GAME ITINERARY | APRIL 2015

[ironwood]

Hello chelonauts! Here is our latest itinerary post. Each current itinerary will be stickied at the top of the OOC comm, and previous months can be found under this tag.

Here's what we've got lined up for April 2015 (2016 in game):

Weather

The weather is beginning to clear up, at least to the point of some genuinely sunny days. Unfortunately, while the thaw is just about done, the city is still pretty waterlogged -- humidity is high, and expect to see a bit of ongoing water damage. One or two of the canals will suffer minor algae growths because of it. The ground is generally soggy and is going to cause some problems with the construction going on this month, but toward the end of the month the city will have dried up fairly well thanks to the canals draining the water to various places where it'll do more good.

Kedan/Foreigner Relations

There's some sense of united exasperation this month, at least among the kedan who are out to buy and build on the new land. While some measure of competitiveness remains, and the kedan who missed out still grumble over the Foreigners getting free land, the kedan who want to build are quite willing to commiserate about the horrible weather.

There's still a dedicated group of kedan who believe the Foreigners must somehow be responsible for the Dust contamination, with the result that there's an upsurge in Foreigner-related muggings. Despite the increase, there's no indication that these are coordinated or organized, appearing to be more crimes of opportunity than any cohesive strategy against the Foreigners. The majority of the kedan aren't going to get involved, but the persistence of the muggings will cause some pro-Foreigner mutterings (or at least, some anti-violence mutterings) as the month goes on.

Life, Dreaming, and Death Planes

As a continuation of the Dreaming Conjuration development beginning in March 2015, random objects continue to be accidentally wished into existence by unsuspecting cityfolk, both kedan and Foreigner. Having had a month to observe this phenomenon, the locals are starting to lose their fear of magically appearing things and have moved into the curiosity stage now, and some brave souls are even trying to make a game of it. While the majority of these appearances are still accidental (or lucky, depending on your point of view), there does seem to be a very distinct uptick in success rates as one approaches the areas closest to where the various Sectors meet.

Whatever pattern might have led to such Dreaming creations becoming permanent seems to have vanished for the time being, however. No items conjured this month will stay longer than 24 hours.

Local Events

PALACE STATUS

The Palace is now largely gone. The only areas which remain are the areas which were cordoned off during the demolition out of respect or because of imminent danger. This means areas like the library, throne room, and gardens have essentially become free-standing structures, with the throne room in particular off-limits to practically everyone due in part to the Dust contamination from early March.

Construction has now begun to focus on entirely new buildings, with emphasis placed on Foreigner housing. While no structure is going to be habitable until May at the very earliest, by the end of April suite-style buildings in multiple sizes to accommodate different numbers of people will become recognizable. The Metalworkers assigned to the construction will defer to Foreigner preference in most respects, although any character bothering them too many times will find themselves the target of grumpy ire.

By the end of the month, it wouldn't be too presumptuous to start referring to the ex-Palace grounds as another sector of Keeliai.

Log Note: The construction on the old Palace lands will not have a mod-posted event log.

UNIVERSITY EXPO

The university has decided to capitalize on the unexpected limelight last month by producing an expo intended to showcase some of their focus and methods. As a result, for the first two weeks of the month there will be university stalls set up in various places all over the city, with locations changing every two or three days.

The primary topic is agriculture and biology using samples from all over the city. Stalls will showcase the attributes of soil, stone and metal, the algae blooms, the water-levels after the thaw, and germ populations in various parts of the city. Some simply have examples from the different sectors, with a presentation of the differences; others will set up equipment so passersby can watch and help with simple analyses as they happen. The simplest use microscopes -- the most complicated consist of short experiments. The only place where this is not taking place is the ex-palace grounds, where official investigations are still ongoing.

For the knowledgeable, this expo is rather slapstick -- there's a few hiccups in the schedule, and a few mistakes in the running of the stalls; supervisors who aren't used to public speaking, equipment which isn't properly prepared, not present when it should be (or present when it shouldn't!) The university clearly isn't used to this level of public event and administration, and it shows. Still, the energy and enthusiasm of the university researchers is catching and this glimpse into the university's workings fascinates much of the populace. The stalls will be popular throughout these two weeks, and some kedan will even request in-depth analyses of their land.

