Indian Love Letters (ILL!)

[Weremouse]

Dearest best friend,

I feel unfulfilled. You are still yet out of my reach. Our correspondence has now reached almost a letter every few days, but that still does not fulfill me. I want to see you, hear your voice, sit in your drawing room and meet your wonderful family. After all that you've said about them I can't imagine any group of people more lovely! But yet you insist that we remain separate- even though you are my best friend and the one whom I love most of all! I said that I would never announce my love for a man more handsome, elegant, intelligent, or virile as my dear brother, but even though we have not formally met I believe that you are that man! I do not compare you to my darling Kieron lightly, best friend! You have earned that esteem. But yet you push me away. What have I done to displease you? Every letter is filled with my feeling of desperation to meet you, yet we have not met! Is this a game? Am I just a silly little girl that you may toy with? No, of course not. You are a man, and you MUST love me or else you would not bother. So you shall invite me to your estate. That is inevitable.

Signed,

Cymbeline

She sealed the letter, placed a stamp on it and set it aside to mail it later.

Two days later, it hit the mail.

Four days after that, a young Indian man went to check the mail and found her letter.

He maintained a straight face while delivering the other mail to his family, and then proceeded to steal up to his room to read the letter, smelling the perfume of his amazing English penpal, carefully unsealing the letter, trying not to rip the precious envelope.

His eyes ran across the page, and as he finished the letter, his face had gone from pale, to dark, to pale again. Cymbeline, his wonderful Bell, he pictured her so beautiful, a pale delight from England. But he, he was Indian.

Sure, the Indian girls liked him well enough, but what would a white girl think? Was he good enough for her? He had wanted to put his real name but he was afraid she would decide she was superior to him and stop communicating with him. He hadn't even put his real name. To her, he was John.

Would her love be blind? Would she love him once she found out his real identity? He hurriedly scribbled a response letter, too flustered to take the time he usually did:

Dearest Cymbeline,
My love, you may come visit if only you will keep an open mind about me and my surroundings. You already have my address, so I shall expect you sometime these next two months. I shall make arrangements for bedding for you. I am excited for your arrival!
Signed,
John

Hey ya'll! This is Jaya, here to talk about when and where this story is set.

Totally rocking this traditional Indian outfit. :-D I almost wish I got to wear this sort of thing all the time!

Basically, we're in 1920's India. It's a bit of a stretched history, a 'what if' history. It's mostly accurate but for creative reasons there are differences to fact.

So basically, India is under British rule. Until recently, the country was even called "The Presidencies of British India", or just "British India". Even though now the name is just "Provinces of India", people still call it "British India" since the British are still in control.

With the British control, the territory stretched pretty far out, into present-day Thailand and Afghanistan. However, bigger land does not equal love for your government. Racism grew out of the Indians feeling inferior since they were directly ruled by England.

To the British, Indians were inferior creatures. Everyone was a street urchin. No matter how rich or powerful their Indian family was, even the poorest Brit was better off.

And to the Indians, the British were greedy fools who had taken their country. All Brits were no longer human, they were so immoral. However, despite all the hatred of the British, Indians still felt jealousy, wishing they were British so they could have that power, to the extent of British fashion becoming more popular and British appearances becoming more visually appealing.

Next up, Aubs with casting/bios!

[Aubs]

Hey, Aubrey here!
I'm over the character casting and bio skeleton, which to me is very fitting. *smiles*

Indian Love Letters has a very specific setting and because of that we want characters that match the setting. More than seventy five percent of the entire cast should be filled with characters of Indian decent, while the other twenty five should be filled with British decent characters.

• There aren't specific type of characters that are needed, but for the main female character who is British, she will need two counterparts to play her brother and female cousin who is her opposite respectively.
  
  
• The Indian characters don't have needed people per-say, but their characters should know the main male character to a certain extent. [an example being friends or close family.]
  

The bio skeleton for this RPG has returned to the simpler ones you all are used to seeing. It shouldn't be that hard for you to fill out this one because I'm more than positive a lot of you have filled out one of this size before.

Here Goes:

Name: [Names from the origin would be appropriate]
Gender:
Age: [Late Teens - Early Twenties]
Appearance:
Personality:
History: [Your relationship to the characters would be a big part of this section.]
Extra:

Simple, right? Not one section of that bio should be really difficult to fill out. However, if any of you arrive at a section and question something don't be shy to contact Eva, Jaya, or myself. We're more than willing to help you.

Up Next: Eva will discuss anything me or Jaya might have missed in our posts.

--Aubs

[Eva]

Well, the lovely ladies before me have done a wonderful job thus far, so I've got little to fill in.

