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groundrules) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
westwhere2021-12-02 07:00 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2021-12-02 07:00 pm
Entry tags:
- 2ha: chu wanning,
- avatar: zuko,
- harry potter: hermione granger,
- harry potter: lily evans,
- kingdom of the wicked: wrath,
- mo dao zu shi: xiao xingchen,
- mo dao zu shi: xue yang,
- oh! my emperor: beitang moran,
- persona 5: akira,
- star wars: slick,
- taravast,
- tian guan ci fu: xie lian,
- warcraft: anduin wrynn,
- warcraft: wrathion,
- watch_dogs: wrench
the coup
Hello to our last Big Event of the year, covering 2-22 December and also subbing as our test drive.
Current players can play here or make separate logs & network posts. TDM tourists are confined to this playground, but can include network prompts in their top levels.
If you’re trialling a character, you can apply them until 21 December without a game invite. TDM characters can participate in the sign-up quests without taking up a slot, but cannot vote for event outcomes.
Taravast’s civilians take to spirited protests and seize the Palace of the Doxe. They intend to redirect Doxe Bonaccorso Spina’s attention and resources to his people, livelihoods suffered in recent undead attacks. The Merchant sends ‘help’ to oust the Doxe.
Amid the chaos, Vannozza Spina seeks to apprehend her grandfather. Her cousin Macaluso, Bonaccorso’s prisoner, can be liberated. Outgunned, outmanned and outnumbered, Bonaccorso orders the city burned down.
TDM TOURISTS: THE BARREN BONES
You wake up in shallow water, other supine bodies beside you. The nearby occupants of a desert outpost greet you with a coarse translation and communication device and introduce you to their leader, the Merchant. He rescues otherworlders who were summoned to serve as weapons for warring undead factions, sending them east — where forgotten beacons can return them home.
A. A FRIEND IN NEED
Unconscious new arrivals are delivered every few days, recovered from the dunes. They are submerged in oasis waters. Some characters wake weaker of body and mind, struggling to focus their thoughts or their supernatural abilities — effects that recede within one-three days. Others are plagued by a drowning sensation for one-two days.
- ■ Help fellow newcomers as they regain their strength with sparring, a calming voice or a warm meal.
■ Newcomers must share tents and carry out camp tasks: hold the night watch, man fires, kill viper nests and excessively large scorpions or, fate help everyone if you’re related to Xie Lian, cooking.
B. A FRIEND IN DEED
Soon enough, the Merchant reveals more otherworlders are assigned in the nearby magical citadel of Taravast, which is on the brink of civil uprising against the ruling Doxe Bonaccorso Spina. Your fellows need you, cavalry.
The Merchant sends the fresh conscripts on a three-day journey to Taravast across a desert canyon, granting supplies, horses or seats in shared carts.
- ■ Fresh horses wait at specific landmarks, but some suppliers trade steeds for the better coin of rich merchants evacuating Taravast. If you end up stranded, find help.
■ Weather forecast: frequent, cruel sand storms that challenge even expert riders. Collect anyone who gets lost in the dunes — particularly near wild cougars.
■ Some Taravast refugees crowd or pretend accidents to loot your horses. A select few diplomatic convoys offer assistance, or try to confiscate your rides.
OLD TIMERS: THE STREETS, RALLYING
Dissenting necromancers, healers and civilians begrudge Doxe Bonaccorso’s failure to ensure their safety and distribute repairs funds fairly. Many believe that Bonaccorso has been manipulated by Macaluso and Vannozza.
The initially peaceful protests exacerbate into after several days: demonstrators frequently come to blows with city guards around the 20:00 evening curfew. Protesters carry sharp and blunt weapons, small explosive talismans or banners. Some are ghost-summoning necromancers, others are sorcerers who command a small array of elemental spells.
- ■ Protesters try to enthusiastically conscript passers-by to their cause. Some assume characters leaving the Doxe Palace are nobility and try to kidnap and ransom them for an audience with Bonaccorso.
■ Merchants and the last few of Macaluso’s foreign suitors begin their exodus from Taravast and ask you to serve as escort in exchange for compensation.
■ Palace guards retaliate with disproportionate violence when they catch crowds without magic users or experienced combatants. Rescue some demonstrators — but prepare to run — or scout the streets so they can escape.
