The Seeds of Unrest: the Iconoclast Oracle

[beleos]

RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK

The situation is bleak.

The Blight - and the massive labyrinth of roots tearing both cities asunder, spreading deadly flowers wherever they penetrate - have progressed to a point beyond catastrophe. People are dying in rapid numbers. Bearers are having difficulty keeping up with the spread of infection - even among one another. The collapse of Kenos seems inevitable; a cure will not come in time. You can do nothing but watch as each new day brings further disaster, ticking down the seconds until it all falls apart.

And then, you feel something seize your Shard. As if physical fingers have wrapped around it, as if it is being clutched through you by invisible hands, you feel invaded. You feel wronged. But before you can panic, a voice enters your mind through Communion.

“Excuse the dramatics, but there isn’t much time for pleasantries. The Trees are about to hit the point of no return. But there's still work to be done. The Tree of Life will take you where you can find it: the Oracle and the creature causing all this mess. Fix this when you find them. However you'd like.”

Have you heard Aetos’ voice before? Perhaps it is the first time; perhaps it is familiar to you. Either way, the last thing you will remember is a confusing jumble: a spell of immense and incredible power, one utilizing the Tree’s strength to shelter you. The sensation of every cell in your body coming alive, yet seeming to break apart and render you into billions and billions of tiny pieces, all hovering in different times and places across all the different iterations, timelines, and realities in which you have ever existed. A voice that speaks not through words asking your forgiveness, unspeakably sad.

And then, there is nothing.

AWAKENING

Your eyes open, gritty with the feeling of a long, deep slumber.

Perhaps it takes a moment to shake off the heavy veil of exhaustion, to recollect what you were doing before you fell into this state of hibernation - but as soon as you do, you feel an immediate sense of foreboding around you. It is thick in the air, oppressive and pervasive, and you aren’t left long to wonder at its source. You lay beneath the branches of the Tree of Life, but as your bleary eyes focus… you see it. The Tree is all but bereft of life. Its bark has withered down to gnarled wood, the soft lichen dried up, and the grass that should be alive beneath you is long dead and gone. There is not so much as a single leaf on its decaying branches.

It has been this way for a long, long time... you realize this with a feeling of intense dread as you see it - the beautiful expanse of stars, of the cosmos, of universes scattered like starlight above the tree's boughs, gone. In its place hangs a sickly, ominously low-hanging, and dying sun ready to sing the end of everything.

You can't help but wonder how long Kenos has been in this state, but a sense of gratitude fills you as you realize that the Tree expended the last of its energies to protect you, the Bearers, during your state of rest. Had Aetos worked with the tree to see you sent here?

The next question comes quickly: how much time do you have left…? And can you find the Oracle before that time expires?

ABANDON HOPE (DAYS 1 & 2)

The cornerstones are still active and will take you to whichever city you wish to see.

Highstorm and Springstar sit like empty monuments to the cities that were once filled with life - yet the first thing you will notice is they are strangely absent the signs of the Tree’s overgrown roots, the Blight, the catastrophic damage that you can recall all too easily. Instead, each city sits as those they were summarily abandoned overnight, leaving nothing but their shells behind. There is a stillness in the air that is unnatural and unsettling. Despite the lack of any sign of the citizens of either city, you cannot help but feel… watched.

Something terrible happened here. Best you find the Oracle before something terrible finds you, instead.

The burning of a dying sun beats down on you wherever you go, unbearable heat sending waves off the aged cobblestone streets. Perhaps it is your instinct to seek refuge in the shade - but linger too long about the shadows and that feeling of eyes on your back, of being unable to breathe, of your world closing in around you will grow untenable and drive you back into the light. If you hope to explore the ghostly shell of your city in search of the Oracle - or to sate your curiosity, some problem-solving might be in order.

And while you acclimate yourself to your circumstances, you cannot help but note you feel wrong inside, somehow…

EXPLORATION

• If your characters choose to explore previously unreachable areas, please use THIS TOPLEVEL to report when they get there in the thread! We will get back to you with what is discoverable in that location.
• The following areas are off limits for exploration: below Yima’s Manor; below the Church of Heliopolis; Alenroux; Kowloon.
• The Great Trees of both Highstorm and Springstar are in a similar state to the Tree of Life and will not respond to Communion.
• Generally speaking, items will be of poor quality. Most will look as though they’ve aged thousands of years. Others will be in half-decent shape, but sparingly so. Oddly enough, it doesn’t seem like the whole city has aged at the same rate, so especially diligent rummagers can find worthwhile supplies. Please consider this should be rare and don’t go overboard!

