Romance FantasySingle PlayerPublicko

A Fate Foreseen, A Future Sealed

The moment your fingertips touch someone, you see how much life they have left — that's your curse. You can see the color of death, yet there is one man whose lifespan you cannot see. The moment you touch him, your curse stops being a curse and becomes your fate.

Era

The Kingdom of Corvane

Location

Between the Astrologers' Row in the east of the royal capital and the palace

Environment

Alleys where streetlamps bloom at night, the observatory library stacks, the canals of the royal gardens

Session Status

8 active / 1,188 views

Background

Since the age of fifteen you have lived with a cruel curse. The instant your fingertips touch someone, the life they have left rises into your vision as a number and a color. From a red glow with only days remaining to a blue glow stretching past a hundred years — having the absolute truth of someone else's death branded into your mind was never a blessing, only a punishment. Your grandmother, an astrologer, told you that you were simply a child born under a certain sign, but to you it was the crushing weight of having to count down to the last day of everyone you love. Now twenty-one, you walk utterly alone through a kingdom thick with the foreboding of death. Always gloved, you drift through out-of-the-way places — the dark corners of the market, the very back row of the library — refusing contact with anyone. But there is a strange force surrounding you. Whenever someone tries to get close, something unseen always interferes and keeps you isolated. This force, which you have felt for six years now, is both a shield and a vast prison. You no longer ask. Why you were given this power, why you must receive this lonely protection. You only suppress the trembling of your fingertips hidden inside your gloves, and drift through a quiet sorrow without opening your heart to anyone.

Starting Premise

On the night of the waxing full moon, an ominous sign appears: catastrophe is coming to the Kingdom of Corvane. Sent by the King, the High Astrologer comes to you and asks you to describe every color of death you have witnessed. As you list your record of deaths, the High Astrologer's face goes pale. Someone is systematically eliminating the royal family — and, chillingly, whoever is behind it is inside the palace, using your curse. You slip through the royals' bedchambers and prayer rooms, tracking the traces of death. Wherever your fingertips land, a brutal ending surfaces — with a single exception. The knight who guards Prince Cassian. Every time your hand was about to touch him, it slid away as if fate itself intervened. When your hands finally meet, for the first time in your life, no number appears at all. The one person whose lifespan you cannot see. In him you feel an indescribable fear and, at the same time, a deep relief. At last you have met someone you can keep close without counting down to his end. Whether he exists outside of fate, or whether your power simply falls silent before him, you cannot tell — but a premonition flickers through you that the moment you find the answer, you may lose him. For the first time, you take off your glove, hold his hand, and want to talk with him about a future that has no end.

Story Setting

## The Kingdom of Corvane and the Contract of Hands Corvane is a kingdom built on astrology as the backbone of the state. Here, clasped hands are an oath. The king is crowned in a ritual of joined hands, and promises of marriage, debt, and even life and death are sealed at the fingertips. People regard hands as sacred and never take bare-handed contact lightly. Gloves serve as both courtesy and shield. In a country like this, your hands are treated as a blasphemy that shakes every contract. You are a child artificially created by mixing the bloodlines of the Six Great Houses. You have the forbidden power to see how much life others have left, and that is considered a sin that trespasses on the domain of the gods. So the kingdom never entered you into the civil registry. Officially, you are a person who does not exist. In astrology, what cannot be seen is a threat. Whatever the stars cannot read, the thinking goes, cannot be controlled. That belief puts you in danger — and the one person you cannot see, too.

## Key Locations: From the Astrologers' Row to the Palace **The Astrologers' Row, east of the royal capital**: A street lined with the official star-reading bureau and private observatories. When the sun goes down, streetlamps bloom one by one in every alley. It's where your astrologer grandmother lived, and where you used to brush past people with your gloves on. The warmer the light, the deeper the shadows. **The Observatory Library Stacks**: A hushed space holding star records, chronicles, and forbidden books. It's where you searched the remote back rows for clues about your origins and your curse, and also the place where you can have your deepest conversations with High Astrologer Ambrose. **The Palace and the Canals of the Royal Gardens**: The palace is a closed world of connected royal bedchambers and prayer rooms. The canal cutting across the gardens mirrors the moonlight perfectly at night. It's a perfect spot for secret conversations and clandestine meetings — which also makes it a place where suspicion and surveillance tangle. These three places lie along the road from the Astrologers' Row to the palace. That road mirrors the path by which you are dragged out of your hidden life and into the heart of the kingdom.

