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abraxaslogs2022-06-17 09:35 am
abraxasmods) wrote in abraxaslogs2022-06-17 09:35 am
Entry tags:
- !event,
- aloy; the hermit,
- alucard; the hierophant,
- ches fields; the lovers,
- cirilla of cintra; the devil,
- claude von riegan; the wheel of fortune,
- cole cassidy; the hanged man,
- commander shepard; judgement,
- dante; the devil,
- dean winchester; the lovers,
- diana prince; the empress,
- fandaniel; the hanged man,
- geralt of rivia; the hanged man,
- goro; the chariot,
- himeka sui; the fool,
- hythlodaeus; the empress,
- jack townsend; the moon,
- jaskier; the sun,
- jasper; judgement,
- jayce talis; the magician,
- jesper fahey; the wheel of fortune,
- jon snow; the emperor,
- julie lawry; the wheel of fortune,
- kell maresh; the magician,
- lucifer; the devil,
- matt murdock; the tower,
- nadine cross; the world,
- nero (dmc); the chariot,
- peter parker (mcu); strength,
- prince wilhelm; the tower,
- rey; the star,
- rhy maresh; the lovers,
- ronan lynch; the moon,
- sephiroth; the tower,
- stephen strange; death,
- steve rogers; the hierophant,
- sypha belnades; the tower,
- thancred waters; strength,
- thor odinson; the fool,
- viktor; death,
- wanda maximoff; the hanged man
EVENT #8: MÆRE - IC POST (MAIN EVENT)
Event #8 - Mære
Sleep can be a welcome escape from the daily toils of life. No matter one's magical affinity or physical prowess, many succumb to the need eventually. While some find refuge in it, others prefer to avoid sleep for as long as they can, fearing what lurks in the corners. For the latter, perhaps what happens next is just part of their nightly struggle.
Beginning on the night of JUNE 18, characters will be met with unsettling dreams and their worst nightmares. It will build slowly over the course of the following week as manifestations of their deepest fears and regrets make themselves known.
Beginning on the night of JUNE 18, characters will be met with unsettling dreams and their worst nightmares. It will build slowly over the course of the following week as manifestations of their deepest fears and regrets make themselves known.
Night Walk
How does it start? Familiar, perhaps: experienced before or a recognizable concoction of events and feelings. Your old home, a town you've visited, a room you met an old friend in, a corridor where you faced off with a great foe, or a mosaic of the different pieces of your life. You don't yet sense danger. It's safe, you think. Or alternatively: you are consumed immediately by an unsettling feeling, finding yourself in a darkened room you don't recognize, falling endlessly, unable to move, already wounded in the middle of nowhere, or the growl of an animal. Whatever the recreated vista, you slowly get the distinct sense that you are not alone.
As you explore your dreamscape, this sense does not leave you. You may find a shadow looming over you, catch something in the corner of your eye, hear a sound far off in the distance. Wherever you turn, you seem to just miss it. Whether this unsettles you or not will vary, but you will remember this come the morning. If you are one of the lucky ones, it all ends here. Strange dreams are nothing unusual. Those happen now and again. But for many others this is just the beginning.
As you explore your dreamscape, this sense does not leave you. You may find a shadow looming over you, catch something in the corner of your eye, hear a sound far off in the distance. Wherever you turn, you seem to just miss it. Whether this unsettles you or not will vary, but you will remember this come the morning. If you are one of the lucky ones, it all ends here. Strange dreams are nothing unusual. Those happen now and again. But for many others this is just the beginning.
The Entity
If you are among those less fortunate, you will find yourself plunged into the same dream. It may not be the next night. Perhaps it happens later, when you're napping in the afternoon, or a few nights afterwards when you've already forgotten all about it. Regardless, it returns to you. The stage might be different, the details shifted, but the feeling of something watching remains. In your absence, it only seems to have grown. Each time you return to this singular dream world, its presence grows ever stronger. Oppressive, suffocating, you know you are being hunted.
When you finally see it, you know exactly what it is. The Entity that hunts you is born out of your subconscious itself, your deepest fears and traumas given form. A twisted manifestation of unshakeable guilt, a creature or foe you have fought with once before, a person you may have loved so dearly now turned against you - the sight of it chills your blood and you know in your heart that it is here for you.
When you finally see it, you know exactly what it is. The Entity that hunts you is born out of your subconscious itself, your deepest fears and traumas given form. A twisted manifestation of unshakeable guilt, a creature or foe you have fought with once before, a person you may have loved so dearly now turned against you - the sight of it chills your blood and you know in your heart that it is here for you.
