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abraxasooc2021-07-07 05:04 pm
abraxasmods) wrote in abraxasooc2021-07-07 05:04 pm
Entry tags:
EVENT #2 OOC PLOTTING POST
EVENT #2 OOC PLOTTING
First things first, there is some important plot information in this thread as well as this one that lead directly into this event. ICly, only the characters involved in these threads actively know this information, so if you want your characters to be aware of it, please reach out to one of the involved players. OOCly, this information leads directly into this event so please be sure to read those threads. Sometime soon we will be making a Story So Far post as well as an NPC directory to keep track of the important plot points and NPCs we've met so far.
In the wake of Ambrose's assault, he has decided that it's about time everyone knows the real reason why they're here. He will gather the honored guests and prisoners outside of Castle Thorne and explain the significance of the Singularity, namely:
As soon as they emerge from the gate, they will see the Singularity in the distance. It is surrounded for miles by a perfectly circular crater a few feet deep, and none of the mages are willing to approach the boundary of the crater. This, Ambrose will explain, is the line they cannot cross.
Once everyone is out of the portal, all newcomers will feel as if they have been yanked into the crater and towards the singularity by an invisible tether that seems to come from inside of their chest. They will black out as soon as they cross into the Singularity's boundary...and wake up somewhere strange.
Welcome to the Horizon!
The Horizon is a spiritual plane connected to the Singularity, and it is where our second event will be taking place. It appears, initially, as a sprawling and relatively featureless plane with the Singularity (pictured in the mod icon) at its center. All player characters are connected to it, but that connection wasn't awakened until now.
Being pulled into the Horizon for the first time is disorienting, and the process isn't without its flaws. Characters will arrive without their memories of their homeworlds or their time in Abraxas. Their personalities will remain intact, and they will still posses knowledge of things that exist in Abraxas and in their homeworlds, but they won't remember anything about themselves except their names. The one thing they will immediately know about themselves and each other is their arcana, which will be marked somewhere on their clothing regardless of how hard they try to get rid of it. Every character will know about all the signs and what they generally signify, and it'll likely be the first thing they judge each other on without any of those pesky memories in the way.
They'll also find themselves in outfits that in some way reflect their style or personality. Their sign must be visible somewhere on the outfit (in words, as a symbol, or both) but other than that it's completely customizable. Someone who fancies themselves a ruler might be given a grown and a fancy robe, someone who is deeply insecure may have rags, and someone who is secretive and mysterious may be shrouded in a cloak. Feel free to go as wild or as plain as you like with this aspect of the Horizon! This is something that may change in future trips to the Horizon, depending on how your character develops in game.
Once they start to gain their footing inside of the Horizon, characters will find that they can manipulate it to their liking, as if it was a very lucid dream. They can conjure up terrain, buildings, animals, plants, and anything else they want to see. All of it will be tangible while they are in the Horizon, but none of it can be taken back to reality with them. This plane is yours, shape it as you wish! Strong emotions and unconscious desires may also have potentially unwanted effects on the surroundings, however, so be careful.
For as long as characters reside in the Horizon, they won't be looking for an escape (or even remember that there's a world outside of the Horizon at all). Instead, they'll be compelled to shape this plane to their liking and carve out their own domain inside of it. The more of a domain they have the stronger and better they will feel, and having their constructs destroyed or changed into something they dislike will make them feel weak. There is limited space, however (it's a circular plane a few miles in diameter, much like the crater surrounding the Singularity) so there are going to be issues with that. Cooperating with characters that yours has an affinity for and creating things together will have just as much of a positive effect as solo creation, and on the other hand destroying or overwriting what someone else has made if your character isn't particularly fond of them is an option as well. Think of it like a big competitive dreamshare.
For this event, we encourage you to hash out first impressions and initial CR via this plotting post so you can hop right in to something more intense for the event itself. Remember, not only are your characters are starting off with fully-formed personalities and a blank void where their memories and relationships should be, but as far as they know this plane and the other people who occupy it are their entire world; any impression they make on each other is going to be a strong one!
On the 24th of July, the Horizon will begin to fade and characters will regain their memories and return to their physical bodies, scattered about near a camp that Ambrose and the mages set up to wait for their return. They'll feel exactly as they did when they entered the Horizon and won't be sunburnt or dehydrated or starving unless they already were. They will keep all their memories from their time in the Horizon, and will be able to feel their connection to the Singularity (as in, they can sense its location and how far away it is from them) and return to the Horizon and harness its power for other purposes from now on. They will need to be in a state of undisturbed meditation to revisit the Horizon, and future visits will not have the memory loss effect their first visit had. Once they are taught how (staring with a plot in August), they will also be able to tap into the Horizon to travel to another character's location and use it to access the "network".
