Event Precursor | Meta/Power Reduction | June 16th - 24th

[ironwood]

Good evening, Chelonauts! The time has come to introduce the first part of our two-parter June event! Sit back, relax, and mayhaps chuckle with evil glee as we embark upon another great adventure here in Turtletopia.

Meta/Power Reduction
There will be a decline in Tu Vishan's health commencing June 16th and degrading to a critical point around the 24th, which encompasses phase one of the plot. What does this mean, exactly? Well! Tu Vishan's power is the source of energy that life needs to survive on turtleback. When he falters, everything falters and that means the following impacts will be noticed:

Power Reduction Impact
First and foremost, all characters on Tu Vishan will experience a gradual lessening of strength and/or power over this time period. This is not an opt-in plot effect. Special abilities will first feel muted to those using them with it becoming increasingly difficult to control them, and then basically impossible to access them at all by the 24th. This will, in effect, reduce almost everyone to a baseline human for strength and ability. Characters that require their abilities to survive will remain alive, but will find that any 'excess' abilities that are carried with it (such as super strength) will degrade and effectively disappear.

Characters granted powers or abilities by enhancements or genetics (see: mutants, metas) will be similarly affected. If you weren't born with it or if it gives the character something more than a baseline human has, they will lose it. Again, this does not mean they will die, for Tu Vishan's power at its core is meant to preserve and sustain life, but they will lose access to extra abilities as the turtle diverts its life energy more and more into sustaining and repairing itself.

Shapeshifters will find it increasingly difficult to change form, to the point that they may get stuck in a form commencing July 20th or later. They might experience a variety of issues, from incomplete transformations to incorrect results (such as trying to become a cat and instead turning into a cat with a dog's head and tail).

Technology Impact
This also impacts technology, as any reactions necessary for powering technology will suffer a similar dampening effect. That bionic arm of badass? It'll become bionic baseline. That suit of armour Tony Stark parades around in? It'll turn into a great conversation piece, dust collector, and not much else. Once again, as with powers, tech required to sustain life (such as the arc reactor in Tony's chest) will operate, but anything beyond that base minimum needed to survive will start experience glitches and will ultimately fail.

The consoles will remain online throughout this, but glitches and connection errors can and will be experience by all parties as time goes on. Think of it like a DDoS attack that ebbs and surges over time, with the surges increasing in frequency as the 24th nears.

The Turtle Impact
Attempts to make contact with Tu Vishan at his head will first experience a sense of worry and an aura of illness in place of the peaceful field that has generally presided at this site. Telepathic contact with the turtle will find the mind closed off for the first time, with the overload of his great experiences and knowledge tempered to a mere shove as he seeks to reassure the little creatures on his shell that he is still here, only very occupied with healing himself.

The barrier around Tu Vishan will steadily shrink over time, until it just barely covers the shell's area, his fins, head, and up to six stories above the shell's surface in the very heart of Keeliai. Wildlife, flora, and water quality will all take a dip with any un-meta-or-magic-tended farms suffering a loss of their potential harvest.

Other than that, there are no immediate clues or evidence to explain what is happening or how to fix it. The kedan will, on the whole, appear worried, but will also state that it is not within their powers to affect the great turtle. Speaking of...

The Kedan Impact
With the health of Tu Vishan faltering, kedan also will be experiencing a decline in their ability to shapeshift. Their strength levels will decrease to baseline human and they may be witnessed experiencing the same kinds of shifting "glitches" as outlined in the Power Reduction Impact section above. They are not the only ones either...

The NPC Impact
Turns out that everyone depends on Tu Vishan for life, so one might discover that Evandau's nullification aura is on the fritz and therefore his ability to maintain the peace greatly reduced. Rumour passing through the ranks of kedan may speak of an impact to the Ironwood Emperor, but she is sequestered away in the Palace of Landed Sky and shall not voluntarily take visitors at this time.

Rationing Impact
Who here remembers the one-fifth contribution that all characters in-game have been required to make towards communal stores since the start of the rationing? That all is coming to surface again! Kedan heralds will pass through each Sector at least once per day (commencing the 18th) to announce any and all residents of Keeliai are welcome to report to the local police precinct and recieve a portion of the stores to help see them through this.

