Jig

The Heavens Aflame - A Civil War Among Deities

Dinn

Name/Titles: Dinn, Keeper of the Flood, Dinn the Transient, The Keeper of the Threshold. Sex/Gender: Male Pantheon/Affiliation: Deity Patronage:

Naturally running water, rain, contained water (and man-made containers, particularly urns), thresholds, death Dinn is responsible for ferrying souls to the underworld, and so he is associated with ‘passing’ in all its forms. He sees no difference between crossing from one room to another and crossing from the mortal world to the afterlife. With this comes a sense of inevitability and natural flow, hence the association with running water and rain. However, he is not unknown to ‘bend the rules’, and so his interference with the water cycle, in the form of storing water is representative of that.

Appearance:

Clay Form: Dinn typically takes a form similar to that of a mortal, but is patently not. He is much bigger, for a start, and just so happens to have four arms. Much of his body comprises mortal(like) flesh, but his hips, legs, much of his back, and half his stomach from the left side is composed from a terracotta, clay mosaic, as are both his bonus arms and the top half of his face, including, eerily, his eyes. His body is completely bald and his ears, pointed. Needless to say, Dinn is absolutely stacked. He is perpetually drenched: in places, his mosaic skin is cracked, with water perpetually dribbling through, giving him a certain glisten. In particular, the palms of his terracotta arms, which are always pressed together as though in prayer, overflow with water, making him basically a walking fountain. He wears nothing but a white, ankle-length, silk sarong from the hips, that somehow flows majestically, despite also being completely waterlogged (ah, the mysteries of the divine). While this form is stable, he can dissolve himself into nothing but water and shards of clay. Liquid Form: Dinn may emerge from urns or running water, taking essentially the same form but with all four arms free, but comprised of water instead. While in liquid form, he does not constrain himself to 'mortal physics', and so may blossom extra limbs, take any size (irrespective of the volume of water he emerges from) and generally be somewhat trippy to behold. He may emerge from any man-made container with liquid contents, so could theoretically comprise honey, wine or any other contained liquid. Being 'insubstantial' in this way, he has no voice in this form. Dinn prefers to take the form of liquid, though he cannot sustain himself in a transient body for extended periods at a time. When appearing to mortals on good terms, this is the form he will typically take, pointing as his primary form of communication. Naturally, he can appear almost anywhere that is suitable for him to exist. His clay form, as the far more imposing, and, frankly, practical, is his default, and the one he will use upon visiting mortals when in a less benevolent mood.

Parentage:

Lymaeus’ son, cast from a clay fountain and her own flesh.

Centres of Worship/Places of Power:

The Temple of Passing is Dinn’s primary centre of worship (location to be determined). It is a huge construction featuring many many chambers, each of which connected by a completely open arch. While the followers of Dinn guard the temple, there is nothing archaeologically stopping a given mortal meandering through each and every room, and, within reason, strangers are welcome to do so. The temple is almost completely devoid of features, constructed of nothing but flat stone and arches, with domed ceilings. The only contents of the temple are urns, and plenty of them, neatly ordered and categorised by Dinn himself. It is strictly forbidden to touch or peer inside any urn in the temple without Dinn’s blessing, and there are many myths about what happens to mortals that do, including, naturally, being turned into or imprisoned in an urn themselves. Almost all of the chambers are identical, but for the biggest one, located at the temple’s centre. This is Dinn’s personal chamber, The Chamber of the Altar of Rain, where his throne is built into an impossibly tall pyramid of urns. Because the inside of this chamber is somehow perpetually raining, the urns are constantly overflowing, making a huge fountain. This fountain drains into a great well before the throne, forming a vortex of swirling water, which is said to lead directly to the Nassan Falls. Underneath the Temple of Passing, through a passage only Dinn and his most trusted can find, there is a crypt of inactive clay golems: more on them later. Dinn’s places of power are those places relevant to his portfolio, such as cellars where liquids may be stored, rivers and waterfalls, and, probably most pertinent to mortals, thresholds of all kinds. It is common for mortals to briefly acknowledge Dinn upon entering or exiting a building.

