OCTOBER MINGLE.

[lasteden]

BEYOND THE ROLLING DALES... WHO. Everyone. WHERE. Inside the White Moon. WHEN. October 1 - 15. WHAT. Mingling and exploration. WARNINGS. None for now. FOR THE NEWLY AWAKENED. You are asleep. The dreamscape ripples, resolves into a vision of a foreign land, and then a world of pure white. There is the sensation of rising through deep water, and then you find yourself in a room of white marble. Your items may be set on the floor around you, or you could have arrived bare-handed - whichever it is, you'll soon be addressed by a couple of tired-looking people in white coats. It seems they're as confused as you are. Upon receiving an introduction to the White Moon and choosing your faction, you will be allowed to leave the Sanctum - but there will also be an announcement made later on in the afternoon to all of the Moon's foreigners. Will you attend? THE SKY, THE LIGHTS. Those who do attend will be ushered into one of the Sanctum's meeting halls, where Lucius waits with a woman in green by his side. Known as Rinzen to those who have met her before, her presence is a constancy in contrast to Lucius' flickering form. The Wintersmith waits to one side, arms folded. He looks oddly bright, in the absence of his dragon companion. "Hello, everyone. I've scoured the records, and it seems like the Meteor was one of the old control systems that we built. It's like a giant terminal for upkeeping the environment's conditions. We shut it down a decade back to conserve energy. Though why it fell is still a mystery - when it was built, it was drilled down into the rock itself." He gives those attending a nod, raising a hand to produce a holographic screen which showed an image of the monolith. "Each of the terminals are protected by a Boundary field. They're generated by crystals within the terminal. You can dispel it temporarily with another, opposite crystal. Thank you for bringing some of the stuff back from the lake, I can fine-tune them so they can react to the barrier." Rinzen folds her arms, her face still half-hidden beneath her hat: "Go in and take a look, if you want. We'll give you compensation." Lucius sets the screen to show a rotating panorama of the screen. His body flickers, as befits someone who was projected into the room. "I'll be here for a few hours to answer your questions, as always." It is now that the Wintersmith raises his voice, turning to address everyone in the room. "I have a question for all of you. How old is your world? When will it end?" What will you do? ADMIN. Welcome to Last Eden's October monthly mingle! It is intended as a catch-all for threads that are not put in log posts. New characters are encouraged to use this post as an 'intro log' of sorts, for prompts both in the Sanctum and around the Moon. Please direct any questions about this log to the OOC post here. The faction leaders (or their stand-ins, for Blood and Spring) will be available to interact with upon arrival. To thread with them, tag in to the NPC toplevel and mention who you would wish to thread with. If you wish to have your character meet them later on in the month, please submit this to either the interaction turn-in on the OOC post, or contact the mods to arrange it.

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NPC INTERACTION

[lasteden]

OTA

[scarsolderthanyou]

I. In the admin zone

Stone has been hanging around the Sanctum ever since he brought the crystals and mirror-images back from the crater lake, since most of the plowing is done back in Spring and he has a lot less interest (and skill) for weeding and watering. Plus, it's been about the right amount of time for new people to start showing up, if they do, and he wants to be there when and if it happens.

So he spends a few days loitering around the markets and picking up food from every stall, sniffing out other foreigners who might be in the area, and prowling around the local dragon tower.


II. The meeting

Stone's first thought is that something had to knock the terminal out of its casing. He hadn't seen any signs of damage, but he hadn't been able to look up close with the barrier in place. Maybe with the crystal to negate that shield, he'd be able to find signs of what happened. "I'll go," he says with a shrug, from the back of the group, arms folded over his chest as if he's not really all that interested in the outcome of this.

"If there's a way to see where it came from, I'll do that, too," he adds. "That'll be on the other side of the moon, right?"


III. The Exodus Remembrance

Because everyone else in his territory is, Stone has been trying to hollow out one of those flying fruit for the remembrance. It's been a bit frustrating, in fact, since he has absolutely no artistic skill whatsoever, and the only thing he's ever carved has been meat, or enemies. He ruins five of the gourds before managing one that's even halfway workable, and there's a lot of growling and even some swearing in the process.

It does make him a little more approachable, since seeing him unable to do something so simple is rather humanizing, and since he winds up needing some help at least once. It gives him plenty of time to ask the locals about where they came from, though, and what happened to make them leave, since obviously there should be people here who remember it directly. It wasn't that long ago.

The festival itself is easier, because letting things fly is something Stone does very well. He even offers to carry some of the younger and more daring children up to let their candles fly from higher in the air, if none of the other locals object.

3

[lasteden]

[ The village that Stone spends his time in is a quiet one, watched over by only three elders. The rest had either died of old age, or perished in the Fall. It is the grandmother that chooses to watch him craft, the lines on her face carved not quite by age but also by war. One runs down her cheek, reminiscent of a knife scar. ]

How does the work feel?

[scarsolderthanyou]

Like I'm going to put a claw through it, even if I don't have any actual claws right now.

[He's just regularly grumpy, right now, rather than actually-irritated-grumpy, in part due to the company. Spending time with actual elders that he didn't have to watch grow up is unusual for him and not exactly unpleasant. He suggests,]

Talk to me. If I'm listening to you I might not think about this so hard and ruin it again.

