epidemiology | EVENT ▸ EMPIRE OF THE CRASHING WAVE

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:

» EMPIRE OF THE CRASHING WAVE
A progressive society that values innovation. Main sources of income: fishing, pearl diving, jewelry crafting, shipbuilding. Politically matriarchal; socially egalitarian. Empress YOUMI resides at the PEACEFUL TIDE.

No events scheduled. You may wish to survey the surrounding area.

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

Unlike the Land of Celestial Mountains, men may move freely here, the matriarchal rules of the land only extending to politics. Men and women work alongside each other in all sections of the city, nobles and commoners alike, and even the guards have men among their ranks. In the Artisan District, potters, musicians, and artists line the streets and sell their wares, work, or discuss their craft with each other.

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 YOUMI
Leader of the EMPIRE OF THE CRASHING WAVE.
30 years old. SPECIES: Human. MEDICAL CONCERNS: Lactose intolerant.

The 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

The rest of the day following Youmi's decree goes by without incident, leaving time for Ophelia to stop by the sake breweries near the sea or travel back through the forests of the Flowerlands for hunting, hot springs, or simply enjoying the nature of Hanabira. With war averted and the empresses in communication, it seems as though Ophelia's time in this universe will draw to a close soon.

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ This was kind of a raw deal, and frankly, Majima figured he was liable to bite his tongue and start bleeding out if he just hung on and hoped for the best. So instead, he dedicated himself to scrambling up and throwing a leg over her back, bracing his feet up against the harness as he snatched a spear out the hand of a mountain clan warrior's hands.

He lashed out with the butt end of the weapon, catching a ronin in the back of the head and dropping her as they passed. ]

[Hey, this is about fast transport, not comfort!!

Hayame dodges this and that, but aware of having a passenger she keeps her center of gravity as easy to balance on as can be, avoiding fast turns and jumps until the heat of the fire becomes palpable, until they enter the fray properly-

And then she pulls herself into a stop- giving Majima a few seconds to scramble off while she snatches her longbow off her harness and lashes out with a back leg to keep a ronin back until the man gets his feet under him.]

[ PORQUE NO LOS DOS

Majima jumped off Hayame's back when she started to slow, whipping his newfound weapon around to clear a wide swath in front of him. Out of the corner of his eye, Majima caught a warrior, straying from her troop, as she battened on a fleeing farmer.

He acted without hesitation, smashing the spear's shaft into her retreating back so hard that the wood splintered and he tossed the weapon aside. The ronin fell; the farmer fled. Majima took out his bat. ]

You can see further than me. If there's any one of 'em looks fancier than the others, lemme know now!

[ BecauSE OTHERWISE he was just going to start mowing through the enemy. ]

[What the hell is he wielding, is that some sort of club?

She doesn't have the time to actually focus on it, though, instead reaching her quiver now that the arrows weren't blocked by a yakuza man leg and notching an arrow, which she holds back by her cheek only long enough to aim...

And then it flies into the shoulder of a warrior with her arm raised to strike, the second slamming into the opposite shoulder of the woman she was fighting.]

Don't kill all of them! We need to find their leader.

[And as easier as it would be to kill them... they need to be interrogated. Even if they have a commander on the battlefield, someone had to be organizing these expeditions.]

Ain't gonna kill any of 'em.

[ What was he, some kind of monster? I mean.... ok yeah but not that kind of monster. With that formality dealt with, Majima set to work, bringing his bat down hard on the shoulder of one sea clan warrior so hard the man dropped instantly to his knees. A follow-up strike sent him flying backwards.

From there, he waded into the thick of the action, lashing out with wide swings to the left and right. His blows were swift and brutal, accompanied by the dull thud of metal against armor and the snap of bone. True to his word, all of his victims were still breathing when he was done with them... though they might wish otherwise. ]

What's wrong?! That all ya got?!

[ A particularly astute observer might notice the wild flash of a grin amidst the chaos -- an expression of some darker joy. Then again, it was an awfully busy night. ]

[Hayame isn't used to shooting to wound and not kill. Not with humans, anyway, only with her master's expensive investments- her fellow jinba. She thinks to aim for the heart, but forces herself instead to focus on the shoulders, the thighs, around gaps in armor-

But she's close quarters now, and more than her bow... she uses her body. A half ton of corded muscle bred for battle, which she admittedly dislikes using in such a raw manner... because it's difficult to view a jinba as human in the midst of such chaos, especially with the whites of her eyes hinting at that instinctual fire fear.

