Power/Swap Event

[spoofer]

Characters: Ensemble cast, any/all characters of Xistentia!
Summary: Power fluctuations across Xistentia affect not only the electricity of the city, but also the supernatural abilities of the residents. Will you get caught up in the chaos, or try to help out the next poor bastard who accidentally sprouted telekinesis overnight? Check out the mod announcement!
Date(s): Month of March 2018
Warnings/Notes: Potential violence/accidents

Power/Swap Event

That sing the ecstasy of the soul and senses

Blackouts & Brownouts (March 10-13)

Early Saturday evening, the power goes out across Xistentia. Of course, if you were out in the woods roasting marshmallows or hunting elk, it doesn't make much of a difference until you approach the city and find the twinkle of lights has gone out. However, if you were enjoying some of the city amenities, it's immediately obvious that something is very wrong. Almost all stoves, lights, stereos, and heating systems cease to work. Television is right out. Devices running on indepedent power— such as cars, and cellphones and earpieces that relay the daemon network-- continue to work as long as they have battery power. Fortunately, by now the weather is fairly mild— dropping to a crisp 60 degrees Fahrenheit or 15 Celsius at the deepest part of the evening, but far from intolerable for most people. While some have fears that D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. may raise its ugly head while Xistentia is defenseless, F.A.T.E.S. issues an assurance that all remaining power is being routed to interdimensional defenses. Mostly, it's the anxiety and boredom that people have to contend with. So maybe you'll be part of the service passing around lanterns and candles, running patrols to prevent theft, or helping to charge up devices from the handful of people who have developed generator technology throughout the town. Some dubious genius even developed specific electric blankets that convert positive affect from cuddling and shared sympathy to heat output that can be calibrated for maximum comfort.

Or maybe you'll take advantage of the rise of community spirit in the nighttime, and come together to drink and tell stories in the one part of Xistentia that seems to continue to offer a little light— the Temple. There, people congregate to play a drinking game of truth or dare, or possibly complain about them millennials and their dependency on technology.

On the third day, residents begin to find that their daemons are malfunctioning a little. Accidental shitposts, distorted audio, and bizarre typographical errors are the least of it. It's as if your sentient personal assistants have gotten terribly drunk, though they reassure you that it's just part of the repair process...

Swaps and Supercharges (March 14-24)

On day four, the power comes back on and the daemons begin to sober up. It's awesome.

Except that that's when everybody's supernatural powers promptly go haywire.

For some, this is a sudden amplification of powers— superstrength or speed suddenly doubling in measure, or stone skin and magic swords will suddenly jolt into activation in the middle of brunch. A couple of werewolves wake up fuzzy on the morning after a new moon, whereas several wizards find themselves casting unintentional, messy spells while mumbling "shit" over something ordinarily innocuous. Arguably worse, a few people find their powers nullified. It's easier to manage, assuming you arranged your life so that a normal person could go about it. You may have to help one of our local giants escape from their seventy foot suburban home through a towering window, though.

And then there are the swaps. You'll hear about it on the network mainly— people squawking in dismay, that not only have they lost their old powers, but now they have something completely new. Keep your eye out— maybe someone will need your help, managing a terrifying set of abilities and weaknesses that you are familiar with.

NPC Swaps

Though many PCs have powers available for swap, several NPCs have also unleashed their abilities into the pool! Brief descriptions are below. Players may choose to handwave some off-screen help or instruction from these NPCs, or try and figure it out with the help of PCs.

