Event: I Fell In Love with the Majesty of Colors (Plotting)

[thelostmods]

On the 17th of November, residents of the Meadous will wake to a note from Zephyr at their bedside. It's much shorter than it usually would be from the godling, and it's also much more direct.

Everyone,

I heard a voice across the planes. That's never happened before, never except for the Rift and I found them and spoke to them first. I can hear her. She needs help. I want to help her.

We will help her.

Please meet me at the playground tomorrow at 3:00 PM. I know that's really early for some of you guys who are nocturnal, but this can't wait very long.

Love,
Zephyr


I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE MAJESTY OF COLORS

The Events Calendar post for the plot is HERE

This event will entail the Meadous' first foray into world-hopping. With the combined efforts of those who have spoke to Zephyr and their godling friends, Zephyr has finally decided to try searching for a cure to whatever ails the gods. This will entail connecting the Meadous to other random realms they find out in the ether. These are not necessarily (or even probably) realms created by gods like Zephyr, they're just whatever Zephyr can grab hold of.

In this instance, the realm is one that Zephyr heard a voice calling out for help from. On the morning of November 17th, a new archway will appear on the path next to the playground. There doesn't seem to be much to it, just walking through it or looking at it. Those with senses related to space/time, though, will get a reading that there is something 'off' about it, though. It's not what it appears to be. Looking at it through the silver kaleidoscope located in the playground will show that the archway is covered and absolutely roiling with Stardust. Stardust is usually associated with living things, so make of that what you will.

Zephyr will turn up at the appointed time and explain the following:

• The archway is a portal to another world.
  
• The only access to the proper archway is through the Mirror Dimension. (Zephyr doesn't want anyone accidentally stumbling in there.)
  
• The archway is a two-way connection to another realm. They DO NOT have control over that other realm. The only thing they can make sure of there is that there are no other connections. Characters can go to the new realm from the Meadous and come back to the Meadous from the new realm.
  
• THIS MEANS THAT INJURY AND DEATH IN THE OTHER REALM IS OUTSIDE THEIR DIRECT CONTROL.
  
• They're not sure who was calling for help, but it sounded like a woman. Zephyr couldn't make out words, they just know she was distressed.

As for the new realm...

Welcome to the The Void.

The Void is a realm loosely based on the eponymous video game. It is a realm that is in decay, just on the brink of falling into a place called The Nightmare. This is the "limit" below The Void. The goal is to raise one (or more, we'll get to that) of The Void's inhabitants to the next limit (The Upper Limit") to help create a new and beautiful world.

The Void's main inhabitants that characters will encounter are The Sisters. The Sisters are a species that are, essentially, muses. Lifting one of them to The Upper Limit is what brings new life to that world. What kind of world it will be, will depend on the sister you choose to lift. To lift a Sister, you need to fill her four hearts with color. Color can be found throughout The Void, although it is a fading resource... and The Sisters are picky about what color they'll take. Each Sister only accepts 2 colors and it takes 100 drops of color to unlock each of their hearts. For IC purposes, it can be handwaved that your character found the right colors when speaking to a Sister. On an OOC basis, your character will find 4 drops of color for every 1 tag you post to the event. ICly, as well, it should be noted that The Void periodically just runs out of color and characters will have to leave and wait for a day to be able to collect more.

ICly characters will find that they have an affinity for up to three colors, themselves, based on their personalities. This doesn't mean they can't find other colors, just that they're more likely to find ones they have an affinity for. More information on colors is HERE.

After filling a Sister's four hearts with color, characters will have the opportunity to lift her to The Upper Limit. Choose wisely, though. As far as The Sisters are aware, only one of them is going up. The others will disappear when The Void falls into The Nightmare. Clever characters may note, however, that there seems to be enough color to fill all of The Sisters' hearts to full. If this occurs before the end of the event, additional information will be provided about raising all of The Sisters.

As far as dangers go in The Void, there are monsters roaming around some of the chambers. They're dark and sinister things that are what color became when it was corrupted. Destroying them will return them to color that you can collect. There are also less harmful creatures who are also made of color. They won't hurt you, but you can destroy them to get more color.

tl;dr version

• The Void is one realm on a chain of realms. Down one link is The Nightmare. Up one link is The Upper Limit.
  
