epidemiology | EVENT ★ WELCOME TO TERRA FELIS

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EVENT ★ WELCOME TO TERRA FELIS

WELCOME TO TERRA FELIS

Characters leave Woodhurst suddenly and without notice, but once they come out the other side of the rift, they aren't in Oska. Instead, they'll find themselves in the middle of a springtime meadow. Flowers are in bloom, the bright blue sky is above, and birds chirp overhead.

And then there are the cats.

From all sides of the meadow come housecats of all shapes and sizes, indistinguishable from mundane felines in every way until one of them speaks: "You're the third team today," it says in the calm, clear voice of a man. "Come along."

CENTRUM COLONIAM

Centrum Coloniam is the primary city of Terra Felis and is where the government, a constitutional monarchy, is located. Situated high above the ground, the city is accessible via teleportation pads located at guarded entrances all around its base; the teleportation pads to return to the ground are not guarded at all, and anyone may travel freely whenever they wish.

Terra Felis operates on magitek, a complex combination of magic and technology that recruits should be familiar with: it's the same technology that runs Oska and the jewelcomms. Centrum Coloniam is lit by glowing, floating orbs that turn on automatically in the darkness, and its machinery seems to run itself, with only a few technicians scurrying about every now and then. The buildings all have tall, vaulted ceilings, as the cats prefer to walk along raised platforms rather than the floor, though furniture and utensils might give larger species (that's you) some difficulty.

However, the cats receive enough visitors where most buildings (except private residences) have been situated with human-sized doorways, though if you're very tall, you may have to stoop a bit. All in all, characters ought to be relatively comfortable here if they have a good sense of humor -- though dogs or other canine companions will be met with suspicion if not outright hostility. Even enlightened sapient felines are not without their prejudices.

The city of Centrum Coloniam is shaped like a circle, with the government in the center and four districts located to the north, east, south, and west. Radiating out from the city are four long spokes of parkland, separating each district.

AREAS OF NOTE:

ROYAL SQUARE. Where the Queen's opulent palace is located. She is much too busy to see visitors right now, but the Prime Minister, a plump persian, will greet anyone in her stead and answer any questions. Surrounding the palace in a circle are the parliamentary buildings and other governmental structures.

ACADEMY SQUARE. To the north of the Royal Square is Academy Square, Terra Felis's university district and home to the Royal University. The cats focus mainly on scientific, mathematical, and magical pursuits, though there are smaller colleges for history and law. This is also where the library is located, though it is all nonfiction (and written in Latin), as the cats don't seem to have much use for entertainment.

Also located within the Academy Square is the Royal Magitekkery, where the magitek specialists are hard at work developing new spells and technology. This is where the interdimensional rift machines are located, and where scientists and wizards are monitoring for news from Oska. If characters would like to ask more about magitek or inquire about Oska, they may speak to the Royal Scientist, a rather snobby sphynx.

GROOMING DISTRICT. Home to many spas, salons, and other businesses focusing on individual pampering, the Grooming District is located to the east of the Royal Square and is where the majority of the locals are employed if they are not involved in politics or magitek. Though their primary clientele are, naturally, feline, they are largely excited to work on aliens and will do their best to provide whatever services they can.

Of particular note are the Terra Felis spas, where soothing mud baths and shi-miatsu massage are very popular with their regular alien visitors. They also have natural hot springs available, though you'll have to wait for a Turkish Van to assist you, as all other spa attendants refuse to risk getting wet.

RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT. Unless you are going to be roughing it down on the ground, your lodgings will be here at a hotel especially outfitted for human-sized visitors. The proprietress, a friendly tabby, will give you directions if you need them.

Hotel rooms are outfitted with private bathrooms, a table and chairs, a vanity, and a television -- though the programming is primarily educational and news, except for the channel that plays nothing but endless videos of birds and fish, and the "alien station" which plays what appears to be soap operas starring bloblike creatures. The beds are probably the most unusual thing here for visitors -- although they're big enough for humanoids, they're just gigantic, fluffy cat beds.

The houses here are not built for alien visitors larger than a cat, so if you make a friend, you'll have to visit them elsewhere. This district is also home to a number of shops and restaurants, though you might have trouble finding something to eat at the latter unless you live on a purely carnivorous diet. If you would like a little more variation in your meal, you will be offered a tray of wheatgrass; the kitchen at the hotel is staffed with cooks more accustomed to a human diet, so you might have better luck there. As cats are allergic to alcohol, there is no liquor in Terra Felis, but locals will offer you catnip on the sly if you mention you want something to help you loosen up.

