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beleos ([personal profile] beleos) wrote in [community profile] kenosooc2024-03-12 03:34 pm

THE ADVOCATE ORACLE - A RIP VAN WINKLE IN TIME


INTRO
Hello Kenos! Welcome to the Advocate Oracle! Did we say Stargazer? Shhh no we didn’t. As we hinted earlier in the Discord, the conclusion of this Oracle will lead to a timeskip that Bearers will be subjected to in the end. How long? Well, that depends on your choices, and how well you exemplify the Advocate Oracle.

Just like with the Exalt Oracle, and to keep things even until a little closer to the end game, this Oracle has been predetermined to go to Zenith.

SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF BLISS
Bearers will find themselves being pulled into a deep sleep, where the Advocate Oracle will beseech them for their knowledge of home and seek understanding. Where did you come from? What made you as you are? What were the victories and challenges of your land? How did you become the you that you are? The Advocate seeks understanding and wants to see others achieve happiness. Does your world bring you happiness, or would it be cathartic to see it lost?

As the Advocate learns bits and pieces about Bearers, it will become clear that their dream is closing in on something that the bearers who have experienced it will recognize as the Timestream. The Advocate is not a thing, but a presence, and bearers will be able to sense the force (amorphous and shapeless) reaching into the Timestream, and you know – know that they are reaching for something on your behalf. As it slides out, you can feel a calming sense of joy, because you recognize it. It fills you with joy, bliss, or perhaps frustration and disgust, as you recognize the feeling of being home.

Everything will go white, and your one-on-one time with the Advocate will be at an end.

CLICK YOUR HEELS TOGETHER, DOROTHY!
Bearers will open their eyes and will find themselves in a new world. This is not Kenos at all, but familiar or not, you know it is someplace in the scattered worlds.

Where is it? Well, it’s either your world or another Bearer’s! That’s right, it’s a world share event! Bearers will find themselves scattered either on their own or in groups (up to you!) in a new world, that could be familiar or not, depending on your CR net. The Advocate has pulled the memories and description of a world from the Timestream, and for what purpose… well, that will become clear with time. However, these are not the worlds that characters came from, not exactly. These are worlds that are AUs of your character's canon, and this can be in very minor ways that would be essentially the same as canon, or it can be in very large, dramatic ways. Up to you!

You are not required to share a world, however, bearers will feel a strong compulsion to invite the Advocate to experience their worlds in their vision with the Advocate. (This leaves you all options to opt out of sharing your own world, but for those characters who may be less inclined, this is your opportunity to do so!)

But first, the logistics! Bearers will be in worlds for 12 hours each. You will not experience hunger or tiredness – but feel free to eat or sleep your way through worlds as you so choose (we expect there to be a lot of them!) – and the scope of each world is about what is discoverable within 12 hours. (You don’t need to describe the entirety of your world, but a city or area. Please make sure it's large enough to accommodate the entire shard-bearer population. For example, the Millennium Falcon would be too small, but a Star Destroyer would be fine. It should be a place that provides significant hold over your character.) There will be an open header here for players to post a short description of their world. If your character wants to go hang out at a coffee shop and watch shit go down, feel free! (The mod team has examples, and we will be sharing those shortly!) Please have your descriptions in by 03/15/2024 at 1:30 PM so that everyone can choose participation in other characters’ worlds before they get their TLs up!

For characters that are from shared worlds, we’ll leave it up to you how you all share that, but if you choose to have different regions or cities to share, go for it! For example, Batman might choose Gotham, whereas Superman might choose Smallville. Again, this really should be what’s feasibly travelable within 12 hours – they will cycle like the rest of the worlds – and your characters will not have money or funds on them for travel, so don’t feel like you have to describe the entirety of your characters’ worlds. Just a small blurb (you can include links of course!) to give players a general sense of what they can discover.

Also, these worlds will shuffle in the order on the taken list, just so the Savants have an unsolvable puzzle to chew on. (heh)

Characters will experience every world that is submitted into the header, but the Advocate’s last impression will echo as you move from one word to another. “Is this worthy of saving?”

Your twelve hours can be spent in one of three ways. Bearers can do whatever they want, and simply experience the world as they wish, they can hunt for the soul of the world, or they cant hunt for the soul of the dreamer.

