serthica: war & peace

[groundrules]

Clockwork Serthica’s arrival event stretches til around 3 September. You’re welcome to hit up this log or make your own entries. Characters not assigned to a region can still access it, as long as they’re discreet.

Please share cool plot clues via network — and have fun!

WAR & PEACE

---

SUMMARY: The Merchant assigns the group to determine if the dead lurk within Serthica’s adversarial halves. Eidris and Minaras hold a summit to normalise trade within Serthica’s elusive Neutral Zone — while a resistance movements attempts to capture Minaras lead figure Arabella. In Eidris, locals must calm a maddened dragon and her cohort and retrieve her hatching eggs. Minaras hosts its eerie civic indoctrination that seeks to extirpate physical and moral decay.


FAIR FORTUNE | SWITZERLAND | EIDRIS: THERE BE DRAGONS | MINARAS: EYES ON YOU

Image source.

FAIR FORTUNE

The party at sea is smuggled into Serthica with help from false passport papers secured by their Mouse House companions. The two groups meet at Serthica’s port customs, in time for the Merchant’s private transmission:

”Good afternoon. I salute and thank the efforts of our recent additions. You performed exceptionally.

You will hear Serthica is sundered by war, sickness and irreconcilable differences. In truth, she is likely divided by the interests of those who weaponise fear and manipulate opportunity.

In Eidris, they claim Minaraians are not human. In Minaras, they speak the same of Eidris. Disgust, dismay and paranoia have created a… system of profound physical avoidance. If this is mere fearmongering, it is distasteful, but inconsequential. However… if one of the citadel’s halves has succumbed to the dead, who now know to feign they yet live… this marks a dire escalation. You must study this.

Your transportation beacon sleeps in the holy grounds of Vassarizhia. It will light within months, when the Heart’s clock quiets for its annual winding. You may visit the grounds during the upcoming trade summit.

While in Serthica, your only objectives are to survive until the beacon’s eye opens, and to discover the dead present. I pray but question you will prevail.”

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SWITZERLAND

After a lengthy inspection of their passport papers, the party is steered towards the Sanctuary of Serthica’s Neutral Zone — a vast institute near Serthica’s great clock tower. Here, representatives of Eidris and Minaras assemble at midday for peaceful negotiations to improve distant trade relations.

■ The Merchant recommends mingling to broaden your investigation into Serthica’s dead. Even Minaras leading figurehead Arabella will attend.

■ For peace-keeping, entrants to the Sanctuary must surrender their weapons or allow them to be sealed, if they want to carry them in. Weapons are released on departure. Physical enhancements that characters cannot remove (ex: vampire fangs) are excepted.

■ Those who are unwilling to give up or seal their weapons can head on to Eidris and Minaras.

■ Summit attendants receive badges reflecting their Serthica identities, or can divert the greeting droid and liberate the insignia of a delayed delegation. Higher-ranking badges earns you more lenient treatment and higher security clearance.

■ Eidris attendants receive golden armbands or scarves, those of Minaras dark blue.

■ In bustling halls, officials negotiate grain exchanges, new train railways, the currency exchange rate and the saddening conditions of Mouse House exiles. Alas, if only someone (not them) could help.

■ Those drafted into the talks are toasted with a green, mint-like potion — an unadvertised truth serum intended to keep negotiations honest. The potion’s effects last two to four hours, compelling truth but not speech. But do talk: candour wins answers.

■ Artisans display their finest novelty items in the main reception hall. Aggressively enthusiastic traders seek testers and investors for their wares — potent opiates, goggles that show you the world in 10 years’ time, even detailed plans for luxury teahouses offering droid companionship. Extricate yourself with as much coin and dignity as possible.

SLEEP, CHILD, SLEEP

■ The great clock of the Neutral Zone strikes 18:00, triggering a light three-minute earthquake and the rise of nocturnal Minaras.

■ The Sanctuary loses all electric power. As servants rush for candles, you might notice some native summit delegates behave peculiarly: their eyes look glassy, faces trapped in an expression of comical, exaggerated dismay. Many are frozen in tense positions. Others move in sluggish, uncoordinated and jerky spasms. One might catch your wrist and attempt to speak in staggered, guttural croaks.

■ Lights return once the earthquake finishes. Locals resume regularly and do not seem to have noticed any erratic behaviour.

SLEEP, CHILD, SLEEP
CONTENT WARNING: TERROR ATTACK

■ Starting her speech, Arabella of Minaras calls a tribute for those lost to the great Culling sickness that struck Serthica mere years before. The vigil is interrupted by a fusillade of rifle shots fired from outside, through the Sanctuary’s wall-long windows.

■ The bullets exclusively target Minaras delegates and do not contain gunpowder, but a thickened, pale liquid. Once shot, those wounded experience a hysterical, incontrollable terror and the certainty that their greatest fear is hunting them. Many of the shot delegates develop an instant flight response and seek to claw their way out of the Sanctuary, with no care for whom they trample in their path. This terror lasts 30-60 minutes. Please content warn if you graphically describe your character’s greatest fear.

■ As rifle gunshots die down, a voice from outside introduces the Remembrance coalition, pledging safety if the summit surrenders Arabella.

■ The Sanctuary activates emergency measures: protective magical wards start to slowly reinforce, while attendants risk their lives to return characters’ weapons.

