aftr_ooc | January Event: Fade to Black

JANUARY EVENT: FADE TO BLACK

Those who have spoken with Balance may be aware that the avatar is in extreme distress, given the absolute imbalance of their land. You may also be aware that they're more than willing to take action to resolve it. And in order to do so, they're going to need some help. Your help, actually. Any willingness to help is appreciated. In fact, anyone's conversations with the avatar of Monsun may have been taken as a blanket agreement from all adventurers for the events about to unfold…

In other words, you can't really blame them for what's about to unfold, can you?

Darker: You're Ruled by All the Things You Fear

By January 21st, adventurers may notice their friends are acting a little…off. Rather outspoken, in fact, about their vices, their negative opinions, their secrets…particularly when the voiced grievances relate to whomever they are currently speaking. Characters prone to or capable of violence may act on those instincts and urges more readily. Theft, arson, and apathy run rampant. Really, it's almost like no one is acting as themselves, anymore.

That might be due to them not being the person you know, though they'll stubbornly insist that they are. Their shadow, to be more precise.

Their true self.

Those familiar with Persona and the more traditional sort of Shadow Event will have an inkling as to what comes next. From January 21st to January 23rd, characters' Shadows may be found anywhere currently accessible within LifeAftr - speaking the ugly truth, committing crimes, and ultimately seeking out a confrontation with their original. They will insist on being accepted for what they are: a brutal, bitterly honest recreation of a character's worst flaws, darkest fears, and deepest secrets. And, if they are denied, are happy to self-destruct with cruel finality - an action that will surely take their original down with them.

These facets of the self are practically identical to the person whose flaws they personify. The only exception is the animal shine of their eyes when exposed to focused beams of light.

Whether accepted or not, these Shadows will disappear from the archipelago by midnight on January 23rd - though, unfortunately for our adventurers, these mischievous spirits will not be the only ones dropping in for a visit.

Yet Darker: Can You Feel the Way Your Face Distorts

Having a heavy case of déjà vu?

If your character has already survived a similar scenario, if you yourself have experienced it several times before, or if you're not quite ready to expose some of your character's worst secrets, we have an optional alternative for this section of the event, for those who'd prefer not to opt out of a Shadow entirely.

As with many of our hardworking higher beings, Balance will be doing their best to create the desired effect and, as a result, inspire balance within characters. There is, however, a slight hitch to said plan. With the intended effect being projected across LifeAftr, to say that Balance is desperately pushing their limits is an understatement. Under such conditions, errors are likely…almost guaranteed.

As the Shadows converge upon the archipelago, some Shadows won’t be- precisely as intended. In some cases, Shadows won’t so much convey the bad so much as they themselves are- bad.

There's edgy, and there's too edgy. Stubborn and tryhard. Character flaws and tropes that skim the line between realistic and...being features that, say, certain subsets of fans like a little too much. These, er, "shadows" will be appearing at the same time as their far deadlier counterparts, meaning that some characters may find their shadows are competing for the dubious title of "Can Make Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way Jealous" which…we suppose is an achievement. We suppose.

Unlike the more traditional Shadows, these unfortunate duds are rather harmless, about as capable of causing harm as they are in fighting their way out of a wet paper bag. Ignore them, if you like - or do away with them! It's doubtful they'll be missed.

Brighter: Bless My Darkness...Bless My Light

Following these potentially lethal (and lethally embarrassing) visitors, adventurers can be thankful for the small lull in activity come January 23rd. But alas, this respite won't last forever. After all, what's better than one doppelgänger?

Two, of course. The Shadows were intent on expressing the worst of what adventurers have to hide. But, because this is an effort made to establish balance, you can't have one without the other. And so this next expression of self takes things in the...opposite direction.