Upon their return, Ambrose will once again impress the power of the Singularity upon them and appeal to the welcomed guests for their assistance. Everyone will be escorted back to the castle, where the prisoners will be placed back in their cells and the guests will be able to resume their daily lives as they previously were.
All characters who participated in this event can take one alteration: they can gain a new power, modify an existing power, or end up with a physical change of some sort. We're not putting any firm limitations on this save for "keep it reasonable" (no god-tier reality manipulation, time travel, inter-dimensional travel that would break the game setting and so on, and physical changes should be something like horns or claws or an extra foot in height, not becoming a dragon or a hundred feet tall), but the change should ideally reflect something about the character or the time they spent in the Horizon.
COMMENT FORM (This is optional, but has some suggested topics for this event.)
QUESTIONS
(NOTE: Ambrose's exact words as well as the setting around the Singularity and the conditions the travelers face will be described in greater detail in the event log itself, so please hold any questions about those aspects until then!)
Why do the prisoners get to go?
Thorne has a use in mind for magically charged prisoners (which, due to ethical concerns, they won't be disclosing to anyone). On that note, we'll be looking for a volunteer from the prisoner group sometime after the event, so keep an eye out for that.
If you die in the Horizon do you die in real life?
You can't really die in the Horizon. Anything that would be painful or pleasurable on the physical plane will still be so in the Horizon, but everyone will be able to recover and re-form themselves even if they are torn apart. It's impossible to lose consciousness while in the Horizon, and no one needs to sleep, either.
Can Ambrose and the other NPCs travel to or affect the Horizon?
None of the NPCs we've met so far - and, as far as anyone knows, no one native to Abraxas at all - can access the Horizon, and their magic doesn't affect it, either. They have no way of seeing, knowing, or controlling what goes on there. As far as they can see, the bodies of the newcomers are suspended somewhere between where the Horizon's boundary starts and the Singularity.
Can my character use their own powers in the Horizon?
Technically, all the characters can manifest whatever powers they like there! But yes, if you want to have your character use the powers they have in canon, you can. There are also no restrictions on prisoners using their own or any other powers while they're here.
How long will they be able to revisit the Horizon for?
Forever! The Horizon is now a permanent fixture of the game. As of right now, all characters can do is visit it and they won't be able to use it to affect anything in the real world, but it's a good place to chat and commune.
Can prisoners still visit the Horizon again? Can they use their new power if we give them one?
Prisoners will not have immediate access to their new power; it will be restored sometime in August along with the rest of their powers, if they have any. However, they will be able to access the Horizon right away! As stated in the last question, they can't use the Horizon to escape their cells or anything like that.
How will new characters access the Horizon for the first time?
New characters will come in with a dormant connection to the Horizon, the same as this first group did. In order to gain access they will need to awaken their connection, and this can be done in one of two ways: being taken to the Horizon by a character who can already go there (via physical contact and mutual meditation), OR by making a trek to the Singularity with a group and crossing the boundary into the crater with them. All characters will experience memory loss on their first trip, but can choose how long they end up staying.
Is it mandatory to take some sort of power or physical alteration from the Horizon?
Nope! The only mandatory alteration is the awakened connection to the Singularity. If you don't want the customizable freebie you can pass on taking it. However, note that while there will be other opportunities to alter your character in the future, you won't be able to save this one and claim it at a later date. You'll have to wait for another opportunity. Use it or lose it!
Can the alteration my character gets be something they wouldn't want/something that plays on their insecurities/etc. or would it have to be something they'd like to have?
It can absolutely be something that highlights a negative trait, something their insecure about, or something they'd just dislike. We'd never deny you the opportunity to torment your character!
Do I have to register my character's new power or physical alteration somewhere?
We will ask that you give a brief description of it in this month's Activity Check and we recommend adding it to your Info page so you and others can keep track, but no, you do not have to register it or ask permission otherwise. We do reserve the right to change anything game-breaking so if you feel your choice might fall under that category and are worried about having to retcon, you can ask us. Otherwise, you don't need to ask.
By the way, if you're at a loss for power ideas, we recommend browsing the D&D wiki and picking a spell.
In the wake of Ambrose's assault, he has decided that it's about time everyone knows the real reason why they're here. He will gather the honored guests and prisoners outside of Castle Thorne and explain the significance of the Singularity, namely:
- The Singularity is connected to not only Abraxas but to the newcomers' homeworlds and every other world that exists. (NOTE: This is a belief that is universal throughout Abraxas regardless of faction.)
