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abovegrounds2016-03-26 05:19 pm
undergroundmods) wrote in abovegrounds2016-03-26 05:19 pm
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Night Council Nominations and You
The Night Council is the governing body for all supernatural communities not just in London, but across the UK. At the end of March, the five seats on the Council will be officially open for nomination. Players, it's time to exercise your democratic* rights.
Summary
Every two years the Night Council officially elects its highest-ranking seats: President, Vice President, and Representatives. Before the election can take place, the candidates must be nominated by upstanding members of their community. The nominations take place as follows:
President: Nominated by Circle Daybreak, Islington Nest, Redbright Institute and Night Council. Millicent does not allow any other vampires to be nominated because she hates competition.
Vice President: Nominated by Circle Daybreak, Islington Nest, Redbright Institute and Night Council. Millicent does not allow any other vampires to be nominated because she hates competition.
Witch Representative: Must be a witch. Nominated by Circle Daybreak.
Vampire Representative: Millicent doesn't believe in democracy and therefore doesn't allow anyone but herself to be nominated.
Shapeshifter and Meta Human Representative: Must be a shapeshifter or meta human. Nominated by Night Council, Hillingdon Clan and Redbright Institute.
The nominations will officially take place between 29th-31st March. After that, the election campaign will begin and continue through April until the election itself which will take place on 5th May.
Make your Nominations
All of the incumbent Representatives will be automatically up for re-election. If no other candidates stand against them, they will of course keep their seats. This will be the case for Millicent, the Vampire Representative. The other four seats are all up for grabs!
Nominate your character
Fancy becoming a Representative on the Night Council? Nominate your character! Just bear in mind, you need to meet the following criteria:
- Your character meets the requirements listed above e.g. if you want them to be nominated as Shapeshifter/Meta Human Representative, they must be a shapeshifter or meta human.
- Someone would nominate them. That person must be an upstanding member of their faction i.e. level 3 or above. They can be an NPC, but check with me first if you want an NPC to nominate them.
- Your character is an adult.
- Your character is level 3 or above, or they're at level 2 and you can move them up to level 3 at the next activity check. Unless you want to nominate them for President, in which case they need to be at level 4 or above.
- Your character is either a member of the Night Council already, or you will have 3 points to spend on joining the Night Council by the time of the election (5th May).
To nominate your character, fill in the form below:
It will be assumed that by nominating your character you do intend them to win, although winning is not guaranteed. However, if you would like to play your character as a candidate but you don't actually want them to win a seat, you can nominate them and make a note that you intend to lose.
Nominate an NPC
Why make up another NPC? Because it gives you the players the chance to decide what sort of character you want to represent your character's people. Remember, NPCs can always be influenced with a well-placed bribe! The incumbent NPCs will be up for election again, but you can also nominate a new NPC to challenge them.
To nominate an NPC, fill in the form below:
Rivalries are encouraged! Have fun with it, I'm interested to see what sort of characters you come up with. You have until 31st March 20:00 GMT+1 to submit your nominations.
Next Steps
There will be a follow-up OOC post in April that will detail the election process and how that will impact characters ICly, including those who cannot nominate or vote.
To keep things interesting, the election winners will not be announced until the actual IC date of the election results: 6th May. However, please note that although characters will vote ICly, there will not be an OOC voting process as such. I will decide on the election results.
*Democracy not guaranteed.
Summary
Every two years the Night Council officially elects its highest-ranking seats: President, Vice President, and Representatives. Before the election can take place, the candidates must be nominated by upstanding members of their community. The nominations take place as follows:
President: Nominated by Circle Daybreak, Islington Nest, Redbright Institute and Night Council. Millicent does not allow any other vampires to be nominated because she hates competition.
Vice President: Nominated by Circle Daybreak, Islington Nest, Redbright Institute and Night Council. Millicent does not allow any other vampires to be nominated because she hates competition.
Witch Representative: Must be a witch. Nominated by Circle Daybreak.
Vampire Representative: Millicent doesn't believe in democracy and therefore doesn't allow anyone but herself to be nominated.
Shapeshifter and Meta Human Representative: Must be a shapeshifter or meta human. Nominated by Night Council, Hillingdon Clan and Redbright Institute.
The nominations will officially take place between 29th-31st March. After that, the election campaign will begin and continue through April until the election itself which will take place on 5th May.
Make your Nominations
All of the incumbent Representatives will be automatically up for re-election. If no other candidates stand against them, they will of course keep their seats. This will be the case for Millicent, the Vampire Representative. The other four seats are all up for grabs!