As a woman rushes her, she rears up to towering height, front hooves lashing out and knocking her over the head- hopefully the helmet keeps it a concussion, seamlessly slamming her legs back to earth only to throw her weight forward and kick backlegs out at another near her flank...

Who goes flying backwards past Majima.]

[ Majima threw his head back and laughed, the gleam of his tantō now present in his right hand. That's what he was talking about. He'd switched his manner of engagement drastically, switching from crowd control to brutality and speed.

As he darted back into the fray, he was a blur of fluid kicks and vicious bites of the short blade in his hand, his progress across the field marked by the flash of metal and the sudden spray of blood.

They'd caught the notice of some of the ronin, all right -- a few turned and ran outright, while others seemed more determined to put up more resistance. However... ]

They're settin' fire to that barn!

Edited 2018-02-03 16:01 (UTC)

[There's only the barest awareness in Hayame's mind that he's laughing, focused on the fight in front of her, on protecting her flanks and trying to get her opponents down without killing them.

Bone breaking, though...

It's the call that she does actually catch, head whipping about and eyes widening at the sight of the torches, the flames just beginning to lick the wood. For a moment, it looks like a sight she has seen before, and every animal instinct inside her says run,

flee,

go-

But there's more to her than that instinct, she isn't a beast, she fights through it, draws her bow-

And fires an arrow into the leg of one of the torch bearers heading towards the barn.]

[ While Hayame was fighting for her shot, Majima had started off at a dash, leaving behind glimmers of black and violet that seemed to lick off his silhouette like flame.

He had a prime spot for viewing the effects of that arrow as it hit home, but now wasn't the time for congratulations. One of the firestarters had since reached the doors of the barn; Majima darted his blade out in one decisive stroke and stabbed the man straight through the hand, pinning it to the seasoned wooden door for half a moment before pulling it swiftly free again.

The ronin, a sea clanner, made a strangled cry and dropped his torch. He fell to the ground instead, clutching his bloodied hand to his chest in obvious agony. Easy enough to kick the torch away, then, into a barren furrow. ]

[It's never the time for congratulations mid-battle.

Once her arrow looses she throws herself into a canter towards the barn. With the house already on fire, there was only the barn left, this wasn't a city where the fire could jump from house to house and take the whole place, but-

She still snatches up the torch from the one she's incapacitated before she slams a hoof into their back to knock them back to the ground and keep them there, the flame so close half-blinding her more sensitive low-light vision.

Was that the last of them- ?]

[ It was now, anyway, as Majima pulled his knife from the body of another attacker. She fell to the ground in an ungainly heap.

Inside, the smell of fear, and a high whinny. A horse had been left inside the barn, and the state of the splintered wood in its stall suggested that it had lashed out wildly in an attempt to escape. Its coat shimmered with sweat, but at least it was safe from the immediate danger of fire. ]

[The horse's cry is something she feels a sort of strange sympathy for, the sort she denies because she despises any sort of comparison to a dumb beast that is inherent in anyone with eyes.

But at first she just pants, knuckles white on the torch before she finally throws it in the same barren furrow Majima had, blinking to try and restore the subtleties of her sight as the sounds of chaos begin to die, replaced with far more identifiable individual voices and movements.

Like the warrior who's thigh she'd impaled, who is crawling away.

Until Hayame's hoof plants square in the center of their back, pressing down on the armor to pin them to the ground.]

[ "No," said the warrior, panting in a combination of pain and desperation. "...Monster!" ]

Sure you oughtta be throwin' insults around?

[ asked Majima. He stepped into the barn, looking for something that he had a feeling -- ah. There was a length of rope that looked like it'd do. Now that the fighting was dying down, maybe they could get something out of one of the fighters. ]

["Monster".

It's not something she had heard in her own world. Jinba were known. Feared, yes, by those who knew what they were capable of, who had seen a truly fearsome specimen, considered lesser, more beast than human... but "monster"...

She leans more of her weight on the man, enough that he has to concentrate on gasping for air instead of speaking, expression dark as she stares down at him, awaiting Majima's return.]