■ The clashes separate some Taravast residents from food, commodities and healers. Be a friend.
■ In rare good news, protesters share with Wrathion and Slick their battle and coordination signs and passcodes.
■ Some crowd contingents are less spirited about this endeavour — try talking them out of this revolution business.
■ Characters without powers or weapons can resort to the arsenal Wrench and Aang recovered from looters: daggers, maces, swords, bows and five-six man-sized water serpents, who heed those who first summon them out of theirPokeballs.
ALL TOGETHER NOW: THE BARRICADES
Within a week of the first demonstrations, the protesters and Doxe Bonaccorso’s guards have devolved into vicious and regular violence. Civilian demonstrators have been joined by many necromancers wielding fresh corpses, minor sorcerers, healers and a handful of expert combatants, assigned by sympathetic gentry. Bonaccorso’s men conduct regular inspections and arrests. The demonstrators meanwhile set traps of magical ice and explosives.
Led by the lawyer Giacomo Zanardo and the healer Sebastiano Bianchi, the mob seeks to storm the Palace of the Doxe and persuade Bonaccorso back to his senses, which have surely been corrupted by his absent nephew Macaluso and niece Vannozza.
RISE ONE, RISE ALL
Existing characters are soon joined by fresh reinforcements. Everyone receives the Merchant’s transmission:
”It has emerged, vocally, that Doxe Bonaccorso Spina no longer serves the interests of his city, his people or our contingent. The most efficient recourse is to depose him. How, and whether you choose to instate one of his successors, is of no consequence to me. I send a wave of our new otherworldly associates to assist you. Fair fortune.”
- ■ Zanardo and Bianchi organise a last bout of midnight merrymaking before the Palace attack at dawns. Meet your reinforcements at a… large, cold, rudimentarily decorated warehouse in one of Taravast’s dodgiest district. Close your eyes and smell the salted fish.
■ Old and new characters can collect further plain weapons from rioters. Slick receives command of five NPC protesters.
■ Pacifists can scout the Palace of the Doxe to report back the watch patterns, or try to persuade servants to open the gates.
■ Come dawns, protesters seize the Palace, meeting fresh waves of Bonaccorso’s guards in the gardens before advancing inside.
■ The Merchant informs Eleven and Shen Qingqiu they are required back in Taravast. He cuts a deal with local warlord Anurr, who supplies two transporters orbs that will transport the duo immediately.
Because of overlapping timelines, your character can only be signed up for one of the three following missions. Each quest will be capped at 15 characters: first come, first served. You can vote on game polls irrespective of what mission your character pursues.
NOTE: TDM tourists can participate in the quests and do not need to sign up. They can include prompts for one of the parallel quests in their top-level prompts, or can tag around. However, TDM tourists don't qualify for the NPC RNG draw and cannot vote on Bonaccorso's fate.
A. LET IT BUUUUUURN, LET IT BURN
Counting the last hours of his reign, Doxe Bonaccorso Spina takes to the great balcony of his Palace to address the masses:
”My people, my loved ones. Twenty-two years ago, I came before you, a man ruined: my son and my daughter taken from me. Is there any pain greater than burying your children? Only today: to see the blood of your blood and the blood of your nation, united against you. To know your nephew made weapon of a blade and your niece of her gold, and your people are indiscriminate in their arsenal. You tear down my doors, sirs! You bloody my halls! And when you stand against your Doxe, you stand against Taravast. And why? Because I turned my eye from you for scant moments. Spoiled! Shameless! All I ever intended were more years in your service. For we must strike a permanent truce with the dead. To survive. Know that even now, I see you: you are strong, gifted, beautiful. How it breaks my heart to know I must bury my children again.”
After this, Bonaccorso orders the 20 court witches of Bessis currently at the Palace rain down fire from the northern and southern towers, unto the masses.
- ■ Current Bessis leader Margherita Moretti is instructed to call her sister witches to Taravast’s greater walls, where they might direct further fire upon all who oppose Bonaccorso.
■ Ten witches will climb each Palace tower, targeting protesters. Sign up and discuss how characters can slip the witches sleeping herbs with their water, kill them, feign fresh orders from Moretti, etc.
■ The witches of Bessis have historically received the patronage of the imprisoned Macaluso. Many recently retreated from court, embittered by Bonaccorso’s support for the rival Attaryl. Moretti is reasonable, if loyal, and possesses a conscience. She rides out to bring further Bessis assistance.