■ You could team up and help Arabella’s few remaining guards to escort her to safety in Minaras. Drop a line if you take this route.

■ Outside, you find the Sanctuary’s grounds have been drenched in a thick fog that barely allows you to see steps ahead. Your senses dull, and you are gradually prone to sleep — while masked men close in with rifles and vicious droid hunting hounds.

■ Help Sanctuary guards take out the assailants — and submit your character for a RNG draw to interrogate a lone captive.

■ Characters who later investigate the Sanctuary can find some of its windows have been very carefully pricked, fissured or even minutely holed, easing the way for attack.

Crawl back to your home base in Eidris or Minaras — you need the beauty sleep.

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EIDRIS | THERE BE DRAGONS

Eidris’s relaxed atmosphere might balm your rattled nerves after the Sanctuary’s disasters. Startled citizens gather to offer you help settling in, while dragons seek you out to curl up and nuzzle.

Eidris is governed by natural order and harmony, achieved through firm etiquette, consideration and reminders to slow down. You can hole up in a room in one of the many abandoned and repurposed villas, or group up to take a whole house. Local technology is a blend of mechanical gears and magic that substitutes fuels. Sorcerers are frequent, boastful and admired.

Dig deeper, and you’ll find the people of Eidris are unwilling to linger on negative experiences and gradually lose memory of them. If queried, many natives have normalised intermittent amnesia, with some using their link to their dragons to stay anchored in the present.

■ Acclimate to your roles in Eidris and enjoy the sweet welcome of neighbourly gifted meals and knitwear and a personal, signed letter of support from king Thivar.

■ Eidris prepares for the rare hatching of dragon eggs, lain by the beautiful fire-breathing Aiva — one of the fewer martial dragons used by Eidris’ military. Two weeks into your stay (around 25 August, forward date at will), word spreads that Aiva’s mate has been deeply injured by a Minaras scouting ship during the 6:00-7:00 overlap period when the two citadel halves are both overground.

■ A panicked, distrustful Aiva collects her silver-shelled eggs from the formal nest quarters, hiding them on the rooftops or in the balconies of tall, dangerous buildings. Several other martial dragons assist Aiva by guarding these hideaways until the young dragons can hatch.

■ Eidris calls back most transport dragons to avoid altercation with their fire-breathing, paranoid brethren. This might strand some riders on the nearest decrepit rooftop, while testy dragons fly by. They don’t initiate attack, but are more prone to warning tail sweeps or light charring, if you come close.

■ Dragon lord Cain d’Ubiq urges riders that can reconnect with their dragons to help retrieve the 1m, 50-kg eggs and deliver them back to the dragon grounds nest before they hatch by sundown — terrorising the baby dragons that wake alone and ripping into local architecture. Other riders are needed to spread a trail of deep incense smoke in the air that can soothe dragons from their outburst. Lend a hand!

■ Characters who enlisted for dragon riding on arrival could be middling riders by this point.

■ Aiva’s children hatch moments before the clock ticks 18:00 and Minaras also surges overground. Characters linked to a dragon feel the birth: first as an overwhelming exuberance, then as an all-consuming and irrational dread that briefly reduces them to inexplicable tears.

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MINARAS | EYES ON YOU

A sharp departure from Eidris’ laissez-faire is watchful Minaras, where citizens obsess with schedules, orderliness and time — as if every second is both borrowed and wasted.

Newcomers can choose between one-person 2.5x2.5m ‘sleep units’ in packed industrial homes, or pool funds to rent small refurbished alcoves that once served as hospital or science halls. Space is a luxury, silence a myth: helper droids constantly fuss after their masters, steam engines cough outside, and the gentle thrum on the streets betrays the current-shifting omnipresence of large Watch ships.

Civic sound systems periodically bleat reminders for citizens to STAY HALE, STAY WHOLE, alongside tips for basic droid care, the latest in scientific discoveries, paid ads and reminders not to park your robotic carriage near hydrants.

■ Quickly learn the ropes of your assumed identity, as Minaraians have a duty to report peculiar behaviours.

■ Watch ships prevent lawbreaking while Minaras is overground. Crime rates spike rapidly when Minaras falls underground.

■ More than violence, Minaraians appear to fear their pocket watch times being wrong, filth and sickness. The smallest cough earns a stern glance and a wide berth.

■ As part of Minaras’ periodic social indoctrination, you are robotically escorted alongside your peers and other unrelated Minaraians to a civic integration centre. Here, you take turns before a mechanical droid sphinx labelled ASCLEPIOS that asks, ”What rots you? and compels an honest answer (this can be emotional, mental or physical sickness, minor or severe).

■ A painless tattoo appears on the back of your hand, listing your Decay (ex: ‘malnourishment,’ ‘a choleric temper’). Others in the indoctrination centre must help you mend through acts of care (ex: cooking you a meal, helping you meditate). The tattoo fades after 72 hours, or once sufficient acts of care have ‘cured’ you.

■ After one week (around 20 August, but feel free to forward date), a transmission from Arabella informs watch, aerial, military and health units that Minaras is changing the daily schedule of its scout ships. The last scouts will now be deployed at 4:15am and return to base by 5:00am.

