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meadowlarkooc2019-09-08 12:12 pm
EVENT 006 WRAP UP
On the afternoon of December 19th, all of the Displaced will wake up on the ground next to the man-made river that runs through the heart of New Amsterdam. The ground will be wet, with gray skies greeting them overhead. While New Amsterdam has still experienced a great deal of rainfall, the Displaced will arrive during a temporary reprieve from this weather. All of the Displaced will find that their chests glow, but their powers have returned to their previous levels. Getting home might draw some attention—though it seems as if hardly anyone is looking at them once they depart from the river itself.
The immediate after-effects of what's happened won't be apparent to the Displaced, even if they look online. A search for the name "Zerzura" will lead to a short online encyclopedic article about a mythical city that translates to "The Lost Oasis of Birds." It won't be immediately apparent if Zerzura lived or died, but one thing is certain: all of the Displaced will remember what happened in Zerzura. If they found themselves subsumed by Zerzura, they'll vividly remember that alternate life, even as their minds reject that reality.
As for the choices?
For all of the characters who took option C, they will remember their death and sacrifice leading up to it—though there will not be any physical changes marking this. It will all be psychological, depending on how it impacts the character in question. Option C was meant to involve individual choice: not taking a path that would sacrifice others, but one where they would take the risk of sacrificing themselves to save others. How that impacts each character depends on their individual experience. (Simply put: how much they're traumatized will be up to you! Please see additional notes below.)
For any of the characters who took option A, they will know that they just barely failed in destroying Zerzura for good. Three out of four bombs went off before the effects of choice C took hold.
For any of the characters who took option B, none of them will have experienced the effects of "sealing" one of the four points. There were too few characters aiming for this outcome!
One other constant remains: the sense of serenity and calm. It will intrude much like how it feels for someone to partake in the empathy bond when touching a fellow Displaced, clearly not belonging to them, but threatening to overtake them just the same.
There will be one apparent oddity within the first day that the Displaced return to New Amsterdam: large amounts of trees and various other plant life will begin to grow all over New Amsterdam. While this will seem like a miracle at first—especially since much of the plant life will appear to be brand new species never before seen on Earth—it will quickly become a bit of a problem. Ever had a tree's roots get into your sewage system? Frankly, this isn't a problem that New Amsterdam has ever had, but it quickly becomes an issue. The plants seem to be growing everywhere, taking root like they're attempting to overtake the city as a whole. Once this phenomenon takes hold in New Amsterdam, there are hints that it might sprout in other megacities.
Along with this very odd green menace, there will be some clear good that's reported: a sudden shift in environmental readings around the world. Starting with New Amsterdam, scientists will begin to report a change in the atmosphere, claiming that it's begun to heal at a rapid rate despite the damage caused by the mysterious terrorist DAWN in early November. Megacities that were previously experiencing extreme heat or cold will find their temperatures becoming more moderate. While a great deal of trees and large fields of grass outside the cities began to die because of the failure of the atmospheric field, they begin to show new signs of life. More than anything, the climate seems to be trying to right itself. Within a few weeks, these changes will reach a holding pattern with no sign of future improvement. Cassius' damage isn't completely undone, but the world is no longer facing a very immediate crisis.
In addition to all the plant life, thousands of new people appear around the city who seem to believe that they've been there all along. For any of the Displaced, these individuals will clearly be Zerzuran citizens. None of them will remember their time in Zerzura, but they will still be grateful to the Displaced for their help. That may not make sense given that they remember nothing, and they will evade any questions about the Displaced's specific assistance. Moving forward, these former Zerzuran citizens will be happy to assist the Displaced with just about anything. They will be loyal and hopeful that they can further their agenda. They will speak out against the Morningstar and "glowing" connection. These citizens will be located in all walks of life, but won't have any special access available to them.
Not included among these numbers are any high-ranking officials at Project Spinetail, as well as any members of Nautilus. To follow up on these individuals, please see the follow up section below!
