hugtopia_logs | ♥ December Event Log

♥ December Event Log

December (Ranir) Event Log
The city of Havenwell is recovering very well thanks to your efforts, offworlders. The hole in the wall is sealed up and, while maybe not looking like new, it certainly looks sturdy and safe. The city itself has removed much of the rubble from the battles you fought, and the people are back to their regularly scheduled lives. They're eternally grateful that you continue to put in the time to rebuild this final bastion of civilization and are pleased to see that you enjoyed their festivals so far. As the weather of Ranir turns colder and the nights longer, some may even see snow dust the cobblestone and paved streets in the morning. The time of Rawna has come and with it...

❥ PROMPT I: At Least It's Not a Sweater

a pair of hands holding each other with a red ribbon tied around their wrists

Normally when a new season belonging to a god rolls around, the temple priests gear up and start with temple festivities. Seeing how this is Rawna's month, however, nothing much of the sort seems to be happening. In fact, it's almost as if Rawna's priests don't even care that their god's season has started. Rawna is, after all, chiefly the god of Apathy, so is it all that surprising?

What might be surprising is the sight of Ainea's priests in pairs out around the city in their stead. Each pair carries with them a single bright silver sash and they alternatively stand in broad daylight or hide in the shadows of the buildings. Walk by on your own and you'll be left alone, but when the priests spot two people walking even remotely near each other, they spring into action.

The two robotic priests zip around you and another person with surprising speed, tying the sash off around you - either around your wrists, your waists, your legs, whatever it takes to tie you to another person. With a triumphant buzz of excitement, they declare "Happy Ranir! Kindness comes in many forms!" and depart to find a new pair of ~~victims~~ patrons. As they leave, one of the pair calls out an additional clue for you: "Be kind to unwind!"

Good luck, everyone, you're now stuck with this other person. You can either wait until the sash naturally falls off in a few hours, or you can take the direction of the priests and be kind to the other person to encourage the magical knot to come undone. Each compliment, word of encouragement, or other act of kindness directed at your new partner seems to loosen the sash a little each time, so get to winning the Niceness War.

Oh, and in case you were thinking of blasting, teleporting, or cutting your way out? No amount of magic or physical force seems capable of cutting or removing the sash. Hopefully you went to the bathroom before they got you.

❥ PROMPT II: A Delicious Delight

After a long hard day of dodging Ainea's priests or just slogging through the colder weather around the city, what could be better than imbibing a seasonally festive drink? Well, the scientists in charge of Experiment 73 certainly think so! They've added a limited edition drink selection to all of the replicators and have some delightfully festive booths spread about the city staffed by a few robots wearing Rawna's colors in their sashes and hats. There are five drinks in total to choose from and you should certainly try them! They're only here until the end of the month and then the scientists say they'll be gone! The best things in life are fleeting, aren't they? The best things in life are also surprises, so when you take a sip of these exquisitely delicious (honest! For once they're good) beverages, prepare yourself for a little trick with your treat.