■ Team up, pursue and capture Moretti down the chaotic streets of Taravast. Two characters — chosen on 10 December through RNG draw from the signed-up crew — can participate in a NPC thread to talk her down.
B. OFF WITH THE OLD MAN’S HEAD
Informed by Wrath and Wen Qing’s faction that her grandfather prepared to possess her body, Vannozza Spina moves to apprehend Bonaccorso.
Following his speech, the Doxe holes up in his quarters, guarded by several dozen Attaryl witches — masters of illusions, telekinesis and mind control. They will try to briefly steal or dim characters’ senses, thrall them into seeing their allies as enemies and crumble walls and statues upon them. The witches are easily defeated through physical means.
- ■ Characters can charge in militarily or infiltrate by presenting as palace staff or Attaryl reinforcements. Those who previously assisted servants can receive spare uniforms and directions. Sign up here.
■ In-game characters can vote until 15 December to decide Bonaccorso’s fate. Two characters drawn via RNG can share a NPC thread for a short discussion with him. Wen Qing and Wrath can optionally have a separate talk thread, given their participation in Vannozza’s plotline.
C. SAVE THE HIMBO, SAVE THE WORLD
Macaluso Spina’s attempt to persuade his Doxe grandfather of the merits of retirement condemned him to house arrest, awaiting trial on charges of assassination. He is secluded in his wing of the Palace of the Doxe, guarded by two dozens of Bonaccorso’s men and by illusion traps devised by Attaryl witches.
Characters can hear footsteps, men giving chase, the muffled voices of Macaluso or their companions, all unseen. A mirrored hall leads you back to its beginning, as your reflection mocks you — until you break a mirror.
- ■ Characters who have helped Palace servants can receive tips on guard numbers and locations, or corridor shortcuts.
■ Sign up here. Two characters picked via RNG draw on 10 December can share a NPC thread to discuss Macaluso’s next steps. Alina Starkov can have an optional separate thread, for her involvement in Macaluso’s plot so far.
QUESTIONS
OLD TIMERS
MORETTI
Mistress Moretti is a tired thing, breathless, dressed in soot. She has ridden long — too long, down citadel streets so gutted and narrow — but she recovers the silent dignity to face her capture without any conceit of further protest. It is the way of the world.
When she is presented before Allison Hargreeves and Jon Snow, she does not threaten, does not curse, does not speak a word against her circumstances. Only, "You should kill me early. I can't pledge I won't do my duty, any more than you can pledge you won't do yours."
cw Game of Thrones atrocities mentioned in passing
What don Bonaccorso is doing to hold on to power… it’s wrong. It’s wrong like the stories he’s heard come up the Kingsroad of what really happened to the Sept of Baelor down in King’s Landing. It’s wrong like what the Lannisters did to his family, though it isn’t the same. It’s wrong like what Stannis did to his little daughter.
So when he reaches Moretti, a smear of soot on his face, Longclaw at his side, he has one question.
“Why is it your duty? Why hurt the people on his command? Has he done so much for your order?”
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They don't want to have to kill her. Allison is prepared to use the nuclear option before it comes to that. But for now, she let's Jon lead, as they seem to be aligned on what they want to learn.
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"He need not do anything for us. He is Doxe. He leads." But they are intruders here, 'visitors' by Macaluso's chosen name. The boy loves foreigners too well, and look how they come, unlearned. Open only to their own madness. Miscreant. "What is a citadel without a leader? He is wrong, because you say he is wrong? He was chosen. Elected. Dozens of better heads thought he was right."
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He looks back at Moretti and nods. He understands her words; he does not necessarily agree with them.
“Chosen, but long ago. The people don’t choose him now. They don’t want him now. Now he clings to power, and the Attaryl help him. Why do the Bessis help him too?”
He looks to Allison. She’s been in Taravast longer; she’s seen more.
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Or they try, anyway. It isn't always easy, but the leaders should exist for the people they serve, not to hold on to endless reigns of power.
"Do you know what he's been doing, don't you? Stealing people's bodies to prolong his own life? Preparing to do the same to his own niece? You may not care about Vannozza, but the people who came before her weren't nearly as important."