Nominate your character
Fancy becoming a Representative on the Night Council? Nominate your character! Just bear in mind, you need to meet the following criteria:
- Your character meets the requirements listed above e.g. if you want them to be nominated as Shapeshifter/Meta Human Representative, they must be a shapeshifter or meta human.
- Someone would nominate them. That person must be an upstanding member of their faction i.e. level 3 or above. They can be an NPC, but check with me first if you want an NPC to nominate them.
- Your character is an adult.
- Your character is level 3 or above, or they're at level 2 and you can move them up to level 3 at the next activity check. Unless you want to nominate them for President, in which case they need to be at level 4 or above.
- Your character is either a member of the Night Council already, or you will have 3 points to spend on joining the Night Council by the time of the election (5th May).
To nominate your character, fill in the form below:
It will be assumed that by nominating your character you do intend them to win, although winning is not guaranteed. However, if you would like to play your character as a candidate but you don't actually want them to win a seat, you can nominate them and make a note that you intend to lose.
Nominate an NPC
Why make up another NPC? Because it gives you the players the chance to decide what sort of character you want to represent your character's people. Remember, NPCs can always be influenced with a well-placed bribe! The incumbent NPCs will be up for election again, but you can also nominate a new NPC to challenge them.
To nominate an NPC, fill in the form below:
Rivalries are encouraged! Have fun with it, I'm interested to see what sort of characters you come up with. You have until 31st March 20:00 GMT+1 to submit your nominations.
Next Steps
There will be a follow-up OOC post in April that will detail the election process and how that will impact characters ICly, including those who cannot nominate or vote.
To keep things interesting, the election winners will not be announced until the actual IC date of the election results: 6th May. However, please note that although characters will vote ICly, there will not be an OOC voting process as such. I will decide on the election results.
*Democracy not guaranteed.
NIGHT COUNCIL NOMINATIONS
NOMINATIONS FOR PRESIDENT
Nominated by Circle Daybreak, Islington Nest, Redbright Institute and Night Council. Millicent does not allow any other vampires to be nominated because she hates competition.
SYLVIA REDBRIGHT
Age: 59
Species: Witch
Nominated by: Incumbent
Factions: Circle Daybreak, Redbright Institute
Supports: Circle Daybreak, Night Council, Redbright Institute, Islington Nest only by necessity
Neutral: Shapeshifters
Against: Circle Midnight, Seelie/Unseelie Court, vampires, werewolves
Campaign message: VOTE SYLVIA REDBRIGHT – A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR ALL. Sylvia's main campaign message will be about security and stability, capitalizing on her 20+ years of experience as President. She's a safe pair of hands. She will also promise to deal with the increasing threat posed by dangerous elements (e.g. fae) while at the same time building bridges between various supernatural communities.
ALFIE BAXTER
Age: 18
Species: Metahuman
Nominated by: Someone who probably turned 18 yesterday. We're all adults here.
Factions: Redbright
Supports: Rebright (obvs), Hillingdon, East End, Islington, Circle Midnight, Ghosts & the Fae
Neutral: the Night Council (Alfie, no)
Against: Circle Daybreak
Campaign message: "I'm Alfie, and I'm not Sylvia." That's pretty much Alfie's campaign in a nutshell. Alfie comes from a little punk group of anarchists from Redbright. He's the kind of kid who gets in trouble a lot but is also pretty smart so Redbright doesn't kick him out. He's the head of a society on campus (who let this happen) so is technically an "upstanding" and "respected" member of Redbright.
Alfie's nomination started as a joke. Literally. His group of friends really do see a lot of the problems with team Sylvia-Norrell and the weird grip of everything witches had. So one of his friends, lets call him Davy, also his his last year at Redbright and incidentally the head of Chess Society (hey just because they're lower class don't underestimate them!) nominates him. The more he and his group of friends get to thinking, though, the more this might be a good idea. And hey if Sylvia kicks them out, it's their last year and more importantly she's only going to make herself look worse! (help help im being repressed - COME SEE THE VIOLENCE INHERENT IN THE SYSTEM, etc.)
Alfie has a team of friends from school who are all helping him out on the campaign. They're going to poster all over Redbright (and then get bored and stop there) with basically the same campaign. It'll get more complex as it goes on and the more they think about it the more serious they will become. Down with witch reign! Down with the tyranny that has conquered the supernatural for twenty plus years. Its time for NEW YOUNG FRESH BLOOD. He calls for an OVERHAUL of the system and the inclusion of MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES. He's suck of having the "old guard" tell everyone what to do. He probably swears way more than anyone who has any right to run for an office. He's basically an affront to good upper-class British society everything.
