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futurologists) wrote in
epidemiology2018-02-03 12:28 am
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Entry tags:
- ! plot,
- 2b (nier automata),
- 9s (nier automata),
- aleksandra zaryanova (overwatch),
- aloy (horizon zero dawn),
- arya stark (asoiaf),
- daenerys targaryen (asoiaf),
- finn (star wars),
- fiona (borderlands),
- giovanni (dogs: bullets & carnage),
- gorō majima (yakuza),
- inuyasha (inuyasha),
- jason grace (camp half-blood chronicles),
- keith (voltron),
- khada jhin (league of legends),
- kisuke urahara (bleach),
- kylo ren (star wars),
- laphicet (tales of berseria),
- lissa (fire emblem: awakening),
- lucina (fire emblem: awakening),
- odinson (marvel comics),
- rey (star wars),
- rhys (borderlands),
- scott summers (marvel comics),
- shouta aizawa (my hero academia),
- simon jarrett (soma),
- stiles stilinski (teen wolf),
- vaughn (borderlands),
- veronica lodge (riverdale),
- wylan van eck (grishaverse),
- yusuke urameshi (yu yu hakusho)
EVENT ▸ EMPIRE OF THE CRASHING WAVE
EMPIRE OF THE CRASHING WAVE ![]() The royalty of Guild Ophelia has managed to hold an audience with Empress Nama of the Celestial Mountains, urging her to meet with the Empress of the Crashing Wave in the interest of finding an accord between their clans. In return, Nama requests that Ophelia take two letters to the Crashing Wave's court, where, as foreigners, they should be received better than any of her own people. The Empire of the Crashing Wave is a week's travel by foot from the Land of Celestial Mountains, through the forests and farms of the Flowerlands. There is no visible indication that this universe was once two, with even the road leading through the Flowerlands heading seamlessly toward the sea. The farms and villages in the outskirts of the Empire of the Crashing Wave are decorated in seashells and motifs of the sea, and the closer one gets to the city, the stronger the scent of the ocean becomes. Once the city proper is reached, Ophelia's magitek projects words in front of their eyes that only they can see: Location reached:The city is built right on the ocean's edge, with some parts of it even jutting out into the sea on bridges and piers. The castle, Peaceful Tide, is built high above the rest; guards will stop anyone at the gates and, if shown the correspondence from Empress Nama, will deliver the letters directly to Empress Youmi. Attempts to seek an audience with Youmi will be rebuffed for the time being, so you may as well take in the sights... ▸ A PROMISING DEVELOPMENT ![]() Closer to the Beach, there is a boardwalk where young couples stroll alongside grandparents chasing after their grandchildren, electric lamps bathing the wooden planks in a warm glow at night. Fishermen haul in their daily catch in buckets and nets, trailed by a gaggle of hopeful cats. Beachcombers and pearl divers populate the beach as well, making it a clear place for work instead of play. A few days after Ophelia's arrival in sea clan territory, a bell rings loudly in the late afternoon, drawing citizens toward the castle. Guards stop anyone from getting too close, though the populace seems to know what to expect -- soon, a beautiful woman in an elaborate blue kimono appears in an upper balcony. When viewing the woman, Ophelia's magitek will tell them: » EMPRESS YOUMIThe crowd cheers at Youmi's arrival, only quieting once she raises her hand. She speaks clearly and confidently, her voice carrying easily across the assembly. "I have received a letter from Her Imperial Majesty Nama of the Land of Celestial Mountains. She informs me that their spring festival was interrupted by an attack from our own people, working without my knowledge or consent," Youmi begins, holding her hand up again when a displeased rumble begins to ripple through the crowd. It's unclear if they're perturbed by the ambush or by Nama herself. Once all is silent again, she continues. "She has detained the criminals, for that is what they are, and assures me she will not bring this to the battlefield. I will send her an agreement to the terms, but hear this: any who escalate this further will be slain by my order. I have spoken. The spirits of the sea watch over us all." Youmi then retreats back into the castle. While some citizens cheer their empress's decree, others mutter unhappily amongst themselves as they disperse and go about their business. ▸ BUT TROUBLE CONTINUES ![]() As the sun sinks down, finding a place to sleep might be a good idea. There are hotels in the city, but for those who are trying to be a little more frugal, the Flowerlands is a good place to set up camp for free. Doro, the Lord of the Flowerlands, has heard of Ophelia's efforts in starting communication between the empresses as well, and offers rooms in his castle in thanks; if war were to start between the two, his land would suffer for it. During the night, those who accept Doro's invitation will hear a commotion very nearby, steel clashing against steel. Doro and his daughters rush out, weapons drawn, and straight into a skirmish between sea and mountain clan ronin. The warriors are fighting to kill, and in their fervor, someone's fire arrow alights a farmhouse on Doro's property. The farmers need to be rescued and the fire put out, and while the warriors will likely kill each other, they could also be subdued to prevent further damage. Please let the mods know with a link to the thread if your character is killing or capturing any of the ronin. After the skirmish, Doro must be brought