abraxaslogs | OPEN MINGLE: Time to Talk, Summoned!

OPEN MINGLE: Time to Talk, Summoned!

Who: Istredd, Wanda, and all the Summoned
What: Istredd and Wanda called people to the meeting to give an info dump, let people ask questions or share their own information, and then a hang out after with refreshments so people can chat after and make new CR or check in with old CR.
Where: Istredd's Horizon
When: Saturday, September 9th, at midnight so less attention given to them.
Warnings: Discussion of the game plots including all content warnings up to now like psychological thriller, horror, the cult kidnapping, gods being trouble. Abraxas is a wild place, friends.

HORIZON AND SET UP

The Lighthouse was described by Istredd in detail so people would know where to go. During this mingle, it will continue to shine and circle around like a normal lighthouse so people know where to go. His domain is unique for being essentially a tower of books. Shelves upon shelves of books and multiple floors. The only other detail before the talk starts is that there are five ravens who will be curiously watching everyone from a perch nearby. Your character may end up with a lapful of one of the two leosylphs who live here, one baby blue colored and the other one black with red eyes.

The main floor has been turned into a large meeting hall of a sort, although mostly in terms of having a large space full of chairs and a few tables if people wish to sit there. Your character can perch anywhere they want including up a floor. A key note about Istredd's domain is that people can easily morph chairs or create them in whatever form they'd want, so if you want them to have their childhood chair, go ahead. If they want a gaming chair, it'll show up automatically for them. His space is very intuitive. People can choose to speak either from the back of the room, as Istredd will do, or from where they sit/stand.

If your character wants to attend but not be noticed, they can intuitively use his Horizon to mask themselves/go invisible. Istredd will not call you out, Henry Creel.

After the initial formal talk and information gathering, Istredd will ease up the more formal atmosphere of the large hall and create a food and drink section against the walls. Wanda assists him in making this look nicer and homier. There will be extensive offerings but people can add any type of food or drink to this, it's up to them to modify it.

If your character would like to explore the library or get a beat to themselves/talk privately with someone, they can do that by wandering the floors. People will find that if they open a book it will appear to be empty at first, but if they think about their favorite book, the pages will fill in. It is entirely based on their recollection of the book so may not be entirely complete, but if their subconscious mind has memorized much of it, they will see what they need to in there.

They may also find that as they move through the floors, a 'reading nook' may appear in the corner that will instinctively know what they would feel comfortable sitting to read with. They can also 'lock' this room if they want to discuss something with another person and need privacy.

ISTREDD'S SPEECH

[Istredd will wait until it appears everyone has arrived or most people have and he will clear his throat to get their attention if they are already chatting with other people. He appears as he often does in Thorne, with very plain clothes in a dark shade of blue, serious and calm. He stands straight-backed, hands clasped behind his back. Istredd speaks in a very clear and calm way.]

Please sit or stand as you feel comfortable. If you want, you can create any chair you wish to sit in. After the initial conversation, food and drinks will be provided and you are free to add your own favorite dishes. This is intended as an information-gathering conversation. Last year, Sam Wilson hosted something similar to keep the Summoned informed, and a great many things have happened since. Wanda and I thought to do the same this year.

We posted on the network a breakdown of what happened with the kidnapping earlier this year. If you missed it, the general idea was that a cult from Solvunn took half of the Summoned and held us in a pit, where they were experimented on. The cult's intention was to try and take the connection the Summoned have to the Singularity, and what they believed to also be a connection to their gods.

It should be noted that Thorne tried something similar early on in the Summonings. Their experimentation also did not work, as far as we know. We thought it prudent to keep every Summoned informed of what happened in case something like this happens again. We have put forward from the Solvunn and Thorne conclave a request to our factions to allow us to have access to the island. We'll let people know what we hear.

I also put together a history timeline of the Summoned.

[He pulls out a blackboard with this list written down over it in clear readable words. He points to the February 20,078 section where the details about the kidnapping are written out in particular.]

If anyone would like to add notes or months I missed, please either write it yourself or let me know and I will add it. I am hoping to keep this an active timeline for us. This will always be available in my library here to anyone who wants it. We have also been given a pantheon of the gods from our friends in Solvunn that is also available in here.

