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aftr_ooc2018-05-11 09:46 pm
lifeaftr_mods) wrote in aftr_ooc2018-05-11 09:46 pm
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Exploration Event: Neverwere
EXPLORATION EVENT: NEVERWERE
By now, the news of the strange vines that frequent the island of Ziziphus will have doubtless begun to circulate in earnest. What initially may have seemed to be ordinary flora that one would expect to frequent a vegetation-rich island like this one will turn out to be something...rather different.
As you'll soon learn.
The Answer Lies With You
Come May 15th, the purpose of these vines will rapidly and unexpectedly become clear. Their examination of the travelers upon their turf will cease, and the forests and hills of Ziziphus will abruptly come alive.
They won't stop until they've wrapped around you entirely. And then...and then...?
Then, you'll start to feel incredibly, peculiarly drowsy. You can't seem to keep yourself from closing your eyes...
Come May 15th, the purpose of these vines will rapidly and unexpectedly become clear. Their examination of the travelers upon their turf will cease, and the forests and hills of Ziziphus will abruptly come alive.
They won't stop until they've wrapped around you entirely. And then...and then...?
Then, you'll start to feel incredibly, peculiarly drowsy. You can't seem to keep yourself from closing your eyes...
And All Your Dreams Are Still As New
Eventually, you wake, and when you do, it is to the most perfect world imaginable. Perhaps it's the world you belong to, having reached a point of peace, no matter how unrealistic. The changes can be as vast and all-encompassing as necessary, or as small as on one, key absence. The villain never existed in the first place. A character never died. A war never occurred, allowing the kingdom to flourish and thrive. Maybe it's a different world entirely - a blissful, ideal paradise, that white-picket fence you always dreamed about, a perfectly suburban house with two-point-five kids and a couple big dogs, just for kicks. No matter the world you're envisioning, there's only one limitation:
This is a world in which your character is earnestly and completely happy, no matter what shifts must take place in order to achieve it. This is a world in which your character has nothing to worry about, a perfect fantasy taken to its logical extreme. They are as successful as they want to be, with the home and family they always imagined.
When coming up with your character's ideal world, consider the following points:
Additionally, the characters are connected through the very vines that have induced this fantasy, and will allow them to traverse each other's dreams. This crossing over may be purely accidental, or it may be a willful desire to see someone you know. The bottom line is that the more dreams your character takes part in, the more aware they may become that everything is not quite as it seems.
As the event progresses, those who are not on Ziziphus will not be immune. The dreamworld of Mu, bolstered by the intricate network of self-contained fantasies that have abruptly taken up residence in its landscapes, will seek to pull in anyone who falls asleep and trap them under the same spell. Hope you have some coffee on hand, or some other method of stimulating yourself so that you don't doze off, because you very well may not wake if you do.
Eventually, you wake, and when you do, it is to the most perfect world imaginable. Perhaps it's the world you belong to, having reached a point of peace, no matter how unrealistic. The changes can be as vast and all-encompassing as necessary, or as small as on one, key absence. The villain never existed in the first place. A character never died. A war never occurred, allowing the kingdom to flourish and thrive. Maybe it's a different world entirely - a blissful, ideal paradise, that white-picket fence you always dreamed about, a perfectly suburban house with two-point-five kids and a couple big dogs, just for kicks. No matter the world you're envisioning, there's only one limitation:
This is a world in which your character is earnestly and completely happy, no matter what shifts must take place in order to achieve it. This is a world in which your character has nothing to worry about, a perfect fantasy taken to its logical extreme. They are as successful as they want to be, with the home and family they always imagined.
When coming up with your character's ideal world, consider the following points:
[ ♆ ] If based on their canon, this world may be considered an AU. Conflicts have either already been triumphed over, or never occurred, leaving your character to reap the benefits of peace that come afterwards. What changes need to be made to ensure this blissful peace are entirely up to you. Ideally, your character has achieved everything that they wished to achieve. If they wanted to be a leader, find a cure for an illness, or stop a world destroying event, they have done so.Of course, characters are hardly restricted to their own dreams. Much the same as the dreams characters would be exposed to during a normal sleep cycle, dreams that seem to expand over years can take place in a fraction of a second. Entire histories can be compounded down to mere minutes.
[ ♆ ] While these fantasy worlds can be based on your character's canon, they do not have to be. The only stipulation is that they must be something your character would feasibly consider their perfect world.
