spoofer: (piano)
Xistentia: Mod ([personal profile] spoofer) wrote in [community profile] xistentia2017-06-24 05:42 pm

Crash Log #1 & Will-o'-Wisp Mini-Event

Characters: Second wave of Xistentia arrivals, greeters/rescuers
Summary: The second wave of characters arrive in Xistentia unexpectedly early... only to face an unexpected threat. D.E.S.T.I.N.Y.'s multiversal attack is disrupting the energy flow, causing a very unusual stampede— of will-o'-wisps, that lure travelers off their path with thoughts. It's up to the residents of Xistentia to help the newcomers!
Date(s): Mid-June 2017
Warnings/Notes: Coercive magic, collisions, moderate injury, dystopian themes

Wisp Mini-Event & Crash #2
Wish you were here. Love comes in waves
A WARNING FROM DAEMONS


Early in the morning, the glow of light to the East, where F.A.T.E.S. resides, begins to turn red in warning. Seconds later, all of the daemons begin to project the same message to their owners. The alarm continues to repeat until the characters acknowledge.
F.A.T.E.S. WARNING SYSTEM

Threat Assessment: Mild
Phenomenon Type: Native Creature Behavior
Predicted Duration: 24 hours

Due to the cosmic energy disruptions by D.E.S.T.I.N.Y., will-o'-wisps are engaging in unusual migratory activity. Residents are advised to remain in the city, or be on-guard against a low level of psychic influence. Wisps feed by creating visual, auditory, and olfactory illusions based on the viewer's needs and temptation. Individuals in compromised emotional states are more susceptible.

The migration will be complete in 24 hours.

It seems straightforward enough. But as dusk begins to fall, the distant sounds of crashing and outcry come from the beach once again. It's familiar-- the first wave of Xistentia residents arrived the exact same way only 2 weeks ago. They're going to need your help.
CRASH LAND INTO ME

For the second wave of Xistentia arrivals, the day is not nearly as ordinary.

Exit one dimension, enter the next. It was chaos: pressure against your ears, light bending in an impossible, unimaginable way. The very molecules of your body vibrating against one another. If you have windows, the view outside makes no sense. Even if not, your hands, your face, your feet seem like an uncertain thing. It's the feel of reality itself tearing apart, reshaping, reconnecting, thread by thread.

And suddenly, there's a beach— or ocean, whichever you land in. Smoke. Fire. Salt water churning up, fizzing around. It's dark— you've arrived at nightfall.

Maybe you crash, in a ship wrecking into sand. Maybe you merely stumble out of a portal, a ragged wormhole in space. Or maybe you fall off the back of an incredible steed, some creature that carried you into this place. Either way, there's pandemonium around you. Incredibly, severe injuries are far and few between— nobody's screaming about the dead. But you might have to help pull someone free of wreckage, or move quickly to salvage burning belongings from the landing craft. Maybe it's the crafts themselves, that you're trying to salvage.

Likely, you don't know them, these other strangers who arrived here[1]. Maybe you don't trust them— you just came out of a dying world, after all. But you all have one thing in common: you're here now.

When you get a second to breathe, the danger doesn't end... because that's when the wisps come.



At first, they're just a stream of pretty lights. Like fireflies, except that their illumination holds steady as they float through empty air. It's helpful for those of us who don't have night vision. However, as the minutes wear on, the terror and stress of the day starts to change to longing. And then the illusions begin. Voices of lost loved ones calling out, or flickers of familiar figures in the distance. The scent of burgers or cinnamon cake floating through the trees.

Maybe the ones you lost aren't lost after all. Maybe there's dessert out there. Isn't it tempting to follow? But watch your step-- there are ditches, fast-flowing rivers, and sleeping trolls you might run across. The wisps are impervious to these dangers, but you likely are not.
SAVE THEIR SOULS

As rescuers venture into the forests, the wisps' illusions change to accommodate the wishes and fears of the new intruders. Each person sees their own illusion, blind to the experiences of others. However, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Resistance from the psychic intrusion is far easier when you know what you're dealing with. Still, that doesn't mean that persuading a traumatized apocalypse survivor is easy. They've been through a lot, and if you're claiming that they're seeing things that aren't there, who's to say you aren't imaginary, yourself?



And the trolls get cranky when their sleep is disturbed.

By morning, however, the wisps have cleared and the other creatures of Xistentia are off on their business. Maybe that's when you choose to come out and help, to find new refugees sleeping in trees, thickets, beach-wrecked fuselage, and other places they had found sanctuary for the night.
WELCOME TO THE CITY

The second wave of arrivals comes into a city that is very different from the one that the first refugees did. Sure, there are still animals and overgrown trees intruding in many buildings and streets— but the center looks very civilized now. Eight full city blocks where the hedges are groomed and the building facades are clean and orderly.