Now, this is a romance RP, but don't worry. If you aren't necessarily all that great at writing romance, you don't have to. Your character can be anything within reason, as long as they're interesting. Also, people, remember: FLAWS. This RP will be boring if everyone's an amazingly tolerant for their time, beautiful, regal, smarter than everyone else, amazing physical God/dess of a person whom everyone loves. Because that's LAME, and I hope that nobody on this site believes that it's anything but that.


This story centers around Cymbeline Oxford, daughter of the Assistant Administrator of Victoria II, a sector of India named after the renowned Queen. The characters in the story all relate to Cym's life in India, from servants to Indian nobles to her social 'equals', or they relate to her beloved 'John's life, which is far less glamorous. Any questions, ask in the CBOX.

[Eva]

Name: Cymbeline Oxford
Gender: Female
Age: 20

Appearance: Cymbeline is not beautiful. She is by no means ugly, or undesirable, at least not in terms of appearance, but the word 'beautiful' is not appropriate for her. She has a look of perpetual disdain and disinterest pasted upon her face, which distors her fine features. Her hair is long and fair, usually dolled up in princess curls and 'done with'. She is an expert at posing, though, and when called to attention can adjust her features and become quite lovely. But she is apathetic most of the time, and thus her good qualities sag and are not used to their full extent.
Cymbeline wears what she is given. Her usual outfit is a fine dress, her favorite color being blue and her favorite shade being light, but she will wear anything if it is demanded of her. Corsets are an annoying and insufferable burden that Cymbeline dreads every time they are even mentioned. Truly, if there ever was a man-made torture device, it was that garment.
Personality: Cymbeline is constantly bored, and is unable to find enjoyment in anything in her life. She tries to be more ladylike and puts on regal airs, but she simply cannot muster up enthusiasm for anything beyond her own personal matters. She wants desperately to be like her brother, Kieron, to whom everything comes so easily. But they are not alike, and so Cymbeline struggles to be competent at the things that are laid out before her. She is socially inept, and incapable of relating to almost anyone. Although she wants to be more than just a decorative body, Cymbie just isn't a very hardworking person. She often fails to satisfy her own goals simply through laziness or lack of motivation on her own part.
History: Cymbeline is the second child and daughter of the Assistant Administrator of East India. She was a spoiled child, raised to expect nothing out of life except wonderful things. She was not taught anything that could be applied to real life situations, only proper posture and how to laugh politely. As her father gained more and more political power, Cymbeline was given more lessons, until her entire life was centered around being a lady.
But those talents were less than useful in India. Her father had no real use for her skills there, since there were so few other powerful families, besides that of the Administrator, but he had no children and only ever met Oxford. So, Cymbeline sat around their lavish home, finding trying new ways to entertain herself, and failing quite often. Not even her dear brother Kieron was around very often, as he had many things to do. So she was trapped, alone, with only her quiet cousin Elizabeth, who never left her room save for meals.
The 'changing times' are of no concern for Cymbeline. New risque music, 'happening' clothes and flashy dancing, and all such manner are trivial to her. She only does what is required of her, and as such cares nothing about the states of children in her home country.
Extra: Same as the other two bitches.

[Aubs]

Name: Shaili Nayar. [Shay-lee]
Gender: Female.
Age: 21.



Appearance: Shaili is of Indian descent. She has a skin complexion that for her isn’t unique, but is still gorgeous regardless. It is a beautiful brown shade that doesn’t tan nor get any lighter than what it is. She stands at a rather short height of five feet, six inches. How she wishes she could one day be taller, but she knows she’ll never grow anymore. She’s quite jealous of all the other people around her who tower over her and she expresses that notion often. Body wise, Shaili is on the thin side. She hardly ever gains weight, but she isn’t so skinny to the point of it being unhealthy for her height. She has a small smidge of curves, though not an overbearing amount. She’s pretty content with her body other than wanting to be taller. Garments you can usually see Shaili in are of course saris and other traditional attire most Indian woman are instructed to wear. They’re not allowed to wear pants like the men, although it would be a dream of Shaili to do so. Her hair is long, about shoulder length and it is a dark brown on the verge of being black. It’s very silky and such.

Personality: Shaili is a big traditionalist. As an Indian woman, she was taught that the woman’s place was in the kitchen and tending to the family, not out and about like most British women were. Shaili is a very sweet young woman. She’s loving to everyone around her and she has this overly adorable factor to her that people find very endearing. She does what she is told, doesn’t go against a lot of orders and for the most part is a pretty responsible girl. She’s understanding and open minded, yet only about situations she’s very educated on for the most part. She would love to be a little more outspoken, but that doesn’t mean she allows herself to be stepped on either. She only chooses when she should voice her opinions, which are during times when she’s provoked to. She’s kind of a mixture of her mother and father, but more so her mother.