The Guest
Should fate twist further, you might not be the only one. Instead, you'll find other Summoned with you. They might also be running from a presence of their own or maybe they're merely unlucky enough to have fallen into the path of yours. Whatever it is, they too will bear witness to that which haunts you - or you will see what haunts them, as well. Your respective dreamscapes might meld together, shift and change, or one might take over the other completely.
Though it's likely you won't realize you're trapped inside a dream, that doesn't mean you can't fight back. Gather your courage to face down your fears or try to help those you find yourself in the company of - you might just find your surroundings steadily shifting in your favor. A weapon here, a pathway opening there, a wooden door that transforms into steel. Be careful, though: should your awareness grow that things aren't real, the world will try to consume those thoughts and you within it, twisting things further in an attempt to make you forget that you're dreaming.
Though it's likely you won't realize you're trapped inside a dream, that doesn't mean you can't fight back. Gather your courage to face down your fears or try to help those you find yourself in the company of - you might just find your surroundings steadily shifting in your favor. A weapon here, a pathway opening there, a wooden door that transforms into steel. Be careful, though: should your awareness grow that things aren't real, the world will try to consume those thoughts and you within it, twisting things further in an attempt to make you forget that you're dreaming.
The Imprint
Luckily, you do eventually wake - unsettled, damp with sweat, but at least you're safe. It was only a dream, wasn't it? For some, that might be the case. For others, you'll start to hear the sounds of the dream in the waking world, glimpse the shadow of the Entity in a reflection, feel a breath against your neck. Marks or injuries might also follow you into the physical world: dirt staining your palms from where you fell, a cut from where you were struck, dampness in your hair from the rain. These occurrences could be obvious, but they might also be so minor you feel like your mind is playing tricks.
Still - what if it isn't merely a dream? As the week goes on, whether you experience the phenomenon for yourself or not, you'll most certainly hear of it happening to your friends, loved ones, neighbors. Word reaches you of fellow Summoned being stalked from the shadows, waking up with injuries they shouldn't have, possibly even suffering a near-fatal wound in their sleep. Clearly, there's more to this than uneasy visions in the night.
Still - what if it isn't merely a dream? As the week goes on, whether you experience the phenomenon for yourself or not, you'll most certainly hear of it happening to your friends, loved ones, neighbors. Word reaches you of fellow Summoned being stalked from the shadows, waking up with injuries they shouldn't have, possibly even suffering a near-fatal wound in their sleep. Clearly, there's more to this than uneasy visions in the night.
The Factions
While it is each Summoned who is the focus of their Entity's ire, they are not the only ones who seem aware of its movements. The factions will soon approach each Summoned with an offer: work with them to help contain the threat and aid the suffering of you and your friends - but the one thing they cannot explain is how they have come to know about the existence of the Entity.
Will you take the offer and try to convince your fellow Summoned this is a vital path to take? Or will your mistrust of those in power have you not only refusing, but trying to prevent others from making what you believe is a mistake?
The choice is yours, but the decision might impact more than just you this time.
Will you take the offer and try to convince your fellow Summoned this is a vital path to take? Or will your mistrust of those in power have you not only refusing, but trying to prevent others from making what you believe is a mistake?
The choice is yours, but the decision might impact more than just you this time.
A separate log located here will detail the reaction of the factions and so forth. You can tag in under the specific heading for each faction.
To thread out any arguments or conflict prior to participating, please do so in this event post. The IC Faction Intervention log should be only for those actively participating in the full process.
To thread out any arguments or conflict prior to participating, please do so in this event post. The IC Faction Intervention log should be only for those actively participating in the full process.
The Horizon
When dreams are no longer an escape, desperate souls might turn to the Horizon for safety - though they may remember that, previously, the Horizon was not safe at all.
It Follows
At first, the same doesn't seem to hold true. Things are quiet in the Horizon. There is no need for sleep or dreams here. You have full control over what's formed inside your domain. However, it doesn't take long for the remnants of that horrible dream to seep into your sanctuary. A field you grew may start to turn dark, becoming nightmarish corridors. Maybe the tower you placed so carefully begins to crumble, or perhaps the reflection you see of yourself in a lake isn't you at all. You will find that despite your best efforts, your Entity has followed you into Horizon and is corrupting your domain with it.
