Mid-Month Announcement: March

[simpathis]

— MID-MONTHLY MOD ANNOUNCEMENT: MARCH —

Whoo boy. Well this is unexpected. This was supposed to be a low-key month from the mod side, but judging that emotional tracker—yikes! Things are really going to get, uh, dangerous, so prepare yourself! We're also getting some sub-plot movement going on as well, and many thanks to those who have volunteered so far!


Calendar.
The calendar hasn't changed much since the last post, but here is the link as reference: Game Calendar. These are the dates you should know for the rest of the month.

• 3/18: Test Drive.
  
• 3/19: Not Feathered Friends.
  
• 3/25: Activity Check starts; Reservations open.
  
• 3/26: Scaly Mementos.
  
• 3/31: Activity Check ends.

This is what we have so far, but anything could pop up, either from us or from players.

We also neglected to mention that this is the final month of the year for the local calendar, meaning next month will be the "New Year" for Empatheias. The locals are gearing up for the upcoming celebrations (April 17) and there are a lot of end of the year sales. But will this year end in a celebratory bang, or a destructive one?


Verens Crystal Status + Emotion Tracker.
Guys...what happened!? February was super positive, but now look at the Emotion Tracker. It's like someone dumped blood all over it, and not in a good way.

The large crystal itself is dimming a bit, but it's not hitting the grays quite yet. Although the locals are a bit more excited and agitated due to end of the year and new year preparations, they're helping keeping the negativity from the characters balanced. But that's not doing much for the Arehtei.

Sosyne is already pissed and Elios was already on the brink. The new data does not bode well for him or Peromei at this rate. Her appearance or something of an appearance may be sooner than expected if this continues.

The following is a tally of the numbers for the month so far. The formula is TOTAL = RAW + (ALI-I * ALI-C). Many have given late input for February, and while the numbers aren't counted in exactly, they are still affecting certain Arehtei (basically Sosyne is even more pissed with 6 more pretend points).

AREHTEI	RAW	ALI-I	ALI-C	TOTAL	+/-
Aiada	1	0	0	1	+
Daimonia	5	2	1	7	-
Elios	9	5	4	29	-
Peromei	6	3	1	9	-
Piphron	2	0	0	2	+/-
Sosyne	4	2	1	6	+/-
Thras	2	0	0	2	+

All Elios wanted was love and what does he get? Hate. How did this even happen??


Special Defense.

Quick plug for the Special Defense interest post! If you think your character would join, take a look!


Unhappy Arehtei.
After seeing the numbers from the last month, we knew that "things" were going to happen. There was even a little bit of foreshadow at the beginning of the month. Originally this was going to be more low-keyed, but due to recent events and the tracker, it's turned into a full blown event. In addition, what was going to involve only one Arehtei, it's now going to be three, with the third only coming in toward the end.

ICly, the events happen quickly and shouldn't last more than a couple of days. But there's a a lot happening as well.


Elios's Hatred.
If you expected Sosyne, surprise! It's Elios instead. He had a subtle appearance and only those aligned to him heard his voice, but now he's acting out. Given that he's quite unstable...well.

He's flying in and he's on the "attack." Well, he's actually just lashing out. Starting Thursday, March 19, the following will happen:

• Corrupted feathers. Large, bright, blood red, twisted feathers will be hurtling down like missiles. They will land in the following areas: Merchant Square, Residential Quarter, Administrative Quarter, the slums, and one will hover out on the lake, the tip just breaking the surface. There will be multiple, likely around ten and tall. Details will be given out in the signal post/log itself. These feathers will also be surrounded by powerful wind and will shoot out strong gusts.
  
  
• Feathered demons. In addition, avian creatures will appear and take form, as if spawning straight from the feather. Their forms are all bird-like, but they're no pigeon. Some are like large vultures, some have two heads, three wings. Imagination knows no bounds so feel free to make up the creature. All of them will have blood black feathers and will spread the hatred. They are aggressive, hostile, and dangerous, but they are not necessarily going out and damaging buildings or trying to kill people. They are actually looking for certain types of people.
  
  
• On the hunt for love. The feathered demons will hone in on people who have an affinity toward love. That's right. Rather than be "love birds" these demons want to dive in and seem to want to capture rather than attack, although it might seem like the latter at first.
  
