Welcome to the Dark Lantern League, a Sherlockian role-playing society founded on the internet. On our e-mail list, in our chatroom, and in any future activities down the line, you can have your chance to take on the role of a character from a Sherlock Holmes story and interact with other characters from other tales.

To start with, the Dark Lantern League will be meeting in two venues, e-list and chatroom, both on Yahoo! Groups. Our Canonical characters are going to be in denial about the whole thing, of course, as:

Our e-mail list becomes the great mantelpiece over the fireplace in the clubrooms of the society. Letters, telegrams, notes and other written materials are affixed there with jack-knives for the other members to read at their leisure. Copy-carrots with copied quotes from previous e-mails, smiley-faces, and all that other e-mail effluvia are done away with, and e-mails are required to use all of those antiquated forms that we used to know and love. Using salutations, actually referring to other notes with paraphrasing and the like . . . all those antiquated "snail mail" protocols are now back in style (at least on this list). Brief telegraph messages in a standard telegraph form (where all caps is no longer considered "shouting") are another handy (and Holmesian) method for posting.

Our scheduled chat-room encounters will take place in a predetermined Canonical venue, like the local public-house nearest to the scene of a recent Holmes case, and a predetermined time and date, both in this world and that of the Canon. If a member refers to some visual detail a bit wrongly while we’re there, well, sometimes our eyesight isn’t too good. Details of the place, time, and case under discussion will be given out well in advance of our monthly meeting, and all characters are responsible for finding their own transport from whatever part of the Victorian world they are currently residing in on that particular day in history.

The monthly meetings will be the climax of each story-cycle. Say we decide to look at the events of "Empty House" on May 2. In the month or so prior to that gathering, members post letters, telegrams, and notes on things their characters have discovered on the Adair murder and its subsequent investigation. Whether they post observations made from their own point of view, details of that time and place in Victorian London (pertinent or not), whether they just read about the murder in the Times or happened to have a sister who knew Adair’s fiancee – it all gets posted on the mantelpiece. The nearest public-house is, of course, the "center of country gossip" and gossip we shall, keeping each other posted with jack-knife pinnings until we can finally convene to discuss our findings (or lack of same).Background checks, local history . . . when Canonical characters start investigating a Holmes investigation, who knows what they’ll come up with. If it’s a case your character is involved in, you might just be pleading for innocence or respect. The results might even be worth compiling in a dossier for publication . . . a Christmas annual is already being considered.

Members who insist upon making references to the modern day and unashamedly foisting anachronisms on the other members will, of course, be seen as madmen, and eventually carted off to Helston in the black carriage if they don’t stop babbling.

 

Basic Principles of the Dark Lantern League

Let it be hereby known that our society is founded upon the following principles:

1. The knowledge that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. John H. Watson, men of science and truth, did produce a reliable chronicle in that standard and absolute reference known as "the Canon," and that where other historical observers disagree, other historical observers must certainly be wrong.

2. The acceptance and encouragement of those vibrant spirits from the Canon who cross the great distances between centuries with the help of one’s powers of research, extrapolation, and imagination. These citizens of the Canon can be observed in their native Victorian settings via the written word and other mediums, and in their occasional physical manifestations in the modern world.

3. The gentle treatment of such creatures, endeavoring to bring out their full period personas without the stumble-causing footnote or the abrupt and wounding citation. Stark details of even the most glorious of researches are properly kept behind closed doors and discussed in private, as ladies and gentlemen do with all intimate matters.

4. The friendly interaction of these residents of the Canon in their own society, the Dark Lantern League, where the usual Victorian barriers of class, gender, and criminal nature are lowered to explore the world of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson to the fullest extent possible.

 

Membership Guidelines of the Dark Lantern League

Members of the Dark Lantern League can aspire to the following levels of membership, of which tokens, certificates, and other awards might later be assigned as whims and wishes allow:

AC – Anonymous Canonical

Someone who would like to join, yet is still picking a character. (By requesting to join at the Yahoo! Site, or e-mailing the moderator directly.)