Servants, Prominent Followers and Worship Base:

Almost all mortals pay their dues to Dinn, as he is the arbiter of their immortal fate. As the one responsible for their journey to the afterlife, he is relevant to every mortal that will die. According to almost universal doctrine, it is Dinn that presides over the passing of souls from this life to the next, though, naturally, he very rarely does this in person. It is instead his servants, the Guardians of Passage, that commend the deceased soul to the heavens, before it manifests itself as the rain in the central chamber of the Temple of Passing and passing through to the underworld. While followers of other gods may have their own deity the primary feature of their death rites, concessions are typically made to the Guardians of Passage in at least an administrative capacity. Where those concessions are not made, it is said that Dinn keeps the souls for himself in the topmost urn in The Chamber of the Altar of Rain when they inevitably reach him. The Guardians of Passage are Dinn’s primary sect of fervent worship. They are monastic in structure and have branches covering spiritual matters (such as commending souls to the heavens), military (defending the Temple of Passing) and personal (serving Dinn personally). It is typical for followers of Dinn and those soon to die to make tributes to Dinn, typically in the form of an urn (with something valuable inside, of course) dedicated to him on a threshold or in a place of prominence in the house. Those really seeking to carry his favour make pilgrimages to the Temple of Passing with their tribute to deliver it in person. The tribute is simply stored with all the other urns. The Exempt are a privileged few, exclusive to the powerful, the rich, and the upper echelons of the Guardians of Passage. They pay, in essence, not to die. Through a ritual ceremony, sometimes conducted by Dinn himself, their immortal soul is stored in one of Dinn’s urns, where it is safe from being forced to pass into the next life. Needless to say, this requires a tribute of the highest quality, and implies a life of servitude and dedication to Dinn, and political support for the Guardians of Passage. Other gods tend to frown on this practice, for fear that dedication to Dinn would diminish their own standing. Alternatively, one may become an exempt via sacrificing another mortal (of Dinn's choosing) so that he may claim that soul for his own. While becoming exempt does quell death, it does not prevent ageing (though it does slightly slow the process): eventually, the mortal must accept their fate - and Dinn keeps their soul permanently. It is rumoured (ie: true) that, underneath the Temple of Passing, there is an enormous crypt containing four-armed clay statues in the likeness of the Exempt. Should Dinn combine these statues with their respective souls, they become golems, utterly subservient to the Keeper of the Flood. There are only four active golems, the original mortal founders of the Guardians of Passage, who currently are the 'saints' of the sect, even though they no longer retain any of their humanity or characteristics. They are known as The Corporeal. While any three-dimensional depiction of Dinn is strictly forbidden, depictions of The Corporeal are incredibly common among Dinn's followers. Since the deity is frequently invoked in human poetry and theatre as a proxy for the passage of time, inevitability, and, of course, death, but his image is taboo, The Corporeal are depicted as his agents. While it is not clear whether this is merely myth, crafted from those poets and playwrights that worship him, Dinn is known to appear in his liquid form to mortals in need at a threshold, and provide a gateway to wherever they need to be.

Psychology:

Dinn is a deity not given to fraternising with mortals. He considers himself superior than them, and is rarely interested in the minutia of their lives, and so interacts with mortals primarily through the Guardians of Passage. That mortals should suffer or fear death is of no consequence to him, and, though he is theoretically capable of causing a complete cessation of human mortality, he is too uninterested to bother. What truly motivates him, with respect to mortals, is, though he does not admit it, their complete and utter adoration and submission. This is the purpose of tributes in his honour: no material gain (being divine, he has no need of gold), but simply a physical manifestation of his value in mortal eyes. He is a jealous and possessive god (aren't they all?) who, though he administers the passing of souls to the underworld, is not unknown to embezzle souls for himself: those who refuse to bow to the minimum standard of funeral rites are, as far as Dinn is concerned, his for the taking. His corruption with regard to the Exempt is also a sore spot among the heavens, though he is known for doing this in conjunction with other gods for reciprocal gain. Despite having crossed the 'corrupt' threshold, he is careful not to fly too close to the sun. After having been imprisoned in Sharzunates, Dinn was left more scarred than vengeful, and has been left with the divine equivalent of claustrophobia, and a hatred of being trapped in any enclosed space. For this reason, it is strictly forbidden for mortals to make statues in his honour, for fear of his form being 'captured'. While powerful and proud, Dinn is not known for great intellect or pro-activeness.

