Log - August 2025
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Previous event: Test Drive Meme - July 2025. Next event: Test Drive Meme - September 2025.
The Main Event event on 2025 August 4 posted here. This was the event for August 2025.
FAQ Pages
[edit source]Full questions here
Event headings
[edit source]I. RESONANCE OF OBSCURITY
[edit | edit source]A. THE KARTERIAN OBSCURITY
[edit | edit source]B. THE KELESIAN OBSCURITY
[edit | edit source]II. REQUIEM IN BLOOM
[edit | edit source]A. KILLING THE THING
[edit | edit source]B. SEARCH AND RESCUE
[edit | edit source]III. THE VELVET CLAW (AUGUST EDITION)
[edit | edit source]THE KELESIAN EXPATRIAT SOCIETY
[edit | edit source]ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE (AND YOU'RE BEHIND IT)
[edit | edit source]FLORALS AND FEATHERS
[edit | edit source]IV. NETWORK
[edit | edit source]
FAQ Questions
[edit source]| Information | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| #1
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-09-01 |
Is there any wildlife inside kelesis? | There is, and it's of the expected variety you would find in a city. Pigeons (every world has pigeons), sparrows, finches, gulls, maybe a few swans, squirrels. A very occasional raccoon, charmingly buried in a residential trashcan. Plenty of insects- and Kelesis is doing very well in that regard, compared to Karteria (which has seen a sharp drop off of insect life over the years, and a corresponding decline of all else). A deer might wander into someone's back garden at the outskirts of the city. All the animals are normal and very safe to eat. |
| #2
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-09-01 |
Following up on this rather late, apologies! As Law has been able to 'stabilize' three people and their heads are, uh, separated from their bodies while they wait for the plantlife to die off... What would a (fairly new) Terra type be able to sense from the bodies still infected with tree/plant matter, especially once the host big tree dies? |
For these individuals whose heads are removed to avoid further infecting their bodies, their bodies themselves would be largely unremarkable: the parasitic infection exists in the skull, once they're let to live up there. Terra-types, even new ones, would be able to shed some light on the status of the parasitic plant. While alive, the Terra-type would obviously be able to tell that there is a living plant in there, only able to be removed via death. Once the plant creature dies, a Terra-type would find the 'infection' itself still living... but within a half of a day, the cause behind turning citizens into a plant-zombie begins to wither away to die. It'll continue to take some time for it to fully fade—about 3 days, give or take. The long and short of it: Terra-types could tell the living status of the plant infecting citizens, and could similarly tell that it's beginning to fade and die when the plant creature itself is dead. And while the plant creature's still living, they could similarly tell that there is no escaping the infection other than: death (though it turns out this requirement can be fulfilled through the plant creature's death, too!). |
| #3
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-09-01 |
Awful! Is there any sense of...plant-connection, like a kind of hivemind of plant monster seed to seeded individuals, or is it just "dead" within the seeded bodies even if it's taking time to wither? | It's not exactly a hivemind, in that the main tree can't directly 'control' the directions its seeds take, and nor do they share the same thoughts. But they are connected by the tree's underlying will all the same, which in this case is the need to grow. So it's more of a... sympathetic response, rather than a deliberate action. |
| #4
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-23 |
Would there be any change to "saran" on the kelesians if the augmented who can't read were to view them? Would they get pictograms? | They would get their own personal Saran interpretation! It would look a bit like something you'd find in an illustrated fairy tale book for children. Because of that (and that it's appearing on someone's skin), it'd be hard to get too much detail out of it, but it looks almost certainly human. A human of indeterminate age, but leaning feminine. Sometimes they look happy; sometimes they're drawn with dark circles on their face, a simple representation of arcane radiation poisoning. |
| #5
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-19 |
Hello, my darlings. So for Gojo and teams exploring outside of Karteria for the month, he'd like to push a bit farther-- Team Peachy (Momo, Chuuya, and Dazai), as the fastest-moving team, will be trying to reach Doxa. The discussed route was along the edge of the woods and the swamp, the route Gojo and his team previously took to the Blood Lake, and then pretty much a straight line from the north side of Blood Lake to Doxa. Team Sneeze Smash (Tartaglia, Izuku, and Blade) will be scouting the Kelesis Environs and Lake Telos. A few trips of, idk, 3 days each? Proposed routes. Team Boyfriends (Gojo, Felwinter, and Choso) will be following up (belatedly) on the Brickston Intel (specifically the version Gojo got from him and suggested strategy) and searching more thoroughly along that coast and near the creepy cabins they found on earlier explorations. Hereabouts. Please let me know if this is too much (i know this is a LOT to ask for, but it's on behalf of, uh, the nine of us?) or if you'd like more information about their strategy or approach to any region. Thank you wonderful mods ❤️❤️❤️ |
Sorry about the delay this was a bit to pull together.... cw: animal remains, implied experimentation, bugs Doxa 1. The path to Doxa is a straightforward one. There's even some decaying evidence of roadwork having existed at some point in the past, but it's intermittent- suggesting that a connection to this corner of Orexis had never been completed, rather than it having only gone neglected and overgrown. Katalyth is present, in unremarkable amounts, and once they're past the edges of Asphodel Fields, the ground- while still moist- is nicely traversable. It should make for an uneventful journey to the borders of Doxa. Unfortunately, the explorers will not find any human, nor human-shaped-entity left alive in the town. There is no sign of any attempt to build a barrier, nor any kind of generator; this was not a place anyone tried to protect. Thankfully, there also aren't any signs of mass death, though there are certainly a few human-belonging bones here and there, lain in moldering beds, or dragged into the street. Many have visible signs of being chewed on. But there's not so many to suggest that the entire town had stricken and died; instead, the majority of the inhabitants chose to leave. The buildings haven't had time to collapse for the most part, but nature has begun its work on reclaiming them, turning green the skeleton of the town. Many of the buildings remain furnished, mostly with larger pieces that would have been difficult to transport across the island. Most small, personal belongings are gone- perhaps suggesting that the people who left here knew they weren't coming back. There are quite a few sailing ships in the harbor, in varying stages of decay. Doxa had once been a modest harbor town, with a sub-5000 population at its height. Being the closest point (relatively speaking) to the island of Ekklisis is why the settlement sprang up in the first place. People dreamed of regular (even easy) travel between the islands, and a properly connected, international Pathos, but even these early stages were never given the opportunity to see fruit. Sailing has been a dangerous profession for longer than living memory, and as arcane radiation made it utterly unfeasible for the indefinite future, what point is there in a harbor town? There are also plenty of signs of wildlife having taken over residence of Doxa, with the most notable being a pack of feral dogs. Or rather, the descendants of once domesticated canines, pets that were left behind when the town was abandoned. Karteria is rather strict with pet ownership, after all.... Several generations onward, these dogs have survived, and with some interbreeding with local wolves, are even thriving in their way. But it's not without some changes. Similar to what's happened around the cenote, the dogs are notably mutated, particularly around their faces- which are now equipped with numerous black tentacle-like growths. It doesn't seem to interfere with their lives too badly, though you'll sometimes catch a dog trying to scrape one of them off against the side of a tree, or some other hard surface. If the characters noticed bits of blackened dropped-off flesh and smears of blood against the lower parts of trees on their way into Doxa... well, that would be where it came from. The other animals in the area are largely normal, showing the occasional visible mutation, but nothing on the systemic level as the dogs. If there ever became a time where reaching Ekklisis was pressing, Doxa could become an important- or at least convenient- staging point. Until then, it is full of tentacled-dogs and rotting ships. Kelesis Environs 1. The most Northern route. The forests directly to the Northeast of Kelesis are quite nice. They're not as dark as the Woods outside Karteria, so there's plenty of light dappling through the leaves. There's no sign of people having been out this way in years, as might be expected, and most paths have been consumed by the forest around them. But there's always some sort of path, and it seems to always lead in the direction they want to go...? (Maybe it's nothing, and this had simply been the most popular route in the past, so it's faded the least.) If one were imagining an idyllic, peaceful slice of nature, the forests outside of Kelesis would match it exactly. The birds sound... odd, or rather, there's birdsong even when there's no birds around. Their music also doesn't match the kind of birds found on this part of the island either. But there's no denying it adds to the ambiance. Once they leave the treeline, they'll have a relatively easy path northward across grassy fields. As just about anywhere flat in Pathos, the ground is moist, but it hasn't yet given way entirely to proper marsh or bogland. It remains safe and reasonably traversable. There is no sign of any past travel past this point, or if something had been there, it was so irregularly trod that it's disappeared entirely. The next bout of woods is denser, though still lighter than the Karterian woods. It also functions more 'normally', in terms of ambient noise and ability to pick a way through it. There is no sign of any human-made path, though there's some places that deer seem to have trod something of their own. The deer are normal. There is nothing unusual out this way, no signs of human habitation or human remains. The levels of mutation in the wildlife is akin to that found in Orexis. This part of Eparsis, at least, has neither been spared the spread of arcane radiation, nor been harder hit. Overall, the amount of Katalyth in the environment is unremarkable. There is plenty of it around, but it's neither infesting anywhere in particular, nor failing to grow anywhere else. 2. Lake Telos. The land moistens to the point of turning back into proper wetlands on the approach to Lake Telos, and the region is absolutely teeming with wildlife. It's less of a dreary-feeling place than the Orexian equivalents, but it doesn't make it any easier going. Once they reach the lake, they'll see that it's not necessarily one made to swim in, but is quite beautiful in its own right. There's an immense amount of flora blooming across its surface, in bright shades to contrast the deep blue of the water. Colorful fish dart about underneath, hunted by a variety of birds and aquatic-lizards (just as colorful as the plants, as though designed to blend in). The insects are similarly dazzling, and give off an ever-present hum in these summer months. Telos is thriving. The majority of the lake's surrounds (including the lake itself) have the average concentrations of Katalyth. However, at the Southeast corner the exploration party will come across obvious signs of a past human presence. A camp, of sorts, rather than a town- but here, every structure has been absolutely consumed by Katalyth. It'll be very noticeable even from a distance, both visually and especially emotionally, as the sense