BC – Beseeched Canonical

Someone who has picked a character, yet still has to fulfill the basic membership requirement. There will be a time limit on this level, though, so anyone trying to obtain worldwide rights to a "nom" with no real interest in the society can be dropped. (This level is attained by checking with the moderator to see that no one else is using or has requested your character.)

CC – Character Canonical

A full member who has completed their required introductory letter.

The entry letter is a full introduction from Dr. Watson or Sherlock Holmes that traditionally begins with words to the effect, "Dear members of the Dark Lantern League. Allow me to introduce CHARACTER NAME HERE." The letter then goes on to summarize the Canonical facts surrounding the character involved, in appropriate detail, and is sent to the moderator. The letter will then be quickly reviewed by the Administrative Committee Doyle for accuracy and completeness (approval of two of the three Committee members is all that’s required). Having satisfied the committee (even if revisions have to be made), the letter will be posted on the mantelpiece and the person introduced becomes a full member, allowed to post their own communiques upon the mantel and attend club functions. Introductory letters will be the only communications the club shall receive directly from Holmes or Watson outside of the Canon, as they trust that all members of the society shall be capable of using their own words once properly introduced.

DC – Distinguished Canonical

A full member whose works on behalf of their character have risen to notable levels with a scholarly paper or other special effort, and is suggested to the Committee Doyle for this title of still-unknown worth or reward.

EC – Emeritus Canonical

A rare honour given to a member who has obtained all other levels and developed his or her character over time to the point that the character is retired with the member. As it means shutting a character down, this would have to be reserved only for those rare folk who managed to do a character in a way that makes their act near-impossible to follow.

FC — We don’t really want to get into the "F" Canonical, as that level is probably only reachable by someone who has to be institutionalized. Once you have been institutionalized and are safely locked away, we’ll send you a postcard to let you know what "FC" stands for.

 

Character Guidelines

A Canonical character who, though they could have lived and surely did live in the Victorian world, was somehow completely missed by history. While one Sherlockian school of thought is to take Irene Adler and try to prove she was really Lillie Langtry or Sarah Bernhardt, our contention is that Irene Adler was Irene Adler. In the case of those stories where Watson states from the outset that he has disguised details, characters should still be developed under the name that we Sherlockians have come to know and love. Look to historical peers for colors to use on your palette when painting a character’s life and makeup, not as pre-fabricated personas ready to move into. As stated earlier, we’re looking to develop backgrounds and personalities of characters who were active in the sixty stories and otherwise ignored by history.

How Canonically faithful must a character be? Very – but consider that a challenge rather than a limitation. As we only tend to see one side to the men and women of the Canon (the Holmes/Watson side), there is room for interpretation, as well as entire parts of their lives that could have been hidden. While a stock-broker’s clerk might have loved the markets, a weakness for going to amateur boxing matches in what spare time he had (remember, not all Victorians had as much spare time as we enjoy today) would not be out of character. Slow character growth is encouraged over startling revelations that leave no room for a follow-up or completely destroy a character as we know them today. A good guideline would probably be this: If any Sherlockian familiar with the Canon cannot recognize your character as the same familiar friend they’ve known for years, you’ve probably mutated them too far.

Remember too that we’re going to be speaking as the characters themselves. If you’re taking on a villain that you want to prove innocent, for example, that proof must be very convincing, especially as all proofs will be coming from the character’s own mouth. Failure to convince might mean that the other members of the society simply brand your character a liar, as well as a villain. (Remember, though, character flaws can be fun – you might want to choose a liar or scoundrel of some sort.)

Try to pick a character who stayed alive from 1881 until 1914, or at least one for whom no body was ever found, or you will find yourself doing a lot of explaining. Holmes was fairly clear on that point: "The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply." If you really, really have bonded with Enoch Drebber or some other corpse of the Canon, perhaps something can be worked out ("Oh, yes, funny story about that – I got the non-poisonous pill while Hope took the one that causes aneurisms."), but a great effort must be made so that your walking corpse does not stink (literally or literarily). Personally, I’d look for an easier character.