Illarion Albireo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
unsheathedfromreality) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
countryclub2022-02-23 12:55 am
unsheathedfromreality) wrote in countryclub2022-02-23 12:55 am
Entry tags:
player plot interest check: real & half-real
Hello all!! I'm Lark, player of your local zalgo-corrupted elf-bird of many names, Illarion, and I am here with a PLAYER PLOT FOR YOU.
What's the Deal: During the fight against the Fated Leviathan, a terrible interaction between the titular beastie's reality-shifting and Illarion's own eldritch powers traps him and Sayo's consciousness in a pocket dimension, completely removed from Trench. Sayo's going to do her best to free them by claiming the powers of the Endless Witch through an improvised ritual, but only part-way succeeds: She escapes, but Illarion doesn't. Turns out the pocket dimension's part of him, and he's not easily disentangled from it.
He's going to need help getting back out.
The Plan: In April, Sayo will mobilize a rescue attempt to break back into the pocket dimension and successfully complete the ritual, so she can use Beatrice's magic to free Illarion. Characters will need to locate the pocket dimension and enter it, kill thirteen significant individuals, then set off a massive explosion. Simple, right? Except they'll have no more than 24 hours to find Illarion and another 24 to complete the whole ritual, so there won't be much time to scout or plan once they're in.
Fortunately, they'll have reconnaissance help from the inside--enough to formulate a reasonable assault plan before they ever have to break in. While Illarion can't communicate directly with Trench, his Omen Iskierka remains free and capable of hearing him. She'll be writing down his musings and observations from within the pocket dimension, as well as taking occasional letters to people he knows. Putting them all together will yield a wealth of information on their targets and conditions inside the pocket dimension.
The Pocket Dimension: Illarion's cozy little home for several weeks is based on his world, Nephele--albeit a twisted and awful version, heavily influenced by the eldritch entity that corrupted him and his people hundreds of years ago. It's locked in an endless, hopeless war of all-against-all, its inhabitants continually dying and returning only to kill each other all over again. It isn't a "real" alternate dimension, but an outgrowth of Illarion's Darkblood, soul, and memories that he's inextricably linked to. As such, while there's a lot of his home in there, there's also a lot of Trench and the Sleepers he knows from it, filling in the gaps where memory's failed him.Also there's so much Robinson Jeffers. Just an unbelievable amount.
Characters who enter the pocket dimension might end up resembling one of the sapient species that populate Nephele. In addition, magic may be altered to match the setting, and characters can gain magic they wouldn't otherwise have. That's to say: If you want, you can absolutely AU your guy to match the world.
Where You Come In: This is a hilariously ambitious plot that I'm also trying to make fit people's time and interest! So I'd like to gauge what everyone wants to do with it.
Ways to engage with the plot include:
In addition, if you don't have time or inclination to directly engage, no worries! Since this is as much about Illarion's CR as anything else, characters he knows will be getting letters from him and having dramatic influence on the appearance and contents of the plot setting.
The obligatory form! Please fill this sucker out to help me gauge player interest and appropriately scale the plot to what everyone wants to do. And, also, to know how many IC letters I get to write and what CR swag I can add to the set dressing. 8) For my own sanity, I'll be limiting the long-form letters to ~5, first-come first-served, though everyone who doesn't get a long-form letter will still get a comment on their letter's contents!
What's the Deal: During the fight against the Fated Leviathan, a terrible interaction between the titular beastie's reality-shifting and Illarion's own eldritch powers traps him and Sayo's consciousness in a pocket dimension, completely removed from Trench. Sayo's going to do her best to free them by claiming the powers of the Endless Witch through an improvised ritual, but only part-way succeeds: She escapes, but Illarion doesn't. Turns out the pocket dimension's part of him, and he's not easily disentangled from it.
He's going to need help getting back out.
The Plan: In April, Sayo will mobilize a rescue attempt to break back into the pocket dimension and successfully complete the ritual, so she can use Beatrice's magic to free Illarion. Characters will need to locate the pocket dimension and enter it, kill thirteen significant individuals, then set off a massive explosion. Simple, right? Except they'll have no more than 24 hours to find Illarion and another 24 to complete the whole ritual, so there won't be much time to scout or plan once they're in.
Fortunately, they'll have reconnaissance help from the inside--enough to formulate a reasonable assault plan before they ever have to break in. While Illarion can't communicate directly with Trench, his Omen Iskierka remains free and capable of hearing him. She'll be writing down his musings and observations from within the pocket dimension, as well as taking occasional letters to people he knows. Putting them all together will yield a wealth of information on their targets and conditions inside the pocket dimension.