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"Perhaps I would remove him." As the woman claims her people oust their failing leaders. "But whom would I replace him with? Any unelected leader is illegitimate. We held hope for Macaluso." And now, their champion sleeps confined and arrested in his quarters, as if he were a babe in his cradle.
For a moment, Moretti's flame does burst. She offers it, fire tickling her fingertips, dancing up to shape the silhouette of a woman, well known. "You speak of Vannozza. You think we did not know?" Laughter, bittersweet. "He tried with Macaluso first, but his body was too weak. It would have killed him. We quarreled. We said, leave us the boy. Take the girl, we do not intercede. Then, at least we would have one alive."
cw mention of horrible child murder
Why shouldn’t it be the same here? Why should that girl be eaten up from the inside? Why should the people who chafe under Bonaccorso’s rule feel the heat licking at their heads and hands and heels?
Yet he also watches the fire in Moretti’s hand with interest bordering on fascination. This alone could mean life for the North, if they were in the North. Still, he would not countenance the use of the flame on his people. Neither would his sister, hiding in the witches’ ranks.
The fire itself is a threat, or a warning. He has not drawn Longclaw. He wonders if he would have the chance.
“The lady did not elect the Doxe. If it was her duty to give herself over — “ (Moretti has not said this, but he suspects she might) “— for some choice someone else made long ago, then why wasn’t she given that choice? And what good is Macaluso to you now? You let Bonaccorso try to take Vannozza, but after that, you worked against him.”
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Allison doesn't really have high opinions of Macaluso in the first place, but he was part of their patronage. It makes sense that they would back their own meal ticket, rather than actually do the right thing. That's politics in Taravast to a tea.
"Well, I don't know if you heard, but now Vannozza knows too. And she intends to personally address it with her uncle. If you want the Doxe gone, she intends to do it. Why not give her your support since Macaluso isn't here to fight for you."
Having been personally threatened by Vannozza, she has every faith in her following through with her plans.
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"Vannozza is worthless now." A simple, ugly, dispiriting thing. She was tired before, now her breath's thinned to reediness. "You can't kill every Attaryl."
Believe her, she has tried. They have tried for years. And what good has it brought them? The unjust reputation of slaughterers, taking arms against a 'defenceless' court contingent. If only the people knew.
"If you kill Bonaccorso and put the niece in his place, the Attaryl will speak one day. Today. Tomorrow. One day. They'll say, she's no better than him, she was raised for him. They ruined her when they took her." The people will never trust again. "We have a choice: Bonaccorso or civil war. I don't take it gladly."
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“Look around you, my lady. The choice is gone. Civil war is on you. You can’t kill every Attaryl, but you would kill the people who would rise against their scheming? It isn’t your duty to aid in tyranny.
“When the Attaryl speak, what will you say?”
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Allison is starting to feel like she may not have a choice. That Moretti might force her hand into showing that she was the right one to be feared. But she still wants to try and reason with her, to get her to see beyond the conditioning and expectations from the world she lives in and understand that she can reach for more.
"The people have had enough. You're getting a civil war, whether you want it or not. If the Attaryl truly are what you say, then I'm sure they would be formidable. But would you rather live your life in servitude to an enemy that doesn't respect you or would you rather fight for the chance at something better?"
She can't promise they'll win, even with the forces at hand on their side.
"I've seen situations like this before. Complacency is never going to get you what you want. If you want respect for your people from those in power, you have to take it. You have to risk something in order to win."
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"What does it matter what we will say, when the Attaryl speak? The doubt will be there. And you both want what, then? A coup?" She laughs like gravel, all teeth. "Another coup. Look around you. Have you seen any gain since this all started?"
The fires, the protests, the bloodshed. Infantry and guardsmen, slowly earning back territory against desperate advances. "They cannot win. Today, you will not let me do my part. What did I tell you? Kill me. I don't begrudge you."
In truth, she seems to have almost accepted it, a strange but signed-off lot in her life.
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“We kill you, then what? One of your sisters takes your place?”
I have a sister among you, he does not add.
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She cannot say, someone will take my place. She wishes it were only so simple. "Mayhap. We are few. Why did you set against us and not the Attaryl?"
Bitterness there, above all. Even strangers choose to persecute them.
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“Because the Attaryl aren’t raining fire on the people of this city. We only want you to stop. If you ask me that, though — you seem to think the Attaryl are the trouble. Why not attack them, instead of the people?”