You grappled with your Shadow, and now must contend with its very antithesis - your Light. From January 25th to January 28th, the islands will once again be doubly populated, as your second selves flood their shores anew. These doubles are far more approachable, and readily open about the fact that they represent only facets of a person, and not their entire self. But these Lights have plenty to convey nonetheless, ready to expose their original's best qualities and share a few of those softer sentiments with loved ones who may not have heard such affections voiced. Their true goal is to confront their real self, but Lights are unlikely to attempt this alone. Your friends are their power, and they'll collect as many as need be to back them up in what must be the first, and only, confrontation.

For rejecting your Light comes with much harsher consequences than failing to come to terms with your Shadow.

Rejection Rooms: The Real Face of All Your Enemies

Characters intent on rejecting their Light will find themselves irrevocably drawn to Monsun's shores. They might not even be aware of it - driven by their rage, their paranoia, their fear, or all of the above, and more. Monsun, for its part, is happy to receive them. Its landscape has become so warped over time...and those parts of Monsun consumed by shadow will start to distort, molding into structures that such characters are only too happy to hide within: Rejection Rooms.

Rejection Rooms are similar to the Mind Palaces seen in Persona 5, wherein afflicted characters change the appearance of the room with metaphorical interpretations of their shaken psyche. For example: for a character bound by duty or the expectations of others, chains may be a common theme. Paranoia may exhibit itself with seemingly cute and soft objects that in actuality contain deadly sharp surfaces, or burn the hand that touches them.

In contrast to Mind Palaces, however, a Rejection Room does not contain several levels of twisted labyrinth to struggle through. They are, after all, just a singular room. Some will be large and wide, some will be narrow but impossibly high, and so on. A single room hardly constitutes for a labyrinth, most would agree - but it does make for a rather fetching boss room. And the boss?

Why, that's you, of course.

Characters driven to their Rejection Room will be capable of exhibiting additional strength and powers that may be approved from currently nerfed abilities, or created solely for this battle. And they're not inclined to listen to reason, either; instead, it's up to their fellow adventurers to beat some sense into their rattled noggins. Those who challenge the Rejection Rooms need not worry about death for themselves - damage taken within the rooms will simply translate to exhaustion outside of it, with seemingly mortal wounds leading to expulsion from the room itself, and an inability to re-enter.

The same holds true for the boss of each Room. Failure to beat them into expulsion means that the Room will continue to feed from their wildly catastrophizing mind, until there's nothing left to save at all.

Opting into creation of a Rejection Room will require completing the form down below. Keep in mind that players will be restricted to opting in one character only. As we may need to cut off the opt-in process dependant on interest, please note your interest as soon as possible. You are welcome to continue editing your opt in over the coming days as you flesh out the details. We also heavily encourage ensuring others are happy to plot out an intervention with your Rejection Room, as failure to save characters will result in a guaranteed death for the character influenced by the room itself.

Please extend a warm thank you to Coco, player of Ann Takamaki (

ladytakamaki) and Acxa (

sideswitch), for the suggestion and logistics involved in this part of the event!

Odds and Ends: Can You Stomach It Anymore

By January 28th, both the Lights and the Rejection Rooms will disperse. Monsun will be restored to its relatively clear self - no longer struggling with and overlap of shadowscapes and the patterns of Ziziphus's vines. Of course, all its usual effects will remain...and on the western side at least, more than a few spots of Ziziphus's meadowland and trees may remain. Almost like a memento.

Please also note that should your character perish in this event, you should submit to our Deaths page accordingly. Balance, however, will be grateful for your aid in restoring their island to its more evened-out self, and will be lending the Storyteller some aid in bringing back those who perish. Thus, death penalties will be reduced for this event.

So take care.

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] January 10th: Monsun reappears, and is accessible via mana pool.
[ ♆ ] January 20th: The monthly Storytelling occurs.
[ ♆ ] January 21st: Shadows of both initial variants appear.
[ ♆ ] January 23rd: Shadows of both initial variants disappear.
[ ♆ ] January 25th Lights and Rejection Rooms appear.
[ ♆ ] January 28th: Lights and Rejection Rooms dissipate. Those still trapped in their Rejection Rooms by the event's end will suffer a character death.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

plot comment for my trio down here to get all my thoughts out at once :> at the moment i'm not anticipating any of them needing rejection rooms. however, if you need any of them to help yours out in a boss battle, just let me know!

