Era 8 Planning Thread

[Koloss17 She/They]

This thread is exactly what it says it is. Put your thoughts here for the next era, whether it be a potential new character or plans with old characters for a new era. I’m currently planning on having the next era take place 6 months after era 7, but that can still change.

I will say this: @Stormlightsong has big plans for the era, and will likely be the showrunner of the era in a similar fashion to how I was to era 7. I would love feedback on that kind of style (having one person being the main guider of the plot), but I suspect that it really helps with the cohesiveness of the era.

The bulk of the era is planned to take place in New Hallandren, with a new guild, one focused on bringing power to the uninvested. They will have a bunch of tools, including a multitude of aluminum armor and weaponry, that will be handed out to give uninvested folks an edge in this era.

However, they have schemes of their own…

Essentially, this is an excellent time to make a noninvested character! Stormlightsong will be going into more details on the guild, as well as creating a guild thread for the organization, where you can roleplay your character joining the guild and getting their gear/orders.

[Through the Living Shadow he/him]

Spoiler

Name: Teon Asheol (Graceful Death in Aon...)

Appearance: Dula Elantrian, Single scar, one on his hand. Has a generally reserved air. 

Affiliations: None (yet...)

Personality: Like before, is generally reserved. Interacts well with people, and takes pity on those going through hardships. Has a ruthless streak, though. Brave.

Concept: Uneducated Elantrian

Motivation (Short & long term goal): Wishes to join the scholar's guild, but they won't accept him because of the fact that he isn't educated at all. Because of this he starts to seek backdoor ways to study AonDor. The reason of this is he wishes to learn aons, in order to make a difference in this world. He hates and resents what happens to him when he fell into the alleys, so he wishes for the power to help others back to their lives, this is his long term goal. 

Merits: MiM: 1) Teon can interact well with people, 2) is nearly passable at hand to hand (which he learned and or needed to learn in the streets), 3) and is perceptive of if someone should be trusted. NM: 1) Keeps a journal. Likes to record things, and his opinion of people, whether or not to trust them, 2) Knows Aon Ene MaM: Is an Elantrian. Knows the Aon Kii, but not much more.

Flaws: Is traumatized by the fall of Duladel and battles in Arelon. Does not know many Aons, and doesn't have any real way to learn them. Is young, living in the streets, basically an urchin. (This is another reason why it is hard for him to learn Aons)

Relationships (Eg. Family and Friends): Was cut away from family when came to Alley. He works with various organizations, so long as it can be considered in some way “honest”, to gain money for paper, ink, and food. Sometimes might work with police to find criminals, as he hates criminals.

Home Planet: Dula, Sel

Current Residence: Lives in the streets of the Mistwarrens, no home.

Backstory: Grew up in Duladel, until the city fell. Ran to Arelon with his family when he was 17, then was scarred in the battle in Arelon. The morning after, he became Elantrian and fell into immediately into the Alleys and then the Alleyplanet. Is now 18. Man who took pity on him gave him shelter for a while, when he was in shock. He never gave the man his name. Eventually, the man couldn't take care of him anymore, so he had to send him into the streets, which is when he got the name Teon Asheol from the man. He saw an elantrian use Aon Kii (on one of his fellow urchins) and Ene. Spends most of the money he can scrounge up on notebooks. Gets this money by doing various (extremely low level) jobs for various gangs. However, when he believes someone did something wrong, he might turn them in, using Aon Kii to gain a quick advantage over them.

Loose ends (What is unfinished in their life?): Wants to find family (but won't), and wants to learn AonDor, to guide people through the alleys.

Character from before with some modifications. Thoughts, dislike, etc. I know Koloss told me I might be able to get involved in the plot with my willingness to work with organizations *cough* gangs *cough*

Edited October 17, 2024 by SpiritOfWrath

[Steel Speedster ♂]

I'm not going to make any final decisions about this until I hear a bit more about what this era will be like, but at this point, I'm considering not including Fenna in this one. The ideas I have for her next character arc don't fit super well, and I almost think it will be better for her character development to have some off-screen time before she reappears. Additionally, this would mean I'm not doing as many characters and make it easier to add another one if I felt like it.

@Koloss17 is there going to be a separate Era 8 character thread, or are we doing character submissions here?

