april event, phase one: seeds of unrest 🌱

[beleos]

THE BEGINNING

Summertime in Springstar has been on its way out, heralding the arrival of fall; winter has likewise given way to spring in Highstorm - at least, according to the calendar. Yet there is an unseasonable bite on the breeze - one growing as frigid as the mood among Meris and Zenites in their cities. Between Alenroux’s occupation and talk of ‘the Blight,’ worries have been on the lips of the citizens with increasing frequency - and with good reason. The reports of plant life dying, of objects crumbling, of people whose bodies are deteriorating are dominating the rumor mills and local papers.

Everything comes to a head early in the second half of Pelu.

After an unusual pocket of commotion in the Seat of the Tribune and the courtyard of Yima’s manor, an urgent announcement is made on behalf of both cities: both Great Trees have been quarantined, and no one is permitted in either location without clearance. New rumors spread of an ‘incident’ that saw those in the immediate vicinity of the Trees rapidly demonstrating symptoms of an illness that was becoming all too easy to identify. It had stricken with frightening speed; not long afterward…

The unrest had spread into the streets, and it wasn’t just about the Blight anymore.

Cetina and Kathova wasted no time in reaching out to the Bearers via Communion to offer them guidance from their leaders and incite them to action.

SPRINGSTAR: THE ROOT OF THE ISSUE

Day by day, changes unfold that render the city increasingly dangerous...

ROOTS:

Vine-like roots have begun to thread the streets, creeping upon and over buildings, spreading outward from the Tree in Heliopolis. Over the next two weeks, they will continue to grow in size and become more troublesome, slowly blooming ice-like leaves that radiate a sickly glow.

• GROWTH: Contrary to the Blight’s normal behaviors, some people and things around clusters of vines or leaves can experience a burst of vitality, growth, and splendor as if transforming to beyond peak condition. In a normal citizen, this may result in an almost manic level of energy, reckless behaviors, and aggression. In objects, they become more durable and efficient, but dangerously so - for example, a stovetop cooks faster but burns uncontrollably hot. In plant life, this results in overgrowth that can overwhelm and choke nearby flora, objects, or even people. Then, they burn out an hour after exposure and immediately succumb to a dire state of Blighted.


• CHILL: The temperatures will continue to drop throughout the next two weeks. It will be coldest where vines have clustered and outright dangerously so near where flowers have budded or bloomed in great numbers. This will force some people from their homes.

TIME POCKETS:

In seemingly random parts of the city, areas referred to as ‘time pockets’ have populated. There is no way to identify a time pocket but to stumble into one.

• REGRESSION: NPC’s in these areas will appear to freeze in time once a Bearer has breached the pocket’s radius but appear normal from the outside. Time within has halted at the point the pocket manifested ( typically covering an area like a city street or inside a single large building that sees regular use ). Objects can be freely manipulated but will not fall if thrown, etc.
  • The pocket cannot be left until the Bearer has achieved their objective. Attempting to exit the way they entered, they’ll run into an unseen barrier that is painful to the touch, a sensation of frigidity that travels to their Shard.
  • Their goal will be to locate a past version of themselves hidden from immediate view. This past version of themselves can be from any point in their lives but must be from a moment when they felt extremely vulnerable, isolated, wounded, or fearful.
  • Once finding this past version, they will feel the compulsion to either find a way to reassure their past selves somehow or kill them. Whether it is the Bearer themselves who performs these acts or another Bearer in their company does it for them, as long as their past selves are pacified enough ( to player satisfaction ) or dead, they will gain immunity to the pocket and may leave. The immediate area will remain frozen, however, and the past version will be revealed to be made of roots that will shrivel and die.
  • Note: Bearers will be able to see other Bearer’s past selves, even after they have been freed. Whether the past reflections are capable of speech while functional is up to player discretion.

HIGHSTORM: THE ROOTS OF CHANGE

The snows continue to fall over the city, feeling brittle against your skin...

ROOTS:

Vine-like roots have begun to thread the streets, creeping upon and over buildings, spreading outward from the Great Tree in Yima’s manor. Over the next two weeks, they will continue to grow in size and become more troublesome, slowly blooming ice-like leaves that radiate a sickly glow.