Many of the changes from this event will act as a major alteration for the Displaced as a whole. By protecting Zerzura and choosing what may come with dying alongside the spear, the Displaced will unlock a whole new level of their in-world powers as they relate to one another.
These changes will be available to all characters in game moving forward. Newcomers will also have these changes!
LACK OF PAIN: Whenever the characters reach out for their former powers, or when they receive a new object from home, they will no longer experience pain. Their powers will remain out of reach, and objects will still arrive, but the only thing that will accompany these things is the same familiar glow.
CHEST OBJECTS: The Displaced will be able to share their chest objects with one another moving forward. There are some rules behind this unlock:
1. They only appear if the character in question wants it to appear. No one can forcibly take the object.
2. The objects can evolve over time. While there were various limitations regarding their shape in Zerzura, they can now appear in the shape of more modern weapons, but still won't be able to function as one (e.g. a gun still won't shoot).
3. They still share the power and life essence of the person in question. The longer the person who took the object holds on to it, the more likely it is that they may acquire a permanent change from the object in question.
4. Characters are not harmed in any way by having the object taken. They can share it as frequently as they want, but only one person can have the object at a time. There is no way to replicate the object!
5. Characters do need to have someone pull the object from them once they've granted permission. It doesn't happen accidentally, nor does it fall out while asleep. They aren't in any way related to the objects characters receive from home.
UNION ATTACK: The Displaced will be able to unlock a new level in their powers in developing a temporary union with one another. More easily done by sharing each other's chest objects, they'll be able to draw upon the mysterious blue power to protect themselves and fight together as one.
1. When in this state, the characters will be able to move and act as one. They might not be inside one another's heads, but they'll seem as if they are. They'll be able to tell when their union buddy is in danger, and move to protect them—and vice versa.
2. When in this Union State, the two characters will be covered with a bright blue glow, seeming to start in their chests and expand from there.
3. Characters with a particularly close bond won't need to exchange chest objects to do this—but that will be the first step to pulling it off.
4. Each of these Unions can end with a special union attack: typically a unique amalgamation of their in-game powers. It could lead to Doctor Strange getting a burst of energy from Prompto Argentum and mind controlling a room full of people, or Jason Todd could set a room full of his shadows on fire with Damian's power. Once the Union Attack ends, the bond will break. Chest objects will disappear, and the characters will feel tired. In time, they will be able to work through this fatigue.
DREAMWALKING: The Displaced will now be able to share dreams with one another. At first, this will likely be accidental. Unlike with the Dreamscapes, these will not act as outlets to change the Displaced character in question. They will be able to communicate and do just about anything in dreams, but dream logic will apply. And yes, before you ask: characters can definitely get up to some naughty business in dreams.
A few points:
1. The characters will need to hone their control while dreamwalking. It will be difficult at first, though characters with more experience with dreamsharing will likely acclimate to it much more quickly. However, anyone can throw someone out of their dream if they don't want them there.
2. These will not lead to environmental changes. Those will always be mod-controlled aspects of events!
3. Feel free to do dreamwalking or dream sharing posts!
4. Dreamscapes still need to have moderator approval given the massive changes possible for characters!
MEMORY SHARE: The Displaced will now be able to share memories with one another. This memory share will be available whenever the characters engage in the empathy bond. As for the conditions:
1. The transfer of the memory goes from one character to another. They can choose the memory in question. This can be accidental, but characters will gain control over the transfer of the memories in time.
2. They will transfer the memory from their perspective.
3. How much of the memory is shared is up to the players. Since memories can be unreliable, what is shared can be equally unreliable.
4. This memory share only occurs between two Displaced members.
As a primer for helping our players moving forward, we want to provide some of the preliminary steps for follow up. Given that this event took place in an alternate world, we want to outline where characters can begin their research. Zerzura may not have taken place in Meadowlark's usual setting, but we always intended to use this plot to introduce new plot elements.