It is of course worth noting that other than the society of whatever he runs at Redbright, Alfie has literally no experience running anything. He and his friends are going to push the fresh perspective thing and end up, towards the end of elections, getting super passionate about the issues but at the start, "I'm not Sylvia!" Pretty much sums it up.
you said have fun with it and yet i am still sorry
OWEN GEORGE CRUICKSHANK
Age: 48
Species: Metahuman
Nominated by: Some of the lads down at the pub
Factions: None
Supports: Circle Daybreak, Metahumans, Shapeshifters
Neutral: Circle Midnight, Redbright Institute, Fae
Against: Werewolves, vampires, ghosts
Campaign message: Vote Owen George Cruickshank - One Call Fixes It All (most of the time)!
If this slogan is familiar, it's because it's also the slogan of Mr. Cruickshank's handyman company and is on the flyers he likes to stuff into mailboxes and under doors. A metahuman (and a proud Welsh man) whose power is fixing things (most of the time), Owen George Cruickshank has long complained at a certain pub about the state of affairs within the supernatural community and the lack of true metahuman representation on the Night Council. With the election coming up, he and some of the metahumans he drinks with hatched a plan: run Owen for president! What began as a drunken bet has turned into something of a dark horse campaign, as Owen George Cruickshank is a fairly well-respected member of his community. Plus, he's not Sylvia Redbright.
HANS ESTERGAARD
Age: 36
Species: Metahuman
Nominated by: someone on the Night Council (who he probably bribed tbh)
Factions: Hillingdon Clan
Supports: Hillingdon Clan, Circle Daybreak, Werewolves, Shapeshifters, everyone else
Neutral: Ghosts (because he can't actually see them?)
Against: No one, publicly. Circle Daybreak, Witches, Fae (secretly) He actually doesn't like a lot of people. But that wouldn't be clear until he was elected.
Campaign message: Isn't it time you had a president who actually listened to you? Who doesn't turn you away whether you're a were or a bear or a fae? Hans Estergaard thinks it's time everyone had their voice heard. Hans may have made his way up the ranks rather quickly (and somehwat dubiously, if the rumors are true) but he's greased palms to get this far and he isn't afraid to grease a few more. With a campaign based heavily on pleasing everyone, his ideas can often seem a little far-fetched, but boy is he a smooth talker. And handsome, too! His campaign will focus largely on "everyone" having their voices heard, especially those without representation on the Night Council. You can't please everyone, but you can try!
And it's the best way to make it to the top, isn't it.NOMINATIONS FOR VICE PRESIDENT
Nominated by Circle Daybreak, Islington Nest, Redbright Institute and Night Council. Millicent does not allow any other vampires to be nominated because she hates competition.
PETER VRINAK
Age: 53
Species: Witch
Nominated by: Incumbent
Factions: Circle Daybreak
Supports: Witches, Circle Daybreak, Night Council, Redbright Institute, Islington Nest (nominally)
Neutral: Ghosts, humans, meta humans
Against: Fae, shapeshifters, vampires, werewolves
Campaign message: Seen as the more hard-line candidate, Peter will be pushing his message around supporting and protecting witches to the witch community, but he is now also faced with the task of appealing to other groups too. He will promise to keep out the fae (it's the only way to keep your children safe), and act as a strong back-up to Sylvia as President. Where she can occasionally be seen as too soft, he will ensure that the tough choices are made to protect your families from any supernatural threat.
no subject
Age: 47
Species: Witch
Nominated by: Circle Daybreak
Factions: Circle Daybreak, Redbright Institute
Supports: Witches, Night Council, Shapeshifters, Ghosts, Redbright Institute
Neutral: Humans, Meta-humans, Vampires, Werewolves
Against: Fae, Hillingdon Clan
Campaign message: Owing to an accident with a medieval potion he was researching, Joe has spent the last two decades of his life in the body of a bear. He's an avid researcher of supernatural history, and despite his "mishap" his work is generally very well respected. Because of this, he's very outspoken on the issues of magical discrimination and education for magical types. He's a left-of-centre candidate, not especially 'soft' or 'liberal', but noticeably so when compared to the witches currently on the Council.
DIPHYLLEIA "DEE" ABSIN
Age: 46
Species: Witch
Nominated by: The previous Maiden, Katherine
Factions: Circle Daybreak
Supports: Witches of Daybreak (known)/both Circles (private), meta humans of all groups
Neutral: Ghosts, werewolves, Night Council
Against: Fae and vampires since she believes them to be unruly at best and dangerous at worst. Those from Hillingdon Clan who aren't meta humans since they're more nuisance than help in her opinion.
