raiamods: (Default)
raiamods ([personal profile] raiamods) wrote in [community profile] ethyraia2021-06-10 06:01 pm

EVENT #01 —

WHO: All PCs
WHAT: Guests arrive at the basecamp
WHEN: June 10 - June 17
WHERE: Basecamp Leviathan
NOTES/WARNINGS: None currently (let us know if we should update this because we missed something)


EVENT LOG 001 — JUNE ❀
CONTENT WARNINGS: None currently (let us know if we missed something and should update this!)

Please note that several of these sections have deadlines, so it's a good idea to prioritize your plotting for the earlier section of the event first.

A calendar of events and deadlines is as follows:
IC:
June 10 -
The thessyx arrive with the shell.
June 11 - Dinner with the thessyx, gifts distributed.
June 12 - Scrimmage interrupted by the formation of a sinkhole.
June 14 - Critters emerge from the sinkhole in the gymnasium.
June 13-17 - Two more sinkholes open up, with more critters emerging within the day.

OOC:
June 13 -
Last day to ask about your character interfering with the shell.
June 16 - Last day to ask about your character joining the closed-door meeting with Childe and the thessyx.
June 30 - Last day to register the way your character engages with the thessyx and the critters directly. (Mods do not anticipate replying to these comments.)
❀ UNEXPECTED VISITORS


At noon on June 10, a dozen visitors arrive. The Thessyx carry themselves quietly, moving through the base as if they were attempting to enter a body of water without disturbing it. Lightweight robes of some native skein cover their green-grey amphibian skin, but do not obscure the fact that each of them possesses four arms. Once inside the base and in the leviathan’s embrace, they will lower their hoods and additionally reveal fins of varying colors along the back of their scalps. These creatures have slit noses; wide-set, irisless eyes; and mouths that stretch the full width of their skull. With them, they bring a great shell about three meters long and as tall as a small adult human.

The security force of the Adamant greets the visitors on their entry to camp. These strange amphibious creatures inform the security force that they are the Thessyx, and that the shell is full of gifts. The security force is ordered by Chief Security Officer Rémi to lock the shell away until Captain Childe has had the opportunity to decide what will be done with the contents. If you intend for your character to interfere with the shell in some way, please reach out in the QUESTIONS thread below BEFORE JUNE 13TH — this includes if your character would try to stop others from interfering with it.

Three of their number with blue fins on their head go to speak in a closed-door meeting with Captain Childe. If your character would like to attempt to get access to this meeting, please reach out in the QUESTIONS thread below with an explanation of how they would attempt to do so BEFORE JUNE 16TH.

The next day, more Thessyx arrive, and they will remain on the base for about one week. They move around the camp fairly casually, mingling with the Adamant’s crew. They are particularly interested in the hatchlings. If your character would like to ask specific questions of the Thessyx they encounter, please direct them to the QUESTIONS thread below.

Just before dinner the next evening (June 11), Captain Childe announces that there will be a special celebration in the mess hall, courtesy of their guests — all of their guests. The announcement is as follows, and goes out on the communication devices camp-wide:
I'm sure some of you have noticed the Thessyx walking among us. In light of their arrival and the gifts they've brought with them, we've decided to have a joint celebration in the mess. They have agreed to have guards from their city patrol our perimeter, so everyone has twelve hours off. Attendance isn't mandatory, but it's strongly suggested.

They've brought gifts for our new arrivals as well. These gifts are to be distributed later. I know some of you will think it's unfair that the Thessyx are favoring them, and that in three years of being here this is the first time they've initiated contact with us. Tensions are bound to be high — but the first person who picks a fight is getting thrown in the brig, I don't care if you're a civilian or not. We could all use this break.

Don't offend them. No fish jokes.

Childe out.
At dinner, a few crew members get out their instruments, and Captain Childe even looks the other way when Senior Engineer Thorkil Bjørnson opens up a barrel of the moonshine he’s just finished. It means going without later, but they’ll share some of their modest wealth with the Thessyx. The mess hall is cluttered with revelry, and some of the tables have been pushed together to make room for people to dance.

The feast is made up of various mosses and seaweeds, pickled insects, and a few mollusks. Whether this sounds appetizing or not, it’s the freshest food anyone on the base has had for a while, and it seems it’s only intended for the Children of the Leviathan. Some crew members look on jealously or externalize their bitterness. Others may be pushier — after all, they’ve been providing for the hatchlings out of their own supplies for a while now. Still others will be surprised if any of the hatchlings offer trades or pawn the food off on them preemptively — they may be inclined towards favors and good will.

