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

[eyesite]

( the Eye cannot comprehend that which has shed everything capable of feeling fear. perhaps it for the briefest of moments it attempts to understand bondrewd in the framing of kindred — that which is Fear consists of fear, but can you necessarily it fears it itself? — but that is discarded as soon as it realizes that it doesn't work. to one of the Dread Powers, bondrewd is unassailable, completely without purchase for their many hooks and barbs to sink into. after long consideration, this ends up resolving into something along the lines of disinterest or even revulsion; dimly acknowledged by john, linked to it as it is, though certainly not emulated.

bondrewd's words do, in part, assuage him. they settle his panic that he is about to be punished for the fault of not swaying him back to his place at Zenith's side; he reconsiders himself and the space around him and finds that perhaps it was just the roots continuing to creep along bondrewd's effigy that had felt in motion before, his own momentary paralysis still induced by the state of persistent, exaggerated Communion.

(he puts aside being called adorable, which is something he as a grown man doesn't really know what to do with...)

his instinctual response to someone steadying him and guiding him isn't a positive one — after all, there has never been anyone in his young or adult life who has personally guided him to anything but personal and universal ruin. but the shared sympathetic connection that Communion provides is hard to argue with; he would be forced to admit to himself that he cannot sense any machinations or manipulations belying the words and impressions of support that bondrewd extends to him. )

Do you really believe something like that is necessary? That - that it's even possible? ( john hasn't even been here for very long, never posing anything more than a threat to confidential information among Meridian, and even still he has suffered serious injury and death at their hands. perhaps his vision is just (ironically) limited, but he cannot seem to see bondrewd's vision.

it's not the only thing he shares that feels somewhat incomprehensible to him. the fondness, too... john wouldn't claim to have had a challenging or troubled childhood, but his relationship with his grandmother had never been what any might call warm. he is grateful to her for the part she played in raising him, but it had been perfunctory at best. this sort of encouragement... it's strange, and almost disconcertingly so.

it probably says a lot that this is more disquieting to him than any acknowledgement that bondrewd would, in the same breath that he patted him with familiar fondness, slit his throat to ensure the safety of others. it's something he has always worried others might not have the strength to do (even though, far in his own clouded future, not even martin's hand would stay itself —)... )

...I don't know what I've said or done to earn that belief.

But if you will do what you've promised to me... Yes. I will do all that I can.

[dawnlord]

[ Sorry, Eye............ you got some real #freaks out here.

Bondrewd's sincerity is absolute, divorced of objectivity and immersed in scientific pursuit. Methodical study, field work, the meticulous thrust of himself into all forms of experience so that his conclusions are irrefutable — he must be Meridian, even for a moment, to truly be able to arrest their movements in the future. To still their hearts and calm their minds, and show them a better, brighter path. Zenith resembles the dark, the cold of the night, but it is a path where they can finally lay down their old burdens and choose new lives, where they would not be before.

He must be Meridian, he thinks, to be heard. Especially in the wake of this.

( And also, in burning through Zenith's energy, he recognizes how hasty he was not to do this from the beginning. Not to hold fast to all he had done, the responsibility he had first and foremost to the Ido Front, to the Abyss, to all who had died and the little ones in the Garden — the first Garden, where he laid them to rest. Not because they were dead, but because they had transformed irreparably and needed a cool, gentle place to live the remainder of their short lives.

He must examine this world, closely. ) ] I do. After all, the answer to all those who suffer is to love them.

[ he's gonna duel quetzalcoatl in the Love Arena ]

The Lady's vision for us all does not require we turn our backs on those who shine, only that we are irrevocably successful. More than that, if we cannot understand their motives, we will only ever clash with them. It is better to step alongside them, and guide them. We all are worth the love we can share.

[ He speaks of love, but the obvious distance between his ease of expression and understanding it and the stark, black hole of nonexistence, of the lightless depths of the Abyss, of the altar upon which he had placed his own heart and soul and carved it from himself for progress — it is obvious, that articulate as he is and honest as he is... he is divided from himself, perfectly precise and alarming. A man capable of severing his consideration and adoration, to ensure progress above all else.