The Pocket Dimension: Illarion's cozy little home for several weeks is based on his world, Nephele--albeit a twisted and awful version, heavily influenced by the eldritch entity that corrupted him and his people hundreds of years ago. It's locked in an endless, hopeless war of all-against-all, its inhabitants continually dying and returning only to kill each other all over again. It isn't a "real" alternate dimension, but an outgrowth of Illarion's Darkblood, soul, and memories that he's inextricably linked to. As such, while there's a lot of his home in there, there's also a lot of Trench and the Sleepers he knows from it, filling in the gaps where memory's failed him.
Where You Come In: This is a hilariously ambitious plot that I'm also trying to make fit people's time and interest! So I'd like to gauge what everyone wants to do with it.
Ways to engage with the plot include:
1. Gathering Illarion's notes for information on conditions and NPCs inside the pocket dimension, in order to create a strategic plan for those who go into it,
2. Figuring out a means to locate and break into it, whether it's a blood-magic ritual, a technological terror machine, or some combination of both,
3. Helping carry out the ritual by killing thirteen people and blowing up a metaphysically significant part of the landscape. Kills will require a mix of combat prowess, sneaky assassination, and psychological manipulation.
The following links contain more information on Illarion's world and elements of the plot.2. Figuring out a means to locate and break into it, whether it's a blood-magic ritual, a technological terror machine, or some combination of both,
3. Helping carry out the ritual by killing thirteen people and blowing up a metaphysically significant part of the landscape. Kills will require a mix of combat prowess, sneaky assassination, and psychological manipulation.
- Quickstart Guide - glossary and setting information, playable species, magic system, pocket dimension notes
- Dramatis Personae - the thirteen kill targets; cw: psychological horror, magical zombies (and corpse piles) in some fight descriptions
- Proposed Timeline - like it says on the tin
In addition, if you don't have time or inclination to directly engage, no worries! Since this is as much about Illarion's CR as anything else, characters he knows will be getting letters from him and having dramatic influence on the appearance and contents of the plot setting.
The obligatory form! Please fill this sucker out to help me gauge player interest and appropriately scale the plot to what everyone wants to do. And, also, to know how many IC letters I get to write and what CR swag I can add to the set dressing. 8) For my own sanity, I'll be limiting the long-form letters to ~5, first-come first-served, though everyone who doesn't get a long-form letter will still get a comment on their letter's contents!
QUESTIONS
AU PLANNING ZONE
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If you didn't AU, I'd say yes definitely it matters for interactions with the in-setting angels and demons (they may respond to him differently than others), and he could also have some weird effects on the entire setting at your discretion. Similar to Illarion's corruption-shedding, but with whatever thematic elements you'd feel are appropriate for him.
For AUing, my initial thought (subject to change) is that you could go the "angel stuck in a person's body" route with him to parallel his canon situation. This would give him a different vibe with whatever magic he gets, and might get incredibly screwy if you wanted to also make him a shrike because the power of a Monarch opposes the Pillars of the World (the source of all the eldritch gunk shrikes have). So there's a really weird interaction here we would need to hash out and I'd be hype to do so. :D
ETA: For the AU option, "angel possessing a person" is a go.
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This is all on a spectrum of how players want to do it. The baseline, because it requires absorbing the least amount of information on the canon, is people just get new bodies and new powers. You can play around with whether or not that comes with new instincts--someone who AUs as a dwarf might struggle with walking initially or could just know how to maneuver with all those legs; someone who AUs as a shrike could be seriously disoriented while getting used to the 4d sight or already know how to process it.
If people want to go further, the setting will NOT alter existing memories but will give new "false" memories that give more context for living on Nephele. This is something people playing orcs might want to do since their genders are very culturally bounded (and I sure am happy to chat about it). I'm going to do a quick "culture notes" document that should let people get some of the major beats of each potential culture they could pull from, for vague memories of having lived as their AU self as a while.
If you want to go full-on "false and detailed memories of an entire life as a specific person", first: I am delighted!! But second, please do chat with me so we can hash that out.
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Fern is going to go abomination route and be an undead shrike stuck in birb form and viney tentacle things. Essentially he's trading his grass for adorable black feathers and is going to have a very bad time, since he doesn't do well with having his body changed against his will. It's an existential identity thing, he's had it really rough.
He's memories will be as normal but he's going to need some help dealing with the body change and confirmation that his identity isn't changing, he is still indeed Fern. So yes, going to be leaning into body horror and eldritch existentialism for this one, for whoever is interested.
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Illarion will have very strong feeling-ish responses to this because his beloved only daughter is ALSO stuck as one of these undead abominations with all her scary birdness hanging out.
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For full AUs, what would be the motivation(s) for them to join this quest?
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Full AUs still have some subconscious awareness of their Trench selves--that can come to the fore at player discretion--and can nudge them into helping out with the quest. We can jam about reasons AU'd individuals might want to seek out Illarion in-setting, so they can have a plausible gloss on what their real selves want them to do.