  • The first is self-explanatory, of course. Each world is full of life, from creatures to people, to everything in between. (Conspicuously missing would be anyone of significant “closeness” to the character who manifested this world – think of it as the difference between a friend/family and an acquaintance.) Characters can create chaos, go to a café, find a precious spot you’ve heard about, and go wild! This is your opportunity to learn about your CR’s homes in a first-hand experience kinda way! This is your have fun and deepen connections sort of prompt.
  • The second, the Soul of the World will be a shard to be found by any who are searching for it. It is something that anyone can simply find, but it will be hidden. We ask that our players choose the location and list it in the description of their world, so players can actively plot for it! This is your opportunity to sneak, steal, fight, and destroy each other over the soul, it will come with a distinct benefit as you move onto the next world! They will be somewhere that is difficult to find, surrounded by shadows that creep closer and closer to the shard.
  • The last is the Soul of the Dreamer, which is, interestingly enough, a second Shard that matches the person who dreamed it up. The odd thing about these shards in these worlds is that they are of a different Aspect of the character that exists in game. (For example: Amos the Harbinger, or Hayame the Advocate) The character it belongs to will feel a pull toward it, but it is no guarantee that they will find it. Maybe someone else does! And maybe that’s a kind soul, or maybe it’s someone who would think to shatter that this Shard. Or maybe you keep it!


There will be a header on the turn-in post to list if your character chooses to keep the different Aspected Shard of themselves. If you find someone else’s Shard, and you keep it to the next world, it will return to that Bearer to decide what to do with it. Essentially, if you don’t shatter this Shard, they’ll be able to do with it as they see fit before you leave their world. If you do shatter the Shard, there will be no consequences to the owner. Or at least none that will appear in this event.

It goes without saying, but please plot this with that player, so there are no surprises!

AROUND THE WORLDS IN 60 SECONDS 12 HOURS
As you close your eyes, in that last moment, the Advocate will reach out to all of the Bearers that have made it to the end of this world, and beseech them to make a choice. Does this world have something of value? Something to be preserved? Do you understand the Bearer who dreamt of this world better, now? Do you think that this world has enough value to continue its existence? Before you open your eyes into the next world, Bearers will be compelled to answer yes, or no. This will be on a separate header post that will go up on the turn-in log. You will have until Wednesday March 27th at 10:00 PM.

As an aside, whatever bearer has captured the soul of the world will count to double their action's choice. (For example, if they choose to destroy, the total destroy votes will be doubled.)

We’ll be tallying the results, so there will be some extra exciting consequences to your choices as Bearers! Always keep in mind the tenets of your faction as you make your choices, bearers. Now that you have lost your leaders, the members of your faction back home are looking to you for victory. Of course, your choices will also determine the state of the world when you return, and how long it has been. Stay steadfast, and understand that you will have to make choices based on what your character believes is the best path forward. Your leadership trusts you – or if they don’t, they will have no choice, now will they? It’s up to you now, Bearers.

FAQ AND QUESTIONS
This Oracle is a touch more free-form than previous Oracles, and that is intentional! You are not required or expected to explore or have major action in every world. In fact, it's strongly discouraged, since this will provide opportunities for all players to have an opportunity to make big decisions! Even if you do not thread in the world, please still vote for them before 3/27/2024 so that we can have an accurate tally! The votes will make a difference in what our world looks like moving forward.

And finally, since they didn’t fit in the above, here are some quick FAQ style questions and answers about things we figure might be asked:

Are these really our worlds?
These are versions of bearer worlds. They can be very close (ie: identical) expressions of your character's worlds or they can have one event change such that the world is rather different. So they are alternate universes, but not so far that you're making up a whole world on the fly! The Advocate, unfortunately, cannot bring back your worlds. There's a lot of options out there in the Timestream. :(

What About Discord?
Characters do not seem to experience heightened Discord. Weird!

What happens if my character dies in the event?
They will fall into a deep, deep sleep and can no longer participate in the world-hopping adventures! They may be asleep for some time, depending on when they are dissipated, as they won’t revive early compared to their fellow Bearers. Whatever votes your character made leading up to the point that they died will count toward the goals of the faction. The Advocate accepts you for your efforts, even if they draw short.

Please make sure to post your deaths to the death page! You're gonna be sleeping a long time, and there may be things your Bearer discovers as they dream...

Are characters depowered?
Your powers will work perfectly fine! Oddly, if you are in a world where powers don’t exist, the denizens of the world may stare blankly, as if they Do Not Perceive. You gotta protect those little minds somehow.