of absolute dread coming from that corner of the lake is not a subtle thing. The buildings themselves look like they're beginning to collapse under the weight of the mineral (or maybe even inorganic structures can get depressed...?), which at least offers a glimpse of what's inside without getting too close. As it would be next-to-impossible for most characters to enter the habitations without losing themselves to the oppressive madness the Katalyth emanates. A Golem-type would have the best shot at it, especially if full-shifted, but even they shouldn't linger there. But it looks like someone had set up a laboratory space here. There's wrecked computers, books that have faded to illegibility (or otherwise ruined by water-damage). Lots of broken glass, with unknown substances dried in them- or in some cases, still oddly sticky, after all this time. Metal cages, large enough to contain something on par with a large dog (or average human), with various damage to the bars of them. Bite marks, claws, burns.... There's collections of bones, both inside and outside of the cages. Overturned tables, and even more chemical residue. Should they find some means to explore inside, there's nothing left in terms of usable equipment. If characters have the means to date anything in the area, it seems to have been abandoned in the early-to-pre-arcane radiation lockdown days. Where everywhere else in the wetland is full of activity, this place is avoided by the local wildlife. The few plants whose seeds have landed nearby have grown up into oddly twisted things, their colors and shapes distorted in comparison to their nearby kin. 3. Southern route, skirting the mountains, all the way to another lake. There is nothing particularly remarkable about this path, but the mountains will look quite lovely as they shuffle past them. That Southern lake is a bit like a smaller version of Telos in terms of appearance and wildlife presentation, but there's no record of humans having settled here, or done anything questionable. Hopefully the exploration crew can spend some time appreciating the sights along with just surveying them! Though it is still rather moist, so sticking around for too long might be uncomfortable in its own right.... Team Boyfriends Route The uncanny cabins are right where they had left them, looking... basically untouched, with barely any more leaf litter or dust or animal tracks or anything. It feels like everything has abandoned this place. The area around it is more normal, the forest becoming patchier as they close in on the coast. And with all their detailed searching, this team is rewarded by coming across signs of a shipwreck. At first it's fragments of wood, rotting and soft. Bits of planks, things too clearly made to be the result of a collapsed tree. There's pieces of metal too, rusted to uselessness, warped and occasionally gnawed. The further up the coast they go, the larger pieces they'll find, caught against the rocky shore (and the occasional spike of Katalyth, jutting up out of the water, uncomfortably smooth, suggesting its erosion into the ocean). The largest find is fabric: thick stretches of coarse wool, sturdy and water-repellant. It lays torn and tangled up amidst rocks, as an evidence of sails (though of a different style and quality to the sailing ships that rot in Karteria's and Doxa's harbors). Apart from being cut up in places, it's in fairly good condition, though if there had ever been any sort of marking upon it, it's long since been bleached away by the sun. There's fragments of wooden masts around it, in far worse condition, turned into the nests of sea-happy bugs and marine mice. There's nothing to suggest that the ship collided with the West coast of Orexis, and it seems far more likely that something caused it to sink further out to sea, and then washed up here. Given the condition of the materials, this probably took place within the past decade or so. There are no human remains (or non-human remains). Besides the materials of the ship itself, there's the remnants of luggage, or at least cargo. There's several wood-like chests strewn along the coast, and unlike the rotting remnants of the ship, these are surprisingly intact. Though there's signs of having been battered against rock, there's no record of anything alive having tried to open them. If anything, nature is giving them a wide berth. A couple have popped open, revealing insides that look like they've been gnawed away, scraped at in splinters at a time. There is no blood, no gore, nothing organic left at all. Three chests remain intact, and... are bulging, slightly. There is no sign of movement, but on approach it'll be impossible to miss that they smell awful. Absolutely wretched. It'll take a strong constitution (or no sense of smell) to even get close enough to try and open one without being sick. Not that you'd want to open one. Why would you? On their inevitable opening: a cloud of thick, hand-sized black flies will emerge. They emit no sound in their flight, and if the container had smelled bad before... it's worse now. It's real bad. The flies will immediately try and escape into the woods, in search of a better life than being trapped inside lost luggage.... (If the party manages to grab and kill any individual fly, it will explode into a mess of murky blood and foam. If they capture an individual fly without killing it, the same thing will happen once the escaping swarm is far enough away. The fly residue also smells terrible, clings to anything it touches, but is otherwise both harmless and useless.) All three chests contain the same fly-prize. Unfortunately, there's nothing in the area that suggests anything from Brickston's intel is around here. |
| #6
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-17 |
so, plant monster pieces, could they be grafted onto a terra type? (obviously a terrible idea, but....) In the tunnels the augmented are digging under Kelesis, do they get the "cannot stay longer than a week" feeling? Tighnari will try to enforce "go home and get some rest" protocols for the volunteers so that no one is staying outside the confirmed effective barrier of Karteria too long. But some experimentation might be conducted. (Him. He will stay. In the name of science.) Edited 2025-08-17 12:30 am (local)
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Grafting bits of plant monster onto yourself... please be more responsible, Terra-types. But yes, it's possible to do this, though not safely. So long as the character remained in daylight conditions, the grafted part would act as the whole tree does, and continue to grow uncontrollably. (As it is no longer a part of the host tree, there would be no emotions accompanying this growth. It would just be mindless, aimless production. It would also not zombie-fy the Augmented, as there are no seeds, no souls involved anywhere.) The character would have to act relatively quickly to re-sever anything they'd attached to themselves, before they ended up properly consumed by it. (Oddly, these grafted bits, once severed, will resume being inert, as they would not contain a root system of their own (that part being essentially supplied by the Augmented). Additionally, grafting these pieces to normal flora- not Terra-type Augmented- would not demonstrate that same unrestrained growth. It would be far more difficult for them to take, but the process would otherwise operate normally.) In the tunnels: characters will not feel that nagging sense of 'please go home'! They might feel it anyway because it's just unpleasant to be down there, but the spaces underneath Kelesis count as outside of Kelesis. You could live down there indefinitely if you could manage the logistics and were motivated to do that for some reason. |
| #7
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-17 |
REAL LONGSHOT HERE, but could a Golem with metal-sense detect anything metal within Tree Monster, like an Augmenter...? | Oh dear. That might just be possible. Or at least, there is a hint of something very small and metallic within the core of the tree monster (insofar as it has a core, as its body doesn't necessarily correspond to either human or plant anatomies, in its mutated state). It would be very small though, and even a sensitive Golem would have to get properly close to the area in order to notice it. But it is possible, and for a Golem it would probably feel similarly to the metal that's lodged into every Augmented. |
| #8
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-17 |
With northly's natural soul being a pīwakawaka, I'm having her ability to use orpheus' song very weak (essentially only able to use it in kelesis or other places where it's boosted) to have a strong version of Furies' sight, linked to pīwakawaka mythology. Since furies' sight allows requesting help from the dead, and pīwakawaka mythology has them carry the souls of the dead to the afterlife/homeland, I figure if there was a.... Soul level desire she could pick up on it. Eg if a human was kept alive for hundreds of years she'd be able to pick up that the soul wants rest, or if a soul was trapped or not matching the person it was attached to, she could pick up the distress or discomfort, and when not anchored to a person/animal/host she could carry them, including to the void (afterlife). She couldn't have a full blown conversation with a soul, or anything that sophisticated, but tugging at them a little to see if they're properly linked to the body yes, alerting them to that she's paying attention, potentially, and sensing basic desires (particularly around where they want to be) yes. Does that work okay? Totally happy to adjust if need be! |
Belated response, but yes, that would be totally fine as a power she could have, a bolstered version of Furies' Sight and a weaker Orpheus' Song to balance. (Apologies for forgetting this fun trait of Northly's, we definitely know about this but it can be a lot to keep track of!) And the information she would receive would remain largely the same- though she might also pick up then on the souls not necessarily belonging to the people she's talking with in Kelesis. The people do not seem aware of this, and the souls themselves are not distressed- that sense of contentment is genuine. They do not wish to be anywhere else. Whatever sort of situation is going on here, no one seems to be unhappy about it. |
| #9
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-17 |
if caleb (and potential company) was/were to take advantage of the chaos during requiem in bloom to infiltrate patho-gen hq for some sleuthing, how successful will it be? he will be aiming to hack into and/or retrieve potential physical and/or non-physical files/data that could discern what patho-gen is up to, especially irt their current debacle. (and ofc learning from his previous mistake, he will be paying heed to any cameras to evade and/or destroy.) also appropos to the above question, i'm assuming that characters will only have access to their natural soul abilities to combat the tree/zombies since they're within patho-gen hq territory, correct? |
blinks... The month has been unkind to us both. Our apologies, some of these questions are easier to answer while others are a tad more taxing. Patho-Gen... The building itself is in a state of lockdown. It will not be easy to infiltrate, but plenty of rooms will have security protocol out of whack. This means that some previously inaccessible rooms may be... accessible! Unfortunately, a lot of what Caleb/potential company might find has little to do with the current debacle, particularly in any accessible areas. However, there is a bit of an interesting find that Caleb might discover—and even if he's not destroying the cameras, things are way too chaotic for anyone to notice anything! Patho-Gen is in lockdown, evacuation, et cetera mode. If there's anything to be discovered, it's some sort of digital file open on a computer that is documenting the effects being noticed in Kelesis. Despite Patho-Gen's upfront claims that "everything is fine" in Kelesis, there seems to be robust notes about what's not fine. Accessible in this file for as long as Caleb can view it includes the fact that seven Patho-Gen scientists have died in the past month due to their travels to Kelesis... The causes of death include: 1-5. arcane radiation poisoning, 6. UNKNOWN, 7. predation. Their identities are not disclosed. The abilities characters have thanks to their Natural Soul are surprisingly reachable in Patho-Gen territory even in the midst of this attack! However, any other powers they possess are still completely defunct while in Patho-Gen HQ. Natural Soul powers may not be reached if a Patho-Gen scientist were presently using a device to restrain or restrict a character, but while all of this is going down they may use many of their Natural Soul powers even in Patho-Gen HQ. (Just... not any of their From-Home powers.) |