- The Singularity is growing unstable and, if its power isn't harnessed and controlled, it will soon begin to have negative and destructive consequences on the multiverse to the tune of many, if not most, worlds being destroyed or twisted into something horrific. (NOTE: As characters will ICly find out once the other factions open up, this belief is unique to Thorne. The other two are equally concerned about the Singularity, but have their own ideas about how to deal with it.)
- The newcomers are needed because they are the only ones who are able to approach the Singularity and survive. Native inhabitants of Abraxas who get too close are torn apart so fast that they appear to disintegrate.
- Although he will express his sincere gratitude towards those honored guests and recently released prisoners who have behaved themselves and assisted Thorne, he will impress upon them that they are still guests in this world. They didn't come by choice and their presence is a great boon to Thorne and thus the Thorneans will accommodate their needs and desires as much as possible, but trust must still be earned and they do not have free reign to do as they please without consequence. Loyalty and good work will be rewarded bountifully, but misbehavior will be punished.
- ...On that note, for the use of excessive and intrusive force against the High Mage of Thorne, Jon Sims has been imprisoned and sentenced to death on charges of high treason, to be carried out in the third week of August.
As soon as they emerge from the gate, they will see the Singularity in the distance. It is surrounded for miles by a perfectly circular crater a few feet deep, and none of the mages are willing to approach the boundary of the crater. This, Ambrose will explain, is the line they cannot cross.
Once everyone is out of the portal, all newcomers will feel as if they have been yanked into the crater and towards the singularity by an invisible tether that seems to come from inside of their chest. They will black out as soon as they cross into the Singularity's boundary...and wake up somewhere strange.
Welcome to the Horizon!
The Horizon is a spiritual plane connected to the Singularity, and it is where our second event will be taking place. It appears, initially, as a sprawling and relatively featureless plane with the Singularity (pictured in the mod icon) at its center. All player characters are connected to it, but that connection wasn't awakened until now.
Being pulled into the Horizon for the first time is disorienting, and the process isn't without its flaws. Characters will arrive without their memories of their homeworlds or their time in Abraxas. Their personalities will remain intact, and they will still posses knowledge of things that exist in Abraxas and in their homeworlds, but they won't remember anything about themselves except their names. The one thing they will immediately know about themselves and each other is their arcana, which will be marked somewhere on their clothing regardless of how hard they try to get rid of it. Every character will know about all the signs and what they generally signify, and it'll likely be the first thing they judge each other on without any of those pesky memories in the way.
They'll also find themselves in outfits that in some way reflect their style or personality. Their sign must be visible somewhere on the outfit (in words, as a symbol, or both) but other than that it's completely customizable. Someone who fancies themselves a ruler might be given a grown and a fancy robe, someone who is deeply insecure may have rags, and someone who is secretive and mysterious may be shrouded in a cloak. Feel free to go as wild or as plain as you like with this aspect of the Horizon! This is something that may change in future trips to the Horizon, depending on how your character develops in game.
Once they start to gain their footing inside of the Horizon, characters will find that they can manipulate it to their liking, as if it was a very lucid dream. They can conjure up terrain, buildings, animals, plants, and anything else they want to see. All of it will be tangible while they are in the Horizon, but none of it can be taken back to reality with them. This plane is yours, shape it as you wish! Strong emotions and unconscious desires may also have potentially unwanted effects on the surroundings, however, so be careful.
For as long as characters reside in the Horizon, they won't be looking for an escape (or even remember that there's a world outside of the Horizon at all). Instead, they'll be compelled to shape this plane to their liking and carve out their own domain inside of it. The more of a domain they have the stronger and better they will feel, and having their constructs destroyed or changed into something they dislike will make them feel weak. There is limited space, however (it's a circular plane a few miles in diameter, much like the crater surrounding the Singularity) so there are going to be issues with that. Cooperating with characters that yours has an affinity for and creating things together will have just as much of a positive effect as solo creation, and on the other hand destroying or overwriting what someone else has made if your character isn't particularly fond of them is an option as well. Think of it like a big competitive dreamshare.
For this event, we encourage you to hash out first impressions and initial CR via this plotting post so you can hop right in to something more intense for the event itself. Remember, not only are your characters are starting off with fully-formed personalities and a blank void where their memories and relationships should be, but as far as they know this plane and the other people who occupy it are their entire world; any impression they make on each other is going to be a strong one!