QUESTIONS

Comments

mo ran | husky and his white cat shizun | eidris

[inkfire]

Let me know which of the prompts below you are interested in, and I will write us a starter. Alternatively, throw something at me, and I will run with it.

1. Negotiations aren't always easy for Mo Ran, but somehow he gets roped into them. He'll try to be silent once he realizes truth serums are a thing but good luck with that; he's fairly talkative. He also enjoys haggling artists and traders.

2. The attack on the Sanctuary jolts Mo Ran into action, and he will help take down the assailants and explore the Sanctuary to see what he can discover.

3. Eidris is uncomfortable for Mo Ran in a way he can't fully understand, so he glosses over his discomfort and is helpful, watchful, and wary by turn, especially with locals. But the dragons are a delight, even if he dislikes the idea of a connection, and he spends the first two weeks at flight school, bonding with a dragon. He'll also help with retrieving dragon eggs.

4. Wildcard! He'll mostly be in Eidris or the Sanctuary, so anything goes.

I am likely to be very slow for the next week and 1-2 days but will then have a much more normal schedule and be much more available.

negotiations / haggling

[downswing]

( ...it is no different than watching a dragon consume its tail, a man of spirituality spit the cheek of heavens, or a fresh groom offend the peering jut of his veiled wife's features. All at once, this young (?) man Mo Ran brews shrewdness and sincerity and reason in a poison of rhetoric Lan Wangji privately wishes he might sip down to a deathly escape from vicarious embarrassment.

In the great, yawning halls of trade, a spooked artisan flinches and fumbles with the slips of shiny nothing he has hereby named and advertised as meteoric remains. Mo Ran's coin on the table would have crowned his exercise a mockery. Instead, for the past ke, he has ruthlessly eviscerated every merit of the wares — deliberating the price at hand, then politely taken the sharp end of his oratorical blade to the soft belly of his own arguments.

With one hand, Mo Ran cuts the trader's hopes and dreams of a living wage. With the other, he condemns his own execution. If not for the ebb and tide of the crowds that swarm them, Lan Wangji might name this his just and well-earned penitence — courtesy commands he cannot abandon a companion stricken by the land's potions into a fit of ill-timed virtue, no matter the personal inconvenience. But this, in the unblinking public eye, is... possibly earning him a flush.

...to his left, a watcher sob-stumbles into laughter ill shielded by a grudging, trembled hand. She quakes with it, nearly spills her wine cup over, arc of wet red too shivered to meet Lan Wangji's silks, carefully drawn. A clock's petulant beat spells the fresh hour, and another man holds out his hand, calling his companion's coin close, for a base wager won. The young man remains at his barter.

Mo Ran primly sieves the star seller's halved offer, refuting the fifth revised origin story of the artefact he cradles in hand. Then, to a collective gasp, he starts to conspire against and defang his own objection. At laboured and enthusiastic length.

Lan Wangji, who has never left the battlefield of a marketplace negotiation unbloodied, somehow feels distinctly like the superior, veteran tradesman. He does not catch Mo Ran's sleeve, for fear this... fit of insanity might dismay them with contagion. But he sketches the gesture, close, come close, closer, until: )

Perhaps. ( This, in the gentle octave reserved for rabbit kin and kind, for soft-cheeked infants lolloping in your wake in a great and furious trot, for Nie Huaisang in the wake of epiphany that he might, possibly, today, maybe know something — ) Do not surrender the entirety of your hand.

[enucleation]

OH BOY time for weird questions!!

1. Do the summit delegates smell human? Since Kaneki is able to tell apart who is human and who is not through smell, I'm wondering if the ones that go weird are human or not.

2. Being a mortician during this, Kaneki will have access to the dead of Minaras, so this is the general question of "what would he find"? Not just the medical records and general chatter with doctors and other morticians, but also a more physical examination (... eating them. I mean eating the bodies).

Xie Yun | Legend of Fei | Eidris

[balancedwire]

[ Switzerland ]

When it comes to giving up weapons he has no problem with it. After all, the sword he'd had was from one of the dead on the ship. He's also pretty good with martial arts and his hands, so he's not overly concerned about not having a weapon. Not when he, himself, is a weapon.

He will listen to everything around him but he isn't bound to drink the potion, not unless tricked into it.


[ Sleep, Child, Sleep ]

What was happening was no better than a battlefield. Something that he could, essentially, handle. If that meant keeping Arabella safe then so be it. There was a lot of gunshots and he needed to make sure that others didn't get hurt as well, while trying to get to Arabella to help.

[ Helping the Wife (Closed to Zhou Fei) ]

The job that he's assigned to is one he has no problem with. Being a miner and coal connoisseur is something that will allow him to make weapons if need be. Something that he's pretty damn good at. Which meant that if anyone around them needed weapons then he would gladly make them for them.

At the moment, however, he's with his wife and the dragons. He knows that asking questions isn't really her strong suit, not how they want it to be. Which is why he's there to help her make some of those connections if and when she needed him.

"Still doing alright, A-Fei?" He's sure he's bound to get glared at, but he has to ask anyway. Especially when this is something they have to get used to on a day to day basis. If he has to write out questions for her each day then he will.


[ There Be Dragons ]

Panicked dragons were not something he'd ever thought were possible. Why would he? Even with growing up on a mythical island... well, dragons were far from possible. They were myths. This place showed otherwise. Of course, he tries to ignore the panic around him and help where help is needed.