| #10
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-17 |
tyty for the response, mods! and no worries, this month has been busy for me too :') would caleb be able to either secure a copy or snap photos of the digital file? |
He would be able to take photos of everything he saw yes, but there would be no way to obtain a copy of the files themselves. But at least there's photo evidence... |
| #11
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-13 |
I know food can't be taken out of Kelesis; does the same apply to items? Brochures, menus, etc., but also small furnishing items (anything small enough to fit in a rucksack, so lights, small art works, soft furnishings, etc.)? | I think this is briefly covered here, with the relevant part being: Anything else purchased in Kelesis persists and may be carried outside the city without an issue. (Although when it comes to electronic goods, Kelesis doesn't sell much. Those sorts of technological advancements have never been their focus! And anything that is bought will immediately stop working outside the border (and resume working within Kelesis).) So yes, a modest amount of other physical objects may be carted out of Kelesis. |
| #12
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-13 |
thank you! I didn't think it would be that but it's a little thing to have her look into at some point. though actually... if she were to try and communicate with the souls of the people of kelesis, would that be any different to communication with the kelesians themselves? do they seem to desire anything? do they seem to be connected to the bodies? And bit of an off the wall question but: what're the demographics like? Are there children? Old people? Pregnant people? Newborns? Dying and sick people? I'm particularly interested in newborns, pregnant people and sick/dying people. While filming with syntrofos in Kelesis, do the "DOWN. DIG DEEPER. HELP THEM." messages appear on the Kelesians, and if they do, do they quickly disappear once captured on the syntrofos as they do when augmented read them directly? While the augmented doing the filming is deliberately not observing the kelesians (eg they have their eyes closed)? oh, and a few more things to try writing to the watcher, after writing "where are you?" again (and presumably getting "watching you" back) "do you judge?" "do you love?" "where are we?" "where are they?" and I'll... have to find... a character who knows the concept of heaven and hell... to ask some more things..... Edited 2025-08-11 09:23 pm (local)
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For communicating with souls... is this something Northly can do naturally? Aves-types have the ability to see souls, and any corruptive influences upon them, but can't necessarily interact with them. If she can commune with souls (or if any other character with that ability tries): it would be first met with silence, and then a kind of mental static. There's no specific thought behind it, but it might impress a general sense of contentment, that all is well. But this is just for the 'ambient' soul-presence. If this is attempted on a person right in front of them, there would be no response, no reaction from any soul, and the person would fail to notice that anyone was doing anything at all. The demographics of Kelesis are similar to that of Karteria. Humans, of all skin tones and ages. There are the elderly, there are children, there are pregnancies (and presumably births). There is probably the cycle of life, though the Augmented will never witness anyone actually dying. There are also no observable hospitals, though there are a couple small clinics at the edges of the inner ring of the city. Any patients waiting inside don't seem to be suffering from anything worse than fevers, colds, and the rare broken bone. Were a character to come in for treatment, they would be directed back to Karteria.... A modest graveyard does exist within the leftish-half of the Kelesian circle, nestled within the residential ring. It is even reachable, unlike the government, though given the difficulty in mapping anything outside of the center of town, being able to consistently find it might be a challenge. Spectrals (and anyone else with a strong connection to the dead) could notice that no one's been buried recently, i.e., that there's no death in this graveyard. Trying to dig up any grave is a crime, and would have the character ejected from Kelesis for a few days. The gravestones themselves are well-maintained, there's flowers lain nearby that never seem to decay, and there's no names written on anything. No one is particularly sick in Kelesis. The population is overall much healthier than that of Karteria. There's the occasional cold, a polite cough, a tragic sneeze- and the friendly gripe about it all. Someone might have a broken arm in a sling; the old often walk with a cane. But they are unreasonably hearty. For capturing the messages written on the Kelesians: they do disappear just as quickly even if they're only 'seen' by the Syntrofos, and not the Augmented directly. They can be immortalized in film (or, rather, electronic data), though the original message might be slightly different. The font might change, or 'down' might become 'help'. Nothing new, but distinctly not what might have been there at first. Further attempts to communicate with anything watching does not seem to generate any additional response. A sense of being watched might increase, along with a distant sense of fluster... maybe this is a lot of interrogating to happen all at once. |
| #13
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-13 |
Tighnari is organising and conducting explorations under Kelesis. His intention is to (himself + any other terra volunteers, I use "he" below just for convenience) see exactly where the wailing is noticeable and strongest and map that. He's not trying to get through the concrete again, but the "dig deeper" messages mean he's thinking he's being directed under the concrete. He particularly wants to know if there's a point outside Kelesis' barrier where it's noticeable. so here's the plan for what he's intending to do, (this will take a significant amount of time, he's intending for this to be most of his month though he will be caught up a bit with the plant stuff):
This is all without having breached the concrete yet. Having passed out previously and now involving other people, he's going to approach that part cautiously. (Him passing out: fine. Others passing out: reckless and unnecessary.) Edit: given the answer to "is there a map" tighnari will sigh deeply about the apparent shifting and do his best to log it, but keep his basic plan of using the compass points and ordinal points the same. ((saying "root" and "rooting" this much is a time when I'm from nz)) (((also thank you mods, this is so fun!!))) Edited 2025-08-09 07:16 am (local)
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At least when it comes to mapping... the further down one goes, the less anything seems to change. Tunnels that are dug one day, will still be there the next (barring any sort of collapse, though that wouldn't be the work of anything in Kelesis). It's only the city above (and particularly, the parts of Kelesis outside of its inner ring of business, and along the waterfront) that resists being properly catalogued. So Tighnari and his crew could certainly map their way underneath, and given the way they're doing it, should face little interference from the Kelesian population. The wailing is detectable outside Kelesis and the barrier, but it is quieter, indicating that it is at something of a distance. But it is there. Concrete does extend this far out, but not by much. How far down they have to go to reach the concrete at any point within the city is variable. At some points it is relatively shallow- and at others, they would have to dig quite far in order to order to hit it. Through all of their hard work, they could discern that it's not just one concrete mass, but a whole network of pre-existing tunnels. And more than tunnels, but spaces suggesting of 'rooms'. These structures are... large, and are arranged in a way that suggests something more nest-like, or underground-habitation-like, rather than, say, a sewer system, or subway system. The room spaces are where the emotions are at their most furious and miserable, thus contain the most wailing. There isn't one singular point where they're at their worst, but instead a multitude of nodes, each radiating out into the concrete tunnels. There are potentially... quite a few hell pits altogether, further suggesting that piercing through the concrete and going inside should be done carefully (next month, but the efforts characters make towards this end may provide which entry points are available/most viable, thus determining The Immediate Danger Level(TM)). |
| #14
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-13 |
oooo, does northly's inventory count as (essentially) "inside" her as eaten food would be? Or would the happenstance that causes food to be knocked from hands etc. before leaving kelesis happen at the point where she would put it into her inventory? |
Carrying around food in her inventory would count as it being 'eaten', as it is contained, consumed by this alternate space. When taken out again outside Kelesis, it will still be there, and recognizable. ...though it'll all be in a strange jumble, as though it had been shaken apart mid-flight, possibly smearing crumbs and ketchups all over anything else she might have been carrying around in there at the time. It is, at least, not digested. And besides being a mess, it is very much normal, edible, definitely real food. |
| #15
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-13 |
Delightful! He'll be making contact with Tighnari, and taking DO NOT EXPOSE IT TO LIGHT to heart. Which means, he'll be tunneling the long way down. If they tunnel in from the side, in complete dark, is the Hell Pit experience different? Once the concrete is breached deep underground, how does Hubert's radiation-responsive chitin (rainbow Kelesian variant) react? In a series of smart life choices, Hubert has started Katalyth Reading. Is the song in the Hell Pit? Is it different? A response up above mentioned Aves seeing pinpricks in soul-sight. If an arthropoda were to find those sources, is this where the Hell Pit's anger originates from, or do the pinpricks have a different intent? Edit for more: Can imprints stave off the overwhelming-pass-out-madness, or is that our "TUNE IN NEXT MONTH" cliffhanger? Edited 2025-08-09 04:16 am (local)
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Any approach to the Hell Pit(tm) that avoids taking it head-on is a wise choice. As characters are made to sense, revealing the whole thing to daylight would be a bad idea. And further study of the pit and its surroundings will suggest that it's more than a singular pit, but a whole structure of tunnels, and additional nodes that are also full of anger. When it comes to combining Aves soul-sight, and Arthropoda's own good senses for these emotions... yes, a lot of those pinpricks come from underground, and it would be possible to put together that the greater clusters of soul light corresponds to the worst of the fury. (There are still plenty of souls above Kelesis, of course. The continuous distortion of it all makes it hard for an Aves to concentrate on it long without inflicting a migraine on themself, but with effort it's possible to tell that the above-ground soul presence is more 'normal', and the below-ground soul presence is more 'fragmented.') Hubert's chitin will continue to glow, will continue to reflect the constant presence of arcane radiation. But the deeper he goes into the pit, the more it will revert from its Kelesian rainbow, and back into his usual, expected coloring. But he will continue to light up... though will oddly fail to serve as much of a flashlight. The darkness is pervasive- almost physical, suffocating everything beyond the immediacy of his body. Katalyth reading, a good and normal hobby to pick up... the song in the Hell Pit is different! Or rather, it's the Kelesian faireground dirge, but pitched increasingly offkey, and increasingly slowed. Whether this is an improvement or not is left up to the listener. Properly exploring into the Hell Pit will be available next month, with this one covering the process of reaching it, mapping out its structures, etc. The madness is just too heavy... but imprints do certainly help! Hubert can tape all his friends to his chitin and make it a lot further than he could otherwise... and once leaving the pit, all those connections will make recovery from the experience much easier. |
