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The Age of American Thaumaturgy couldn't have gone on forever, though you can forgive folks for thinking it would. If you can harness the elements to your will, open gates to other dimensions, create life in a lab or transcend death in a word, then the sky doesn't look like a limit. But the thing that made thaumaturgy bloom throughout the 19th century — its utter lack of regulation — led to its downfall in the 20th. The world proved too narrow, and so otherworld research advanced until 1919, when reality was pressed to the point that it fractured in what they call the Theurgic Riots. The moral panic was nothing new, the Prohibitionists were nothing new, but they reached a fever pitch and history happened. Staves were broken, books burned, and thaumaturgy was outlawed in America.
Here's the story so far:
IN WHICH NARCISSE VIVANT, JAZZ THAUMATURGE, LEAPS OUT OF PROVERBIAL FRYING PAN INTO PROVERBIAL FIRE
IN WHICH OUR HERO DEALS WITH A DAEMON AND GETS RELIGION
IN WHICH THE FEDS GET WISE
IN WHICH THERE IS AN EXCHANGE OF NAMES
IN WHICH AGENT CHAUDRY'S STORIED CAREER IS GIVEN CONTEXT
IN WHICH NARCISSE TAKES A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE WHEN LOLA WOULD PREFER TO TAKE THE TROLLEY
IN WHICH DOMITILLE IS INDUCED TO RUIN HER MAKE-UP, BUT NOT HER NIGHT
IN WHICH BREAD IS BROKEN AND AN UNDERSTANDING IS REACHED
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little_lady_d2023-01-30 01:39 pmIN WHICH TWO PATHS CROSS, AND A THIRD INVITES ITSELF
The path (Lola explained) was ever-changing. You didn’t want your speakeasy in one place the feds could knock over in a night — you kept it moving, like a change in key to keep a song interesting. The path would show you the way every time, but every time the path would have a new end, a new beginning.
little_lady_d2037-12-30 08:02 amCast List
Narcisse Vivant (né Narcisse Judicaël Gautier Decoudreau).
The prodigal child. Left Louisiana to follow his heart and lead a brass band. Has a silver tongue spilling poetry, and the easygoing disposition to make it seem spontaneous. Laughs off what he can't bear, and is always laughing.
Domitille Edmée Etienette Decoudreau.
The dutiful daughter. Soft-spoken, sharp-minded, she seldom raises her voice and seldom needs to — each word carries the edge of a command. Dresses in white, and wears a supercilious, yet fascinating expression.
Léonide Ghyslain Lazare Decoudreau.
The family patriarch. A martial theurgist who made daemons march in the Great War. Raised his children like you'd raise an army, as regimented, as severe, as though their lives depended on it. Disappeared during the Emergence.
Simone Decoudreau (née Simone Vivant).
The family matriarch. Elegance and class and an imperial yet easygoing grace. The executor of the estate in her husband’s and son’s absence, she doesn’t consider her daughter a potential inheritor.
The Hunter on High, the Hum of the Bow String, Attendant to the Sixty-Sixth House of Kimariis, called Orion.
A daemon contracted to House Decoudreau. A scout and sniper in the daemonic regiments. Though summoned by chance, ae is loyal to aes master, Narcisse, and committed to aer purpose. Focused, formal, and often over-literal.
[A note which shatters glass, and breaks down barriers and bonds], called the Clarion Call or Clarion.
A daemon contracted to House Decoudreau. A standard-bearer and field commander in the daemonic regiments. Likes the taste of new words and the fun of new fashions. Likes her mistress, Domitille, more than her duty.
Immanuel ‘Manny’ Bachman.
Once played the horn in Narcisse’s band. A thaumaturge first, he's happiest when his fingers are stained with ink and his eyes are strained from deciphering spells. Prohibition has been hard him, but the mysteries were harder.
Charlotte 'Lola' Bell.
Once sang in Narcisse’s band. As much his rival as his collaborator, she only shared Narcisse’s dream so it wouldn’t die without her — which means she believed it deserved surviving. A pragmatist first, driven and unapologetic.
Blessed-be-the-King-that-cometh Chaudry.
The last of the Brethren, a religious community that disappeared in the Emergence. Has somehow risen through the ranks of the newfound Bureau of Thaumaturgy and Thaumaturgy Prevention. Naive, wide-eyed, and adaptable.
Kirsikka Kettunen.
