Event: The Leopard's Spots (Update #6)

[thelostmods]

With the shapeshifter captured, we have reached the home stretch! Please check out the new Part 4 starter for speaking with a very angry (but currently cooperative) cat. Time to clear up what's been going on!

Additionally, once your character has had a chance to get answers to their burning questions, please use this post for discussion of how your character(s) would like to resolve this situation. The two main questions to keep in mind are:

1. What does your character think should be done with the totem?

2. What does your character think should be done with the captured shapeshifter?

Please take your time finding out all the information you need to know in order to make those decisions. I'll keep an eye on this post and answer any logistical questions that come up. Thank you!


General Status Updates, July 25:

After the people of the Meadous have talked with Okota and the other NPCs, the general attitude of the NPCs is as follows:

1. Okota is becoming grudgingly willing to at least consider foregoing their attempt to revert their people to total savagery in favor of influencing the world in smaller ways, but they're clearly not thrilled about it and there's a clear risk that they'll go back to their old ways if left to their own devices.

2. Tawnya and Mitch are willing to take guardianship of Okota, but only if they have some way to keep a god in check. Summer is on board with a rehabilitation effort and will also assist. They acknowledge that a few of the points Okota has made about the negative effects of conformity and a move away from instinctive behavior are true, but on the whole they find her views extreme and are strongly opposed to her original plan.

3. Wyatt just wants to hide the totem, and can be persuaded to leave it in the Meadous.

4. Several players have suggested devices to help Mitch and Tawnya keep Okota in check. Currently those suggestions include a cage that can contain Okota in any form and a tracking device Okota can't remove. Each device would cost 1,000 wishing points; there will be another update on Saturday to gather points from any characters who want to contribute to one or more wishes.


The deadline for voting on solutions is Sunday, July 28, at 11:59 PST.

Update, July 29: Voting is now closed. Thank you all for your input!

Comments

[harmony_city]

Summer is nervous going into the conversation with Okota. It seems she was right to be--as soon as Okota sees the coyote, she starts hissing and spitting and hurling accusations that Summer is a heretic, the descendant and the mother of thieves. It briefly looks like Summer is going to retreat with her tail between her legs, but she abruptly finds her resolve and locks eyes with Okota...and surprisingly, when she demands Okota stop her snarling and speak with her, Okota does so.

Being in Okota's presence and discussing what happened when the totem was originally stolen seems to unlock more of the ancestral memories Ienzo discovered Summer possesses, and she begins to argue on behalf of Brother Gray, the coyote who first stole the totem and caused the downfall of Okota's religion. Summer and Okota disagree vehemently on the causes and effects. Okota argues that Brother Gray and his cohort took away the gifts of all the other mammals to selfishly force them to adapt to a new civilization that best suited the coyotes, raccoons, and rats. Summer argues that Okota was holding them back--that the truce at the old temple to allow visitors to worship without fear of being eaten was proof that mammals could coexist peacefully without eating one another, and that Okota and the faithful members of their priesthood were forcing violence on a world whose people no longer wanted to live in the old ways.

Following the conversation, Summer's position is this:
1. She stands by what Brother Gray did--unchecked in the old days, Okota and their priesthood had actively prevented the mammals from developing a peaceful multispecies society. She does not want the totem returned to Okota.
2. She feels sorry for Okota, but does not trust them. She does not want to enact revenge or punishment, but she does want to prevent Okota from hurting people (including enacting their plan to turn people savage).
3. Summer was able to get Okota to confirm during the conversation that her aspect is Instinct. Summer thinks that instinct is not without its place in the modern world--indeed, she muses that Wyatt seems to have the totem based on an instinctual reaction to being in its presence.