Ginger and Honey Tea: A hot, thoroughly warming drink with the bite of ginger and the sweetness of honey. Drink this and you'll be shored up against the cold, but also feel compelled to tell or blurt out the truth. Whether you're asked a question or trying to tell a little white lie, you find you can't say anything but the truth. This effect lasts for up to an hour after drinking the tea.
Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie: A cold sweet treat of vanilla smoothie topped with sweet strawberry pieces and whipped cream. At the bottom, you'll find a layer of sweet sponge cake cut up into pieces. Drink this with its own special thick straw and enjoy the taste of cake; and the effect of a personal miniature snow cloud that appears over your head. The cloud dusts you and your immediate area within a foot of you with beautiful multicolored snow - and that snow leaves splotches of color behind that last for up to an hour after drinking the smoothie.
Hot Cinnamon Apple Cider: A deliciously steamy beverage that tastes of apple and cinnamon and comes with a cinnamon stick stirrer for effect. This beverage smells as delicious as it tastes and the aroma wafts around the area more strongly than the others. Drink this penultimate holiday drink and you'll find yourself heating up so much that you'll want to stay cold by giving your heat away via holding someone else. You'll want to be everyone's personal heater for up to an hour after drinking the cider.
Gingerbread Latte: A nice piping hot latte with the hint of gingerbread threaded through the coffee, topped with whipped cream and dusted with gingerbread spice. Served in a tall red cup that seems to transfer the heat uncannily well through its thin walls, sip this and you'll find yourself painlessly sprouting an animal's appendage at random. You can have one functioning or non-functioning, cosmetic animal appendage like a cat's ears, a dog's tail, a duck's beak or whatever else you can think of for up to an hour after drinking the latte. They can replace your original body part (e.g. your ears become cat ears) or grow superfluously (e.g. you have regular ears AND cat ears). You can move the appendages or talk with them as if they are your own, but they don't confer any special magical powers with them. So you can fly with those griffin wings, sure, but you're going to need to put the effort into it.
Hot Mulled Wine (alcoholic): This one isn't for children - and in fact, under 18 people might find it hard (but not impossible, be industrious, little ones!) to get their hands on this drink. Red wine is heated with spices and citrus fruit over low heat for several hours - or it would if it wasn't all synthetically created. The effect is the same though, a delicious adult beverage that's a nice way to spend an evening with someone special. And you'll want them to be someone special because drinking the hot wine makes you inclined to get a little steamy with people. Kisses, both chaste and passionate, seem to alleviate the urge which you'll be under for up to an hour after drinking the wine.

❥ PROMPT III: Winter (VR) Wonderland

a wooden lodge at night, blanketed in snow

There isn't quite enough snow on the ground to allow it in reality, but in the VR Cafes anything is possible. This month, the VR Cafes are decorated with snowflakes in odd patterns and designs - holograms, naturally - that spin and change shape and color in a timed routine. Plug into the games and you'll find a new selection among the usual offerings: Winter Wonderland.

There are two modes to Winter Wonderland and each are fun in their own ways.

Snow Fight! Head out into the powdery snow where fantastic snow forts await and battle it out with snowballs to claim the most territory or just see who can hit the other side the most. You can choose Team Battle, Solo 1vs1, or Battle Royale. All magic, skills, and cunning are at your disposal. While the snow might not be falling outside, it's definitely going to be raining down on you here, so bundle up and have some fun. You earned it!

Ski Lodge But maybe you don't want to go flinging snow down someone's shirt and would rather cuddle up on a couch in front of a big warm fire, huh? Sure, we understand that. Welcome to the Ski Lodge, a cozy getaway up in the mountains where you can relax with a hot chocolate (or cider, or glass of wine even) and curl up on the couches and experience a lazy afternoon in thick fluffy sweaters. It's even better with a friend, they say, so why not create this private little getaway for the two (or three or four, we're not judging) of you? For people wanting a romantic lean, you can always slip out the back (and out of your clothes if you prefer) into the private jacuzzi on the wooden deck, too.

For people who want to have some fun tearing it up on the mountain-side though, we suggest trying Ski-venture! A year-round game that lets you ski or snowboard your way down the mountain.

❥ PROMPT IV: A Mysterious Gift [REGAIN EVENT]

Toward the end of the month starting from the 20th and on, some people may find themselves drawn to Rawna's temple late at night, when most of the priests are offline or elsewhere. The only native creatures you can see here are the fledgling rainbow dragons which watch you from their various perches all around the sanctum. As you approach the temple's altar, you realize someone else has been drawn here as well. In the quiet, dim lighting, the barest of candles still burning and the watchful eyes of the dragons, you feel compelled to unburden yourself to the other person. Tell your tale of woe or sorrow, relieve yourself of a secret you've kept hidden for too long, and listen to your companion as well. They say a burden shared is a burden halved after all.

Once you've both shared something, a pair of dragonlings crawl up into the altar's clawed hands. They wind around each other until an iridescent light shines from their scales. The light is blinding and you must look away as it reaches its pinnacle and releases a burst of rainbow light. When you look back, the dragonlings are slithering away and in their places are two objects - one familiar to you and one to your partner - so long as both of you have shared. It seems your tithe has been rewarded with something from home.

OOC: These items from home must be approved by a mod. They cannot exceed the Medium Item regain limit. It cannot be a power or other ability. It cannot be something your character did not own or have knowledge of in their canon or their CRAU. Please post your regain request in the Regain Request thread before threading out the receipt of the item.