  
• Counterattack. These demons can be taken down and are similar to a medium-level monster. A few strong stabs/shots/spells/punches and kicks, and they'll disintegrate into black feathers. Unfortunately, love will only bring them closer, but oddly enough anyone who focuses hate on the creature will actually drive them crazy and redirect to try and attack them instead.
  
  
• Evacuation. Unsurprisingly, the city will be evacuated and locals will need help. Only the Enforcers and those willing to help defend will be around.
  
  
• Intense hatred. The feathers are also radiating intense feelings of hatred. Everyone and everything will piss your character off, and they may even hallucinate and think someone is their most hated enemy or related to whatever they hate most. This won't happen to everybody, so it's basically an opt-in. It can also happen to anyone, so alignment does not matter. These feelings will last several minutes or until the character can snap out of it.
  
  
• Aligned. Those who are aligned with Elios will have it even worse. If they are hit with any of the emotions in the spectrum, they'll even hear Elios's manic cries about hatred and love, making no sense whatsoever. Nothing he says is coherent, but they can get the gist of it.
  
  
• A loving heart. Those who are more inclined to love will feel less of that need to hate and may even be immune to it. Although they're a target, these people will also be vital to helping fix this mess, and it doesn't matter if they are aligned with Elios or not. Those who are will have more effect, but everyone counts.
  
  
• Other "positive" emotions. Although they won't be as super effective, other positive emotions will help. Even if it's a "twisted" kind of positive emotion, such as happiness over killing something, it'll count. Those who are aligned with Thras may also be key in pushing through this.
  
  
• Destroy the feathers. It'll probably be obvious, but one way to stop this madness is to destroy those feathers. But it won't be easy. They are tough and will require more than just a few high leveled attacks or punches to break them. In fact, there's something like a "barrier" of hatred coating them. A lot of love and caring emotions will be required to weaken them before they can be destroyed physically.
  
  
• Convert the feathers. OR another possibility is to actually "cleanse" the feathers by pouring all that love into it. By doing so, the feather will change color, and rather than spew out hatred, it will radiate loving waves to counteract it. It will also create more "friendly," feathered creatures to fight against the original demonic ones. The more feathers converted, the faster things will right itself.
  
  
• Where is Elios? Good question. Maybe those demons know. Too bad they can't talk but maybe following where they take those people would be a good guess...
  
  
• Can we communicate with Elios? Sort of. If anyone who is aligned to Elios actually tries to telepathically reach out to him, they will be overwhelmed by his hatred—dangerously so. However, if someone has a really strong and loving heart, they might get something. If you'd like to part of this, comment in the provided thread.
  
  
• Tracking emotions. To get a gauge as to whether things are going horribly wrong or slightly better, there will be a separate post to track who all is hating on everyone and who will be the main loving body. This will be important, and threading won't be required to prove (although it is encouraged).
  
  
• Pre-planning. To help with plotting, comment to the appropriate threads in this entry as to which side you think your character will be in. Some will flip flop and that's fine. Just put them down in each and indicate if it's a brief stint or long term.

A lot of stuff right? So TL;DR: Elios be hating; there are big bad feathers that spew out demons and hatred; and PROTECT THE LOVING PEOPLE AT ALL COSTS.

This event is going to require everyone to work together, especially when dealing against those who are negatively affected by Elios and those demons. There are also a few directions this event could go, so figuring out a few things beforehand is key. We know most of our players plot on plurk, but please comment to this post with your ideas as well!

How long this lasts also depends on how quickly people can figure out what to do and how fast they either convert or destroy those feathers. ICly everyone will want to get this resolved within a day or so, but OOCly there will be a few designated logs where everyone can thread for as long as necessary. Hope you guys can come up with a plan!

We do have a "back-up default ending" in case things get too chaotic for you guys, but we're ready and open for whatever the characters do.


Marks of Irritation.
Funny story, Sosyne was originally going to be the one wreaking havoc, but her time will come. For now, she's leaving her own mark on the island. However, her part in this "surprise" event is a little simpler and less to deal with. It's also even more of an opt-in than Elios's.

This will occur beginning Thursday, March 26 and will last for the rest of the month.