• The goal is to raise at least one Sister (an inhabitant of The Void) to The Upper Limit before The Void decays and falls into The Nightmare.
  
• You raise a Sister by feeding her one of two preferred colors and unlocking her heart.
  
• Colors can be found throughout the Void, but there's an IC limit to how much is found each day.
  
• Characters ICly have an affinity with certain colors, but OOCly can find whatever they need for a particular Sister. ICly, you can kill monsters for sweet color loot.
  
• You get 4 drops of color for every tag you make on the event.
  
• It takes 100 drops of color to open a Sister's heart (400 drops to open all four hearts).

More information is in the comments below:

• General Questions
  
• What are the colors of The Void?
  
• Who are The Sisters?
  
• What is the structure of The Void?

Comments

General Questions (please post here with other questions you have)

[thelostmods]

Which Mod is running this plot?
Terri is in charge of this plot and will be responding to questions. The other mods have had minimal input on the plot design and what will happen.

May I opt out?
Yes! Your character can simply not enter The Void.

Can we talk to Zephyr?
Zephyr will be available through the usual means, as needed.

How do we collect color?
OOCly this is done by just tagging into the event and threading with people. ICly, characters will find colors in a variety of ways:

• There are sprigs of color that can be collected. Just going up and touching the sprig will dissolve it and the color will flow into your character.
  
• There are many creatures for your characters to chase down and draw color from. These are the NICE ones: Just give them a good whack to dissolve them into color. The fireflies float and are some of the fastest and hardest to catch. They must be snuck up on or lured with drops of color and pounced on. Rats are also a little hard to catch as they'll burrow underground. They can be pounced or drawn with drops of color. Armadillos are some of the easier ones to catch. They're hard to actually break into, though, and require more than one whack to dissolve into color.
  
• There are many creatures for your characters to chase down and draw color from. These are the MEAN ones: They will actively attack you with their claws and teeth and whatever else they have until you die if you do not destroy them first. Jumpers are the most common. They're about 3 feet high and hop around on their one leg. They can teleport and that makes them particularly annoying as they might warp behind a character and try to bite them. Shantu are the next most common. They're big, as big as a person, and float. They'll ram themselves into you repeatedly, but have bad vision. It might be possible to avoid them. Worms are uncommon and they're massive, 50-foot long things that will eat you whole, if they can.
  
• Characters can donate drops of color to trees and come back a little later to collect even more color than they put in. Characters can collect color from trees multiple times, but it will slowly drain the life and light from that tree.
  
• If your character is feeling particularly sadistic, they can also draw color out of a Sister to give to another Sister. They can't and won't resist, but they'll be very hurt by this.

How do I actually feed a Sister color? Where is the color stored?
The color is stored inside a character's heart. It's complicated, but for the sake of simplicity, simply touching a Sister will allow you to transfer color to her. She cannot take it. It must be willingly given by a character. Touch can mean anything from poking her with a finger to making out with her if you're feeling particularly bold. It just needs to be skin-to-skin contact. There is no limit to how much color one character can hold at one time.

If my character leaves The Void, do they lose their collected color?
No! Your color travels with you. It can't be accessed or measured in The Meadous, but when you return to The Void, it will be there.

NEW UNIVERSE! Can my space and/or time-hopping character go hog wild and escape the Meadous?
No. That is the only vestige of real control that Zephyr retains. Characters can universe hop between The Meadous and The Void, but that's it. Well, they could universe hop to The Nightmare or The Upper Limit, if they really wanted to, as well. There's not much in either place to see. The Nightmare because it's basically isolation and nothing, and The Upper Limit because it hasn't been created yet, really, without the influence of a Sister.

What about powers, in general?
Zephyr's training wheels are more or less off on character powers in The Void. Your characters will be fully powered over there WITH THE EXCEPTION of game-breaking abilities. Please use discretion and make sure you talk to your fellow players if your actions are going to have a major impact on their characters.