As menacing as the presence may be, the Entity will not be able to destroy other's domains. Within yours, though, it may twist the design to varying degrees, ruining carefully laid paths, staining blood on your walls, darkening what is most important to you no matter how much you might try to change it back. Conversely, its hold may only be strong enough to be a shadow in the corner of your eye. It all depends on the strength of your nightmares and how deeply its affected your mind.
Nonetheless, the message is clear: dreams are born of your mind and your mind is what the Horizon is formed from.
As menacing as the presence may be, the Entity will not be able to destroy other's domains. Within yours, though, it may twist the design to varying degrees, ruining carefully laid paths, staining blood on your walls, darkening what is most important to you no matter how much you might try to change it back. Conversely, its hold may only be strong enough to be a shadow in the corner of your eye. It all depends on the strength of your nightmares and how deeply its affected your mind.
Nonetheless, the message is clear: dreams are born of your mind and your mind is what the Horizon is formed from.
The Looking Glass
Whether you see the manifestation of your Entity in full or whether your domain is barely affected by its presence, all who enter the Horizon during the course of the week will find that they are once again plagued by a flash of a vision.
This is nothing like the glimpses into another's past, however. There are no headaches, no recognizable faces. This time, the vision will flicker in and out of focus like an old television trying to find the right signal, staticky and not quite clear at first. The flashes are brief, lasting only mere seconds, if that. In fact, at first, one might even mistake it for a trick of the mind. For some, this may be all they see. For others, it may return in another burst the next time they enter the Horizon, becoming clearer each time. It might appear as soon as you step in, or it might take an hour, two.
What you see will not be anything familiar. The scene itself will never change. It is a soundless meteoric picture. You may glimpse heavy winds stirring some sand, but you will not feel it on your skin nor hear the wind. You may see a flicker of the sea, but you will not smell the sea salt nor hear the crashing waves. All in all, this image which appears to you is abstract, strange, and impossible to understand in their absurdity - except for one part: the appearance of a single Arcana sign.
Intriguingly, this sign likely does not match your own. It might not even match anyone you know at all. It is an undeniable fixture, though, appearing emblazoned on the scene somewhere, not always in the same place, but always present: seared into the ground, carved on stone, scrawled on a page.
CODE
This is nothing like the glimpses into another's past, however. There are no headaches, no recognizable faces. This time, the vision will flicker in and out of focus like an old television trying to find the right signal, staticky and not quite clear at first. The flashes are brief, lasting only mere seconds, if that. In fact, at first, one might even mistake it for a trick of the mind. For some, this may be all they see. For others, it may return in another burst the next time they enter the Horizon, becoming clearer each time. It might appear as soon as you step in, or it might take an hour, two.
What you see will not be anything familiar. The scene itself will never change. It is a soundless meteoric picture. You may glimpse heavy winds stirring some sand, but you will not feel it on your skin nor hear the wind. You may see a flicker of the sea, but you will not smell the sea salt nor hear the crashing waves. All in all, this image which appears to you is abstract, strange, and impossible to understand in their absurdity - except for one part: the appearance of a single Arcana sign.
Intriguingly, this sign likely does not match your own. It might not even match anyone you know at all. It is an undeniable fixture, though, appearing emblazoned on the scene somewhere, not always in the same place, but always present: seared into the ground, carved on stone, scrawled on a page.
The six available images are below and each one is labeled with the Arcana sign your character will notice when they glimpse the scene. Choose any image you like, but only one may be selected. Characters do not need to be experiencing nightmares or the Entity to see these images.
As noted, the Arcanum on the image itself does not need to match your character's. At this time, there are no real details on what the Arcanum itself means or why it's appeared, though the possibilities are endless. Everyone in Abraxas possesses one, after all.
If you want to be surprised and assigned an image at random, comment here and we will do so for you!
As noted, the Arcanum on the image itself does not need to match your character's. At this time, there are no real details on what the Arcanum itself means or why it's appeared, though the possibilities are endless. Everyone in Abraxas possesses one, after all.
If you want to be surprised and assigned an image at random, comment here and we will do so for you!
no subject
I think you stating that this place is, if I'm hearing you correctly, still ages behind where you're from puts some things in perspective. [ Claude says this slowly, his mind still sifting through possibilities. ] I can't say that our calendars have the same meaning since the one in Fodlan is measured by the founding of the Adrestian Empire as its beginning. The same goes for the Abraxas one as the years I've seen hold no meaning to me, other than being higher than the dates I know. But where I left, the year was 1187 if that's closer to how you keep time as well?