• Drifting scales. To those who choose to, there will be large fish-like scales the size of a small fist that either drift down in front of them or are lying around somewhere. It could be outside on the ground or somewhere in their room. They are a dark, purplish hue, with some that shimmer a lighter color but most are dark with tinge of black and dark red. They are also paper thin and smooth to the touch, but the edges are sharp and jagged.
  
  
• A spark of memory. Upon touching the scale, a memory will form along with the relevant emotion. There are three possibilities: anger, excitement, and calm. It could be a person, place, thing, or event, and there could be a small mix of the three. But this memory will be a powerful one and invoke strong feelings of those emotions.
  
  
• Emotional reflection. The emotion invoked will be reflected in their surroundings, and it will also somehow be related to that memory. Perhaps an image of the person is seared onto the wall. A building temporarily changes form. Music or sounds are created. They are subtle reflections, but the possibilities are endless.
  
  
• Keep, throw, or destroy. Once it all finishes, the scale will completely harden over and become coated with a barnacle-like texture. The weight will also triple and edges sharper. What the character does with this is up to them.
  
  
• Aligned. Those who are aligned will have stronger emotions and memories. In addition, their scale will give a special message or choice words engraved on it. The message will be unique to the character depending on the emotion and the memory, so contact us to learn the message.

Will the scales be used again? Who knows...


The Third Arehtei.
And last but not least, the potential third Arehtei. Who will it be?

Depends on what happens during the event. Maybe it won't even show up, who knows! But rest assured, if one does appear it will not be directly affecting the characters and it will be more of an appearance.


Player Plots & Events.
We'll close this announcement with a few plots and mingling opportunities created by players.

• Whose voice was that? Emizel heard a voice and he wants to know whose it was. They mentioned "despair"...
  
  
• Like a bolt from the blue. Hak's outside of town training a few, but he's also doing some self-training as well. Warning: stray lightning bolts.
  
  
• Meeting new faces Mickey assigned Charmcaster some friendship homework, so she's out to meet new people.
  
  
• New arrival information. Shun has some pamphlets for the newcomers, and he's also wondering if anyone had a reaction to the crystals recently.
  
  
• Ben's delivery service. Special delivery just for you!
  
  
• Lend a helping hand? Jane is asking if anyone wants to help the newbies by giving them some handmade goodies.
  
  
• Despair killed the plants. Junko's been too depressed and Peromei complained. Her reaction is better than weed killer.

We might have missed some and there are quite a few open logs and discussion posts, so be sure to check back yourself! We try to keep up, but if you'd like to be listed let us know. If you'd like to throw your own event or plot, comment here.

-------------------------

And that's about it. It's a lot of stuff so if you have any questions, concerns, or want things clarified, please comment here.

OTHER THREADS: Team Hate | Team Love | Kidnapped | Event Ideas

Comments

EVENT IDEAS

[simpathis]

If you have any ideas, plot plans, etc. for the event, drop them here!

Enforcer involvement

[spiritofjustice]

Ironically, I was just thinking of getting an IC recruitment post up within the next few days and then this mod post happened. Said IC post will probably still go up within the next few days (if it can be arranged), but obviously we won't have the Otherworlder Enforcer Division ready for action when this feather thing goes down.

I was thinking that anyone who was already thinking of joining the special Enforcer group could volunteer to help out during all this for some extra bonus points to help them join the ranks for real. No better way to prove yourself than by doing so during a huge calamity, right?

Other than that... I've got nothing worthwhile to contribute just yet.

[thiswarrior]

I was actually thinking along these lines from a volunteer standpoint--Tiz would probably stick around to try to help during the event and then get off his butt (I was indecisive for a while okay) and sign up for good afterward. Of course, if the IC sign-up goes up beforehand he might just sign up then, too. But it sounds like this'll definitely be the first action. XD

[unghosting]

If this comes up ICly, Kevin's going to say if you need the motivation of "bonus points" before you'll volunteer to help out during a huge calamity, you probably shouldn't get to be in the group. :P

But, maybe in terms of setting the group up, it might be helpful for some of the people who will be defending to at least cross paths with Bobby and/or Edea, so they can see for themselves who all is involved. That might make the interview process easier when the time comes, and it would be easy enough to handwave.

[raijuu]

So I got Hak and Alvin who would definitely help volunteer squad, with the first a possible recruit maybe.