• SACRIFICIAL: [ CW: self-harm ] Where the roots snake and gather throughout the city, NPC’s in several locations are falling victim to the quiet, slow pulse of the flowers and their buds. They will sit and stare at the flowers for hours, unblinkingly, as their body begins to succumb to the Blight. If they are disturbed in any way - a loud noise, an attempt to move their person, etc - they will calmly look up from their worship and crack off a piece of their brittle body before returning to their reverie.
• In order to save them, a pair (or more) of Bearers must sneak up on the NPC - one using a pacifying spell given by one of the faction leaders while the other crushes the flower. If the NPC is not pacified before the flower is crushed, they will become hysterical and the Blight will rapidly consume them, causing them to perish. If they are pacified and the flower is not crushed, the spell will wear off within ten seconds with the same result.

• CHILL: The temperatures will continue to drop throughout the next two weeks. It will be coldest where vines have clustered and outright dangerously so near where flowers have budded or bloomed in great numbers. This will force some people from their homes.

TIME POCKETS:

In seemingly random parts of the city, areas referred to as ‘time pockets’ have populated. There is no way to identify a time pocket but to stumble into one.

• REFLECTIONS: NPC’s in these pockets are moving in surreal blurs, pieces of them moving forward as others move backward, some changing as if time were rapidly passing as others remain frozen still. The Bearers’ surroundings are distorted as if reflecting multiple realities simultaneously.
  • Their goal will be to locate a tall standing mirror situated alone in the center of the time pocket’s radius. The Bearer who first touches their reflection ( henceforth called “mirror-Bearer” ) will cause the world inside the pocket to suddenly stop, reflecting a comforting environment they have fond or pleasant associations with. The mirror will be gone.
• Something or someone the mirror-Bearer highly values, deeply misses, or sees as imperative to their character, goals, or desires will be present. If they make contact with this object or person, the Time Pocket loops and sends them back to searching for the mirror - but they will have no memory of this occurring. Their partner, however, will recall everything.
• Both Bearers will be released if five loops occur without the mirror-Bearer being stopped from causing the loop or if the mirror-Bearer is stopped from reaching their goal for five minutes ( willingly or otherwise ). The longer they refuse to make contact with this object or person, the more tempting and dire the need becomes inside of them.
• Once the Bearers are released, the Time Pocket disappears. If they manage to avoid contact with the temptation inside the Pocket, the roots and flowers in this area will be withered and dying, buying the NPC’s and buildings in this location some time. Otherwise, they will be thriving and dangerously blooming.
• Note: the mirror will not respond to the non-mirror-Bearer once it has been touched the first time.

ENTREE-TING HELP

The Tree of Life is in danger, and you know it. Both Yima and Cyrus have directed all Bearers who might listen to increase visitation to the Tree and monitor it for signs of the Blight - of its leaves changing color, of any frostbitten bark, of its roots withering.

And then, during a moment in which you find your mind at ease, at rest... you dream, even if dreaming is unnatural for you. You dream of yourself sitting beneath the massive bows of the Tree's breadth, at peace. The perpetual dawn's glow warms your skin in a way that seeps into your bones, leaving you certain you are safe from harm. The Tree reaches out, and though it cannot speak to you in words, you feel it is trying to convey a message: one of urgency. One of plea.

But you cannot understand...

Soon, the branches of the Tree are reaching out to others. You cannot see them, but you know they're there; a spiritual tether connects your Shards together, bringing you all into a place of wordless unity. And once your fellows have been summoned, you know what you are here for.

You feel it rather than see it: some meager, barely-there brush of something cold in the warmth of the island's comfort. The Tree is already infected, and the clock is running down for all of you.

When you wake to yourself, a feeling of dread not entirely your own will chase you, and you will find a single violet leaf in your hand.

