EVENT #3: WRAP UP

[aionmods]

Event Wrap Up

CONCLUSION

After the Aions have been susceptible to infections for a few days, it will seem that the illness has finally lost its hold on the city. Infected civilians will slowly start coming back to their sense, those the ones most deeply consumed will take a while to recover. Much of this was accomplished by the Aions simply being present and available to absorb the overabundance of Innocence energy, neutralizing its power by experiencing the thing it resists most desperately: suffering.

This isn't the only outcome, though. Across the city, certain scenarios were enough to summon forth the presence of the entity causing it all. Though characters will have to learn the details from those involved ICly, we will provide some short summaries for everyone's OOC benefit. Please note that we will not be able to provide any further NPC encounters for this event, unless they are rooted in material that has already been discussed with us.

❖ KEY EVENTS

◆ SACRIFICIAL OFFERING: Towards the very end of the infection period, the sky will briefly become alive with the illusory impression of hundreds of flapping wings, hovering above the city like a cloud. This will last for about ten minutes before they disappear again, giving no easy means of determining their source. The uninfected citizens of Venera are not capable of perceiving it. As it will turn out, this was actually a manifestation of the Innocence Entity that caused all of this, brought forth by its dismay at having Estinien, then fully petrified and overwhelmed with infection, be killed by Makoto in an act of revenge.

After a brief skirmish, it was determined that it was not there to fight, only to 'protect' what it considered to be its charge as one of the drastically infected Aions. The Pleroma that were present managed to convince it that the plague it was causing was not the way to spare the people of Venera their suffering; or rather, they convinced it enough to make it relinquish the city and Estinien's shard for the time being, demanding that they prove the truth of their convictions and leaving several Aions curiously marked.

◆ GATHERING OF INNOCENTS: This thread has not yet been started, but there is intent for the three current Innocent Aions to meet up, which will cause another appearance. This will be summarized when it happens.

◆ THE EMBRACE: Yuya became petrified early on and remained that way for the majority of the event, resulting in a strange phenomenon occurring around his unmoving body. Infected citizens were drawn to him like an idol, basking in the Innocence that built up around him.

AFTERMATH

As the illness fades from the city, the Aions infected by the Innocence Contagion will gradually begin to lose all physical and mental side effects, before finding that the disease has vanished from them entirely. Bodies that have been broken via petrification cracks will find it healing at a highly supernatural rate, which can be sped along even further by healing magic. If entire limbs have been lost, those will gradually begin to reform by means of crystals beginning to form on the stub, growing in the shape of the lost limb until outside of it peels away like a chrysalis, revealing a new limb within.

At that point, Kenoma will be expected to return home, while Pleroma are free to do as they will. Things in Venera will be a bit strange for a while, with its resident still completely staggered by the plague, but also celebrating its seeming disappearance. Aions returning home will discover that all signs of the Innocence Contagion have disappeared from the rest of the continent as well, with only the scars it left behind remaining.

❖ IMPORTANT NOTES

◆ TRAVEL: Any Aion with a returning stone from the TDM will find that by the end of the event it's charged enough to make a trip back to their sect's lodestone. Alternatively, they can return by teleporting to a shrine and hoofing it the rest of the way.

◆ VENERA: This city will now be considered open for Aions of both sects to visit, though Pleroma will have to do so undercover. Some events have caused the citizens to the wary of the Aions that visited, but for the most part, they do seem to associate the Aion's arrival with the plague ending, for better or for worse. Opinions on why this happened are very mixed.

◆ GREENTRUTH: If any Pleroma share news of what's happened with Tehri, she will sound relieved that they made it back, but concerned with the findings. After she's done offering them what support and medical attention the settlement can offer, the Aions staying in Greentruth will find out that she has apparently left without much word for parts unknown, and it will be at least a week before she is seen again.

◆ THE REGENT: Xishen will reconnect with the Kenoma as they return to Achamoth, apparently having been on a separate but related quest from the Regent. She will gather the results of everyone's investigations and report them to the Regent on their behalf, and our default assumption will be that the Kenoma are cooperative in that effort. If your character would not share the information they found, please let us know below. After the reports have been delivered, Xishen will let it be known that the Regent seems 'satisfied enough' with the results. However, they are very curious about those that interacted with the entity itself...

Comments

[hundredpower]

Thank you! Then for handwavey purposes, feel free to assume Barnaby asked her about it, though he won't prod her for more detail when she says it was private business.

On a slightly related note, now they're aware the contagion was presumably caused by an Innocent entity, if Barnaby were to drop by the Lover Shrine on the way back to Achamoth and try to commune with an entity related to the Lovers Legacy, would he be able to sense/learn anything?

[aionmods]

If any Lover Entity exists, he will not feel any evidence of it. The shrine definitely seems to have energy within it, but not with a will of its own.

[hundredpower]

Thank you! And hopefully my last question: if he were to dig through the library in the Citadel for any evidence of other entities tied to the Legacies would he find anything?

[aionmods]

It's hard to say. For one, the Citadel's library is mostly about the Regent and the general history of Achamoth, so it isn't the best resource for researching the Legacies. In the books that do talk about them, however, it can be hard to tell the difference between literal entities and metaphor. Most of the accounts that are strictly historical only refer to Aions that are facets of a Legacy, but the myths are a bit more diverse in how they present them conceptually. Sometimes the Legacies are referred to as if they are a single god that embodies the Legacy's traits perfectly, but that often seems like it's just a literary device to make a point. Some books of a more occult leaning make it sound literal, but who knows how accurate it is.

There isn't really any information dated to earlier than several hundred years ago.