back inside his castle, having been wounded during the battle. He pleads with Ophelia to continue to help, as it looks like a tentative truce by the empresses is not enough to calm the citizens. Since they were so successful in receiving an audience with Nama, he believes they can propose a way the two empires can live in harmony. Throughout the next two weeks, skirmishes between the clans are peppered throughout the Flowerlands, some leaving bodies behind and some leaving damage to farms and forest. It looks like Ophelia's peacekeeping mission just became a lot more hands-on: keep the skirmishes from getting out of control while still working toward a way to end the conflict once and for all. ▸ OOC NOTES This log will last for two IC weeks: the first three days will be free exploration, and day four is Youmi's proclamation and the skirmish in the Flowerlands. Your characters are free to explore for the next ten days, during which further skirmishes will occur. If you have questions about this log or the overall mission, please ask them on the dossier. Questions about Futurology in general should be directed to the FAQ. ▸ Coming next log: Peace proposals! Get your brainstorming started now. ▸ Activity Check is due on 5 February 23:59 UTC. We do not accept late submissions, so make sure you fill it out! ▸ Uniform Design Contest is open! Submissions are due 28 February 23:59 UTC. Gamewide voting will be in March. ▸ Bounty Board ▸ Items Page ▸ Exploration Group Planning ▸ General Plotting ▸ February Calendar |
EXPLORATION
As a reminder, we do not answer follow-up questions that are not for clarification purposes. We aim to give players all the information they will need in our initial response; there is no "magic question" you need to ask, so to speak!
Players will have 72 hours from the start of this log to submit their explorations -- this means they will be due at 00:01 UTC on the 6th of February. Please let us know all the characters involved, what they will be doing/searching, and what they will be talking about/asking (if interacting with a person).
Please keep it to only one group per character. We would also like to ask that 'sub-groups' go in separate comments for ease of replying; each sub-group will count as a separate submission towards the 5 group total. We would also like to remind you that the more detail you give us, the better! What time the interaction is occurring, for example, and any specifics you can give us will help us in giving you a more detailed answer back.
BEACH
What will you do?
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Ginko will ask what they think about the mountain clan/empress nama, and if they've heard of the attack on their spring festival by people wearing water clan colors, if they're concerned about war breaking out, etc.
Arya will focus on the attack on the festival, playing up the “we’re travelers moving through the several lands so would rather not be in the wrong place you know how that goes” angle and mostly be using her fledgling assassin skills to check how much of the answers they get is truth, how much is hyperbole, how much seems fake.
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They have heard about the ambush on the Mountain Clan festival and while they don't agree with the actions taken, they can certainly understand why some would take it upon themselves to do such a thing. They suggest that, as travelers, the two should stick close to Sea Clan territory, since if war were to break out, the Flowerlands would be a logical battleground, being between the two empires. As far as Arya can tell, there's nothing dishonest about anything they've said.
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Other than that, he indulges in gossip with a few other fishermen about the marital status of Empress Youmi; she has been empress for ten years without taking a suitor, so it's a common topic of conversation.
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Aloy will ask what the traditional protocol is for forming an alliance between conflicting clans, whether offerings or a list of formal agreements are required, or if marriage is a possible solution. (And also what is involved in/how long would a courtship process take, because they are... super short on time. Not that she says that last part.)
*If alliance or marriage traditions are in particular need of pearls, Kylo Ren may compel them with the Force to hand some over, in which case Aloy will be blissfully unaware :|b
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Alliances between clans are not familiar to them in recent history, says one pearl diver; the Sea Clan won Hanabira hundreds of years ago during an extended civil war, so there has been no need for alliances since. The other interjects that the Sea Clan Prince -- Youmi's elder brother -- was married to a foreign queen across the sea, which she imagines is similar. The courtship was a very formal affair, with Youmi and the queen communicating for weeks in regards to what an alliance between their two nations would mean. The wedding took place only days after the prince agreed to it.
The pearl divers also disclose that Youmi's brother brought pearls -- among other fine Sea Clan crafts -- to his prospective wife in order to symbolize what the Sea Clan has to offer. Those who wish to purchase pearls fine enough for a wedding dowry ought to be prepared to pay a steep price, they say, but Kylo Ren is somehow persuasive enough that they hand over two large pearls, each a half inch in diameter.
