Event | Landfall, Sinbrilee | August 10 - 31, 2013

[ironwood]

Art by Rica.

August 10th | Dive, Dive, Dive!
Starting mid-morning of the 10th there will be what feels like a series seismic disturbances ranging between three and four on the Richter scale. These will persist over the course of a few hours as Tu Vishan begins the diving process. Keeliai was built to withstand these stresses and, as such, no structural damage will occur. Unsecured possessions will be rattled about a bit and items on shelves are at risk, but ceilings and walls are safe.

Adding to that will be a slight tilt to the turtle as Tu Vishan angles downwards. Given the scale, the angle will be relatively gentle and apt to affect mainly wheels, balls, or easily shifted materials. All kedan on the turtle are treating this like it's no big deal. Turtle diving? They are old hands at this. Carts have been secured and goods in stores sufficiently braced/shifted to avoid damage or other disruption. Foreigners that were around for the January event may even recognise what's happening.

The most significant thing to be noted is the steady rise of water around the turtle as it descends. The barrier around Tu Vishan does more than prevent straying too far from home as it also is impermeable to the ocean water and associated pressure the deeper that they go. In effect, Keeliai and the surrounding countryside will come under the reverse-snowglobe effect, with a breathable atmosphere and surface air pressure maintained within the barrier (up to almost a mile above) and water enveloping all areas beyond the shell.

Increasingly noticeable during the dive and throughout the remainder of the event will be the lack of sunlight penetrating the ocean water and making it to Keeliai itself. In fact, short of actual fire or light sources (such as the decorations in the Fire Sector), the only natural light on the turtle will come from the glow of the shell during the night hours.

The turtle is diving again, but this time, there's a purpose to doing so.

August 11th - 30th | Sinbrilee
By the early hours of the eleventh, Tu Vishan will have descended to the ocean floor. The only noticeable difference, apart from the lack of sunlight, is the low-lying fogs that drift around ground level and with varying density. This is due to the increased moisture seeping into the air from the ocean pressing in on the barrier.

This change, however, may be dwarfed by Tu Vishan coming to a rest upon the ocean floor, where there is the remains of a city, a place with high archways and columns reminiscent more of Rome than anything else. There are barnacles marring the smooth stone, this city has been underwater for several hundred years.

Ocean Bridge
As Tu Vishan approaches the city, his protective barrier will shrink to only protect Keeliai, and a 'bridge' will form between Keeliai and the City of Sinbrilee. Any and all characters will be able to traverse this bridge, which manifests as steep steps. There is also a ramp, because Asti believes in wheelchair access. (The ramp is slightly less steep, but enterprising characters could turn it into a several-miles-long slide, if they so choose). These bridges are completely transparent, and the water around them (as well as the myriad sea-life!) is clean and clear. Visibility is quite high initially, with characters being able to see for several hundred meters, but as they descend towards the ocean floor it will gradually become darker. Some of the larger, bottom-dwelling creatures may come examine those traversing the bridge curiously, and may even try to gnaw on the barrier. Of course, they can't penetrate it, but there you have it.

The 'price' of the bridge and the reduction of the barrier is that his powers do not extend to the waters beyond it, greatly reducing the shell space and effectively keeping residents from diving into the ocean water for the time-being. The canals of Water are still fresh and wonderful for those that require a dip in the good ol' H-2-O to stay perky.

Sinbrilee
Once the characters are in the City of Sinbrilee, they will notice that it has a striking resemblance to Greco-Roman architecture. It's an elegant place, and one can tell the city was built with care, despite the wear and tear it has suffered at the bottom of the ocean. There will still be pools of water in some places, and barnacles and perhaps the occasional fish that managed to avoid being caught up in the barrier, but there are no predators to be seen.

This city is the final resting place of Sinbrilee, Asti's sister, whom he mentioned in the Dreaming.

Questions asked of the kedan yield little information, with their admission being that nothing of their histories or lore talk of such a city. Tests of their honesty or thoughts support their statement, for they are truly ignorant of Sinbrilee's history. Only those that heard it from Asti would know its roots, for his story goes that the Emperor's sister sacrificed her life to prolong that of the turtle, and it worked for a time. Unfortunately, the effects were not permanent, and Sinbrilee also succumbed to the sickness Malicant had sought to destroy the turtles with. But the city was strong and prosperous in the days before her death, and much remains!

One thing to note: There is no nerfing on this landfall endeavour! Characters exploring Sinbrilee will do so with the full extent of their powers available to them.