Of particular interest is the fact that the experiments aren't faked -- although the supervisors performed them beforehand and knew, generally, what the results would be, there will be some surprises. Two small areas near where the outside tram-line will connect with Metal Sector yield mild Dust contamination and will be quarantined (with little interference in the running of Metal Sector's tram). A patch of algae in Water Sector will cause great excitement due to being heretofore unknown on the turtle's back.

Meanwhile, there seem to be some inconsistencies in the canal water levels; while they're understandably high, due to the thaw, they're consistently higher than the researchers expect.

Log Note: The university expo will take place from the 1st to the 15th and will not have a mod-posted event log.

SOUL JEWEL MUGGINGS

As part of the above-noted increase in Foreigner-targeted assaults and crimes, the perpetrators seem to be disproportionately targeting the soul jewelry, the magical gem-bearing objects that the Foreigners awake to discover on their person when they arrive on Tu Vishan. Those who tried to cast them away quickly discovered symptoms of progressively more severe dizziness, fever and lethargy until possession of the jewelry was regained. Obviously if these are stolen, there becomes something of an impetus to get them back quickly.

These jewelry pieces seem to have a high chance of turning up in the city's black market, with some of the kedan who come into possession of them being properly mum on the source of their ill-gotten goods. Most of the time they'll turn the item over without much hassle, although some of the bolder ones might demand compensation -- a finder's fee, of course.

Log Note: The muggings will not have a mod-posted event log, although this month's sign-ups are under this itinerary post. Signups are required to participate as a theft victim in this event.

FOURTH WALL EVENT - SPRING PLANTING - APRIL 15-30

It's time for the sowing of the seeds! No, not those seeds. After two months of terrible weather the Woodsmen are taking the opportunity to revitalize their field-based crops, and this time they're leaving nothing to chance -- by requesting help from Keeliai's citizens. The bulk of the seeding will be done by the Woodsmen themselves, but this time around the Woodsmen are determined to imbue as much luck as possible into their future crops.

For a whole week, from April 15-22, the Woodsmen are running a miniature festival called the Ni Zhihuan outside the city's walls, the first time their fields have been publicly open to city residents, and the rest of the kedan take to it with gusto. While the fields themselves will be barred from, well, being walked all over, the lanes in between will be packed with stalls and farmers showing off their crops and some of their processes.

The theme is spring and boundless youthful energy. The food stalls will lean toward rice dishes, candied and fresh fruits, popcorn, freshly made bread, smoothies -- the sorts of things the Woodsmen will have made themselves in their own houses with their own produce. Other stalls sell sub par crops for very cheap prices, seedlings, even houseplants. There are also, of course, the requisite farmers' contests. It's customary for greetings and exchanges to include some wishing of luck -- it's meant to be a lucky event, after all!

One of the most popular items for sale are small potted plants that look surprisingly like pussy-willows, except that their stems are an iridescent purple colour, and the puffs are pale blue that emit a faint glow in the dark, much like the bioluminescent glow from the turtle's shell once did, but hasn't since Malicant's defeat. The kedan will call them what loosely translates to "Sea Wisps", as they're harvested in small clusters at the shell's shoreline in the spring, in accordance with a legend that good luck spirits are said to be attracted to the glow. Due to their rarity, they must be purchased (as opposed to being given away) for 5 juulan each, or the equivalent of about $25, making them the most expensive souvenir of the festival.

There's a tree in a clearing that the kedan refer to as the Liangken, one of the oldest trees on the turtle's back, which has been cultivated carefully by kedan for generations. It's an old tree, and doesn't flower or bear much in the way of leaves anymore, which makes it an excellent representation for revitalization. The Woodsmen will encourage Keeliai's residents to help them tend it by giving it 'gifts' -- usually garlands of leaves and flowers, real and fake. Here the kedan will exhibit that ‘boundless youthful energy' in the way of dances, games and tricks. Characters can expect to be playfully challenged to riddles, pun wars, shell games, and other standard street fair activities.

Due to the farmers' hours of "early to bed and early to rise", the festival ends in the early evening at sundown, but begins again before dawn, when the Woodsmen greet the sun with singing.

