STATE OF THE GAME: FEB - MAR

[abraxasmods]

State of the Game

February - March (2023)

Welcome to our State of the Game! Here, you can read about what might be going on in the world around Abraxas and with the characters in it. Every AC period, you can report what your character has been up to and we'll include all relevant information in the next newsletter.

Our Plot Engagement and World Building page are always open for submissions.

Moving forward, the Summoned Conclave will be hosted in the comments section of each State of the Game. We'll provide the structure. Players are not obliged to participate, but we encourage you to do so! See here for details.

OOC Notices

Network Information

We've updated our Network information page. Most notably, we've clarified how drawn images work when using the Network. Please take a look!

Plot Engagement

Plot Engagements will open again on April 17th.

Summoned Conclave

Representatives | LINK

Representatives for each faction's Conclave are pending.

Motions Sanctioned | LINK

Motions formally submitted to officials have not yet been received. Since the Conclave is new, characters are welcome to focus on voting in representatives first before addressing motions next meeting.

Special Motions | LINK

Characters involved in Event #12 can vote for a decision regarding the remaining Faithful Acolytes awaiting judgment.

World Events

All Factions

Abduction | Link

Some of the Summoned began to go missing across Abraxas late in February. The captured Summoned struggled to survive, underwent a harrowing ritual, and unraveled mysteries. Meanwhile, those free searched for their friends. Their investigations revealed many important developments that led to the discovery of where the abducted Summoned are held. As the month drew to a close, plans began to form.

Rescue | Link

By the third week, several captive Summoned broke free while others stayed behind to ensure their friends' escape. Those who ran ended up teleported to an unknown mountain range. With the combined efforts of all three factions and Nocwich, the Summoned were saved at the end of the month. Following a week's stay in Nocwich for observation, they returned to their respective factions in April.

In the aftermath, the Summoned were asked to make some choices about the captured Acolytes, and Josselyn Creed has been found and apprehended. A Summoned Conclave has also been formed in all three factions in order to help the Summoned address concerns and needs directly with officials.

Plot Interactions and Developments

All Factions

Multiple Characters | Link - Link

Multiple Officials

Nearly all of the Summoned were involved in the abductions, investigations, and rescue of those who were captured. Characters spoke to officials such as Queen Ellya, the Solvunn Council, Ambrose Rhett, Quilleth Kaur, and Nocwich's emissaries to arrange for resources and discuss tactics.

Notable events and actions can be found on the Coordination Posts linked above for both Part 1 and Part 2, as well as the Mid-Event Update. We'll summarize some of the more major incidents below.

Wanda Maximoff

Retrieval/Holdout

Performed magic with necromancy through her patron God, revolting many of the Thornean mages but successfully breaking down the warding.

Jack Townsend, Nero

The Lost/Escape Group

The Mysterious Acolyte and her brother were able to escape the caves following the aid of several Summoned and the sacrifice of one.

Solvunn Commune

Wanda Maximoff | Link

Rowan March

Shortly before the abductions, Wanda spoke to Rowan March about Josselyn Creed.

Items of Notice

All Factions

Unnamed Island

Dean Winchester
During evacuation from the collapsing island, those riding the giant turtle may have noticed one of the Summoned was attacked and carried off by a leviathan. He is presumed dead.

Kingdom of Thorne

Castle Thorne | Link

Istredd, Rhy Maresh
An open mingle in Thorne's ballroom for the newly Summoned.

The Free Cities

Cadens | Link

Sam Wilson, Hilda Goneril
An "informal" get-together for the newly Summoned in the Free Cities at the Sarstina Inn & Tavern.

Solvunn Commune

Primary Settlement | Link

Wanda Maximoff, Himeka Sui, Nero
A Solvunn meet & greet for new arrivals, featuring an updated brochure, bonfires, and gift baskets.

Comments

REPRESENTATIVES

[abraxasmods]

Reply to the appropriate faction with the form to submit your character for consideration. There is no influence requirement, but links and actions demonstrated must be recent, within the past 3 months. A couple of examples will suffice. Try to keep it brief!

◎ Submissions are IC. By submitting, your character is actively volunteering and stating these qualifications in-game to the other Summoned during the meeting.

◎ Unlike submitting for influence, the focus should be on what your character thinks makes them suited as a representative rather than simply actions that have garnered public attention. Are they friendly with many of the other Summoned? Do they have experiences dealing with faction officials? Have they held a similar role in the past?

◎ To support, players can +1 beneath a representative they support, up to 3 candidates per player per faction. You can ICly vote as different characters if you have two in a faction, but your total as a player must be no more than 3.

◎ While there's no strict deadline, we suggest submitting your candidacy by mid-month and closing votes by end of month.