Artifacts Awaiting Discovery
There are many things to be found in the city -- in addition to the officially requested items -- and we are running a sign-up to help sort out which characters will find what! Each character will be able to find up to TWO items from the following list:

Weapons;
There's a hard limit of one weapon available for your character to find. They may either find one 'old-fashioned' weapon (bows, spears, swords, tridents, maces, etc) or one more 'modern' weapon (guns, rocket launchers, etc). These weapons are unique in that anything with a blade never dulls or needs to be sharpened, and the blades can be lit on fire hot enough to cut through nearly anything. In order to achieve this flaming technique, the blades must be baptized in the flames of the Fire Sector. This ability is not ICly known. Modern weapons do not jam, and although they do run out of ammunition, it seems to take much longer than magazine size would suggest.

Note: If you would like your character to find a weapon, IN THE FORM BELOW, PLEASE SPECIFY WHICH YOU WOULD LIKE TO FIND, WITH AT LEAST TWO TOP CHOICES IN WHATEVER CATEGORY YOU'D LIKE. If you would like your character to find an 'old-fashioned' weapon, for example, please tell us your top two choices of old-fashioned weapons for them to find and we'll RNG it. Please be specific here; if you want a bow, please identify what kind of bow. If you would like a flamethrower, specify flamethrower. We will confirm which of your listed options they find.

Money
Although the City of Sinbrilee did not use juulan as its primary currency, many kedan collectors will be happy to take the old coins (that resemble Roman Denariuses) off the hands of any character that returns with them. One single silver coin can net your character ten juulan, so go nuts! These coins show the signs of immense wear, suggesting that the coins frequently changed hands in a vibrant economy. Some bear rudimentary scratches and a few burn marks from tests made to ensure that they were genuine way back in the day, while others have been punched through the center and strung through a tarnished silver chain comprised of very fine, but strong, links.

Note: If you choose this option, please fill out the form appropriately and we will tell you how many coins your character was able to find. There is a hard cap of five hundred denarius per character, but the actual amount will be randomized between twenty and five hundred.

Artifacts;
There are a total of ten artifacts available for grabs here! Past artifacts we've handed out include flying carpets, magical books, and a bottle that contains an entire city. If we receive ten sign-ups for artifacts, all ten will get an item. If we receive over that amount, we will RNG the results. However, if you choose this option as one of your two and do not get chosen, it still counts as one of those two and you may not sign up for another 'reward'.

Turtle eggs;
When turtles lay eggs, they can lay more than two hundred. These eggs are abandoned, and the baby turtles will eventually learn to fend for themselves. Sinbrilee was the caretaker of a clutch of seventy. These eggs were hidden across the city by her faithful citizens before they escaped from her as she sank, and have spent several hundred years beneath the ocean. However, due to Turtle Magic ^TM these eggs are now nearly ready to hatch! There are fifteen viable eggs to be found, the rest have been destroyed or damaged (but feel free to come across broken shells, etc!)

Now here's the tricky part. Each egg is roughly the size of Hagrid of Harry Potter fame, and as they enter the final stage of their eggy life, they will need nearly constant, around-the-clock supervision. This means that every egg requires three caretakers, which means that this aspect of the plot requires a total of 45 characters to cover off the fifteen eggs.

The eggs will 'resonate' when they are near their caretaker and the caretaker will feel compelled to seek it out. When they are near, the shell will become luminous and a peaceful feeling will come over those characters specifically chosen by their turtle, which means that this is an entirely random group of three, no pre-made teams will be accepted. As with the artifacts, if you sign up a character for this possibility and are not selected (say if we have 60 volunteers instead of 45) you are not permitted to make another selection.

Note: Care of the eggs can be largely handwaved if you choose, they will be hatching roughly around December. Any egg that loses its caretaker via character drop or some other means will simply begin searching for another, to be chosen or selected at that time.

When signing up for the items, we ask that each player only make a request for one of their characters. This is to share the fortunes with as many players as possible. To sign up for items, please complete the below form and post it in the ARTIFACTS subheader of the comments:

<b>Name:</b> <b>Character:</b> <b>Canon:</b> <b>Options Requested:</b> <i>One:</i> Please remember to include option-specific details. For example, clarifying which style of weapon and providing at least TWO particular weapons. <i>Two:</i> Please remember to include option-specific details. For example, clarifying which style of weapon and providing at least TWO particular weapons.

Adventures Awaiting Discovery
There are ghosts that wander about the city, those that couldn't escape from it as it sank. Some of these ghosts are 'repeaters', they are stuck in a loop of their life and will repeat the same phrases over and over again. "I'll take six quarts of henyl" can be heard from a crotchety old ghost in the remains of a market, while a child's spirit can be found hunkered in a slime-lined closet, crying for his mother over and over again. The variety of these 'repeaters' knows almost no bounds and these, like so many RPG quest NPCs, seem to have no problem with whole parties of people venturing into their former residences, happily stating that "I love the oranges and reds of an autumn sunset!" over and over to any that will listen.

