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aftr_ooc2018-02-13 08:48 pm
lifeaftr_mods) wrote in aftr_ooc2018-02-13 08:48 pm
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February Event: Just One Mist-ake
FEBRUARY EVENT: JUST ONE MIST-AKE
The flight of the phoenix and the restoration of LifeAftr's regular day-and-night cycle brought with it a peculiar occurrence - strange, distended shapes suspended in the sky, ordinarily quite well-hidden by the cloud cover, now growing increasingly exposed. The firebird's passing seems to have burned away quite a bit of that concealing moisture, and as the days pass, more and more of it will begin to wisp away and reveal something...quite strange suspended over the central island of Ensō.
The Sea of Cloud Under the Moonlight
But even stranger is the fact that, when one examines them closely, they will notice that the islands seem to be...shifting. Their shapes are impermanent, constantly changing, warping, morphing: one moment assuming the fragment of a rocky plain, the next a blistering, desertlike patch of sand, the next an arctic wasteland, and so on. As small as these islands are, they seem adept at emulating any number of habitats and climates in the span of mere hours.
At this point, characters who are capable of flight or teleportation will be able to reach these islands.
And, what's more, from February 16th onward, many of the characters who use a mana pool for transportation will discover that, instead of their intended destination, they have a high risk of ending up on one of the floating islands. There doesn't seem to be any obvious way of getting down without assistance, so it seems like you might be trapped here for a while.
The malfunctions of the mana pools will be irregular, and will fluctuate wildly; some characters will be transported to the islands hovering in the skies above Ensō, while some might simply end up on another part of the mainland proper. Your character is not required to end up on the floating islands if you do not wish it, but please note that if they do, they may have difficulty getting down without help!
But even stranger is the fact that, when one examines them closely, they will notice that the islands seem to be...shifting. Their shapes are impermanent, constantly changing, warping, morphing: one moment assuming the fragment of a rocky plain, the next a blistering, desertlike patch of sand, the next an arctic wasteland, and so on. As small as these islands are, they seem adept at emulating any number of habitats and climates in the span of mere hours.
At this point, characters who are capable of flight or teleportation will be able to reach these islands.
And, what's more, from February 16th onward, many of the characters who use a mana pool for transportation will discover that, instead of their intended destination, they have a high risk of ending up on one of the floating islands. There doesn't seem to be any obvious way of getting down without assistance, so it seems like you might be trapped here for a while.
The malfunctions of the mana pools will be irregular, and will fluctuate wildly; some characters will be transported to the islands hovering in the skies above Ensō, while some might simply end up on another part of the mainland proper. Your character is not required to end up on the floating islands if you do not wish it, but please note that if they do, they may have difficulty getting down without help!
Data Insufficient: Landscape Buffering
So now you're here, far up in the sky, above even the clouds, perched on any number of the seemingly infinite, miniature islands peppered in midair. All told, the largest of their number is no bigger than maybe half a mile in length, and the very smallest are little more than rippling, hovering boulders. You're certain to wake up on solid ground, at least, so you won't be plummeting to your death unless you're eager to see what jumping off one of these floating islands is like.
Hopefully you're not scared of heights. In fact, if you aren't scared of heights, you might be able to note that your bird's eye view of Ensō and its surrounding waters grants you an excellent look at what appear to be several buildings, located deep underwater, to the west and north of the mainland. Strange, that.
Perhaps you'll watch a fragment of home warp into being, a piece of a familiar building, or an untethered remnant of landscape. Whatever it is, the islands are limited in physical appearance only; nothing sentient seems to truly live here. Plants and vegetation may form, if you stay for long enough, and you might even be able to structure it into something that almost looks cohesive, but that's more or less the extent of it; no resources from your world or any other will form here. It is, after all, just memory.
At first.
The islands aren't the most stable, as witnessed by their warping shape. The more people that congregate on the same piece of land, the more confused it may become as a result, leading to manifold "glitches" that wouldn't seem out of place in a broken video game: rocks appearing several feet above the air, pieces of buildings welding together, multiple fragments of remembered landscapes fusing into bizarre amalgamations, and, eventually, even the spontaneous displacement of your good self across other sections of floating land, like your very own form of unwanted teleportation. While these transformations are not necessarily painful, they are also not known to be pleasant, either - and, in some cases, they can result in ghastly consequences.
Whatever these islands are, they weren't meant for your presence, and before long, they simply won't be able to sustain it. The more you meddle with them, the more you might even witness something...else, working its way into the mottled landscape.
