THE DEER OF DEERINGTON

This might be one of the most important elements of the entire game. The Deer of Deerington serve as a very curious aspect to the core of the game. They engage the characters and are routinely responsible for giving them things like AC rewards as well as protecting them from dangers and helping to provide in-game clues and items.

The Deer

What are the deer of Deerington?

Ironically, the deer of Deerington is not where Deerington’s namesake comes from. There seems to be no affection from the NPCs towards the deer. The deer of Deerington appear to be transcendent beings. Some of them appear as perfectly regular deer, while others come in various shapes and sizes, some haunting looking, others beautiful and angelic, but they all have one thing in common: they seem to want to keep the characters safe. They offer guidance and protection through a variety of ways. They can be found lurking all throughout Deerington, and sometimes may even appear inside of buildings. Players may choose to have the deer interact with the characters in whatever way they see fit as well as decide how they deer may appear to the characters.

The antlers of the deer that can be found fallen off in the woods are capable of hurting many common monsters within Deerington. Carrying small polished antlers, such as the ones your characters are given in the form of keychains, allow the deer to track characters easier and find them in trouble. Deer may console emotionally distressed characters through simply standing guard or laying down beside them. Deer have been known to bring lost, starving people food even in the form of the deer baskets filled with various fruits, veggies, roots, nuts, and the like. The deer can be seen wandering throughout town and the surrounding woodlands at all times of night and day. They do not seem particularly frightened of anything, but it is said that when you see a herd of running deer, that something terrible is about to happen. It is unknown how many deer there are.

Can my character communicate with the deer?

Yes and no. Anyone who is capable of speaking to animals or capable of telepathy may “speak” to the deer. The deer do not speak in any known language, but characters will hear very abstract noises and music that seems to have a sort of infliction that might suggest a language.

Can the deer be harmed or killed?

No. As they are ethereal beings, any attacks will simply go right through them. They will however grow violent with anyone who does attack them and will either abandon that character in times of need, or attack. You can play either or. This is also a case-by-case scenario. Attacking one deer will not make all the deer of Deerington turn on you. They are individual creatures, after all, and no two look the same or are the same.

Can the deer be touched at all?

The deer know a touch's intention and will allow gentle touching. Many people even wind up getting rides from deer when they have been lost and wary in the woods for several hours. You can also feed the deer if you like. They will happily nibble on lots of different types of food. Some of the creepier ones will even enjoy fresh meat.

How do offerings in the blessings baskets work with the deer?

This is a bit of an IC/OOC question, but mostly has dominance in IC so it will be answered here. AC reward points to gain items from home will be used in this situation. ICly, characters will be informed that if they leave their basket out at the end of the month with offerings inside for the deer, then they may find the deer have blessed them with gifts by the first week of the following month. While characters might not see how this is done on a technical level, they will see evidence of the deer having been by the baskets by numerous hoof prints around the area.

What are these offerings? This is purely spiritual and character based. If your character believes that an offering of apples and other deer-type food things is a reasonable offering, then that will work. If your character is very religious and wants to make an actual offering involving candles, special stones, prayers, maybe even blood of their own, etc, they may do so and that will constitute as a real offering. There is no specific way for characters to do this so long as the intention behind the gesture is genuine.

With how the deer seem to be guardians, why aren't all crimes/murders/deaths/etc stopped by them?

These deer aren’t police. They are ethereal beings who are subtly powerful. This does not mean that they are omnipresent. They cannot be everywhere at once. Deer saving people from being lost or killed or any other violent act will be played on a player basis specifically. You can control if your character is saved by a deer, another character, or not saved at all.

This does not apply to rape. The deer will always stop a rape before it can happen, and they will stop through killing the would-be rapist. You may play out ATTEMPTED rape but it cannot be seen through due to this. If you do plan to play out even an attempted rape, you MUST have very open communication with all parties that are both involved and the scene and that may be impacted by the scene.

The deer statues in Deerington

Along with the ethereal deer that seem to wander around, there are also a strange amount of deer statues that can be found all throughout Deerington and in the most random of places. These deer statues are mostly ignored by NPCs, but every now and then an NPC has been known to deface the statues. There seems to be an equal amount of contempt towards the statues as there are the deer and characters themselves. The statues come in all various shapes, sizes, types, and colors. No one seems to know who made them or why they're around, but they can be found everywhere.