This event will run from December 6th to December 31st. Click on each prompt's title to see the text. You are welcome to use this log, or create entries of your own! If you have any questions, feel free to direct them to the FAQ or to the Mod Question thread.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

We appear to have incongruent belief systems. On my planet, the gods are said to be manifestations of the star itself. Their power as well as their seemingly interminable lifespans are heavily connected to why they are seen as deities. If a being was relatively young and it was simple to discern the point of their creation, it would be difficult to view them as a god.

...I suppose Ardyn is the closest thing we have to that. But he is not worshiped. Rather, he has been cast aside as a monster by most.

[They were very different, as he thought about it. Emet-Selch's anger seemed to roll off of him as if he hadn't even taken note of it.]

I suppose you could say that our gods are worshiped because they are strong, they are not strong because they are worshiped. It is strange to think of them becoming enfeebled due to a lack of worshipers. It brings to mind my machines rather than our gods.

[He spoke in a continuous pondering tone, more curious and contemplative than steadfast and definitely not combative in defense of Eos' gods. He had his beliefs and certain things he would get defensive about - worrying about blaspheming gods wasn't usually one of those things. He was never very good at showing reverence for the gods.]

What do you mean "the world before"?

Even if they were the manifestation of the star? Because that is what Zodiark is - factually and indisputably, for damage to Him was reflected upon reality itself. That is the root of the answer to your question - for Zodiark was Sundered, broken into pieces, and the very nature of reality was altered. One world became fourteen, in all respects, at one fourteenth the ability and vitality, save three survivors of the world before.

[Of which Emet-Selch is one, it is not difficult to reason out.]

Age plays no part in the power of a being that does not grow, so why should that have any meaning? Zodiark and Hydaelyn are the eldest and most powerful of gods, yes, but that is because they were created upon the Unsundered world. Were the Ardor to occur and all shards Rejoined, then a god newly summoned in such a world would be their equal.

We simply have different perceptions in what constitutes a god. There is no need for defense. On my world, it tends to come with a sense of "agelessness". A feeling that they have "always been there", though there likely does need to be some time they were created. Which would then invite the question of who or what created the gods.

[To him, it was the same as discussing bacteria. He didn't hold them in any greater esteem, saved for the power that they had.

Though he could possibly argue the power and devastation bacteria could cause in comparison to the gods.]

I'm afraid I will need to hear more detail about Zodiark and the Unsundered world.

And is that not a question that should be asked? How such beings might have come to be, by creation or evolution or simply the confluence of energies in the world, would seem to me to be among the keys to understanding them.

[Emet-Selch is a man of faith inescapable, but not man of religion. He has no trouble in speaking of gods in terms that those of more traditional faith might find just as unsettling as Verstael's.

All things possess a beginning, no matter how far in the distant past.]

Our world was one of peace, in which mankind possessed far more richness of soul and aether than do the Sundered now - and from what I have seen, the humans of your world are far more alike to them than to us. There was no need for disparity or differences when all but the youngest of children could create anything they put their minds to from the power they naturally possessed.

But one day, disaster struck, and we lost control of our powers of Creation. As things spiralled out of control, life upon the star was nearly lost. The summoning of Zodiark - the imbuing of the planet itself with a will to live and maintain life - was our last resort, a summoning that called upon the sacrifice of half of our people to create. But not all were satisfied with His creation, and from these dissidents was born Hydaelyn. They intended Her to be a control upon Zodiark, fetters for Him that balance might be restored, but She shattered Him, instead.

Legend has it that they were born from the star itself. However, it would be near impossible to verify such details... [A slight pause as he thought even while he spoke.] I suppose Ardyn would know, if only he had retained his memories of his time with me. He had been able to glimpse into one of the god's minds. I do not know of everything he learned then, however.

[Which he was severely regretting now. Of course, he couldn't really force Ardyn to tell him anything the man didn't want to. It made him wish that he'd had the opportunity to see into Ifrit's mind himself.]

Your tale bears some similarities to one I've heard before. Not necessarily in all the details, but... more in the lack of details.

[With a tilt of his head, he hummed thoughtfully.]