| #16
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-13 |
Quick tack-on here: Eli has darkvision with a range of 60ft, which means within 60 feet he can see in full darkness as though it were dim light. He also can levitate. If he moves around to check things out, can he find anything? (If you'd like the answer to just be no I can say he's too affected by the madness to stay in there long enough to see anything coherent, lol) | Darksight does function within The Pit... sort of. But the darkness there is unnaturally thick, almost tangible- swallowing up light as though starved for it. For an averagely sighted person to look around in it, they would only see a few inches away from their face. For Eli, and anyone else with darkvision (or a similar kind of ability), it would multiply their strength considerably, allowing him to see multiple feet in front of them. For right now, almost all he'd be able to find is more dark, and more madness... though if he hits the right angle, he might notice some parts of the walls- moving? Or rather, what's on them is moving: thick clumps of flies. The occasional one might come bumping its way out of the pit, clumsy and slow. They seem otherwise content to remain in the pit. It would probably be quite disorienting even while (or especially while) levitating. And for right now it's just all too thick, and too insanity-causing to struggle through. |
| #17
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-13 |
The kind of reflective quality to the souls in the plant monster. Is it similar to the reflective qualities to soul sight in Kelesis? | It's similar if not quite identical. In Kelesis the experience is far worse, as though there's another layer of obfuscation on top of the reflective quality, distorting and multiplying the effect (and producing headaches when concentrated on for too long). The plant monster and its uncanny (or difficult to count) amount of souls is a bit like having a branch of that sequestered off, and relatively simplified. It doesn't hurt to look at, at least. |
| #18
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-11 |
The kelesian souls, do they look anything like a soul under the influence of a compulsion or illusion or similar? so if northly started thinking "maybe the colours are how status conditions are displayed in this world" and then checked in with different types of augmented about what powers they have that could apply status conditions and did some experiments to see how they made souls look, would she find any matches? also do the souls of those permanently blinded on the solstice look different to the other citizens? |
Kelesian souls: They appear like average souls. Those with soul sight like the Aves-types may see souls in Kelesis as particularly distorted... Extra reflections of a soul where there is nobody one moment, but the next moment it's gone. The entirety of Kelesis seems to be a bit more kaleidoscopic to soul seers! Sorry for the headache. The souls of the blind: These souls appear average, too! What a novel approach, though, to wonder if color indicates status conditions... Were that it were so simple. For characters with soul sight, they'll find that the 'color' of someone's soul is reflective of an abstract quality of their character, more than anything. |
| #19
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-11 |
Weird add on question, sorry... Is the food in Kelesis real? Like say a person ate, then left Kelesis. Would they still be full? If they leave Kelesis and then barf it up, would it still look like what they ate? | The food is, to all available senses, real. It is possibly more real than any other food that has ever existed, it's just that authentic. Yet it can't visibly cross the border in an uneaten state.... Characters will remain full on leaving Kelesis. However, if they linger in Kelesis for too long at one time (Brushing against that week+ general limitation, where characters will increasingly feel watched at all times, a creeping sense that they really should be somewhere else for a little while. Do come back, but also go home sometimes....), they will feel strangely and persistently peckish. This will only go away after eating something not from Kelesis outside Kelesis. Use Kelesis responsibly, and there's no problem. (Were someone to vomit their Kelesian meal outside the border... it would look like what you'd expect. It's normal. It's one way to smuggle food out, if not necessarily an appetizing one for the recipient.) Anything else purchased in Kelesis persists and may be carried outside the city without an issue. (Although when it comes to electronic goods, Kelesis doesn't sell much. Those sorts of technological advancements have never been their focus! And anything that is bought will immediately stop working outside the border (and resume working within Kelesis).) |
| #20
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-09 |
wait i have a second, totally unrelated question, sowwy mods. so karteria's flowery language... is it like japan's hana kotoba or does karteria have their own meanings for flowers? of course i won't have you guys create a whole new flowery language if that's the case, but elysia would definitely be curious about it since she wants to send flowers (and feathers!) to her friends 🥹 |
To avoid having to create an entire flower language... referring to something like this would be a start to reference from. Of course, it doesn't have to be a one-to-one conversion of meaning, and that's hardly a comprehensive list! Additionally, the local flowers might be entirely different species, or things that look like combinations of RL flowers, and so on- so if you'd want Elysia to convey specific things with her arrangements, you would be free to mix or develop whatever you needed. |
| #21
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-09 |
It's mentioned that the words appearing on people's bodies may continue through the event, and that they also appear on locals. Are there any NPCs for characters to find that have secrets/words related to the tree-zombie-monster itself or relating to Patho-Gen? and if so, would it be possible to get information out of them? If so, what could they find out? (Louis here would be offering to help listen to them if it could alleviate the painful symptoms of words/rash, not like extracting information via threat or anything. But I'm guessing others might want the answer if they made an NPC answer under duress.) If not, would characters be able to identify them/where they live/ what building they're going into? |
The average citizen would be unlikely to have anything particularly plot relevant on their faces, with their problems being more personal, embarrassing, or otherwise traumatic. Even the average Patho-Gen employee has their own personal life, things that mean everything to them, but little to anyone else. So there would be little on them that would be explicitly tied to the tree's existence, or to Patho-Gen. But there are a few cases where the topics weighing on them are related. The words themselves might seem vague, though: 'Kelesis', 'Underground', 'Starvation'. The oddest one is 'Anabasis'. They would be unwilling to talk about it, however- either bluntly refusing, or with more guilt and distress, saying that they really can't talk about it. It's either too sensitive a subject to share with a stranger (no matter how kindly), or something they'd risk losing their job over. Even if it means making their injuries worse, they have to stay quiet. NPCs probably wouldn't have their address written on their face, so there'd be no automatic way of knowing where anyone lived without asking (or following them home, or otherwise stalking them). |
| #22
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-09 |
Are there, perhaps, any high ranking Patho-Gen staff in or around the containment zone that Sabo could corner and |
The real higher-ups are no where in sight. They're either sequestered into more defended parts of HQ or elsewhere entirely. They're certainly not out with the people fighting and struggling to save Karteria from a rampaging tree. Most of who Sabo runs into would be common workers, and would genuinely not be able to tell him anything useful (Though they might, in their desperation and fear that they'll be killed for not knowing anything, give him false information. They'll say that they saw Georges yesterday, or last week, or mention certain floors of the building he was in- none of it is true. But they're scared.). If he's careful to pinpoint the manager-of-managers types, of which there's a few (some being useful, directing rescue or defense efforts- others merely doing their best to escape), he could get something at least accurate. They would insist that they hadn't seen Georges in weeks, no one has, and no they don't know what's going on with him either. In addition to fear towards Sabo's aggression, they would be notably frustrated and upset about this- a dislike for being kept out of the loop. Rather than make up anything to try and escape, they would insist on this point- even bitterly suggesting that they'd like to know what's going on with him too. But all they know is... well, what they don't know. (If he's paying attention to the text that's written over their faces, most of it won't seem to be relevant, hearkening to more personal issues rather than anything related to their employment (or only in mundane ways like embezzlement, harassment, theft of office equipment, etc.). Only one person in this class will have it, but the strangest text is 'Apokatastasis. There's been significant attempts to obscure it given how raw it looks, and they will absolutely refuse to comment on it.) Of course, this kind of treatment won't go over well with Patho-Gen, and will certainly lower the Augmented's reputation with them (not only the assault, intimidation, but taking advantage of a crisis like this... nope, they're not fans). |
| #23
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-09 |
Is there a map of kelesis? Tighnari is making one (he has experience in this from using and making jungle maps) to use for hell pit research, but a head start would be good. He will attempt to verify the map information before using it since he heard about weirdness accessing kelesis. |
Properly mapping Kelesis may prove to be a challenging feat, as while the general structure of the city remains the same (especially the center of it and the waterfront, which is where the shops are, and where the Kelesians direct everyone to go), the rest of the city is... oddly unstable. There are streets, neighborhoods, districts. And to fly over it, it would seem 'normal', with the distant borders of Kelesis reachable. To walk through it, it would also appear 'normal', though it would take longer than it should to reach the edges of the city this way. What is less normal is that the streets themselves aren't always in the same place. The differences are mild- such as an alley occurring a block later on one day, and a block sooner on the next. The sides of the street may be switched. There might be one more rowhouse in a strip of them. Just... maddening little differences, inconsistencies. Things that would make properly mapping it out... challenging. The Kelesians notice none of this, and seem to have no problems navigating to and from their homes. If they're asked about this phenomena, they'll have no idea what the character is talking about, and will suggest that their streets are a bit confusing to a newcomer! One more reason to stay in the center of the city, where all the entertainment is.... |
| #24
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-09 |
