Friday 12 July 2019

073 - The Perpetual Kingdom of Roscommon Avenue

Otherspace: The Perpetual Kingdom of Roscommon Avenue

The reality-exiled castle of a king who wanted to rule forever, the Perpetual Kingdom is a court with an expiration date. Dennis Glass, the man in charge, counts and apportions time carefully to avoid it. It’s a losing battle, there are only so many ways you can divide the same day over and over. It will always be June 26th, 2008 in the Kingdom, the day looping over itself like an ouroboros every time the clock strikes midnight. This sort of suspension wreaks merry havoc with the otherspace’s stability and well-being. For one thing, it needs constant feeding.

Travel to the Kingdom
Located in a supply closet in a heavily secured hallway in the back of a coworking office space, the Kingdom’s doorway is exactly where it used to be when it was a diner in the real world. It is suspended in the air, half a foot from the ground in the middle of the room atop stairs that no longer exist. Flickering in and out of reality with a grainy filter effect seemingly at random, access is highly policed by Dennis’s real world contingent. Entering or exiting at a particular time of day blocks access to the portal at that time on all subsequent days.

The opaque-glassed, peeling wooden door is secured by password: “Look on my works, ye mighty and despair” while clutching the door handle and mentally picturing the person you respect most (if you picture someone else you still gain entry but appear dressed in a jester’s motley, sometimes this is used as a test of intent or to disarm or disorient). The sign in the doorway momentarily flickers between “CLOSED” and “OPEN” and you appear inside. Accompanying members of Dennis’s court will usher people through in rapid succession to avoid exhausting the doorway’s limited lifespan.

Exit works the same way, without the password. If you ended up in jester’s motley, you’re stuck with it. Sorry about your old clothes.

The Kingdom’s Landscape
At a glance the diner is like any other, linoleum flooring, stools at the counter and booths. There are three bullet holes in one of the walls. Way in the back sits the man who everyone inside pays deference to, Dennis Glass has been the True King of Roscommon Avenue (and surrounding territories) since the early 00s. His touch in creating the otherspace redoubt binds him here and makes him a part of it, when he gets emotional there is a strobing effect that visually replaces the diner’s environment with a spacious throne room (rank 4 unnatural stress check the first time it happens).

The other inhabitants of the Kingdom are all Dennis’s subjects, all of them have a personal story of his benevolence and wisdom. Everyone serves willingly and with zeal, a climate that is reinforced by the otherspace's ambience and his True King avatar connection. At least one would-be interloper has been run through with a sword by the fry cook.

Dennis ostensibly wants two things: to secure and maintain his hold on Roscommon Avenue for all time and to feed his otherspace. Every single day that passes on the outside requires a day leeched from someone for the sub-reality to remain stable (or else it begins to collapse like a temporary otherspace, see pg. 117 of Book 2: Run). Dennis’s third avatar channel allows him to take this time from himself and his subjects if they are willing. Alternatively, if you can provide something that Dennis is interested in he may be willing to give you something in return. Provided you can observe the proper protocol, it isn’t a trade, it’s a gift that might be repaid by the benevolence of the realm’s ruler.

The resource that allows the Kingdom to stay afloat is a limited form of time travel. If you were to give Dennis a letter at an early hour on a future date there is nothing stopping him from returning it to you at a later hour on the present day, the looping runs forward and backwards for objects from the outside. Of course this only occurs if Dennis wills it, the very first and last thing passed through is a ledger detailing past and future trades which he judiciously manages his own knowledge of. Dennis is sensitive to the terrible changes his kingdom’s power might inflict on the outside world, at the very least he has his knights police potential outcomes using his own future given knowledge.

The Order of Roscommon Avenue
That Dennis has chosen to rule in absentia is a technicality, his Order enforces his will and brings him fresh subjects and those who wish to entreaty his aid. His, and the otherspace’s, time is limited so he has appointed this delegation to see to his real world interests. Their original membership was drawn from those who accompanied him when the Kingdom was built. Like a lot of knightly orders operating outside the direct authority of their ruler they’ve become an a power unto themselves that threatens the integrity of the Kingdom of Roscommon Avenue. Think the Knights Templar getting too big for their boots.

They police goings on in the Kingdom, put down insurrection and invasion and manage the affairs that don’t warrant Dennis’s direct attention. There are multiple arms of the Order with varying overlapping responsibilities which he plays off against one another as best he can to keep any of them from amassing too much power. There’s also the tithing. 2 days of every month belongs to the Kingdom, payable on demand (this debt is generally allowed to accrue for long periods to limit travel to and from the otherspace).

In return they enjoy the largess of a magickal kingdom that can win lotteries at will, the treasury is deep and they are well equipped and wealthy. Tithing can be offset by recruitment. New members are expected to bear the burden of their superiors as a method of testing their resolve, even to the point that the recruiter’s debt to the Kingdom is in credit. In one case a community-flavoured MLM scheme was used as a front for this activity.

The Future
Dennis understands that his otherspace's days are numbered. Ironically for an institution that was built to last forever, 
eventually the time that the door to the real world exists will be exhausted and the otherspace will be cut off and collapse. He carries that burden like the bullet wounds that will never heal.

His original will was to shape the Order into something worthy of ruling in his place but he has been disappointed by them. More recently he has taken to secretly testing newcomers, cultivating and trying to find a worthy individual to name as successor. Some of the knights who expect to take his place in the aftermath are becoming suspicious, he fears a coup. He doesn’t have long.

Nothing lasts forever, but this can. He hopes.

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