aionooc | TDM #1

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TDM #1

DREAMING

At first, there is nothing. You are nothing. Whatever existed before ceases to be if for a moment. Then, bit by bit, you start to become aware. Where there was not even darkness now is a dim haze, gentle and almost mist-like. You have limbs again and beneath your feet lays a path of light reaching out like limbs of a great tree beneath you, twisting and climbing out into the horizon.

You take a step forward for what else is there to do? As you walk you begin to remember what it was you were doing before the nothingness; maybe something as simple as chatting with a loved one or close friend. Maybe you were just beginning a great journey or facing off against an old foe. Whatever it was, you get the distinct feeling that wherever and whenever that was, it is not here. Not now.

The path of light twists off into different directions. When you look up you can see that it is not a sky above you but the sky of everything, a grand cosmic tapestry littered with not mere stars but galaxies and clusters of galaxies that gleam like crystals against the velvety backdrop of space. Admire it for a moment, if you will. You don't know how long you will drift here, but you are not alone. Other wanderers will come and go as you bask together in the vastness of creation.

It seems to you that there are two paths to walk in this place, the light and dark beckoning in turn.

❖ THE LIGHT AT THE CENTER
One leads you to the center, splintered fragments folding together and colliding until only one thing remains: a light that speaks to you with the voice of all there is and has ever been. It greets you simultaneously as an old friend and as a lost child, both rejoicing in and mourning your arrival. You remember it too, somehow, with a feeling of complex nostalgia, as if returning to a place recalled from your distant childhood.

You’ll feel the same of the other wanderers that join you in the light; you know their faces, their voices, and as you reflect upon the world of your birth, you may witness fragments of theirs as well. You feel a comradery, then, a synchronicity of thought and emotion. Are the lives of others truly so different from your own? Or are you simply two hands of the same, greater being? Though some individualistic part of you may resist, the longer you spend in the light, the more you will find yourself becoming one with it.

Despite this welcoming call, no matter how eagerly your pursue its embrace, before you can fully submerge yourself in this oneness you will find yourself being torn away. As if seized by the impossibly long, cold arm of a creature unseen, you are plucked from the edge of fulfillment. The last thing you will remember is the sensation of your world, and all the others your experienced here, collapsing into nothingness.

❖ THE DARK OUTSIDE (CW: deep despair, ego death)
The other leads towards the outside, where the splintering becomes so great that the vestiges of reality can do nothing but collapse back into the abyss at the end of everything. As you wander to these barren outskirts, your thoughts will not be drawn to familiarity and oneness, but instead to memories of discontent and waste. The darker the path becomes, the more you find yourself dwelling on life’s disappointments and injustices, of the things about yourself and your world you find wanting.

If you see others here, at first they will feel frightening or contemptible, as if representing to you the worst experiences in your life. Even if they are someone you’re certain you know, that familiarity and affection will be stripped away in the face of the great emptiness before you. In the end, you were all the same. In the end, none of this was worth it. If you approach the end together, you may even form a kind of kinship around this acknowledgment, as the need for paranoia and hatred fades.

Slowly, the darkness encroaches, and you can see it devouring all the things you once knew. Memories of your home, of those you loved, dissolve into nothing, and you can only reflect on the barren emptiness in your heart as you see it happen. In your final moments, though, you feel peace with it all, knowing that there was no other way. You step from the edge of the last dwindling fragment of being and are greeted by silence.

❖ THE END
No matter which way you go, you are left with a single impression: you feel the world you came from die. It's a realization that transcends logic or sense; it weighs on your heart and leaves the vestiges of dark memories dancing in your thoughts like motes of ash. It's a memory of your home crumbling away into nothing as if consumed from within by rot. Returned to the void, all that's left to you is to be reborn.

REBIRTH

In a new time and place, you awaken. Stirring within a capsule of warmth and isolation your senses will slowly return, only to observe that you are trapped. Your body, as it wakes, is tangled in close, yours eyes unable to open, as if still within the womb. You are held tight in the embrace of something unyielding, so smothering that at first you only have the strength to struggle for moments at a time. Yet, as you persist, the pressure begins to relent in turn; it may take hours, but eventually you will find the purchase to push, to claw, to fight, and it will all give way.

The chrysalis surrounding you bends like flesh and cracks like glass. It tears as you force your fingers through, finding liberation one inch at a time, until finally you have emerged. As if having undergone metamorphosis, you feel old and new all at once. You are weak, piteously so, but the markings and scars of your previous life remain. As you slump down upon the smooth cavern stone, you realize that you've just wrenched yourself free of gigantic crystal, though its hollow, shimmering form is now in pieces on account of your passing. Somewhere on your body, a shard of similar material remains embedded.