I have been taking notes since I got here about general information that may be of interest to people when they arrive, including details about magic, the Singularity, and the factions. They're very broad but you can read it on this.

[He creates another blackboard to the side, also able for other people to make notes upon.]

I don't want to be talking this entire time, so instead I would like to invite people to share any findings or information they have that they think the whole group should be aware of, and also ask questions that could be answered or talked about. Please be polite with one another and understand there are some things we simply do not have the answers for as of now.

There are less than a hundred of us, and I believe it is important that we stay on the same team. Thank you. Feel free to eat and talk, or wander in the library.

OOC NOTES

Hey everyone, it's Dee! I am so sorry for the tl;dr. I have the headers below: Speeches (information sharing/tl;dr like mine), Questions (you can specify what exactly they have questions about), adding to the info dumps I have, and whatever else you think of.

If you want your character to speak/offer information but don't want follow-up questions, you can put 'OTA' or 'no follow-up' to indicate what your preference is here. If you put OTA people can reply with a sort of Q&A option, but the no follow-up idea is so that people can share information but not need to commit to that unless they feel like it.

And from there, mingle to your heart's content! Your characters can talk afterward, before, go explore the library, whatever you want, I support it. You can plan closed or open starters, follow your heart.

If nothing else, I want people to take from this mingle that their character can hear any of this information or see it in the library and have it from now on for your RP purposes, and take this opportunity to maybe make new CR/discuss all of this. Do as much or as little as you want! If you have any comments/concerns, please message me on plurk.

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There are things shared that Claire didn't know of, simply by virtue of not being one 'in' on the action when things go wrong. She's always too busy taking care of others, worrying that something will happen she isn't prepared for. Then it's a matter of cleaning up, restocking and checking in on the people she's previously patched up. She'd knows the bolder points regarding the tension between factions, but she hadn't known something similar happened in Thorne before her time in Solvunn. She mostly finds herself wary and tense at the idea of things getting worse before it's better. That always seems to be the way though; at no point in her adult life, especially thanks to time travel, has she not known politics and war.

She waits until it seems everyone is done speaking before taking time to walk alone and explore the domain as it's been made available. She enjoys it, enjoys seeing what others feel comforted by. There isn't purposeful intent to seek out Istredd, but as she's walking with a book in hand, in awe, she quite literally runs into him rounding a corner. Startled, she nearly drops it, becoming a brief comedy show as she moves quickly to keep it from hitting the ground.

"That's what I get for keeping my nose buried in a book," she says by way of apology. "I haven't seen anything like this yet, not in all my months here so far."

Istredd is glad this part is over. He's been practicing for quite some time and thinks it overall went well. It was harder than the Thorne-only meeting, since there were several strangers here, but he's gotten positive responses. Thank yous, even, which were a surprise. He has been information gathering since he arrived, so used to being the only one who cares.

His domain is something he is very proud of. Istredd spends plenty of time in the Horizon so creating somewhere he wanted to be, where he could comfortably spend hours, was important. Seeing people wander the shelves is almost better than looking over the blackboards. He is usually better about knowing where he is stepping in here, but one of the ravens is flapping its wings at another. They are curious creatures but annoy one another.

He reaches out to try and steady her. As a tall and decently-sized man, he can be a bit of a force when he's not being careful. "Sorry." Istredd smiles at her faintly. "It is something, isn't it?" He can have modesty for most things, but not here. "The strangest part was that it felt like it was waiting for me. I didn't create it the way other people did, it just filled in."

Istredd doesn't know if that is a unique experience but he arrived and imagined what he needed, and it existed, built all at once.

"Please don't apologize, I think I may have overstayed my welcome," she says in realization as her cheeks tint just the faintest shade of red.

"I think this might be near the top of the most beautiful Horizon creations I've seen. You can never go wrong with an abundance of books. Growing up I didn't have many, we moved too often, but the ones I kept, oh I loved. I'm going to go out on a limb and say books are important to you?"