Meawhile, those PC efforts to create a food source for the city of Keeliai are now not just a Good Samaritan effort! They are, in fact, the main (and eventually only) remaining sources of fresh produce for all PCs and NPCs alike. Kedan will be flocking to the hydroponics garden to assist and purchase anything available for consumption and Amaterasu's garden efforts will experience a matched increase in attention.

And, as a result of these and any other PC efforts to create and/or redistribute food, the kedan will return to a friendly, cooperative footing with the Foreigners of Keeliai. They will state that the time to blame to newcomers is come and gone; they must now work together to survive what afflicts Tu Vishan.

OOC Organisation
With the details about the first phase of the plot shared, we now take a moment to call for input on how y'all would like the second phase to be handled OOCly. The goal of phase two will be to Solve Things and there will be many a thing to solve in order to sort things out. To give an insight into what will happen, phase two will be kicked off by an IC post by Evandau basically giving Foreigners free-rein to solve Tu Vishan's sudden worsening. What happens after that will be influenced by player action, reaction, and interaction. (More details will be provided in a separate plotting post once the OOC organisation plan is set.)

Right now, we're looking at allowing players to submit teams of PC characters that will be working together to solve what's wrong with Tu Vishan. I (being Alex) would then provide each team with a set of clues every 2-3 days during the event that they could work with. This would function like a choose-your-own-adventure game, with each set of clues coming with multiple choice options for how the team might react. Each team would look over the clues, then get back to me with their next step. Then they would recieve another set of clues.

Another option would be to have sign-ups and then teams formed by RNG completed by the mods, with a similar clue system involved.

So, we're looking for input on how to proceed! There is a specific subheader in the comments for this feedback and if you could complete the following form, you would be providing us a great service!

<b>Name:</b> <b>Character(s):</b> <b>Event Preferences:</b> <i>Team:</i> Player-submitted or mod RNG'd based on sign-ups? Both? Neither? Cookie? <i>Clues:</i> Do you want a chose-your-own-clue-venture? <i>Frequency:</i> How many days would you want between clue sets? Should it be a set interval for all teams? Should each team provide their preferred interval? <i>Impact:</i> Should every team have an impact on the event? Should some be RNG'd to dead-ends? <i>Other</i> Any other comments, including suggestions of how else we could execute the event are more than welcome!

As always, there is a sub-header in the comments for questions. If you have specific questions about this plot, please contact Alex (reignsdown) as she is (a) on days off and (b) is the lead mod on this event. Otherwise, feel free to plot in the comments of this post!

Comments

PHASE TWO -- OOC ORGANISATION FEEDBACK

[ironwood]

Please post your feedback on how to organise the second part of the event here!

now in the right place ugh

[urbanmagic]

Name: Reine
Character(s): Traci Thirteen

Event Preferences:
Team: RNG for me!
Clues: I'd actually love a choose your own adventure, yes
Frequency: Maybe about 4-5 days per interval at least? About a week otherwise, or choose their own intervals since too fast makes it hard for everyone to catch up.
Impact: I'd like them to have both bad and good ends.
Other Nada! This events sounds like fun.

OOC ORGANISATION FEEDBACK

[raptorcanaria]

Name: IB
Character: Dinah

Event Preferences:
Team: RNG is better for me personally
Clues: CHOSE YOUR OWN CLUEVNETURE sounds like an awesome idea.
Frequency: Preferred interval within limits? between 4 days and a week maybe.
Impact: I don't mind either way.
Other I'm so looking forward to this plot you don't even know.

QUESTIONS

[ironwood]

Any questions about phase one? Ask 'em here!

Re: QUESTIONS

[wallcrawler]

I'm curious as to how this would affect someone like Livewire, whose power level is basically determined by how much power she's stolen lately. Would any charge simply dissipate faster, forcing her to draw power more frequently and/or in larger amounts?

(obviously, the point where powers stop working entirely would be about the same, it's just the road getting there that I'm unclear on)

Alex | Ororo Munroe, Tony Stark, & Mavis Dracula

[storm_warning]

My crew are around and available if anyone wants to do anything in particular with them during this event!

Tony will spend a whoooole lot of time trying to boost the power to the Mark VI and this is apt to result in him crashing. A lot. Anyone want an impromptu skylight? 8D Also, he's going to sulk about JARVIS going offline as power fails.