The cave itself looks almost like the inside of a geode, the walls and ceiling bedazzled with greyish crystal that shines with all the colors of the rainbow. While they vary wildly in size and shape, only a few have grown large enough to hold a form like yours, and you can see the one you just escaped isn't the only one bearing a passenger within. They may have already hatched, or they may still be lingering in stasis. Either way, there's enough time that you may have a chance to speak to yours unexpected peers, or to perhaps to struggle to find something to cover your naked body with. You feel the chill of the open air against your moisture laden skin, a distant light trickling in through the cavern's opening.

Make the most of this time. It won't be long before you're interrupted.

[Mod Note: If you don't want to deal with your character being naked in front of the others at that location, feel free to assume they emerge at a different time than the others of their legacy. Characters will be 'hatching' over a period of several hours.]

CAPTIVITY

It seems that someone was waiting for you to arrive, and not in the most friendly of ways. Though the specifics of who comes to get you will vary according to which legacy shrine your character awakens at, there are certain commonalities: most notably, how they are ostensibly here to capture and imprison you. It's easy for them, all considered. You can barely stand, so fresh out of your chrysalis, and whatever powers or special abilities you may have had will not answer your call. Even worse, your would be captors are well equipped for the job.

Each group arrives with several 'whips' made of unknown materials. What makes them so special only become obvious when one of them inevitable snakes its way around your body. Whether it be your ankle or your neck, being bound by these cords puts you under the influence of whoever is holding the other end of your leash. Your mind remains untouched, but you will find yourself physically incapable of performing physical actions that go against their will. While the possibilities are frightening, thankfully they all just seem to want one thing: for you to come along as a good little prisoner and to not cause any of them too much trouble.

The rest depends on your character's legacy:

❖ THE LOVER
The small island the shrine is built upon is approached by several modest boats with colorful sails. They carry what appears to be a collection of fearful fisherfolk and town guards. They are reluctant to speak with those being pulled out of the shrine or even look them in the eye. If they have their choice, the entire process will be done in silence. If you try too hard to upset them, the guards will sternly bring you to heel.

❖ THE CELEBRANT
The infrastructure of an entire festival ground seems to be built around this shrine, and as a result, there are an usual amount of people present. While most keep their distance, a few will engage with the local guards that arrive to capture the Aions, complaining that this is going to interfere with their preparations for the upcoming Lover’s Festival. They are pushed aside in short order, and the rest of the retrieval will be done in a stern but business-like manner.

❖ THE MARTYR
At first, those arriving to capture the Aions will be hesitant to even enter the barren crater this shrine is held within. Once the presence of the new arrivals becomes clear, however, they will run in as if crossing the no man’s land of a battlefield and complete their work with gusto. It appears to be mostly military folk and they seem to lack any patience or sympathy for those they capture.

❖ THE SOVEREIGN
The captors here seem to be a mixed bag, almost as if two separate squadrons have arrived at the same time. One is a gathering of people who give off the impression of mountain folk, while the others are well armored soldiers. Though it will be hard to make out the specifics, there seems to be some manner of disagreement between these two parties over what should be done, but the ones kitted out in full military attire win out in the end. By then, they are completely out of patience for further resistance.

❖ THE ARTISAN
The people here seem to have mixed feelings about your arrival. On one hand, it seems to be a moment of considerable trepidation, on the other, they seem unbearably curious about your nature. They will ask questions about any unusual features you have, or what your skills are, while others from the group try just as hard to shush them. Ultimately, they don’t seem that enthusiastic about having to capture you, but they also don’t seem to think they have much choice.

❖ THE INNOCENT
Among rolling hills of flowers, at first it seems as if this shrine may not be visited at all. Before the arriving Aions can escape it, though - naked and weakened as they are - a group of fairly normal looking townsfolk will arrive. They pause as they spot you near the shrine, almost like they are hesitating about coming at all. In the end, they will converge upon you and ask for you to please cooperate. They won’t hurt you, as long as you come with them.

❖ THE SEEKER
Armored soldiers are the ones to first pull you from the shrine, but as you arrive outside of it you'll see that it is situated at the edge of a great forest. An ancient observatory is build into the cliff face behind the shrine, and your captors are apparently in the process of negotiating with a series of robed individuals that have emerged from it. According to them, the soldiers kidnapping you are trespassing. Unfortunately, they are not the ones with weapons.