When she moved from country to country, continent to continent, books were sometimes the only friends she had. Especially when she first arrived somewhere she couldn't understand the language, then her uncle's books became the most familiar home she knew.

"No such thing, I assure you. I leave my domain open and public permanently, you can come in here any time."

There are ways people can 'close' their domains or lock spaces, and he does have two locked spaces in here. His personal study, when he needs to focus or keep more private information in, and the basement area that he designed for him and Yennefer based on their history. It is a nice spot for them to reminisce and lean on each other, talking safely. Other than that though the lights are always on here. Istredd doesn't oversee it outside of noticing when new books have been added or new spaces.

"I'm a scholar, a researcher, an archaeologist, a historian. All very book-heavy." They are connected, but many of them are topics branched out into different things that interest him. Istredd loves knowledge, he has a hard time picking one or two things, outside of monoliths and now the Singularity. "But I became that because I love them, yes."

If he didn't love knowledge and books, he would have ended up being a court mage or doing something else with his time. There were options for mages, but everyone knew from when he was young where it was headed. Istredd finds the things most people think are boring to be fascinating.

"Nothing else that exists can just ... transport you to someone else's mind and history. Instant connection regardless of time in between or differences."

Istredd says so many words in a row that strike Claire right in her history-loving heart, that her eyes light up right on the spot. She's met so many amazing and interesting people, but none of them have captured her attention with so many topics at once.

"I was raised by an archaeologist, we never settled anywhere longer than sixteen months or so at a time. I never went to school, I learned by digging things up and being immersed in whatever culture surrounded me." The fondness she has for the memories of her youth shine plainly on her face. "There's so much to learn from other places and times, you're absolutely right. It's one of my favorite things about being here—I've learned so much, and there isn't a single part about it all that hasn't been fascinating."

When she looks around again, it's with even more appreciation than before. "I would enjoy hearing about quite literally anything from your home," Claire laughs quietly. "But not this evening after you've done so much for everyone. Thank you, for being sure we're as informed as we can be."

"Oh?" Istredd's eyes light up the same way hers do. It's rare to meet another archaeologist or someone raised by one. He knew plenty in his sphere when they were all working to figure out the monoliths, but it's been quite some time since he had other people who thought that way.

"I agree, it's not often people here think the way one of us does." And yes he's putting her in the same category. She has the bright spark in her of someone who understands the fun of dusting off artifacts and theorizing about ancient tombs. "It's also why I get frustrated when people here try to put their own sphere experiences onto this one. The culture here is well-established and it's their world. We might make our home here, but it is not our place to pontificate."

It's a good beat afterward before he smiles wryly and shrugs. "Although I just was." The point remains though. It worries him when he sees people drawing upon their experiences and jumping to conclusions like rebellions or attacking the gods. He does think it comes from an understanding of other cultures, not to jump so quick at it.

"I honestly have a lot more information, but it seemed a little too overwhelming for this meeting."

Claire smiles at him and then she lets out a breath of understanding. "If you're up to visiting, we can speak about anything other than the meeting's topics. It's a tactic my husband enjoys anyway, after he's been 'on' so to speak." It usually veers toward stories about their daughter and all that he missed of her life. She's had so many things to tell him about the last two decades, and she wishes so much that he was here.

"If I haven't completely lazed through clean up, I would be happy to help," she offers, putting the book back in its place. It's the Horizon she knows, but she knows some still enjoy going through the motions. "I understand the frustration you feel at times. I may not understand the fascination in Solvunn with their shrines and religion, but it isn't my native home, my roots aren't here. To be honest, I would be delighted to dig even further into their history—pun intended? Decide for yourself," she says with a laugh. She tries not to judge the native Solvunnites, she lets the conversations of gods and such happen when they will every time she sees patients.

"Still, when it comes to our safety and maintaining some semblance of life here, I suppose some things must be said. I think there's a line that you managed to toe quite gracefully. You're the definition of a model public speaker."

"Thorne is actually very similar in a way to what I knew. Powerful mages, unstable monarchies, a whole lot of complicated politics and war on the horizon. It may as well be home sweet home." Istredd would feel much more alienated in Solvunn with how unique it is, although he assumes he would have been alright there. The lack of extensive libraries would have been a problem, but he would have been able to talk to a god by now.