So, he'd help where he could to retrieve the eggs and get them back to the nesting ground. There should be no reason that a dragon hatches scared, alone, and not where they should be.


[ Wild Card ]

See something else you like, toss it at me!

[groundrules]

1. Okay, so we'll have to be careful here — as in, of the species? If so, yes, they smell 'human.' If not... I may need you to be a bit more specific.

2. So! For now, he can find:

— people of the expected varieties and affliction: elderly dead of sicknesses common in old age, and the younger deceased were often culled by malnourishment or acts of violence

— Minaras is more tech-savvy, but ultimately still represents a variant of Victorian steampunk life, so frequent causes of death will include sicknesses caused by poverty. Hygiene is actually strongly upheld and rooted in Minaras' overall mysophobia

— the dead in the morgue do not feel dead, if he's sensitive to spirits. They would still register as this nebulous state present in Serthica — yes, even the guy whose brain is lying in a box beside him

Does Kaneki ever eat 'spoiled' things? aka dead humans that were clearly sick. Or does he like to keep a clean diet?

[enucleation]

1. As in of the species, yes! Kaneki has no magic/spirit related abilities, so if they are biologically human, kaneki would be able to smell their scent as human (which, to him, is a sweet and really delicious scent).

2. Ken isn't able to feel spirits or anything like that, just what is physical. Would they still feel warm/not decomposing, or will the bodies go through the natural decomposing process?

3. And yes, kaneki can eat all of it - sick, rotting, decomposing, or just bones. Ghouls are immune to human diseases due to their abnormal healing abilities. However, kaneki would probably not want to touch those who are obviously sick only because... it's super gross )=

[inferus]

Time for some detective-ing questions.

1) Does the fog feel magical in nature at all? Would he sense the assailants are magical/supernatural at all?

2) Wrath is gonna take one of the assailants guns so they have some evidence (gun and bullets). If he asked those associated with his job or whoever he reports to in Minaras, would they know about these particular fear bullets or bullets that had a similar effect being used previously?

3) This is kind of a random question about his role as a detective. Do detectives have like certain resources? i.e. Can he make arrests? Does he have a... kit for collecting and/or analyzing evidence? (Laughing at the thought of him wearing gloves).

4) Did anyone die in this attack?

I think that's all for now, but I'll likely come back with more specific questions after things are threaded out a bit.

[groundrules]

1. Then yes, they feel human, though some feel perhaps wrong in a way Kaneki can't quite place. Like skimmed milk.

2. The bodies definitely decompose! Some do so a little faster than you might expect, or experience the states of decomposition differently — not at the speed you'd expect (sometimes slower, sometimes faster), or not to the expected intensity.

3. All right, well, he's in for a sad surprise: sometimes, perfectly delicious looking bodies will end up having a strange, festering green rot within. This sickness is typically located within the belly or muscle tissue. It's gross, but shouldn't harm Kaneki — spit it out.


Definitely consider sharing some of these... lovely... findings with the Scooby gang at some point!

[enucleation]

Perfect, I sure will!

Also, still related to 1.! Only the people at the summit smell like this, or would the general population also have some funky smell going on?

And related to 3.! Would that smell perhaps like the "skimmed milk humans" at the summit?

[groundrules]

1. Yes, the fog is magical! The assailants have some magic users among them, but not all members have this skill.

2. The terror bullets are very new tech, but the Minaras forensic investigator has some theories about how the science behind the weapon works. He suspects neural pathways. Very nerdily exciting — but nothing out of the ordinary.

3. ...Wrath is the equivalent of a Victorian (steampunk) detective told to catch the Ripper. He'll have... some sway with local scientists, largely won because of good will shown to the authorities. He might benefit from some easier access to watch and military units, possibly government figures.

But that's it, Wrath-dude, you're an old timey cop. You get a badge, a pistol and a prayer.

4. Probably some people were trampled in the sheer hysteria, and many of the resistance movement won't be taken down without a fight that could prove lethal to both themselves and the Sanctuary guards. Some Remembrance members choose suicide arsenic capsules over capture. Any NPCs that dared the dogs are likely wounded or forfeit.

[groundrules]

1. I wouldn't call it even funky — it's very, very subtle, and it's not everywhere. It's also, yes, relevant to the people at the summit and to people outside of it.

3. It's not the same skimmed milk scent — it's much more gross, and only apparent once you open these good people up. There is no pattern of, "you smell like skimmed milk => you must have the rot." That would be too easy for Kaneki. We don't want him to put on weight.

vanessa ives ☓ penny dreadful

[matermali]

SUMMIT SMALLTALK } open

After having risked a little more of her soul to help acquire the papers for her new companions, Vanessa has been curious to set eyes on them. Their names had been offered by the Merchant, so she knows there is a Viktor amongst the crowd, but since there are no faces she recognizes, she can assume it to be another case of a too-common name. Even still, she’ll linger behind and watch who she can as the party is escorted from the docks to the summit beyond. Her posture is aloof, but there is often a polite smile for any outcasts like her.