What if we die in The Void?
Zephyr has very minimal control and connection to The Void. If your character dies, they will fall into The Nightmare. This is, as you might expect, a Bad Place. Nothing will attack them down there and they won't need to each or drink, but they will essentially be completely alone and cut off from color and life for 7 Days while Zephyr frantically tries to pull them back. They'll wake up back in the Meadous after this time and be barred from further interaction with The Void for the duration of the event.

There is a way around this, to an extent. A character (or characters) can choose to sacrifice the color they've been collecting for The Sisters to lift another character out of the Nightmare. It takes 400 drops of color to lift someone. This may severely hinder the ability for the team to achieve the Best Possible Ending in this event, so think carefully before having your character die.

Can I bring a Sister out of The Void and into The Meadous?
Unfortunately, no. Sisters will not leave their chambers unless it's to go to the Adit.

Where do characters arrive in The Void
Eve's chambers in the Adit! The archway to The Meadous is there and will remain so for them to come and go.

Hearts Question

[holmesice]

Will the Stardust have an affect on characters with Hearts, and would as any of the other things that they may encounter in the Void affect their Hearts? What happens to a character’s Heart if they die?

[xanthous]

SO, figured here was the best place to ask but: considering precognition powers will work in The Void, would characters be able to see the result of it? Especially with characters who would have something that's...basically tailor-made to this sort of do-or-die somebody's probably getting fuckt scenario?

I know the event result is gonna be nebulous and will probably go different ways over the course of the event, so I basically just want to know if I can be Vague and Unhelpful over it all.

Powers question

[thewarningafter]

This is a big one, so I want to run it by you even though limits are theoretically off: will Stephen be able to pause or reverse time for the Void in general? The two big scenarios that come to mind (I would be sure to okay these with all players involved):

--The characters get some kind of bad end and Stephen rewinds time long enough for them to do things differently (e.g. they raise just one Sister but realize they could have saved more/all of them).

--Someone dies and Stephen undoes their death.

In the latter case, particularly, I suspect Zephyr would still be upset about the death (operating on the assumption that Zephyr can follow along through any time fuckery that occurs and know what originally happened).

[telecosmetic]

Will Eliza's Pokemon be able to help her with fighting the aggressive creatures? I assume they won't be able to collect color.

[telecosmetic]

"If your character is feeling particularly sadistic, they can also draw color out of a Sister to give to another Sister. They can't and won't resist, but they'll be very hurt by this."

So this only works for Noc/Dia, right? Unless there's something like trees being able to grow colors other than the one you give them?

Re: General Questions (please post here with other questions you have)

[devoutish]

Are guns effective against the monsters and the animals in the sanctuaries?

[bywolves]

so: royce is getting murdered by a worm in this event, but stephen's going to rewind time and make it so that royce didn't actually die. my question is can royce actually die all the way and experience the nightmare before stephen brings him back?

[pythianjudgment]

Double checking for me and World, but does the lift of the power nerf mean that they can time hop more than 5 minutes back? Or is that limit still in place?

Re: General Questions (please post here with other questions you have)

[equal_shots]

Is there a "sensation" of color being picked up? And, similarly, is there any sense associated with each color being picked up or way to know what color is collected while not seeing it?

I was kind of sitting out, as Kid is still not able to see...but I really wanna play ;_; If he can't see then he will be doomed to give whatever color he grabs to whoever he finds.

[telecosmetic]

Will Zephyr alter any friendly creatures brought over so they don't dissolve into color when hit too hard? Because Eliza does not want Luce's new pet armadillo to get killed by accident.

[thewarningafter]

When Slink forces characters to fight, are their minds clouded so that they think they're doing the right thing, or are they still perfectly aware as their bodies attack each other?

[exequies]

I meant to ask this yesterday but got sidetracked. Did Noc make it so that the shell she gave to Undertaker can pick up whispers from the colors without being limited to the trees? Or how does it work?

What are the colors of The Void?

[thelostmods]

COLORS OF THE VOID

---

Gold...

Gold is the color of trust, hope, and charity. Characters who are particularly gullible may have an affinity with this color. Or those who have strong faith. Or those who have a particularly giving nature.