MUSEUM CAMPUS. The pride of Centrum Coloniam, the Museum Campus is located to the west of the Royal Square and home to museums covering everything from history to astronomy. (There is no art museum. If you were interested in seeing what cats consider art, the answer is nothing.) There is also a rather large and rather popular aquarium, as well as a zoo which features both native animals and animals from all across the galaxy. The zoo is home to an extremely complex breeding program, and the Royal Zookeeper, a scatterbrained black longhaired cat, is happy to explain their methods.

Outside the city, the ground is home to meadows and forests, plus smaller villages for more rural cats. Characters are welcome to spend their time exploring the wilds if the city life isn't for them, where they may run into animals that one may expect to find in medieval Europe (deer, bears, wolves, etc). Apart from the cats, there is no other sapient species on the planet.

OOC NOTES

Welcome to Terra Felis! Contact with ALASTAIR NPCs remains mysteriously closed, and the native cat population has no idea what's going on with Oska either.

Please use this post to plot amongst yourselves!

The two other ALASTAIR teams in Terra Felis are Team Unicorn, an elite team of six (five humanoids and one talking kangaroo), and Team Ambrosia, a 20-recruit magic-focused team that consists of elves, humans, and satyrs. Unicorn had just begun their mission when they were suddenly rifted to Terra Felis, and Ambrosia was in the middle of what was apparently a very epic battle.

Questions about Terra Felis can be directed here. You may also use this comment to ask (brief!) handwaved questions with cat NPCs.

Questions about the game in general should be directed to the FAQ. You may also submit mission ideas or player plots at any time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ look, it's the mom in her. she can't let anyone fall asleep in a public place she's not entirely sure of. there are cats here, she doesn't entirely trust them. although when she leans over to tap Stiles on the shoulder, she's probably not more welcome than one of the felines in this city. it's not an attempt to startle him, but -

she just has a hard time being gentle. especially when she's already convinced this isn't healthy.] Stiles?

[ there's really only one way for this to go. sure, in about twenty seconds he'll be glad that she woke him up and totally get the reason, truth be told he didn't exactly decide to fall asleep right here in the chair... but.

but before all that, he has to wake up.

and wake up he does, albeit with a yelp, arms waving as he does a fairly convincing impersonation of a windmill, maybe Emma should grasp the chair instead of his shoulder to stop the chair and its occupant from toppling over entirely... ]

Aaaaagh — Emma? [ hi........ ]

Stiles!

[ well that wasn't how she saw things going. she pushes her boot against the edge of his chair when he bolts up, forcing it to remain upright even against the surprised teenager she's greeted with. it would've been smarter to leave him alone. in the moment it takes him to scare the crap out of her and to set himself right, she remembers just how difficult it is to keep this kid from ending up sprawled across the floor whenever they meet.

he has a talent for something. unfortunately, it's a talent no one else wants to have.]

Sorry. You were -

[ sleeping, obviously.]

That's not the best place to nap.

[ really, she should have seen this coming, it isn't likely he's gained a whole lot more grace in between their time in the Oska and now... or maybe it should be, but it isn't.

as soon as he settles down, though, it's with a groan and a hand passed over his face as he grimace-smiles at her. ]

Thanks. I didn't... I wasn't exactly planning on a nap, the cats around here do that enough. I just — [ he sighs and waves his hand, trying to decide how much to talk about his insomnia side effects. ] Haven't been sleeping too great.

[ ... that'll do. ]

[ join the club. sometimes Emma feels like she has less grace than she started out with - and she didn't have any to spare to begin with. going from one disaster to the next is more than a little exhausting, but he would know. Stiles is the one falling asleep wherever he can finally manage it.

it's one of the side effects she was spared. she wasn't infected for as long as some of her teammates.] If I'd known that, I would have let you sleep.

[ probably? yeah, she would have let him sleep. and probably planted herself a reasonable distance away and kept herself busy enough to stay for long enough to let him get some rest. she doesn't trust this place, but what else is new?]

How are you, aside from that?

Oh my god, no, don't even joke about that. I shouldn't have fallen asleep here.

