The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King was a German fairy tale written by E. T. A. Hoffmann in 1816. The story follows young Marie Stahlbaum who receives an enchanted Nutcracker one Christmas Eve. She finds herself tugged between the realm of fantasy and reality as she searches for a way to break the curse placed on her Nutcracker, all the while fighting off the infamous Rat King. Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed a ballet around this fairy tale in 1892, which has developed an iconic status and wide commercial success since its initial release. 
Paragraph 2. How did you make it different for OUAN?
== The Tale ==
Drosselmeier was a doll maker living in the Red Court of Allutheria who dreamed of more. His dreams were dark, dangerous, and terrifying. Working together with Thomas Stahlbaum they created a mortifying curse. By forcibly ripping a Fae’s soul from their body, they were able to bind it to their beloved dolls husks, severing off the Fae’s magic access in the process. To prevent their spell from wearing thin over the years, they gave each doll a unique way to break their curse. The pair originally sold this service to Rasputin, King of the Red Court. They took Fae convicts guilty of an assortment of crimes and cursed them, putting them to work around the kingdom as slaves for the remainder of their sentence.
This initially worked as a behavioral correction program but corruption spread like wildfire. For the right amount of coin, Drosselmeier agreed to curse whomever came his way. Innocent victims of court were wrongly convicted and sent to suffer alongside those who were guilty of hard crimes. Years of extortion began to plague Thomas. He bought his way through the portal, setting up a small infirmary in Fynnon. The Order of Fate kept him under close watch, sending Drosselmeier to inspect his progress every year. The wicked Fae gave Thomas an ultimatum. Offer Drosselmeier some sort of incentive, or risk having the truth exposed to his family. The solution was amusingly simple. Thomas offered to throw an annual party to celebrate the heart of winter and the passing of the year.
Drosselmeier agreed, using this as a chance to get revenge on his old colleague. Every year he brought several of his cursed dolls to the party and made them perform for the guests. One year, he brought a simple Nutcracker amongst the ranks. Fritz, one Tomas’ children, destroyed the cursed doll with his group of unruly friends. His sister, Marie, saved the Nutcracker from their wrath and took him under her wing. Drosselmeier allowed Marie to keep the cursed toy, but after a week of misfortune Thomas sent him back to Allutheria where he belonged. Shortly after his arrival, the Nutcracker’s spell was ruptured, making him the first Fae to break free from the infamous Doll Curse. Determined to help those who were still trapped, he went to the White Court for assistance. They offered to host a modest kingdom in the Sugar Plum forest, an area on the outskirts of their kingdom kept perpetually in a state of winter by the resident Faery that lived there.
The Doll Kingdom served as a refuge for those who suffered under the humiliating curse. Their new home was far from ideal. As the Blight tore through Allutheria a number of loose portals began to crop up around the Sugar Plum forest. The Doll Kingdom was tasked with fighting the plague in an attempt to keep the outbreak as isolated as possible within the forest. The undead weren’t the only threat that the Doll Kingdom faced. The Rat King is now on the hunt for vengeance, searching for his falsely adopted brother who murdered their mother, the late Queen. The Doll Kingdom is virtually surrounded, leaving them with no other choice than to fight for their lives. The stakes were raised as Marie Stahlbaum tumbled through a portal mid-battle and saved the Nutcracker from a near fatal blow from the Rat King. The Nutcracker holds a bloody past, one that threatens to destroy his carefully crafted image of the heroic prince. If he doesn’t find a way to contain the ghosts of his past, he’ll risk the entire kingdom turning on him once the truth is at last revealed.
== Characters ==
a bulleted list with 
the characters in this tale, a one sentence description, links to 
character pages if relevant, and if they are taken/open/requested
* The Nutcracker
* Marie Stahlbaum
* Drosselmeier
* The Rat King
* The Sugar Plum Faerie
* Princess Pirlipat
* Fritz Stahlbaum
== Plotlines ==
things currently going on in the tale??? idk or updates since the canon tale was written
* bullet
 plotlines inherent to only a few characters in the tale. plotlines 
which involve at least half of the characters in the tale go in 
paragraph form above.
== Related Stories ==
a bulletted list eexplaining how this story connects with other stories. please link to these stories.