---

Silver...

Silver is the color of wastefulness. It is a color for those who are NOT wasteful, though, rather than those who are. This is for those characters who are penny-pinchers, the ones who pay very close attention to gathering and managing supplies, and organizing matters so that they are efficient.

---

Amber...

Amber is the color of hunger and metabolism. This can be literally someone who is a glutton. It can also be someone who is hungry for knowledge or other material goods. It can also mean someone who burns through life particularly quickly, living every moment to its fullest as the only moment that counts.

---

Crimson...

Crimson is the color of anger or passion. People with particularly foul tempers might fall here, but so would people who are particularly given to extremes of other emotions. People madly in love, or those who are extremely dramatic in some fashion or other. This color can also represent people with an intense and unyielding drive, a passion to reach some sort of goal.

---

Emerald...

Emerald is the color of protection and defense. People with an affinity for emerald may be those who look after others, but they might also be people who are extremely closed off and defensive. Protecting your own heart from heartache can be just as important as physically protecting others, after all.

---

Azure...

Azure is the color of speed. This can mean those who are physically swift or quick-witted. It might be someone who speaks or acts without thinking, or it might be someone who can make very good decisions in a very short period of time.

---

Violet...

Violet is creativity and inspiration. Those who have an affinity for violet are not necessarily artistic (although many are). These are lateral-thinkers, people who can make connections between seemingly unconnected things. They are also people who inspire others. Perhaps a character is not a creative person, themself, but how they are, what they do, it gives others insight regularly. Perhaps they just ask very good questions, or perhaps they have a knack for giving speeches that rally the troops and get them fired up to think in new and exciting ways.

The Sisters

[thelostmods]

	EVE
	EMERALD AND AMBER ☆
	"Save my sisters, guest. Their futures shine brighter than my own." Eve is the eldest of the Sisters and the one whose chambers sit closest to The Nightmare. As such, she has lived with The Void's encroaching doom the most directly. Her chambers are a crumbling castle. She stands in the banquet hall, usually, ready for a feast that will never come. She is absolutely ravenous for color, but she will never ask characters for it, even while providing information. She is determined that someone will reach The Upper Limit, and it should be one of her little Sisters.

	DIA
	SILVER AND VIOLET ☆
	"Unless you have color, get out." Dia is the second eldest of the Sisters and the one whose chambers are the most remote. They're also some of the most beautiful. She lives within an enormous church with arching ceilings, strange architecture, and vibrant stained glass windows. You have to ascend to the highest tower to find her. Dia is not the sort to mince words. She's interested in color and the only way to gain her attention is to offer it. She won't engage in idle chit-chat, but if a character has a question about color, in particular, she is the best Sister to ask.

	NOC
	AZURE AND VIOLET ☆
	"Well, you're something new. How interesting..." Noc is the second youngest of the Sisters with chambers resembling a dilapidated library. She can be found lounging idly most of the time in an armchair that looks like it's about to fall apart. She's sometimes reading, sometimes staring out her window. She is a sharp-witted and keen woman, prone to teasing and sarcasm. She's also not shy about disparaging her fellow Sisters, albeit often in sideswipes.

	RAE
	GOLD AND CRIMSON ☆
	"I'm so excited to see The Upper Limit. We can get there together!" Rae is the youngest Sister and the closest to The Upper Limit. She is idealistic, brash, and far too trusting for her own good. She will answer any questions characters have, but she may not always have the best information. She doesn't... fact-check all that often. She's too busy being excited and imagining what the new world will be like. She knows The Void is dying, but she's confident that she'll ascend to the next limit. Her chambers are a circus fallen into disrepair. There are still signs of the colorful and vibrant affair that it must have once been.

The Structure of the Void

[thelostmods]

The Upper Limit
The limit directly above The Void. Rae is the only one close enough to see through the holes in the top of her circus tent. There's nothing up there, per se, but there is roiling potential, waiting for a Sister to be lifted and fill it with life.