All this luck and focus on renewal is going to feed into the connection between Life and the Dreaming. The Woodsmen want luck and new crops; what they don't expect is for the Dreaming to translate this into some extra, unexpected newcomers. And, of course, not everyone is pleased with the festivities moving outside the city walls. For one thing, there are some mysterious crop circles appearing in the fields...

Log Note: The fourth wall event will begin April 15th and will have two mod-posted event logs, one for the first week (April 15-22) and one for the second week (April 23-30) when additional developments will be added! There will be a more detailed OOC post before the second half of the event begins.

NPCs & Families

There's a touch of unrest between the major players in the city, thanks in great part to the polarizing opinions regarding the palace land last month. It isn't obvious at first glance, but there are things at work, and the NPCs have begun to involve the Foreigners more obviously for their own purposes.

TU YUNXU

Yunxu's mansion remains open to all, kedan and Foreigner alike. Anyone trying to see Yunxu himself, however, will find it noticeably more difficult than in previous months, with guards and servants telling anyone who asks that their commander is just ‘too busy' to see anyone. Some of the more subtle busybodies working there might whisper something about the Palace, the Bentley, the Dust, or the clinic - though no one has any details of any sort. Leaving messages seems to be the only way to reach Yunxu for now.

When the planting festival starts, Snakes will patrol the lanes, never too densely but certainly never too sparsely. Some of the less uptight Snakes will greet people as they pass and could even be persuaded to join in a game or a riddle war, while other Snakes will try to enforce their accustomed authority only to meet vitreolent pushback from the Woodsmen. Some of the more observant Foreigners may notice Yunxu's right-hand-woman, Meisheng, spending some of her time at the festival as well. Noticing this will be difficult, however; she seems to be constantly shapeshifting, never in the same form twice. She will avoid conversation and keep to herself.

Individual groups of Snakes will be deliberately letting it slip to eavesdropping Foreigners that Yunxu is very interested in learning more about Heojin or the Woodsmen in general, and that any Foreigner who can bring him useful information would be aptly rewarded.

ZANRU

Zanru is on a mission. Her projects are moving forward with all the speed possible given the terrible weather, without sacrificing safety. The Dust contamination near her tram-line is regarded with all due seriousness, and a number of other areas are cordoned off for analysis -- though how, exactly, Zanru knows those particular areas are a risk is a question she will refuse to answer.

Zanru will barely visit the ex-palace grounds, in spite of the ongoing public construction. Most of that is overseen by Xuiyu, who seems troubled and wary whenever she's on the grounds. (This is understandable, of course, given Xuiyu herself fell ill during the contamination last month.) Instead, Zanru's focus is on the tram-line, whose infrastructure seems to be spreading to the point of encroaching on private land even though talks with the Snakes are nearly at a standstill.

The Metalworkers will attend the festival, but ten-to-one are those who look the most bored with all the backwater tech. They'll be very interested in the university stalls, though there will also be more than one minor disagreement thanks to the researchers' sensibilities occasionally being upset by the Metalworkers' know-it-all attitude.

HEOJIN

Heojin will be publicly visible this month for at least the period of the festival. For the most part his visibility consists of judging at contests, sampling products and encouraging farmers, and is readily available for questions -- though he tends not to linger in conversations in favour of spreading his attention as far as possible.

While on Woodsmen land, Heojin will walk without his guards. As a result, Lin and Ran can be seen not in his company. Ran is apparently in charge of the event's security, and in spite of his perpetual boredom rule-breakers will find that his eye is difficult to escape. Lin, on the other hand, can be seen everywhere, playing games and eating food -- except for a day midway through the festival when he can't be found at all.

In general, the Woodsmen are a touch anxious about having strangers on their land, and prone to being overly bossy or fixating on the letter of the law. The tensest moments will usually be with regard to the Snakes’ habit of enforcing authority in spite of being out of the city; any Woodsmen nearby during such encounters will immediately push back, condemning the Snakes responsible and opting to handle such issues themselves (usually by reversing the Snakes’ judgement, even if it isn’t strictly wise).