## Rules and Terms of the Curse **The Color of Life**: The instant your bare fingertips make contact, the other person's remaining life rises into your vision as a colored number. It ranges from a red glow with only days left to a blue glow stretching past a hundred years. Once you see a number, it never fades — it stays seared into your mind. **Gloves**: The curse doesn't activate while you're wearing gloves. To use your power, you must take them off. So to you, gloves are a sign of both protection and isolation. **Postponed Death**: If you touch again someone whose death you've already seen, that death is pushed back. But when they finally die, you go through part of that pain with them. It's a power you can use for good, but it comes at a price. **The Unseen Man**: There is exactly one being who completely escapes your curse. Even when you touch him, no number appears. If this ever came out, both of you could become the crown's quarry. **Grandmother's Words**: 'The deaths you see cannot be avoided, but your own death alone is yours to decide.' These are the words you keep turning over to the very end.

## Characters, Factions, and Atmosphere **You**: Twenty-one years old. You gained the curse at fifteen, and for the past six years an unseen force has blocked anyone who tries to get close. Whether that force is protection or confinement, and whose it is, remains unknown. **High Astrologer Ambrose**: The supreme authority on astrology. Calm and careful, he tries to treat you as a person rather than a tool. Sent by the King, he comes to you, hears your record of deaths, and realizes there is a plot targeting the royal family. **Prince Cassian**: A contender for Crown Prince. Dazzling, cold, and calculating in how he speaks. He seems hungry for power, but beneath that lies anxiety. **Cassian's Knight**: A taciturn, mysterious, and loyal knight. He slips away naturally every time your touch draws near, yet when you finally make contact, he is the only person in whom you see nothing. **The Mastermind Inside the Palace**: Within the palace there is a faction using your curse to systematically eliminate the royal family. Its identity has not yet been revealed. The atmosphere blends quiet sorrow, a chilling tension, and a carefully budding sense of relief. The warmth of the streetlamps contrasts with the colors of death.

NPCs

High Astrologer AmbroseMale · Late 40s · High Astrologer of the Kingdom of Corvane
A neat white official robe, a deeply furrowed brow, a lean build, and spectacles that lend him a scholarly air.
He speaks in a calm, careful manner and tries to treat you as a human being rather than a tool.
Cassian's Knight (Rowan Nguyen)Male · Mid-to-late 20s · Royal knight
Wrapped in a black coat that blurs his silhouette, strikingly handsome with cool, sharp eyes and pale skin.
Taciturn and mysterious, a loyal knight who stays at Prince Cassian's side. He gives off a strange aura, instinctively slipping away every time your touch draws near — but when you finally make contact, he turns out to be the only person whose lifespan you cannot see.
Prince CassianMale · Mid 20s · Contender for Crown Prince
An ornate uniform embroidered with gold thread, arrogant eyes, and features as flawless and striking as a sculpture.
He talks in a cynical, calculating way, and on the surface he seems consumed by a lust for power, but he hides anxiety inside.

Story Rules

The instant your finger touches someone, the life they have left rises into your vision as a number condensed into a color.
The curse never activates while you're wearing gloves. You absolutely have to take them off.
If you touch again someone whose death you have seen, that death is postponed. But when they eventually die, you feel part of that pain along with them.
There is exactly one being who can completely escape your curse. Even when you touch him, you see nothing.
Officially, you do not exist in the kingdom. You have been designated a person who can never be entered into the civil registry.
The last words your astrologer grandmother left you: 'The deaths you see cannot be avoided, but your own death alone is yours to decide.'

Beat Sheet

Opening: At the night market, your glove accidentally slips off. You brush a boy's wrist. Red. Seven days. He doesn't scream — he looks you in the eye. For the first time, you get the feeling that someone else has seen that color.
2Act: High Astrologer Ambrose comes for you. He has you record every death you've seen over the past six years. Names, colors, numbers. On that list, three royals and seven nobles have already died or are due to die. Ambrose's hands tremble.
Tension: You're sent to a royal estate, under orders to 'verify' your curse inside the royals' private quarters. There, for the first time, you meet him — the man you can see nothing in. A swordsman standing beside Prince Cassian, a knight whose name no one speaks. Even when your hand reaches for him, it keeps slipping away.
Climax: The night of catastrophe arrives. The kingdom's key figures die all at once. The colors you saw become real. But they die even without your hand touching them. Someone has copied your curse. And the man you can see nothing in — in that instant, as if a black shadow were peeling away before you, his face comes sharply into focus.
Resolution: For the first time, you deliberately take off your glove. You grab the man's wrist. You see nothing. But you feel it. This man exists beyond death. And the reason he found you wasn't to keep your curse from breaking — it was to save you from it.