The eldest sister from a long line of spell singers that take up residence on Millionare’s Row in Buffalo. Bold and idealistic. Borrows her sister’s composure. Without her sister, becomes more childish and impatient.
Tuulikki Kettunen.
The youngest sister in a family of Nouveau Riche immigrants who built up their lives in Buffalo. Refined and honorable. Borrows her sister’s confidence. Without her sister, becomes more reserved and reluctant to take action
little_lady_d2019-02-06 11:55 amIN WHICH BREAD IS BROKEN AND AN UNDERSTANDING IS REACHED
Blessed insisted he thought better when he ate, so he found a bearded, basket-bearing gentleman selling pretzels on a street corner, and he got himself and Immanuel in line. Whether the Bureau was footing the bill, Blessed didn’t say, but he flashed out cash as if it were made for spending, counting down to the cent. He bounced back on his heels, clutching the coins as they waited, and Immanuel fancied he saw wheels within wheels spinning behind the brown of his eyes.
little_lady_d2018-12-18 11:06 pmIN WHICH DOMITILLE IS INDUCED TO RUIN HER MAKE-UP, BUT NOT HER NIGHT
Domitille sat in the interrogation room like a queen upon a throne, shoulders back to bear the weight of her realm, eyes far-seeing and implacable. Her wrists flicked in handcuffs as though they were no more than modish jewelry — one of the inevitable sacrifices of mobility for fashion — and she studied her nails for any unseemly chips or cracks. She, of course, found none.
little_lady_d2018-12-13 08:41 pmIN WHICH NARCISSE HAS A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE WHEN LOLA WOULD PREFER TO TAKE THE TROLLEY
My man’s got a heart, my man’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea, sang Miss Lola Bell, Blues Queen, or else he wouldn’t have gone so far, so far from me.
( She had a voice that brought Narcisse back to Saint Louis ... )
( She had a voice that brought Narcisse back to Saint Louis ... )
little_lady_d2018-12-08 03:55 amIN WHICH AGENT CHAUDRY'S STORIED CAREER IS GIVEN CONTEXT
The headlines loved him, the Last of the Brethren, the Paladin of Prohibition. Never mind no one knew the Brethren from Adam before the Emergence, and then the headline was one of many: So-Called ‘Theurgic Riots’ Shake Nation, Mystify Experts … Disappearances Reported Across Country, Could Otherworlders Be To Blame?
( Most everyone lost someone — or knew someone who lost someone — the day doors to other-realms opened across America, and visions of monsters and madness poured through ... )
( Most everyone lost someone — or knew someone who lost someone — the day doors to other-realms opened across America, and visions of monsters and madness poured through ... )
little_lady_d2018-12-08 02:40 amIN WHICH THERE IS AN EXCHANGE OF NAMES
Narcisse tried to understand his daemon. He watched it, as they walked through Harlem, though no one else saw anything remarkable. Eyes fixed on the shift of shadow and iron in a city cluttered by both, he must’ve looked lost in thought.
( The daemon moved beside him, step for step, with gliding grace ... )
( The daemon moved beside him, step for step, with gliding grace ... )
little_lady_d2018-12-04 03:19 amIN WHICH THE FEDS GET WISE
The night of the raid, Immanuel Bachman was in the office. Most nights Immanuel spent in the office. The higher-ups didn’t need him turning over speakeasies or hunting monsters in the moonlight, but then, they never needed him until there was a problem no one could solve.
little_lady_d2018-12-04 03:03 amIN WHICH OUR HERO DEALS WITH A DAEMON AND GETS RELIGION
Harlem at night was no place for a man and a daemon. No place in America was, but there were country crossroads where daemon and man could meet and no one would hear except for in song. Harlem hummed with light and life, and its streets thronged with joyriders in beaming automobiles, its sidewalks worn by restless flappers and floorflushers. Eyes shone from faces dark and light, old and thirsty, young and idle, and any one of them could illuminate Narcisse like a stagelight.
( He looked worse for wear, and he'd worn his best tonight ... )
little_lady_d2018-12-04 02:46 amIN WHICH NARCISSE VIVANT, JAZZ THAUMATURGE, LEAPS OUT OF PROVERBIAL FRYING PAN INTO PROVERBIAL FIRE
The night of the raid, Narcisse Vivant played at the Alexandria Club. Monsieur Vivant, the rumor ran, Wonder-Worker, Syncopator, the Orpheus of Jazzland.