In a time of prosperity and peace, do you know what 'disaster' caused all to turn to chaos?

It is hardly a tale.

[Again, that spot of irritation.]

I was there, when Amaurot fell; I spare details for time, not for lack of knowledge.

[And perhaps for his own heart, but he has accepted already that Verstael largely lacks one. Inhale, exhale, a very pedestrian way of centering himself for one whose very nature is as unpedestrian as they come. Something to be said, perhaps, for time-tested methodology.]

It began in another city, far away and across the sea, but spread steadily across the world. It was akin to a sound, but no mere sound could have accomplished such a thing, for all within its range grew twisted. Animals became beasts, horrors the likes of which had never been seen upon the star; magicks failed, or worse, grew twisted and beyond the control of their creators. Seas boiled; fire fell from the heavens like rain. The stones of the buildings, a material Created such that even today, ruins at the bottom of the ocean face no grind of sea and sand after ten thousand years upon the bottom - they toppled as though made of mere clay. The laws upon which we had built our understanding of the world fell apart around us, and all that we feared - every child's nightmare and imagined monstrosity - was made realized.

We had thought to create Zodiark before the Sound reached our shores, but we spent too long in deliberation, and so too was the destruction visited upon us. And even in its wake, after we had called Him to quiet the sky, to return to us the sunless sea and the quiet waves of the oceans - naught would grow upon the land, and the beasts remained, and the ruins.

And the dead. Half of us, dead. We who might live for ages without care had suddenly too many bodies to bury. And for being the last, Amaurot's survivorship was higher than almost any other.

That is the disaster of which I speak.

[He listened very intently. While he had hoped that perhaps he would learn something that might be similar to the circumstances on his world, he did not expect things to sound so similar. And yet details are different.]

...It sounds quite like the Starscourge. Were you able to determine what the sound was before all was ruined? You knew the source of it.

Perhaps upon the surface, but the Starscourge is a curse that spreads among men, and makes of them the monsters. Or at least so comes the account I've heard. The Sound spread through the earth itself, and changed our magic where it fell upon us, not our bodies. It was no illness, save of the star itself.

[A long, slow exhale.]

If a cause had been found, then we would not have had to go to the lengths we did to repair it, now would we?

It does twist animals and men alike. It also effects the planet. I believe the disease reappeared due to rapid expansion of the Empire, which caused it to resurface.

I was able to make some determinations through my research. It was caused by a mutant strain of plasmodium malariae. The source is unknown. Legend has it that it was created by the gods... however... I do have another theory. Upon our world is a god that holds up a meteor, and asteroid that was to hit Eos. I think it is possible that the plague that befell us originated from beyond our star. Either causing mutation to what was on our planet or bringing a similar bacteria all its own, nothing on our planet would have ever been exposed to it previously in order to develop any resistance.

[Putting a fist to his mouth he began pacing as he thought.]

Our worlds are certainly built differently. You described it... as a sound? Was it able to be recorded? Have you any knowledge if the city of origin created it or was an unfortunate bystander?

'Tis clearly a plague of magic, is it not? From my understanding, magic in your world is rare, at least insofar as magic that can be wielded by humans. It wouldn't be impossible for it to have come from another star; Midgardsomr brought his brood from one such to the Source after the Sundering was well-past, which is why dragons do not exist on other shards as they do on the Source.

[Yes, his world's dragons are just straight up aliens. There is absolutely nothing strange about this.]

I cannot imagine that it was Created, and not simply because to Create such a thing would require malice or because of the accounts of survivors. To create something that fundamentally alters the nature of the star requires far more aether than even one of our kind could produce alone - Zodiark's summoning was brought about by the sacrifice of half of our survivors. Were the Sound created, it would be similar in scale - such a thing would not pass unremarked.

Some of the fundamentals of how our worlds work are disparate, but I believe I understand your meaning.

[Emet-Selch was throwing around words that weren't used or sometimes didn't exist on his world, so he had to guess the meanings based on context.]

It makes me wonder what if a man of my world ended up on your world. I would not even think to try and create something in that way. Rather, if it was a sound, it is essentially a vibration. If it has an effect on magic, I would imagine that magic had a similar basis. By simply jamming or distorting it...