JAMES HENRIES: If anyone looks up Henries, they will find an obituary from 2303 about a wealthy man whose family featured on the board of directors for Giles Bell. While Henries himself never followed in his family's footsteps in running the company for very long (he was CEO very briefly, but stepped down), he did participate in a great deal of philanthropic work. Henries was a quiet and introverted man who largely kept to himself after an incident changed him in his early 20s. He never married, and died at the age of 68.
HIGH RANKING SPINETAIL OFFICIALS: Few of these officials will come up. For the few who do, it will be within citations referring to work where their names are absent from the authorship on the research itself. Most of this research refers to dynamic environmental shifts in Antarctica and in the ocean near New Tokyo. There is some theoretical research published by Pulsar on the nature of reality as a whole, but most of their work debunks many current theories.
PROJECT SPINETAIL: Looking up Project Spinetail will turn up nothing. Looking up the spinetail itself will only get a wealth of information about the bird, which—like the meadowlark—is not extinct and is now native to megacities located in what was previously known as the European continent.
NAUTILUS: Most of nautilus' searches will point to its frequent use in naval stories, as well as its role in sacred geometry. There will be no rebel groups by this name online.
COMMON ZERZURAN CITIZENS: Many of these citizens will seem to have always been a part of New Amsterdam. They'll have Cooltalk profiles, jobs, and a life and interest in this world. However, the oldest of these profiles only go back as early as September 2510.
Whether someone has been here from the beginning or just arrived last month, they are eligible for a power level up. The thread itself must involve them saving someone from their fantasy in Zerzura—or being saved from their fantasy in Zerzura—for at least 5 comments. The thread doesn't need to be 5 comments of them utilizing their power, but showing that it was present for at least some of the thread and impacted the situation on display. Threads must reach the 5 comments and be submitted here by September 23rd.
To put in for your power level up, please comment with the form below.
After we have approved your level up, you will be able to submit it on the powers page to level up your character's power at any time.
Regarding Option C: it's been brought to our attention that not everyone understood that taking Option C would involve character death. Unfortunately, we included character death as a major consequence for taking that route and intended it to be based on individual choice because the spear itself could be grabbed by multiple characters. We wanted it to be a difficult choice because of the stakes of saving both Zerzura and the world of Meadowlark at the same time. For that reason (and because we would need to rework the entire aftermath, as the vote was quite clear long before the Saturday deadline), we're unable to walk this one back. But if you're uncomfortable with character death, you can have it that your character chose to support others in taking option C, so long as it's only a small handful of characters (see: less than 10, to maintain the integrity of the vote).
There are a lot of player plots that have been put on hold because of recent game events, so we encourage everyone to pick up on them on our plot engagement post. We did our best to limit introducing new plot hooks with this event, instead giving room for characters to work together and explore the changes with each other.
Thanks to some feedback regarding recent events, we will be doing our best to leave openings for ongoing player plots moving forward. Zerzura's setting was a one of a kind event that took place to wrap up an aspect of our March dreamscape plot (specifically given the amount of interest and attention to the underwater facility). There are still mysteries to be solved given this part of the dreamscape, as this event touched on a lot of aspects regarding the facility's themes.
Please feel free to ask any questions below—whether it's about this event or any hanging plot threads from previous ones! The next calendar will go up shortly.
QUESTIONS
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Yup!
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Yes, that's fine!
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Can you let us know what item you want to have in hand?
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That's fine!
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This is up to you. If you want them to wake up cuddling, go for it. 😉
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-Does anything happen if someone tries to yank out their own chest object to do whatever with it, or is it a sharing-only situation?
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1. Everyone has access to the objects moving forward. This is a permanent fixture in our game now, separate from the event!
2. For now, it is sharing only!
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for example, could illya and cassian walk through one of daisy's dream at the same time? or is it a 1:1 experience always?
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They can definitely go chill in Daisy's dream together! So, not a 1:1!
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No, as we described, the object has to show up and be pulled out willingly by another party. We'll add that in the information above! But it's not something that's in any way related to items from home.
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POWER UPS
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Re: POWER UPS
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