"I think you should dig into their history. I know some of it myself, with them being originally from Thorne. The founder of Solvunn was a high mage exiled from Thorne. Or so the legend goes." The legend written by Thorne! This is actually in one of his write-ups so he's not talking about something else, but it's difficult for him not to go there, given his historian roots. "What they say might be something different, you could always ask. Get back to your archaeologist ways too."

That's the sort of thing that never ends, even if she was only raised by them, and became a doctor instead. That mindset stays forever. He is very touched by the compliment, a little flustered by it too. "Thank you. I rehearsed many times. I'm pretty sure my loved ones are sick of the sound of my voice." Wanda, Kyle, and especially Lucifer could probably have mimicked his words at the same time.

"Tell me more about you."

"Well, war is certainly a common theme between my world and plenty of others, I'm finding." Anywhere there are conflicting views, which is everywhere will have something, at some point. She's been through about three too many, with one war to go before she dies. Seventy feels too old to be on the battlefield again, but Jamie will be—why wouldn't she? Where he goes, she goes, which is why she's quite annoyed he hasn't made his way to Abraxas yet.

Claire nods with him because she's as read up as possible. Living in Solvunn, it's difficult not to hear the supposed story of how the faction came to be. "I'm curious if there are things buried near shrines, either unmarked graves or else sacrifices that might not have deteriorated, idols or bones and such." Once he suggests she could get back to her roots, she realizes with as much time as she spends with her hands in the dirt, she might as well dig while being mindful of anything that seems too freshly buried.

Since he's asked about her, she doesn't mind diving right into the parts that she hopes are of the most interest. "I married the first historian I met," she begins with a laugh. Claire is indeed wearing a wedding ring, but there's one on each hand.

"When I was an infant, there was a world war on, nearly every country across the globe involved but it ended not long after I made my grand arrival. My parents died when I was five, and in comes my Uncle Lamb; you know that part. Although I will say, my first kiss was with the son of a dragoman when I was nine." Istredd is given a cheeky smile at that. "When I was nineteen or so, a second world war began. Frank and I married quickly and then shipped off to different parts of the world. I was a battlefield nurse and he was a spy, so I never knew where he was. Fast forward six years, the war ended, and Frank and I hardly knew one another. So we decided on a honeymoon. That's when I traveled through time for the first time, back two hundred years."

She's learned a thing or two about telling stories from Jamie, and she lets that hang, making sure the books that have been obviously pulled to look through are straight and facing correctly.

"Some things are true no matter what sphere or time or species. Conflict is one of them." That is why he often rolls his eyes when Lucifer claims humans are always the problem. They are often the problem, but so are other species, and they unfortunately have more in common than they do not. The same is shown right here in this world, between the humans, Fey, vampires, werewolves, and whatever else comes their way. Universal truth: people will always find reasons to fight.

"You should check. I would be very interested in finding out what you learn." In fact, her saying that puts a little lightbulb on in his own head. One that is going to potentially have consequences for the future, since until this point, he foolishly hadn't even considered taking dirt from the Singularity and crater the next Dimming. Foolish. They're both remembering things about their roots.

He listens intently to her story, always intrigued by the tales of others and how they got to where they are. Her story is actually far more familiar to him than most, especially from those spaceship worlds, that seem so beyond him. Marriage for love isn't very common, and people can easily be separated for reasons like that. The time travel though, that stops him up short.

"Traveling through time? Well that's new." He doesn't doubt her of course, it has to be true, so many things are true. Istredd's just not sure if he's heard a lot of time travel stories around here.

"I don't know who my parents were. I was taken by the Brotherhood, the magical organization of my sphere, young enough I have no earlier memories. They find potential mages and train them together. It was a harsh experience and survival was most of what we hoped for." Harsh, to say the least. Violent and abusive too, but there's no reason to start there, especially with them all dead and gone now. "I went into the research chapter once we graduated and spent the next sixty years looking into giant magical rocks."