The reception hall’s bazaar is fascinating as she passes it by, almost drawing a chuckle when traders try to entice her closer. Do you want to taste bliss, pretty lady? Vanessa will keep a coy smile and occasionally a friendly shake of her head when invited to do more than appraise. She’ll keep her coin for the moment. The opiates draw her attention longer than other offerings, but they’re eventually passed over. So is the mysterious green liquid, since she assumes it to be alcohol, and while still finding her feet this early on, she prefers a clear mind.

Vanessa considers two conflicting points while she tucks the new dark blue scarf into her collar: They are meant to locate the dead, but the dead do not want to be located, as has been confirmed by one of their own on the Network. How, then, to proceed? For now, she watches, listens, and nods to those in passing. Though they’re meant to mingle, she refrains from approaching any of the locals without invitation. She may, however, unintentionally muse aloud to someone from her ragtag company when considering her new ‘role’ offered to her by the Merchant. An heiress? Even here, Vanessa's old life haunts her. How is this to help her investigations?

“Surely a joke made in poor taste. Shall we trade roles?” It’s her own attempt at a joke, also in bad taste, but her dry, scratchy tone suggests that she’s well aware.

SUMMIT ATTACK } closed to the doctor

When the lights go off and the tremors begin, Vanessa starts in alarm as a stiff hand clamps at her sleeve. It keeps her from losing her footing during the small quake, but gives her quite a jump scare. Before she can try to decipher the broken speech croaked into her ear, the tremors end and the lights flash on, and Vanessa is left blinking into the light. Everyone is acting normal. Vanessa is used to seeing (or hearing) things that aren't really there, and now she’s wondering if that had been a vision.

Already unsettled by the time Arabella goes to speak, Vanessa feels a chill in her spine moments before the first bullet flies. Chaos breaks out, and in the middle of screams and stampeding bodies, Vanessa stands almost oddly still. Occasionally someone will knock against her shoulder, causing her to stumble, but she doesn’t fall or run. She’s searching for the sources with a boldness that may not suit her elegant appearance. How many? Where? With so many controversial topics broached, this violence isn’t surprising, but it is unacceptable. She will locate them for her more combat-oriented team-mates if she can.

Standing there like a madwoman, Vanessa’s blue scarf and badge make her an easy target once the crowd around her has dispersed somewhat. Her glaring eyes spot the glint of a rifle moments before another shot is fired, and she reaches to point in the sniper’s direction for anyone who may want to retaliate against their attackers. Remarkably, a man with dark hair takes notice, and she sees him make some kind of movement before a bullet that had been aimed for her diverts midair to strike the sniper in the shoulder. There's a momentary awe at that kind of magic being used so effortlessly, but she doesn't get the chance to thank the man before chaos divides them.

Before she can try to locate the assailant again, someone rushes to block Vanessa's vision. A different man this time, with lighter hair. Not until the looming silhouette staggers does she see what's happened. Having been too focused on their assailants to fear for her own safety, it seems that someone else had worried in her stead. Instinctively, Vanessa reaches out to grab him when he stumbles, and her knees buckle under the weight. He's taken the bullet meant for her.

A man of his word, after all. She's momentarily stunned.

MINARAS } open

The civic integration centre is a place that Vanessa can’t escape fast enough, too many painful memories of her stay at the asylum trying to dig their way out of her skull even while she’s compelled to offer up that which rots her life and her soul. Addicted to suffering, is it? It’s a gross violation, something she would never say to strangers, and Vanessa is made even more ill by their attempts to help her in response. She wastes no time in fleeing, going so far as to snap at anyone who may try to stop her while still in the building. “Leave me be!”

Vanessa storms away from the centre, her boots rapping sharp against the street until she can find the back of a bench to grab, her knuckles white. How much more can she be tested before she starts to crack?

Breathe, girl, breathe. Her hand presses hard against her stomach for just a second, and when she lifts it again, her lips peel back so that her teeth are bared at the invasive claim now tattooed on the back of her hand. She hunches her shoulders and turns to sit on the edge of the bench, dragging her nails painfully over the magic ink as if she can simply tear it off with enough effort.

Vanessa has never been one to wear gloves, going against the fashion of other Londoners, but now she may need to seek out new additions to her wardrobe. To let just anyone see this will shame her too deeply and prevent her from making any progress in this world. Besides, it’s a lie. They had compelled her to lie.

The moment she sees someone walk by or approach her, Vanessa straightens with a start and hides her scratched hand in the folds of her long skirts. She doesn’t look the same as she did at the beginning of the summit; her crystal eyes are narrowed and a few strands of her up-do have come loose. The chaos since the arrival may be taking it’s toll on her, while she slowly comes to terms that this is not a hallucination or a trick, but her new reality.

“Do what you will, but I shall not go back. Damn them for claiming their torment to be help.”

Her foulest language yet.

WILDCARD } open

[ Surprise me! Or we can plot something in PM/Plurk. Please comment to her permissions post if you want in on supernatural stuff. ]

the doctor | eidris

[thedreamer]

𝚂𝚆𝙸𝚃𝚉𝙴𝚁𝙻𝙰𝙽𝙳

negotiations - [ The Doctor has his objective, along with everyone else. A seemingly straightforward path to tread, if not entirely simple or easy. The task laid before them is fraught with challenges, navigating a history they don't know and understand, relations between the two citadel halves that are already imbalanced. He needs to survive - not the easiest ask of him, necessarily. He needs to find the dead amongst the living. Yes, yes, all well and good, very important. He'll figure that out eventually, but on his priority list, it's not at the very top just at the moment. There are people in this world that he's come to care about already; namely, people in the Mouse House, who are at quite the disadvantage. He's never been very good at taking orders from anyone or doing what he's expected to do, so though he fully intends to focus on sorting out the dead and the living eventually, the Doctor takes his assigned role of liaison for Mouse House far more seriously.

