Post by Neil Hoogmoed on Oct 2, 2015 19:58:51 GMT
Empires of Azure takes place in a fictional city called Paradis in the early 1900’s, most likely, the 1930’s. A woman journalist, who writes under the alias of St. Jean, is called to a meeting with an eccentric performer named Louis de Jenier. At this meeting, se Jenier tells the narrator, St. Jean, that he is to die at the end of the week. He continues, explaining that he needs the narrator’s skillset to help him achieve a goal, all the while being totally and utterly vague about the matter. He ends the conversation, telling the narrator to come to his apartment. A week goes by, and the narrator finally decides to go to de Jenier’s house. But when the narrator arrives, de Jenier is nowhere to be found. She is, instead, escorted through the house by two “thuggish” men. They leaver her in the study, not after taking her through an odd, sapphire-windowed, room. It is in the study that the narrator finds a journal written by de Jenier. After finding what, presumably, de Jenier wanted her to find, the narrator decides to leave, but just so happens to see de Jenier hang himself in the sapphire-windowed room while leaving. She promptly escorts herself out.
The next large portion of the story is the narrator reading de Jenier’s journal. It tells how he was a crossdressing performer who got bored of listening to everything his “master,” Rudolph Vlok and decided to run away and buy a house in Paradis. The house belonged to a French woman who, in her day, was the talk of the town. She was brutally murdered by an Ancient Egyptian She-Spirit who attempted to posses her through a sapphire spider earring. Turns out, the earring is still in the house, and de Jenier finds it and starts wearing it! Every night while sleeping in this house, he sees the apparition of the woman who previously owned the house, Timonie, and eventually sees her murder. While this is all happening, de Jenier is actually being possessed by the same ancient spirit that killed Timonie, the spirit the earring belonged to. Vlok and his sidekick, Curt, finally find de Jenier and decide enough is enough. They tell de Jenier that they want him to come up north and leave Paradys. He agrees, after watching the brutal murder of Timonie, he was kind of spooked. Vlok brings de Jenier to a hospital to rest while Curt goes back to the house to gather de Jenier’s belongings. Among the rest of de Jenier’s valuables, Curt brings the earring back to the hospital, and at this point it is too late for de Jenier, the spirit has already gained most control, and he does not have the willpower to tell Curt that the earring is damaging him. Instead, that night, de Jenier lets the sapphire spider bit him, presumably allowing the spirit to possess his body. The journal ends with de Jenier returning to the house and explaining that the spirit, now name Tiyamonet, does not want to kill him.
After reading the journal, the narrator gets a call from Vlok, explaining that they must meet and he will explain everything. Although reluctant at first, the narrator agrees. When the meeting arrives, Vlok enters with de Jenier. The narrator is stunned at first, but is quickly informed that de Jenier has been possessed by the spirit, which now goes by the name of Tuamon. Vlok explains that the hanging of de Jenier was the climax of the transformation into Tuamon, and the body found in the house was in fact Curt’s. He continues, saying that he needs the narrator’s help to write down the story of de Jenier and Tuamon, lest the transformation would not be complete. She, once again, reluctantly agrees, and ends the story by looking at the half man, half woman, half de Jenier, half Tuamon being naked. She sits down at her desk and begins to write.
The next large portion of the story is the narrator reading de Jenier’s journal. It tells how he was a crossdressing performer who got bored of listening to everything his “master,” Rudolph Vlok and decided to run away and buy a house in Paradis. The house belonged to a French woman who, in her day, was the talk of the town. She was brutally murdered by an Ancient Egyptian She-Spirit who attempted to posses her through a sapphire spider earring. Turns out, the earring is still in the house, and de Jenier finds it and starts wearing it! Every night while sleeping in this house, he sees the apparition of the woman who previously owned the house, Timonie, and eventually sees her murder. While this is all happening, de Jenier is actually being possessed by the same ancient spirit that killed Timonie, the spirit the earring belonged to. Vlok and his sidekick, Curt, finally find de Jenier and decide enough is enough. They tell de Jenier that they want him to come up north and leave Paradys. He agrees, after watching the brutal murder of Timonie, he was kind of spooked. Vlok brings de Jenier to a hospital to rest while Curt goes back to the house to gather de Jenier’s belongings. Among the rest of de Jenier’s valuables, Curt brings the earring back to the hospital, and at this point it is too late for de Jenier, the spirit has already gained most control, and he does not have the willpower to tell Curt that the earring is damaging him. Instead, that night, de Jenier lets the sapphire spider bit him, presumably allowing the spirit to possess his body. The journal ends with de Jenier returning to the house and explaining that the spirit, now name Tiyamonet, does not want to kill him.
After reading the journal, the narrator gets a call from Vlok, explaining that they must meet and he will explain everything. Although reluctant at first, the narrator agrees. When the meeting arrives, Vlok enters with de Jenier. The narrator is stunned at first, but is quickly informed that de Jenier has been possessed by the spirit, which now goes by the name of Tuamon. Vlok explains that the hanging of de Jenier was the climax of the transformation into Tuamon, and the body found in the house was in fact Curt’s. He continues, saying that he needs the narrator’s help to write down the story of de Jenier and Tuamon, lest the transformation would not be complete. She, once again, reluctantly agrees, and ends the story by looking at the half man, half woman, half de Jenier, half Tuamon being naked. She sits down at her desk and begins to write.