aionooc | EVENT #6: By Heaven or Hell

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EVENT #6: By Heaven or Hell

By Heaven or Hell

THE STORY SO FAR...

During the month of Innoseri, the Pleroma and Kenoma were mobilized to the city of Venera to investigate a mysterious affliction of the residents. They were succumbing to a strange apathy that slowly disconnected them from the reality, to the point that many would lose interest in even necessary activities to live. They ran the risk of starving, dying of dehydration, or simply wandering into danger with no sense of preservation.

By entering the city, both sects were exposed to the effects of the illness, which turned out even worse for Aions. In a twist of fate, it was during that time that the Pleroma Aion Estinien met his end at the hands of the Kenoma Aion Makoto, shattering his Innocence-petrified body. It was this act of profane violence that summoned the god-like creature that has caused the illness, sending a great metaphysical scream echoing across the city, demanding to know what had been done to it's child.

The winged being now colloquially known as the Innocence Entity manifested for the first time, in the form of a great cloud of wings floating above the city. It turned it's attentions to the gathered Aions, striking down any that challenged it, enraged by the acts of violence committed in the city it had hopes to envelope in a haze of endless peace. Abel, a Pleroma who had come to Estinien's defense, realized that the entity seemed be acting to protect Estinien, who it considered its ward after he succumbed to the illness its power invoked. Abel beseeched his allies to stay their hand and begged the Innocence leave him and the city be.

The Innocence Entity was reluctant, arguing that life without its 'blessing' would be filled with suffering and strife. Abel, Himeka, Ryunosuke, and Alphinaud, the four Pleroma present at the time, insisted to it that life was worth living despite that pain that came along with it, and promised they could care for Estinien in its stead. Accepting their vow, the entity bound them all to a contract that would be broken if they failed to shield him from suffering. It left Venera and the illness faded.

Last month, the Kenoma were deployed to Venera and to Godsblood with the intent of culling dissenters and citizens who showed disloyalty to the empire. During this conflict, the capture of Ryunosuke and Thoma drew Estinien into a battle against several Kenoma. Outnumbered and disadvantaged, the pain and panic Estinien experienced summoned the Innocence Entity once more. It possessed Estinien's body, using its power to dispense of the Kenoma challenging him, all while lashing against the Pleroma it saw as having broken their vows. This divine punishment fell upon Abel and Himeka as they were facing off against Ciel and Emet-Selch in Godsblood. Taking advantage of their suddenly prone enemies, the two Kenoma delivered them to the Regent.

The Kenoma had long-since hoped to capture Estinien, to use his connection to the entity as a weapon against it, but now the perfect bait had fallen into their hands. As the Pleroma rally to save their captured comrades, the Kenoma prepare to turn circumstances to their advantage, and to perhaps eliminate the Innocence Entity's threat once and for all...

❖ INCLUDED EVENT PROMPTS

◆ BURNED AT THE STAKE: In an effort to force the Pleroma's hand, the Regent will be scheduling the public burning of Abel and Himeka in Achamoth. After the failed public execution in Godsblood, why not try again! This will be set up to occur in a public square near the Citadel. The Pleroma will be in a race against time to save them before both their bodies and their shards are destroyed.

◆ INNOCENCE ON FIRE: As the Pleroma enter the city, the Innocence Entity, previously disinterested in fighting on behalf of Aions it considers oath breakers, will seemingly have a change of heart. It will offer its power to Estinien who will, in turn, temporarily ascend to boss monster level during this siege, wielding both the power of the Innocent and the Firebrand. This will be run as an official boss encounter in collaboration with Estinien's player, the mechanics of which will be explained along with the post. In addition, the radiance of the Innocence Entity will rob most Achamoth NPCs of their will to fight, leading to a conflict largely between Aions. Those of the Innocent Legacy will receive strange communion from the entity itself, which they can respond to as they will.