History: Surprisingly, Shaili’s family isn’t that large compared to a lot of other Indian families in their town. Her father, Sanjay, is a fruits and vegetables merchant, who goes off day in and out to sell in the marketplace. He is quite the stern individual and consistently reminds the others that he is the head honcho of the family and it should stay that way. Sanjay is overly religious and far from being open minded. Shaili’s mother, Jaya, is a homemaker and the person who tends to the farm and kitchen when Sanjay has gone to the market. She is the opposite of her husband, being much kinder. She never speaks out of turn and is very respectable to all men around her. Falling next on Shaili’s family tree would be her oldest brother, Vijay. She looks up to him, but refrains from telling him so. She seeks advice from him often, but there are times when the tables turn and he’s looking to get a few words out of her. The two of them have a very normal brother and sister relationship. They argue loads, but love each other more. It’s Vijay’s task to help his mother with the farm, while Shaili helps her with the kitchen. The last, and perhaps biggest part of Shaili’s life would be her boyfriend, Lateef. They’ve had feelings for each other since their younger years, but hadn’t started a relationship until much recently. Her father disapproves of Lateef, because his family isn’t wealthy [he wants Shaili to marry for wealth], but Lateef is the one place where she goes against her father’s wishes.

Extra: While Shaili admires Vijay’s decision to write his letters out of love for the Cymbeline girl, she hates the fact that he lies to her about his life. She doesn’t think her brother should continue with the letter writing because she believes he’s in too deep and there’s no turning back once the two meet. She fears his heart will get broken.


[OOC: I put the names of important people to Shaili in bold and I italicized those names as well.]

[Weremouse]

Name:
Vijay Nayar
Gender:
Male
Age:
26



Appearance:
Vijay does not have a very close resemblance to his sister Shaili. He sometimes resents how people sometimes think she's his girlfriend (The notion of this disgusts him. Incest is for the Brits, except Cymbeline, who is perfect.) He has a perpetual stubble that he just can't seem to control. His beard grows full and clean (not patchy) in a little less than a month, though it grows faster if he doesn't want it to be there. Instead of his sisters beautiful wavy hair, he has loose curls that would be pretty long if his hair were straight, but since it curls it appears short-ish. His wardrobe consists of traditional Indian kurtas (a type of loose shirt with three buttons at the top), Churidar pyjamas (kind of like traditional Indian skinny jeans), and various sets of Salwar kameez (baggy pants with a loose-fitting tunic). He likes bright colors but mostly wears monotones because that's cheaper than brighter colors.

Personality:
Vijay is something of a romantic. He believes that love is everywhere if you look for it. He's had two girlfriends before and almost proposed to both of them before they left him, leaving him crushed for months. He's a chauvinist too, but the best kind. He doesn't believe females can't do things males do, but still wants to help them and be courteous. To a feminazi he'd be a pig but to a reasonable woman he'd be sweet. It takes a lot to make him angry, and he's a pacifist of the highest order. If he sees two kids fighting on the street he feels sick, thats how much he loves peace, hence the original trying to make contact with a Brit to somehow try and help the hatred between the British and the Indians. He tries to be gentle in everything he does. He hates when he and Shaili fight, which is kind of often, and he also hates when Shaili and their father fight. He tries to make sure everyone gets along all the time, even if he fails often. Even playful fighting or teasing disgusts him.

History:
Vijay is Shaili's older brother, and takes his position as big brother with respect and seriousness. Sometimes she picks fights with him (he never initiates dispute with her, or so he thinks) which he hates but would never complain about. He tries to tell her to stop, but he understands that that's just how brothers and sister are sometimes. He treats his father, Sanjay with immense respect, since he knows that Sanjay can get violent and Vijay wants to avoid that at all costs. Vijay tries to convince his mother Jaya to stand up and not let Sanjay boss her around so much since she does so much work already, but she has Traditionalism drilled into her mind and she waves away Vijay's concerns. Vijay wishes his family were completely functional and peaceful, but most families are slightly dysfunctional and he is grateful that his father doesn't ever beat him (unless he is disrespectful, but that only ever happened once.) He hates the racism and hate between the Indian community and the British community, so he did some nosing around and found the address of a British woman he learned later was named Cymbeline Oxford

[/i]. He assumed all Brits would be judgmental, so he told her his name was John Grey and that he was British as well. She bought the story and he couldn't seem to tell her the truth after the first letter was sent. He's a little afraid of her coming to see him, but he loves her and assumes she'll accept him after the initial shock.

Extra:
(ditto to aubs on the important people thingy)[/center][/color]

[Aubs]

Eva & Jaya: I still wanted to continue with this rpg. It has so much going for it.

I don't have any of the information I had for my Baljeet bio, but I think I'm going to wing it and work it out. I just want this rpg to get off its feet because I love the concept.

[Aubs]

Name: Baljeet Sandhu.
Age: 26.



Appearance: Baljeet is very short, scraping five feet seven inches exactly. He isn’t very much in shape, but isn’t as large [fat] as many of the men in his life. His hair is black, and he has a beard across his entire face.