<b>Player Name</b> <b>Character Name</b> <b>Links & Reasoning</b> (You can add more than 2 links, but try to things brief.) <a href="urlhere">Link 1</a> - <a href="urlhere">Link 2</a> -

THORNE

[abraxasmods]

[ushiri]

Player Name Jay
Character Name Kyle
Links & Reasoning Kyle would ask to be made one of the representatives because, very bluntly, he wants access to the officials in part to get a better feel for their intentions toward the Summoned, especially given the castle's actions when everyone first arrived.
The Thorne Summoned Meeting - he was one of three that offered to keep watch outside in the real world while others were in Horizon, and helped collect some of the information that was discussed there (while he was initially against the idea of the meeting itself out of extreme caution, ICly this isn't well known and in the end he didn't push to stop it).
He has a reputation as a trustworthy courier - and is capable enough of minding his tongue (so far) in the presence of officials for the sake of not causing trouble for the group.
Reputation-wise he's generally willing to offer new Summoned learn the ropes, showing them around the castle, the castle city, and Nott since it's become available. He genuinely wants to keep them all as safe as can be managed given the circumstances, and is wary of this offer of more representation.

+1

[stations]

+1

[magicalarchaeologist]

+1

[widows_kiss]

+1

[londonbound]

+1

[ordinar]

+1

[blackeyedprince]

+1

[northerndragon]

+1

[the_keeper]

+1

[vixening]

+1

[chosenfordarkness]

+1 literally begrudgingly last minute

[thedevilwhorose]

[thedevilwhorose]

Player Name Heather
Character Name Lucifer
Links & Reasoning
Lucifer would make a point that he's been in leadership roles before "King of Hell" and hasn't been able to fully shine in Thorne, and this gives him an opportunity to be a waypoint between the Summoned and the Crown.

Yes he's had some problems with authority but they were tense times and he went head-on into the efforts helping the Lost Summoned, including influencing "many" Summoned. He's actively taken a role in babysitting the idiots keeping an eye on and helping other Summoned where needed over the last few months, including offering combat training to both the Summoned and castle guards.

[londonbound]

Player Name Lena
Character Name Rhy Maresh
Links & Reasoning Rhy has been steeped in politics literally from birth; as the crown prince of his homeland, he has been learning how to lead a country all his life, and while he hasn't taken on full responsibilities while his father the king still lives, Rhy has been given some leadership positions in the past. He was put in charge of organizing a major diplomatic event shortly before being pulled to Abraxas, where he had to be mindful of the sensitive political and cultural balance between his own nation and all those invited to a weeks-long event hosted in his city (basically the magic olympics).

In Abraxas, he's tried to help bridge the gap between Summoned and Thorne, working with officials, castle staff and other Summoned to help newcomers settle in by organizing information mingles each time a new group of Summoned comes along. He will state he does this with the hopes that those newcomers won't feel too alone, and to help acquaint them with their new situations. As Summoned, they have a responsibility to one another. He feels he has the social tools and influence to achieve this (oocly, he's only a 3 but he thinks higher of himself lol).

Rhy has also been in communication with Lyle Vela of Nott, in attempts to improve access to better health care there. During the kidnappings, he (and Thancred) spoke with Vela and Rhy took charge of organizing assistance from Nott, ultimately taking volunteers from Nott and Castle Thorne with him to Nocwich for recovery efforts.

He's also very sure of himself, and will absolutely be turning up the charm, happy to answer questions and concerns with a smile.

[politicians]

Player Name Timmy
Character Name Elrond
Links & Reasoning Elrond is the herald of Gil-Galad, the High King of the Elves. As such, he's had vast experience working with people from different cultures and species and still manages to uphold sovereignty. Elrond's primary goal is to build bridges and bring peace to the land through careful deliberation and thoughtful discussion, without casting doubt and suspicion on others. He can be quite decisive when he needs to be and honest about his intentions.
Link 1 - Elrond discussing his treatise that he's writing. He wishes to submit them to officials in order to soften Thorne's approach to other nations.
Link 2 - Elrond offering his information freely and volunteering to help support investigations and discussions.

FREE CITIES

[abraxasmods]

[hextechhead]

Player Name Dee
Character Name Jayce Talis
Links & Reasoning Jayce would say hello "it's your local blacksmith healer scientist here." Free Cities should already know him as making many of them weapons, tools, and items of use, and for being a reconstruction person in Libertas. Most recently, Jayce will mention that between finding the island using tech, supplying weapons to the Search and Retrieval teams, and negotiating with the acolytes for the holdouts, he realized that the Summoned are at their very best when they're together. Every step of this required teamwork, both outside of the pit and inside, and they have to continue being a team wherever possible. This Conclave is an opportunity for them to do that. He'll add at the end that he was on a political council back home and he would like the opportunity to serve people here too.
 
"Thank you for your consideration."