History:

- Subject to change as relationships emerge. Dinn was the first being born to Lymaeus, and was born to Lymaeus and her alone. She took water from the greatest fountain in Krona and cast with it her own flesh: Dinn was born a god with a transient form of vapours and flowing water that billowed and flourished as he wished. He was at this point not yet responsible for the flow of souls to the underworld, as Ventu's destructive rule took this upon himself. Dinn was too uninterested in anything but his own freedom to be concerned with the rebellion against Ventu - until Ventu was minded to exile him as well. However, Dinn was too immaterial to lock away, and so was thrust back into the fountain of his origin, sealed inside the great four-armed clay statue from which the water itself flowed. The entire fountain was ripped from Krona and itself thrust into Sharzunates with Dinn within it, where it served as the gate (technically 'dam') to the prison of the gods. When it came for Sileon to release the prisoners of Sharzunates, he was unable to release Dinn in his original form, and so Dinn was released from the fountain by bringing it with him, hence the half-clay form he has to this day. When returned, his very form was a testament to his suffering, and so joined the other gods in their revolt against Ventu, and, with Ventu vanquished, he took it upon himself, with his ties to Mephas personal, to guide mortal souls there such that they need not suffer as he did. However, he overestimated his own beneficence, and his period of mortal interest was brief. It was during this time that he reached popularity as a deity among mortals, with the construction of the Temple of Passing and establishment of the Guardians of Passage - from there, he began to grow uninterested in mortal affairs (his heart was never truly in it), and his influence declined somewhat, though his following remains an institution, if a little passive.

Relationships:

WIP

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There is no difference in writing ability between the two forums. Both expect in terms of their required standards accurate grammar and spelling, but nobody is going to eat you alive if you let a typo slip. While Advanced is more thought-out and developed than Casual with longer posts, but none of these things are 'writing level'. Using the Advanced Section doesn't make you, or mean you are, a better writer than somebody in Casual: it just determines what you are looking for.

The Heavens Aflame - A Civil War Among Deities

Ooohhh, this seems fun. I've got my eye on the drunkard/reveller.

Finite Incantatem [AU Harry Potter RP] – ALWAYS OPEN!

2nd of December, 1999 Albert Aldenberg - The Safehouse

Aldenberg was not a happy man. They had had the Death Eater in their presence not more than half an hour, and already they were fractured. As McCarthy stormed out, he bristled visibly. He had been standing behind Cunningham with his cloak’s hood obscuring his face. Showing one’s face to one’s enemies was always a poor move. The awkward silence (as though interrogations required tension injections), punctured only by blood pouring from the captive’s nose, lasted a full three seconds before Aldenberg swept in front of Cunningham’s chair and stooped so they could speak face-to-face, if not eye-to-eye. “We speak to one another properly. While you are in our custody, it would behoove you to do the same.” At that point, the door to the adjoining room opened and Ronan hobbled in: “Report?” Aldenberg pointed at Luther and shook his head to Ronan: not here, not now. “I am about to see to McCarthy,” he said, as neutrally as possible, “And in my absence, nobody in this room-” he patted Cunningham’s shoulder, “Is breathing a word. Nobody is breathing a word.”