Once it appears, there's no getting rid of it - and the more you try, the more swiftly it will spread.
So now you're here, far up in the sky, above even the clouds, perched on any number of the seemingly infinite, miniature islands peppered in midair. All told, the largest of their number is no bigger than maybe half a mile in length, and the very smallest are little more than rippling, hovering boulders. You're certain to wake up on solid ground, at least, so you won't be plummeting to your death unless you're eager to see what jumping off one of these floating islands is like.
Hopefully you're not scared of heights. In fact, if you aren't scared of heights, you might be able to note that your bird's eye view of Ensō and its surrounding waters grants you an excellent look at what appear to be several buildings, located deep underwater, to the west and north of the mainland. Strange, that.
Perhaps you'll watch a fragment of home warp into being, a piece of a familiar building, or an untethered remnant of landscape. Whatever it is, the islands are limited in physical appearance only; nothing sentient seems to truly live here. Plants and vegetation may form, if you stay for long enough, and you might even be able to structure it into something that almost looks cohesive, but that's more or less the extent of it; no resources from your world or any other will form here. It is, after all, just memory.
At first.
The islands aren't the most stable, as witnessed by their warping shape. The more people that congregate on the same piece of land, the more confused it may become as a result, leading to manifold "glitches" that wouldn't seem out of place in a broken video game: rocks appearing several feet above the air, pieces of buildings welding together, multiple fragments of remembered landscapes fusing into bizarre amalgamations, and, eventually, even the spontaneous displacement of your good self across other sections of floating land, like your very own form of unwanted teleportation. While these transformations are not necessarily painful, they are also not known to be pleasant, either - and, in some cases, they can result in ghastly consequences.
Whatever these islands are, they weren't meant for your presence, and before long, they simply won't be able to sustain it. The more you meddle with them, the more you might even witness something...else, working its way into the mottled landscape.
Once it appears, there's no getting rid of it - and the more you try, the more swiftly it will spread.
Restore to Factory Settings and Wipe All Data?
Fortunately for you, the islands don't seem terribly eager to let their shapes reach that disagreeable state. Every night, at midnight, the islands collectively undergo a strange sort of shift that can only be described as a "hard reset" - a restoration to their earlier, unblemished state, eradicating both whatever pieces of your worlds have been worked into their shapes and the strange, dark corruption that may have begun rooting its way in.
Upon nearly every island rests an untarnished, unchanging circle of land encased in a tumble of stones - stones that roughly correspond in size and shape to the mana pools that can be found all over Ensō. As long as characters remain inside those circles of land when the "reset" sweeps across the land, they will remain safe from all adverse effects. The "reset" starts from the edges and creeps inward, until at last the deterioration closes around those peculiar, circular imprints...and halts.
Those that don't make it to those particular safe zones in time, however, may find themselves in quite a pickle. The repercussions will vary, but if you're interested in inflicting some sort of penalty on your character, you may comment on our top-level below! All penalties, unless otherwise noted, will last until the next night's reset.
Fortunately for you, the islands don't seem terribly eager to let their shapes reach that disagreeable state. Every night, at midnight, the islands collectively undergo a strange sort of shift that can only be described as a "hard reset" - a restoration to their earlier, unblemished state, eradicating both whatever pieces of your worlds have been worked into their shapes and the strange, dark corruption that may have begun rooting its way in.
Upon nearly every island rests an untarnished, unchanging circle of land encased in a tumble of stones - stones that roughly correspond in size and shape to the mana pools that can be found all over Ensō. As long as characters remain inside those circles of land when the "reset" sweeps across the land, they will remain safe from all adverse effects. The "reset" starts from the edges and creeps inward, until at last the deterioration closes around those peculiar, circular imprints...and halts.
Those that don't make it to those particular safe zones in time, however, may find themselves in quite a pickle. The repercussions will vary, but if you're interested in inflicting some sort of penalty on your character, you may comment on our top-level below! All penalties, unless otherwise noted, will last until the next night's reset.
If Wishes Were Horses, We'd All Be Eating Steak
But the adaptive nature of these islands, short-lived as it will have to be, will take things one final step before the event's end:
They will grant one wish, whether physical or metaphysical, with lasting implications.
Is there a memory you've lost that you've always yearned to reclaim? Is there a memento you've lost track of, an important object you wish you could still carry? Is there a scar you've always wanted removed, or a person whose status in canon you want to be certain of? Before the event's end, it will be done.
There will obviously be a number of stipulations here. We will also require that you refer to our top-level below to make sure that your wish can be granted.