Campaign message: Dee is back! Dee will be pitching herself as the moderate candidate, and moreover the one with years of experience to back her up. She remains an advocate for peace and co-operation, and will speak out strongly against what she sees as the more extremist members of the Night Council. Some might say she's bitter that Peter Vrinak replaced her as Vice President, but hey, why shouldn't she be? Although she won't say it openly, she's also a lot more sympathetic to Circle Midnight than she has been in the past, and she sees Abigail's ascension to Maiden as the start of a new era. Her dream would be to see the in-fighting between the two witch factions come to an end, because she believes they are stronger united rather than divided.
NOMINATIONS FOR WITCH REPRESENTATIVE
Must be a witch. Nominated by Circle Daybreak.
no subject
Name: Gilbert Norrell (
Age: 42
Species: Witch
Nominated by: Incumbent
Factions: Circle Daybreak
Supports: Circle Daybreak, Night Council, Islington Nest (nominally)
Neutral: Redbright Institute, East End Pack, Hillingdon Clan (although now that's going downhill)
Against: Seelie & Unseelie Court, Circle Midnight
Campaign message: A hard-line candidate like Peter, Norrell is all for keeping out the fae. He will now point to 'constant attacks' on their territories, disruptions of the peace and kidnapping of children. He will also be quick to point out his many successes in reclaiming and holding Lambeth and Croydon. Norrell will make the world a safer, fairer place for hard-working witches!
NORA SHANNON
Age: 45
Species: Witch
Nominated by: Some other npc in circle daybreak???
Factions: Circle Daybreak
Supports: Circle Daybreak, Circle Midnight (gasp!), Night Council, Redbright
Neutral: Ghosts, Shapeshifters, Fae in general
Against: Hillingdon, Islington, East End
Campaign message: Nora is running on a platform of FAITH and INCLUSION (except, as you can see, it applies to some choice factions.) Nora's campaign is controversial and should spark some buzz. She makes no secret about her catholic upbringing in Ireland, which makes her a bit of an outlier. Nora believes in working together through official channels (hence not being being here for Hillingdon) to better all people regardless of their talents. More importantly, however, she wants to bring catholicism into the supernatural world and bring back ties to old faiths.
"But how can she be both a witch and a catholic?" You ask, and it's a question she's happy to answer. Her formal and official line is that being both of those things has made her uniquely suited to understanding the ways in which people can feel marginalized and at odds with themselves and that is one of the reasons she is particularly vocal about re-including the witches who are hiding in the secrecy of Circle Midnight. While she doesn't always agree with their magical practices, she feels that their talents have as much right to exist as her own, which as a child she felt were wrong. Now, though, she understands that God has given supernatural beings their powers, not the devil, and these powers should be used to help each other. She believes that there can be a reconciliation of faith and their practices and it is at the center of everything she does.
But she's also a hypocrite. While she won't speak publicly about her hatred of vampires and werewolves, if pressed she'll show her true colors of being against these factions. Despite "reconciling" her faith and her magic, part of her still sees werewolves and vampires as abominations from the devil (sorry guys!) who have no right to exist and more importantly no right to turn others. These feelings are very hush hush but simply asking around with her close friends and fellow church goers would get anyone the sense that she means to oppose them at every step and curb their right to further their factions. Then again, werewolves are already forbidden to turn someone without permission, and that's the answer she'll stick to if pressed on about it.
That aside, Nora comes off as a sweet motherly type who is very devoted to her faith, not in the creepy pushing way but in a way that shows that she obviously cares about it and that she feels her life has been saved by her relationship to it. She genuinely wants to help people so they won't feel like she did as a child! She's so sweet and kind! And inclusive! What a winner!
NOMINATIONS FOR SHAPESHIFTER/META HUMAN REPRESENTATIVE
Must be a shapeshifter or meta human. Nominated by Night Council, Hillingdon Clan and Redbright Institute.
YASMINE MERAD
Age: 36
Species: Shapeshifter
Nominated by: Incumbent
Factions: Redbright Institute
Supports: Shapeshifters and meta humans in general. She supports witches publicly, but privately resents them.
Neutral: Ghosts, werewolves
Against: Fae, vampires, witches in private
Campaign message: VOTE YASMINE – FOR A FAIRER, SAFER COMMUNITY. Yasmine will be bolder in her election message this time around, distancing herself ideologically from the incumbent witch candidates with a message based around inclusion and representing the interests of meta humans and shapeshifters whose voices are not heard strongly enough. No more being bossed around by witches. She wants to help meta humans and shapeshifters protect themselves and others.
