EVENT ★ WELCOME TO TERRA FELIS

[futurologists]

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.

Comments

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[moneyman]

[ admittedly, it's the smell of bacon that draws him in. his appetite, which took a toll with the stress of Woodhurst, is back with a vengeance. much like the unfortunate, infected souls of their previous location, he's hungry most of the time. back to normal, in other words.

he hasn't seen Loki since The Great Walkman Incident of 1993. it's a pleasant surprise, even if he's still not entirely sure if the other guy likes him or not. he's guessing the whole truth curse thing is over by now, but even if it wasn't, he wouldn't abuse it to find out.

instead, he'll just stop by and say hi. ]

Hey, man. [ his attention turns to the food, probably a little too quickly. look, he's hungry. ] Is that just... a bacon sandwich? I didn't know that was a thing.

[ why wouldn't it be a thing? maybe he never thought to just slap a bunch of bacon in some bread and call it good. what a fool he's been. ]

[selfimage]

[ and that incident was probably the most embarrassing time of his life. Loki's not used to being awkward—no, he's used to knowing what to do all the time and allowing certain bouts of awkwardness for his own gain. that whole week was painfully unfortunate, and he'd rather forget all about it, thanks!!!

with a crane of his head, Loki looks up at him, then back down at his sandwich. ]

The mortals seem to have several unique ways or processing meat and then layering it between sliced bread. This one is called a butty.

...

No relation to butts.

[ you know, just to clarify. ]

[moneyman]

[ that's okay, Vaughn spent most of his life being awkward, so it all evens out. he's still kind of awkward. there's a base level of awkward he will probably never grow out of.

oh, well. ]

Well, I would hope not. Kind of an unfortunate name anyway, though, isn't it?

[ ...okay, wait. "mortals?" what? suddenly the sandwich—pardon me, the butty—holds quite a bit less interest to him. he looks back at Loki with eyes full of tentative wonder. ]

Uh, are you... immortal, or something?

[selfimage]

[ tbh, Loki kinda likes the butts thing, so he just smiles at the unfortunate comment and lets Vaughn take it how he wants.

with dark nails, he begins to pull apart pieces of the sandwich, putting it into his mouth and chewing thoughtfully. ]

Immortal? Aye, I suppose I would be. I'm a god, after all. That usually makes one immortal.

[ he delivers it with such ease that he may as well be giving the weather report. ]

[moneyman]

What?

[ it's a good thing he hadn't had a chance to grab any food yet, because he would have dropped it on the floor. tentative wonder becomes legitimate wonder as he watches Loki, an actual god, eat a bacon sandwich. like a normal person. again, what? ]

You're a god? How is that—I mean, what are you even— [ his brain has totally short-circuited. ] How could I have missed something like that all this time? What kind of god are you? Do you have powers? Followers?

[ he may be a little too excited about this. holy shit, he hugged a god. now there's something for the bucket list that he can immediately cross out. ]

[selfimage]

[ Vaughn collects himself, sputtering, and Loki continues to chew. he watches him with some vague kind of amusement, as if he had just shared a funny joke. luckily for Vaughn, Loki finds his manners enough (he doesn't always, much to Freyja's dismay, though she gave up on that when he had sprouted up like a weed) not to chew with his mouth open.

yet he still sucks on the tips of his fingers for dramatic effect. ]

We'll go with the less complicated version: I'm a child of Asgard, one of the Aesir. I hail from the realm eternal, my father is the great and all-knowing—[ he's waving a little bit of bacon sandwich. ]—Odin. As for me, I deal in all the unpleasantness that no one really likes.

[ he leans back casually. ]

You could probably make a good guess if you tried. Lies, chaos, trickery and mischief. That kind of thing.

[ they'll start there. ]

[moneyman]

[ Asgard. Aesir. Odin. "the realm eternal." consider his mind thoroughly blown, even if he doesn't know what any of that means. ]

Holy shit.

[ what else is there to even say? he stares a moment longer in astonishment, trying to gather his thoughts, and then shakes his head. to go from "eh, I guess maybe god exists" to "there is literally a god sitting in front of me eating a sandwich" so quickly is juuust a little jarring. ]

So, like... [ he almost brings up the truth curse—is that why Loki hated it so much?—but thinks better of it at the last second. no use rubbing it in. but it explains so much. ] How long have you been around, then? Are you like a million years old?