A few notes:
  • The Thessyx refer to the hatchlings as ‘Children of the Leviathan.’ They do not appear to sleep, nor do they step out from under the leviathan’s embrace when the sun is out. The three blue finned Thessyx who meet with Captain Childe are not the Thessyx’s leaders, only representatives. They prefer to ask the PCs questions about them and where they came from rather than answering questions about themselves.

  • To interfere with the shell, attempt to be involved in the closed-door meeting between Childe and the thessyx, or to ask questions of the thessyx, please visit the QUESTIONS sub-thread. These options have staggered deadlines so that we can account for each stage while responding to the next; these actions of some hatchlings will reflect on others.

  • By JUNE 30TH at 21:00 EST, please respond to the mod comment labeled THESSYX GREETING with a brief description of how your character would greet the Thessyx. Feel free to write multiple characters in a single comment. We just want to check the temperature in the room.

  • ❀ A DISTURBANCE UNDERFOOT

    On June 12th, the thessyx’s visit is disrupted by the appearance of a sinkhole in the gymnasium. The basketball court, which was already in disrepair, suffers the worst of the damage. In the midst of a scrimmage between PCs and NPCs, which the thessyx observe quite rapturously, a 5-meter hole opens in the middle, with concrete and steel and earth crumbling underfoot. Any injured PCs will have their sprains and scratches treated well by the medical team, and the gymnasium will be closed until further notice. Don’t worry! The Adamant’s engineers are on the case, figuring out how the soil’s stability gave way. This could be bad news for the entirety of the basecamp if it’s an ongoing issue. The engineers could probably use some help addressing the issue — to volunteer, reach out to us in the QUESTIONS thread.

    Over the next couple days, two more sinkholes appear — one near the Memorial Wall, and one in the showers (though it thankfully doesn’t seem to have affected the plumbing). Anyone injured by a sinkhole will also have their sprains and scratches treated well by the medical team. Cartagena shares a helpful (“helpful”) PSA about the dangers of sinkholes and how to protect yourself, which is clearly dated and has nothing to do with whatever is going on here on Ethyraia:

    Hello, Children of the Leviathan! Isn’t that a silly name? I guess it’s the most accurate, since you did come from eggs. Soon you will be one month old! Hahaha! Biology can be odd sometimes.

    It’s not just biology, though! Ecology is certainly strange and confusing, and nothing is stranger and more confusing than the ecology of Ethyraia. I’m sure you have all noticed the sinkholes appearing more and more often these days. Do not be alarmed! Not because there is nothing alarming, but because alarm leads to panic and panic leads to more danger!

    For the time being, please follow these helpful tips for sinkholes:
    1. If you see a sinkhole, go the opposite direction.
    2. If you fall into a sinkhole, try not to cry. Instead, yell for help!

    I think these are sufficient enough guidelines to follow, yes?

    Remember, be careful out there! And protect your squishy selves. You never know when you might be useful later. Then it would be a shame if your squishy self was gone. We’d all be very sad. Or most of us. Or some of us. At least me, to the capacity that an AI can be sad.

    Stay safe! Cartagena out.

    On June 14th, the first of the critters emerges from the sinkhole in the gymnasium. These creatures are roughly a meter tall at the shoulder, blind, with enormous clawed forepaws and supernumerary hind-legs that appear shrunken and shrivelled and barely provide function. These creatures have tough, armored hides and truly, truly awful breath. They are capable of tearing through metal with their claws, and small arms fire does nothing to them. Within the day, dozens of them have skittered into the base. They seem as confused and afraid to be in here as the basecamp’s residents are to have them here. However, these are wild animals; they react to their fear with sharp teeth and claws. A few perseverant critters find their way into the cafeteria, sniffing out food, while others can be found gnawing on cables that power the lights for the basecamp.

    Chief Security Officer Rémi will be quick to pursue an extermination plan. The problem is big enough that the PCs are encouraged to help out, and those who volunteer will be quickly accepted, as long as they aren't trying to offer their own bright ideas.

    A few notes:
  • To volunteer to help out with engineering, please visit the QUESTIONS sub-thread.

  • If your character would volunteer to help security exterminate the creatures, or if they would disregard the security force and go after the critters on their own, please let us know in the QUESTIONS thread so we can talk about what this would look like. Rémi isn’t well-known for liking people who subvert the chain of command.