❖ THE WANDERER
When you first emerge from the shrine, it will appear as if you have just missed a skirmish. There are a few bodies scattered about, all wearing woodland armor made of leather and fur. The victors, it seems, come in the form of fully armored soldiers. Thoroughly irritated by the fight that just happened, they will not waste time on niceties. If you try to ask them what just happened, the best you may get is a sneer about ‘those damn forest people.’ You may spot a couple more bodies on the trail leading out of the forest as well.

❖ THE FIREBRAND
The first thing to be seen beyond the cavern entrance is a sheer drop into a raging canyon river far below you, with only a narrow path leading up the steep cliff face. It would be a difficult situation, even without black-cloaked warriors making their way down it to collect you. Struggle too much and you'll be at risk of being thrown into the chasm. These masked assailants are largely unmoved by your protests and will drag you the entire way up the cliff if you force them to. "Your soul will be claimed," they say.

❖ THE VISIONARY
The view from the mouth of the cavern is awe inspiring, revealing the foreign shapes of a world you've never seen before. Unfortunately, the altitude of this shrine means you will also be greeted with sharp wind and biting cold. Fortunately, or not, a party of mountaineers and three black-cloaked warriors will arrive to collect you. Despite their seeming inability to defy the orders of the warriors, the mountaineers will toss you some shoes and blankets for the trek down, even if they are taken away from you later. If the warriors speak at all, it's mostly in the form of ominous utterances.

❖ THE CHAMPION
Even if one were to stagger out of the shrine's cavern before being approached, the Aions arriving here will swiftly find themselves in a hopeless situation. Not only are there soldiers here to collect there is a moderately sized military barracks built around the shrine itself, and this particular squadron is not on your side. You will be swarmed before you can get far at all. There seems to be a mix of two squadrons here, some wearing heavy armor and red accents, while the others wear full face masks and dark cloaks.

Once you've been captured and pulled from the shrine, you will given a formless white gown made of moderately comfortable fabric, with sleeves reaching your elbows and its bottom reaching down past your knees. You will not be given pants or shoes. You're in for a journey, apparently - no matter who plucked you from the cave, most of the heavily armored soldiers in the prompts above will turn out to be 'Hylician soldiers', while the smaller number of black-robed warriors are referred to 'Achamites'. After the initial dealings with the shrines, all prisoners will be passed off to a squadron of Hylicians, though a few Achamites may follow along depending on the location.

Where are you all going? Back to Hylici, apparently.

WAITING

After you've been handed off to the the Hylician military, you have a long road ahead of you. Loaded up onto carts, and then eventually onto river borne boats, the people collected at the shrines will all be brought to a forest in the center of Horos. Along the way, the squadron ferrying you will combine with others from neighboring shrines, more and more captives arriving in your group the closer to your destination you get.

Along the way you will be fed and watered well enough (though only with military rations), and at night you will be given flimsy bedrolls to sleep around the fire with. Captives will be under constant watch by the Hylician guard, and anyone who shows any signs of resistance will be required to be bound by one of those magic whips, usually around the ankle or wrist. The rest of the trip is spent being pulled along in carts or the storage bays of boats. After the groups start converging, captives of the same legacy will not necessarily be kept together.

The final muster point of the Hylicians and their captives will be among forest ruins. For what purpose you have arrived they will not say, but the entire group will be camping there until preparations are complete. Sadly, you won't be allowed much space to explore - not without being bound and under watch. If you've behaved yourself it's possible to move about the central ruins, but only if the guards are confident they'll be able to wrangle you when necessary. It does allow for moderately private conversations along the pillars and walls of the ruins, but venturing out into the forest itself is definitely out of the question.

From beginning to end, characters will spent about two weeks in transit and waiting in the ruins. To what end is yet to be seen, but if you listen closely, you may hear whispers of a 'ritual space' being prepared.

QUESTIONS

Are everyone's homeworlds really gone?
That's a complicated issue, and while the fate of their world is not without hope, they may certainly get the impression its been destroyed from the dream they had. Alternatively, they may refuse to believe what they felt and attempt to dismiss it as only a vision. More about this situation will be revealed as the game goes on.

Can I only experience one end of the dream sequence prompt?
Characters may experience one ending, both endings, or neither. If they experience both they will struggle to recall which came first or which feels the most 'true' to them, as both will simultaneously be the thought they are reborn with. If your character refuses to pursue either path they can simply linger in the middle until the infinite worlds above them start being extinguished one by one, eventually expelling them into darkness in a similar style to the light prompt. Which dreams they experience will not dictate their intial sect affiliation.

Is it possible to pull another character back from the end of the light or darkness dreams?
Yes! If your character is able to resist the pull of either end, they will have the chance to try to pull another character back from the edge of the abyss or the edge of oneness. Whether or not they succeed is entirely up to the other character, though.