◆ FIREBRANDS RISING: As if summoned by the Pleroma's rebellious actions against the Regent's empire, Pleroma Firebrands participating in the raid will be blessed with additional power that will amplify along with the strength of their defiant conviction. This power can be extended, to a lesser to degree, by those fighting alongside them that are inspired by their example. In opposition, the Firebrands of the Kenoma will hold a natural resistance to the Innocent's assaults, and will find themselves with the ability to 'inspire' limited amounts of NPCs into defying the power robbing them of their will. In general, all Firebrands will feel supernaturally uninhibited by all that would hold them back from achieving their desires, whether those bonds be emotional or physical.

MOD NOTE: All characters who go participate in the event log will be awarded 1 Token, so please make sure to mark that on your AC. You will not receive the token if you don't claim it. For new players, they will be permitted to spend this token for use during the event, though this will only be relevant for those with the Normie Discount.

We would also like to be clear and say that the outcome of this event has been predetermined by the players most closely involved (Himeka and Abel will escape, Estinien will be captured) but everyone else's fates will be up in the air. The event itself will go up and take place on August 17th.

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Ask any questions you have about the information above.

Claude and Sooyoung had been tossing around the idea of sneaking into the Citadel to snoop around while all the fighting is going on. In light of most NPCs not having the will to fight, would they be able to accomplish this with minimal resistance, and how far would they be able to explore?

OH AND how long would you estimate the battle lasts overall? Would it be a short raid that only lasts a few hours, or will the battle continue for the better part of a day? (I'm asking mostly to figure out PvP limitations for Barnaby, since he has the hour cooldown on his powers.)

Edited 2022-08-12 16:26 (UTC)

NPCs inside of the Citadel won't really be affected by this since that whole area is protected by the Regent. We just didn't mention that because we weren't seeing the Citadel as a very practical destination for most characters. If they want to try to break in they can but there will be mod rolls involved, and if they are failed the consequences would be potentially fairly severe for them.

The raid will functionally last for a few hours, most likely. It's more of a rush than a siege, admittedly.

Noted! Neither of us want them to potentially face Bad Consequences this early, so we've changed plans to have Kaeya intervene and stop Claude and Sooyoung entering the Citadel.

Piggy backing off Candace's Citadel snoop question, would it be possible for Claude and Sooyoung to only bust into the kitchen/pantry and steal some food (courtesy of the Kenoma Bake Klub), have a NPC retainer encounter (in this case to be more specific, the 13yo orphan boy that often sticks around Ciel who I will be playing for them), and then get chased back out (after/while stuffing their faces)? We're sorry for being unruly children with increasingly more chaotic ideas, checking in to ask if a controlled and OOCly agreed upon temp Citadel break-in would potentially be okay?

Thank you in advance as always!

Edited 2022-08-14 08:44 (UTC)

(no subject)

aionmods - 2022-08-14 21:59 (UTC) - Expand

So this is more of a Logistics question, but it is relevant. Are the Regent/Aion's letting the Pleroma into the city...? It stands to reason from the User Info that the Military here is strong and it's a stronghold, along with the Aions being there. And the Regent. If the two abductees are being used as bait it would make sense if they made everything a little more easily accessible to lure people into the city so they can do whatever.

Otherwise it just kinda...looks ...🤨

As the event post explains, most NPCs are being robbed of their will to fight by the Innocence Entity, so they will not be there to help ward them off, and the military strength of Achamoth is mostly irrelevant. The goal is, indeed, to lure Estinien towards Himeka and Abel so he can be captured, so it wouldn't be very effective to focus on keeping the Pleroma outside of the city entirely. It's a trap, essentially.

That said, it's a PVP event so it's assumed there will be pushback from both sides. It wouldn't be very interesting if the Pleroma just flat out couldn't get into the city period, though. There isn't anything about Achamoth that makes it completely impenetrable if most of the NPCs are out of the situation.