[ Once Hayame let up on the man's torso, it'd be quick work to haul the warrior up, bind the man's hands, and pat him down for weapons. (A routine inspection revealed a small concealed knife in his boot, which Majima pocketed.) ]

Alright, spill it. You workin' for anyone, or did you assholes just decide to start pillaging the countryside for giggles?

[ The man looked at him, then at Hayame, as if trying to decide which cop was the bad cop. ]

[Potentially both... but if the snarl on her face is any indication, this man has little hope that Hayame might end up being the good cop.]

Be smart about your answer if you’ve any hope of an honorable death.

[Not the most encouraging words, nor sight, considering how sharp Hayame’s teeth are when she snaps them irritably. Too sharp to be remiscient of either of the creatures that seem to make up her shape.

But the answer doesn’t sound smart to her at all, as the man tries to insist that there was no plan, no boss, merely he and companions passing through the Flowerlands.]

[ Well those were SOME TEETH. Wait, did this mean Majima had to be the good cop, goddammit. ]

Ain't we skipping a step here? Like what peacefully passing through the Flowerlands has to do with stabbing people and tryin' to burn it all down?

[ It was unclear whether Hayame's expression or Majima's biting skepticism prodded the man to elaborate (lbr it was probably #1), but after grimacing at both of them and towards the door of the barn (no help there), he begrudgingly offered a bit more information.

"We were within our right! The road belongs to no one! But those mountain dogs, with their false Empress who would have us driven into the sea...! No warrior would stand for such insult!" ]

[Perhaps the gods had made a mistake, giving jinba the teeth of predators and the bodies of herbivores. Teeth that again snap awfully near the man's face, the light of flames in the night reflecting eerily off those pearly whites.

That answer isn't one that Hayame cannot understand- at least, at its root. There were some disgraces that cannot stand, that could not be overlooked without losing face. But this-]

And these farmers? What slight did they hurl upon your honor? Or would you have us believe that that you people are such poor warriors that you cannot even contain a battle? Do you think us so foolish as to not know a raid when we see it?

[ "It... they..." The man faltered, perhaps understandable given the... snapping...

"Mine was the one who...!" It seemed he was also having a hard time coming up with a suitable excuse, now that someone was actually pressing him on it. The man fell silent for a moment, as a combination of fear, self-righteousness, and doubt fought it out in his expression. Majima watched the man's face, then spoke up. ]

So you're still gonna insist no one sent ya here?

[ "No one," said the man. Then, very reluctantly: "In any case, I have no master." He bristled visibly as he said this, as if ready to fight about it rather than bound with his hands behind him. ]

[No master...

Hayame actually spits on the ground between them, as if she herself had not been rendered masterless when her lord returned to his own world after ALASTAIR's mission had come to an end, as if she did not bear the same shame and stigma.]

And who would be proud to call a cowering man such as this their vassal? Have you no pride enough to even speak the truth?

[ The man recoiled as if physically struck. "The truth?! I am telling the truth! I wasn't... I didn't plan this, I simply...! These farmers don't recognize us, anyway! They see us as usurpers, foreigners!"

And more importantly, they (or at least some of them) didn't give this man what he so clearly felt that he deserved -- respect. Deference. The absence of which was still stung after his personal fall from grace.

Majima had heard enough. ]

I think this guy's tellin' the truth. At least as he sees it.

Even if he was part of a larger plot, I can't see that anyone'd trust him enough to tell him what was really goin' on.

[Hayame fixes Majima with an incredulous look, fire still reflecting eerily off the whites of her eyes, gesturing to their captive dismissively.]

You believe this cur?

Yeah. Look at him.

[ Yes, look at this dude, caught between bristling and cowering at this new insult. ]

All ya did was shoot him with an arrow ~~and rough him up a tiiiny bit~~, and he's already spillin' his guts. Wuldn't trust someone like that with my lunch order.

Perhaps he is a liar with no dignity.

[She certainly seems willing to press to find out, leaning over the man even more aggressively.]

[ Majima sealed his lips over his teeth briefly, an unconscious gesture of consideration. Then he glanced back in the ronin's direction. ]

You mentioned a 'Mine' earlier. Who's that?

[ The man grimaced. "He was.... one of our group. He was not discharged at the same time as I. It... it was he who struck the first blow." ]

EVENT ▸ EMPIRE OF THE CRASHING WAVE

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