There are a number of fully operational businesses, including restaurants and a tailor. Agriculture is taking off gradually, albeit in a disorganized fashion, thanks to the fact most of the people involved are amateurs. Street lights, the beacons that sense character interactions, are fully operational throughout the day-- likewise, most of the city's functions work just fine now, including indoor lights, plumbing, electricity, etc. Cable isn't great, though. Depending on how badly your encounter with the Wisps was, you may also get acquainted with the hospital. It still looks shabby and moss-eaten, but its glowing recovery enhancement beds work very well. Better bring someone with you, though!
Current Sentient Population
of Xistentia:
222


We now have Instagram!
There's a lot to explore, if you're into that. The two most prominent landmarks are the Central Citadel that overlooks the sea to the West, and the Temple on the Eastern edge of the forest. The former has a bar and lounge, and an oddly self-replenishing availability of liquor, as well as a variety of defunct audotitoriums, bedrooms and technology laboratories. The latter contains strange stone artefacts that blur the line between magic and technology, but are largely unresponsive to touch. The only exception is one sleek screen, black and shiny as volcano glass: an amenities request interface. Tell F.A.T.E.S. what you need.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

hells yeah



Footnotes
  1. Some of these can be nameless, plot-device NPCs to facilitate interactions! But even in this case, please avoid gore in describing their current state of being. Anyone dead or catastrophically injured will have disappeared by the time your characters make it to Xistentia. There are no corpses or dying here.

  2. But like OOCly ask permission ofc.
helical: (310)

[personal profile] helical 2017-07-04 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it's instinctive to put his arms around jace when he hugs him. not only is it years of memories of doing this very thing and reassurance that jace is well and truly here with him, grounding him — it's also their bond responding to the proximity, this alive thing sighing in relief. ]

Yeah, [ he whispers, eyes closing as he focuses on the hug rather than the flashes of jocelyn in the trees or the fear for izzy, max, his parents. magnus is here, clary is here, jace is here, and they're okay.

they've been brought here for a reason. this might be their only chance to save the others, so he has to remain focused. they'll deal with this, all of them, together. ]


Okay. [ he sounds a bit more completely himself now, albeit a little reserved. jace has brought him back into focus, but the exhaustion of the day is still there. with a last squeeze of his arms around jace, he lets go, stepping back with his hand trailing along his arm. ] Thanks, Jace.

Let's get out of here before you start whining about being eaten alive.

[ see? already way more himself. ]
estrayer: (e x p l a i n s)

[personal profile] estrayer 2017-07-23 02:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Jace leans back, his hand squeezing Alec's shoulder as he does. He just nods. There isn't any need for thanks; they're parabatai, this is what they do for each other. The truth is, he's just as relieved to see Alec, even though he'd expected to be alone. He looks around, trying to reclaim his bearings. ]

Please. I was heading for a city in the distance. Looks like the only sign of civilisation here. I'm hoping we'll find some answers.

[ And fewer hallucinations, with any luck. It's not clear to him whether that's just a problem in the forest, or a problem with this whole place. Hopefully it's the former. He'd already almost lost his head once. ]

So you wanna tell me what Eudio is?

[ Best to keep their minds focused on something real, he figures. ]
helical: (379)

[personal profile] helical 2017-07-31 01:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[ alec nods, looking in the same distance and tugging his quiver's strap so it settles more comfortably on his back. that sounds good to him, which he doesn't need to communicate to jace directly. they're in sync; they begin to walk at the same time, toward the same place.

he's grateful for the question. thinking of eudio is a warm, happy feeling.

although now he's unsure of it's state. is it gone? are the friends he left there safe? he swallows, watching his booted feet as they trod the forest floor. ]


It's a city in another universe. They came to me after — just after the marriage thing. They need people to generate power for their world, and they do that by harvesting intimacy. Said they'd restore the Lightwood name if I held my side of the bargain.

[ before jace can interject, he looks over at him. ] Sounds too good to be true, so I didn't really believe them at first. But it was all true. You could ask them for anything, as long as you provided them with the energy they needed through... physical contact. [ again interjecting quickly, before jace asks him who the hell he cuddled up with. ] Magnus was there with me, so.
estrayer: (a n g e r)

[personal profile] estrayer 2017-08-02 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Good thing that last line happened, since Jace was about to ask who the hell Alec was harvesting intimacy with. That had sounded shady from the very start, especially for someone like Alec who has traditionally been so careful about it. He'd been a virgin before Magnus. Jace's shoulders relax a little. ]

I'm glad he was. Intimacy as power, that's…

[ A scary thought. Also, Jace thinks, something that he would personally struggle with, unless 'intimate' had a very broad meaning. ]

You're saying it actually worked? What did they do to help mom and dad?

[ It must have been something, if Alec's convinced this place held up its end of the bargain. This is a strange concept, but ultimately not so strange that Jace disbelieves it. Alec's certainty helps with that, but so too does the reality of magic. ]

And how the hell did you do this without me noticing, Alec? You haven't been missing. I would've felt that.