Could a ~sensitive instrument like Harry pick up on anything beneath Kelesis? Or is it more or less just more of what’s showing up on the Kelesian's skin? + If Harry joins the digging team will he be able to hear anything in the madness below? | Someone like Harry could probably pick up on the madness and anger emanating from beneath. In addition to the physical stench from the pit, is the emotional blow of fury, desperation, hatred. It's akin to what Terra and Arthropoda-types can experience, but... Harry-flavored. The layers of concrete had dampened it somewhat (along with whatever else might have been in place to keep the area safe (contained), but with that increasingly broken, there's more emotion escaping. It might be possible to recognize that the cuts and welts that can arise on characters' skin in Kelesis is connected to particular surges of emotion from beneath the ground. It's as though the heart of something(s) is being expressed, in the only way left to it- the only thing it understands. |
| #25
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-08 |
Is the blood part (closer to the trunks) human blood, or of various animals? Any consequences if someone (Louis) tastes it? Or does it taste like maple syrup blood or something? |
The sap tastes less like maple syrup and more like... the sap has a bitter, almond-ish flavor to it that isn't terribly pleasant. But it also has that metallic taste reminiscent of the blood of living creatures... Too viscous to suck by a vampire, but not a pleasant flavor. Still nutritious! No consequences besides a bolstered Nutrition. Were someone to take this compound sap-blood hybrid to a microscope, it would smack of human blood. |
| #26
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-07 |
Kazahana has ice powers. wondering how the Tree might react to those. is it possible to hurt it with ice? can the Tree be frozen for a short period of time? | Ice powers aren't terribly injurious to Tree-chan. They can cause it to slow, or exhibit signs of shock; produce that might have been available in a general area of the tree will wither and die. But it doesn't overall injure the tree very far. It damages parts of its body, but no substantial damage the way fire and poison seem to impact it. |
| #27
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-07 |
so... if one certain miss pink elf (keynote) wanted to stream in kelesis... could she? is anything in kelesis weird when it comes to technology/live broadcasts that it would get in the way of her stream? are the kelesians ok with her clearly recording them (not so pointedly of course but they'll be background characters in her stream)? my idea was for the velvet claw's kelesis prompt; elysia is actually extremely adamant with getting to know kelesis and making friends with them, and since there's plenty of immigrants in karteria who miss their home, she'd love to stream her trip there so they could see it! in real time! way better than pictures or videos!! |
As long as Elysia is relying on her Syntrofos (and any other equipment she brings with her) to stream, rather than anything from Kelesis, then she should be able to record as much as she likes! Taking video and pictures of Kelesis works fine (and does successfully record some of the... bizarre attributes and behavior of background citizens), so she could take the next step and transmit these things live to Karteria! (There might be a bit more artifacting with a live-stream compared to one done within Karteria (or anywhere outside of Kelesis, really). The occasional strange afterimage, the feed cutting out for a few seconds here and there. But it still works overall.) Kelesians on both sides of the stream would be fascinated by this. The people living in Kelesis won't mind being filmed, and would be curious about what she was up to, and easily charmed by it. They would happily show off little bits of their city, their shops, and would otherwise leave Elysia to perform her stream without interference. And the Kelesian immigrants would be excited by not only video, but real-time video of their old city. Even if all the details aren't quite what they remember (which they don't find particularly strange, given that it's been so long since they've been there), there's plenty that's familiar, and the 'vibe' of the city feels right. They love the hit of nostalgia. There wouldn't be any touching reunions, unfortunately- as none of the immigrants within Karteria would be able to catch sight of anyone they knew from the past (though no one is particularly surprised at this either, given that it's a large city, and no guarantee that they'd even recognize one another after 25 years). |
| #28
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-07 |
ahhhh all of this sounds like so much fun, thank you for such detailed answer!!! 🩷🩷🩷🩷 follow-up question, if elysia wanted to consume kelesian food, would it be... safe for augmented? any freaky side effects? anything particularly different from karterian food? she's more interested in sweets, but to engage with the immigrants she would love to ask what t heir favorite kelesian food is/where to find it so she can try it (and maybe even try to bring some back for them??) 🥹 |
Kelesian food is perfectly safe, no freaky side-effects for Augmented. To describe what sorts of food are available, we fortunately had an adjacent question asked in the TDM: "Kelesian cuisine borrows plentifully from Karterian cuisine in some ways, but they favor more flavor and don't care much for jello, casseroles, or weird astronaut food business. Seafood is popular! They enjoy lots of plant-based dishes and there is a prolific street food scene. The foods may borrow more inspo from Spanish, Mexican, Filipino, and Mediterranean cuisine, but the food may just surprise anyone: a food you've been craving might just show up! No matter what sort, no matter how exotic! ... It might require some substitutions, but they'll try their best. ...The dish won't survive past city limits. Circumstances have it that someone will knock it out of your hands before you get that far. What happens in Kelesis, stays in Kelesis." So unfortunately, the dish cannot exit Kelesis for some reason..... If Elysia describes the food she had, or takes pictures/video of the food for Kelesian natives in Karteria, they will agree that it seems just as they recalled! A bit more modern and different, if she manages to snap pictures of things that she particularly covets that isn't derived from Spanish/Filipino/etc cuisine, but so very familiar. They'll know how to make a great many of these dishes. Isn't Kelesian cuisine just superior to Karterian food? Ugh! |
| #29
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-07 |
So let's say Fel decided to attack the (tree) problem at its source and launched a big ol' Nova Bomb directly at Patho-Gen HQ... How would that go? Trying to figure out how to describe a Nova Bomb but uh basically just picture a big purple ball of gravitational energy / dark matter / space magic bullshit like a black hole but grape flavoured and it goes boom and when it goes boom it splits into smaller balls that also go boom and also it disintegrates biomatter. ...Yeah. Sorry? Edited 2025-08-06 11:14 am (local)
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This might have the sort of effect that an explosive would have, in that it can deal quite a bit of damage... but anything severed from the blast will end up gaining a sort of zombie-like sentience of itself, a splintered-off piece of the greater creature that gains its own ability to move. It would do quite some damage, though! Obviously Fel can't instakill the creature to give others a fair chance at tackling it too, but it would eliminate a nice portion of its mass (and create smaller splinters of it in its wake). ... And Patho-Gen HQ... It's remarkably well reinforced from threats, enough to cause some to raise eyebrows. What on earth would they need to be so well-defended from, anyway?? But enough of this action can do some serious damage to some of its floors, and it may cause some casualties to staff inside. :( That is, assuming that the Nova Bomb and its grape flavouring can disintegrate not only biomatter, but deal damage on structures. |
| #30
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-07 |
Likewise validated by the 'dig deeper' message, if he resumes his digging from last month but doesn't stop as requested, I assume Hubert would get evicted from Kelesis? And if he does, and decides to try to tunnel around the long way from outside the city to find the concrete, how would attempts to break/bypass that (via stone-affiliated soul types/magic/extreme force etc) go? |
This time, Hubert won't get evicted from Kelesis. It's as if the higher-ups in the city needed to measure how much they could trust the Augmented, and they've passed whatever metric they had. No longer will the mere act of digging too deep provoke messages to stop. Since we had a similar question here, we'll copypaste what was written there: Tunneling around the perimeter of this mass from the outside might be a good idea, especially if one angles to dig deep down through dirt to find some manner of... side to this massive chamber, rather than the top of it. Please do your worst, Hubert! |
| #31
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-07 |
Thank you mods!! This is all so juicy and delighorrifying. If an aves looked down the hole to the rotting abyss with soul sight, what would they see? If digging/probing with rooting was done just outside of kelesis, and then incrementally closer to the inside of kelesis, could the hell pit (working title) be mapped? not looking to open up more than one hole, just see if it's possible to tell where the edges are. how do the kelesians respond to the hole to the hell pit? how deep down is the concrete/hell pit, deep enough that it should be a hell tunnel more than a hell pit? What font is the warning about the light in? Are the "sorry" and "help" that follow the sores in comic sans? What about the "dig deeper"? and on a different tack: If a character was to try to write back to the thing putting messages on people by writing on themself (first with just a marker, then by uh, sharper means,) would that do anything? writing things like "who are you?" "where are you?" "what are you?" If (after the plant monster happens) someone were to try to interrogate patho-gen employees about how they received communication from kelesis about them having a solution to the food shortage, what would they say? Edited 2025-08-07 03:40 am (local)
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Aves gazing at hole: Yes... there are faint lights down there. <img src="https://emos.plurk.com/ae614ee6e6d6035afb3ad867b80774e3_w24_h21.png" class="imageshrink-actualsize"> Digging/probing outside of Kelesis for edges: This is doable, and frankly, advised. Another character may be doing much the same... It might be a safer way of entering than from above, especially if it means less light can enter. Kelesian response to hell pit: We're calling it hell pit now. If digging in the heart of the city, Kelesians get a little huffy about this disturbance to their city. They don't want to know what Augmented Ones are doing, and get a little glassy-eyed about it. It's not for them to unearth. They're living the good life. Digging far enough to release the Foul Stench may cause any nearby Kelesians or businesses to request that it be covered up, it's gross. Hell pit depth: It is deep. But it is more accurately a... hmm. Well, trust: it is deep, and we prefer hell pit. It is not cylindrical in shape, that much is for sure. Fonts & warnings: So the warning about cracking a hole in the hell pit isn't a physical marking the way other writings are. It's a gut feeling... even if it's implanted. It's like someone is reaching into character's minds and planting that thought there, though characters may well be aware that this isn't a thought of their own. As for the "sorry" and "help," they may appear in all sorts of fonts, comic sans included! Dig deeper is similarly in all manner of fonts. Passing notes on faces: This is cute. Most attempts to write messages back will go unanswered. "Where are you," however, gets the response: "WATCHING YOU." If characters seem disturbed by this... Um, a little smilie is tacked on. Patho-Gen interrogations, post-plant: Most Patho-Gen staff will be completely, utterly floored by... all of this. It will be hard to get answers from any of them, because many available staff members flat-out don't know the details. It's beyond their department, perhaps; for those who do deal with these kinds of things, they'll say that the communication didn't happen recently at all, and there's no reason to hide that fact. There was no communication to start with, but Patho-Gen had collaborated with Kelesis very long ago—within the past 50 years—to create a solution to potential famine. (Potential famine, when famine didn't exist... Why, one may ask? Conjecture is the response: well, things were starting to look bad, and Katalyth was spreading faster in Eparsis, so Patho-Gen reached out to help.) Thus, if these old solutions still existed, it would be a great boon! And given that they found the food, it still exists! The communication established after Augmented Ones finally reached Kelesis... Available staff who might know of this communication with Kelesian officials say that their answer was to guide them to their ample resources. Where these resources are... No available staff knows. One staff member makes an off-hand comment. One of their cohorts did know. ...They haven't seen this person since mid-July. |
