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Entry tags:
- !event,
- baroque: koriel xii (dextera),
- bastard!!: dark schneider,
- black butler: sebastian michaelis,
- ennead: set,
- expanse (the): amos burton,
- fire emblem: byleth eisner,
- fire emblem: claude von riegan,
- fire emblem: dimitri a. blaiddyd,
- genshin impact: tartaglia (childe),
- genshin impact: zhongli,
- granblue fantasy: eustace,
- jinba: hayame,
- legend of zelda (the): link,
- made in abyss: bondrewd,
- magnus archives (the): the archivist,
- marvel: gamora,
- oc: liem talbott,
- star wars: cassian andor,
- star wars: jyn erso,
- trigun maximum: vash the stampede
The Seeds of Unrest: the Iconoclast Oracle
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.
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?
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…
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…
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.
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!!
no subject
This act of fervor will empty itself between them, and he will have attempted to tear Caren from her foundation fruitlessly. Even worse, for the war god to succeed — it will come around, after all things have been laid out by the Oracle and judged. After a victor has been crowned, if he has dragged her into the light and loses, he will be the most pathetic combatant — insecure, light-hungry and burning himself upon an altar of foreign hopes to make up for the fact that he, himself, is without hope. No matter what, victory or loss, he will regret what he does to her. He will regret what he has done to Childe, for it is against his desires to wrest others brutally from their convictions; not when he, in turn, feeds himself upon the strength of their passions.
This is definitely not the choice he would make, but like nature — thoughtless and brutal, he strives to make it. ]
Caren — [ He murmurs her own name to her, leaning down further to touch his nose to hers. To find her golden eyes with his own and hover in her space, to clasp her hair in one hand and reach down to her hands formerly clasped in prayer. To press a cursing kiss to the bridge of her nose, smiling and mournful and embittered to his own actions. ]
I do not know if I will recover from what I have done to Childe. I do not think I will recover from what I am going to do to you. I have to be resolute, in this — even as I, I think that I am begging myself not to do it. [ Contradictions within contradictions, all contained within his parameters. Set's personal yearning does not often clash with his divine path, but neither does he usually do something like this. There is brutalizing someone's body and heart upon the battlefield, via strength and tactic, and there is battering at their will until consuming it.
( He will never have what he yearns for, and so, he must fight for it. )
In response to her question, he sinks deeper into her own mind. Has he convinced himself? Naturally, in this moment he is nothing but a man convinced that the path he's on is the right one; Zenith is incapable of embodying the ideals of countless unique individuals. They cannot accommodate for every soul, and anything that seeks a singular world will seek to suppress and control those who do not fit a mold. But. If there is no mold, the world itself will rot and collapse under the weight of every dream, every desire, every free thing that he ( wants ) knows they will seek to attain — to Set, Meridian-bright, Zenith's dream is only another apocalypse in the making.
It is lovely. It is scintillating, but it will never hold a candle to the promise of Meridian. ]
You are going to let me do this to you, Caren. Because when you enter Meridian, you will know it for what it is — beauty, life and the eternal promise of something to ruin oneself on. Do you not want to aid me? When I come down from this... and I am once again the penitent, pathetic god you know me to be? Do you not want me?
[ Minegishi Gen could not want him enough, and left. He could not infiltrate Liem Talbott's heart and give him strength. He fed Melshi ( Cassian ) and his companion ( Jyn ) to Zenith because he could not be what they needed. So, for Caren — he feeds Meridian to her as something selfish and utterly pathetic. A broken, sham of a god who wants to hurt her deeply, and then lay in her lap afterwards and be forgiven. ]
no subject
Because he is right: She is going to let him do this to her.
Set knew when he came to her what she was and how she receives the requests of others. That she will not resent him no matter what he does. She'll be able to receive this too, all the same.
This kiss is the ugliest player in all of this. Even as they struggle in this, it feels like a connection-breaking lie, something that shouldn't exist for them if it is genuine. Caren turns her head from it, almost petulantly, the only thing he doesn't mean. It sedates her nonetheless; no longer physically struggling, she lets her head hang. Limply, mostly kept aloft by her hair, she too has stopped kicking.]
No. [It's weaker than before.] You're a heathen god...a devil.
[Will it be like the veil of Zenith's darkness being lifted from her eyes, or will a piece of her have broken off, another piece that shouldn't have existed, so that she forgets some of what transpired? When he's finished, he won't delight in what he's done. She will not care either way.
It will destroy him, but he's asking not to stay the destruction, but to be rebuilt.]
If I come, you will be exorcised. Sooner or later. But you will not have to be alone. That is how I'll forgive you.