He inserts himself into the conversations already being had and he makes sure that he's very loud and insistent about it all. There's an inequity here and he doesn't like it. But he'll need help, as he always does, and perhaps someone might overhear him and be rallied to the cause. ]

We can talk and talk and talk all day long about what those people are going through down there. But that's all it ever is, isn't it? Wander through these halls, play around with fancy toys, enjoy delightful food, make a good show of mentioning the less fortunate, but nothing ever gets done. Why is that? You like the conversation more than the people. It makes you all feel very important. Bit of an ego stroke, is it? What's going to be done about it? Let's talk about that. There are good people, children, and they need better food, clothes, living conditions. These are all tangible things, easy things that can be given. [ Easy for him to say, perhaps. A stranger in a strange land without the resources himself. But if he can get people talking, even if they balk at him as they are now, maybe he can do more to help. As the talks seem to devolve and negotiators disperse for the moment, the Doctor, though frustrated, takes it in stride. ]

Try again tomorrow, eh? If they aren't willing to help, I'll find a way myself.

reception hall -

[ The Doctor won't miss the opportunity to speak with as many locals and vendors as possible. The more people he can meet, the more information he can extricate from them, hopefully. It doesn't hurt that there are many interesting things on offer to explore, and he is genuinely excited to see what sorts of things people are building, making, tinkering with. The bustling market brings back a memory for him, something fond and familiar, and so he chats with whomever happens to be close by and willing to listen. ]

These sorts of things are fun, aren't they? I was just visiting a place like this with a friend before the lot of us were brought here. A place I used to go with my granddaughter when she was very young. Oh, the stories we had. Do you know, we met a chap in a market on Silcox V who could play the most wondrous symphony you've ever heard using just a clam shell? Remarkable.

𝙼𝙾𝚄𝚂𝙴 𝙷𝙾𝚄𝚂𝙴

promises to keep
[ The Doctor lies, doesn't keep his promises. He sounds very, very earnest when he makes his promises and he genuinely believes that he will be able to keep them when he makes them - usually - but more often than not, often for reasons beyond his control, he breaks those promises, but he always tries not to. In this case, he made a promise to a young boy and he actually has the means to carry out that promise this time around, so he fully intends to. He thinks it a strange and fortuitous twist of fate, that whomever assigned him his identity would have given him the precise position that allowed him to go back and visit the people he'd been so very reluctant to leave.

With the few resources he has, the Doctor loads up on sweets and a few more necessary items to take with him to Mouse House. Every time he goes, he makes sure he has something, and he tries to go as often as possible.

Feel free to catch him on his way going back and forth between Eidris and Mouse House! ]

𝙽𝙴𝚃𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙺

[ network | video; un: dollhouse ]
[ No, he won't be changing his username. It's perfect.

But now that a day has passed since the quite eventful summit and he's had at least some time in which to grapple with what happened to him personally, he needs to know if anyone else saw what he saw. A lot happened in a very short time, and perhaps his own memory of the events is muddled, though he would find that to be unlikely. ]

Hi, hello! I'm the Doctor, in case we haven't officially met. Shame, really, if we haven't. I know there are quite a few of you, many to meet, but we really should in person one day soon. Find me in the neutral zone, we'll have some tea and biscuits, play a game of chess, it'll be a grand time.

So, a few things to sort out! I hope you're okay if you're seeing this. Although, if you are seeing this, sort of implies that you are, in fact, okay, or nearly. If you're not quite okay and you need something, tell me.

A lot happened yesterday at the summit but there's something specific that occurred during the power outage. I was grabbed by someone trying to communicate with me, but they weren't able to speak. It sounded like they were in pain, but the moment the power returned, it was as though nothing had happened at all. Did this happen to anyone else?

Alright, serious business out of the way, now here's a fun fact while we're getting to know each other: I once taught a brontosaurus how to tap dance.

𝚆𝙸𝙻𝙳𝙲𝙰𝚁𝙳

[ ooc: The Doctor will wander and insert himself basically anywhere so it will be very easy for him to conveniently be anywhere else at all if you have an idea! Top of his priority list right now is helping the people of Mouse House and just generally looking after others.

He'll also be helping with dragon things and sorting out where he'll stay in Eidris, etc. so feel free to hit him up anywhere else. If you have an idea and you're not sure, also please feel free to PM me or plurk @ geekorthodox ]

zhou fei, legend of fei, eidris

[snowcleave]

[ Open and closed starters will be in the comments below and feel free to tag this top level with starts.