On the 24th of July, the Horizon will begin to fade and characters will regain their memories and return to their physical bodies, scattered about near a camp that Ambrose and the mages set up to wait for their return. They'll feel exactly as they did when they entered the Horizon and won't be sunburnt or dehydrated or starving unless they already were. They will keep all their memories from their time in the Horizon, and will be able to feel their connection to the Singularity (as in, they can sense its location and how far away it is from them) and return to the Horizon and harness its power for other purposes from now on. They will need to be in a state of undisturbed meditation to revisit the Horizon, and future visits will not have the memory loss effect their first visit had. Once they are taught how (staring with a plot in August), they will also be able to tap into the Horizon to travel to another character's location and use it to access the "network".
Upon their return, Ambrose will once again impress the power of the Singularity upon them and appeal to the welcomed guests for their assistance. Everyone will be escorted back to the castle, where the prisoners will be placed back in their cells and the guests will be able to resume their daily lives as they previously were.
All characters who participated in this event can take one alteration: they can gain a new power, modify an existing power, or end up with a physical change of some sort. We're not putting any firm limitations on this save for "keep it reasonable" (no god-tier reality manipulation, time travel, inter-dimensional travel that would break the game setting and so on, and physical changes should be something like horns or claws or an extra foot in height, not becoming a dragon or a hundred feet tall), but the change should ideally reflect something about the character or the time they spent in the Horizon.
COMMENT FORM (This is optional, but has some suggested topics for this event.)
QUESTIONS
(NOTE: Ambrose's exact words as well as the setting around the Singularity and the conditions the travelers face will be described in greater detail in the event log itself, so please hold any questions about those aspects until then!)
Why do the prisoners get to go?
Thorne has a use in mind for magically charged prisoners (which, due to ethical concerns, they won't be disclosing to anyone). On that note, we'll be looking for a volunteer from the prisoner group sometime after the event, so keep an eye out for that.
If you die in the Horizon do you die in real life?
You can't really die in the Horizon. Anything that would be painful or pleasurable on the physical plane will still be so in the Horizon, but everyone will be able to recover and re-form themselves even if they are torn apart. It's impossible to lose consciousness while in the Horizon, and no one needs to sleep, either.
Can Ambrose and the other NPCs travel to or affect the Horizon?
None of the NPCs we've met so far - and, as far as anyone knows, no one native to Abraxas at all - can access the Horizon, and their magic doesn't affect it, either. They have no way of seeing, knowing, or controlling what goes on there. As far as they can see, the bodies of the newcomers are suspended somewhere between where the Horizon's boundary starts and the Singularity.
Can my character use their own powers in the Horizon?
Technically, all the characters can manifest whatever powers they like there! But yes, if you want to have your character use the powers they have in canon, you can. There are also no restrictions on prisoners using their own or any other powers while they're here.
How long will they be able to revisit the Horizon for?
Forever! The Horizon is now a permanent fixture of the game. As of right now, all characters can do is visit it and they won't be able to use it to affect anything in the real world, but it's a good place to chat and commune.
Can prisoners still visit the Horizon again? Can they use their new power if we give them one?
Prisoners will not have immediate access to their new power; it will be restored sometime in August along with the rest of their powers, if they have any. However, they will be able to access the Horizon right away! As stated in the last question, they can't use the Horizon to escape their cells or anything like that.
How will new characters access the Horizon for the first time?
New characters will come in with a dormant connection to the Horizon, the same as this first group did. In order to gain access they will need to awaken their connection, and this can be done in one of two ways: being taken to the Horizon by a character who can already go there (via physical contact and mutual meditation), OR by making a trek to the Singularity with a group and crossing the boundary into the crater with them. All characters will experience memory loss on their first trip, but can choose how long they end up staying.
Is it mandatory to take some sort of power or physical alteration from the Horizon?
Nope! The only mandatory alteration is the awakened connection to the Singularity. If you don't want the customizable freebie you can pass on taking it. However, note that while there will be other opportunities to alter your character in the future, you won't be able to save this one and claim it at a later date. You'll have to wait for another opportunity. Use it or lose it!
Can the alteration my character gets be something they wouldn't want/something that plays on their insecurities/etc. or would it have to be something they'd like to have?
It can absolutely be something that highlights a negative trait, something their insecure about, or something they'd just dislike. We'd never deny you the opportunity to torment your character!
Do I have to register my character's new power or physical alteration somewhere?
We will ask that you give a brief description of it in this month's Activity Check and we recommend adding it to your Info page so you and others can keep track, but no, you do not have to register it or ask permission otherwise. We do reserve the right to change anything game-breaking so if you feel your choice might fall under that category and are worried about having to retcon, you can ask us. Otherwise, you don't need to ask.
By the way, if you're at a loss for power ideas, we recommend browsing the D&D wiki and picking a spell.
go to the IC event post
no subject
But for real that sounds like the perfect way to meet bc Coraline can just call them off again.
no subject