robot_mod: ([ ultraviolet ])
robot_mod ([personal profile] robot_mod) wrote in [community profile] poly_tldr2013-07-14 11:47 am

"The Horseman Rides!" Planning Post

An ill wind is a-blowing through the City... ("We need help, the poet reckoned.")

As noted on the Calendar*, starting Tuesday, July 16th, characters will start to fall mysteriously ill...

There seem to be two strains of illness in the City.

One appears as a bad bout of the flu--with physical symptoms like fatigue, migraines, vomiting, strong fevers, appetite- and weight loss.

And the other affects a character's very presence in the City. Sick characters gradually cease leaving foot or hand prints and will slowly become more "transparent" (going as far as becoming invisible, if so chosen). At times, they will no longer be seen, heard, or even remembered. Increasingly, it will be as if they do not exist in the City.

What a terrifying thought... What can be done...? And what's an essence rite, anyway...?

This post is for plotting and planning--both for illnesses and for essence rites. Even though the essence rites will take care of the biggest issue--that would be disappearing--medical attention can be given to the affected characters. One can certainly treat the symptoms to alleviate some discomfort. Is there a doctor in the house? (Also, as an aside, characters who die or fade away into nothingness will not be able to return to life until either their essence rite is performed, or the event ends.)

This event will last until July 26th.

Now, for the important part:

Essence Rites


Once the illness starts sweeping the City, members of the Anonymous Movement will start researching what's going on or going wrong. They will announce their findings on July 19th, that sick and fading characters will need to have an "essence rite " performed, something that will cement a character's existence.

On the night of July 19th, characters OOCly arranged to participate in an essence rite (or rites) will experience a dream or vision that will tell them symbolically what is needed to heal and ground in existence the sick character(s) for whom they will be performing rites. (Characters OOCly arranged to help one another need not yet know each other ICly--this is a good and fun thing! Feel free to set this up!)

The dream and its meaning is up to you, the player of the ailing character. Dreams for the ailing character and any assisting characters may be identical, or different, or different but interconnected--that's up to the player of the central ailing character. These dream-visions will vary for every ailing character because every character is different and, therefore, every essence rite will be different. But the dream will indicate the ailing character and what rite or act is necessary to heal that character. Dreams can be as weird as one pleases. Parsing out the meaning and discovering what rite must be performed is up to you and yours.

The rites themselves will consist of the suffering characters either being brought something that resonates with them, or having some kind of task performed in their name in order to solidify their existence and reality. Rites can be as simple (an act, an object) or as complicated (a multi-part process resulting in a final act) as one would like, and they do not have to relate directly to a character's personality or canon. We do encourage you to be creative and cause a little trouble for your characters--think of it more like a quest than simply the end result of healing a sick character. Rites can be carried out from July 20th to July 26th

Some examples:

→ A hunter's essence rite might consist of being near the elephant tusk from which her special dagger is made. So other characters will have to hunt down an elephant and bring her more tusks.

→ If a baseball player falls ill, characters designated to help with his essence rite might begin having visions of baseball games. Those characters might have to play a game of baseball in order to cure the player.

→ A character closely associated with a particular place might need to touch or obtain something from that place. If a king falls ill, other characters might have to scramble to find him a stone from the walls of his castle to revive him.

→ A character's particular personality traits can play into the rites as well. Presenting an arachnophobe with some spiders could bring them around. A character inclined to anger may have to be made angry to recover, or a vindictive character may have to act petty to recover.

Finally: sickly characters can participate in their own rites. Rites can be performed alone or in groups. Sickly characters can enlist friends, enemies, or others they have not yet met yet for their quest. Remember: characters OOCly organized to help may not yet know each other ICly and this is an excellent way to build new CR.

So give some thought to what it is that could sustain your character's own existence. An object? An act? A belief? How could that appear in a dream? Hmm...

So!

For Ill Characters:



For Healthy/Helper Characters:



As ever, please feel free to ask any questions you might have here in this post. If you expect your character's essence rite will require an unusual or otherwise normally unobtainable item or creature, please just ask a mod on this post. We're happy to sort things out.

And have fun~

*Please do check the calendar page for more details on this event!
subecho: (blue filter of death)

ILL | calling all lightning targets!