  • By JUNE 30TH at 21:00 EST, please respond to the CRITTER WRANGLING comment with how you vote the critters get dealt with — extermination, rehoming, or something else. If someone has already commented with your characters’ IC preference, please add your +1 under other people’s comments, so it’s easier for us to sort.
  • sunmon: (pic#14852476)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-04 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
    So you liked her.

    [ the oversimplification is an extended hand, freedom from the very dour conversation that alina had walked them into. an apology of sorts too. she's well aware that she's not winning any awards for social behavior anytime soon. (do they even have commendations for that? 'leadership,' maybe.) ]
    sunmon: (pic#14852196)

    cw: victim blaming directed inwards, dubcon ref

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-04 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
    What? No.

    [ though there's something in the horrified expression she wears that seems to think, to consider. at least a fraction of her horror is with herself. that's the trouble. he hadn't needed to. she'd thrown herself at him. if ivan hadn't interrupted, if baghra hadn't come—

    alina wipes her hand across her mouth. it would be easier, maybe, to forgive herself the error if she hadn't done it again in the medical bay just to keep him from realizing her mistake. when her heart pounded around him, was that the fear or something else? could the answer be both?
    ]

    He— [ voicing it makes it real, somehow, and she stumbles on it. telling nina the truth means committing to what she'd said before — that she really does believe that nina won't turn around and tell kirigan. it would be very, very bad for alina if she did. not only that. somehow worse is that it means nina gets to judge every choice alina has made since coming here — in a matter nina is an expert in, and on a subject no one else has all the information about. she exhales slowly, gathering herself by grabbing onto that rage that sits in her chest whenever she's awake. simmering. it steels her. ] He's not trying to destroy the Fold, Nina. He doesn't want to. He made it.
    neversmall: (140)

    [personal profile] neversmall 2021-08-05 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Nina's brow furrows. What?

    What's gotten into Alina's head? ]


    That's not possible. The Dark Heretic made the Fold hundreds of years ago. No one lives that long.
    sunmon: (Default)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-05 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
    [ alina tries to believe it. it is the same denial she had clung to the night of the winter fete, in the passage with baghra. she wants nina to tell her that she's being ridiculous, that baghra was being cruel, that it couldn't be possible because, frankly, alina wants to be wrong. she wants the comfort and safety of aleksander and the little palace and the only place she'd ever belonged.

    but she can't bring herself to. she is too sure. especially now that he had admitted to his own longevity, to baghra being his mother. out of the horse's mouth.
    ]

    It is possible. He's — He's ancient.

    [ she shivers. ]

    Think about it. For Grisha, using our powers makes us stronger. It keeps us healthy. A Grisha with enough power... [ the word squeaks out in a whisper. ] He told me himself. Not about the Fold, but the rest.

    [ she doesn't meet nina's eyes after that. the rest of the conversation was ... complicated. the shining hope that she'd seen in aleksander that there might be someone else with just as much power, the kind of power to survive that long. he'd put that hope into her.

    and she was betraying him.
    ]
    neversmall: (016)

    [personal profile] neversmall 2021-08-05 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Ancient.

    It still seems impossible. That the man who'd guarded the Grisha of Ravka was one of the reasons why they were so despised. That the man who fought so hard for them had also created that which made their lives infinitely more miserable - had left her with only memories of her father, snatches of scent, an off-key hum of a tune. The Fold had taken so many lives, for the man responsible for it to still be alive, and not only that, in a place of honor and power and position -- and for no one to have known? For him to have gotten away with it for so long? ]


    Someone would have noticed. You can't just -- stay in the same place, unchanged, for centuries. People are blind, but not that blind.

    [ But people can be disposed of. And the Dark Heretic would have plenty of ways of doing that.

    Alina said he'd told her as much -- why would he do that? Why would he risk that, if it were true? She feels her stomach sink, sickened, as she considers the implications. ]
    sunmon: (Default)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-05 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
    He faked his death. Deaths. Changed his name.

    [ the words sputter over her tongue. alina knows nina is only asking the same questions that she'd had. she knows it. but it feels like an assault on the one thing that she's been bottling up since she's been here. there's a frantic edge to her reply. ]

    Stop. Stop looking for ways to defend him. [ she takes nina by the upper arms. ] I'm telling you the truth. Just— [ a pang of something, there, in her face. ] Believe me.