(no subject)

lachtara - 2022-08-14 00:52 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

aionmods - 2022-08-14 03:52 (UTC) - Expand

hewwo mods, i just wanted to check if this is all right and if this needs to be looked over to be accounted for (it isn't super impactful, it is more flavor), but upon acceptance joonghyuk's ability was approved to summon one lightning storm.

icly, he'd prob want to summon it outside the city! it shouldn't hinder pleroma from getting in too much and it is not meant to; it's ic perception/choice to make it not look like a trap at a glance. the storm is more of something people could play with if maybe they wanted to dodge lightning strikes and stuff.

if this was meant to be approved as a small storm, then i can keep it in my own individual threads. :nod: thank you!

It's still limited by the overall damage/collateral power cap so it couldn't just be a city wide destructive force indefinitely. It's probably be best to be kept to more specific areas/situations.

Re: QUESTIONS

regression - 2022-08-12 17:55 (UTC) - Expand

Re: QUESTIONS

aionmods - 2022-08-12 18:11 (UTC) - Expand

Hi mods! Three questions.

1) Question about the Firebrand aions. With this buff, if they have abilities near or at cap, are they still limited by the overall damage cap for the game or does this legacy buff allow for a little bit over?

2) Tying to the second question, how large of a water whale would Childe be able to conjure with this buff? I'd say in Genshin the max size it could possibly reach is a half a football field, and I've already considered that too big for the overall gamecap, so just wondering.

3) Is the Regent going to be Unhappy if the Kenoma cause damage to Achamoth in the process of this raid or will they let it go because of the circumstances? I'm not sure how destructive I'm allowed to let Childe be since he actually wants to get on the good side of the Regent this event round (he won't be actually be intending to cause damage to the city, he just won't... be trying to avoid it either.)

1) They should still stay pretty close to the power cap, though you can be a bit more flexible than usual.

2) Definitely not that big. Keep it to a size where it couldn't inflict much more damage than the game power cap.

3) They should avoid collateral damage where possible but the Regent won't be pissy as long as they aren't careless about it. If Childe acts super destructive he will probably get in trouble, but not if damage just happens alongside necessary attacks. So basically, he should be trying to avoid it where possible, but he doesn't need to hamstring himself over it.

Edited 2022-08-12 18:19 (UTC)

(no subject)

vapour - 2022-08-12 21:34 (UTC) - Expand

If there are PC plans and efforts to work with NPCs in evacuating civilian Achamites/lead them out of the city to avoid the fighting, how would that be impacted by the non-combat aura? Would that still be something doable? i.e. have Aions try gathering and guiding NPCs will no will to fight around, or direct them elsewhere with no/less fighting?

Thanks in advance as usual!

The no combat aura would really just prevent the Achamite NPCs from aggressing the Pleroma. If the Pleroma attack them first, they'll be able to defend themselves. Nothing would interfere with trying to escort them to safety, so you are free to have Ciel work on that.

I have a couple of questions. First, given the situation with the Innocence Entity would the NPCs react to Pleroma Aions engaging in expropriation and economic sabotage? Caitlyn and a couple of other characters have discussed vague ideas about stealing things from Achamoth, and also aiming to damage some economic structures like forges, factories (such as they are), or warehouses.

Secondly, there's a non zero chance of Darth Vader going out of his way to try and mess with NPCs, particularly ones that look like soldiers. I saw in another question that they'd wake up to defend themselves if attacked, but what might he sense in them with his mental/emotional senses while they're zonked? He'd probably try and pull surface thoughts out of a couple.

The will to fight dampening effect will vanish if the NPCs themselves are aggressed by the Pleroma, or if their personal property is put under threat. So, if they start attacking the territory, they will be likely to end up with some NPCs on their ass.

They aren't really zonked, they are functioning as normal, they just won't want to fight while under the effect. It will simply feel unthinkable to them, even though everything else is the same.

(no subject)

superbshot - 2022-08-12 21:49 (UTC) - Expand

Regarding the nature of executions, how often are those held in Achamoth, and is burning at the stake the norm, or are hangings also performed?

The method varies! Achamoth is sort of inventive that way. Public executions and sacrifices are not uncommon.

Hi mods. I have a few questions largely around the Firebrand-flavored aspects of this month.