[Though he didn't have a chance to study how Emet-Selch's powers worked, his hands were already doing circles in front of him as they moved aggressively with his thoughts.

He paused in them, turning to face - and look up at - Emet-Selch directly.]

Would it not be possible for one to develop magiteknology to tamper with magic on your world?

[He honestly didn't know. His method for how he would approach the problem was distinctly different from what those on Emet-Selch's world did. His methods had always involved using technology to overcome limitations - he had never thought of drawing power from the star or gods to do it.]

Oh, certainly. Allag built its empire upon such things, and Garlemald as well; the latter has even produced a means of giving the Gift to those who do not naturally possess it, though at the cost of a great deal of living aether.

[Sucks to be those experimental subjects.]

Garleans are not naturally capable of magic - they cannot channel the aether within to outside of their own bodies - so naturally, they've had to find other solutions. Most make use of a combustive, aether-rich fuel called ceruleum, in place of the body's own aether or gunpowder.

[Back on the subject of theoreticals, rather than the demise of Amaurot, Emet-Selch seems a little more at ease, though it would have taken a keen eye to spot his unease in the first place.]

Fundamentally, that is all magic is - a process for controlling aether. If the control over that energy is disrupted, magic fails.

[A smile with slight strain.]

Though I hope you'll forgive me for leaving the details at that. I'm not in the habit of selling to relative strangers the few weaknesses I do possess.

Never you worry. I'll find them on my own.

[Because he was just like that, and he really wasn't going to bother lying about his intentions to do so. Saying he "wasn't going to look into something" would be like saying he was the tallest man around - it was so absurdly false that there was no point in trying to convince someone otherwise.

At the very least, though, he wanted it for self-defense purposes.]

The Sound could not be produced by such means, then? I ask because...

[He paused. How best to say this? But then, maybe examples would be the best. So he decided to suddenly bring up something else instead.]

You mentioned Midgardsomr, and a 'brood'. What is that on your world?

Midgardsomr is the Father of Dragons - the first of that race to arrive in our world, after a long journey from some other destroyed star, chased by a machine of unknown origin the entire time. The 'brood' is the seven eggs he carried with him on that long journey - his children who went on to produce the race of dragons as we know it.

Before you ask, I am not personally familiar with them. Midgardsomr is known to have an accord with Hydaelyn, which makes him, if not his children, our enemy.

[He took a moment, thinking, but before continuing on with his own thoughts, he thought it might be good to hear some more.]

If you don't mind, would you list names of import from your world? Whether it be gods, races, places, figures...

[...Verstael? You're getting a look.]

We could be here for hours at that, depending on the specificity and era you desired.

I'm aware of the similarities in the names of your Six to some similarly-aspected primals and entities upon our star. Of those, only Bahamut and Shiva bear any distinction - Shiva being the name not of a goddess, but a heretic saint in the Dravania region who brought peace between early Ishgardians and the dragons. Bahamut, meanwhile, was one of that selfsame First Brood brought by Midgardsomr across the stars. Upon his death, a vengeful interpretation of him was raised as primal in Meracydia, to be contained in the second moon Dalamud by Allag until it came crashing back to ground some three millennia later.

[Shiva and Bahamut definitely sounded familiar. Some were completely unfamiliar while others were exactly the same, though he wished he knew more for comparison.]

On our star, midgardsomr are a kind of large snake. You have obviously heard of Shiva and Bahamut.

Our worlds are undeniably very different, so I thought it odd to hear some very familiar names. One or two might be coincidence, but when the list grows...

[He went back to pacing slightly, eyes turned up as he pondered aloud, half to himself, half to Emet-Selch.]

I have theorized that we have not traveled time nor 'moved' in the traditional sense to all come to this city. More, I believe that we may be from other dimensions. Those close to each other may bear great similarities, while those far away become more and more distinct from each other. I originally began thinking of this when I learned of the many Earths - some had the same countries, the same cities, yet were entirely different. What was reality on one was mythology on another.

There are many from Eos as well, but each is from a very different point.

How does something that is reality on one world become a tale on another? It may be that people can slip from one world to another, continuously passing on bits of information from one to the next without ever realizing they have even moved.