The Void
The limit where characters will be dropped. It is home to the Sisters and it is currently dying... or perhaps already dead. In either case, it is decaying and will fall soon into the lower limit. The Void is a series of chambers and walkways. The walkways appear as paths of white light through a pitchblack void. Entering and exiting a chamber requires stepping into a roiling mass of magic. It's probably fine...

Each Sister's chamber has three attached sub-chambers. The silver sub-chambers are mines and animal sanctuaries. Noc has an armadillo sanctuary. Eve and Dia have rat sanctuaries, and Rae has a firefly sanctuary. These are creatures that can be collected for color. Mines are where the worm enemies may appear while a character is trying to tap a vein of color from the rocks. The gold sub-chambers are gardens that have trees characters can fill with color, with the exception of Eve's gold chamber. Eve's gold chamber is the Adit, the location where characters must take a sister if they wish to lift her to the next limit.

The Nightmare
The lowest limit, referred to as "absolute death" by the inhabitants of The Void. There's not a lot going on down there apart from suffering, isolation, and darkness. There's no apparent way out of The Nightmare once you're down there. And while it's mostly just soul-crushingly lonely, there are a few things you can hurt yourself with down there. Mostly you're in danger of going insane and hurting yourself if you're trapped there long enough.

Plotting (let your fellows know what you're on about)

[thelostmods]

[pythianjudgment]

Terezi Pyrope/Aletheia Treewyrm (Color Affinity: Crimson, Emerald, Violet):
Ally is going to have her Seer powers back again, but she's going to be rusty. She'll be able to predict action-consequence results for the immediate future, but anything past that is going to get more vague. That said, she's going to be aware that there's definitely a way to fill all the heart chambers for every Sister, instead of just one--even if she's not 100% sure how to organize that so it happens. So she's going to be pushing for that by encouraging everyone to share.

If you want Ally to foresee anything in your character's immediate future, let me know!

Alice Cullen (Color Affinity: Gold, Azure, Violet):
Alice is also going to have her clairvoyancy powers back--but she won't be as vocal about it. She'll be on board with trying to collect as much color as possible for all of the Sisters, though. She'll be hunting the larger and more dangerous color creatures and focusing on trying to make sure that everyone stays safe.

If you want Alice to foresee your character getting into trouble and coming to help them not die or something, let me know!

Phi (Color Affinity: Silver, Crimson, Emerald):
Phi is the practical one of my lot. She's going to insist that they collect enough color for at least one Sister, then worry about the others. She's going to be particularly taken with Rae, due to her youth and innocence. What can she say, she likes kids.

Phi's powers will also be available to play with! In the event of mortal peril, she can time travel to an earlier point in time. This means there's fun to be had with alternate timelines that Didn't Actually Happen. I'd really like to play with this, so let me know if you want to! Threads that Didn't Actually Happen can either be handwaved or threaded out, I'm partial to either. Phi will retain the memory of them, but other characters won't.

I'm also definitely having Phi avert her own death through time travel at least once, so... there's also that.

[thewarningafter]

Stephen Strange (Color Affinity: Violet, Emerald, Azure):
Stephen is going to experience a boost to his ability to pause, loop, and turn back time, which is a matter I'll need to discuss with basically everyone before I dive in and take advantage of it. Theoretically he could go as far as putting the whole event in a time loop and make everyone do it over and over until they get it right, but overall I think it'll be better to mumbo jumbo some limits into existence so he doesn't dominate events. More likely, I'm looking at the possibility of him doing smaller rewinds to undo any character deaths and perhaps to undo a Bad End if they get one (see question submitted to mods above).

Stephen will figure out early on that it should be possible to raise all of the Sisters and will divide his efforts and try to cajole and coordinate everyone into making it happen. He will reject more practical solutions; I'd say it's "all or nothing" but it's really more like "all, period."


Peter Vincent: (Color Affinity: Amber, Crimson, Violet):
Peter may or may not be sitting this event out simply so I can focus on my non-retired character, but I've selected a set of colors for him just in case. He'll probably sympathize most with Noc, though Rae will hit a soft spot as well, and he'll probably be unable to simply pick one to work with, as much as he thinks it's best to focus on one before trying for them all.