NOTES

Here are some prompt reminders - see the full thing at the OOC Summary!

• Characters will have a diluted connection to the Zenith or Meridian.
• There will be periods powers are weakened or non-functional during days 1-2 (up to player discretion).
• The sunlight results in scorching; the shadows cause claustrophobia and fear while outdoors.

THE RITUAL (DAYS 2+)

The place you started your journey to Kenos is also where it seems it will end. As soon as the first Bearer makes contact with the Iconoclast effigy, you are collectively drawn to the roots beneath the Tree - like a pang sent through your Shard. Your objective has been found. The Oracle awaits.

Trusting Aetos seems like a fool's errand, but you must put your hope in the Tree. What choice do you have left? It's time to find what lies at the end of this.

Bearers descend, your steps echoing in the dark, cavernous space. Once brimming with life and vitality, the roots are now dried and brittle like the bones of some ancient leviathan that died long ago. As you make their way deeper into the earth, the deadened roots twist, leading you to a vast chamber deep within it; the air here is thick with the smell of decay, and the faint glow of luminescent fungi and mosses barely illuminates the space.

To your left, the Bearers will notice what has drawn them here - and the object of their search.

An effigy sits on the ground between two darkened tunnels. The effigy is made of gnarled, dead branches woven together in a humanoid shape; its hollow, empty eyes are sightless, yet you cannot help but feel it is watching your every move. Branded on its forehead is the Iconoclast symbol carved into the rough wood.

Once all Bearers are present, the Ritual will begin. Your means of exit have been sealed off, and you are trapped, slowly deteriorating together…

NOTES

• Bearers will have access to the Ritual Chamber which is a very wide, open space with the effigy situated against the far wall from the entrance. Several smaller tunnels off-shoot from the Ritual Chamber. They all run to dead ends; some are very small or narrow. This may afford you meager privacy away from the group.
• Once a Bearer steps into the Chamber, they can no longer head back out the way they came. They’ll find themselves automatically walking back into the Chamber as if of their own volition.
• For brevity’s sake we won’t list them out again here, but the complete description of effects Bearers will experience days 2+ is available in the OOC Summary.
• The effigy is impervious to damage.
• It Is Watching You.
• In a dead-end root tunnel attached to the Iconoclast’s Chamber is the Blighted statue of an Otter that may be familiar to some… Please see THIS TOPLEVEL for more information!

THE PURGE (DAYS 5+)

The sap has festered in your veins for what feels like days. It’s impossible to tell how much time has passed; this place has no sunlight. The effigy watches as you remain trapped, huddled together around it, unable to leave as you find yourself sick with the affliction of the Meridian, Zenith - or both.

And then… something finally gives.

Though it does not move and speaks no words, you feel the effigy offering you guidance. Knowledge. Much like the Tree speaks to you in impressions and feelings, you are conveyed wisdom you did not have before: a way to take what you want and rid yourself of what you do not. A way to make your convictions known to all who would hear them. A way to be known. To write your path in blood, be it yours… or theirs.

When all is said and done, only one force - Zenith or Meridian - will gain its favor.

Show it who you are. Show it what resolve looks like to you - and what you are willing to do to attain it.

NOTES

Here are some prompt reminders - see the full thing at the OOC Summary!

• You can Purge your alignment through various methods: Trading, Corrupting, or using the Effigy itself.
• All characters will understand the end goal is for everyone to Harmonize; the alignment with the higher rate of Harmonized Bearers alive when time’s up wins the Oracle’s favor.

NOTES

• A reminder that the Harmonization tally will take place on Friday, the 19th and be open through Monday, the 29th. The results will be released on Wednesday, the 31st OOCly.
• Don’t forget to submit any deaths to the Death Tracker, with a gentle reminder characters will remain dead until the event conclusion!
• Reminder to fill out the SETTING POLL ASAP if you haven't already!
• Have some MUSIC if you'd like. LYRICS here!
• HAVE FUN!!