MISC NOTES

• Bearers start with immunity to the Blight. They will not succumb to the effects of the Blight even if they handle the vines and flowers directly without precautions or care.
• The above effects will occur in small clusters and are not yet spread city-wide during phase one. The escalation of frequency characters will come across problematic clusters or Time Pockets will be slow building.
• For context, it takes about a month from infection to death or dissolution for the average person or object to succumb to the Blight. By the 21st, it will be three days to a week.
• Bearers will be directed by Cetina or Kathova to make efforts to protect the civilians and investigate the manifesting changes around both cities. Both factions are working on their own methods to attempt to counteract the Blight, but neither has produced a failsafe solution.
• The roots will remain mostly outdoors, for the most part, these first two weeks.
• Tensions will slowly ramp up in Alenroux, and there are checkpoints for any non-PC visitors to screen for signs of infection.
• Player characters who die inside the Time Pockets are dead and need their Shards brought to the Tree of Life for revival.
• HAVE FUN!! ♥

CODING

Comments

[cutlery]

[ The more Sebastian hears of the Abyss, the more fascinated he is by it. It’s of no real relevance here, but that doesn’t mean that he would find such a tale uninteresting. Talk of curses and blessings as well as the little he does know gives it a distinctly religious leaning to his understanding, but that’s not how Bondrewd speaks of it. It’s factual and precise rather than being something of metaphor. Naturally, he can’t help but wonder if perhaps this Abyss was indeed a way down to Hell, but simply known by a different name.

…But that’s all curiosity that he’ll set aside. Later, he’ll have to bother Bondrewd to tell him more about the Abyss and all he discovered in it. He can recognize it as a personal curiosity, though he still listens to what Bondrewd lays out with sharp attention. ]

Fascinating. I would call it good fortune that you arrived when you did, Mr. Bondrewd. You seem rather uniquely qualified to look into this Blight.

[ It’s a simple statement, but understated in that Sebastian rarely gives compliments that are as genuine as this. Bondrewd does indeed possess a unique combination of at least something of a background in terms of strange phenomena and the sharp, objective mind needed to analyze it rationally. That’s how a demon sees it. For most, it likely wouldn’t be a compliment they would wish to receive in the first place.

By the time he gets to his theory, Sebastian nods a bit absently, but only because he’s drawn into his own thoughtfulness. It’s a theory that he could certainly see to be true. As an analogy, it was true, for indeed, it would only be the Shard-Bearers would be able to devise a solution to the disease, even… But as Bondrewd gets to his question, Sebastian is a little surprised. He looks back to him, but he shakes his head. ]

At length, no, or not that I am aware of. I assume at the very least were this an effort amongst our current set of Shard-Bearers, I would have heard of it. And for previous work… Nothing concrete. You will find writings about the matter in the libraries of Akadimaïkós, but I would not put much stock in them, personally. They read more as religious texts to explain a mystery than anything factual.

[ He had looked, early on. Even with his certainty of his world being destroyed, he was still curious how it was even possible. Even as powerful as he was, to destroy a world so utterly and rip him from it was still a feat far beyond his imagining. ]

I take it that you have a theory relating to the Blight on that matter?

i cant believe i used the wrong affect/effect, im a good rper i swear

[dawnlord]

Thank you, Mister Michaelis, for your observation.

[ He does not think that what Sebastian has said is a kindness, nor flattery. It is the truth, after all. Bondrewd is uniquely qualified to assist with scientific efforts, with matters that are not immediately focused upon the battle for the Oracles — in fact, if he could eschew the battles entirely and remain locked up in his own lab, doing his work, he would be most pleased. Alas, he is certain that he will be expected to set aside his labors eventually, and meet others upon the field of battle.

The quicker he could assist Zenith in obtaining victory, the more time he would have to return to his preferred efforts. ]

Hm. I am curious about the metaphysical properties of Kenos's world. Aspects, the existence of a strict dichotomy of energies — Meridian, Zenith — and the way that the Blight noticeably interacts with these energies in different ways. A religious text is also a historical document, as it speaks to the values and mindset of the one who first wrote it. We can learn much from an interdisciplinary examination of all things, I feel.

[ Eventually, he reaches for the case that Sebastian had created for him again — this time, to curiously look for any sort of materials made for containing things. No matter, he reaches for his own coat to draw out several vials, which he takes the stoppers from and holds between the knuckles of his gloved hand. Swiftly, he begins to cut scraps of flesh, of muscle, sections of organ from the individual and place them into the vials one by one. Once he has, he examines their subject for response — ]

Now, to observe them in the agonal period. I will take another set of samples, and then one last set once they have died.