If anyone’s interested in pursuing some stuff here are a couple of ideas I don’t have starts for, but I would love to flesh out and write if you would like a starter:

- Fei’s been assigned the cover story of being thematchmaker for the dragons, and while she is not precisely dragon-minded if your character is into getting close to the dragons and their riders they can pose as her protégé to gain more access, with the understanding that she’s going to be a total cat dad about the dragons and be indifferent until she absolutely falls in love and ends up laying on the ground with them singing tender lullabies or something. Also, she is a terrible matchmaker and may turn to your character for help

- If any of the Eidris folks are interested in schmoozing with the king after he sends everyone their hand-signed welcome letter, I’m thinking about using the npc post to have Fei make contact, and it might be a fun connection to poke at and use to investigate other matters. Also! Let's just hang out in Eidris!

- And as far as less solidified ideas go: meeting up with people from the Minaris side in either the Neutral Zone or down in the Mouse House would be wonderful. I’d also love to have her sneak over there a few times (she’s pining for Vanessa), and if anyone wants to do the reverse they’re welcome to creep on over to where Fei and Xie Yun are crashing and sleep on the couch (he’s a great cook!). For otherMouse House related stuff, Fei’s been doing a bit of stealing from the rich to give to the poor and going down there often to donate, if anyone wants to Do A Light Crime together or run into Fei on one of her trips there. She can also be roped into general do-gooding because she is very into leaving the Mouse House in a better state than the Serithica Squad found it, and it is gross as all get out right now. Anyway, pardon the wall of text and feel free to come at me with anything, my dms are always open and I’m good to chat on plurk if that’s easier. ]

a learning experience (mouse house, closed to red)

[snowcleave]

[ This trip is the culmination of weeks of practice, and though Fei’s doing her best not to show it - she’s pretty proud that Red’s progressed enough to practice on real targets.

After a short trip to the orphanage, where she drops off the latest bag of food she’s managed to pilfer from the storage sheds of Eidris’s elite Fei takes Red to the same tavern they met the first time. ]

This time, you know better things than spitting, yes?

[ Working to hide a smirk as she stares up at the front of the building she glances over at Red with a brief nod before leading the way inside.

Though she orders wine Fei mostly nurses the flask hidden in the front of her tunic as she sits beside Red at a table, surveying the room, still doing her best not to look as pleased and amused as she is. Teaching someone to fight is almost as fun as fighting after all, and as it was what she was doing before coming to this strange world, it helps her feel more at home to do.

Plus, by Fei’s metric, Red’s a good woman with a lot of potential - showing her some of the Wilted Flourish Palm’s forms is a worthwhile way to spend her time. ]

Now we wait for someone to start a fight, and you get between them.

[ Whether she intends for Red to try and fight them both after that is up to Red. She’s a smart lady, Fei has every faith in her.

After one more drink from her flask, Fei holds it out to her student, raising an eyebrow. ]

Do you feel ready? You have learned much.

date night (eidris, closed to xie yun)

[snowcleave]

[ A person shouldn’t feel jolly with a sack of potatoes and liquor slung over their shoulder but Fei is exactly that tonight. Eidris is underground and she can’t see the moon but it hardly matters - she can hear Xie Yun beside her, and after months of worry, finally feels like she can breathe again. Their situation isn’t ideal, but they’re together, and here is not like Jianghu is at present, there’s no peace here, and the poverty the residents of Mouse House dwell in is dreadful and dangerous. She’s no stranger to helping those she encounters on the road, and though she thought those days were behind her, it seems that the road isn’t finished with Fei and Xie Yun.

Pausing in the middle of the alley they’d been working their way down Fei tilts her chin up towards a wide sloping roof before hefting her bag cheerfully. ]

I’ve got two bottles in my bag we can drink up there.

[ Lowering her head she looks at Xie Yun, head tilting appraisingly. ]

Unless I've burdened you too much, and you're too weighed down to get to the roof.

[ Despite the blunt cadence of her words, there's not a whiff of sincere disdain to them. If anything, she sounds affectionate in her delivery. ]

[balancedwire]

[ Perhaps a person shouldn't feel jolly when carrying a sack of potatoes slung over their shoulder, but his wife wasn't just any person. She was unique in her own right and he didn't blame her for being jolly. Not after some of the things that they'd done.

He follows her through the alley that they'd been working their way toward when he sees where Fei is looking. Something that has him trying not to laugh. It was in just the way she was holding herself and the look in her eyes. ]

It's been a while.

[ No, they couldn't see the moon from where they were but that didn't mean they couldn't sit on a rooftop and drink. To sit together and just... relax for a bit. ]

Burdened me? I didn't realize you had it in you, A-Fei.

[ There's a smirk out of him before he jumps up onto the rooftop indicated before looking down toward his wife. ]

Do you need help getting up here? What with that sack of potatoes you're carrying and all.

[ He's clearly teasing by the smile that graces his lips. ]

[thedreamer]

The Doctor isn't very often afraid, though on the few occasions it's happened, what he fears tends to be the more intangible, the emotions and feelings that hold no corporeal form necessarily. He's feared loss of control, failure, the inability to save the ones he loves most; that fear is a general and consistent theme of his life, reoccurring more than he would ever like or hope for it to happen.

But when the shots ring out, he does feel a genuine flicker of fear, and he quickly scans the crowd, ready to help, to protect. He is no brawler himself and even if he'd been permitted to carry a weapon to the summit, he wouldn't. He doesn't do weapons generally, except in rare and specific circumstances. Being weaponless now doesn't matter, though. He's not helpless, he can protect still by using his own body as a shield. It's a thought that comes quickly to mind when he sees Vanessa Ives a short distance from him. There's no pause, no moment to hesitate; why would he? She's in trouble and he can do something about it.