He smiles wryly, glancing toward where, if they were outside, the Singularity, a giant magical rock, would be.

It's tempting to get excited prematurely, but she'll be sure to test the waters in Solvunn first, before she goes on any digging expeditions. Treading lightly would be best, at least she assumes, especially around their religion and beliefs. She wonders what secrets are buried, she can't help it—even a hundred years is enough time for people to forget history, for a new generation to blow right past the events that got them to where they are now.

"Believe me, traveling through time was new to me, too. My husband...s cannot, but my daughter can, and it makes me wonder if my mother could have, or did." Was her mother a time traveler? The original Woman of Balnain? She'll never know, but she suspects yes. As she listens to Istredd, she's reminded of one or two similar stories she's heard, but being taken as a child to be raised in such a way is completely foreign to her.

The 'sixty years' bit doesn't escape her, but giant magical rocks are kind of her thing. She doesn't ask because she learned quite quickly upon arrival in Abraxas that appearances can be deceiving. "That's a fantastic area of study, considering I touched a rock before I was flung back in time. Standing stones, about six or seven heads taller than I am, in a deliberate circle." She'd love for Istredd to study it, to be able to tell her what about it caused her to travel through time, or what it was that made the stones special to begin with.

At his glance sideways, she makes an 'ah' sound. "I haven't had much of a chance to deeply study the source of magic here, I was a bit taken by the flora and farm life. I should though, considering I've been studying magic with others." She's been focused on earth magic, creating plants and nurturing them to grow with haste.

Meeting someone else who finds it exciting to dig into the dirt to find answers about the past is just nice all on its own. Istredd always thinks like an archaeologist at his heart, it's what he put all his time into once he started studying monoliths, but he hasn't had much to dig up since getting here. Or he just didn't think it.

"If we do get to go back to the island, we may want to do a dig or two, in some of the sacrificial spots." Maybe he would have come to this conclusion on his own, but Istredd isn't entirely certain, because he thinks all of the Pit people will be struggling with feelings for that. So them acknowledging this before they go, and partnering up, could be useful. He can ask for excavating gear, maybe.

"The rocks in question are called monoliths. Over a thousand years ago, multiple spheres crashed together and forced people to end up on one. Monoliths were thoughts to be shards of history from that time, but we realized that they were actually gates to those other spheres, the ones that still existed." Istredd has not stopped being enthusiastic about monoliths simply because he's found another rock to love. Now that he knows more about monoliths he just wishes he could go back to know how to study them.

"The Singularity is the source. It exists here and in the real world, it's surrounded by a crater most of the time in the real world. If we step into it, we just end up here, but it kills the natives. It isn't only a rock, it's some kind of supernatural entity."

There's no telling what's buried on the island, and she wouldn't blame a single person who'd been in the Pit for not thinking of it, for trying never to think of anything related to that time again. Even more of a reason why she would jump at the opportunity, to get answers on behalf of everyone who deserves it while satisfying her own need for discovery.

"Christ, you just answered a question I've been wondering for over twenty years," she says with bright enthusiasm, her laugh as husky as her voice and warm with delight. "Truly, there's been no explanation. Although, I wonder why it's only been my daughter and I, and one other woman we know of, who can go through?" She's more interested in the Singularity, but Istredd's hitting her with knowledge she's been seeking for so long.

"The Singularity is fascinating to me, right there you've said two things I immediately want to know more about: it seems to favor us over the locals, and it's supernatural. Sentient I'm guessing, after the warnings right before the rifts?"

Istredd is one of the driving forces of trying to get them back to the island. They are close, he knows that much. Right after it happened, it was too close to the time and everyone still had severe PTSD and the nations were trying to make sense of what was left behind. They wouldn't have let anyone go back then. Soon he'll be able to research and try to make sense of it. There are too many things left undid and unsaid.

He won't make anyone else go with him though. It's going to be difficult. Even with all this time passed, going there is guaranteed to set feelings off. But Istredd has to go.

"I can't say for certain if yours worked the ways our did, but they very well could have. And ... well, technically only certain people can open the monoliths in my sphere too. People can go through it, but it can't be opened by just anyone." Only Cirilla could do it, thus why she's of interest to so many people. Her powers and place in fate are set. It's possible Claire and those women were the only ones who could open the gates, and it closed behind them.