[young_oldman]

Lu Meng will definitely reach out to the Enforcers went shit starts to go down, but unfortunately due to the effects of those feathers along with him being aligned to Elios, he will eventually begin to hallucinate and run off to attack some hallucinations by himself. I'm not sure if he'll rejoin the Enforcers when he's had some sense smacked into him, but overall he'll be there to help in the first half of the mess, and then he'll kinda just slip away in the second.

Sorry Bobby. OTL

Gee, guess what Roy will be doing

[greatcleavage]

So assembling a group to strike at any concentrations of enemies or rescue people in serious danger is definitely Roy's thing.

[hatesviolence]

Shizuo would normally like to help but he might be a danger, whoops. Alvin could either help Roy or the Enforcers...if I have Hak on Enforcer team, I could throw Alvin in here o/

[nobugs]

Kija would probably love to join this.

[trulyfree]

Heyo, Roy, long time no see.

Fenris will be helping you out when he can and trying to direct most of his hate thoughts into some kind of productivity. He'll notice pretty early on that spamming hate at the angry birds doesn't help all that much, but hey at least he's a good distracting target now? Maybe that will help with dispersing some of those concentrations for easier mob management. He's pretty fast too, so he can kite them around and stuff if needed.

team power of love/friendship/whatever fits your franchise

[feistytrader]

So Silver's a Pokémon trainer and in true Pokémon power of friendship fashion would rather chew off his own leg than hurt the Poké- uh, monsters in Empatheias. And that logic even applies to the big demon bird things that are trying to lift him in the air which is kind of freaking him out. He'd much rather see what's up with one of those big feathers and try to stop(??) it somehow, so he's probably going to try to pull together some ragtag group of whoever's nearby and not going nuts on hate and try to approach one of the big feathers and see if there's something they can actually do that isn't just punching crazy birds.

Basically what I'm saying is who'd be down for grouping together a bunch of loving people and converting at least one feather (maybe one in the residential district?) with the POWER OF LOVE FRIENDSHIP? Man in this moment I really miss LJ's old sparkletext

[cilantro]

is there where we sign up for team "chew off our own legs instead of hurting the demon birds"

...and by that I mean yes, of course Cilan's down for this /o/

[x_ed]

Shun's first instinct will be to try to defend himself against the scary bird monsters but he'd be open to the idea of trying to convert the feathers if someone suggested it. So uh, y'know, if you want a kid with psychokinesis on the team, he's your guy.

[dragonsinmy]

Sabers down to reaching the source of the problem. If it ends everything sooner, the better so that people suffer less.

Besides... it's really the only real option for her. If she wanted to try and destroy the things, she'd be taking out far more than just feathers.

[spirialink]

Did somebody say ~friendship~?

[jumpstheshark]

Officially saying Rin is going to join up for this to try and help and convert! He'll also drag Haru with him, as neither will be hating on stuff, so plus two to the effort!

Also a bonus that neither can really try to fight the demon birds themselves, so no worries for Silver and like-minded folks there (plz to be defending if they get attacked? ahahah ^^; )

[wellpreserved]

So a few fun things:

First off, mods gave me a plot a few days ago that is going to have Creed spreading hatred. While this will come up before the event, it will continue during it. So at certain points in the event anyone near Creed will also feel hatred even if they didn't feel it normally. Of course there will be points where he won't be affected so it's possible to interact with him and not get all hateful.

When not affected, he'll try and help out, he's going to use some xeroms to drain a feather of hatred. Up to anyone else on what they do with it but that will make it easier for one and he should be able to help with a second, just not the one over the lake. He won't sign up to help any groups though, so definitely welcome some misunderstandings since xeroms are emotion sucking monsters after all even if this is an actual good usage of them to remove excessive emotions from an item rather than a person.

And I should probably mention for castmates, this even likely is going to screw with what was found in the recent log.

[healinguilt]

OOh boy, I'll totally have Naomi interact with his little hate plot. :>

[strategisch]

I'm not really sure to do with Armin! I'm new, so he's not involved in anything yet. All I can think of is that he is in the Military and would definitely help in the evacuation process, since protecting the public is kind of his job.

As for how good he would actually be at killing those monsters... probably not that great. For one, he's not much of a fighter, and he's also not prone to strong feelings of love or hatred. (You want hate? Go get Eren, lol.)