[Speaking of points, he should get to it. He stopped his pacing to more directly speak to Emet-Selch again.]

What I simply mean to say is that when you mentioned the Sound and how to create it, my first thought, naturally, was, "How would I do it?" I would never attempt to use the aether because it is foreign and unfamiliar to me. I have my own methods.

Were someone like myself to slip into your world they might very well disrupt the balance in some way and cause tremendous damage.

[Then, he almost brushed off his own musings with a dismissive flick of his hand.]

Of course, I've no proof of anything like that. It was simply a thought, it may be a rather lengthy stretch... Then again, given our current situation, maybe it's not.

If that were the case, there would be more consistency in such things, would there not? One would not expect the wild disparity that exists between, say, our Shiva and Bahamut, with the former being a mortal woman who lived long after the latter's death, were they so connected to yours.

[A slightly flat look, then.]

I don't see how you could hope to affect aether without using or understanding it. Is not the first stage in science accepting that one's own mindset may not be able to properly account for everything?

[A slight tap of his fingers on the inside of his elbow, as he folds his arms. He's not outright saying that your approach is stupid, Verstael, but how can you seek to imitate an earthquake without an intimate understanding of the ground?]

A living creature is a great deal to have slip between the bounds of worlds on a proposed accident. Prior to this place, I could name only one way that it had happened between the Source and shards with intent - that someone was transported in body and not soul alone through the rift. And a greater rift, as between disconnected worlds, is all the more difficult to cross.

Given my own experience with the soul, I think it far more likely that it would be some other element of cognition that slips across such barriers, rather than an entire being. The matters of the intangible are a depth that even we came nowhere near to reaching the bottom of.

Edited (whoops, html) 2020-01-11 04:51 (UTC)

It's simply a different understanding of the world. The Lucians used magic but I was not gifted with such a power, so I was constructing my own method to counter their magic. Or to 'jam' it, so to speak.

I do not use aether, but something I do use might have an effect on it. Intentional or not. Since we have no such thing on my planet it would be difficult for me to say. There is always another way.

[He tapped a finger on the side of his chin ponderously before continuing with a grin.]

I may have agreed with you some months ago. However, after having come here, I have discovered that dimensional travel is not as impossible as I once thought. There is at least one here who has a plethora of experience with such travel, and knows of ancients that would create vehicles for that purpose. Surely it opens things up to a new universe of possibilities.

I'm finding that what I used to believe impossible is sometimes nothing but 'common' here. There are worlds that have greatly surpassed ours. ...I may be feeling a little envious, in all honesty. I never expected my progress to feel dated.

But in order to counter it, you had to have some understanding of it, no?

[It's not the methods he calls attention to - it's the assertiveness that no understanding would be needed to affect something.]

And do not be mistaken - the individual I speak of is very much modern. I've been forced to accept the reality of such developments myself.

[The Sundered, at least those of the Source, haven't caught up yet to Amaurot, but for the first time it appears that they might be able to.]

While I tend towards things not happening by coincidence... There have been cases of discoveries happening entirely by accident or chance. As I said, it was simply a thought related to something foreign entering. Introducing anything that doesn't belong to an environment can have devastating effects, and as we've have seen here people from otherworlds may operate in ways completely different from us.

Oh, certainly - near the entire science of ecology revolves around the idea, it seems at times. Release a coeurl into the woods and you'll find the jackals starve, unable to keep pace with the superior hunter; let a housecat into the garden and the singing of birds disappears.

[He gets the idea that ecology is not your specialty, Verstael, but that means something terribly different in the extent of your knowledge compared to his.]

I simply dislike the idea of attaching the cause of the Sound to something that has never been witnessed to happen. I would sooner lay the blame to some action of our own, or something of our reality but not our star, as Omega and Midgardsomr are.

Edited 2020-01-11 05:54 (UTC)

It's more likely.

[He wasn't particularly arguing. He'd admitted himself that it was a stretch and just a thought, but an interesting one nonetheless. This experience wasn't the first of people being dragged from their worlds to another, after all.]

It is rather a shame for tragedies to continue to go unexplained. After all, we've no way to avoid them happening again if we don't know what caused them the first time...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

♥ December Event Log

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