Ororo will take this dampening of her powers a bit differently. Part of her is going to want to explore being "human" and part of her is going to miss being able to fly and influence the weather. I plan on her getting caught out in at least ONE downpour, lbr. Also, her hair might start darkening. IDK YET. It's technically part of her mutation and it might be interesting for her to freak out about AGING by a darkening at her roots.

Mavis is not going to understand WHY CAN SHE NOT WALK ON WALLS anymore. She's totally available for random shenanigans if anyone wants to do anything. <3

Tony!

[raptorcanaria]

I happen to think that impromptu skylights, or broken windows and/or walls are great ways of meeting each other!

Kiki | Damian Wayne, Bucky Barnes

[demon_brat]

UMMM. Both boys here will try to help with everything and anything they can. Since they're both baseline human, they'll not be losing any power, and Damian will lose some of his tech, but he'll have everything else still.

Anywhere they're wanted, in or outside of their teams, I'll be up for it! Work should ease up a bit, too, so I'll likely be more available for playing around.

[imaginate]

give him his sword they can be TUFF together

IB | Dinah Lance

[raptorcanaria]

Dinah will be offering martial arts training for anyone used to relying on powers in fights. This is more of a confidence-building, not-feeling-helpless exercise for everyone than actual combat skills, but it can expand to that if you want. Anyone going to feel powerless and insecure without their powers want the opportunity to improve the way they punch people?


On a more personal level, Dinah's not going to miss her power, but the physical sensation of not having it is going to be an unwelcome reminder of the last time she was depowered. There will be mild post traumatic reactions: anxiety attacks, emotional withdrawal, dwelling on bad memories. Would any of her canonmates / budding CR be willing to help talk through this? Conversely, anyone wish me to keep it out of our threads, lemme know!

[survival_isnt_living]

/steals you

Lois is always available to chat about being baseline human, especially with friends from home (and friends closer to her age).

Sep will totally want to spar, and Dinah could teach him a ton. He's got talent, but he's actually not as familiar with unarmed combat. He'll love learning (and it'll distract him). Also, he's got major PTSD which will surface with this. Could be fun to see them.

Lee | Lois Lane, Gaius Septimus

[survival_isnt_living]

Lois Lane has no powers! (Lois Lane needs no powers!) However, she'll be worried. She will definitely want to poke her nose into this problem and try to help. Now, if she has been given some reason to trust your character—if you’re not sure, ask, or we can build CR—she might want to break into the palace so long as everyone’s depowered. If you think you’d enjoy this, and/or your character would want to go to her for “hey, you, investigative reporter, any thoughts?” on other things, let me know. Heroes, she’ll happily sit and chat with you and be… understanding, if not particularly tactful or helpful, but she’ll try. Also: she wants to investigate. Business as usual, really.

--

Sep will be full of fun and games, by which I mean: losing his magic will feel approximately like losing both some sensory perception and a limb at once. Also he’s been using it to stave off his rather severe PTSD, so that’s likely to worsen. Frankly he'll need to talk, though I doubt he will (much).

Practically speaking: he’ll be trying to tire himself out, and physically have the stamina and pain thresholds of highly trained soldier rather than superhuman. For those who use swords: he’ll really want to spar. He is still probably one of the more dangerous swordsmen around, but his reaction times and force and ability to predict moves will be more on par with most. Also, he’ll want to learn more about unarmed combat. He’d love teachers.

Kate → Costigan, Johnny Storm, Hayley Stark

[lostundercover]

Costigan will see it as the best thing that's happened on this turtle, because he hates magic/powers/etc. (Not the illness, obv.. he'll want to help there. But the powers)

Hayley will probs try to help do something because she likes Superman and others.

Johnny will freak out and whine like a small child, but still insist he's bamf, because he was still awesome before he became a super.

[demon_brat]

... Can Damian mock the everliving light out of Johnny?

And Bucky and Costigan can argue about powers. Because best frand.

Chris | Bean and Miles Morales

[justlittle]

So Bean will be of average intelligence (le GASP!) and Miles will be losing his Spidey powers, and not particularly caring.

Who wants who where?

[demon_brat]

... do you want Bean to finally meet Robin?

Karin | Lord Henry and Una P.