[lasteden]

[ She is seated a slight distance from him on a stool, a half-open book on her lap. No interest in reading it, though. ]

About what?

[scarsolderthanyou]

Tell me about all this.

[He gestures with the knife he's using in lieu of a claw, at the subdued decorations going up around the village square. He keeps his tone casual, though he knows the subject is an important one.]

No one's told me much about where you came from and why you're in this flying rock, to begin with.

[lasteden]

[ That gets a tilt of the head from the elder, though not much else. ]

I'm surprised. They ought to be doing a better job. [ Her tone is rather calm, though. ] Twenty years ago, our old word crumbled to ruin. We came onto this ship and left. It was built by the Ice people, or summat like that.

[scarsolderthanyou]

See, that's what I don't get.

[Stone cocks his head to use his good eye on the gourd, back to work, even as he asks:]

How can a world crumble? Worlds are big. It'll take a lot to ruin one, won't it?

[lasteden]

[ She holds out one hand, palm parallel to the ground ]

Our world is like this. It frays at the edges. Pieces fall off. So it gets smaller, and smaller over the years. It'd break to nothing, eventually.

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Stone has flown high enough to see the curve of his world, so that distracts him from the gourd again, frowning at her hand. A flat world? His first question:]

What's on the edges? Before it falls apart, I mean.

[lasteden]

Land. Countries. Mountains. I don't know, I've never been there.

[ Said with a wave of said hand. ]

[scarsolderthanyou]

And those countries and mountains were falling off.

[Okay, he has so many questions, but he does want to keep her on-track and get answers pertaining to the current situation, so he asks only one of them]

Why were they falling off?

[lasteden]

[ That gets a shrug as she puts her hands together to crack a few of her joints, nothing harmful: ]

It's always been like this. I didn't expect it to come so fast, though. When I was a lass, there were already stories of Fallen countries with treasure. Of course, none of those who went after them came back.

[scarsolderthanyou]

So the world was getting smaller, and you had to escape before it all fell away.

[As long as you accept the premise that the world can, in fact, get smaller... a pretty big leap, there... that makes plenty of sense. He has to wonder if any of the spirits have a better explanation.]

So the Ice people made the moon for you all to get away in?

[lasteden]

Something like that.

[ At this juncture, her expression turns acrid - but only for an instant. ]

We wouldn't have to do this, if those Blood bastards didn't try to grab all the land for themselves. 'Bloody' fools, they were!

[scarsolderthanyou]

[It seems to Stone that if the world was falling apart to begin with, they'd have to leave eventually no matter what, but this is a turn he hadn't expected. (Not that he's expected any of this, mind.)]

How did that make things worse?

[lasteden]

War. They kill people for power, but to go to war would weaken the earth itself. They razed villages downstream near the sea, trampled the spirits, horrible things. The world broke faster because of them.

[ Probably where she received her scar, but she doesn't say it out loud. ]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[He can make the connection without her admitting to it.]

And here they are, on the other side of that wall at the edge of the territory. Are they still at war with anybody? Or did they learn better?

[lasteden]

They've backed down now. Got a new queen, one who was willing for peace. I couldn't care less. They better stay within their boundaries, or the spirits will wreck their wrath on them.

[ Though the way she says it has a certain, slight lack of conviction. The spirits weren't ones to fight either. ]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[He tilts his head at her, then promises,]

I'll help.

[That's what he's here for, after all. If there's trouble, he'll dive in, because he is one to fight. He focuses back on the previously ignored gourd, frowning.]

So how did Ice come up with the idea for this thing?

[lasteden]

[ Stone gets a short, sharp chuckle, though there is appreciation in her worn expression. ]

You're a strange man.

[ But back to his question: ]

Dragons used to live in the Moons in the Old World. Ice had some link with dragons, then their winter lord came by and gave the idea to the Empress. The people who could reach this Moon in time stayed to help build houses an' whatnot. The spirits helped move our homes here, too.

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Poor old lady doesn't even know the half of it. Turning into a big scaled dragon-man isn't even all that strange, comparatively. He flashes her a quick grin in response to what amounts to a compliment, before carefully sectioning out another of the inside pieces of the gourd. Not cutting through to the outside.]

Did their winter lord want anything from you for the chance to ride in his moon-boat? Or is he just a great person, doing it to save lives?

[Not even Raksura, with their odd definitions of what counts as valuable, don't generally do things that big and important entirely out of the kindness of their hearts. (Well, maybe the Arbora might, but they wouldn't ever really get the chance. Or Moon, but he's weird.)]

[lasteden]

We're the ones who grow the world's food, stuff like that. Without our hard work, they'd starve. Even magic doesn't make you full.

[ Of course it wasn't out of kindness. ]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Unless you're a dragon, apparently.

[He still needs to figure out how they turn non-food into energy. It certainly seems like magic, to him. He gets another chunk out without tearing a hole in the gourd. He's doing great.]

So they brought you all for food, and Ice brought themselves of course. Light come along to tinker with the things the moon-boat is made out of and help keep it running, I guess. Why Blood? If they were behind the world being destroyed, to begin with.

[lasteden]

I haven't the damnest idea.

[ He may have to ask someone else for the true answer. ]