Do you come out of the chrysalis wet?
For most intents and purposes it's the same experience as hatching out of a real butterfly chrysalis, so yes, a bit.

Can my character resist the influence of the whips?
Those possessed of particularly strong wills may be able to struggle with the whip's control in brief spurts, but not long enough to make a full escape attempt. They may be able to take an impotent swing at one of the guards or fight against being pulled along, though. Naturally, doing this will indicate to the Hylicians that you are a problem, and their handling of you will become harsher the more it occurs.

How cruel will the Hylicians be to the player characters?
The Hylician military are not friendly people and come across as being a bit callous even at the best of times. However, unless you provoke them, they will be primarily focused on just getting the job done with as few interruption as possible. If your character makes a habit of pissing them off, either by constantly fighting back or just by being persistently obnoxious, their treatment will get worse. If driven to it, they may take the opportunity to take out their frustrations on particularly troublesome prisoners, via physical punishment, humiliation, or deprivation.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

⟳ Dreaming
[ Nothingness is... expected. She's not quite sure why, yet. Not really. She's formless, but alone. That feels wrong. Formless isn't the concern, no. Has she been like this before? Has she been nothing before?

Yes, the void echoes. Or is it her soul? Blackened though it was, she is -- ah, yes. It is her soul, it's her memories, isn't it? Quick to put things together, she remembers, bit by bit, the strands of roles and names, the pattern being something to follow -- until it wasn't. The question then, is why is she here? Oh, she was dead before, certainly, but her soul had been housed after the Doom of Liesse. She'd still been present, if not alive. That nothingness had been cold, particularly when faced with Catherine's fury.

She shivered, despite herself. She was alone? For the first time in...quite some time. At one point in her life -- was this still her life? -- she would have welcomed it. After all, someday, she would have been the Dread Empress, yes? That was a role for one who was always alone. After so many years, however, either with Cat alone, or after their trip to the Everdark, and after --

She didn't quite so fancy it anymore. Imagine that. She'd thought she wouldn't be alone here, but perhaps this is what a true death was? But no, she walked, and there was the impression of figures. Others? ]

Who's there?

⟳ Rebirth

[ It's so different than the mantle of Woe. Being trapped there had been... cold. Particularly after Cat had been the sole mantle of the Winter Court. This, in a story of opposites, was warm. Akua wondered, then, if there was a story to be found here, as she found herself somehow stirring awake. Her mind already working through. Would sorcery be the thing to free her? She was tempted, but her body still felt weak, her mind numb, still. The vaguest stirring in her mind about something she was supposed to be doing kept her locked in.

The coin, forever spinning. The balance that could only be achieved by above and below.

She stirred, and as she tried to claw herself out, the first pushes were weak, but another, after another. She had something to do. Her body moved, almost possessed as she clawed her way out. She was Akua Sahelian, and she would not be trapped again. She would have the freedom of choice. She would be free. Her fingers slipped to open air, and she found the home she'd been born in -- the chrysalis -- shattered. On the ground, on her knees, naked and cold.

She looked up, golden eyes searching, before she tried to reach out for the magic she held so dear, a precise computation of sorcery, before her fingers stopped. Would that even work? No -- careful. She will not use it yet. Careful.

She sat, shivering, arms wrapped around herself -- one alive, the other withered and dead, curse-touched -- while she slowly examined the space around her, trying to find an answer to the millions of questions bursting forth in her mind. ]

⟳ Waiting

[ It was an uneventful trip down, Akua found. She played nice, the temptation to wreak havoc, create a working to disrupt these guards was so very tempting. But there would be no answers. The former Heiress instead allowed herself the indignity of being captured, and when she found herself garbed in a white robe, her lip curled, but she wore it all the same. ]

White, dearest? [ She asked the guard, but they were hardly going to put up with her slight teasing. Somehow, the formless robe looked fetching on her, a tie at the waist found to at least give her something comforting. She felt... at least somewhat better, with clothing, although White would have Cat laughing at her, she knew it. Perhaps it was for the best, that she wasn't here. Then again, Cat likely would have attacked the guards, and cut herself to the bone to escape, knowing her.

This was for the best.

She sat, instead, almost poised atop a a stone structure, and watched. Her golden eyes scanned the gathering, looking for...information. The guards wouldn't give it, and those in the white robes were like her. They were the only ones talking, though. She wished she could see like Cat saw, in this moment, that gathering of stories, the strands that united people. Perhaps she was across the sea? Elsewhere? She didn't know anyone here. It was concerning, as she knew most people in Praes.

She hopped from her perch, and approached the first person she saw, her lips quirked in what she hoped was a friendly smile -- although it was likely more haughty. It couldn't be helped. ]

Excuse me, perhaps you would answer a few of my questions?

