The Storyteller of the ARG.
Rules for Elena's operation:
--I picture her as being intelligent and a bit more mature than someone her age (otherwise, why would her parents let her go to Germany alone?).
--New to the site (but not to NING, her school _____?_____ club uses a NING site).
--She hasn't read the MR series (in fact, her understanding of the
series comes from Wikipedia) but because she googled Itex and the MR
series came up, she came to MDW hoping that the people there could makes
sense of the documents.
--She talks seriously (sane fan-ish, no emotions until we're halfway
through, and she 'knows' the site better) because these documents are a
serious matter.
--She doesn't comment on opinion-based stuff, but occasionally she may show up on another thread saying "Oh, that's what that document meant!"
--Replies to all friend requests, but never to any comments or PMs.
--She should be able to field the occasional question "Where did you
find this stuff? Did you read MR? What did you do in Germany?" but
shouldn't reply to things that mess with the point, "This is fake. Are
you JP? Show us a picture of the actual document!"
--She should NEVER get openly hostile at anyone else.
--Should bring up an occasional part of her real life. As the story hits its final week, this will include her getting ill.
--Should never comment if other people try to forge their own documents.
--Doesn't chat.
--Asks the occasional question about the site when brought up, but only
if it's as part of an explanation, not an insult or argument against
someone else. "At least you aren't a squee."
"What's a squee?" "Well..."
Backstory:
- Elena is related to ter Borcht through her mother Alice, who is his younger sister. There's also a middle child Otto, whom Elena is familiar with from childhood visits to his home near Berlin.
-- Otto has a family, while Roland does not. Otto's children, Elena's cousins, are about her age.
- Alice has never spoken much about her side of the family, but after
Elena graduated high school, Otto wrote and invited Elena to come visit
her cousins before she started college that fall.
-- This is where it gets fuzzy... Elena happens to meet her other uncle,
they talk a little, mostly she has a nice summer with her family.
- Elena comes back to America, starts college, yada yada. However,
around Christmas she receives a package labeled "DO NOT OPEN" (possibly
in German), care of her mother. The return address is in Lendeheim,
where she knows her Uncle Roland lives.
-- Possibly after persuasion -- the thread might begin as "so I have a
mysterious box, should I open it?" -- Elena opens the box, which is full
of folders, cassette tapes, and all kinds of junk.
If anyone has any questions or reccomendations, feel free to post them.