| #32
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-06 |
Does the tree have blood or is it just sap? | The tree does have blood of a sort, and the deeper one gets into its various trunks, the closer to blood it becomes. At all levels it is some hybrid with sap, with thinner branches being mostly (reddish-colored) sap, and thicker ones having a consistency closer to congealed blood. All wounds to the tree have an odd, sweetly-metallic scent. |
| #33
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-06 |
Since Rowan’s been piecing apart the code for the synthrofos would they (or anyone they’ve shared it with, I know Saturn has the info at least) be able to trace any more details about who/what sent the mysterious message: where it was sent from, from what device, etc? (Even if it’s Info that they can’t read yet and will need to decipher with more info later) | The original message will always remain visible only within Kelesis, so any attempt to track or decipher it would have to occur within the city. And to do so would feel like they were getting somewhere, following very definite leads... but in sort of the same way that all Kelesian electronics give off satisfying whirs and clicks and beeps, but there's nothing sensible inside them. All vibes, no sensible progress.... It might even transmit things like signal received! 😏 and entry unlocked! 😎 and long strings of 0s and 1s, that don't translate into anything at all. If there's an underlying truth it seems to be that it's... from Kelesis. There is no device it was sent from. Prodding at it for too long at a time, and the Syntrofos will abruptly short out and become temporarily unusable... but it'll heal itself once they're outside Kelesis, with no lingering harm done. |
| #34
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-06 |
The thing under kelesis seems to be telling augmented to get down there, can terra types get past the concrete now? What would an attempt now get them? What if they tried to team up with some golems to use their force on the concrete? (as soon as tighnari hears about the messages, he'll give rooting another go, though will try to quit before passing out this time) is the effect of last month where the augmented are corrupted more when in kelesis still happening? the distorted people parts that seem to be in the plant, do they happen to correlate at all to the parts that were missing from the gristly piles of people bits from the east sophians, or are they too plant-squished to tell? Is there anything to be found in Kelesis or Karteria about the founding of Kelesis and how infrastructure came about? Tighnari is replying to the network event asking for these, and he's going to try researching it now it's occurred to him. Edited 2025-08-06 08:23 pm (local)
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Re: digging. Indeed, some force is now encouraging Augmented Ones to get down there. Previously, digging too deep wasn't exactly welcome by the city's officials, given the headaches and the passing out; they weren't sure how to feel about the Augmented right away, but now Kelesis's higher-ups seem to be trusting of them. Digging is now possible. It will take time. To dig deep will eventually lead to a very thick wall of concrete, and Terra-types will have to probe for areas of weakness in the concrete to begin with. Even then, it will take a lot of tapping into their Shifted forms to get far, and having the help of other Natural Soul types wouldn't be remiss. Get a Ruminantia's/Glire's kick in the mix; get a Golem's force on the force (ha ha). Get the strength of a Cephalopoda's tentacles in the mix, and so on. Here's the tricky bit, however. As soon as characters get close to erupting through the concrete, any participants are plagued with a very prominent concern: "DO NOT EXPOSE IT TO LIGHT." The thinning, breaking concrete will crumble. A small hole will fracture into the thick layer of concrete. The stench of fermenting garbage will warm the air... and no matter what light you attempt to shine through that hole, characters will see nothing but sheer darkness beneath. It's hard to even hear the bottom of this cavernous well. To slip into this hole would be to drop to your deaths. Could an Aves-type manage the drop, could a Spectral-type use their levitation powers to go deeper...? Whatever the case, the feeling all characters get is excruciating enough to feel once more like passing out. It's like standing too close to Katalyth for too long, but instead of causing any sort of mutations or distortions, it causes utter madness. So that's where things are at. We look forward to seeing character attempts as they try to 'dig deeper' in the Reputation thread! Re: Kelesian Corruption traits: yes, all of last month's effects still stand. Characters are just... more monstrous here! For some reason. Even if they aren't outside of Kelesis, they are when inside of it. Re: Is there a connection to East Sophians & the Plant Critter? This is a very interesting theory, and the answer is... it would be impossible to tell. There are so many parts. So many missing East Sophians. (In truth, there is not much of a connection between the two... in most ways. It's not worth investigating far, but it's not to say there aren't any commonalities.) Re: Kelesis and its founding. There isn't much info within Kelesis. Texts seem to suggest that the Kelesian people are travelers and wanderers, but the people in Kelesis actually disagree with this. They're just people: some like to be homebodies, some get bitten by the wanderlust bug... You know! Kelesians in Karteria would agree with what the people say, that they aren't especially travelers. Kelesians in Karteria may be the best source of intel on Kelesis, as they lived there. Here are a few points of interest from what they say, versus what can be found in Kelesis.
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| #35
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-06 |
I'm so sorry for this follow-up, but as Law's absolutely ridiculous devil fruit power allows him to decapitate a person without killing them, would there be any chance of then removing the infection from the bloodstream of the infected person? Totally understandable if not, but he would try! Same with the Augmented - as he would be able to remove the leg and then reattach it later on without any pain, would he be able to remove the infection from the blood of that removed leg? As for the autopsy and plantopsy, excellent, sounds horrifying, I love it. |
Law, why must you be so strongk... In the case of an infected plant-zombie-individual, boy would Law have to act fast. Removing the limb if it happened right in front of him would mean he could keep the limb off, then reattach it... later (see below about this odd caveat). But when it comes to a more infected individual, where the zombification has already spread to the victim's brain, their head would have to be detached—and unfortunately there's no way to clear the infection on the spot. HOWEVER... Interestingly, now that we've thought about it a bit further, there is one loophole to this rule for Karterian citizens. If Law were able to stabilize a citizen, let their head zombify separate from their body, and wait it out... Once Monster Tree-chan was dealt with, the seeds would eventually die out—about 3 days later, if he squirreled these individuals away from all light sources. He would be able to put that individual back together, their body having not sustained any of the effects of the overall zombification. Again, however: at what cost? That citizen will end up recalling the experience. And that is very, deeply unsettling, to live for days beheaded. The same rule would apply for an Augmented One. Cut off that leg, put it on ice, wait for the tree creature to be killed and then some, and the infection in that limb will naturally 'cure' itself with time. To keep things simple, we're overall going to say that the "infection/seeding" itself can't be cured by any character while the tree is alive and fighting, but post-mortem there is these small, if horrible, workarounds. I hope this makes sense! We are trying our best to keep track of these odd fringe-cases where a character's powers would be capable of amazing things, and we want to let players exercise those powers in a way that is fulfilling but not dominating the setting. |
| #36
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-06 |
if some terra and types with the ability to calm were to take the (unwise) path of trying to calm some of the smaller clones and take them out of the city (which... given where patho-gen HQ is would take some effort) or take them through a teleporter, would that be remotely possible? (this is probably not something tighnari would do himself, but... someone taking the idea far enough might get him on board as "well, at this point why not") |
It might be possible, but if someone is taking a part of the plant that's still alive and capable of growing, it's not a good idea. Wherever it's taken, it will continue to grow- and especially so outside, in the daylight. It would be moving the base problem and making sure it spreads even further. (Of course, you can do this, it will just... extend the length and danger of this particular plot.) It's also not effectively possible to keep it permanently catatonic, since as soon as there's a pause in putting it to sleep/otherwise calming it, it will return to violence and will grow that much faster. It will also be hateful and in pain the whole time. |
| #37
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-06 |
rolls back in here with some plant fight questions -Momo's mothy wing dust induces sleep - would something like this work on the plant zombies given their lack of actual consciousness? He's the type to be trying to help them but if he finds out it's not possible to cure unless it's caught immediately it'd at least be slightly nicer to go while they're asleep, right... -He also has venom |
Funny enough, we'd put that on the preparatory FAQ... Apologies for not getting back to you before posting. To copypaste from that, regarding the ability to induce sleep: "You can! The tree can be lulled into a catatonic state, though there's no condition that will restore its ability (or willingness) to converse. But it can be temporarily made still and silent through magic. Once it wears off, of course, the tree will return to its full madness and fury." As I'm sure is also evident since the posting of the log, venom is an effective method of dealing with Tree-chan. It inhibits its growth, but to be truly effective it would be best if Momo teamed up with others who could either catch flame or inject poison into the tree to stop it in its track. |
| #38
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-05 |
Same player. Could would casting any sort of healing help? It is an earthy/plant based heal but it is a heal. And could they be possibly soothed and guided to a suitable spot to root? | Healing the plant monster itself ends up buffing it, but there is no soothing to be had. It becomes more powerful in this way, any thrashing stronger than before. Alas... Healing any of the Karterian citizens-turned-plant-zombies sadly doesn't do much to help, though it does soothe them. Even at the point of being seeded, healing them only halts the progression for a moment. To heal a zombified citizen soothes and mollifies them, but it does little to actually cure them. |
| #39