SANDRA NG
Age: 29
Species: Metahuman
Nominated by: Those of her students who are over 18
Factions: Redbright
Supports: Metahumans in particular.
Neutral: Witches, shapeshifters, Ghosts
Against: Vampires, Werewolves, Fae
Campaign message: VOTE SANDRA NG - A VOICE FOR METAHUMANS
Sandra Ng is a popular former student turned teacher at Redbright. In addition to teaching music to the younger students, she is also the faculty advisor for several clubs--some less official than others. She once let it slip that she wishes there were two separate post on the Night Council for shapeshifters and metahumans, rather than a combined one, and ever since some of her students have been pushing her to run. They even nominated her without her consent.
She struggled with the candidacy that was forced on her, but ultimately decided to embrace it. She wants a greater voice for metahumans on the Night Council, and her main campaign promise is that, if elected, she will push for separating her job so that metahuman needs as well as shapeshifter needs are fully represented on the Night Council.
JASPER BURNS
Age: 40
Species: Metahuman
Nominated by: Redbright
Factions: Redbright
Supports: Fae, Metahumans, Night Council
Neutral: Werewolves, Vampires, Ghosts
Against: All witches. Actual humans.
Campaign message: JASPER BURNS - BREAK THE CHAINS THAT BIND YOU.
Whispers are that Jasper Burns was involved in Lambeth, but they could just be that - rumors. It is no secret that Jasper openly supports the Fae, though. A researcher at Redbright, Jasper has been desperately trying to prove the connection between Fae and Metahumans, claiming that all metahuman power is owed to Fae and that it is with them, not the witches, that metahumans should be allied. Jasper's claims have been met highly skeptically, seen as a professor with too much time on his hands. But this campaign marks a bold move on his part.
Even more controversially, Jasper believes that the supernatural shouldn't hide. This seems, to many people, reason enough not to put him on the council as it would be far too dangerous for that point to ever gain actual traction. His rhetoric is all about not being scared, not letting a small handful of people stop the supernatural from living their life. (He will even point to poor Joe the Bear - how can that man ever go out?)
Jasper can't understand why a group of people with such power - especially true in the Fae's case - would allow themselves to be held down like this. "We can rise from the ashes like the proverbial phoenix! We will break the chains that bind us!"
The whispers continue -- Is he breaking the law just by saying this stuff? He couldn't possibly get elected, right?
FAOLAN O'NEILL
Age: 29
Species: Metahuman
Nominated by: Anonymous member of the Night Council? (possibly someone who wanted to have a good laugh/shake things up??)
Factions: Hillingdon, Night Council
Supports: Hillingdon (obviously), Night Council (he doesn't have a choice in that)
Neutral: Pretty much everyone else.
Against: He does not like vampires, but he can keep himself civil in debate with one.
Campaign message: FOR THE RECORD -- I don't really want Faolan to win this. And he wouldn't really want to win it either, he has his hands full enough with Hillingdon as it is. But I enjoy the idea of having him nominated, especially given he WOULD be a controversial candidate on account of recent events. And maybe his voicing his opinions will get people talking??? Maybe. Regardless his nominators would pitch him as such:
Faolan believes in honest and equal representation for all. He believes that the idea of the Night Council and the actuality of the Night Council are two very different things. He believes that they exist to uphold the law in the fairest sense of the word and does not agree that they are doing so. Though he must keep his opinions to himself on the matter lest he wind up a statue in Sylvia's office, he believes there is a definite unbalance of power in the current council.
He may not particularly like vampires, and he may be decidedly ambivalent about the fae -- especially if they're going to go about stealing children like they have of late -- but at at the same time his belief is thus: any citizen should be treated with respect underneath the law, regardless as to who or what they are, unless they have personally proven themselves to be incapable of following it. (Though if they do, as a member of Hillingdon he has absolutely no qualms hunting them down...)
"Birdie" Salander
Age: 71
Species: Shapeshifter
Nominated by: Herself
Factions: Night Council
Supports: Shapeshifters, metahumans, Night Council, Redbright
Neutral: Witches, Ghosts, Werewolves
Against: Vampires, Fae
Campaign message: In her heyday, Birdie fought for the rights of those that were oppressed. Not just the obvious choices --shapeshifters among them, of course-- but civil rights, equal employment opportunities. She's done her share of marching, protesting, and lobbying for fairer, more just, enforcement of magical law. She cannot abide by the rich trampling the poor any more than she could abide by the powerful trampling the weak. She aims to stamp out fearmongering and her goal is to see that the powerful do their share to protect the weak.
At its core, Birdie believes in equality, and so her campaign message is "A Better Future for All."