Personality: Baljeet is never to be taken seriously. He’s a jester. Ever since he was a child, he has always been a big joker which has caused him to be ostracized by most of his family and a lot of the elders in town. He takes that as them not being able to take a joke as most of them in his mind are old prunes. He is woman-crazy and tries his hardest, literally, attempting to impress women. Most of ignored his advances, which has caused him to want to better himself like his best friend, Vijay, who has his very own pretty girlfriend. Baljeet, in a way is jealous, yet intrigued on how Vijay and Cymbeline are in a relationship although Vijay has lied about most of his life to the girl. Baljeet, himself wants to do something similar for the thrill and of course the bragging rights of saying that he too has a girlfriend.

Extra: Has been best friends with Vijay almost his entire life. He has a big crush on Shaili and is quite envious of her boyfriend, Lateef, who he has threatened to fight over the young girl. He thinks she would make the perfect wife to father his children as she is both beautiful and intelligent. He loves the way she is such a big traditionalist. He works at a fruit stand in the market.

[Gafe]

Name: Lateef Bhatnagar
Gender: Male.
Age: 23.


Appearance: Lateef does not sport the look of a refined young man. While his clothing and appearance are decent, their state of being is what messes up his appearance. His clothes are usually very simple, consisting of kurtas above and pyjamas below (though he does wear lungis every once in a while) with worn-out sandals covering his feet. The color of these is usually brown, though dark shades of orange and reds are not uncommon. However, his clothing is tattered, torn, parched and sown-over in some places. He can rarely afford new clothes, so he sticks to hand-me-downs. Though even if he wear to afford them, he would think too much of them for him to wear on a regular basis. His job is tough, and his clothes demonstrate this. He's not a huge fan of parading around British India dressed in such a way, but he has little choice.
On the side of physical appearance, Lateef is not an ugly peasant. Sure, there are others much more handsome than he, but he is able to hold his own ground in such matters. His hair is cut short (for having long hair whilst working out under the sun is torture) and his ears are somewhat prominent. He works outdoors, so his skin is usually very tan, to the extent that it matches his brown eyes.
Due to his ardous work, Lateef had grown to be about five feet, ten inches and he has developed firm muscle around what would look like a hungry frame. However, he is always dirty after work, with dirt covering his face and arms and whatnot, while his feet appear to be condemned to ever carry a blister.

Personality: If there is anything to be said for Lateef, it's that he is a determined and perseverant young man. He's kept a mediocre job for a good thirteen years because of his family situation and a very special person [deduce below]. He's a good-hearted fellow who has only known hard work since childhood. It could be said that he does not have the 'school smarts' because he dropped out at about age ten. He did learn to read and write, though half of it after he left school.
He is somewhat quiet and submissive, but respectful and obedient. Lateef has traditionalist beliefs, but does not care much for the traditionalist lifestyle. In fact, he just cares much more for the be-able-to survive lifestyle.
He's been through difficult times in his short life, and he would like to say he's learned form all of them (which is not totally true). But he has a kind soul that is always looking out for others and caring for those he's fond of.

History: The Nayar family are not the richest people in the community, but they are able to hold their family together and able to always come out, in a way, victorious. Lateef's family, on the other hand, is not so lucky. He is the second eldest child of six, two girls and four boys. Their father is not always present in their home (with only their mother knowing where he escapes to) and he left his mother, Lateef's grandmother, in the Bhatnagar household. All in all, this contributes to a mother having to take care of eight (sometimes nine) individuals, eight mouths to feed, eight people to clothe. She's a hard-working woman who Lateef respects, but there is only so much a woman in British India can do to make a living.
This was the reason Lateef and his older brother, Parashar, were forced to find a job. While the latter settled in the construction business, Lateef decided trying his luck in the market. He was hired by a strict grain merchant as an assistant (or the boy who's forced to carry heavy sacks of seeds to and fro around town). Yet, all things considered, this was a turning point in his life. It was in the market one day where, in the stand of merchant Sanjay he saw a small girl, just about his age, who he set out to be friend immediately.
This girl's name was Shaili and the two fostered a friendship that lasted for years. That is, until they recently decided to start going out. He cares deeply for her and always tried her hardest to see her giggle.
Likewise, as his relationship with Shaili prospered, Lateef began offering aid - free of charge - to Sanjay in his stand. He doesn't seem to like him very much so his offers are usually turned down. Still, Lateef tries.
Surprisingly, he did not meet Vijay because of Shaili and Sanjay, but because of another market-goer, Baljeet who he's known since a llong time ago. Lateef actually knows most of the people in the market too, he's good with names. While he has heard of Baljeet's threats to fight him, Lateef chooses to ignore it, as it would do not good to either of them. Much less Shaili.

Extra: *Fourth does same.*