[ ♆ ] Other characters within LifeAftr will most certainly drop into your character's dream world at some point. For close CR, what is their role now? Are you a family? How do others fit in?
[ ♆ ] The mods have worked on a template to help people compose their world, with examples down below!
Additionally, the characters are connected through the very vines that have induced this fantasy, and will allow them to traverse each other's dreams. This crossing over may be purely accidental, or it may be a willful desire to see someone you know. The bottom line is that the more dreams your character takes part in, the more aware they may become that everything is not quite as it seems.
As the event progresses, those who are not on Ziziphus will not be immune. The dreamworld of Mu, bolstered by the intricate network of self-contained fantasies that have abruptly taken up residence in its landscapes, will seek to pull in anyone who falls asleep and trap them under the same spell. Hope you have some coffee on hand, or some other method of stimulating yourself so that you don't doze off, because you very well may not wake if you do.
And Happiness Is What You Need So Bad
For those who would like a few ideas, discrepancies may show themselves in the following manner:
It seems that the vines didn't expect you to be able to wake at all.
For those who would like a few ideas, discrepancies may show themselves in the following manner:
[ ♆ ] The more dreams your character partakes in, the more confused their roles and identities in these worlds may become. They may assume the role of a soldier in a world that has no need for such things, or identify someone as family in a dream that they are not.The more your character can decouple themself from this false reality, the lesser the hold of the vines that keep them entrapped. As more gaps in the fabricated narrative appear, the fantasy world will start to decay - perhaps in a very visceral, physical sense, or perhaps in a more abstract sense - and flickers of reality will begin to creep in: the strong stench of rot, the sensation of being bound up in vines, the heavy sense of fatigue that weighs you into the ground. If you can rouse yourself from this dream utterly, the vines will not fight to keep you. You can claw yourself free without any barrier, save the extreme lethargy that will accompany waking.
[ ♆ ] While the composer of a dream may have memories of someone close in their canon residing in this world, characters from LifeAftr cannot have memories of someone they've never met before. A large discrepancy could occur if, for example, a close family member does not recognize the name of your character’s life partner.
[ ♆ ] Clocks and numbers. One of the largest indications of dreams is often the inability to read time and numbers. Your character may have a watch, or attempt to read a train timetable, only to find they cannot.
[ ♆ ] A total lack of conflict, no matter how unrealistic, may give away the false nature of these worlds. For example, even little things like running out of food or needing to do an undesirable chore will never come to pass...ever.
It seems that the vines didn't expect you to be able to wake at all.
What Fun It All Would Be
Naturally, there's more at stake than some fun little dreams where no one wants for anything. As circumstances would have it, the vines that keep your characters trapped in their fantastical delusions are slowly sapping them of life, as evidenced by the incredible exhaustion that sets in, should you free yourself. The instant the vines put you under, they have begun to feed upon you, and your capacity to sustain them can only last so long. Likewise, those who are caught in Mu's pull will risk death the longer they are under - if not by malnutrition and dehydration, then by being slowly drained of life by whatever has commandeered the land of Mu.
Those who die in the grip of those fantasy realms without being woken will suffer a death, and will need to submit the occurrence to our Deaths page. Their death penalties will not be reduced and must be endured for the entire period.
Naturally, there's more at stake than some fun little dreams where no one wants for anything. As circumstances would have it, the vines that keep your characters trapped in their fantastical delusions are slowly sapping them of life, as evidenced by the incredible exhaustion that sets in, should you free yourself. The instant the vines put you under, they have begun to feed upon you, and your capacity to sustain them can only last so long. Likewise, those who are caught in Mu's pull will risk death the longer they are under - if not by malnutrition and dehydration, then by being slowly drained of life by whatever has commandeered the land of Mu.
Those who die in the grip of those fantasy realms without being woken will suffer a death, and will need to submit the occurrence to our Deaths page. Their death penalties will not be reduced and must be endured for the entire period.
What Next?
On the third day of this onslaught, the Storyteller will attempt to contact those that are still conscious and free of the vines' influence - it will take them some time to reach those still awake without risking them being sucked into the fantastical vortex that has been made of Mu.
From there, questions will be answered...and a solution will be presented for those still awake to exact it.
Lastly, we would like to thank Michelle, player of our resident Mira, Akechi, and Noctis, for proposing this plot!