CODING

Comments

[zenwhoberi]

[all things considered, she'd been the one to intrude on him; he doesn't owe her anything, much less kindness. and yet, nevertheless, he presses on. his hands are as soft as his efforts, careful not to press too harshly into vulnerable tissue.

the question he asks her as he works is much the same. it's probing, yes, looking for information because there are few here who aren't, but not meant to push; she would've done the same in his position. has done the same before.

(briefly, her mind flashes back to a clear day on xandar, when she'd waited for a ravager associate with an orb. here, now, the memory hurts.)

so she considers an answer. and, after a time:]

That man over there? [she keeps her arm still, but jerks her head meaningfully over her shoulder, indicating the direction where, across the way, that man still lurks. there aren't many places available for him to go, given where they are — and thus she doesn't make an effort to keep her voice, brimming with an edge of anger, quiet.] Watch your back with him. He's looking to use this situation for his own advantage.

[a kindness for a kindness. maybe that can work to repay a debt.]

[diversionist]

[ gamora doesn't bother keeping her voice down or her anger smothered, but the look cassian steals towards that man is the height of subtlety. old instincts: he cuts a brief glance with his eyes, moving his head as little as possible, doesn't stop cleaning her wound as he does. blink and you miss it. he doesn't seem surprised to hear gamora's warning — isn't surprised, in fact. sebastian had very openly introduced himself to cassian as a demon; and whether or not cassian quite believes it, he doesn't take the kind of person who makes an admission like that lightly. could be something, could be nothing. but you don't stay alive by erring on the side of nothing. ]

There'll be a lot of those around here. [ he says quietly, gaze on her wound. once it's been cleaned, he drops the scrap of cloth and picks up the makeshift bandage, refolding it to best wind around her arm. ] And more as time goes on. [ he doesn't recognize her, doesn't seem to have seen her in the time he's been here, so he hazards, ] They say the Oracles have the power to grant either faction's wish. No one's going to take this lightly.

[zenwhoberi]

[as far as gamora's concerned in this moment, that man should know exactly what he is; she'll warn as many people as possible, and she'll raise her voice about it until it's echoing off the walls. anything to prevent someone like that from gaining any kind of upper hand.

then again, if what this stranger, the one cleaning her wound and wrapping her arm with a skill that makes it clear he's done this well more than once, is saying is true, that man is, in fact, far from alone. she doesn't have a reason to doubt him, either; it would make sense, given everything else she's seen and heard in pieces, and what he's shown her is genuine kindness, not a favor he's obviously trying to cash in on.

her choices are limited, and her trust isn't something readily given; she can take a chance on both of them here.]

So it's a game, [gamora says as she turns her head back, then, slowly, carefully, still doing her best to ensure her arm remains steady. the anger hasn't fully left her voice, but it's changed form; it's blunt and worn now, suggesting of something old. familiar.] And whoever wins has all the power.

[where has she heard this one before?]

[diversionist]

[ he looks up from his work at her tone, at the sense of her in their heightened communion. not just her anger but her weariness, her familiarity, is real. ]

Yeah, [ then, ] that's always the game, isn't it?

[ no matter where you are. no matter what the sides are. there's always a struggle, and those are always the stakes. he can tell that she knows this. ]

[zenwhoberi]

[for the first time in several minutes (or an eternity, she can't entirely tell for certain), something filters in to her awareness other than anger, than guilt. it's —

recognition, which she doesn't even need the closeness of their minds to understand. not when his question, and his actions, say everything.

not when it's there in his eyes.

it's enough for a quiet admission of her own, that speaks to something well beyond her actual words:]

The only one I've ever known.

[diversionist]

[ he exhales at her admission. nods slightly, a faint twitch about his mouth at her answer. not in humor, no smile, just — something. yes, his guess was right. yes, he recognizes something in her, and she sees it in him. people from places like theirs, won't they always know each other? ]

Then you're well-prepared for the situation here.

[ his tone is brisk, free from pity. free from even commiseration, unless you look very closely. he'd paused in the bandaging but returns to the job now, winding the fabric around her arm and then tying it off. ]

This is the worst I've seen it, [ the situation, ] but I wouldn't get my hopes up about things getting better.