TIMOTHY WRIGHT

⊗ SHADOW: So Tim has endured a shadow event once before back in sol, but his shadow then was just a wee baby child tim who acted kind of creepy but was ultimately more harmless. This Shadow will be digging a little bit deeper. Namely, it's going to be zeroing in on all of Tim's positive or neutral CR to make it crystal clear to each and every one of them that Tim is terrified of this inexplicable negative influence he has on them. In canon, the Operator's everything made generating positive relationships more or less impossible for Tim to maintain at all without them inevitably crumbling beneath either the Operator's pressure or Tim's own intensely self-destructive nature. His Shadow will disclose all of this, if given the chance: that Tim is responsible for the deaths of entirely too many people, that he's afraid he's only ever going to hurt the people he loves, and that despite how much better off he thinks they'd be without him, he's never had this many friends in his life before and doesn't want to lose that. Tim will probably be intent on hunting this asshole down and dealing with it as soon as possible. Whatever the cost.

⊗ LIGHT: And oh right all those people that Tim really gives a shit about. Tim's Light will be the first to admit to people that Tim has made more friends than he can ever remember having, and that while he's miserable at expressing how much he would give to keep them safe, he really does love them. His Light will be very, very up front about the fact that Tim wants to be better for the people he loves, and that he's trying to be a better person for them. And, oh yes - he does love them.

THE DRIFTER

♦ SHADOW: Most creepily of all, the Drifter's Shadow will be able to talk. They're going to be the Drifter's polar opposite in a lot of ways - much more prone to being talkative, more prone to being touchy and getting up in your personal space, and so on. They will be as blunt and direct as the Drifter typically is, however; namely, they'll be most vicious about the fact that the Drifter's uncertainty regarding the attachments they've made. The Drifter never meant to get attached, and now they are - and some part of them hates it for its unfamiliarity, for how inescapable it is, for how inadequate they feel in expressing anything to the people they've come to care about. The Drifter feels trapped and tied down - both by the manifold connections they've made, and their ineptitude in actually doing anything with them.

♦ LIGHT: ON THE FLIP SIDE, their Light will be the Drifter's every repressed "I care about you" sentiment that they've felt they cannot or should not express, due to a grim, locked-down warrior-type mentality that eschews emotional expression and considers it a vulnerability they can't afford to show. All their close cr? They can tell them all, directly, that they really heckin care about you! They might even.......u know, love u. and admit to that.

AGENT WASHINGTON

϶ SHADOW: Wash's Shadow will be extremely blasé about everything that Wash conspicuously never mentions to literally anyone. Getting Wash to crack open his history to just anyone is like pulling teeth, so his Shadow is going to focus on divulging that Wash has an intensely sketchy past and has not always been entirely compos mentis to just about anyone he can. He'll also be preying on Wash's sense of loss and helplessness when it comes to how many people he keeps losing, and how many times he's lost them - his fear of desensitization of that loss is an unadmitted thing that he's not even aware exists, and that his Shadow intends to take full advantage of.

϶ LIGHT: This guy will be a lot more like the Washington that existed before he became a husk of paranoia and mnemonic trauma. So: kind of dorky, earnest, and way more prone to friendly conversation. His Light will be all of Wash's kinder instincts ratcheted up to eleven. I confess I'm not entirely sure what to do with this guy since I have a way more fleshed out picture of the other two, but I'll mull it over some more!

in case of additional plans or changes etc.

we don't have any threads which means im going to slam into u so hard here. i wanna do things with both tim and driftybean!!

ABSOLUTELY. so fyi when tim was freaking out about ren meeting his future self, he was extremely concerned that she had met some kind of shadow that he hadn't realized existed.

he was wrong lol