The last sentence of that paragraph makes it a little more vague, but is it the case that only Pleroma Aions are bolstered strength-wise by their Legacy? I can see that Kenoma Aions have increased resistance to Innocence's effects/attacks(?)... But am I incorrect in thinking that Makoto's Abyssal Soul quality would already sort of give him resistance or immunity to that? I understand that he would feel less personal or external inhibitions, and I'm looking forward to playing with that, but... I suppose I am looking for all the opportunity I can to play with this, considering it's my character's Legacy, but I feel as though there are comparatively few options for me to do so.

This having been said, I did want to use the ability to rouse and bolster NPCs, and I just wanted to get a green light from you guys before I ran with the idea. My thought was that Makoto could first inspire his retainer to his side, who is a former Achamite soldier who has occasionally helped him with weapons training. From there, I thought it might be fun to move forward and inspire a small group of current/former Achamite soldiers and then have Makoto coordinate with them throughout the assault. Again, it's a small group (maybe only four or five?), but if there are any thoughts you guys have or limitations you might want to impose, I'm all ears. Thank you!

Coordinating small groups of NPCs is absolutely fine. More specifics about the buffs will be released with the event post.

Good afternoon, mods! I’ve volunteered to write up a summation of a few concerns raised by players in the Discord regarding the event as it stands and also the changes in the calendar that were announced today.

Some players are concerned that these changes are “too much with too little notice.” The lack of concrete details in the event write-up as-is has made it challenging for players to plot out their characters’ involvement, consequences, and aftermath with any confidence. The sudden announcement that the event is being split into two and with even more uncertainty about the circumstances therein (and their mechanics, in some circumstances) has further exacerbated this problem.

There is a general concern over the events of one IC day taking up roughly half of the month OOC-wise. There is also some uncertainty regarding the lack of details for the “boss fight” portion of the log, especially regarding consequences for involvement. Could the potential outcomes for involvement be described so players can make decisions as to whether or not to contribute? As potential outcomes that were discussed, an unexpected result that might either dissipate a character or reduce their attunement might disrupt future plans for PVP engagements, PVP dissipations, and the like. In addition to this, if the “escape the city” portion of the log might contain any similar unexpected outcomes based on random rolls, players would be interested in having these disclosed ahead of time.

(I will admit that some of the cautions raised above were formed from chatter in the chat and not from the write-up, so they are largely hypothetical, but I believe they reinforce the main concern of lack of information until the log itself goes up.)

New players have expressed concern about the above as well as having difficulty integrating to the current plot when not currently able to engage well with PVP, not having established much CR yet, and that the two-part PVP-heavy event makes that sort of CR interaction the only real option for newcomers for their first month in the game. I will also mention that it further delays involvement from characters that chose not to go to Achamoth for IC reasons and the player characters that are currently imprisoned in Achamoth.

In order to alleviate this problem, the players are humbly requesting if it is possible to consolidate the two “parts” of the event into one log and with more transparency as to the details of that log ahead of time for the ease of planning and plotting. With regards to both “sides” of the event, the Pleroma players are most interested in knowing more about what to expect while trying to escape the city while the Kenoma players are most interested in knowing more about what to expect in the “boss fight” encounter (including what the severity of the consequences that might be possible if they choose to get involved). People largely seem content to wait longer for a consolidated log with more details provided between now and its posting, as it would provide something more concrete to plot from as well as allow more time to interact with the new players on the mingle logs that were put up recently.

Thank you so much for your time and effort, and we appreciate your consideration to the above!

Thank you for reaching out to us. We do want players to feel comfortable coming forward with any questions or concerns that they may have. We will also be addressing some of these points in a mod announcement that we have planned already that includes an explanation of the "Boss Battle Mechanics" for the upcoming event.

First of all, we'd like to apologize on the lack of clarity. Our intent was not to leave players, old or new, feeling in the dark. We are trying out some new systems for the conclusion of this plot and our intention was to leave more suspense and surprise for some of the pre-planned flavor that we have created, as well as add for some time for IC actions to influence the outcome to a certain degree. We see that the balance of "less is more" is not quite there and will keep this in mind for future write-ups.