I've just had a new character idea who could be in the new guild. However, he would very much be pursuing his own ends. Essentially the concept could be summed up as a mad scientist, if said science were in fact Hemalurgy. One thing I'm wondering is how thoroughly this guild would check its members for Investiture, because if he could get away with it, he might be spiked. Otherwise, he personally wouldn't be spiked, but he might have people working for him that are (although I'm not sure of the logistics of that. Would I be able to create NPCs that serve as minions for him?)

The reason I thought of creating this character is to tie into the backstory of the other characters I'm submitting for this era. I'm not sure how great of an idea it is to be playing the main enemy of my own characters, seeing as it could go a direction where my characters are just fighting each other and not interacting with anyone else (although being aware of that possibility, I could be careful not to let it happen.) Assuming I avoid that pitfall, however, I think creating this character could tie my characters into the main plot very nicely.

Any feedback on this idea is welcome!

Edited October 18, 2024 by Speeding Steelrunner
New idea

[Through the Living Shadow he/him]

6 hours ago, Speeding Steelrunner said:

I'm not going to make any final decisions about this until I hear a bit more about what this era will be like, but at this point, I'm considering not including Fenna in this one. The ideas I have for her next character arc don't fit super well, and I almost think it will be better for her character development to have some off-screen time before she reappears. Additionally, this would mean I'm not doing as many characters and make it easier to add another one if I felt like it.

@Koloss17 is there going to be a separate Era 8 character thread, or are we doing character submissions here?

I've just had a new character idea who could be in the new guild. However, he would very much be pursuing his own ends. Essentially the concept could be summed up as a mad scientist, if said science were in fact Hemalurgy. One thing I'm wondering is how thoroughly this guild would check its members for Investiture, because if he could get away with it, he might be spiked. Otherwise, he personally wouldn't be spiked, but he might have people working for him that are (although I'm not sure of the logistics of that. Would I be able to create NPCs that serve as minions for him?)

The reason I thought of creating this character is to tie into the backstory of the other characters I'm submitting for this era. I'm not sure how great of an idea it is to be playing the main enemy of my own characters, seeing as it could go a direction where my characters are just fighting each other and not interacting with anyone else (although being aware of that possibility, I could be careful not to let it happen.) Assuming I avoid that pitfall, however, I think creating this character could tie my characters into the main plot very nicely.

Any feedback on this idea is welcome!

You could also play as one of the underlings of the mad scientists, and have him be an NPC

[Stormlightsong]

It is finally time for the big reveal!

If you don’t already know, I have been working on something fun for era 8 for a while, but the wait is over may I present to you:

Alleyverse Era 8: the fight for New Hallendren 

As the title suggests this Era will take place in the Nalthian district of New Hallandren. A new power is coming and it is your job to stop, or help, it.

and what is that power you ask?

The Uninvested Future Organization (AKA: UFO)

UFO is a newish organization that’s mission statement is to stop Alleycity’s reliance of the use of investiture because they believe(for good reason) that it promotes inequality and stunts progress. Their methods? Forced takeover.

I say they are newish because they have actually been operating secretly for ~10 years but have been growing a lot in the last 5 years. They have been able to achieve this because they operate mostly outside of Alleycity and are very careful. 

UFO functions by having lots of sleeper agents that are able to activate at a moments notice. They have developed advanced technology with minimal use of investiture (I say minimal because they still use some stuff like leachers and Epic DNA but they are trying to find new solutions). they have gained access to surplus amounts of Aluminum through interdimensional travel and are finally ready to start working for change.

Are they freedom fighters? Are they terrorists? That’s for you to decide.

Here is how character creation will work:

If you want to make a character that is Unaffected with UFO: great! They don’t need to know anything about UFO and probably shouldn’t because they will probably learn soon enough.

But, if you want to make a UFO agent it will be much different. I plan on making the UFO guild thread soon that will describe in more depth how it will work, but here is a quick overview:

1. No use of investiture (with some exceptions like leachers). they can have a genetic ability to use investiture but UFO will not allow you to use it.

2. You can get some cool Aluminum and anti-investiture stuff. I’m talking partial and full aluminum weapons, IMPs (investiture EMPs), ISDs (investiture spike detectors), and IEDs (invested entity detectors).

When I was making UFO I wanted to give an opportunity to make characters that don’t require magic to be at the same level as other characters. So look out for the UFO guild post for more instructions and in the meantime start making your characters.

[Steel Speedster ♂]

@Stormlightsong

Sounds cool! I’ll definitely be considering possible characters for this!

