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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
What if I came to your world? [It sounds crazy, but plenty of crazy things have happened to both of them at this point, that it almost sounds reasonable, too.] If I find a way, I could bring an army, and save your people. You wouldn't need to sacrifice yourself... You could all live in peace.
no subject
What way could there be for that?
[The fresh tears bead and spill, her shame spikes again, even higher now that he can see it plainly and she isn't hiding her face in his damp shoulder. First he is a man, then he is a noble, then a king, and now someone willing to lead an army into her world? It's too much, it's-]
Why must you torture me with such fantasies?
no subject
[Claude was once someone who crossed into a nation hoping to steal a sword that would cleave down a mountain. If there's even the smallest possibility that a tool might exist that he can use, he's going to try it. If there's anything, even the slimmest chance, that could help him pass into a world that isn't his own when they're all restored, then...]
Just leave it to me, and I'll explore our options. Even Cyrus would agree that restoring your world, then letting you go to your doom, is wrong.
no subject
It's too much. It's been too much, and now it's whatever more than too much is. Finally, Hayame uses her own hands to angrily wipe at the tears on her face, feeling like some sort of snot-nosed filly that hadn't yet learned crying was weakness and a path to the flensing post, accidentally disturbing the patch over her left eye and providing a brief, brief glimpse of a clean, dark hole surrounded by perfectly intact lids where an eye had been before a demon had ripped it from her head.]
Stop...
[He said it was wrong, but that was only because he didn't know-]
It's not wrong because it's all my fault in the first place-
[She's the one who send her brother back to their master with the location of that hidden village. She's the one who didn't say a thing even as she grew to think that maybe, just maybe she could live a different way, she could be free, she could have a life there. But she couldn't believe it, she couldn't... She's-]
It's what I deserve-
[And he'd only said those things to her because he didn't know.]
no subject
And she insisted on doing all of this alone. He can't just stand by and watch like it doesn't affect him any longer. He takes one of her hands, tear streaked now, holds it tightly in both of his with a renewed urgency.]
Don't decide what you deserve until this is over. You're still fighting to fix things! And fighting harder than anyone else here. If you survive, I know you can still make amends.
[She can still have that peaceful life she wanted, as long as she's willing to accept it. With all the small pieces of the picture he's putting together, he firmly believes that.]
no subject
Because she is, (she feels like she is), and yet despite that-
Her first attempt to pull her hand from his is too weak.]
Not all of us are kings, Claude von Riegan!
[She doesn't get to dictate how her own life went, she doesn't have the resources or the means to free herself, she doesn't have the power to save people any other way than this last desperate attempt, so how dare-
How could he understand the options that she had?
This time, she manages to convince herself to rip her hand back, smear it back over her cheek to wipe away the fresher tears.]
no subject
[It's why he bothered to attain such power in the first place. If he doesn't use it to make things better for those without any real options of their of their own, what was the point of it all? He's just like all the nobility and royalty content to maintain the status quo in their favour.
But she still doesn't believe he can help, probably still sees it all as an idle fantasy. He pauses and decides to change tack.]
...And while we're being honest, my name isn't Claude. I stopped using that name when I stopped being Duke Riegan.
no subject
Your name isn't Claude?
[She has been calling him by the wrong name the entirety of their acquaintance, and he dared to claim to care for her? Her hands find movement again to grab him by the front of the shirt, only this time she isn't weeping pitifully into his shoulder. This time she shakes him bodily, the sharp edges of Liem's shard digging into the underside of a breast.]
Have I known a single true thing about your since we met?
no subject
H-hey, just hear me out! I had my reasons!
[At least she didn't strike him... yet... but he's still trying to prise himself out of her grip so he can elaborate.]
no subject
[If it was his own world, fine, she could believe in some political scheme or attempt on a king's life, but in this bizarre, distant land? Where people always waxed on about how they could supposedly be anything they wanted to be free of the expectations of their worlds?
She shakes him again for good measure.]
no subject
[please stop shaking him, Hayame. He'll wait until she abates a little so he can finish.]
I don't know how they'd react, when Almyrans are hated and feared in Fódlan. It was simpler to stick with things as they were, so we could carry on working together.
[Putting Meridian's goals first came before any personal honesty, he thinks. Things are already complicated enough here without rocking the boat further with baggage from home.]
no subject
But he says "Almyrans", his people?, are hated and feared in his land, and that doesn't make immediate sense to her, it does nothing to aid her understanding.]
What is there to hate and fear about you? You're human!
[Not to a woman whose race had been enslaved on the basis of being inhuman, on an island where all humans largely belonged to the same race and culture. In the chaotic spike of her emotions, she defaults only to what she knows, how things are in her own home. And if it were that...
What could a human know of being hated or persecuted to the point they felt they had to hide their identity?]
no subject
[She had been sceptical even then, but maybe now with the full context, it will all make sense. When she stops shaking him, he rests a hand on her wrist.]