On the third day of this onslaught, the Storyteller will attempt to contact those that are still conscious and free of the vines' influence - it will take them some time to reach those still awake without risking them being sucked into the fantastical vortex that has been made of Mu.
From there, questions will be answered...and a solution will be presented for those still awake to exact it.
Lastly, we would like to thank Michelle, player of our resident Mira, Akechi, and Noctis, for proposing this plot!
Event Timeline
[ ♆ ] May 15th: The vines make their move, ensnaring characters in ideal fantasy worlds
[ ♆ ] May 17th: The Storyteller will make contact with those they can, as well as issue information and a potential solution
[ ♆ ] May 18th: Those that have not freed themselves from the vines or from Mu will suffer a death
( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
Commander Shepard
Character canon: Mass Effect
Briefly explain what their ideal world is like - how has it changed? Shepard's ideal world is a world where the Reaper war was won. Because of the war, all of the alien species live in relative harmony- there's still some tensions here and there but through the fire and strife of the Reaper War, galactic politics no longer has the chance to lead everyone into a war with each other. Rather, there is more cooperation and camaraderie than before, even if there are still sour moods here and there. Technology has also advanced so highly that synthetic and organics also live in harmony, both of their needs addressed and cared for.
Briefly explain your character's role in this world: Shepard is a hero, and recognized as such throughout the galaxy. That being said, she isn't given much in the ways of special privileges- rather, she's more a welcome friend in many places, even as she still travels the galaxy working for the Alliance and the Citadel Council in keeping the galactic peace. Her crew on the Normandy still travel with her from world to world and they still get into shenanigans and adventures, but no one dies and they all come out of it ok.
Other roles characters might assume in this world: Shepard has more a found family than anything and close CR will find themselves as either members of her crew on the Normandy, or as trusted advisors/friends she meets on different planets. Other CR that isn't that close or new will find themselves as people who live on the Citadel, the big spaceship hub of almost all life in the galaxy that Shepard is happy to talk with and help out with whatever they need, small or large.
Potential discrepancies others may pick up: If anyone asks how long ago the Reaper War ended, anyone they ask, NPC, Shepard, one of her crew- they will all have differing answers as to when. If pressed to ask how it ended, no one will be able to give a solid answer- after all, only Shepard knows, and even then, she may never know the consequences of her actions in real life.
Past that, despite the fact that the War absolutely killed billions of people, somehow the populations of planets and of the Citadel itself are booming and healthy and many families are together and whole. Somehow not one person lost someone immediately close to them to the Reapers.
Any other discrepancies would be ones that stick out to anyone who knows Shepard and her history personally- which, unfortunately, isn't a lot since she's so tight-lipped, but Anderson, Kaidan Alenko, Mordin Solus, Legion and other close friends of hers who gave their lives during the war are alive and well in this world and if pressed on how they survived, will not be able to give a solid answer. Another discrepancy in this line of thinking is that Shepard has a significant other named Garrus Vakarian who won't recognize anyone from LA as Shepard's friend despite her recognizing them all and, in her mind, having already introduced them to him.
DO NOT REPLY; This is for plotting!
Ren- A sweet human girl that Shepard met on the Citadel that wanted ice cream once and ever since Shepard bought it for her, whenever the soldier is back on the Citadel for shore leave she makes an effort to visit her and check up on how she's doing since apparently Ren has imprinted on her now.
Muffet- A lab experiment turned into a sentient being, Muffet is the combination of Asari and Rachni Queen DNA that, after being "born", two scientists smuggled out of the Noveria lab and raised her in secret. She ended up still having a connection to the Rachni Queen and, in this alternate world, aided Shepard in saving and freeing her. Then she joined up with her crew and fought by her side during the Reaper War. Now they enjoy peace, but perhaps this story doesn't line up with everything Shepard knows...
Lup- Another member of Shepard's crew whose position there hasn't been hashed out yet, but is a definite romantic interest that developed over their time together on the Normandy. For some reason this doesn't conflict at all with either Garrus or Kaidan, but it may spark more of a clue in our dear Commander's mind that not all is what it seems.
PLOT PAST THE IDEAL WORLD:
Shepard will break out pretty quickly from the grip of the vines due to not falling easily for this sort of thing and will be on the hunt to help and save other people from being eaten. So if you need a convenient hero to swoop in and get your character out of hell and who will do her best to support the emotional fallout of it all, Shep's your gal.