*

It was cold out. Very cold. The safe house was an unspeakably tiny cottage, a former muggle dwelling, outside some godforsaken hamlet in the Scottish Highlands. It was a far cry from the manor, with all of its three little rooms. McCarthy was leaning against the picket fence around the property that was so rotten and fetid that it could scarcely support his weight. He was stirred by the sound of the closing door, or perhaps the crunch of Aldenberg’s shoes on the lightly-frosted glass, and so looked up, just in time. “Expelliarmus!” A red jet crackled from the tip of Aldenberg’s wand, heading straight for McCarthy. McCarthy was faster: with a slash of his own wand, the disarming spell dissipated, swallowed up by an invisible barrier. Aldenberg scowled. “At least you are not entirely off-guard this evening,” he said, bluntly, joining him by the fence, “But he was right. You are not a child, McCarthy, and so you ought not behave like one. Sooner or later, and quite possibly sooner, you are going to have to face your family, wand in hand. She won’t be defenceless. She will not be bound to a chair. She will be aiming at your throat and if you cannot control yourself, you will not survive. If you behave like this, you will die. This is not news to you.” “You don't think i know that?” said Kyle, “I dread that day. You can't seriously believe that I am not prepared for it, though?” “You treat your family and even their house with a reverential fear, the same grip in which He Who Must Not Be Named has the whole country. Each of us has fears. Each of us has ghosts in their history they have to face. None of them has hit a defenceless man because he didn’t cower from your demons with you. No, you are not prepared.” "I'm already pissed enough at myself for those actions, Albert,” said Kyle, as evenly as he could, “I do not need you to continue to lecture me on it." “Anger isn’t the solution, McCarthy. Anger is why you’re standing outside in the cold with a,” he noted the other man squeezing the knuckles of his right hand with his left, “Painful hand. I assume it isn’t broken?” "It isn't, and I'm not fixing it." “As you wish,” said Albert, turning back to the cottage. He was wasting his time, “Add it to your collection of scars. But, until you learn to control yourself, you risk us all.”

Finite Incantatem [AU Harry Potter RP] – ALWAYS OPEN!

Albert Aldenberg

Name: Albert Aldenberg Age: 37 (born 1962) Gender: Male Nationality: Dutch Blood Purity: Pure-Blood Marked? Not marked Personality: Albert is, in a word, stern. At Hogwarts, it was often remarked about him that he was destined to be a professor, given his studious, contemplative nature - and his complete lack of patience. He is socially conservative and fussy, obsessed with little rules and social graces, owing to his background: living in dictatorship under an immortal magical bigot is in no way an excuse for not being dressed appropriately. Chivalry and honour are important to Albert, as pretentious or patronising as they may be to others. Respect for the fairer sex and a refusal to use the Unforgivable Curses (including Legilimency in Dutch traditions) are the two of the more obvious examples thereof. Despite possessing what could be considered a commanding presence, Albert is a quiet man, who will observe and assess from a distance, offering his thoughts only when they are vital. As a result, he often comes across as cold and aloof, though he would not consider himself either of those things. He is cautious in the extreme, and never takes action unless he knows what he is doing: because of this, he can be considered stuck in his ways, and can be, frankly, frustrating, as he obsesses over minute, often insignificant details. Because Albert has quite obviously had it ingrained in him to be a proper gentleman, many attribute his protective nature to this. However, this is not, strictly speaking, true; he is genuinely a very caring person. Those in the Ashes will know him as a fatherly figure who will be the first to think of the safety of everybody else. He is constantly conflicted by his desire to protect everybody and the inevitable fact that he cannot. Awkwardly for somebody combating Voldemort, Albert is indeed a carrier of several prejudices typical in the wizarding world and is highly politically incorrect. He will defend the term ‘Mudblood’ (though perhaps is wise enough not to use it) and will refer to the muggle-friendly as blood-traitors and any not-entirely human Being as a ‘half-breed’. He believes muggles are stupid (while completely ignorant of their culture), and is even rather iffy on the topic of muggle-borns. He will treat them perhaps too kindly as though they are in some way disabled, and does believe that, although not personally responsible for their own existence, their induction to the wizarding world is damaging to the social order: according to him, the far-right uprisal is at least in part down to the destabilising effects of relations with muggles and muggle-borns. Strengths:

• Wand Technique: Albert furiously studies his skills with a wand, and, as such, his power and finesse are almost peerless (especially among his own age group).[/*]
• Defence: Albert is highly defensive in combat. His shield charms are second to none, and he has taken the time to learn Occlumency[/*]
• Arithmancy: always helps with planning. Never helps with anything else[/*]

