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

[zauneyete]

Oh, shall we?

[ That Dextera pettily continues to use Communion gets a sense in the shared connection of annoyance, though none of it shows in Silco's voice. He's controlled, even still, but it's easier if he isn't being challenged, or losing control. Mentioning his hot-spots always forces him to lose control, but in this moment, he's still relatively got it on lock.

He gestured, for Dextera to take the lead. ]

Very well. Perhaps if we bring it back together to a gathering of Meridian, my contribution will be more trustworthy, hm?

[passio]

[ dextera can be stubborn when he’s not cowering in fear, and although this situation is upsetting on many levels, it’s nothing he’s not accustomed to. he feels better than most people should, under this dying sun. ]

…

[ he does take the lead, his sword gripped in his hand. he knows this was set’s doing, so— ]

What did he offer you, in the end?

[zauneyete]

[ Silco's hands behind his back, he followed, his feet unhurried, his shoulder slumped, swaying forward. Silco moves half like a man determined to take up more space than his small frame allows for, though his shoulders leave him slumped slightly, as if he'd spent time curled into small spaces -- fissures -- digging his way through mines.

His lips curl upward. ]

Oh? Wanting to know what price could bring me along?

[ He fished a cigar out of his jacket, as he spoke, and the end was clipped off with a pinch of his fingers, and lit with a second, the magic was small enough, that it had not passed yet. ]

The terms would not be the same again, I'm afraid. Don't worry about it, our affairs belong to us.

[passio]

…

[ silco carries himself like someone who belongs in dextera’s world, but everything about him makes dextera feel he’s from somewhere completely different. he can see himself running into silco in a dive through the neuro tower—someone willing to make a trade likely to benefit only one person.

inevitably, he wonders what makes silco tic. communion, maybe, has something to do with it. ]

Do you have to smoke?

[zauneyete]

[ There is a picture of it in communion, buried under what feels like leagues of riverwater that feels too slick -- like polluted runoff from a factory -- but it's there. Anger, disgust, jealousy -- all the things that make someone like Silco cling so hard to Zenith's promise -- and there's something else there, deep within. Buried under all of that. That one is just out of reach, out of sensation, as if it is something to protect over all things.

He smiled at Dex around his cigar. ]

Yes. I do.

See, if I don't, I'll breathe clean air, and we can't have that. It makes me lightheaded after a while.

[ He's also still so full of shit. No wonder he's good at lying, he just does it for no reason whatsoever all of the time. ]

[passio]

[ dextera is curious, even if he doesn’t want to be. he hadn’t gotten insight into it at the debates, and he hadn’t been looking for a reason to humanize silco anyway. he still isn’t, but now that they’re in a situation just between the two of them—and ostensibly allies, regardless of how temporary that is—a part of dextera’s mind still sparks with the desire to know how close another person is to sickness.

he doesn’t dig, even so. he tells himself that it doesn’t matter. ]

The world is already dying. We should be trying to…

[ they should save the environment, even though anyone with a brain would look around and see that the world has already ended. ]

[zauneyete]

What, preserve what little is left?

[ He finished for him -- asked -- but the tone is sardonic and biting. His lips curled with disdain as his eyes swiveled to take in the details of the sun, the heat, and then the everything else. He shook his head. ]

Even if there wasn't, it doesn't matter.

It's going to be destroyed anyway --

[ He held a hand to his mouth, and laughed, mock-put upon. ]

Silly me. That's the Zenite in me talking. Well, perhaps bringing back our own worlds with the Oracles will... [ He said it dourly, the line of Meri, with a lack of emotion, like he was reading a script. ]

[passio]

[ dextera finds himself frowning, not at the idea that kenos would soon meet its end, but rather than the meridian ideal is worth mocking. he’s always taken the differences between the two factions with grace, treated the zenith perspective as reasonable if not incompatible with what dextera wants, and it stings to not have that returned in kind.

not that he really expected silco to.

his shoulders tighten, his fists clench, but of course he’s not going to swing on silco just for a little teasing. it’s only frustration. ]

Would you go back, if we did?

[ that’s what he asks, instead. he marches on without looking at silco, but communion allows the question to come through. ]

[zauneyete]

Hm? Oh, well, I suppose I wouldn't have a choice, now would I?

[ He asks, but his tone is... edged. With something.

Silco knows only one thing, and that is that his daughter was dying in his arms. What room does he have for care for his world? Dextera is not privy to his thoughts exactly, but evidenced by many of those from Zenith -- and perhaps even more deeply, those whom had been part of the Kenoma, on Horos -- there's a sense of hopelessness. Of acceptance of the void that Silco has never quite shook. He hates it,thinking about what would come, if he were to return to that bridge, ignorant of all of this, to experience...

What? He doesn't know. He has a plane, hare-brained though it is, but it's not enough and he knows it. ]

Perhaps I'll choose another, more interesting world, than mine. Perhaps one where there are powers, unlike mine.

[passio]

[ dextera wants to have sympathy, but silco gives him nothing; the best dextera can pull is bitterness, but even then, silco’s tight lock on his feelings means that he can’t begin to guess what the cause is. he doubts that silco just wishes he could move things with his mind or shoot fire from his hands—it doesn’t feel petty, even if dextera personally regards him as a petty man.

the sun beating down overhead, it’s not hard to see where silco was talking about a little farther away. dextera doesn’t hurry, even if he’s starting to feel heat creeping up his neck. ]

You could just die.

[ there’s always that option. ]

If you don’t really care what happens, I could kill you right now.

[zauneyete]

Oh, I do care.

[ He says, firmly. ]

I want to see every single world that continues to exist, to burn in one incandescent fire, destroyed for the crime of not being good enough to be mine, and my world is lacking.

[ There's a crack, in the communion. Like peeling back the ridges of the scars on his face, there's anger that burns. Hot and acrid, like being doused in poison and pollution. Silco is normally cold, slightly slick water, right now, he's like an inferno, even thinking about it. ]

I want to leave destruction in my wake. I will not be eliminated so easily. Do not mistake my indifference for returning to my world as disinterest in the results.