Some ghosts are more active, and will directly interact with characters. It's hard to get a straight answer out of them one way or another, but they will try their best to be helpful, and may be responsible for leading your character to one of the aforementioned treasures! Some ghosts will ask for favours (please find my lost doll) and may reward characters with the Ghost's Boon, an ability that allows a character to become briefly intangible. This ability is only usable THREE TIMES during the duration of your character's stay in-game, so please have them use it wisely! There is a fifty percent chance that performing a favour for a ghost will result in this ability, to be determined by RNG. Your character may help a maximum of three ghosts.

None of the ghosts are particularly hostile. Those that can interact or communicate will be friendly and inquisitive. They are aware they're dead and may get melancholy if they discuss the topic, but for the most part they're fairly chill. Also, they are notably not kedan, but neither do they look human. In fact, they rather look like the common perception of Elves...

The city itself bears some wear from the waters of the ocean, with the remains of sealife grown into the crevices, but it remains mostly intact from when Sinbrilee first sank into the deep. There are lanterns spaced throughout the streets that provide a constant source of light for the duration of Tu Vishan's memorial stay.

There is extensive salvage that can be brought in from the city. There are rare and precious metals that can be forged with thought and will better than by any hammer, there are jewels and gems galore. Unlike normal gems, these ones are edible. A single gem can sustain a person for several days, and the taste is positively exquisite. The gems can also be broken and the filling spread over wounds to encourage faster healing.

One of the major points of the city is the Tomb of Shi'sharha, which translates to 'sacrifice'. The plaques that might identify the person within the tomb have been too badly damaged to reconstruct, but it's a very beautiful, elaborate and peaceful place. In the time since Asti's barrier cleared away the water, beautiful and rare plant-life has sprung up all around this tomb, ivy crawls through the cracks of the marble and blossoms, only to die and begin the process anew.



And now, the event you've all been hoping for:

August 24th - 30th | Dance, Dance, Dance...?
Welcome to THE BACCHANAL!

Asti's arrival to the City of Sinbrilee happens to coincide with one of their most important festivals! A masquerade/party! In the final week of the Landfall, the ghosts will begin gossiping about outfits and parties and all manner of festivities. This festival will last for a week, and characters will, if they're inclined to listen to the ghosts, be lead to an arena, almost like a dressed-up coliseum. Though it's hard to say how they accomplished it, there will be food and drink set out for the more... corporeal members, and the ghosts will be wearing their finest clothing! So to speak. There will be drinking, dancing, a side of naked wrestling (the society is vaguely Grecian, after all) and competitions/games to be had by all, with rewards for the adept and fleet of foot.

This is a grand excuse to get your characters into their fancy and finest clothing for the greatest festival that Sinbrilee -- so fantastic that it hosts it in life AND death.

Sadly, after the Bacchanal has concluded, the barrier will retreat, and the characters will find themselves back on a one-way escalator to Keeliai. But it was nice while it lasted, right?

August 31st | Rise, Rise, Rise!
By the morning of the thirty-first, Tu Vishan appears to have had completed his vigil by his fallen sister's side and will begin to surface. The air will slowly warm and the light return the closer that it gets to the surface, with a general reversal of the events that precipitated the descent.


Item Requests
The final list of approved item requests will be compiled and posted on August 8th. Please have your requests in by that date in order for it to be included in this landfall event! Information about the requests process and the currently approved items can be found here

Plot Volunteers
Those characters that have offered their services in exchange for information from the Emperor or Alderwood Commander (see: canon updates), your time to answer the call may be coming! We're looking or volunteers to assist with a mid-to-late-event plot. This event will involve assisting in maintaining the barrier around Tu Vishan and Sinbrilee for the duration of the landfall.

More information about this portion of the event will be released closer to its implementation.

Note: This portion of the event is solely for characters that traded their services in for canon updates.

If you're interested in your character participating in this subevent, please provide the following in the VOLUNTEERS header of the comments:

<b>Name:</b> <b>Character:</b> <b>Canon:</b>

Areas Awaiting Adventures:
Several of the marble archways littered throughout the city have mysterious runes etched into the stone. There is a chance that walking beneath these archways will transport your character into either DEATH or the DREAMING.