Weaknesses:

• Formality: Albert is a highly-trained formal duellist. Unfortunately, most actual duels are not formal: while he’s bowing, the opponent has probably already cursed him. While obviously he has since learned not to bow and to break the rules of a formal duel, he is still used to battling in very sterile environments against particular tactics - which is often more a hindrance than a help.[/*]
• Flexibility: Albert is not flexible. While he may be described as a powerful wizard because of his aptitude for magic, he would never be considered a brilliant wizard, because he doesn’t have the creativity to interact with a given scenario off the cuff.[/*]

Wand: Oak, Dragon Heartstring, 15”, Unyielding Bio: The Aldernberg family is an old Dutch wizarding family comparable to the Blacks or the Malfoys in England. Powerful, rich and conservative, the only great difference was that the Aldenbergs had no great historical desire to affect change in the Netherlands. Despite being Dutch, Aldenberg children were typically Hogwarts-educated, to the point where the family had manors in both countries. Despite being officially Dutch, Albert has spent almost as much time in England as in the Netherlands, and considers himself a national of both countries. Attending Hogwarts, Albert was very much a model student on paper. Though his background and inevitable prejudices occasionally caused friction between himself and his peers (especially in his house, Hufflepuff), it was noted that he was somehow as tolerant as he was prejudiced, and therefore real trouble was rarely caused. Upon leaving Hogwarts, Albert almost immediately turned around and walked straight back in again. After a few years researching Arithmancy in the Netherlands, he accepted the post of Professor of Arithmancy at Hogwarts in 1983, where he remained through thick and thin - both accepted and not quite accepted by both sides. The Order of the Phoenix trusted Dumbledore’s judgement that his prejudice was not a lost cause, while the supporters of Voldemort saw in him and the Aldenberg family a perfectly respectable wizarding tradition. Therefore, while he was not invited to join the Order, his name was known to the Ashes, and when Umbridge began her axing of the school staff, he remained until the school’s closure. During this period, the changing nature of the school began to open Albert’s eyes a little. Although he had sympathies with the political leanings of Voldemort’s followers, the methods were unforgivable. He remained in the school as long as he could to protect his charges, and, eventually, to leak information to the Ashes, and, when the school was finally closed altogether, he joined the Ashes as an active member.

David Howell

Name: David Howell Age: 27 (born 1972) Gender: Male Nationality: British Blood Purity: Muggle-Born Marked? Beyond being on the Muggle-born register, no. Personality: David comes across as chirpy and cheerful even in the face of adversity. He has a great sense of humour (and a particularly dark one) and is more than happy to take a joke himself: he’s used to it, having been the obvious butt of jokes for most of his wizarding career. Because of this, he is fairly likeable, if not especially impressive. While he projects an image of self-confidence and bravery, this is bravado. Underneath he is a disquiet man with many insecurities, not least about his own shortcomings as a wizard and his status as a second-class citizen. For all his happy-go-lucky projection, he is hugely bitter on the inside, about being constantly passed over or considered unworthy, confused by the fact he knows he considers himself unworthy as well. This bitterness manifests itself in an unexpected cruel streak every so often. Because of his treatment by the Order, he is very untrusting, and, in turn, naturally deceptive. He does not tend to confide in anybody, even in the other members of the Ashes, even though he is often forced to rely on them because of his own magical incompetence. Despite this, he is not gushing with intellect or strength of character, and so he can be quite easily bullied into things, and, because he relies on his not-always-reliable instinct rather than actually thinking critically, tends to be easily manipulated, too. Weaknesses:

• Magic(!): Despite being an indisputable wizard, David grew up in the muggle-world, never had any great aptitude for magic while at Hogwarts, and fled the school before completing even his OWLs. Inevitably, he is really not the world’s best wizard, and tends to avoid actually using magic. He is capable of most basic Charms and has been taught a decent selection of Hexes and defensive spells by the Ashes, but it’s best not to rely on him for anything magical.[/*]
• Apparition: Never even got the chance to take his test, and so has never learned. As a result, he relies on other members of the Ashes to apparate with him or create a portkey for him just to get around.[/*]

