Entry 1. | Open Discussion: An Invitation to Find the Fact in the Fiction.

[recreator]

Sender: Emet-Selch
To: All
Subject: The Story Eater and the Missing Moon

Greetings Friends and Fellow Dreamwalkers,

I am Emet-Selch, and I shall keep this message brief.

Numerous (and ofttimes contradictory) tales about an entity known as The Story Eater have been circulating around Reverein. From what I have been able to glean, the creature is responsible for the disappearance of this realm's moon and originally hails from another world entirely, much as we do. A domain known as the Index.

That being said, I would like to extend an invitation:
❶ To anyone who may possess further information and be willing to assist in verifying these tales,
❷ To anyone who was present when the moon made its exit from the sky or knows of an individual who was,
❸ To any firsthand witnesses of this being, The Story Eater, and its capabilities,

I would encourage you to share with the rest of us what you know. After all, nothing can be gained from ignorance. It is only by the sharing of knowledge that we all may be enlightened.

I've also been given to believe that there are no small number of dreamers who wish to have the moon returned to its rightful place, and similar cases are now being made by some of the fae folk who call Reverein home. One need look no further than the Dream Board to see that this is so.

If you yourself possess an inclination to see the moon restored, I would urge you to reach out to one of these parties and lend them your aid.

And with that, I open the floor to further debate and discussion.

Comments

[recreator]

Your account would be most appreciated if you'd be willing to speak on it again. I'm particularly curious to know more about The Story Eater's disposition as well as any physical or magickal abilities that it may possess.

As someone who fought against it, what is your impression of the creature?

[steadypulse]

This may get a little long but-

Disposition seemed to shift for whatever the hell it was mimicking at the time- it shifted appearances through various story characters, usually the villains of said stories. The one constant was it's want to take in more, grow more powerful. That being said- it's sneaky, and has taken on the appearance of a hero before to try trick others on to it's side within a story.

It's sent an entire town to sleep and trapped people within dreams once before in the world it came from. I'd say it's magical abilities pretty much are nearly limitless, depending on what stories it has taken in to itself- and here it seems to have the same dream magic allowed to us which gives it more packed in to it. It also took the moon to absorb it's power, and connect to other worlds with moons; stories about their moons, all that.

We've only seen slight glimpses of it here in the dreamscapes, and it's still able to create it's minions; those creatures known as Erasers.

[There was a lot he knew, and others were pretty much assumptions gathered through clues-]

What else? I figure I haven't touched on everything you wanted yet.

[recreator]

[Well now. You certainly have his attention, sir.]

An acute attention to detail is to be praised however long may be required to review it all.

Based on what you have shared, it stands to reason that its motivation is indeed to draw upon more power - but to what ultimate conclusion? I also find it interesting that it would obscure its true nature behind the facades of each of the roles it takes on within these stories.

[It's a tactic which Emet-Selch himself is not unfamiliar with. And he would perhaps be mildly impressed by the creature's villainy - were he not concerned with the potential repercussions of it still being at large and on the loose.]

How have you come to know of its plans for the moon? And - I would hazard to ask, in your opinion, what are the chances that The Story Eater would be able to make good on its goals to connect to other worlds?

Seeing as we have all been connected to Reverein, after a fashion, I must wonder if The Story Eater could employ similar or even altogether different magicks to that end.

I am also, at least personally speaking, unfamiliar with these Erasers.

[steadypulse]

Can sometimes be what stands between life and death.

[Attention to detail, that was. Learned that the hard way-]

From what could be gathered from it? To take over and destroy worlds outside of the story realm. The Index was the Story Eater's way to get to those other worlds through the stories there; with each story it destroyed and took in, it grew more powerful, to try and break in to those other worlds. Might just be a shape-shifter by nature, or it could be something far more than that.

Those are just my thoughts, of course, from what I've witnessed during my time in the Index.

[Doesn't stand that his words are the end all be all, of course. No. He still rather have it there in the open and on the table for what help it could provide.]

I know it would make good because the only reason I even answered the Storyteller's call for help was because I saw the Story Eater's influence on my own world. Very slight, but alarming enough to sideline my own mission to try and stop it.

As for how I've come to know- I spoke with someone trying to track it, the man that was hunting the Story Eater down when it mimicked the appearance and nature of 'The Grinch' in a dreamscape of a winter holiday. This man appeared in the town square here, due to the fact he was trying to find where it had been hiding. There are a lot of moon guardians in alarm over it, according to Claus.

I've a fear that the Story Eater is experimenting with Erasers, trying to combine them with Nightmare energy- if not Noctaere.

Erasers are creatures it can create, it's minions, made of ink and pieces of stories, that the Story Eater can mold to take whatever shape and purpose it needs. Some can be more dangerous than others, but upon destruction they turn in to torn strips of paper with writing on them which turn to ash. Usually they're also shaped to mimic something from a story, and other times they simply look like- imps? Shapeless things, almost.