[una_persson]

Lord Henry is already useless like a useless thing, so he'll keep on being ... useless. So he's mostly there to react to his superpowered friends, if you want him.

Una: well, her main power was already sort of defanged to begin with, since her time machine doesn't really work in this setting, so there's not much changing with her either. But she'll volunteer for any attempts to Do Something, so there's that.

[usavatar]

Steve's going to be having a fun time of it and by 'fun' I mean 'by the close of the event he'll be violently ill', so there's potential there for Henry to finally find out a bit more about the whole supersoldier thing. :|a

Mari || Bryn and Wanda

[trifurcate]

BRYN: is going to be losing her ability to split until she'll be stuck in one body. This is going to make her panic at first because without more information (she's been out of the loop for a month at least) she'll take it to mean her bond with Jhirem is weakening/disappearing. So. Yeah that is a thing and if anyone wants to be comforting let me know ;3;

WANDA: is going to lose control of her powers in small ways so if people want weird, unexpected things to happen to them while this is going on, let me know. Eventually her powers will be gone and she'll probably have a bit of an identity crisis considering she was raised as...being a mutant is the core of who she is and jfdskla yes. The other part of her is going to be immediately defensive if it ever gets speculated or implied that she had anything to do with this, sob. This is not M-Day Part 2 8C

If anyone wants to do anything sort of hurt/comfort-y during this, let me know. If anyone wants to do something plot-related...I might want to try throwing one of them in :< maybe. So...come at me?

[epigrammatical]

As bad as Henry can be, he does get genuinely concerned when his friends are upset, so he will be glad to provide a shoulder for Bryn to cry on.

Farrah | Dorian and Richard

[depicted]

DORIAN: His healing will become slower and slower until it stops. He's also going to start ageing. This is going to put him in a foul mood and he won't want much to do with anyone, but I'll make him talk to people anyway. Also, the second they get a chance to really look into what is going on, Dorian is going to leap on that.

RICHARD: He'll take it in stride, but the entire thing is going to disturb him a lot out of concern for Tu Vishan and its people. He'll probably feel a bit more tired and easily out of breath? Kaji, confirm? Since that's the effect something similar had on Fodra. Richard will be worrying helping out in the gardens even more. And again, when investimagating goes down, he'll be going right for it.

[trifurcate]

I am awful about getting into events but I kinda want Wanda and Richard to team up for things maybe idk? Depending on what you're doing with him? IF THIS IS A THING THAT APPEALS idk idk I am...throwing ideas out there >>

Clark Kent / Superman & Frank Zhang

[andaway]

On phone right now so I cannot write much BUT

> Superman will be freaking out! He's fine with not having powers but it has to be on his terms :U so anyone want to deal with that? Keep in mind that as Clark he will pretend nothing is wrong...

> Frank Zhang will stay put and follow his friends around tbh... He's new so he wouldn't want to be a bother :T

[wherethestoryis]

...Yeah, I don't even know where to start, though obviously Lane-Kent shenanigans need to happen while Clark's all normalified. (Though I think Lois might not take him breaking-and-entering into the palace, the Emperor already ordered him killed once before.)

So we should Plot.

Tea | Tony Stark (616)

[definingfuture]

So, uh, powers going out means he won't be able to work with his suit or integrate with tech... meaning he's muzzled.

Also, he was kind of wearing his suit for clothes so I'm tempted to have him naked at some point. >__>; Anyone want to be appalled by this/help him out?

[beganwithamask]

Bucky GUESSES he'll help you, Tony, since you apparently know him. :T With what I don't know. He could find him some actual clothes or something.

Iorveth + Roy

[aenseidhe]

IORVETH is totes going to be getting his investigationy fun on. And FYI to people involved in his secret team - he's going to be coming by to each of you and letting you know about a meet up they're going to have outside of the city in one of the barren village ruins to discuss this stuff. I'll have an ooc plot post for that up soon and I'll be making a mass log :O Eventwise, Iorveth doesn't really have any special powers that aren't learned skills so he's basically unaffected :Oa

ROY is the same! His skills are just learned things so he'll probably be trying to look out for people, check up on friends, and feel useless while he tries to help people 8(

Jack & Stocking

[wintershepherd]

(copying some from my plurk LOL)

JACK will be more and more adversely affected by the power drain as the week progresses. He'll be pretty lethargic, like nodding off mid-sentence. Plot details stipulate they're left enough powers to survive which is good because if it ever got cut off completely, no more Jack. So basically he'll feel like he has the flu from hell: tired, achy, coughing b/c WATER IN LUNGS, all that. He won't be able to fly or create any ice beyond what his body naturally produces (like the stuff on his hoodie) but even that will be dampened (no pun intended). Still he'll try to stay in good spirits though and help where he can.