Strengths:

• Seer: Despite divination typically being considered a load of hooey, David is a seer. He tends not to make formal prophecies and he cannot force himself to see something. Instead, he will ‘see’ events as they unfold, rather than knowing precisely what will happen, and subconsciously informs his good instincts - which manifests as being quite lucky in day-to-day life.[/*]
• Dark Arts: Because David’s spells typically tend to lack any real oomph, he has been secretly seeking ways to level the playing field. One of these pursuits is the Dark Arts, which feel more holistic and intuitive to him, rather than the intricate nature of ‘normal’ magic. While he’s hardly at Voldemort’s level, he is making some decent progress and is already capable of some rather nasty bits of magic.[/*]
• “Bluff Magic”: On paper, David should never win a duel. His magic is frailer and less consistent than most wizards. Instead, he basically cheats. Instead of really actually thinking about what he’s doing and duelling ‘properly’, David just shoots whatever the hell he can create at a target and hopes for the best. This is normally a healthy mix of harmless sparks, random Charms, and legitimate hexes. Because they’re all half-formed and random, he can launch an absurd amount of individual spells with decent accuracy at a given target. The target is typically forced onto the defensive, because any one of those spells could be the end of the duel if they hit. While David has never actually won a fair duel in this way, he has also managed to force those one-on-ones he has been in into a stalemate.[/*]

Wand: 8¼”, maple, coral core, pliable Bio: David is a complete immigrant into the wizarding world. He and his parents (who owned a small restaurant in Durham) were all completely shocked to receive his letter of admission to Hogwarts, though they later agreed that they had always known that David was in some way ‘special’. He had always been incredibly lucky, almost uncannily so: his mother had even begun to buy lottery tickets on his advice, and, almost every week, they would win a small but respectable sum. The child also had a knack for knowing things he had no real way of knowing. The fact that David was not just a wizard but a seer to boot was only revealed in his third year, when he took Divination as a subject, and his natural gift was given space to breathe. It’s just as well he at least had Divination (as not-proper a subject as it was considered) because he was a walking disaster area wherever a wand and actual spellcasting were concerned. Non-directly magical subjects such as Portions and Herbology were fine: Charms, DatDA and Transfiguration were only just passable. In his fifth year, David made the decision to leave Hogwarts. The increased pressure and danger for muggle borns, even within its walls, had become too much for him, and so he fled. It was not, however, even particularly safe for him to return to the muggle world, as his identity as a muggle-born was known to students and so he was taken into the custody of the Order of the Phoenix (while in no way permitted to participate, being both underage and under-competent), presumably partly to prevent his ‘instinct’ being captured by the enemy. Growing resentful of the Order’s treatment of him, David eventually joined the Ashes when they splintered off from the Order with whom he has remained to this day. Other: Ravenclaw