ARTISAN DISTRICT
What will you do?
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Basically, he's looking for mountain smells in the sea place or snooping around to see if he can find anything remotely incriminating in the area.
Majima will be looking for people or items that are out of place, and smoothing things over with anyone who takes exception to the eccentric foreigner sniffing around. During their search, he'll keep an eye out for any signs of martial mobilization in particular.
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Majima doesn't find anything very widespread in terms of martial mobilization; generally speaking, citizens of the Sea Clan are listening to Youmi's decree and going about their daily lives. He may run into a few clusters of citizens here and there, grumbling about the continued presence of the Mountain Clan, but they don't talk freely in front of him and will disperse once they notice him snooping.
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Thrawn, ever the charming flatterer, will ask about what sorts of clients and customers she deals with. Particularly he wants to know if her business has been seeing any notable success despite the current political climate of warfare and terrorism afoot.
Allura, who had met with the Mountain Clan empress as part of a group of royals, would want to ask the older woman's opinion on the Mountain Clan. Given her worldly knowledge, she wants to know her opinion on if there could ever be peace between the lands.
Rohan, after the two ask questions of the woman and all is said and done, will activate his power Heaven's Door and turn her into a book. He will be quickly skimming through to grasp at the situation (i.e. the war and disputes) from the perspective of a native who has lived in Crashing Wave all her life. He will also see if she may have any special information that normally wouldn't be shared of any kind. It won't be more than a few minutes so that nobody spots him, and once done he'll write in a command that would erase her memory of him using his power on her.
(if anything about my portion needs to change let me know via PM, i'm happy to meet your requests!)
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The woman has no strong opinion about the Mountain Clan one way or another, as to her perspective, it only appeared several months ago. She has heard rumors that the Empress Nama is young and inexperienced, though, so if peace were to be achieved, it would likely be by taking advantage of her naivete.
When Rohan turns the woman... into a book... he will see that there is nothing of particular interest in the woman's memories regarding the situation at hand. There has been no war in Hanabira for many years, so she has never witnessed anything like this before in her lifetime. Once she is returned to normal, she asks the group if they would like to purchase anything else.
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Eventually, he does seque into more serious topics, if the man doesn't mind! He's wondering about Youmi's announcement: do the people feel relieved about her speaking up? Has the city felt unsafe lately? Given that the Empire has plenty of allies, would they look positively on an alliance between clans? They're joined by Rhys, who follows up by asking about the Empire's history of trade, and whether or not it's been more militaristic in the past. After wrapping up their chat, they'll thank the man for his time and music, and be on their way. (Also, Lance will drop more coin in the box, since RHYS DIDN'T.)
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The city has gotten used to the presence of the Mountain Clan; when they first appeared several months ago, they were all very nervous -- business didn't go so well with so many people staying off the streets -- but it's returned to some semblance of normalcy. He hears some people pleased about Youmi's proclamation and others who are not, though he personally would like some kind of alliance to be formed; the Mountain Clan, he's heard, don't know very much about the arts, so he could have a monopoly there. (There are a lot of flute players in the Sea Clan.)
To Rhys's questions, the flute player explains that the empire has traditionally traded to the Flowerlands and across the sea; they have a lot of connections to neighboring nations in that way, and are accustomed to peace. There has not been any kind of war in the past few generations, after a civil war was won in the Crashing Wave's favor, but they keep a fleet of military ships in case of attack from the water.
FLOWERLANDS
What will you do?
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Upon an affirmative answer, Aizawa's first question would be the obvious: what happened here? He'd specifically want to know if either side started this particular conflict, if it was too chaotic to tell, etc. He'd ask their opinion on the situation--more precisely, what side they think the Flowerlands would take in the event of a war. Zarya wants to know what the family might consider an ideal outcome.
Alucard would ask for opinions on the Empresses. Jason would focus on speaking to the farmers' daughter, asking about the things she's seen lately--anything unusual, her personal thoughts on what's happening, and anything she might know about the history of the area.
Maya would ask for their thoughts on Doro, specifically about how he maintains power as a man operating in a matriarchal society with a kingdom situated between two Empresses. How do they feel about him personally? About how the Flowerlands is faring in this conflict? And do they have any suspicions regarding a driving force behind all this?
The others would just ask if the farmers needed any more help (Luke would also gladly discuss farming).