DEATH
The realm of death is a place that is in a constant flux of decay and regrowth. While in this realm, one finds themselves overwhelmed by fear and misery and extreme temperatures that may shift from frigid to desert-hot in seconds. It is overlaid on a city that looks quite similar to Sinbrilee, except that it will sometimes look like a place at the height of its glory and will sometimes look like a graveyard.

Characters may find themselves encountering their deepest fears or the darkest parts of their lives here. As Malicant claims more of this realm for his own, it's becoming almost sentient. It will sense intruders and act in a way that instills the maximum amount of fear. People cannot bring anything back from the realm of death (such as pieces of buildings, artifacts, etc), but they are free to run into each other. Any scan of the area, technological or magic, will revel nothing at all. Death is essentially a 'null' zone. No abilities or powers will work in this realm, though if your character requires their powers to survive they will keep the minimum necessary to do so. There are also no NPCs to be encountered.

DREAMING
The realm of Dreaming is a place where everything is shaped to your character's individual mind. Dreams can be shared between characters and will result in a meshing of minds. Like a version of telepathy on mute, characters can learn each other's deepest thoughts – as long as you have player permission, of course. Not every mind will mesh with every other mind, it's entirely possible for characters to be thrown out of the dreaming altogether by high levels of incompatibility.

These dreams can be positive or negative, depending on your character. As Asti is not presently in this realm to extend his calm for all to enjoy, the dreams rely more heavily on the individual characters' psyches.

As with Death, nothing can be taken or removed from the Dreaming. Any scans of the area, technological or magic, will reveal nothing at all. As with Death, the 'Dreaming' is a null zone. And as with Death, no powers or abilities will function here, though if your character requires their powers to survive they will keep the minimum necessary to do so.

This realm has no 'fixed' shape. If a character enters it and can control their dreams to the point where they wouldn't be dreaming at all, they would find themselves on a formless gray landscape.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[ironwood]

Do you have any questions about this event? Feel free to ask them here!

Re: QUESTIONS

[tactile_telekinesis]

Are characters allowed to go back and forth between the cities or is it more of 'if you go back to Asti you're stuck there.'

And not a question but more just making sure it's right, but there won't be any way of contact, right? Like no one can make entries on the network or respond?

[definingfuture]

What kind of salvage would be available to characters? Is this wreckage from buildings or is there metal involved at all?

And do the ghosts care if they take their old items?

[oathwalk]

Could a character who likes flowers a lot take clippings from the plants around the tomb to bring home and plant in Keeliai?

[urbanmagic]

Tiny question, but will they be told how many times they can use the Ghost Boon? Or is this a abuse it and you'll find out kinda thing?

Re: QUESTIONS

[bindsthedead]

Is the metal characters find more suited to armor/weapons, or jewelery?

[ihope]

I won't say it's gonna happen but

if someone were to try and steal away one of the plaques from the Tomb of Shi'sharha, what would be the consequences of that?

Re: QUESTIONS

[pandoricas]

re: death realm!

So uh canonly, Rory has said himself that he actually is literally not afraid of anything at all - and its been kinda-sorta proven in the show itself. So if I throw him into the death realm, will he be unaffected? Or do I dig deep and pull out some stuff to still scare the heck out of him? I hope this question actually make sense.

Re: QUESTIONS

[alpha_squad_leader]

About the helping ghosts thing,

Is there a place to sign up for that or will there be in the post?

Re: QUESTIONS

[cravats]

In regards to the Death thing.

For Lyall, turning into a moon-crazed uncontrollable werewolf with nothing to stop it is definitely a fear. Would that be able to happen despite the power loss or would he just have to, like, watch it happen and attack someone he cared about?

Either way is good, I'm just curious.

Re: QUESTIONS

[dustonmyfeet]

Question on how dreaming works . . . I'm not sure I've ever seen episodes of Star Trek with the mind meld. (Scandalous, I know.) Does the other person experience things as though they were the dreamer, or as though they were alongside the dreamer?

This makes a big difference for Toph and anyone experiencing her dreams in particular because those who have been blind since birth don't have visual dreams. So I end up having to decide . . . can they see, or is it experienced as Toph experiences it?

[depicted]

Okay, so, in Death and Dreaming, they're real planes. But they're also tapping into dreams and memories, which have their own logic. Should we follow real-world logic or the logic you get in memories and dreams.

For example, some of it is reliving events. If, in those events originally, the characters instant healed from it due to powers they had at the time, would they heal as they did originally when reliving it? Would it just be the experience of reliving as a memory in which case both the injury and the pain don't actually happen and are just sensory illusions?