Larry Dale

Name: “Larry Dale” (Laurence Darville) Age: 34 Gender: Male Nationality: English Blood Purity: Pure-Blood Marked? Oh good lord, yes Personality: Larry is fiercely intelligent, about which there is no doubt. He is both an ideas man and a pragmatic thinker, one who is not caught up on little details but still pays due attention to them. He is somewhat manic, who is incapable of sitting still: even if he’s not doing anything productive, he will still be larking about in some manner or another. Everything he does has an sense of tongue-in-cheek playfulness, which, in the wrong mood, can manifest itself as pure spite. He is relentlessly positive, in the worst and most exploitative ways. Every cloud must have a silver lining, even if he must paint it on himself. If a member of the resistance dies, then Larry will present a martyr: if a Death Eater dies, they are the most crucial key to toppling the regime. While, as a journalist, he reports only facts, he is most definitely guilty of the most appalling spin and editorial bias. Fierce ambition drives him: he works out what he wants and then does whatever it takes to get it. As a politician, he happily trod on people to secure his own position. While he is definitely a risk-taker, though perhaps not as naive as he once was, they are calculated risks, and so does not consider himself a gambler in this regard: if push comes to shove, he saves his own skin, first, and thinks about other things last. He is, in that sense, an appalling egotist, and has come to see himself as something of a political celebrity. Externally, his period under the thrall of the Ministry offers him no grievance. Underneath, however, he still feels a certain amount of, if not guilt, remorse over that period, and, though he considers himself above such things, has something of a thirst for vengeance. Strengths: - Stealth and Espionage: Larry has become good at not dying. He has spent the past six years as a lone operative, and has very much learned to take responsibility for his own safety. If anybody is any good at not being noticed, it’s Larry: he also has sources of information to report. - PR: Not hugely helpful to the Ashes, but Larry is something of a PR prodigy. - Will-Power: Larry has developed a very strong resistance to the Imperius Curse due to a four-year period of uninterrupted control, which he has also applied to Occlumency. Weaknesses: - Duelling: While Larry is a competent wizard in many fields, he isn’t a particularly accomplished duellist and historically has tackled combat by simply escaping. - Teamwork: Larry is not a team player. Wand: 12”, Laburnum, Unicorn Tail Hair Bio: Laurence grew up in a very normal, middle-class wizarding family, and got his acceptance letter to Hogwarts as he predicted. While at Hogwarts, he focussed on the humanities rather than magic itself, taking Muggle Studies, the Study of Ancient Runes, History of Magic to NEWT level, along with Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration, doing rather well across the board and being appointed prefect for Ravenclaw House. With an unblemished school record, Laurence’s progression into the Ministry was inevitable and smooth. He was a political beast, who was quickly taken under the wing of a career politician (rather than a civil servant), Amarant Garth, with the two of them rejecting the increasing anti-muggle sentiments publicly. Laurence displayed an innate knack for campaign strategy and proved himself as a PR machine. Despite the best efforts of political opponents and the terror threats from Death Eaters, he was not deterred from writing bitingly critical assessments of the political climate and even managed to bully them into the Prophet (as well as any other respectable publication that would take them). Through his skill and, frankly, underhanded machinations, he cemented his position, despite his youth as Garth’s right-hand man, and, together, they unified whatever anti-Fudge and anti-Voldemort sentiment there was into a decent movement. Unfortunately, the movement wasn’t anywhere near strong enough to block Malfoy’s rise to the throne, and, from there, it was all downhill. The threats against Garth eventually sunk in, and the man bottled it. Lawrence was the only natural successor to Garth’s position as the most overt opponent of the new regime, and took to it with aplomb, if rather less success in the new climate. He remained utterly undiverted from his cause, until, an impressive two years into his tenure, he was diverted in the most thorough way possible. Instead of simply killing him, the Death Eaters had been watching his campaigning for a few years with irritation and interest, and decided to recruit him instead. Lawrence never found out the name of the person that cast the Imperius Curse on him, but, suffice to say, they did an excellent job of it. The narrative for the cursed Laurence was that he was a reasonably well-known political convert: the argument had won him over and he now supported the new direction of the Ministry. The fact he had a NEWT in Muggle Studies was also useful, as he was therefore an ‘expert’ in muggle culture and so the propaganda he was generating was thereby justified. In addition, his information about the anti-Death Eater movement was gradually extracted from him and used to shut down the dregs of the opposition. The curse lasted an extraordinary period of time: for over six years. Inevitably, Laurence began to be able to resist it, and eventually threw it off entirely, and vanished into the night. Despite this ordeal, Laurence’s political fervour was not quelled, though he vowed not to be quite so naive a second time round. With intricate knowledge of the mechanisms by which the regime could catch opponents, he began broadcasting information by radio: where was safe, who had been killed, what the Death Eaters were doing, and how best to fight back - as well as, for the sake of spite, popular muggle music. He’s been doing this for years now, as a lone operative, under a new name. While there are certain trust issues to be had with a former Ministry mouthpiece, he has been rebuilding his reputation and is the most acclaimed and secure broadcasting operative.

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Did you enjoy it? Successful. Did you not enjoy it? Unsuccessful.