[godshattering]

Player Name Arboria
Character Name Claude von Riegan
Links & Reasoning Back home, Claude was the leader of the Leicester Alliance which is a nation founded by his noble house some centuries ago. The Alliance did not swear allegiance to any monarch but was instead governed by a Roundtable where five of the most prominent houses met to discuss actions needing to be taken across the autonomous territories comprising the nation. This also - unfortunately - included a long war that required balancing organizing their military efforts on top of everything else. He was raised with politics as a background which provided him experience with both diplomacy efforts small and large and working with other government officials throughout his life to date. As a result, the idea of this conclave is something he's very interested in pursuing.

He also supports the idea that the Summoned are stronger as a unit and believes they can and should continue to work together whenever possible. Within the pit and shortly after his arrival there, he assisted others in organizing supplies for everyone to maintain what they were able to do and also assisted in helping as many escape as possible when the time came. Around Cadens, Claude makes a point of greeting new Summoned whenever they arrive, including answering their questions, showing them around, and helping them get acclimated as others had done for him upon his arrival.

While he'll admit the Alliance was not without its struggles at times, he sees that as valuable in making sure everyone's voices were heard as much as possible. Claude believes the same can be or will be true for this conclave as it's an opportunity they haven't had (to his knowledge) yet and it is worth taking the chance to make it what the need it to be. Working with many different interests to find solutions is a skill he hopes to offer while serving as a representative with whatever it might entail.

Claude will give this short speech with friendly confidence, and will be happy to answer any and all questions about his past experience leading the Alliance.

[falcony]

Player Name dai
Character Name sam wilson
Links & Reasoning Sam would start this off in the same way he's started off most other large summoned meetings he's hosted, with a 'I know I've met most of y'all, but for those who don't know me, my name is Sam' - it would be something fairly casual for the entire presentation, but the key points he would bring up are:

- he is known for hosting large-scale, all summoned events, ranging from town halls to thanksgiving parties to cookouts to free cities meetings and also call to arms/organize which he did at the beginning of this most recent event. He has been very vocal about how the Summoned need to stick together no matter the factions, and he will go so far as to call himself a bit of a broken record.

- he will also mention the fact he has been in fairly constant contact with the Free Cities military, after he signed a contract with them after the creation of his wings (which he used during the most recently event, and would have with him during this talk). He has been upfront with Marlo about how the Summoned are looking to live in peace alongside the Free Cities people.

- also, he will bring up the fact that he has some extended experience back in his home world with acting as a liaison between government officials and regular people, so he knows a bit of how to Politic, though he does not actually enjoy it all that much.

- more recently, he'll also make mention of his assistance with locating the island as well as his work helping coordinate the search team

He'll end his speech with a "Honestly, anyone who wants to take on this responsibility will be good for the job, and I'll support whoever the cities decide to vote up here. But I'd be remiss not to toss my hat in the ring. Working together is what's going to keep this from happening again, and we all know we need to do better. Thanks for listening."

SOLVUNN

[abraxasmods]

[nomnoms]

Player Name Jay
Character Name Nanaue
Links & Reasoning "Me like farm. So much art."

He is snacking on a handful of bones.

[mobezon]

Player Name Yen.
Character Name Louis de Pointe du Lac.
Links & Reasoning Your residential vampire. He's probably too new, but if anything he's resourceful and has shown he will step up in dire situations when it means the safety of others. He helped with the reuniting of groups out in the mountains after escaping the pit. It was a wild time. Louis would be upfront and say that he hasn't done much to gain trust, but he's highly perceptive and would like to contribute post kidnap. If anything, he's able to keep a cool head when he's in distress, and with it he's formed connections by putting himself aside so others don't harm themselves. Louis is able to form friendly connections beyond their borders. He wasn't sure about Solvunn at first, but he'll say that he wants to help the community with best efforts if he's meant to stay. Back home he'd had to take the role of head of family and sustain a business alongside a community of folks looking for him to provide. He has advocated for those considered less than in society against people in power in his past. Even in later times, he kept at bay an enterprise that was largely unknown and held widespread connections internationally. He may be quiet at times, but he's not afraid to speak up if he has to be vocal with his advocating. He's trying to do better than what he's done.

[lightkeeping]

Player Name Whit
Character Name Aloy (proxy nomination)
Links & Reasoning This nomination comes from one Himeka, because Aloy sure as hell isn’t going to nominate herself—she seems fairly skeptical of the whole thing, but has also resigned herself to the fact that if, for some reason, people vote for her, she’ll step up. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, as this isn’t the first time she’s been thrust into a political situation, but

Though she lives out in her weird bushcraft woods fort, Aloy has been known to step up and help Solvunn when needed, most notably during the recent visitation of sea life to the commune. She's also made herself available at mingles to teach archery and survival skills to both Summoned and natives alike.

During the ordeal in the pit, Aloy has proven herself to be a skilled survivalist, hunting and gathering resources, then seeking an exit and searching for other escapees in the aftermath. She's not very personable--but she is responsible, which probably counts for something.