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-04 |
Hello, what does the plant monster and zombies look like when one uses Aves soul sight? | The primary plant monster has its own soul. It is surprisingly normal, little different from what an average human soul looks like, comparable to the Karterians. Compared to the tree itself, it looks almost small. As though to make up for this, there appear to be multiple- though it's hard to tell whether they're reflections, or genuine duplications. Even parts distant from the primary tree carry their own soul or souls. Apart from the strangeness in number and difficulty in counting them, they look otherwise like healthy human souls. The plant zombies that are still in the earlier stages of their infestation will carry their own normal human soul- the one that belongs to the Karterian it's infecting. The seedling part of the entity has its own soul, though it is much, much smaller. A fragile, flickering thing, that also gives the uncomfortable sense of being malformed. If souls had critical components analogous to a human's organs, this would be equivalent to something being born without a head, or a heart, or all its organs on one side, or without skin, etc. There may be multiple of these tiny things wrapped up in their host. Plant zombies in their later stages lack any sort of soul at all. Not that of the underlying human, nor those broken slivers of the seedlings. They are functionally 'dead' in that sense, and only continue moving and acting through reflex. Their movements are increasingly erratic and irrational. For anyone capable of sensing emotions, however, they still have them. They are all negative, sunk into the flesh and bone of the host. (Were they left completely alone, this entity would eventually settle down somewhere to root and become a magnificent, ever-growing tree. Its capacity for violence would fade, and would react to damage by growing harder.) |
| #40
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-03 |
does gojo's exploration saga of the month count as monthly event stuff or general game stuff in terms of where to ask my questions ... anyway for now, i know that a previous attempt on mt pneuma was rebuffed but gojo and aodh are gonna take another shot at it with minimal planning because they're impulsive (and have varying levels of unkillable god complexes) the plan is literally as simple as "[aodh] is going to shift into his dragon form and just fly [gojo] over" how does that go? thank you, darling mods~ |
The truth of Mt. Pneuma will remain shrouded, alas. This attempt will land about as well as it does for any Aves-type that attempts to fly there. To sample from June's log: "A particularly powerful aves attempting to close in on the island will find a more bizarre phenomena besides the weather: the island never appears to get any closer. They're certainly making progress; the bridge as a marker will become further away. But the island will remain precisely as small as it was to start with, its lights pinpoints in the fog. Please turn back before you crash—the storms aren't safe for birds to travel in either." The storms are prevalent. Even if the two get lucky and pick a day where the skies clear up, it's... odd, that the weather suddenly turns south. But the weather is only a discouraging factor at play: the island still won't get closer, even if Aodh and Gojo make it farther and farther from Orexis. There is some kind of trippy force at play that is manipulating space-time or something, here. There's no other way to explain it. And somehow, this force is keeping characters from getting to Pneuma at all costs. |
| #41
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-03 |
If this info is incoming on the event, feel free to ignore- but I've been meaning to ask what sorts of public gardens and greenhouses (or abandoned lots with good soil) may exist within the city, and whether augmented would be able to use any. I know the flowers prompt is more geared toward collecting things outside city borders, but there are a few characters interested in setting a little garden up inside the city and I'm wondering where they might be able to do that! Thanks! |
Karteria has its public gardens, and they're highly manicured, intended for beautification rather than any ecological benefit. No growing of crops, no pollination opportunities for insects... Aside from the ones obviously available in the parks, there are some rooftop gardens available as well—and these gardens are... intended for aesthetics. Though flowers grow in these places, Flowery Language is hoping to get some flowers that they don't have to ransack public and private gardens for. Greenhouses in Karteria are all private, and would be most likely spotted at an individual's residence. Small, dingy and desperately clamoring for real estate, these greenhouses aren't often effective within city limits: only the hardiest of vegetation seem to do well. Plant life within city limits in general doesn't flourish well, particularly sensitive crops and vegetation. This is true even in parks and gardens, as whoever keeps them full and bright ends up using some of the same cultivars across the whole city... If you live here, you start to notice that they're using the same flowers over and over again. The reason? The barrier itself seems to filter out some frequencies of light, which isn't the greatest for sensitive species. So greenhouses are small, often in someone's tiny backyard or balcony, and usually end up as storage sheds. The majority of plant growin' takes place on the farms just beyond Karteria's barrier, where there's not quite the same durability of barrier there to shield the farmlands. It's scarcely sustainable, but they make do. Growing flowers are scarcely a priority there, either. (Terra-types may appreciate the great outdoors more than Karteria's city, but it's not necessarily that they're impacted by the barrier's filtering. They're lucky, in that they've already got a living host! Still... being in the wilderness is a Terra-type's calling.) |
| #42
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-03 |
hello!! i've seen above that interacting with the zombie plant can have disastrous effects, but for a local once-druid, is there any chance of harvesting or collecting any of the leftovers, remains, etc of the plant to keep? for science, obviously... no other reason... |
Lauralae what are you doing. "Science..." Yes. Surely. Cut off anything you wish to have and take it, sure. Nobody will stop characters from doing this! More details about this creature will be available on the log proper, of course. |
| #43
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-03 |
does the big mean plant still give ruminantia the temptation of a snack as a possibly former terra type or is it offputting enough that they don't even want to try a bite | Oh, yes, Ruminantia can't help but wanna take a nibble. Whether this indicates it being a former Terra-type is hard to say, because it is made up of many commonly edible plants... Lettuces, tubers, fruits, you name it! It will be pre-tty tempting to nibble for any good Ruminantia/Glire, truly. You put some cilantro in front of a bunny and watch what happens. |
| #44
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-03 |
FAAAANTASTIC so what happens to the ingestor. how's the taste. is it bad. asking for a friend (it is me) |
Oh, there's nothing wrong with the taste at all! Mostly. Sticking to fully-ripened fruits/leaves, etc., they will all taste largely as they should. Which will actually be pretty good, and the nutrition received will be fantastic. Unripened vegetation (and especially the parts of the plant that any tree would prefer no one to nibble on: branches, leaves, bark, the trunk itself) are uncomfortably fleshy on the inside, though. The limbs of the tree aren't called that for nothing- and the deeper one gets, the outright meatier they become. Even the smaller branches have an odd metallic aftertaste, and the texture is a bizarre hybrid of plant fibers and meat fibers. Injuries it takes this way will bleed reddish sap-blood. It won't hurt the stomachs of any nibbling Glires/Ruminantias though, and the nutrition remains excellent. |
| #45
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-03 |
Hello! Going off of this response, I am assuming that Law's ability to separate people's body parts and all wouldn't work in helping most of the locals who have been seeded, but cutting off the head directly after the seeding has happened... would? help? Since then the entire head would just be floating somewhere separate from the rest of the body, and the infection wouldn't have yet had time to spread to it. And similarly, I assume it would work on the Augmented, since the infection would avoid their brains? And then going off of this response, if someone with the necessary medical knowledge were to perform autopsy to any of the victims killed, what would the infestation look like in the victim? What key things might they find out? And assuming that the plant monster is killed and there is enough of it left, would it be possible to perform a... plantopsy, shall we say, on it afterwards? |
To the first bit: yes, removing the head prior to spreading would keep it from moving to the rest of the body... but at what cost? That's their head. That's decapitation. And it would have to be done quickly: the infection pushes through the body quite fast, using the bloodstream as its vehicle. Attempting to excise the infection from Augmented Ones would be effective, using the same metric of "act fast." Say that an Augmented One were targeted first on their leg. The leg would need to be removed. quickly; all those arteries would be quick to push the infection into the rest of le body. To autopsy a Karterian citizen who fell victim to the plant monster's wiles, one would find a similar composition of uncomfortably fleshy, human interior. It would follow a more conventional human amount of organs, at least: one heart, some lungs, some other bits and bobs, but on a cellular level they have adopted some photosynthetic cells, a hybridization between the two creatures. A right plant-zombie... The resemblance between the unfortunate victims of the plant monster and the plant monster itself is stark, as if they're not so different. That's scary. A plantopsy will be doable! Doing it where everyone can see it will be very much disapproved of if Law does it after the chaos is over, and citizens are allowed to re-enter the area. Go do that in a dark basement somewhere. |
| #46
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-02 |
Hello! If a Terra type would try to either: 1. Unzombify the people (not that they would know how but, you know, to try!) 2. Try to...commune with and or manipulate the plants on said plant-creature... What would happen? Bonus if it's a new Terra-type. Thanks! |
1. A Terra-type could... try, in the sense of attempting to override the plants now nesting and feasting on their host. If the infestation is fairly new, they might be able to halt its advance, hold it still while they (or probably a helper), tried to remove it. Unfortunately, it would already be too late for the victim, as the brain is one of the first things that is flooded with the plant's toxins and tendrils, and cannot be cleansed without killing them. You could prolong their very miserable experience this way, temporarily restore enough self-awareness to let them feel and understand what's happened to them! For a more advanced case, it would take multiple Terras (or a very experienced one) to override the seedlings' will and temporarily force them dormant. There would not be very much left of the underlying host, even were all the plants removed; the person they were is already dead, and all that's left behind is meat increasingly wrapped in foliage. The only time it would be possible to save someone is if the seeding happened right in front of the character, and they acted quickly and successfully enough before it had a chance to penetrate and ruin the victim's brain. Curiously, were an Augmented to get seeded, there would be more of an opportunity to save them. Unlike the locals, where the plant instinctively wrests control of the brain, in Augmented hosts the plant seems to actively avoid the whole area. It can still do a good bit of puppeting and feasting off the rest of the body, but they'll remain more conscious of it all. They would still likely need significant medical intervention to survive if the infestation is allowed to progress unhindered. Terra-types would have a better-than-normal chance of stopping it in its tracks. 2. Communicating with the tree... characters are very welcome to try, and Terra-types in particular would have a better chance of understanding its feelings. They are all bad. It is in incredible pain, it is terrified and confused, not understanding where it is or what's going on, but it is above all furious. These are emotions rather than words; it's not using real language anymore, and it doesn't want to talk. It cannot be reasoned with, as it largely lacks reason, and even calming it through various means (as most Natural Soul types have something to disrupt or otherwise influence mental conditions) will put it into a catatonic state, rather than something genuinely calm. Manipulating parts of the tree itself is also possible! A completely fresh Terra-type would have a harder time of it, as any freshly Augmented character would have a harder time making full use of their powers. But it would be a great opportunity to put those Shifts to the test, a real trial-by-tree. Similar to the seeded victims, Terras could impose their plantly will over outcroppings, or branches of the plant creature, temporarily directing their movement. |