However, when the Woodsmen relax they're friendly and even eager to show off their work, boasting -- and outright inventing -- tales of trial during the last winter. Even after the festival is over, Woodsmen who come to the city markets will be more talkative and relaxed around others, excepting the Snakes as a whole, with whom things will continue to be tense due to the fluctuating power dynamics during the festival.

MILYN

Milyn's well on her way to recovering from the attack last month, although her arm will still be cast-bound for the first half of April. The apothecary has been completely repaired, and is even enjoying an upswing in business! It seems people have heard about the damage and are dropping by to be nosy, only to be cornered by Milyn's incessant conversation until they buy something simply as a means of escaping. She continues to maintain that it was only her own clumsiness that resulted in her injury and, inexplicably, the damage to her shop.

When she's not cornering hapless citizens with her train of thought chatter, she does seem to have gotten herself a new project, and the lights in the apothecary workroom are often on late into the evening after the shop itself has closed. She still welcomes Foreigners to visit her at any time, but as the month progresses, it will be clear that she's skipping trivialities like sleep and proper meals in favour of whatever she's been working on.

Economy

Fresh produce is still hard to find thanks to the winter and the thaw; most of the incoming crops are rice. That being said, the greenhouses have yielded enough fresh crops that there isn't the need for rationing -- though the prices of fresh fruit and grains, in particular, are currently high.

Jobs continue to be easily had in the construction market, with an extra fee for those willing to work on the ex-palace grounds. The ground has to be dried first, which is an extra expense some are whispering the Metalworkers can't quite afford at such a pace, but are doing anyway. The Foreigners' buildings are, in particular, being given the first focus -- thanks to Zanru, who has expedited any contracts necessary to ensure the Foreigners' new homes are among the first built. The Metalworkers are, currently, spread a little bit thin, and while this isn't yet working against them, there is a slight concern they might be over-extending themselves.

The contract for the radio infrastructure outside the city has been revitalized now that the weather allows for it, and several teams will head out this month to properly build the required facilities. This will open small but regular, and well-guarded, supply-trains to seven different places across the shell, who will make weekly drops to these remote construction areas.

Crime

There's been a rise in crime in the Metal Sector, primarily petty theft but with one or two instances of assault. Given that the Metal Sector is generally a low-risk area, the kedan are beginning to whisper that Zanru's bullheaded drive has stepped on someone's toes. Instances of theft around the construction sites will also continue -- no longer limited to just the palace.

Crime within the walls of Keeliai as a whole will see a short increase during the planting festival, as many of the Snakes will be outside the city. Reports of petty theft or vandalism will be largely ignored, while reports of bodily harm and/or muggings - regardless of who the victim is - will be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated, as will any new reports of Dust contamination outside the ex-Palace grounds. Whether this fairly new equal-opportunity police work is Yunxu or Meisheng's doing, not even the Snakes themselves seem to know.

Technology

Last month the palace library was undergoing a few renovations to make it a viable public resource. By the fourth week of this month, once the city has dried out, the library will be officially open for business. For the most part all books are available to the public, though there are a select few that have been removed to a locked room. Who, exactly, has the authority to look at those is something the university administration is still figuring out, though if questioned they are a little nervous about the contents. Those who visited the library before the demolition will note that many of the books missing are those which give instructions as to how to build portals into the Dreaming and Death planes, and books which give any depth of discussion to the Death plane itself.

Electronic technology is stabilizing once more. Significant areas of the tram-line are completed, though it remains closed until the track is finished. By the end of the month two of the radio facilities beyond the city, the nearest two, will be broadcasting back to Stark Industries to test their capabilities; while these tests will be successful, they will require a few changes before the facilities are properly completed.

Console construction will be put on hold due to the mysteriously appearing symbols last month, though the ones at the Welcome Centre were completed on time. More information is below, in ‘International’.

International

BRESILYKIAN EMISSARIES

The five ambassadors have completed their first two months on Tu Vishan, and are thus ready to make their first formal report back to the capital, Lichoyras. They came prepared for this, and in one of the empty areas outside the city walls that hasn't been converted for farming, they set up twenty-five strange metal orbs, forming a non-geometric shape.