[ do they ever? ]

[zenwhoberi]

[it's not humor that turns one of the corners of her mouth up ever so slightly. not really. there's humor, and there's the gallows approximation of it, hollow in its imitation; the latter is what she's known for most of her life, and that's what someone like him knows, too.

(people like them will always recognize each other.)

she counters, light,]

What, this isn't your idea of pleasant?

[and it's followed by a long exhale, one that drops her shoulders as it does her arm after he finishes tying the bandage off. in its aftermath, with the anger in her mostly worn down, she's — tired. it creeps now into her voice.]

Some things get better. A lot of things don't.

[there's more she could add, that a part of her wants, more than anything, to add. but she thinks of wind and falling snow, of a sinking realization she'd been sure was her last, and she allows silence to fall.]

[diversionist]

War doesn't,

[ he says by way of agreement. most things don't get better in his experience — in his galaxy or here in kenos. just worse, harder, with the relentless march of time, like the advance of so many battalions of stormtroopers. looking at gamora, he doesn't think he's telling her anything she doesn't know.

(war doesn't get better, save for one exception. bodhi bringing them a message of hope; baze, armed with his gun, and chirrut, armed with his faith; k-2so, making dire predictions of odds and yet never faltering to follow him anywhere; jyn, shining like the sun. for a moment, there was hope. before that, too, was swallowed.)

he shrugs slightly, glancing around them before looking back to gamora. ]

But this won't be forever. [ the cavern, he means. the war, of course, is a different beast; it always is. ] This isn't the only Oracle out there. The others were taken somewhere strange to fight for an Oracle a few months ago, too.

[ the underlying message: but they were back to city life as normal by the time he got here, as normal-ish by the time gamora got here. the underlying message: this is not, precisely, optimism that he's giving her. she must know that. this too will end, yes, but and then it'll start all over again. he doesn't need to spell it out for her. ]

[zenwhoberi]

[war doesn't, he says, with an exhaustion that gamora knows all too well, because it's the kind that's now sitting in her. the kind, too, that could easily creep in under the horror that had ensued at what thor had told them regarding what had happened to his people, the kind that had told her they'd already lost well before they'd set foot on knowhere, even though she'd had to try something.

oracles. infinity stones. whatever name happens to be assigned, whatever powers anything might be capable of, it's all the same in the end, isn't it?

it's all the same — and it's endless. he doesn't need to spell that out for her at all.

still, the details of what he's telling her are about the most useful of anything she's heard since arriving here, so she shoves her own thoughts to the side to listen. to process and analyze.

and eventually:]

We could be fighting for countless of these things, and we wouldn't know it. [after her own sweep of the caverns, her eyes are back on him, in turn. her arms, now free, fold across her chest.] And we don't know what the winning side will really intend to do with the power they gain. Or has there been anything more solid than just a promise?

[everyone believes they're fighting for some better universe. thanos, as unhinged and completely misguided as he is, has believed it the entire time she's known him, wholeheartedly — enough to kill for it, without remorse. who's to say that zenith isn't the same? that meridian isn't the same?

it's one thing to say pretty words, to fill minds with pretty dreams. it's another to genuinely mean all of it, and for innocents to not become collateral along the way.]

[diversionist]

No, [ he agrees, ] we wouldn't.

[ he's never gotten very far, asking the shard-bearers who have been here longer than him about the oracles. vague answers, vaguer terms. objects of great power that, once collected, will grant either side their goals. a restoration of all the lost worlds; or new and changed worlds, better suited to their desires. supposedly, that's what meridian and zenith will give the shard-bearers. but how do they know? what is the cost? he hasn't had much interest in joining a side, these months here, because he still doesn't know what he'd find himself supporting.

he scoffs in response to her question, a disdain curling through his eyes like smoke. has there been anything more solid than just a promise? ]

Meridian, they have their beads. Zenith, they get things from Yima. None of it is proof.

[ linked as they are through communion, gamora can hear an echoed memory from his arrival. cassian saying, i like to make decisions based on facts, not wishes and beliefs, and hayame responding, those are in short supply here, you will find. you do not have to believe it is true to join either faction. but that is what you will be standing for if you do. ]