I don't have a Plurk, so if you know anyone who might have an idea for me that doesn't use posts like this, please do me a solid and let them know!

Available bodyguard

[youhearthebells]

I've been having a lot of trouble getting Mr. Likes To Fight out interacting with people. So if anyone on the love team would like a bodyguard, or at the very least a useful warrior who will hit anything you tell him to hit, Gan Ning is your man.

He may or may not be susceptible to the hate thing, it's really hard to say, but he's the kind of guy who just needs to be pointed toward a target and he'll go and take care of the hard part for you. So, if your character is the type to want to fight for the powers of good and love, but doesn't have the firepower to take down birds or feathers, please make use of his sword. hit me up here or on plurk at Capsulecorp.

[young_oldman]

hahahahaha this plot is amazing!!!

OK so Lu Meng is aligned with Elios and that means HUGE MOOD SWINGS. While his emotions eventually balance out to support Team Love, he is still going to need help from people to keep him from going to the dark side. People he has CR with would be very, very crucial to help Lu Meng keep the hatred at bay.

Lu Meng will be joining the Enforcers, but because Elios is going crazy in his mind he...might get distracted. I'm planning for him to start out with the Enforcers, have a hallucination and run off on his own, and then have someone or some people slap sense into him so that he goes back to the good side. I'd love to plot this stuff out!!

And I'm just a glutton for this Elios plot too, so I'm asking the mods if I can get Lu Meng kidnapped by the birds and reaching out to Elios. So if you'd like a fight thread which ends with Lu Meng plucked out and taken on a trip, comment here and let me know!

Ceremony and song

[former_endboss]

Jacqli and Sanae have been planning a ritual/song to contact one of the Arhetai. Since Jacqli is one of Elios' get, perhaps now would be an ideal time to ask it to listen?

Obviously, the Hymnos Jacqli can create here are somewhat kludgy affairs that take a long time to achieve the desired effects, and no doubt the ritual Sanae has planned is equally complex. They might need protection while they begin this gambit.

[itwouldbeatragedy]

Rather than responding to a ton of people individually, I'll just leave an offer for Kaneki to help out anyone who might need any defending while stuff is going down here! He's not much of a fighting type himself, but he would certainly use his kagune to do what he could to help anyone who was in trouble.

There is also the possibility of plotting surrounding him eating dead people and/or acting a bit hunger-crazed, as well. I want to be careful about plotting all of that out, but please feel free to hit me up if you're interested! I'm not on Plurk, but you can PM this account or IM me at MadMadPhineas on AIM, if you've got it.

Re: EVENT IDEAS

[tenyearslost]

So... with the disclaimer that I have never commented to a plot post before (n00b alert), I'm just going to stick this here!

Oz will definitely want to help out if he can! He's aligned with peromei but he does have a big heart, so he'll be on Team Love. He'll help evacuate people, and if once he notices the effects from the feathers, he'll want to try going after one of them. (Unfortunately due to time zone + work schedule mischief I'm pretty slow, but! yes... if you'd like a sparkly sunshine boy on your team, he's ready to go)

That said, if he does get the chance to go after a feather, I'd like to have him get negatively affected! He has the potential to do a great deal of damage, so... if anyone wants to punt a kid with a scythe into the lake or something, look no further?! \:D/ I'm sorry

(I'm also down for Sosyne-nanigans!)

Re: EVENT IDEAS

[planetary_bonds]

okay now that i've actually settled into my new job uh

Since Yuusei's aligned to Sosyne, I was actually toying with the idea of him bringing up his memory of the anger against the Dark Signers-which, ironically, ends up with him reflecting what they do instead. Thing is, one of the ideas I was toying around with is him bringing up the Nazca Line glyph of the giant around the slums area. Which, according to that linked picture, is actually drawn in purple hellfire. Fun.

Anyways what I was considering is that the glyph is actually quite sizable, at it's smallest it would encompass a few blocks of the city, and is at least large enough for a riding duel track at its largest, so, I'm wondering if anyone wants this to be part of an obstacle or a hindrance to getting to the feather in the slums or not! I haven't really thought out much about it since it was an idea that occurred to me at work yesterday, but I'm totally open as to how much of a hindrance or out of the way you want such a thing to be to the other emotional backlash things going on.