1/2
Perhaps that could be a place for Caren Hortensia, but the Set-of-now thinks she would just be better off in Meridian. They have use for a young woman who receives requests, who even now is receiving his own request and retaliating in the only way she knows how. She calls him a heathen god, a pagan god, and he does not care. It does not affect him, for he knows Egypt will change in the future and the gods will withdraw — all the better for him, really. If he survives himself in Kenos, he will be able to kick back in secular anonymity and travel once more. Seek new sights, new experiences.
It is the way she calls him 'devil', that tears through him to the seat of his divinity. That poisonous black evil of it, waiting to fill him entirely, to become Known from surface to eternal depths; all that he is, divorced of linear progression. ]
I could be a devil, [ a demon, something within him laughs. ]
You are coming, Caren. There is no 'if'. You will not let me be alone, and I will exist to be forgiven by you — that is what Meridian promises. Brutality, cruel worlds, things that need to exist because you need them, too. There is nothing better than to look upon all of creation and see it awaiting you, compared to a world that will be shaped by individuals who want a kind, good world where girls like you do not need to exist. You will be obsolete, in Zenith's world, for only the good will exist there.
[ Finally, he loosens his grip on her hair. Hand darting down to wrap around her throat instead, to jerk her limp head up and drag her to her toes — ]
I hope you are ready to chase me, then — for I will not make it easy on you.
[ And then, between their minds.
He pushes — ]
cw mass murder, slavery, u know
There is another. A former merchant whom had traveled up and down the land, to and from neighboring countries — frustration growing within him, as his wares were ignored in favor of someone younger, someone louder, someone with better looks and charm. He turns from trade goods to trade flesh, crawling up and down the famine-stricken lands to drag bodies from their beds and pocket coin when he thrusts the line of them into the hands of those who will undoubtedly amuse themselves upon the weak. ( Meridian is the capacity for evil. Zenith is the removal of it. )
The merchant tests his luck, dragging a bedraggled woman he calls 'Isis' before the war god. I have found her, my god, he cries gloriously, the one you se—, only to choke on his own blood and become the discarded, headless corpse that is thrown to the sands, bereft of rite, bereft of care, by the single swipe of a capricious, cruel god's hand. For she is not whom he seeks, and Set does not suffer incapable men to live. ( Meridian is the pleas of praying women, begging not for their own deliverance, but the safety of a woman-god they love more than themselves. Zenith would strip those prayers of meaning, and belittle the pain of those who cried in the dark by wresting revenge and salvation from them. )
And Set stands, before a trial of peers. Thousands of souls swimming in his shadow, hundreds of centuries of pain and anguish caused, and lifts his head to the judge of the Ennead to intone: Let me repay them. Let me feel as they feel, let me suffer what I did to them. Let me see and hear and experience them, and truly understand what I have done. ( Zenith would rob him of his atonement, Caren. Zenith would make nothing of the souls he still carries upon him, who deserve to be freed and delivered. Meridian flows within a cruel, capricious god and it is a cruel, capricious power. But, it is also salvation, compared to what Zenith offers — which is simply to forget them all. )
This is what he drives into her. And the somber, casual dismissal of her offer: I do not need to be forgiven. I need to pay. ]
no subject
Caren can only truly forgive harm that is done against her. Other sins are not a weight with a tally she can erase herself, but someone must be there to witness the labor of repentance as it is recorded. Someone must be there to see it, the rulings of that sterile and judgmental love that punishes at it sees fit. If that was all erased suddenly, the toil of it all would go unrecorded. There is a man out there who would love that: the futility of struggle being incinerated. Ex nihilo nihil fit.
Her nails dig into the skin of his wrist, though the only thing they will unearth no matter how hard they claw is more light. She certainly loses consciousness, at some point - at the very least, the awareness of all that is happening or has happened escapes her, though her eyes remain open through all of it, and she doesn't look away from a single moment of cruel rejection. She can feel the creaking screams of everything he ruined.
In pressing the last of her will to resist Meridian from her, it would seem they become inextricable somewhere. She lacks the strength to withdraw from him, and his mind eats its own tail around hers. Even if she wanted to, there isn't enough energy between them to separate the link. Unable even to speak out loud, Caren finds that she doesn't need to, as something like Communion along the length of a thought exposed and painful as a raw nerve is enough.
Will you rest now? You will need the strength to think of the meaning of this dream once you're awake.
This is what it feels like, the scrape of her thoughts along this exposed synapse, a nail curving along bone: Confined to a bed in a cold stone room, one sees the light through the window but no longer feels its warmth. There are no breezes that reach within the four walls. One forgets what it feels like to wake up to a meaningful morning. Why is it so important that this day is different from the last?
The moment he releases her, she'll lack the strength to stand. Yet she can somehow still find purchase in his hair, the way he touched her at the beginning, not like tugging at a tail but like choking a rabid dog on its chain. They are going to sink into this earth together.
Rejoice, Set. Together, we will see the world last long enough for the interest on your debt to accrue.
And he is going to need to rest and recover, for that.]