We hope you have fun, and happy plotting!

CODING
a_noble_flame: (058)

[personal profile] a_noble_flame 2024-03-13 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
LOCATION NAME: The Capital of the Empire

WORLD SHARD LOCATION: In a vendor's stall near the center of town, being sold with other baubles.

DREAMER SHARD LOCATION: Inside State Section 3's Office. It will be laying on a desk just out in the open in a unique container. The top unscrews and Alice's Advocate shard is inside.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The Capital is more or less what you expect of any old world European city. It's massively big and densely packed with plenty of sewer entrances and alleyways to get lost in. In the center of it all is the newly built Tower of Babel, built specifically for the upcoming Nebulo Congress. In fact that's all you're going to be hearing about while you're in this world, alongside some hushed rumors.

WHAT TO DO IN THIS WORLD:

  • FOOD AND VENDOR STALLS. With the excitement of the Nebulo Congress in full swing there are many stalls and shops everywhere. A great deal of it is food but you'll find at least a handful of interesting shops offering trinkets, souvenirs, drinks and more. Whatever you can think of that you might find at a fair ground or flea market is probably here.

  • OTHER SHOPS AND TAVERNS. If you can picture it in a big city you'll likely find it here too.

  • THE TOWER OF BABEL. In the heart of the city is the newly erected Tower. There are guards ringing the outside of it's base level and you'll hear plentiful talk of all the nobles and royalty inside. One of the Princess' of Rhodelia is present with her little sister as an interpreter for her alongside many more. You'll also hear talk of all the symposiums set to be given, though it's mostly about the conferences between all the nations of the Empire and the Republic. Getting inside just requires a little persuasion with one of the guards ... or flash your noble status if you've got it. They'll recognize it for some reason.

  • THE STREETS, ALLEYWAYS AND SEWERS. Besides the vendors and the crowds of people you might catch a glimpse of The Sacred Order of the Iron-Clad Knights out on a parade of sorts. They're here for protection supposedly but mostly to be showy. If you go into the sewers and alleyways though you might run into some shadowy unwelcome visitors to the Capital -- the Anti-Ares terrorist group. They're planning to storm the Tower of Babel but in these first few days of the Nebulo Congress they are largely found setting up secret bases. If you're lucky you might stick around for the real terrorist activity at the very end of your stay!

  • THE MILITARY COMPLEX. This is home to the Imperial Army. Getting past the front gate does take talking to the guards up front but hey, you can try to break in. Inside you'll mostly find past the main central check-in where you can fill in forms letting folks know why you're visiting that it's a whole lot of bureaucratic business. State Section III's office is largely empty ... well, maybe save for a big sleepy dog with a tag that says 'Mercury' on his harness.



More Info—
The Wikipedia Article for Pumpkin Scissors.

* Pumpkin Scissors is set in an alternate world mid-1930's and based loosely around World War I. Here the Royal Empire (also called 'the Empire') is reminiscent of the German Empire with a handful of medieval traditions such as knights. You'll largely find technology more in line with the mid-1930's -- telegraphs exist and so do phones but planes are little used and cars are very old-fashioned.

* Your character may hear a whole lot of gossip going on, particularly around the Tower of Babel and inside the military building but outside as well among reporters and journalists. Some deride the so called "party unit" that is State Section III, saying all they're good for is being showy so the military can pretend to care about the average person.

* Other rumors floating around include the missing Dschubba, head of some so called armored train in the city of Karrusel as well as talk of the Kauplin Patents coming under fire and how it would ruin the Empire monetarily.

* Should you engage any of the Anti-Ares terrorists, expect them to be ruthless in how they fight. Part of their initiation into the group is to cut the epaulettes off of their uniforms because epaulettes are supposedly there to help drag a wounded soldier out of the battlefield. None of them expect rescue, least of all from their comrades. This is a suicide mission for them and anyone stumbling upon them attempting to set up some communication base or run lines for it will be swiftly attacked. Most of them brandish blades and garrote wire.

* You could stumble around the Malvin Family Manor further into town. However all you would run into is servants who are happy to tell you about the Malvin family's history. Alice's great-grandfather was awarded a noble title for his service during the Great War and beyond that the family has a long history as cavalry knights. Maybe you can go to the stables and see Ace, one of the family's own line of horses.