Why fight against them instead of at their side?
“Who is your true enemy within the city? And outside of it?”
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They should have been slaughtered, years before. Them, and at their head, Hatisse.
"My enemy is disorder. And you condemn Taravast to chaos and war, if you oust the one man yet able to rule it." What option lies before them? Only one, imprisoned. "If Macaluso prevailed, if he were released, there would be a choice, between him and his grandfather. He is a fine man. We taught him well."
cw more of me apologizing for Game of Thrones being so violent
Some of what she says is right. He has heard of, not seen, the suffering in the Riverlands after his father’s death. That could be called disorder. There is great disorder in war.
But look closer, and it’s not inevitable. It’s the Lannisters doing whatever they can to hold on to whatever power they have, taking advantage of the ambitions of people like the Boltons to do it. He does not know much of Lord Tywin, past his reputation, his deeds, the fact that he had killed Robb and much of the North’s strength, that he had given Winterfell to Roose Bolton and that Roose’s son had bled the people for sport until the bones in his face had cracked under Jon’s fists. But he knows what Sansa has said, and he remembers Tyrion speaking of Lord Tywin’s disdain for him, his own son, no matter how clever.
To make that disorder, it takes men with no care for the smallfolk, trying to hold to power.
He glances at Allison again. What he’s about to say could be a risk. Moretti takes the part of Bonaccorso now, but she has supported Macaluso in the past. If she takes this to Bonaccorso himself, it could undermine whatever plans anyone else has made. It helps that Jon himself is not aware of the niceties of any such scheme.
“I don’t know much about it, but I know there is a plan to aid Macaluso.”
A risk, against the lives of so many.
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Not Allison, but she knows that there are people coming to Vannozza's aid, trying to protect her. There was a lot of ground to cover, and they couldn't be everywhere at once. They had to pick their battles, and Allison chose this one.
"The task Jon and I were given was to do what we could to stop the people from burning. We won't kill you, but that doesn't mean we won't stop you."
She doesn't know what order she thinks she'll gain by burning the city, but Allison won't let that happen. But Allison also knows that they won't be giving her the peace of death. Maybe it's crueler, to force her hand in the way she will, Moretti isn't on her murder list. She doesn't want to force her hand this way, but the lives of the people of Taravast matter more.
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But she commits the one sin no witch should endeavour — strays her eyes from her fellow woman, to watch the man first. What he said, what they said. When she speaks again, Moretti pretends no indifference.
"Can they release Macaluso?" And to the woman, after. "Your task is meaningless without him. We will not stop one war, only to start another. This only propagates disaster, you must see it. Even you."
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“Since I came here, the people I’ve met have done what they set out to do. If they mean to free Macaluso, they will do it.”
But he casts a pensive glance at Allison. This may rest on her. What Moretti has said precludes his next argument: that her order might stand down until it is known whether or not Macaluso has been rescued, and if so, what shape he’s in. They are making some slight progress with the witch, but not enough. She seems resolute, and he doesn’t have enough to offer her, or even enough of a common goal.
They both want peace for the city, but they have very different ideas of what that peace might look like.
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But she sets her jaw and straightens. "Those looking to rescue Macaluso are very determined. I can't tell the future, but they are very capable people, and they will do whatever it takes."
And sometimes, war cannot be avoided. Sometimes you must tear down another system to build a better one. And if they have to choose sides, she prefers to put that choice in the hands of the people subjugated rather than the wealthy in power.
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Moretti shares this with her sisters. Where one falls, three others rise to replace and support her. She knows, then, this brand of steely confidence. "How long, until you hear from your people?" Then, muttered, "I can give you three hours."
More, and the tide will turn too quickly in favour of the masses, and Bonaccorso will know to order Moretti replaced and the instructions sent with another.
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She's not sure whether or not it's promising that she's willing to give them this time, but she does not intend to squander it. She'll reach for her crystal soon after, and send out a quick message to her comrades, hoping that they'll have some good news to spare.
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As she waits for her... detainers to provide the signal that Macaluso has been liberated, she volunteers, after a time:
"If my sisters retreat." She knows what they would prefer to hear: when. "If Macaluso Spina is awarded his rightful throne. What are your intentions for the Attaryl abominations?"
No. Let her be clear. She will not pretend. "If we hunt, will you stand with them?"
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