a bobcat talking. Her ears twitched and picked up other small noises. It seemed as if she wasn't the only little creature wondering what was going on.
 
Flakefeather was not acquainted with Woodspry; in these times of poverty and want, EVEN Talking Cats were not the best creatures for a bird to come close to. On the other hand, Wolves in the White Witch's service were ALWAYS bad news. The legend still was told of a lead Wolf who had been with Jadis in the initial conquest of Narnia; this Wolf had had such an enchantment of luck over him, that he could be standing in one place, making NO effort to evade or defend, and a human warrior could be RIGHT there next to him with a perfect opening for a killing sword-thrust, but without the Wolf even having to do anything, the sword-thrust would miss.

Birds cannot smell, but their hearing is excellent. Flakefeather could hear a subtle undertone of uneasiness in the Bobcat's voice. It occurred to the Bluejay that maybe the Bobcat had something to hide....

As inconspicuously as possible, as much like a NON-intelligent bird as possible, Flakefeather took off from his perch and flew, not directly over Woodspry's back-trail, but where he could see it. His search was rewarded--by catching sight of Woodspry's greenhouse.
 
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Agraf snarled at the Bobcat. "You nearly tripped me, runt. Be careful!" He pawed at the snow, sniffing at the air. Suddenly he turned his glittering gray eyes to meet WoodSpry's. "You haven't heard of humans roaming this part of the wood, have you?"
 
Meanwhile, Flakefeather had an inspiration. Flying back at an angle, he found where wild animals of some sort had previously passed among the trees. Perching sideways against one treetrunk, he used his beak to scratch an arrow-like mark pointing away from the spot where the wolf was. He had not spent much time in his flying, so he felt he could afford the time to mark one more tree farther off, still along the way the animals had taken. He had it in mind to offer the Wolf something else to think about than Woodspry's greenhouse.
 
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