There's a flash of momentary pain and his eyes lock on to Vanessa's face when she steadies him. He thinks to worry after her, even now, softly beginning to ask, "Are you o...kay..." The question trails off quickly as he suddenly has an awareness that he is not okay. Very, very not okay. It's sudden and overwhelming, unsettling even as he is fully aware of the swiftness with which his thoughts are suddenly not his own anymore, not rational. But he can't do anything at all about that, succumbing to a strong feeling of dread and abject terror.

His eyes go wide and he suddenly pushes himself away from Vanessa, starting to his feet quickly. He looks to his left, his right, behind him and then in front of him again. His movements are loose and chaotic, his breathing more rapid, pupils dilated. His greatest fear takes hold, making him paranoid. It's him; his greatest fear is himself, though a different version of himself. The one who broke the promise of his name, the one who destroyed Gallifrey. He's here, he's just around the corner, he's going to destroy all of them, every last innocent person in this room. It will all turn to ash and dust, as his own planet did not so long ago.

"Run," he looks to Vanessa suddenly. "Just run. Get out of here! You have to run, run far away. He's coming! Me, it's me. He's coming."

[techmaturgy]

ENTIRELY FAIR let's see

1. He's mostly just interested in seeing what makes it tick (haha). He'd take particular note of any power sources, plus if it's an autonomous robot that seems to think/act on its own, he'd also be looking for any kind of CPU (though he wouldn't know to call it that), or anything that effectively acts as a "brain".
3. General level of medical advancement, accessibility/cost of doctors, if he is able to see or talk to a doctor, what they might have to say about his condition (which as a refresher is basically fantasy consumption brought about by prolonged chemical exposure as a child), if there are stop-gap treatments available, etc. He will do shady things and/or go to shady places if he thinks it's worthwhile. ADDITIONALLY if there's any instances of people or doctors or whoever combining magic with medicine he'd be...incredibly interested in that.

If that's still too broad just let me know! He just wants to know if there's anything he can steal any leads on anything that might help him work on a cure, especially now that they're in a place that's more technology-focused.

Thank you!

[valeas]

Emilia walks beside him, her hand tucked into the crook of his elbow. She takes this opportunity to inspect both their surroundings and the new faces that await them at port customs. They owe these people a great deal, it seems.

Wrath's question shifts her focus, attention moving to her prince instead. Some of the tension eases from her shoulders, the look on her face most likely answer enough. She answers him regardless, some attempt at levity.

"I look forward to eating something other than oranges," she admits to him, a mild complaint in the grander scheme of things. It is more important they made it out of the Crossing with their lives.

And some new magical body parts to spare. There is that, too.

[groundrules]

Okedoke — I'm not sufficiently technical to give you in-depth responses, and I won't try too much, so let's go with:

1. If he breaks the droids down, he'll find classical robotics. Most of the gears have winding or mechanical turning, and some electrical wiring and battery use. This is obviously not today's tech, so no modern CPU per se. A fair bit of the programming would be on old-timey engraved code plates.

3. I think the one thing we need to establish first and foremost is — do you want him to be cured? Because what I don't want to do is set this guy up for healing that then kind of ruins his arc or personality with too much immediate gratification.

For now, let's go with: yes, he would be able to access a doctor easily — Minaras is very equipped and able to supply medical support. They're more technically-minded than magically so, but there might be some science-magic combos. What I want to avoid is getting too nitty gritty into developing science/magical systems that don't really serve a function beyond answering this question, so I won't give you too much detail right now: I think what we should focus on is whether you do or don't want him cured. Because if you do, we can make that happen. If you don't, we can throw a number of hurdles at him.

moiraine damodred ► wheel of time

[cairhien]

[ lmk if you'd like me to write a specific starter, otherwise i'm for you to wildcard based on the info:

-- moiraine has been assigned as an orphanage funds raiser which she'll be doing what she can to try and help the kids out. she'll be out and around talking to businesses, people that seem important and is able to flit between the two locations as she pleases.

-- because moiraine can go between the locations i'm happy for her to try and help get someone back across with her. though she is unable to directly lie so enjoy the cover story (or her being vague!)

-- in eidris she'll spend a lot of time at the orphanage. in minaris she'll be out and around trying to do a lot of the fundraising ]

► lan wangji

[cairhien]

( she meets him in minaris, finding him later in the evening as she's walking the streets, planning to return to eidris to the orphanage. it had been a long and not simple day of trying to fundraise, of speaking to people who didn't particularly wish to speak with her.

there's warmth for him, moiraine always glad to see him )

Would you care to walk with me?

( he did look a little lost in this place )

[enucleation]

Last one I think, which might be just me grasping at straws!

Would Kaneki be lucky enough to get a dead body who'd smell "wrong" at the morgue? And if so, would these bodies look particularly different?

[groundrules]

Wrong = skimmed milk? ...it's sad this is now our lingo, but there we go.

If so, yes, sure. Your pick if you want it to have the rot inside or be perfectly normal. They come in either option! I guess maybe you should have him run into multiple skimmed-milk bodies so he can notice there isn't a direct correlation between sickness and skimmed-milk?