[ he glances around, and the wariness in his expression probably says it all — Emma isn't the only one who doesn't trust the place. sure, he thinks it's interesting, gives them a chance to learn more about technomancy, about a different blend of magic... but that doesn't mean he trusts any of it. this.

there are approximately twenty ways to respond to that, but Stiles settles for, ]

I'm fine. [ a truth and a lie wrapped into a neat ball, so that it's impossible to tell where the two end and begin. ] And you? You doing okay? [ despite him not really... having kept up with her as well as he should have, he still likes Emma just fine — she's smart, sensible. suspicious, which earns her a lot of points in his eyes. ]

Yeah, I'm - good. For the most part.

[ as good as someone can be when home seems farther away all the time. she doesn't check in with Stiles as often as she means to, but there's something familiar about a kid with good intentions who usually finds his way into trouble. it's hard to keep track of everyone when they're on a mission, and right now, even the downtime isn't what she's used to.]

Still getting over the side effects of the infection, but I think I had it better than a lot of you.

[ take the kid falling asleep in random places for example. even the side effects aren't quite as bad for her.]

I didn't show signs of the virus until pretty late.

For the most part is still good.

[ he manages a small smile for her — at least that's good news for once. she doesn't need to suffer the side-effects like this. ]

... yeah. Me neither, but I guess the cure didn't sit well with me or something. [ truthfully, he'd only been in the quarantine for a few days before Giorno brought him the cure, but apparently the side-effects don't discriminate. ]

Trust me, you won't hear me complaining.

[ her side effects were more along the lines of deciding she was doomed and pushing away someone who cared about her - not that anyone could relate, obviously. she'd barely been showing symptoms when she decided she was a risk to everyone around her.]

You could probably use some rest in an actual bed, Stiles.

[ even one of those things that makes her feel like a small house pet. it's better than sleeping out in the open in a fairly unknown world of cats.]

You don't have to tell me, [ he sighs, because really? it isn't for a lack of trying though you might think otherwise. he's tried, he really has... but sleep continues to elude him. and lately "trying" has become more or less synonymous with "being assaulted with thoughts he'd rather not have"... which has made trying not worth the trouble at all.

not that he wants to get into that, really. ]

... wanna eat something? I was going to order before, uh, this. [ this being a general wave at himself and the fact that he totally fell asleep. he figures it'll be nicer to hang out with her than eat on his own, and she... really, she could probably use it, too. ]

[ the way Emma sees it, there are probably a few things that keep him from sleeping. whatever's going on inside his own head, plus the fact that they're being treated like housecats. it's a little too strange to settle into, but him being up and exhausted could be dangerous if wherever they end up next requires more of him than entertaining their feline friends.]

... Sure. [ the agreement isn't without some hesitation, mostly because - ] As long as I'm not getting in your way. [ if he wants to nap, think, or be by himself, she's only making matters worse. she accepts the invitation for what it is, though, and joins him at his table.]

You'd tell me if there was anything I could do help, right?

[ maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't. she just has to mention it.]

Don't worry, you're not. It's better, not to — [ a shrug that's probably supposed to be some kind of a substitute for not to sit here alone. ]

Present company doesn't seem too bad. [ he offers her a slight, tired smile; maybe seeing that he truly doesn't mind sitting here with her is what she needs to be convinced.

it's not the first time he's been asked that. don't keep it all in. and yet... it's less about him keeping it in, and more that there's nothing anyone can do to help. all he has to do is deal with what's happened. there's no one who can make it any easier. ]

... yeah. Thanks, Emma. [ a sincere thank you — he's grateful for the concern. it's too bad he can't really give her the chance to help. ]

Anytime. I had to try.

[ she had to see if he needed someone to talk to, just like, for whatever reason, he feels he has to decline. maybe it won't make anything better, maybe it'd only be worse to talk about it. she's not offended when he opts to keep whatever is bothering him to himself. the truth is, she tends to do that, too.

so if the best she can do is offer some company and keep him awake, they might as well share a meal together and not dwell on what they've been through. - even if it's only for a little while.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT ★ WELCOME TO TERRA FELIS

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why is her face so pretty im crying

her beauty is fueled by your tears

hdjghf it might as well be tbh... also sorry rl killed me i am so late to this :c

rl should be nicer to you!

ah i agree but alas... and maybe a wrap here or at yours?

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