[MLWM] Prep for the Clockwork Nightmare

[Bankuei]

Hi everyone,

I'm prepping for a short run with MLWM.  We haven't had a chance to all sit down collectively (bad, bad) but will be doing so next week.  Sadly enough, I found that after I (alone) came up with a concept & master, THEN other folks were interested in play.  I suppose some people work better with pre-established concepts than having the tools to build their own...

Clockwork Sorrows

A Nightmare Fairytale for My Life with Master

Prologue

5 years ago, the Great Faire and Expo of Progress and Science waited with baited breath for the Master Valencia's newest creation.  It stood as tall as two carriages, glistening with inlaid silver etchings and had a giant clockface crowning it all, sparkling with gems at the cardinal hours.  Some say it could have been the 8th wonder of the world.  If only...

It was designed in honor of His Majesty's birthday, and would play the royal theme in symphony... Not only that- but Valencia had also calculated that at noon- an eclipse would strike.  Then his masterpiece would literally shine- blazing light would pour forth from it and the royal crest would be cast as light upon the entire town.  It would be a new day, a new sun- one of His Majesty, certain to earn Valencia a permanent position at court.

The only thing that remained, was to measure the sun exactly one hour before the eclipse and make the final adjustments.  As Valencia was setting the final springs into place, one of the judges for the fair, impatient and unwilling to wait, pulled the activation lever.  Within seconds, the whirring, clicking gave birth to the royal anthem blaring from the machine's pipes and tubes- which drowned out poor Valencia's screams as his hand was caught up in the gears.  The music turned sour and the machine convulsed and jittered, its light shooting out at terrible angles, and the grinding sound of gears was followed with jagged pieces of metal flying about.  Valencia had lost his chance at court, his hand, and his pride.

That was 5 years ago- one for each finger.

Master Valencia dwells in his manor at the edge of San Pereto.  The people say his heart never recovered, and he lives broken and alone, tinkering and tinkering, dreaming of a new masterpiece that will never be.  He still makes watches, and though sophisticate, a certain beauty seems to have disappeared from his work, a bitter sadness seems to pervade his pieces, as if looking at time brings tears and a tight lump to one's throat.

What the people of San Pereto don't know- is that Master Valencia has built himself a new hand.  One of gear and spring, one that brings him closer to his work, one with which he has built new masterpieces, ones that allow him to build bigger, better pieces.  And soon, soon his work will be complete, and all the people, and even the King himself, will have to acknowledge his genius.

Sr. Valencia Almado

Once the most gifted craftsman of time pieces and machinery in the land, his greatest piece collapsed and fell apart in a terrible accident during the Royal Faire of Progress and Science.  The accident cost Almado his chance at serving in the Royal Court, his reputation as well as his hand.  After a long period of recovery, he built a new hand for himself, and decided he would one day create new life, a more perfect life, and prove to those who had laughed at him that he was, is, and always will be the greatest of all time.

The Minions

All of Almado's minions are clockwork beings, some able to carry out only a limited function or two, most able to follow simple instructions, and his Masterpieces, able to think for themselves.  At the heart of each of his minions is a music wheel, like the kind found in music boxes, which determines what sensations the minions are able to feel and or understand, such as "Warmth", "Smell", etc.  Almado believes that one day he will be able to create minions that can actually feel emotions...  but the real tragedy and irony is that each and everyone of his minions already can- he's just too disconnected and obsessed to see it, even as he abuses and dismantles them.

The Town

The town of San Pereto sits upon the mountains overlooking the sea.  The people live through herding sheep, small crop farming and some mining on the side.  What they aren't aware of is that Almado has established hundreds of tunnels under the town, his clockwork minions able to pop out even within people's bedrooms on a moment's notice...  At first this was his way of acquiring hard to find supplies and such, but he has become more and more increasingly looking at the townsfolk as potential models for his next Masterpiece...

Themes and Motifs

-Clockwork sounds, from ticking, whirring, gears grinding when things malfunction, jittery clicking, etc.
-Robotic and or jittery motion.  Inhuman movements.
-Clockwork things popping out from any wall, floor, nook or cranny, much like the Goblins appear in the bedroom in Labrinyth.