[ he has so many questions, and most of them are dumb. sorry, dude. ]

[selfimage]

[ the whole thing looks like a casual occurrence to him, as if people are poking at him about being gods every day. Vaughn has reached the state of friendship with Loki where he doesn't seem too concerned with the possible vulnerabilities that he may reveal during their conversations.

where he usually doesn't oblige, he feels easy enough to get into it. besides, he asked nice. ]

No. Twenty-one. [ he's chewing thoughtfully. ] But you're only as old as you feel. My story is probably a lot older, but that's getting arbitrary.

[moneyman]

21? Wait, I'm older than you?

[ whaaat the fuck. he's older than a god. he's going to get self-conscious about it at this rate. he places a hand to his head like he's trying to keep his brain from falling out. ]

Oh, my god. So all that stuff about your "other self" or whatever... I guess that makes more sense now. [ kind of. ] I mean, a god's life must be super complicated, right? If your "story" is a lot older than you, then...

[ something something reincarnation?? maybe it's better not to bring that stuff up. ]

[selfimage]

[ there's a specific kind of funny leer that a younger person gives to an older person and that's exactly the kind of face that Loki's giving Vaughn right now.

his age was debatable, much like cereal box type information about him. his memories were far older, but his stolen body still younger. for a while he tended to think of himself on one end of the extreme—the person that he had been a copy of—but then settled on the other side of the spectrum, as something else entirely.

it felt good to be young, besides. ]

Something like that, yes. [ just talk with your mouth open, Loki. ] There have been a lot of Lokis, and not just in the realms in which I hail. They're in other universes, too. Stories told for a very long time resonate, solidify ideas and memories ...

This is who I am right now.

[ and he's gotta live with it. ]

[moneyman]

Multiple Lokis? [ say it isn't so. ] Wow. I... don't know if he—you—are a thing where I come from, but I never really studied, like... mythology and stuff, so...

[ ...wait. ]

—Uhh, actually, does it count as "mythology" if it's real? Maybe "religion" is a better word. I never studied that either. God, I'm sorry, I just can't believe I'm talking to a god right now.

[ he's completely aware that he sounds like an idiot, but he tends to babble when he's nervous or excited. it's a problem. ]

[selfimage]

[ it's awkward and endearing to watch Vaughn fumble through whatever formalities he believes should be applied to the situation. Loki had long dismissed being a stickler for such things—years ago he would have found reason for his offense, regardless of how Vaughn decided to put it.

it was far better than demands, in any case. (was he going soft? perhaps he was going soft.) ]

Er,well, I suppose that really depends. I'd not call it religion, per se—stories, perhaps. Some of them are true, some of them aren't, but I can't remember which.

That about leaves us where we started.

[moneyman]

...Right. Stories. [ somehow that works for him. which isn't to say he's not still flabbergasted, but he's starting to put the pieces together. ] That... must be really weird, having stories floating around about you that aren't true. I mean, I guess that can happen to anyone, but if you can't even remember which ones are true...

[ he shakes his head. that sounds like a nightmare, honestly. ]

How many other versions of yourself have you met?

[selfimage]

It's not as if they aren't true. There are just many that are.

[ it's an odd thing to clarify, easier to experience than understand. his own memory had not only been subjected to the twisted stories of mortals filling up the gaps in their history, but by his own hand as well. that's not something that he wants to talk about, it's still sore to the touch, even with Thor (or especially with Thor) stamping around these grounds. ]

Several. [ from the same timeline. ] Most from mayfly dimensions. One is here, though he seems to be from another world solidified, like my own.

[moneyman]

Wait, what? Here? Like, on this team?

[ just when he thought this couldn't get weirder... ]

That's insane. [ he means it; it's completely insane. what the hell. ] Does he look just like you? What's a mayfly dimension?

[ will the questions ever cease? sorry, Loki. what a can of world serpents you've opened. ]

[selfimage]

[ Vaughn confirms it for himself, and Loki looks up slightly. ]

Which would you like to know of first—the other self residing on this team, or the mayflies?

[ he knows that either/or will spawn other questions. he prefers to keep his focus controlled. ]