My real name is Khalid. It's an Almyran name. My father is Almyran, and my mother is from Fódlan. In Almyra, people... My half-brothers, courtiers, complete strangers-- they would hate me for my foreign blood, which they considered the blood of cowards. Called me a monster, or a horror, or a beast, or a half-breed. I wasn't human to them. They were... cruel beyond belief, so I had to do everything I could in order to survive. Assassination attempts were routine.
[His grip tightens on her wrist. The only thing that makes this easier to talk about now is how much he's overcome since then, but even so, it's not something he ever anticipated talking about here in Kenos, period.]
Eventually, I ran away, to my mother's homeland, where I thought things would be better. But they weren't. In Leicester, Almyrans were considered savage, bloodthirsty animals. Almyran women and children would be slaughtered on the border, or captured and taken in as slaves by House Goneril. To gain any kind of power or acceptance at all... everyone in Fódlan had to believe I was one of them. Not a foreigner.
So I joined my mother's old house, House Riegan, and succeeded my grandfather. To do that, I had to be "Claude", and my past had to be a complete secret. I had only been living in that fiction for a year or so when I first met you.
[So dropping his false identity in Horos, when he had so many questions and uncertainties, seemed like a pointless risk.]
no subject
But to her credit... She listens. She doesn't release him still, but she listens, even if it's hard to imagine humans hating each other, treating each other, as badly as humans in her world treated jinba. He had said he was being honest now... But how is she supposed to believe that? He has lied about even his own name, for months...
Assassination attempts. A life in a palace. Foreign blood. Slaves. The words are all right, the story might make sense, but her head is so full that it's difficult to take it all in. She thinks about Horos, about when she first met him, about every other awful thing that had happened in that world before this one, how he had been slightly younger than her and now slightly older, and he just thought-]
Then who-
[She can barely say the word. She half snarls trying to do it, fails, swallows, tries again, her voice cracking again (her grip shaking beneath his wrist.)]
Who is fool enough to think they love me? Claude von Riegan or Khalid?
no subject
Khalid. You can think of me as a fool as much as you want, but I mean every word with all my heart.
[Before, he had invited her to smash his shard if she she didn't believe in him. But she didn't harm it, and even now, she's listening. If there's even the smallest chance he might get through to her, he'll take it. Even if it means spilling every secret he has... until she can finally trust him fully.]
I don't have anything more to keep from you. So what you do with it -- if anything -- is for you to decide.
no subject
All his heart? It's the sort of thing you hear in lute ballads, not real life, and even if they did... They wouldn't be to her. They shouldn't be, and yet despite everything she's tried to tell him, every reason she's tried to give him-
As if she's been holding hot iron and only just not realized it was burning her hand, she releases her hold on him and jerks away, her knees unlocking to let her legs tremble and prance, her tail whipping anxiously behind her and stinging against her dun rump.]
You just do not wish to die alone-
[He thinks this might be the end, and who can... who can believe the words of a man who thinks he is about to face his end? Hayame's throat and mouth feel so dry that she flicks her tongue over her bottom lip to try and get the words out, her one eye dilated with something that looked a bit too much like fear for her to be able to accuse someone else of that emotion.]
Once we get out of here... you will regret all that you have said to me.
[She's sure. She has to be sure.]
If you are lucky, I will let you retract it all once we are victorious-
[They have to be victorious. Or else.]
no subject
But circumstances being what they are, he's run out of road... and she looks like she could flee at any moment.]
I won't regret any of this. [He says, but despite that, he looks defeated. Maybe the only thing he'll regret, really, is not getting through to her in time.] But if we do survive this, I'll tell you everything all over again. You can even have my shard, since you're so fond of holding it.
[A last, meagre attempt at a joke. Maybe she'll be too annoyed to notice the edge of desperation in his voice.]
no subject
She should have nothing to do with such a man, (a human, a liar), what is she doing-
Her fingers spasm closed around nothing, into the same shape her hands had taken when they'd clutched his shard. If she had it when he'd said what he did, she would... she would know- But she shouldn't want to know. And even if he was telling the truth and he felt those things... What should it matter to her? She is a warrior, nothing else, and warriors- Her hooves shuffle anxiously in the dirt and roots, she backs away one, two, three steps from him. He won't regret it?]
You will-
[Her brother had tried to support her, and now he would be tainted as kin to a traitor. Matsukaze had tried to reach out to her, and she had brought ruin to that village and possible death and enslavement to his family. Everyone she let close-
Hayame hurriedly wipes the last tears from her face and turns to flee, hoofbeats echoing through the tunnel until they disappear into the dark.]
no subject
Maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut. He doesn't chase after, sinking to the floor of the tunnel instead, drawing his knees up to his chest, caught by a paralysing feeling of grief. Byleth was gone, subsumed by Sothis. An old friend had turned into a wild beast, Dimitri maddened with the strain of their circumstances. And now he had scared away Hayame, the last person he had left to turn to, all because he couldn't keep his feelings in check.]
I'm sorry. [He mutters it under his breath, even after the sound of hooves have long receded.]