STOCKING will be mostly unaffected physically since she doesn't use her angelic strength much in day-to-day activity, other than she'll probably make herself grossly sick by scarfing down all the sweets without angel metabolism to back it up. She won't be able to use her swords or fly (I THINK, CHECKING NOW).

bring all your beautiful CR I want it

Re: Jack & Stocking

[the_other_eight]

Will the freezer help at all?

Pepper will be busy trying to keep Tony from killing himself, but she'll be fretting over Jack too.

Javert

[inseine]

Javert will be wondering what the hell was the point with learning magic when he cannot even use it anymore. Of course, this will simultaneously worry him, even if he does not show it. He knows a bad omen when he smells one, you see. He will also be helping to enforce rationing as resources become more scarce, and probably make attempts at assisting with organization and distribution of PC-run food stores. He will also keep in touch with Iorveth and attempt to stay attuned to the grapevine with regard to rumors, criminal activity, and any whispers of Malicant.

SO WHASSUP GUYS.

Re: Javert

[mopirates_moproblems]

NOT MUCH WITH YOU BRO

Sabriel

[bindsthedead]

Sabriel will be disturbed and upset! Particularly since this will be right after a canon update that will make her Very Serious about the duty she's inherited, so she'll definitely be investigating things and helping out. She won't like losing her powers, but she'll still have her armor and sword, even if her sword will be just a well made mundane blade.

Tarrlok

[disfavored]

Will have just recently found out about his death in canon and is not to happy about that. The lack of powers will only make it worse because that's also something bad that happens to him in canon! Basically he'll be one step away from a breakdown because he doesn't even know how to deal with getting his powers taken away in way that isn't destructive to himself and others. Is there a "people who can't cope with power loss" support group?

Either way, after he stops throwing a fit about it he's going to be really angry and determined to get his bending back at any cost.

TEMRER

[dracobin]

Temeraire is losing his Divine Wind and his flight, so he'll be incredibly cranky while he's landbound! This will also cut down significantly on his ability to get to the shell's edge to feed himself, as has become habit for him by now, so he'll be really very hungry on top of his frustration.

He'll also be losing his ability to learn languages quickly, though he'll retain what languages he does know at this point. By now this extends to the written kedan language, so he may be offering his services as a considerably more trustworthy translator than any of the kedan in return for food. Or doing anything he can in return for food, really. He'll still be retaining a level of strength proportionate to his size, so with a lot of the superhumans presumably losing their strength, he might be of some use in that regard!

Re: TEMRER

[solo_patria]

I think Enjolras would be willing to help him out re: food and such. He actually grew up by the sea so he might have SOME idea of what's going on with fishing. Vaguely. Like he watched people a few times. If you'd like?

[plumberson]

Dean is a badass normal, so the power dampening isn't going to affect him in any significant way.

Ben on the other hand...well, you know how his Omnitrix doesn't always behave properly under the best of circumstances? Just wait until he gets stuck. As this guy.

[mopirates_moproblems]

Neither James nor Cinna will really be affected by the power loss, but they'll be interested in helping where they can. James may also put his skills to use with hunting and fishing.

Cinna's just here to look pretty tbh

Jae || Steve Rogers (MCU)

[usavatar]

So the power reduction means that Steve, while he won't look any different, is going to start getting sick - he'll do everything in his power to hide it, but his healing injuries from the satellite crash and the resulting spectres are likely going to get infected so by the time things get severe, he'll be down for the count. Meaning that however the research into what's harming Tu Vishan starts, his team will lose him near the end of the event.

Haru: Pepper Potts

[the_other_eight]

Being as normal as normal can be Pepper won't be affected directly by the whole thing. However with the tech failing and most of her friends being heavily affected she'll be running around trying to keep them safe.

And probably trying to keep Tony away from the suit. Like that'll work