Enjoy your stay...
Althea is a mystery/horror/science-fiction semi-freeform roleplaying game on Sorcery.net on IRC. It's one-third a Nexus RP, one-third a Survival Horror RP and one-third a drama series. The primary setting is the Brissly Manor Resort, a very large mansion that was renovated and converted to a resort in December of 2011. The resort is located not on Earth, but on an Earth-sized moon called Althea, orbiting around the Jupiter-sized planet of Cersis. Another moon, Essence, also revolves around Cersis, but it's more or less uninhabitable.
The roleplay is divided into chapters, each chapter detailing a new conflict or plot. Sometimes it's a Monster of the Week, sometimes it's a personal altercation between the characters, and sometimes it's an everyday terror. It has been praised by its players and spectators for its strong characterization, creative setting and realistic method of showing why someone being unwillingly taken into a Nexus world would not be so easily overcome.
As of 2019, no link or archive of the roleplay can be found.
Althea contains examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Irene's possession by her haunted violin was intended to develop into a full-scale plot involving two other malevolent spirits haunting the manor, but Irene's player's departure forced it to be cut short. It was never explained in-universe.
- Advancing Wall of Doom: The slowly rising water in "Run" after the cisterns are overloaded.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Jack is a meek, soft-spoken young man who refuses to curse or speak poorly about anyone or himself. Until you hurt his friends.
- Big Damn Heroes: Atomsk pulls one of these when he saves Nathan, Michael and Jack from Natalya's thrall, Piotr, with a buddhist symbol.
- Big "OMG!": Donna after receiving a genuine diamond necklace.
- Body Horror: What the Hyde Park Slasher did to most of his victims, especially Henry, who was lynched with his own intestines.
- Break the Cutie: Huntress. My god, she's had an unplanned pregnancy, she's been attacked by monsters and tormented by spirits, some who personally targeted her, had her unborn child pulled out of her body by a spirit, and to top it all off, she's only sixteen.
- Bus Crash: Invoked by Irene's player. He got caught up in real life issues, and allowed the GM to kill her off, using her death as a prelude to "Roses".
- Cursed with Awesome: Nathan's obsessive nature as a detective often makes him forget to take care of himself. Atomsk wields magic that's physically harmful to his system. Megan's lycanthropy has both saved her and made things much more complicated.
- Damsel out of Distress: Megan was in distress in "Roses", but then she transformed when the full moon showed itself and single-clawedly tore the killer apart.
- Determinator: From monster-induced car wrecks and beatdowns at the hands of superpowered serial killers, Nate will solve any case he's challenged with no matter how close to death it brings him.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Nate and Michael seem bewildered by the fact they were able to stand any chance against Cynthia, let alone kill her.
- Disney Villain Death: Played with. Natalya is thrown through the window by Cyrus from the fourth floor, but she incinerates in the sunlight before she can hit the ground.
- Door Judo: Piotr, one of Natalya's familiars, pulls this on Jack when they try to break into the vampire's room. Extra points for having said door-slam-lock separate Jack from Michael, who was with him at the time.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: Jack does not have a lot of control over his powers, so when he becomes stressed, eyes start appearing on different areas of his body.
- Finger in the Mail: The Hyde Park Slasher sending Cyndyr's finger to Nathan as a mocking gesture. As in, he gave him the finger.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Bill stays behind to blow the cisterns and flood the city in "Run".
- In "Decay", the demonologist saves Axel's life by taking the spirit of the demon into his own body, then stabbing himself in the chest.
- Hide Your Pregnancy: In-Universe. Huntress' initial reaction to finding out she and Michael accidentally conceived.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Nathan threatens his way out of the medical ward and confronts the Hyde Park Slasher without any backup to get Megan back.
- Men Don't Cry: Averted. When Troy is bitten by a vampire, Cyrus holds his unconscious body, sobbing hysterically.
- Not Quite Dead: Subverted. When Cynthia wakes up after being shot three times and prepares to attack Michael and Nathan, she gets shot three more times and stabbed repeatedly for good measure.
- Oh, Crap!: A staple of the roleplay, but special mention goes to Cyrus' reaction when he realizes that it was a vampire who attacked Troy.
- Petite Pride: Donna. She's not necessarily "proud" of her a-cups, but she's not bothered by them either.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Invoked by Nathan when he tries to run over an eldritch horror with a minivan.Nathan: (throws the car in gear) "SUCK!" (puts the pedal to the floor) "MY!" (the squeal of rubber and roar of the engine) "DICK!!!" (and zooms straight for her!)
- Reluctant Monster: Jack is unusual to look at at first glance but is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. His first reaction upon meeting Megan and Nathan is to apologize for scaring her and politely ask for a ride.
- Show Within a Show: [[Wheaton]], a sitcom that mostly shows up in the background.
- Slept Through the Apocalypse: Played straight with the protagonists when they wake up during their vacation in Adler to find that a virus has made most of the citizens insane while the rest were evacuated. Exaggerated with Cyndyr, who sleeps through the disaster and then some, to the point where Dogmeat has to carry her out on his back.
- The Slow Path: Gil to Donna. Donna got warped to Althea from 1986, while Gil spent the next 25 years wondering what happened to her.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Subverted. When Joey reveals himself to his admirer, Jade, as a transgender man, it seems like she'd be shocked...but she's so infatuated with him, she doesn't care either way.
- Vampire Bites Suck: Averted when Troy is bitten by Natalya in "Phobos". There's no blood splattering everywhere, and the bite itself doesn't draw too much.
- Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Hinted at. Lycans and vampires on Althea and Cersis suffer a social stigma and hide their conditions, likely for this reason.
- The Virus: Omman's Disease in the season one ender, "Run". It causes internal bleeding, total loss of sanity and generally kills within 72 hours. The infected actually retain all of their intelligence, and are quite efficient killers as a result.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: "Purity" and other anti-straggler groups are trying to stop monsters like Cynthia and the Hyde Park Slasher from getting a foothold on Althea, by trying to take away the human rights of the law-abiding stragglers.
- Wham Episode: Irene's brutal death at the hands of the Hyde Park Slasher.