[ The announcement is heralded by him reaching up, with bloodied, naked fingers to brush the edge of his Whistle and draw it down into the clutch of his praying hands; a silent thing, of bowed head and stillness. When he releases the Whistle, it comes away pure and clean. ]

It is a long winded hypothesis, Mister Michaelis. And one largely built on fancy, not fact. The Blight was first observed upon the Scorching Isles. There, a formerly warm environment became a frozen wasteland. The Blight reached us, in Kenos — either brought here accidentally, or on purpose, by a vector I refer to as Vector Minor. Vector Major is the originator of the Blight. The World's End has flora that stave off the affects of the Blight. The existence of the flora suggests that the World's End either experienced the Blight and developed an environmental resistance, or was once part of a larger 'world' — a continent, mayhaps? that the Blight originated from. The Blight and the flowers kept one another in check, like antibodies and antigens, until the destruction of that world.

Kenos is a community of islands. Those islands cannot be reached save by Cornerstone, but allow me the flight of fancy that — once, these islands were all part of a single world. This is where it becomes a flight of fancy, sadly, but allow me to continue: the Blight is endemic to this world, and the destruction of this world unleashed the Blight in imbalance. It reached our worlds, it claimed them. They are now timelocked, either permanently — to ensure the Blight does not spread, or temporarily, while Shard-bearers arrest the cause. Zenith's goal, Meridian's goal.

[ He pauses. ]

My daughter, Prushka, would have told a story just like this. I am only confident in my concept up to the idea that Kenos was once a whole world.

[cutlery]

[ Sebastian prides himself on his understanding of humanity, though his observations aren’t dissimilar at heart from the methodical, ruthless approach they take now when flaying someone. They’re something to be observed, to see how they typically react to a given stimuli, and it’s what makes Sebastian especially adept at manipulating them. With memory that never falters, he can meet someone and within a few moments have an excellent guess at the sort of person they are and the way they’ll respond to his words because he’s likely met someone very much like them before. In his view, humans aren’t so unique as they like to think themselves.

However, Bondrewd proves to be more and more of an exception to that rule.

His dedication to science and discovery is rather new to Sebastian in its extremes, but it’s the small, personal details that surprise him most. It was what had stood out starkly in their first meeting, since for all the easy brutality the two of them have delivered twice now, it’s still clear that Bondrewd has far more respect for life than the demon does. Now, it’s coupled with the curious, reverent gesture to the pendant he wears and the rather surprising information that Bondrewd was a father. It doesn’t fit with things he’s encountered before.

Yet, even while Sebastian tries to piece together these personal mysteries and contradictions, he listens attentively all the same. At least if there was something that did fit well, it was Bondrewd’s intellect. It was a quality that Sebastian also tended to respect most. ]

—Their pulse is flagging, by the way. [ Sebastian notes before he responds, then shifts to look at their face for a moment. They’re losing color rapidly, and he can see the distinct way in which their tearful gaze is becoming glassy, so he nods. Yet, there’s no more than the simple, detached confirmation. ] It should not be long.

[ He looks back to Bondrewd. ]

It is possible that this was all one world, certainly. I believe the story I have heard that these are all pieces of other worlds, but— [ He shrugs ] Thus far, I have seen nothing so fantastic that it seems impossible for them to have once been connected. The world of man that I would visit seems relatively mundane compared to those I have heard of here in Kenos, but still, it was vast and varied. Highstorm and Springstar could certainly coexist, and there is nothing to say that the Scorching Isles and World’s End could not also, even if they were separated by a great distance, once. Even I had not fully travelled the world I would visit, after all.

[ Far from it. Earth was a place so vast that it was surprising, actually. With each discover of new land, Sebastian was genuinely surprised that humanity could be so far-flung and isolated from each other. ]

And for our worlds… Perhaps so. I do not know if Blight is what claimed my worlds, [plural in his case, naturally ] but those of us that came from Horos had a rather… different introduction to all of this. I could see it being possible that the Blight was to blame at large, or at least in part, though.

[ And, finally, because he cannot help his curiosity, ultimately— ]

Your daughter sounds a keen mind as well.