| #47
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-02 |
How apparent to a Katalyth communicator like Harry is it going to be that the word scars are a result of it reaching and reacting? | It would probably be apparent to Harry (or any character who's attuned to this sort of thing and paying attention), that there's a connection to Katalyth in these things, yes. Something that even living within a barrier can't filter out, a sort of communication (or, well, resonance) that can't be shut out. |
| #48
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-02 |
re: the words, say a character has, randomly chosen number, 4 words/topics that would apply to them and show up on their body, do they loop? like if someone has BEARS and they share their BEARS lore, would BEARS come back again in a few days? or is it "complete" once it's been talked about? i'm thinking of this in a "character icly literally tries to run out the word meter" way and not a multiple threads way, if that helps. | It's entirely up to the player, how repetitive they'd like the world scramble on their body to be. Maybe discussing and reaching some manner of acceptance of the bears causes it to heal up (or fade into something only barely legible, like a whiteboard that will never be erased completely) to make space for the next awful topic, and won't repeat. Maybe the bears come back a few days later and they're like goddamn it's the fucking bears again FINE... Whatever is more interesting/annoying to deal with! |
| #49
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-02 |
For those experiencing Katalyth song - does anything change about it during Requiem in Bloom? | It does not, sort of. The song sounds about the same as it ever did, and is about as present as it usually is. The sounds that the tree makes however: for the Katalyth-listeners, they may find the noise it produces is a lot like what they've been listening to. Even if what they've been hearing is individual, they will find snatches of those patterns in the way the plant-creature is screaming. |
| #50
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-02 |
Any sciency type characters who study tissue/plant/leaf/seed samples taken from Plant-kun and tissue samples taken from Karterian victims, what might they gleam? Also would the plant or samples react to the Katalyth song if it's hummed/whistled/music'd to them? |
There'll be some more info on the official event FAQ and on the event itself, but they will be able to determine that the original plant-creature has a lot of meat in there, and it's definitely human. Possibly multiple human, but it is badly distorted, and twined up with assorted varieties of plant. Samples taken from the fresh Karterian hosts will reflect that 'original' sludge of genetic information, entangling and twisting and changing what it's infesting. An incorporation of the victims into these offshoots of the original tree. No part of the plant appreciates music. It definitely does not appreciate Katalyth-related melodies, and will go out of its way to target and attempt to silence anyone who's producing it. The musician may also notice that the noise the tree is making becomes something of a horrible duet, or an echo of what they've just been playing- all while it's trying to crush the life out of them. (The samples twitch. It's hard to tell whether they like it or not, or whether they feel much of anything about it. But they will be squirming.) |
| #51
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-02 |
In the case of a character receiving another's words for resonance of obscurity--does the person with the injury have to be the one the originator discusses it with, or can they talk about it with a third party instead? | The originator doesn't necessarily have to talk to the person they're unintentionally injuring to clear it up. It only has to be acknowledged to someone, a demonstration of willingness to shed light on the topic. That will still provide some relief to the person carrying the words. (Although, if they're deliberately hiding talking about it with that particular person, it will somewhat counteract that healing effect. They'll still be better off than if the originator was refusing to open up about it to anyone, but it won't be perfect.) |
| #52
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-02 |
me again, lumping all my questions for my guys into one comment, wheeze pal question: since saturn will be hiatused under the "augmenter maintenance" hiatus model, if pal tried to come and visit her, would he glean anything at all from a little patho-gen visit? see anything, be told anything specific about "augmenter maintenance," etc? or would they just tell him to please not disturb her, go home squidboy.... pal question 2: necromancer edition: following the above question about katalyth music and studying the samples, if he does his necromancer touchy touch thing on a seedling person (since he's not going to approach the main plant and get his ass kicked), would he get any unique reads on The Energies? lorenz question: I'm planning on his shift having either a healing magic effect if some leaves are ingested or a carnivorous plant reaction if otherwise physically touched, so if he were to panic-shift and catch a few seedling plant zombies in his big tree shift, would either of these effects... be effective? and even if chewing the plant parasites out of the seedlings doesn't do anything for them, would it do something to him? octavian question: the new mole and the weird scar. would patho-gen give him medical records of his new body... growth?? transfer?? and what would these say if so? also if he roped in someone with basically xray powers (law) to look at the abdominal scar, would there be anything noteworthy in there, like actually it IS an appendicitis scar? would he be able to tell how old it is? and, horrible: if he cut it open again would he find anything strange... this is a last resort... thaaaank youuu as always |
Pal Question #1: Indeed, Patho-Gen staff (dressed in whites; they are of the medical branch!) will advise Palamedes that she is committed for "Augmenter maintenance." What this entails, they don't really know... They are here to care for Saturn, not to monkey with Augmenters. If he wished to visit her, they will instruct him that they have visiting hours as many hospitals do. Saturn will be unconscious. Stable, but unconscious. Staff are strict about visiting hours. Get out when visiting hours are over, after 8pm. No coming back until 8am. 12 hours is plenty. Pal Question #2: Not approaching the main plant is wise. Touching a seedling, one that has branched off of the main plant, will give such a fragment of a glimpse of its past that it's difficult to parse. But perhaps with enough focus, Palamedes could glean that this creature has a history indeed. It is about 50 years old. It offers a great portion of that life underneath artificial lights. The reason light is so important to this creature is that the sun feels novel to it; however, the sun is too intense, it feels. The sun is somehow agitating, but it's not the primary source of agitation. Lorenz Question: Oh dear. Lorenz. That would be a horrific time. To capture plant zombies, particularly Karterian citizens-turned-plamt, would be more likely to simply engulf them into his person. A sort of coffin for an already dying individual... Perhaps his healing abilities would at least mollify them as they're sapped and consumed by his body, their energy drawn into Lorenz's Shifted form. Chewing up any part of the plant will be highly nutritious! Plant zombies (those are citizens, do not forget this!) or part of the plant creature/its smaller pieces are all edible. Octavian Question: There is a removed appendix. It is a real appendicitis scar. The appendix was removed at least 10 years ago. As for medical records, he has the very same records most all Augmented have in the sense that Patho-Gen documents what they find in their newly-Augmented charges. There is... a bit sparser of information regarding the physical condition of Octavian's body upon "recovery" compared to most characters. Not that it would be particularly easy to tell: they will only let Octavian see his own files, but only after being annoyingly bureaucratic about the process ("fill out this form" "wait 5 business days" "moshi moshi this is patho-gen can you give me your first and last name, your first born, your birthday, your blood type" "which documents are you requesting" "do you have a document code for this (nobody knows what the codes are)" "ok wait 3 business days" "sorry what were you looking for again" etc). There is, at least, one small morsel of a prize waiting in those hard-to-obtain files: "Successful implantation." While it might be easy to assume this is referring to the augmenter, this note is under the field documenting the body's condition upon retrieval... Fun! |
| #53
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-02 |
Does the plant monster's anger/emotion/pain feel anything like the thing under kelesis? also, does resonance of obscurity reflect what a character believes happened or what actually happened? (northly believes she killed her parents, but she only nearly killed them, at which point they gave her to the church, so if it's her viewpoint "MURDERER" would work, but if it's what actually happened "MONSTER TOO DANGEROUS TO KEEP" would be better) Edited 2025-08-02 01:37 pm (local)
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Ooh, good questions! Does the plant monster's Big Feelings feel like the thing under Kelesis? Yes, in many ways. This creature's feelings are intensified and directed, if insane and maddened. The characters who will be most apt at drawing comparisons are the very ones who could feel it through their feet sharpest of all: Terra- and Ruminantia-types. Arthropoda won't detect that it feels quite the same... but there's an echo of the feeling, there. Does the Resonance of Obscurity reflect belief, or truth? This isn't something we'd considered; we lean toward belief. The reason for this is because it's bringing to light the hidden parts of people's hearts where they have to be discussed. Whatever is causing this does not perceive the truth of a situation as much as it does bring to light the dark corners of the psyche, so a character who believes they killed their parents could have MURDERER on their face, or some other word to jog the memory. (Could be the name of their parents, too.) |
| #54
Topics: Edit question: edit
Answer date: 2025-08-01 |
Asking the obligatory question for characters who have lots of baggage to hide: can multiple different topics/things appear on a character's face, or is it always a single one only? | Oftentimes, it's a single subject at a time. For example, if a character gets the words MURDERER, DIVORCE, and MOM, these topics will often manifest individually (unless there is a murder-divorce dealing with mom ... ? no...), but they can take turns. Maybe one day it's MURDERER, and tomorrow it's DIVORCE! Maybe dealing with one causes the other to show up. It can change with no rhyme or reason. However, we won't restrict players who want multiple things to appear at the same time. Follow your dreams. |