[deafscythe]

Justin Law (Color Affinity: Amber, Emerald, Crimson)
Justin's powers are limited by his previous game, not by Zephyr, so he's still going to be stuck at his normal power level (I... think?). He's going to be killing lots of things for colors.

[advanced]

Bucky Barnes (Colour Affinity: Crimson and Emerald):
Bucky has no swanky powers, he'll be as he is in the Meadous. This is slightly stronger, faster, and better at fighting than the average human, but he has no superpowers. He'll be focusing on a single colour and pursuing it with focused determination.

Sherlock Holmes (Colour Affinity: Amber, Emerald, Azure, and Violet):
Sherlock is a squishy human with no power at all. He's fairly active, though, so he should be able to bring down things like rats and fireflies without too much issue. He'll probably be spending most of his time examining the new world and maybe using mind honey to enhance it all.

[marywatson]

Mary Watson (Color Affinity: Crimson, Emerald, and Azure)

Mary's a plain old human. Well, except for her assassin skills. She can kill things quickly and easily. Skills that were especially honed in The Box.

I'm still unsure if she'll participate in this event or not, some of it depends on my OOC availability that week.

[jumpthegun]

I'll be running the event and NPCing, so I won't be around for too many threads, but I can probably handle a couple, provided they're not interacting with the Sisters.

John Watson (Color Affinity: Crimson, Emerald, Violet):
John is your garden variety squishy human. But he's also a crack shot with nerves of steel who's been gunning for the chance to get out of the Meadous and do something. People might see him running around fighting the more vicious monsters and having the time of his life when he gets into particularly dangerous situations.

If you want to handwave John helping out your character, please let me know! He is also going to try to capture and armadillo to take back with him. He has a bargain to fulfill with the Godling from Samudra.


Monty Navarro (Color Affinity: Azure, Crimson, and Violet):
Monty is also a garden variety human. Although, he does have a fancy magic sword that he'll be bringing with him. Monty will be off-screen wooing the Sisters, particularly focusing on Rae and Noc. He'll also be chasing after some of the less vicious enemies and helping to grow color trees.

If you want to handwave an encounter with Monty, please let me know!


Bertie Wooster (Color Affinity: Gold, Amber, and Azure):
Bertie is a human who gained a fancy super self-healing factor coupled with an empathetic ability that lets him take on the injuries of others. He also has wings when he wants to take those out for a good flap. He's mostly going to focus on just collecting sprigs of color, rather than attacking anything and will likely Nope Out when he first encounters a Shantu. They're going to remind him far too much of the Underlings from SBURB, so he'll just run the hell away from them and anything else hostile, rather than fighting, even though he can fight if he needs to.

If you'd like to handwave Bertie helping your character out with some minor injuries, I'm happy to do that!

[aigue]

Renart (Colour affinity: Amber, Emerald, Violet):

Renart will be hanging back for the most part, doing a bit of exploring, a bit of killing monsters, just checking out the new world in general (and more than happy to have a makeout session with one or more of the Sisters). She won't have a strong opinion on what to do about the whole situation with the Sisters as she doesn't believe it's a Fairy Tale's place to be affecting worlds like that - that's the domain of humans - so expect her to be nonchalant and indifferent about it dying and her taking a role in preventing that. She will, however, encourage other people to do something about it.

She makes a very good meat shield, so if anyone from her close CR wants to take advantage of that let's plot! Unfortunately she wouldn't help out people she doesn't know well or like in that way.

She'll also be roaming around in her fox form, being adorable and hunting fireflies and rats, if anyone would like some of that CR.

Edit: OOCly I will be off traveling from the 19th to the 23rd, so I will be slow or unavailable during those days, but I'll be around for the rest of the event.

[not_the_question]

Twelfth Doctor (Colour Affinity: Amber, Emerald, and Violet)

I think I'm going to have the Doctor sit this event out, unless someone needs him somewhere to do something. I just feel too new to the game to feel comfortable jumping in.

But if people have plotting ideas or something, I'm happy to hear them out.

(I think normally this would be his kind of thing, but OOCly I'm not ready yet, sorry!)