stardust | an original verse.

[dieroll]

STARDUST an original verse, a mash-up of general dirty vegas tropes, mob stories, and supernatural dealings in the desert. OVERVIEW: there is nothing that can't be explained away through logical means, but that does not discount the existence of the supernatural. magic, for lack of a better term, exists in small pockets throughout the world, with the common folklore of each region affected by the sort of magic practiced there. las vegas is perhaps the only city where this principle fails to apply. the paragon crossroads city, the number of people traveling through each day means that there's no one type of magic that predominates everything else. of course, practices relying heavily on illusion or the manipulation of luck generally do well, but there's no type of skill that will let you get away with murder, or with cleaning out the house.

power is largely held by two cabals — or families — their respective territories comprising most of the strip, with smaller factions taking up the edges. a tenuous peace is maintained mostly through the understanding that boundaries are not to be encroached upon; smaller disputes are settled mano-a-mano, usually with the somewhat more tangible price of blood magic, be it the relinquishing of powers or objects, or the forfeit of a limb. money, however, still reigns king as a form of currency, considering its value to the larger world and not just those attuned to the underbelly of things. as such, even cabal members are generally forced to deal with more mundane problems in addition to those that might come along with, say, hiring a sirin to sing at a club or what to do when the full moon rolls around.

SETTING: las vegas, present day/nebulous. for reference. while the hotels are likely to stay the same, house shows and other such details can be fiddled with as pleased. for example, if you want to nix the beatles love at the mirage and replace it with some show based on (supernaturally enhanced) contortion acts or a magic show, feel free. GUIDELINES: you can roll basically whatever you want, the only stipulation being that "godmode powers," so to speak, are not allowed without some kind of workaround. also, keep in mind that magic is the exception, not the norm, in the overall worldbuild. as with all verses, this is an excuse to play around in a certain kind of worldbuild and au every character you have in order to sandbox them all together. do whatever you want, just don't be a dick.

the two main cabals are moroi and nostra, their combined territory comprising most of the strip. moroi is currently headed by marnie, the first woman to lead the family, having taken over following the death of her brother. with a reputation for brutality when it comes to keeping the family on top — the kind of amorality that doesn't sit well in either world — the stakes the family sets are less on the slots and more on a strictly supernatural activity, i.e. what essentially amounts to dogfighting. needless to say, blood magic is more likely to be how one pays one's debts than forking over cash plus interest.

nostra, technically an off-shoot of a larger cabal on the east coast, is more reliant on bringing in revenue, with magic largely devoted to the shows at the hotels that it owns, and the occasional manipulation of the tables and slots. structured more like a crime syndicate than anything else, it also bankrolls a large number of the strip clubs present in the city.

there are smaller enterprises all over the strip, not necessarily strictly tied to one family or another but definitely paying some kind of liberty tax for operations. MISCELLANEOUS: las vegas serves as the hub for this particular verse. that said, you're free to use it as a jumping off point for anything else, e.g. potential conflict if another cabal rolls into town, etc., etc. WHAT I'M GETTING AT IS THAT THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER.

Comments

[diyyat]

suffers gently at all this nonsense

no here is bernie who is going to be twisted gently for this in that he's still a contacted consultant/not quite a cop but just Very Good At What He Does So He Can who works with law enforcement to keep supernatural things under control which usually involves him holding guns and quietly panicking the end

[scents]

HAHA WHAT A LOSER

[diyyat]

writes a very sternly worded letter
leaves it for her to find
locks himself in his house

[scents]

leaves dog shit on his porch no i'm kidding


she probably shows up with pizza tho like hey peace offering

loljk half the pizza is eaten

[diyyat]

LKFMALSKDF YOU KNOW it's kind of precious that she doesnt have friends because bernie probably doesnt either and i bet they gently bond over that and her half eaten cold pizza

she can make him watch netflix and he'll buy her a thigh holster and a nice knife for her bday

[scents]

excuse you she has a fucking cactus ok

LMFAO HALF EATEN COLD PIZZA she picks off the olives on her pizza and makes him eat them tbh

just like half of a pizza and A MOUNTAIN PILE OF OLIVES on the side


HAHAHA oh no bernie you're Making It Weird.............

[dieroll]

i have a question and that question is how susceptible is he to bribery

[diyyat]

THIS IS A GOOD QUESTION i feel like the essence of him being bribed would either have to be:
1. he had no idea he was being bribed and accepted because for whatever reason it seemed like the Right Thing To Do-- he's not a totally like Always Good character but he has a guilt complex that would eat him alive if he didn't feel like what he was doing or being bought into wasn't helping
2. it was justified to him in some way that made him feel like it was helping. help him lie to himself and he'd probably go with it.

he could probably be pressured/scared into rolling over too but he's a snake in the grass. he plays the long game, so he's not a reliable person to keep under foot that way tbh.