Any curious onlookers will be asked to wait at a safe-from-eavesdropping distance, but there's nothing much that seems to be happening, as each emissary simply stands in the middle of the cluster, reads off their notes, and then steps out. Although the exact contents of each emissary's transmission are private, they'll share that the overall impression has been mostly good. There have been a few hiccups, they'll admit, although they'll be vague as to what precisely those were. They'll also report that there has been no evidence of life from Tu Vishan himself, and that nothing has been corroborated to the contrary by kedan or Foreigners.

They'll also confirm that they'll be required to make an update in one month, and another full report in two, before the government in Lichoyras will make any decisions. This, the emissaries will stress, is definitely the time to put Keeliai's best face forward, as those upcoming reports will be shaping the international relationship between Keeliai and the Bresilykian empire.

The emissaries will remain available for logs if characters wish to address a specific topic with them. If you'd like an emissary thread, please send a PM to the ironwood journal with the name of the NPC you're looking, plus a sentence or two regarding what your character wants to talk to them about, and a link to a log starter. For mod sanity time constraints, we respectfully ask that players limit requests to one NPC at a time.

CONSOLE SYMBOLS

Beginning in April, the mysterious symbols appearing on the consoles disappear, though those using the text function will note that the use of shapes will cause slight screen freezes and a flicker of colour. Despite the abatement of the majority of the symptoms, there is a city-wide hold on new console installations per the Metalworkers' orders, in some cases even leaving half-constructed biomechanical housings with nothing in them. There remains no further clues as to their origin, nor to the sender(s) of the riddles delivered to the Foreigner's inboxes.

OOC Information

SOUL GEM MUGGING SIGNUPS (APRIL)

This is an ongoing plot that's going to take place over the course of April, May and June. There will be similar signups for both May and June, so there's no need sign up here if you'd prefer to wait for a later month to play this out! In the interest of fairness, we ask that players with multiple characters on their roster limit to one character per month.

If you're interested in having your character be attacked for their soul jewelry, comment here with their name and journal. The mods will respond with a brief, randomized scenario describing the mugging -- including the attack's success or failure -- and then each player can decide when during the month it takes place.

To sign up for April's muggings, please comment HERE with your character name, journal, and your preferred contact. Signups for this month will close on Sunday, April 5th at 9PM EST.

FOURTH WALL EVENT INFO & CHECK IN

Beginning as of April 15th, Keeliai will become inundated with new arrivals. This is due to a temporary thinning between the merged Life and Dreaming planes, and wherever else exists in other worlds. All of them will arrive somewhere within the boundaries of Keeliai. Curiously, and something that other Foreigners will probably notice right away, is that not only does this batch of people not come in with any soul jewelry, but they don't seem in any way affected by its absence! None of the kedan can offer any explanation as to why this is, but since they're here for the Ni Zhihuan spring planting event (see Local Events), they might as well enjoy the hospitality!

It is important for current players to note that this is a "live" 4th wall, meaning that what happens during the event will be completely remembered after the event ends, and any setting impact/changes/decisions that occur because of the 4th wall characters will be upheld. Please also check our Questions comment, for details regarding the 4th wall event that have already been asked. Thank you!

For our 4th wall guests, please reply to THIS COMMENT with your character name and journal, and that journal will be sent a community invite as of April 15th to give posting access for the Network (tushanshu) and Logs (tushanshu_logs) community. Please note that these characters will not have in-game console posting access -- that is, they'll be able to respond to existing posts via a public console (such as in a cafe, etc) but they won't be able to make a post of their own.

We highly recommend reading our Setting post, as it explains the general "feel" of life in Keeliai! Please note that while powers are not nerfed in the Tu Shanshu setting, we do limit world-or-game breaking powers as a matter of course. We welcome everyone to try out the game's setting, but characters who are brought in solely to disrupt or "break" the game will be asked to leave.

Although ICly all 4th wall guest characters will be disappearing as of May 1st, we will extend the community posting access for all until May 10th, to give any players a chance to wrap up ongoing threads from the event.

So that's our outline for the month of April! If you have any questions about these happenings, please use the Questions comment below. Otherwise, this post is free space for monthly OOC plotting.