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As for Zarya's question, both men immediately agree that their ideal outcome would be a cessation of hostilities entirely! As long as the two sides are at each other's throats, the Flowerlands is going to keep feeling the brunt of it. One of them brings up that the mountain clan taking some of the sea clan's culture would also be ideal, as it would make things easier for the men of Hanabira. Other than that, they don't have much of an opinion on the matter; they're farmers, so they are relatively removed from politics.
To Alucard's question about the empresses, they explain that have no real opinion about Empress Youmi, since from their perspective, the Empire of the Crashing Wave only appeared out of nowhere a few months ago. Empress Nama is young, they say, and they have heard rumors of her inexperience, but beyond that, they don't have much of an opinion on this, either.
Their daughter is about eleven, so she is needlessly sassy to everything Jason asks: she hasn't seen anything unusual beyond a big group of foreigners bothering her. (She means you.) She has the same opinion as her parents on the fighting, that she would like it to stop, and doesn't have a lot to say about the history. The farm has been in her family for about a thousand years, she says, to which one of her fathers corrects her: it's been two generations.
For Maya's questions, they're a little surprised she doesn't know Doro's history, as to them it's common knowledge; after his wife the Lady Sayuri died of prolonged illness, Doro became Lord of the Flowerlands. Despite the people's uncertainty in the beginning of his reign, most people in the Flowerlands now have confidence in his ability to lead them, the two men included. As to how the Flowerlands is faring, they gesture at the rubble around them: not good. The fighting is slowly destroying their land. They're puzzled about her question regarding who's behind everything, though, because it's very clear to them that the sea and mountain clans fighting over each other's presence is the problem here.
They're pleased to discuss farming with Luke, and though they politely refuse any further help, if pushed, they will gratefully accept assistance in harvesting their crops.
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Simon will look for desks, side tables, anywhere with drawers or compartments that look like they could contain important documents. He’ll also be pacing rooms for things that stick out as looking like they’re meant to be kept secret*. In addition he’ll be occasionally trying to rein in 9S, who will try to search absolutely everywhere he possibly can just because he can, including through the guy’s clothing.
2B will be primarily playing bodyguard/lookout/2Babysitter and looking for weapons rather than intel.
*okay yes he’s looking for hidden doors. It’s a medieval castle, it could happen.
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On his writing desk, there is a letter from Empress Nama, dated the day previous. She expresses worry about the situation in the Flowerlands and informs him that she sent Empress Youmi a personal note along with her message about not proclaiming war, and hopes to receive an answer soon.
There is also a half-written response from Doro, in which he assures his cousin he will stand behind her if the Land of Celestial Mountains are attacked, although he urges her not to let her advisors pressure her; fighting would mean that the Flowerlands will suffer the most, and she is strong enough to make decisions without them. He also thanks her for her concern, but knows that if she were to send Mountain Clan samurai, it would only worsen the situation. (As for her correspondence with Youmi, he has heard that she's as kind as she is beautiful, so surely she'll answer soon!)
There are also weapons in the castle, meant primarily for use by guards: the majority are polearms, but there are a few swords mounted on the walls.
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Throughout the labor, Rey will ask how the family feels about the two Empresses, the recent proclamation, and what they think the clans want out of conflict with each other. Hayame will question more along the lines of if they've seen anything suspicious recently (besides their farm being attacked...) that could point to the direction of a possible enemy base/gathering place. Urahara will poke about their feelings on Doro, and inquire about whether it would be simpler if the Flowerlands were declared independent and could trade between the two clans on their own terms to sort of gauge the feeling of local villagers. Loki will ask about any unrest regarding either empress, particularly in the Flowerlands themselves, as well as their impressions of how Doro's been treating them.
And they will put all the rubble in a very nice pile per local intstruction before giving the area a sweep for wandering dissidents and going on their way.
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The family is from the universe where the Sea Clan didn't exist (though they don't say it in these exact words), so they don't have much to say about Empress Youmi. They've heard she's kind and the Sea Clan in general is more permissive about men, which they hope will someday extend to the Mountain Clan. Empress Nama is young and some say inexperienced, though they are only farmers so they don't know what it takes to rule an empire. The conflict seems to be mostly about the close proximity of the empires to each other, though the men don't really have a solution. Their daughter suggests putting all the Sea Clan on big boats and making them go away forever.
To Hayame's question, they haven't really noticed anything of the sort. From what they can tell, the skirmishes are completely by chance from the factions running into each other in the Flowerlands. They're perplexed by Urahara's line of questioning, since the Flowerlands is already independent of both empires, and are free to trade with whomever they wish.
To Loki's questions, they don't know anything about unrest within the empires, living in the Flowerlands as they do and not knowing much about politics besides. Lord Doro, they say, is a kind and fair ruler, and they haven't heard any of their neighbors complain about him.