(I’m not sure whether we’re supposed to post anything on the UFO thread other than character approval requests, so to be safe, I’m posting here.)

I noticed reading over the UFO rules that some forms of Investiture aren’t technically banned. The rules prohibit magic that is genetic or obtained through a bond. Notably, Investiture such as Hemalurgy and Awakening are neither. (AonDor probably isn’t either, but I’m not sure what category it would fall under.)

I’m also curious about whether Invested items such as dead Shardblades/plate or fabrials are disallowed. (It strikes me, after reading the rules, that a former Radiant carrying their dead spren blade could be an interesting start for a character concept, although I also understand that one of the main points of this guild is to allow greater opportunities for completely Investiture-less individuals.)

You may already be aware of some or all of these points, but I thought I’d point them out just in case. (Trying to poke holes in things is something of a specialty of mine, so I apologize for that.)

[TwinStorm He/Him]

I'm new to the Alleyverse and the Shard in general, but am hoping to join in for Era 8. Where should I post my character idea?

[Steel Speedster ♂]

7 minutes ago, Twinstorm said:

I'm new to the Alleyverse and the Shard in general, but am hoping to join in for Era 8. Where should I post my character idea?

Hello! I think there’s going to be a new era 8 character thread, but there is not one yet. However, you could post it to the character discussion thread for now. That’s the place where you can get feedback and ideas before submitting a character for approval.

Edited October 20, 2024 by Speeding Steelrunner

[Stormlightsong]

13 hours ago, Speeding Steelrunner said:

@Stormlightsong

Sounds cool! I’ll definitely be considering possible characters for this!

(I’m not sure whether we’re supposed to post anything on the UFO thread other than character approval requests, so to be safe, I’m posting here.)

I noticed reading over the UFO rules that some forms of Investiture aren’t technically banned. The rules prohibit magic that is genetic or obtained through a bond. Notably, Investiture such as Hemalurgy and Awakening are neither. (AonDor probably isn’t either, but I’m not sure what category it would fall under.)

I’m also curious about whether Invested items such as dead Shardblades/plate or fabrials are disallowed. (It strikes me, after reading the rules, that a former Radiant carrying their dead spren blade could be an interesting start for a character concept, although I also understand that one of the main points of this guild is to allow greater opportunities for completely Investiture-less individuals.)

You may already be aware of some or all of these points, but I thought I’d point them out just in case. (Trying to poke holes in things is something of a specialty of mine, so I apologize for that.)

All of those are still banned as the use of investiture is prohibited. The only exception is leachers because they cancel out other uses of investiture.

The reason I specifically pointed out genetic and bond based investiture use is because those are not easy to get rid of.

The main thing is: UFO does not discriminate on the basis of things you can’t control. So for example, if you are an elantrian you would still be allowed to join as long as you don’t use Aon Dor. The same would apply with hemolurgy if it was forced onto you.

hope this helps and will put this into the guild thread soon!

edit: one thing to note is that you may still be discriminated against by other agents If you have the ability to use investiture, especially if they are some of the more religious ones.

Edited October 20, 2024 by Stormlightsong

[Steel Speedster ♂]

3 hours ago, Stormlightsong said:

All of those are still banned as the use of investiture is prohibited. The only exception is leachers because they cancel out other uses of investiture.

The reason I specifically pointed out genetic and bond based investiture use is because those are not easy to get rid of.

The main thing is: UFO does not discriminate on the basis of things you can’t control. So for example, if you are an elantrian you would still be allowed to join as long as you don’t use Aon Dor. The same would apply with hemolurgy if it was forced onto you.

hope this helps and will put this into the guild thread soon!

Okay, I figured that was the case. Thanks!

I assume the exception for Leechers would extend to any form of Investiture that has the sole purpose of cancelling other Investiture? For example, suppression fabrials?

Also, considering that Breaths give passive Investiture use, would UFO want its agents to get rid of those if they carried them?

Edited October 20, 2024 by Speeding Steelrunner

[Koloss17 She/They]

On 10/18/2024 at 8:58 AM, Speeding Steelrunner said:

I'm not going to make any final decisions about this until I hear a bit more about what this era will be like, but at this point, I'm considering not including Fenna in this one. The ideas I have for her next character arc don't fit super well, and I almost think it will be better for her character development to have some off-screen time before she reappears. Additionally, this would mean I'm not doing as many characters and make it easier to add another one if I felt like it.