⟳ Wildcard!

[ Feel free to choose anything else! I'm pretty flexible! ]

[ As undignified as she herself feels in the thin white shift, Moiraine has other things that take more of her attention. Her mind keeps wandering back to the vision she'd seen before coming here, though that was days -- weeks? -- ago. She refuses to believe it's true, of course -- but it's not an easy thing to shake off feeling the death of one's world.

That she doesn't know why she's here, what this ritual their captors have spoken of entails, or what, exactly, is shielding her from touching the Source only adds to the feeling of restlessness that actually has her pacing somewhat. Hearing a voice -- a woman's voice -- is at least a distraction, and she pauses to turn towards the stranger. ]

If I have the answers, yes. [ An agreeable enough request, she thinks. ]

[ Likely, that she wouldn't, but Akua understood that in approaching. It was difficult to come to terms with... the everything that was happening. Perhaps if she had a name, such as a vivisector of miracles like the Hierophant, she could discern all of this. A matter of perspective, after all. ]

It's very kind of you. I'm sure that we're at the same level of confusion across the board, given... [ She gestured outward, her lips quirked with the irony. ] The wide variety of individuals here.

Perhaps you can tell me where you're from, for starters? I'm hoping we can find a commonality.

I was born in Cairhien, west of the Spine of the World.

[ The answer doesn't give much away, partly by design, and partly because Moiraine's never really had to answer this question before. Not for someone from a different world. That in itself is novelty. ]

It is a place not unlike many, with its own joys and travails, and the scheming of noble houses trying to outdo one another.

[ That last she's personally familiar with, in more ways than one, but she doesn't much like to discuss her past, and she's quick to move on from it. ]

Does that answer your question?

Well... in a way.

[ Akua's smile was pleasant, practiced. ]

The scheming of noble houses is certainly something I'm familiar with. It's a game the nobles like to play, isn't it?

[ Akua had been quite the practiced hand at it, and her knowing smile said as much. Of course, in the Dread Empire of Praes, schemes involved copious amounts of rare poisons and curses. So much so, that it was practice to take anti-venom before any event you would consume food or drink. ]

I suppose it's cementing the fact that we are not...from the same worlds. I'm familiar with the planes of the hells, and other new planes, such as the Twilight Ways, but... I'm afraid I've never heard of Cairhien. Much in the same way, I'm sure you're not familiar with Praes.

[Estinien may stick out as a man with elven ears and a towering frame - and also a tendency to being constantly in conflict with the guards. Today, though, he's just huddled up near the fire staring at the coals. His white robe bears blood stains and his face is blackened with bruising.

He doesn't quite look at her when she speaks to him. He doesn't refuse her directly, either.]

Aye.

[What else does he have to do?]

[ Elves are a curiosity to Akua, one of the reasons she'd approached. While most elves stayed within the Golden Bloom, in Calernia, she'd still encountered a few, but those encounters had never been pleasant. She'd always wondered what the elves were like across the sea, where they interacted with the world at large. She smiled at him, and sat primly near him. A distance, but close enough to have a conversation. ]

Thank you. [ A pause. ] Are you alright? You look like you've gotten into a few fights.

[ They aren't judgemental, her words. In fact, she sounds impressed. ]

[He lifts a shoulder, unsure of what 'alright' even means in this context. He doesn't feel very alright in a psychological sense, but he's pretty sure that's not what she's talking about.]

I've made an enemy of our 'escorts.'

[Since the moment he was pulled from the cave, it's been a constant. What were originally spirited attempts at actual escape have become a matter of principle, however impotent.]

It's marked me as a problem. I'm sure they like having the excuse... and I'd be loathe to disappoint.

[The bitterness is palpable.]

[ She made a note of acknowledgement. She'd been quiet, with regards to the guards. It wasn't ideal, and if Akua had been younger, she would certainly fight alongside him. ]

You're likely right. I don't know what else they would expect, capturing us like so. [ Her voice turned hard, slightly. ] I don't expect our lot will get better, I'm afraid. I'd offer healing, but...

[ She wasn't even sure Trismegistan Sorcery would work at the moment. Every time she tried, it felt...wrong, like the computations didn't quite make sense here. Frustrating, for someone whose sorcery was only dwarfed by the likes of a man who would have achieved godhood. ]

I'm Akua. [ She said, with her hand outstretched. Niceties, her mother had taught her, were incredibly important. They were what differentiated people like her from others. ]

Akua Sahelian | A Practical Guide to Evil | Sovereign (?)

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Rebirth, because gotta greet co-legacy-ists

yes! hello!

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