    [ who would?

    who would believe the frightened girl who had needed to be dragged to the little palace by force, who had immediately set about searching for ways to escape? the girl who had hidden away from the fact that she was grisha for years? over their own general? this was why she'd needed to flee. she couldn't trust aleksander, couldn't trust baghra, couldn't even trust genya. if she didn't have nina, she had no one.
    ]

    Please.
    portolan: (s m i r k)

    [personal profile] portolan 2021-08-07 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
    [ A genuine laugh escapes Balthier. The sheer adolescence of it is at once absurd and perfectly suitable. It isn't like he did anything to pursue a relationship; he'd convinced himself it was inappropriate, and now it was too late. ]

    I did indeed like her. Like-liked even. [ A ridiculous phrase he picked up on the network from the youths. ]
    portolan: (c h i t c h a t)

    [personal profile] portolan 2021-08-07 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
    You're all united then? [ Balthier has a vague recollection of the person he spoke to on the network early on. For a General, he hasn't seen him doing much leading. Or much of anything.

    Balthier catches himself. Anyone who is part of a structured military force sets him off right now; he's happy to judge the man himself, but only where there's information to judge.
    ]

    Quite the feat. Hard enough to keep a crew of six aligned, let alone a whole people.

    [ The only way he's seen that work is force and control. ]
    sunmon: (pic#14873543)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-09 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
    It sounds like something out of a story. [ she smiles, indulging the thought for a moment. ] A pirate who falls in love with a princess.

    [ if it were a story, it'd have a happy ending. he wouldn't have wound up trapped here, separated from her. but the simplicity of fairytales has a certain appeal for alina, right now. moralistic. clear lines. things she misses. ]
    sunmon: (11)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-09 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
    Well, when a Grisha's choice is to be experimented on by the Shu, burned by the Fjerdans, or indentured in Kerch ...

    [ alina shrugs. ]

    Serving under General Kirigan in the Second Army, serving the Ravkan throne, doesn't look so bad.

    [ if you can call that unity. ]
    portolan: (c h i t c h a t)

    [personal profile] portolan 2021-08-11 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
    So not a friend then.
    portolan: (w e l l l l l)

    [personal profile] portolan 2021-08-11 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
    Life is always more romantic when we tell the tale.

    [ it is a nice thought. maybe it would have worked, if he'd been less of a coward. or hadn't ended up here. in all honesty he'd been meaning to say...something after things wrapped up. this hadn't been part of the plan. ]

    But I am the leading man. I'm sure the next chapter will be just as illustrious and heart-pounding.
    sunmon: (Default)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-11 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)
    I didn't say that.

    [ saints, she can't even figure out what she feels the honest answer is, let alone the one that's right to maintain this illusion she's built. she doesn't even stop to consider whether she can trust balthier with this. she knows she can't trust anyone. ]

    But the Grisha are only united by having nowhere else to go. That's not Kirigan's fault. [ the words feel strange in her mouth. making excuses for him. it should ring false — he created the Fold, and so many people hate and fear Grisha precisely because of the Fold. but Grisha were hated and feared before it, too. all through history. so it's strange to realize that it's not entirely false. ] Anyway, that's politics for you.
    sunmon: (pic#14850614)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-12 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
    And humility won't feature at all, by the sound of it.

    [ she laughs, though. there's something bizarre and comforting about the way that balthier boasts that kind of egotism, but then extends a surprising softness and understanding — interest in others that no real egotist would be capable of.

    well. she thinks of kirigan's concerned expression. that no true egotist wouldn't be faking.
    ]
    portolan: (s m i r k)

    [personal profile] portolan 2021-08-13 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
    Humility doesn't make for very good story telling, does it? I have to give the people what they want.

    [ It's easy to slip into this bravado. Enjoyable even. But there's a pang of loneliness in it. Years spent under this shield. Even as it's soothing, there's something about it he doesn't want anymore, but he doesn't have anything to fill it's space. He lost those people when he woke up here. ]
    portolan: (l o o s e n y o u r c u f f s)

    [personal profile] portolan 2021-08-13 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Balthier notices Alina's defensiveness. There's something odd in this relationship, but he's aware she's had her share of hardship and isolation. Still -- friend and overseeing military officer don't quite add up. ]

    Kirigan, is it? So you've worked together often, I take it? Good to have someone you know and trust here -- I'll admit I'm jealous.

    [ He's not being disingenuine, but he's definitely watching for how she reacts. There's something below the surface here, and what kind of pirate would he be if he wasn't good at finding hidden things. ]
    sunmon: (pic#14981192)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-13 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
    [ alina studies him, then. thoughtful. hesitant. the pause gives her away, a little. ]

    Yeah. [ simple is better. she doesn't know if she can muster a real lie right now. ] I bet you wish your princess were here.