That is the man who pats John's shoulder, reassuring, in their Communion. ] Your world is painful and dangerous, Mister Sims. Your wish appears to take the form of a wish: to save as many people as you are able to, even it means to condemn others — I believe in you, because I am the same. Precisely the same.

[eyesite]

( it's not as though bondrewd's desire for the rigor and thoroughness of the scientific method is something entirely alien to john — for many years longer than he had been Head Archivist there, he had been a researcher at the Magnus Institute, and he had prided himself in his own comprehensive approach at pursuing following up on the various statements, artefacts, and other bizarre situations came their way to deal with. he had actually been perhaps a little too proactive at times, and especially when it came to the books from jurgen leitner's library that had either been mentioned in various statements or those rare enough occasions when one of the books had actually passed through their hands at the Institute. for obvious reasons, those had always incited him to action in a way that ill befit the aim of the Institute itself. theirs was a mission to "record and study, not interfere or contain," or so elias had told him multiple times even prior to being appointed Head Archivist. ironic, then, how hands-on his job eventually ended up becoming, but magnus had ever been cautious in introducing him to such dangerous situations gradually, wary that burdening him with too much knowledge or putting him under too much pressure too early on would overwhelm him and waste a perfectly good and useful resource for his theorized mega-ritual.

bitterly, and not for the first time, john wishes that he hadn't been so characteristically difficult to kill, but it ultimately didn't matter. either he would have been used as the focal point of that ritual or some other poor sap would be eventually set up into the same position. since all the other rituals were doomed to fail, it had just been a matter of time and opportunity for jonah magnus.

and the Web had delivered john so perfectly to him, just for that cause.

it's an assertion that he can sense to the marrow of his bones that bondrewd believes, but... it doesn't resonate with john's personal experience. the Fears certainly couldn't experience such affections, and their agents similarly had typically viewed their victims with a sort of... indifference, at best? and contempt, at worse? or perhaps amused bemusement, in the instance of simon fairchild.

though perhaps it was (ironically, considering what this conversation had triggered within him) the Corruption that seemed to utilize human emotions of togetherness, of intimacy, of belonging to solidify its grasp upon its avatars. it seemed that those afflicted with severe loneliness either succumbed to it, drawn in to the Lonely itself, or they were preyed upon by the Crawling Rot — he recalls a man devoted to giving all that he was to a monstrous beetle and her kin, another who had wept maggots when telling him of the dark places he had searched for love and acceptance, a young woman who had felt the sharp sting of rejection when she hadn't been chosen to become a part of the monstrous amalgamation that a dog named Agape made of her cult, and, of course, jane prentiss. a woman who, without strong guidance in her life, heard the singing which emanated from a wasps' nest in her attic, and who had lived to become a well-loved home for thousands upon thousands of Filth's children.

love, like anything else, is something he must view with wariness. it is just as susceptible to perversion. )

If you believe strongly in that as a prerogative... then I am in no place to deny you. I want Zenith to be open to those that might feel doubt, but... try to mark those that will not be shaken from their desires to pursue Meridian, no matter what it costs them. They will only become exponentially more dangerous to us the more threatened their victory becomes.

( for some, conflict is inevitable. he has never liked that reality, but it's a reality nonetheless. there is nothing he could have done, there's not a single Goddamned word he could have said that would cause any number of agents, avatars, or monsters from coming to claim his life. it wasn't a matter of understanding. it was that they had their own unique and individual goals, and the Archivist had posed an unavoidable obstacle to them.

the same would be the case for Meridian and Zenith, unavoidably, always.

he becomes almost brittle at what feels like — praise? he isn't certain. it doesn't entirely feel accurate to him, not through his own lens. he doesn't believe that he is a creature meant to be able to help anyone at all; neither his form nor function are conducive to it, and despite his best efforts, he feels he can only deliver those he reaches to help to a worse fate. so his input in the Communion is silent for a long moment, fraught with the thorns and barbs of this internal perception. )

I am not so noble, Bondrewd.

I just - I can't bear to consign them all to torment once more. Not when I am the one making the decision this time. Not... not when I don't have the believe that I could find any other way to deliver them from it.

That's all.

( said simply as his consciousness begins to try to pull itself free from the roaring current of this strengthened Communion. )