But the adaptive nature of these islands, short-lived as it will have to be, will take things one final step before the event's end:
They will grant one wish, whether physical or metaphysical, with lasting implications.
Is there a memory you've lost that you've always yearned to reclaim? Is there a memento you've lost track of, an important object you wish you could still carry? Is there a scar you've always wanted removed, or a person whose status in canon you want to be certain of? Before the event's end, it will be done.
There will obviously be a number of stipulations here. We will also require that you refer to our top-level below to make sure that your wish can be granted.
[ ♆ ] Physical persons will not be recreated. Whatever long-lost relative or deceased significant other you might be wishing to see, the islands sadly cannot achieve that request. They can, at most, allow a brief glimpse into that person's "status" in canon (at a point of your choosing), in the form of a dreamlike memory.The wish, whatever it may be, will be granted at any point before the event's end. And if it is possible for it to be so, the effects will be permanent; reclaimed memories will not fade by the event's end, sentimental objects will not disappear, and so on.
[ ♆ ] Reasonable restrictions should be accounted for. If your character's deepest desire is to see someone dead, for example, or to literally see the Roman Colosseum in all its heart-pounding glory, the islands simply won't have the power to sustain that request.
[ ♆ ] The desire can be conscious, but does not have to be. If there's something your character is in private denial about, even to themself, that does not need to limit you, as the islands are pulling from innate desire.
You Meddling Kids
By February 20th, the Storyteller will be extremely disapproving of your trespassing onto the half-formed islands, and subsequently whisk everyone back down to ground level. The only reason you managed to get as far as you did for such a long time, it seems, is because they were busy straightening out the mana pool network - the Storyteller will claim that Monsun and Chol's simultaneous disappearances left it in something of a wreck.
The islands will be hidden away beneath those protective veils of cloud cover once more, paired with a stern warning that venturing to them again is exceptionally dangerous - as the landscape had eventually begun to glitch and degrade, so would that have spread to your own mortal selves as well, to a very unpleasant effect. Indeed, anyone who tries to teleport or fly to the islands again will meet a very strong headwind that will force them away, or will simply end up in another location entirely.
As disgruntled as they'll be at your intrusion, the Storyteller also understands that this was not necessarily your intention, and will thus see this transgression forgiven. What's more, the Storyteller has decided to offer you a choice.
During the Storytelling, they will allow you to vote in regards to which sort of land to which you'd like to venture next. While they can promise a certain resource or incentive to travel to each new land, they cannot be certain of the specifics or the dangers: that, they say, is up to the deity that resides there.
In the meantime, feel free to use this post for plotting and questions!
By February 20th, the Storyteller will be extremely disapproving of your trespassing onto the half-formed islands, and subsequently whisk everyone back down to ground level. The only reason you managed to get as far as you did for such a long time, it seems, is because they were busy straightening out the mana pool network - the Storyteller will claim that Monsun and Chol's simultaneous disappearances left it in something of a wreck.
The islands will be hidden away beneath those protective veils of cloud cover once more, paired with a stern warning that venturing to them again is exceptionally dangerous - as the landscape had eventually begun to glitch and degrade, so would that have spread to your own mortal selves as well, to a very unpleasant effect. Indeed, anyone who tries to teleport or fly to the islands again will meet a very strong headwind that will force them away, or will simply end up in another location entirely.
As disgruntled as they'll be at your intrusion, the Storyteller also understands that this was not necessarily your intention, and will thus see this transgression forgiven. What's more, the Storyteller has decided to offer you a choice.
During the Storytelling, they will allow you to vote in regards to which sort of land to which you'd like to venture next. While they can promise a certain resource or incentive to travel to each new land, they cannot be certain of the specifics or the dangers: that, they say, is up to the deity that resides there.
In the meantime, feel free to use this post for plotting and questions!
Event Timeline
[ ♆ ] February 15th: The floating islands appear
[ ♆ ] February 16th: The mana pools begin malfunctioning, and characters begin ending up on the floating islands
[ ♆ ] February 20th: Monthly Storytelling occurs, along with a vote as to the next land adventurers will brave. Upon waking, the Storyteller returns everyone to Ensō, and shrouds the islands in cloud once more
( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
no subject
Character: The Drifter (
Wish: What the Drifter wants more than anything is A Cure. Instead, they'll get to be healthy and un-sick up until the 20th when the event ends :)
GRANTED
The speed at which they deteriorate back to their illness, too, may be left to player discretion -- but at some point on February 20th, the Drifter's healthful condition will inevitably come to an end.