"Sentient, yes. It definitely doesn't think or express itself the way we do, but it's also not human." So why would it? That's why Istredd is cautious of assuming anything about the gods too. They may just not be talking the way humans do, it doesn't mean they're automatically evil.

"They say it's the center of all magic here and possibly all worlds. We're the only people allowed into the Horizon and near it, most likely because we're from other worlds and it's accepted us coming here. I don't think we could be kidnapped here unless it allowed that."

"That's fascinating in and of itself, our magic between worlds being so similar, even if not exact. There was a ritual I accidentally observed the sunrise of the afternoon I went through. I never thought magic existed so I dismissed it. Then all at once, I had more evidence to the contrary than I knew what to do with. It became an 'other' thing, simply unexplainable."

Then she arrived here, and had to face it all head-on. She thinks she's adapted pretty well by leaning into it. It took time, but she's here now.

"No, I agree, and that only makes me more curious about it. How we're chosen, if it's random...I know the answers may or may not come with time, but for as long as I'm here, I think I'd rather not stay in the dark."

"It's been on my mind more than once, actually. I've heard of similar portals in other realms represented here. In fact, there seems to be more than have identified something like it than not. Which does feed into the idea that we're all connected to one another, and to here."

So Claire only adds herself to worlds where they have something similar, a way to get to other worlds or other times, that seem to have some kind of rules but are unknown in general. He's heard of enough by now it seems more than a coincidence. And as an archaeologist, as she would know, he doesn't entirely believe in coincidences after a few various things all seem to track together. This all seems intertwined to him.

"They claim it's not random but I struggle with believing it entirely, because I would think they would pick people who they can actually use. It's the most logical thing to do." Kidnap useful Summoned! People who would fight for them or could be convinced to work for their kidnappers.

"My partner is the very last person anyone should kidnap if they had a choice." He smiles fondly, as he often does when thinking about Lucifer. "So I don't think they do. I think they reach out into the cosmic suit and pluck people out."

"If you'd asked me when I first arrived whether or not I thought I had anything in common with anyone here beyond the superficial, I would have given the knee-jerk reaction of 'no.' But it's more comforting to know that in fact, we are all more connected than perhaps even we know. All of us in the same boat together, as it were."

When he describes his partner, Claire can't help but let out a breath of laughter, it's wonderfully put. "I wonder if I've met your partner? I can think of more than one person here I wouldn't have thought to push my luck with trapping. And yet, whoever—whatever—is pulling the strings knew full well even the angriest and most powerful among the magic users would be stripped down."

Perhaps she should revise from 'comforting' to 'disconcerting,' but it could also be both at once.

"I'm supposing if I get started in earnest with research I'll have more to tell you the next time we meet, I hope. It won't be a fast process, but even still, the day I break ground will be a new adventure."

"Even if we weren't connected beforehand, we certainly are now. I think of the Summoned as our own faction, in a way. We're all in the same boat here, as you said. That's why I thought the Conclave was a good idea." It made the Summoned work together and represent themselves. Istredd does not have much faith or respect for Thorne so he finds his connections anywhere else. In the Summoned, and in the Singularity. And in whatever future they'll make together.

It should be obvious from the fact he threw this group talk together, and he spent so much time working on history timelines and helpful Summoned facts, so everyone can be informed and find each other.

"My partner is Lucifer. He's around here somewhere. And if you're from a world where that name is ringing bells in your head, the answer is yes, him, but also no, not him." Istredd is aware that Lucifer/the Devil is a very famous person in many different spheres, it just wasn't the truth for him. And he is protective over his love, even if he acknowledges that his role in his sphere was that of villain. Misunderstood villain, in Istredd's opinion, but he is biased. "But if you don't know him, he's well-known for being rebellious and against authority figures."

Edited 2023-12-06 03:09 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OPEN MINGLE: Time to Talk, Summoned!

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sorry this one fell through the cracks!

and I've been slow 😅

me too we are on the same page lol

❤️

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