1. Telekinesis— 2 tonne maximum left (equivalent of a player vehicle), may throw or catch knives. Special feats, such as flight, may also be available but require study to master.
2. Elemental Control
   • Hydrokinesis— 15 cubic feet of water may be moved at one time, such as the volume of a square room of 'typical' adult bedroom height. This volume may be shaped or hurled around with the force of an ocean wave (for surfing, rather than storm). Water cannot be generated, but with effort and concentration, it may be pulled from the air or smaller bodies at a distance. Bodily transformation into water is an option.
   • Pyrokinesis— the ability to generate and manipulate flames. Fires will start small, such as fireballs the size of a fist, and be fairly easy to maintain. However, with greater effort, larger, shorter-lived fireballs may be summoned for attacks, such as they may destroy 1 normal passenger vehicle in one shot. Bodily transformation into fire is an option.
   • Terrakinesis— shockwaves through stone/earth/sediment or 15 cubic feet of earth may be moved at one time. Characters may raise pillars or shields of earth for offensive purposes, generating enough destructive force to flip or destroy a car in a single shot. With less offensive goals, they may reshape landscapes. Bodily transformation into earth/stone is an option.
3. Touch Telepathy - Characters may read or affect the thoughts of others by coming into physical contact with them, with effect proportional to effort. Weaknesses will include that the target's willpower can overcome the ability, as characters learn to detect intrusion over time; they may also suffer from difficulty 'shutting out' the thoughts of others that they touch. Opt-out/consent pages will be required.

OOC Note: Changes to powers will be temporary, lasting throughout the month of March before reverting. There will however be the opportunity to make them permanent if you desire. For this, please keep an eye out for the next announcement, which will include a signup for long-term ability conversion!

Comments

[astralera]

[ As he and his attention both wander for the moment Era moves to sit on the sofa, legs pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around her knees and tail curled against her side. She's come to realize over the past few days that Aymeric perhaps had a point to urging her to just rest despite knowing how difficult a thing that is for her.

The upper half of her tail begins slapping the couch cushion with a faint thwap once Tony asks his question. It's a slow rhythm brought on by thoughtfulness rather than restlessness. Or at least more thoughtful than restless.

She speaks up after a long stretch of silence to consider her words. ]

I do not have full faith in what we are doing. [ Worrying absently at her bottom lip, Era continues: ] There has been progress in my world, but only for stretches of a handful of months at a time. Inevitably something goes very strangely awry and I fail, leading to another calamitous event.

If you're asking what I saw in terms of the catastrophy being averted my answer is disappointing: I saw nothing. Events changed back to what I imagine they were meant to be all along. An enemy I should have been able to kill had become invincible, and when I returned it was no longer invulnerable to my attacks.

I believe Aymeric would likely be able to offer more insight, for he actually witnessed some of our world's destruction himself while I had been unconscious at the time.

[ When the safekeeping of your world depends almost entirely on you even when disregarding D.E.S.T.I.N.Y's nonsense... Well. It certainly doesn't need to put in much effort to bring Eorzea to ruin - not when it can simply interfere with one small thing and watch everything fall apart around it.

Era tries not to think about the last thing from home she remembers. ]

I trust neither side in this war, but I am willing to continue doing as F.A.T.E.S. desires for the time being. Risking my world is something I am not willing to do unless I have absolute proof what we do here is not helping. Thus far I only have proof that it does, if only barely.

[ Her voice is quieter by the end of her long answer. Thinking about how horribly she keeps failing - interference or not - makes it difficult to speak. It's a heavy burden, though she's glad to have Aymeric by her side to help ease it. Still, the stress is nigh unbearable at times, squeezing her chest in an invisible vice and buzzing through her skull.

She breathes in and out in careful, measured breaths. ]

...It's likely my voice will desert me soon, but Emeraldd will act as my voice when it does.

[servomotor]

[He isn't happy to hear what she has to say, but he looks at her levelly and it's clear that he's taking it seriously. Uncomfortably so, for him. And while their situations might be different, he clearly sooner believes this, and her stance of defensive pessimism, far more than he would the sparkling notion of happily ever after. And all this, even when he knows that the timeline set to rights faces all kinds of devastation.

It's a little reassuring for him to think, that if he runs into an enemy that's functionally invincible against the Avengers, he could mark it off as D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. Right? That's what she means. (heh heh heh)]

It's all right, [he says.] I think you should take a break. You look— [and there's a mean joke somewhere on the tip of his tongue, but he bites it back.] --like you could use it. I'm gonna try to use that door. [he points over his shoulder with one hand.] And this rock. [He holds up the rock, cinched now between forefinger and thumb of his other hand. He twiddles it by way of illustration.]

Enjoy your stories of Earth, Era.