Or, in Dreaming, is dream logic in operation? For example, at least in my dreams, sometimes you'll get a hand cut and you go "but wait! that isn't logical because I was wearing steel-resistant armour!" so the dream goes "oh no you outlogiced me!" and you loop back and this time the knife is stopped by your glove. (And then the dream finds a way to take your gloves and stabs you again, this time worse, because dreams are jerks sometimes.) Would characters be actually injured, then actually looped back and the injury fixed and a glove put there because good job you remembered the glove now oh wait the dream just got you in the leg well done.

I hope that question makes sense! I just want to know how dream-y and memory-ish we're actually going with the logic of the realms.

In regards to Death

[tactile_telekinesis]

So, say one of the fears a character has is essentially hurting people, physically (like Kon and the whole mind control evil Lex thing) would the character SEE another version of them like hurting friends? Or would it actually be the character doing it?

Like 'Kon stood frozen as he watched a blank clone of himself begin to beat up his team mates'

or more like,


'Kon had no control as his body moved, grabbing blahblah by the arm and twisting'

[oathwalk]

Are the runes to the gateways to Death and Dreaming always the same, or would the runs differ depending on which arches you're passing through?

ARTIFACTS

[ironwood]

<b>Name:</b> <b>Character:</b> <b>Canon:</b> <b>Options Requested:</b> <i>One:</i> Please remember to include option-specific details. For example, clarifying which style of weapon and providing at least TWO particular weapons. <i>Two:</i> Please remember to include option-specific details. For example, clarifying which style of weapon and providing at least TWO particular weapons.

Re: ARTIFACTS

[notdreaming]

Name: Alex(is)

Character: Kara Zor-El
Canon: DC Comics Reboot
Options Requested:
One:
Omg a turtle egg for sure

Two:
Money I guess

Re: ARTIFACTS

[sciencewhizard]

Name: Dino

Character: Wally West
Canon: Young Justice
Options Requested:
One:
Money

Two:
Turtle Egg

Re: ARTIFACTS

[virginprice]

Name: Chloe

Character: Alcuin nó Delaunay
Canon: Kushiel's Legacy
Options Requested:
One:
Money

Two:
Artifact

Re: ARTIFACTS

[solo_patria]

Name: Sar

Character: Enjolras
Canon: Les Mis
Options Requested:
One:
Money. Enj could really, really use some right now, lol. Since he owes a certain inspector some for that window he broke.
Two:
Artifact of any sort would be awesome!

Re: ARTIFACTS

[relentlesstide]

Name:

Character: Arthur Curry
Canon: DC Comics
Options Requested:
One:
TURTLE EGG PLZ. This is the option he would be the most drawn to, obviously, and he would care for an egg like it was his own child. No jokes. I mean it.

Two:
Actually make this money since artifacts are such hot commodities.

Re: ARTIFACTS

[escarabajo]

Name: Danni

Character: Jaime Reyes
Canon: DC Comics
Options Requested:
One:
Artifact

Two:
Turtle egg

Re: ARTIFACTS

[angermanaging]

Name: Chel

Character: Bruce Banner
Canon: MCU
Options Requested:
One:
Turtle egg

No second choice! If he doesn't get it then he'll find plenty of his own stuff to do. :)

VOLUNTEERS

[ironwood]

<b>Name:</b> <b>Character:</b> <b>Canon:</b>

[imaginate]

Name: Zee
Character: Kyle Rayner
Canon: DC Comics

DEATH PLOTTING

[ironwood]

Bruce Banner

[angermanaging]

HOLY SHIT GUYS. No, okay, this stuff is majorly awesome for Bruce. And by awesome I mean deeply psychologically traumatizing. I'm going to have to limit his Death threads to already established CR that is willing to tackle extremely hefty topics with me.

These topics (more like content warnings) include: suicide, depression, self-harm, child abuse, verbal/emotional abuse, violence, fractured self-image (not quite multiple personalities in MCU incarnation but it's definitely not healthy). There's a lot of stuff here and I make no guarantees that Bruce would be a willing recipient of comfort on any of it, especially given the aura of fear and misery in the area.

Although there's no powers, thankfully, so no Hulk, that doesn't mean Bruce won't fly into a rage and attack someone with his own hands if provoked in these kinds of circumstances. So uh yeah, if established CR wants to do something, I can cook up a thing with an appropriate topic.

DREAMING PLOTTING

[ironwood]

[unetrustworthy]

Zatanna
My first thought? Bitty!Zee, reliving a memory where her dad takes her out for Taquitos and she ends up getting lost and can't find him.

Midii
Girl will end up back on the battlefield. Which means there will most likely be a bunch of content warnings for less than pleasant topics. But it would be an interesting way for some of her CR to learn more about who she is and what happened to her.


...these are, of course, subject to change, pending on any potential dream sharers.