@Koloss17 is there going to be a separate Era 8 character thread, or are we doing character submissions here?

I've just had a new character idea who could be in the new guild. However, he would very much be pursuing his own ends. Essentially the concept could be summed up as a mad scientist, if said science were in fact Hemalurgy. One thing I'm wondering is how thoroughly this guild would check its members for Investiture, because if he could get away with it, he might be spiked. Otherwise, he personally wouldn't be spiked, but he might have people working for him that are (although I'm not sure of the logistics of that. Would I be able to create NPCs that serve as minions for him?)

The reason I thought of creating this character is to tie into the backstory of the other characters I'm submitting for this era. I'm not sure how great of an idea it is to be playing the main enemy of my own characters, seeing as it could go a direction where my characters are just fighting each other and not interacting with anyone else (although being aware of that possibility, I could be careful not to let it happen.) Assuming I avoid that pitfall, however, I think creating this character could tie my characters into the main plot very nicely.

Any feedback on this idea is welcome!

There will in fact be an era 8 character thread! I’ll just need to make it at some point soonish.

I will say that the new guild will be very against Hemalurgy, as it is the epitome of corrupting the use of investiture for personal gain, but that won’t necessarily stop you. It will be decidedly hard to hide the fact that you are hemalurgically spiked from them, but idk. 
 

@Stormlightsong knows better than I, but the key idea of the organization is that the use of investiture has time and time again been used for not only selfish but actively detrimental purposes, with prioritizing oneself over the good of the collective. That the focus on advancing investiture technology has hindered the advancement of standard technology, with civilizations that have existed for millennia not even developing electricity or gunpowder due to prioritizing investiture advancement and the restrictions of corrupt rulers (see the Lord Ruler). The organization was founded by a mixture of Reckoners, Idrians, and Threnodites, and so there’s definitely bias there, but that hopefully can inform your decisions regarding the organization.

[Steel Speedster ♂]

1 minute ago, Koloss17 said:

There will in fact be an era 8 character thread! I’ll just need to make it at some point soonish.

I will say that the new guild will be very against Hemalurgy, as it is the epitome of corrupting the use of investiture for personal gain, but that won’t necessarily stop you. It will be decidedly hard to hide the fact that you are hemalurgically spiked from them, but idk. 
 

@Stormlightsong knows better than I, but the key idea of the organization is that the use of investiture has time and time again been used for not only selfish but actively detrimental purposes, with prioritizing oneself over the good of the collective. That the focus on advancing investiture technology has hindered the advancement of standard technology, with civilizations that have existed for millennia not even developing electricity or gunpowder due to prioritizing investiture advancement and the restrictions of corrupt rulers (see the Lord Ruler). The organization was founded by a mixture of Reckoners, Idrians, and Threnodites, and so there’s definitely bias there, but that hopefully can inform your decisions regarding the organization.

After hearing the details about UFO, I'm most likely not going to use that character right now. It's a concept I've had for a while, so I'll probably just toss him back in storage for now. If I do use him, he'll probably be separate from UFO.

[TwinStorm He/Him]

1 hour ago, Stormlightsong said:

All of those are still banned as the use of investiture is prohibited. The only exception is leachers because they cancel out other uses of investiture.

The reason I specifically pointed out genetic and bond based investiture use is because those are not easy to get rid of.

The main thing is: UFO does not discriminate on the basis of things you can’t control. So for example, if you are an elantrian you would still be allowed to join as long as you don’t use Aon Dor. The same would apply with hemolurgy if it was forced onto you.

hope this helps and will put this into the guild thread soon!

edit: one thing to note is that you may still be discriminated against by other agents If you have the ability to use investiture, especially if they are some of the more religious ones.

What about aether spores from Lumar?

[Steel Speedster ♂]

1 hour ago, Twinstorm said:

What about aether spores from Lumar?

The UFO guild thread says no bonds to Invested entities such as spren or aethers. It’s probably safe to assume that if its Investiture, it’s not allowed, unless it’s Investiture which is specifically used to counter other Investiture.

Edited October 20, 2024 by Speeding Steelrunner

[Through the Living Shadow he/him]

2 hours ago, Speeding Steelrunner said:

The UFO guild thread says no bonds to Invested entities such as spren or aethers. It’s probably safe to assume that if it’s Investiture, it’s not allowed, unless it’s Investiture which is specifically used to counter other Investiture.