    [ she lets the segue speak for itself. ]
    portolan: (w e l l l l l)

    [personal profile] portolan 2021-08-15 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)
    [ Balthier notes that Alina doesn't want to talk about this, even as she was so quick to defend. ]

    Ah, not at all. She should be Queen by now and gods know Dalmasca needs her. [ She's hardly his princess. He'd certainly have made the best of it if she were here, but she'd have been restless, losing her mind, trying to get back to her people. Maybe it says something about him that he isn't.

    Maybe just that he knows better than to want after things he can't have.

    He does wish Fran were here, dearly, but he doesn't spend too much time on that thought.
    ]
    sunmon: (Default)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-17 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
    That doesn't mean you can't need her too.

    [ for the record. alina shrugs one shoulder lightly. it seems fair enough, but it's also a defense of her own selfishness. how many times had she wished mal were with her at the little palace? he'd have hated it. that didn't matter to her. ]
    portolan: (l o o s e n y o u r c u f f s)

    [personal profile] portolan 2021-08-17 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
    Truth be told, I don't think we got close enough for either of us to really rely on each other, let alone need each other. [ This is one pain that feels smaller here, since there's nothing to be done for it, and in some ways, not being closer makes this transition easier. ]

    Harder to miss the people I do need. [ He admits the second part more to see Alina's reaction than because he feels particularly strongly about disclosing the information. ]
    sunmon: (Default)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-17 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
    What do you mean?

    [ she gives pause here, studying him. he seems to have a far easier time sharing things about himself than she does. maybe he has fewer people trying to kill him, despite all his troubles. ]
    portolan: (c h i t c h a t)

    [personal profile] portolan 2021-08-17 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
    [ Balthier considers what he knows about Alina. She doesn't seem to have had any meaningful friendships. There's this person from childhood, but that seems like a relationship of convenience. People who spend all their time together without any real trust and intimacy. The stuff of nightmares, really. ]

    Fran had my back for close to seven years. Whether it was fighting bandits or escaping prison or a bad cold or just pontificating about the universe, she was there and she let me be there for her. We argued and we pushed each other and we were there when things got hard. I need her. I haven't...figured out what I'm going to do about that space. She's been a part of my life so deeply and for so long.

    Ashe and I never got there. We had a few meaningful conversations, we survived some near death experiences, but if a year or two goes by, we'll be as good as strangers.

    She's a fairy tale. Fran was family.
    neversmall: (113)

    [personal profile] neversmall 2021-08-20 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
    I don't need to defend him when what you're saying is ridiculous.

    [ What she says is reflexive, and not gentle, but neither is it cutting or cruel. Nina would like, very much, to completely dismiss this. It's much larger than she can afford to deal with right now; it takes all her much-sacrificed for priorities and smashes them into little tiny pieces, if it's true, like a madman with a mallet loose in a shop of porcelain dolls.

    She does not want it to be true.

    But Alina's desperation cuts her. Her terror is more convincing than her logic, and Nina can sense how badly Alina needs to be believed.

    She wants to take hold of Alina's arms and forcibly remove them from her arms and walk away. She wants to cut the fragile cord she senses reaching out from Alina, something that is keeping her from spiraling, and just leave. She's deserted. This isn't her problem.

    ...but she just can't do it. ]


    Damn it. [ She rips herself away from Alina and turns her back, staring up at the wings of the dragon to say an emphatic: ] Fuck.

    [ She turns back around. ] If I say I believe you, do you have any idea what it means we have to try to do?
    sunmon: (pic#14854106)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-20 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
    You'd be surprised who you can learn to live without.

    [ she says it like she doesn't desperately wish that mal were still here, that he hadn't turned his back on her when she'd become grisha. things would make sense again if mal were here — if only because she'd be that quiet little girl living in his shadow. she could hide away in the relationship she had to him.

    it's hard to project that onto how balthier describes fran.
    ]
    sunmon: (pic#14982506)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-20 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
    I plan to run as far away as I can as fast as I can, before he finds a way to use me to weaponize the Fold.

    [ it feels achingly cowardly in the face of nina's nobility, her refusal to abandon alina to her loneliness. in that moment, alina feels anything but saintly. she should be the one giving hope and instead she's robbed nina of that, and for what? so that she can say 'thanks, nice knowing you, i'll be going now' and leave grisha problems to the grisha? it doesn't satisfy. guilt wells in her gut like blood from a wound. ]

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