[personal profile] subecho 2013-07-14 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
OKAY, since he has for too long not suffered, Thor is hereby the worst patient of all time (of all tiiiiiiiiime).

What symptoms will they have?: the fading-out-of-existence kind! I figure, being Thor, he's naturally very... loud... so it'd be funny if it started off with his suddenly going "mute" mid-speech, but not realizing it, then flicking in and out of sight, or losing transparency, and also... not realizing it... I'd love it for him to end up invisible and just. Stalk people. Awkwardly. If anyone'd like to play out forgetting him, let me know, so we can work it out!

What will their essence rite will be?: god of thunder, wielder of lightning. I figure since his trademark is striking people down with lightning, the honourable thing would be for his rite to involve his healers calling down lightning and having it strike someone. Or themselves, sure. Why not. Good luck with those kites :(

What is the dream hinting (or outright telling) helpers about the essence rite like?: ...he's a blunt fellow, and there are many ways for people to try (and fail) to summon lightning and/or electrocute themselves, so I think the dream can afford to be a blunt: "lightning comes down. hits some dude. kapow!" I'm sure people will wonder if it's not metaphorical, or effusing hidden meaning, but. No.

Are you open to anyone performing the essence rite?: sure thing! Just drop a note and arrange something - if there're multiple people who'd like to do it, maybe it'll take... several strikes... to bring him from invisibility to gradual opacity? :'(
prosopopoeia: ([here])

[personal profile] prosopopoeia 2013-07-15 04:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Marie might be able to do this one... She's definitely got something electrical that she could use in her lab.
anatural: Korra scowls suspiciously (suspicious)

[personal profile] anatural 2013-07-16 01:37 pm (UTC)(link)
............I almost want to volunteer Korra to get hit with Marie's lightning. am I really that mean? I might be...
prosopopoeia: ([hah] Take these things)

[personal profile] prosopopoeia 2013-07-16 01:55 pm (UTC)(link)
They can totally get hit together. I'll have her do it in a public place outside the lab (so that she won't disrupt any of her other equipment with it, obviously.)
anatural: Korra freezes awkwardly (Awkward: HOSHIT)

[personal profile] anatural 2013-07-17 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Mwahahahahahahahahaha
coldchaos: (Default)

[personal profile] coldchaos 2013-07-15 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
You are going to owe him so much after this, Thorina. So. Much.
mortemscintilla: ψ  Trick or treat until the neighbors die of fright (Reaper - Crouched In Wait)

[personal profile] mortemscintilla 2013-07-16 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
Hei wields lightning/electricity as part of his secret ability.

If he's even remotely inclined to help Thor, he'll expect something in return, though. He's a selfish ass like that :<
anatural: Korra contemplates something (Thoughtful: Hmmm....)

[personal profile] anatural 2013-07-16 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
electrocutes during sex
mortemscintilla: ∅  I can't hold back (Hei - Count On Me)

[personal profile] mortemscintilla 2013-07-17 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
Don't tempt him B)
anatural: Korra lies on top of Mako (Shippy: Pressed Together)

[personal profile] anatural 2013-07-17 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
/tempts tempts tempts
dr_conscience: (Smile // Fond)

[personal profile] dr_conscience 2013-07-17 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, please ignore how I get my comments crossed and misfired when I'm plotting at work. >>

I did want to reply here with something else, though! I'm thinking that I would like to get Doc sort of tangentially (and potentially more directly) involved in this as I've been trying to figure out how to get him out of the City - he's being either dropped or canon updated once I stop waffling and make up my mind, but I want to get him out either way, preferably via the DeLorean. He arrived in the City after the car was struck by lightning, and I was thinking this could give him a similar out - unintentionally. But I did want to check that you'd be okay with that happening as a result of this before proceeding with figuring out the logistics of that.
butmyipod: (Default)

Re: ILL | calling all lightning targets!

[personal profile] butmyipod 2013-07-22 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
I totally missed this post completely whoops. But Darcy has her taser! She can give it a shot at Thor.

EDIT: actually, she might not, as she's sick, but she'll gladly donate it to a helper if it will help.
Edited 2013-07-22 05:23 (UTC)