[ There's another thought that keeps tugging at the corners of his mind, based on time, all those discoveries. How the Free Cities, even from what he's learned in the couple of weeks since his arrival, want to chase down every opportunity they can to continue their advancements and with magic he doesn't even fully understand to make that happen. It's a goal that seems to unite the academies, whether that's a good thing or not. Hopefully they aren't working on the face book Julie seems concerned about that he's assuming is a set of illustrations, or something close to it. ]
Considering that where I'm from hasn't had any chances to make any advancements, I have to say thinking about what could be done now that that's lifted makes me a bit uneasy now seeing what's happening here and the potential in that. Like maybe it won't be too long before some not-so-great things may be part of it there. [ Or, maybe worse - ] Or here, even if the situation is much different and they're much farther ahead of what Fodlan's accomplished.
no subject
[ And Claude's world doesn't much sound like it matches up to what Julie would consider 1187. She's not even sure that the length of a year in Abraxas truly matches up to a year on Earth, or if she's just so used to counting that way that she's unintentionally kept it up.
She shrugs. ] I'm not sure it's that simple. Advancement is just advancement -- the way it gets used is more important. My world coulda been the most peaceful place ever, with no one in the whole world goin' hungry, but that's not what people decided to use things for. 'Stead of peace or science, people used the new stuff for power and money. That's what I see in this city. That same way of thinkin'.
[ And that's what frightens her. ]
no subject
[ The rest of what she says is warning enough, both for here and for Fodlan, and Claude nods slowly as he considers the weight of them and what it is that people have the propensity to do. ]
I wouldn't be surprised if the Free Cities is using science as a guise for just as you said: power and money. Cadens, or I should say the parts they want us to see from what I've gathered, seems rather wealthy at first glance. It reminds me of Enbarr which was the former capital of the Adrestian Empire. Things there were the same in that there was lots of visible wealth meant to distract visitors. The city was a work of art in its own way, but only for the nobility. Those without money or titles were generally left to struggle. [ He pauses for a second with his mouth flattening into a line to make his (negative) thoughts clear on that much even if it wasn't merely the Empire doing that to their citizens. ] Though to be quite fair, that wasn't only an Enbarr problem. I can't say that Derdriu doesn't also have issues in need of resolution to make life better for everyone where it was happening all right under my watch. Now that the war in Fodlan's drawn to a close it's something that can be focused on now, finally.
Regardless, it seems people are consistent from world to world, so my long-winded point there is even from only being here a short time I have to agree with you about the government's plans and what those advances could mean here. And even more so since you've lived somewhere further down this same path of advancements.
no subject
[ He's throwing around more proper names than she's caught, and she's still a bit confused on the timelines, so she just sort of lets his thoughts pass by her. Honestly, Julie tends to drift in and out of conversations anyway, especially when they aren't directly related to her or her interests, and anything happening on a world she's never been to and will never go to falls squarely outside of her purview. She only tunes back in once he moves back to the actual point. ]
Yeah. I mean, I don't claim I know the future, but I know that history repeats itself like crazy, and I'm just sayin', what's up next on the tape ain't very good for any of us. Best case I can see... is that there's a huge war, and then there's a real good time after that. But, for us, that war changed everythin' forever.
no subject
[ Claude sees no reason to not assume that's the case elsewhere in the other cities, Aquila being a name he recognizes from studying maps of the territory as a whole but yet to hear much about it. Julie's mention she's traveled there is something he'll file away for later to see about traveling. Something else to focus on while they're trying to get through nightmares, anyway, that isn't being dragged into the depths of the worst parts of his mind.
The door opening to the cafe catches his attention, both as someone bustles in and immediately heads for the counter where another patron greets them with friendly loudness, and also because the sky appears much darker than it did when they arrived. Which makes sense, given that they've been talking for a while, but he's still startled to realize how much time's passed. Or how out of sync his sense of time is with reality. Either way. ]
I, ah, seem to have taken up a lot of your time. [ And not just that, he realizes, since he follows it up with a slightly rueful smile while collecting the empty components of his tea to assist the servers. ] And probably didn't provide the best distraction from everything else going on by ending up focusing on so much about war, whether it's here or elsewhere, so I apologize for that.
Next time - assuming there might be one, that is - we'll limit it to lighter topics instead.
no subject
As she stands, she gives Claude a smile. While she can't say that she necessarily feels better about everything going on, the dreams and being chased, she did, at least, forget it for a short time. That's enough. ]
For sure. Y'all can always come find me in the Horizon too. I'll see you later.