Alithea Arrives in Soma

Which is kina bad news.

When I wrote these kind of introductions in SOMA, they were often a single sentence.

So let’s do that, to start:

Enter Alithea

Alithea arrived in Soma, which was bad news.

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That would have been it, see. But, since this is a different book—even if it does include much of the others—and I’m sharing/writing it on a different platform, we need a longer form introduction of this broad, who she is, what she’s about, where she comes from (what little I know about that), and what she wants. So here we go with that.

Alithea arrives in Soma. She has the kind of awareness that you’d expect from some arcane bog witch—or whatever she is—the sort of knowing, curious eyes that assess this new place with a kind of unsettling familiarity, as though every place she goes is already her own native soil.

She’s bald, though not from alopecia, from shaving. She often grows the back out and braids it or lets it flow out, depending. She’s a smart dresser, too, not bog witchy in that way, or probably not what you’d expect, in any case. She’s fit, too, and prone to using swords as much as magic, but since that’s not really the way in Soma, she is dressed in appropriate attire and keeping a low profile.

I don’t know for sure how, but she came here from Bruno.

What’s Bruno? you ask.

If you can access links, I point you here.

If you cannot, I say, Don’t worry about it, babe. It’s just some other place I stay sometimes.

If she meets up with any of the other villains on the streets, that could be bad for us—or me, anyway, depending upon how you’re reading this, how you’re playing it.

Well get more about her as we go, but this is the basic idea of her.

Play procedures

• Alithea is a dangerous and challenging character. She has very good traits, and is quite capable in three of the big classic genre areas: detective, war, and magic. She’s one of those urbane villains, so she won’t hurt you unless you give her cause to or if she wants something from you that you aren’t willing to supply her. Anyway, be careful. Unless you’ve unlocked the time travel secret, she could end your story any time you encounter her, if you piss her off.

• Having said all that, she would make a formidable teacher. How you would convince her to take you on as a student, I don’t know. She has her own agenda that I don’t understand yet, but it seems very time consuming, and she doesn’t strike me as the teaching type, so you’d have your work cut out for you there. But if you were successful, I’m sure she knows many secrets, lots of spells, and can teach you how to fight well and how to figure things out.

• The arrival of Alithea triggers the arrival of a new nemesis for you, as well. Think about who this person is—your nemesis—how they found you in Soma (since it’s literally inside of me), what they want—that kind of thing. If you are inclined, roll a die, and that’s the number of key scenes they will appear in during our story this time around. Reroll each time you encounter this chapter. You can reuse the same villain, or make a new one each time. Think about how your villains compliment or contrast with mine, and how we might be able to help each other overcome them.

Story path

Alithea 1 > 2