Secondly, regarding the boss fight: the plan is for this to act more as a turn-based system with mod rolls to dictate outcomes for specific actions taken. (This system and examples will be explained in detail in the upcoming announcement.) While there is a roll that could lead to dissipation, we are ultimately leaving it up to the player to take it to that level or simply take it as a knockout. Since this is RNG there is some level of uncertainty, but no one will be 100% out of commission for the duration of the event unless they choose to be.

PVP reactions we will always leave up to the players involved, including and up to dissipation. Mod rolls will only be involved if requested.

Thirdly, the event being split in two may have been misleading. The event is planned to be contained mostly to the initial log. The part two is intended to cover the outcomes of the actions taken in part one. While we have a general idea of how the event is going to wrap-up, we did want to account for actions taken in threads to play a part as well. This is mainly the part we wanted to keep a secret so that it comes as more of a surprise/reward to the player base and we wanted to allow some time for people to thread before announcing those results.

What you can expect in the first log:
- Boss PVE
- Character PVP
- Prisoner Rescue

...Essentially it's Indiana Jones going through the temple, losing a few comrades along the way, showing up at the very end to find the artifact he's hoped for and placing the sandbag on the altar.

What you can expect in the second wrap-up post:
- Outcome of Boss PVE Specifics
- How Pleroma will escape.

...Essentially the scene of Indiana Jones running out of the temple while trying to hold onto the artifact. We know he will eventually make it, but the specifics of how he is going to outrun the giant boulder are up in the air.

There could still be some PVP during the temple escape, but Indiana wouldn't need to do that unless he wanted to. (And neither would any player.) That would ultimately depend on if any ~~skeletons~~ Kenoma try to take on ~~Indiana~~ the Pleroma as they escape.

To the concerns about integrating into a new setting and PVP, while we cannot personally motivate characters we do want to remind everyone that PVP is not restricted to actual combat in the context of Aion Teleos. We do realize this is a heavy combat-leaning event that can be overwhelming, but we want to encourage people to be creative! Characters without any magical or big combative abilities may still engage in the Boss fight by offering distractions or aiding allies. The rolls for actions like this would not be weighed any differently than combat rolls. Additionally, PVP can be inter-faction discussions or arguments as well. Characters may also take advantage of the chaos for their own benefit! Our only caution is that IC actions have IC consequences, so if there is concern about a particular plot you (or any character) wants to test out, please come to us.

We hope this has addressed your concerns to a comfortable degree! If you have any other questions please let us know here or you can ask us on the mod announcement that will go up later this evening.

Mods wake up it's transgress-o-clock! (Just kidding, obvi, get to this when you get to it.)

Okay, so I would love for Matt to use some Left Hand powers this event. I have three transgressive incidents for your consideration:

Matt attempting to arrest Basil (self)

Matt actually arresting Flora (self)

Matt luring Liem to a den of sin, which is decidedly out of his comfort zone (others)

Are these three enough to get Matt one (1) Ephemeral Madness OR one (1) casting of a transgressive version of his shield bubble spell (effect: surrounds someone with glowing energy, but this time there's no air passing in and out so they start to suffocate)?

The Liem thread is currently planned to escalate to blood drinking and some amount of semi-public sexual activity, which is ... you know, obviously much spicier. But I wanted to ask a few days out from the event to maximize planning time, so we get the despiced version.

Yes, this is sufficient! Go right ahead!

this may seem like a silly question but is the boss encounter (excluding the surrounding pvp) intended to be a kenoma-only fight, or will the ~~innocestientity~~ entity be lashing out regardless of alignment? i figure players are free to attack whatever they want but i was just curious about expected participation in the boss part of the event!

alternatively, if this will all be explained in the actual event post, just tell me to wait and i will.

The boss will only be attacking Kenoma/Pleroma that attack it first! It won't just be lashing out wildly. Estinien will be retaining a measure of control for the battle's duration and will be able to recognize his targets.

Pleroma can be involved in the boss fight in that they can they to get in the way of attackers, though.

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