Ohohohoh what about an anti-investiture mad scientist?!!!??

[Stormlightsong]

9 hours ago, Speeding Steelrunner said:

Okay, I figured that was the case. Thanks!

I assume the exception for Leechers would extend to any form of Investiture that has the sole purpose of cancelling other Investiture? For example, suppression fabrials?

Also, considering that Breaths give passive Investiture use, would UFO want its agents to get rid of those if they carried them?

1. they do not use fabrials for ethical reasons.

2. Since having one breath is out of your control and doesn’t give any big advantages (and even gives disadvantages when removed) they will not mess with it. Also there is a large amount of idrian agents and they would riot.

[Steel Speedster ♂]

20 minutes ago, Stormlightsong said:

1. they do not use fabrials for ethical reasons.

2. Since having one breath is out of your control and doesn’t give any big advantages (and even gives disadvantages when removed) they will not mess with it. Also there is a large amount of idrian agents and they would riot.

Alright, makes sense. Thanks again!

[Koloss17 She/They]

Hey y’all. Sorry for not being particularly active as of late. This week is super busy, and so I’m stepping back for a bit. I might be able to do some posting and stuff over the weekend, but we’ll have to see.

Feel free to keep scheming, but know that I’ll be back in a bit.

[Koloss17 She/They]

A brief update: about that one week of being busy….

it ended up being 3 weeks of busy, and I’m still busy. Soooooo at the moment, I’ll tentatively say Thanksgivingish will be when I’m active. I can’t guarantee anything, but I have not forgotten about you guys. The end of the semester’s just been hitting me hard, and I have to put my focus elsewhere. Luckily we’re pretty much at the end of the Era, so this isn’t absolutely horrible timing, but it’s still annoying. 

[Lunamor she/her]

My classes end in ~2 weeks, so as a heads up I should be able to start posting again after that.

[Koloss17 She/They]

22 hours ago, Lunamor said:

My classes end in ~2 weeks, so as a heads up I should be able to start posting again after that.

Winter break is where we will shine for sure! I’ll try to do a bit this week during thanksgiving break, but it’s the same deal here.

[Lunamor she/her]

I apologize for going dark for so long without any warning, I've been doing pretty poorly but things are starting to turn around. I should have my epilogue post up sometime today or tomorrow.

[Koloss17 She/They]

Yeah I’ll be more active starting Wednesday, as that’s the semester end for me.

[Lunamor she/her]

My plan for Eza during the timeskip is for her to have been searching for information about a group of hemalurgists who have been trying to track her down due to backstory reasons. In terms of tying herself to the main story for this era, I think there's a couple of ways she might be able to initially encounter UFO/characters in that organization. Since she's fleeing from people with access to allomancy, she might try to steal some aluminum supplies from UFO and could be caught in the act or the missing items could be noticed. The chances of her going to them directly for help are low, but if she gets desperate enough she might try to alert them of the existence of the hemalurgist group. Since she's illiterate, she'd probably need to do that in person. She's also likely to just straight up try to rob someone if she sees that they have something shiny. If anyone has characters you'd like her to interact with in one of those ways or other ideas for interactions please let me know.

[TwinStorm He/Him]

4 hours ago, Lunamor said:

My plan for Eza during the timeskip is for her to have been searching for information about a group of hemalurgists who have been trying to track her down due to backstory reasons. In terms of tying herself to the main story for this era, I think there's a couple of ways she might be able to initially encounter UFO/characters in that organization. Since she's fleeing from people with access to allomancy, she might try to steal some aluminum supplies from UFO and could be caught in the act or the missing items could be noticed. The chances of her going to them directly for help are low, but if she gets desperate enough she might try to alert them of the existence of the hemalurgist group. Since she's illiterate, she'd probably need to do that in person. She's also likely to just straight up try to rob someone if she sees that they have something shiny. If anyone has characters you'd like her to interact with in one of those ways or other ideas for interactions please let me know.

My character, Leon, has a single spike, but could easily be mistaken for one of these hemalurgists, but could also easily sway Eza to his side temporarily, in hopes of gaining a tool.

Speaking of which, I plan to have Leon make a temporary alliance with UFO, in hopes of getting anti-investiture to kill Radiants,  it will likely betray them. If anybody wants to have interactions with him, let me know.

Edited December 29, 2024 by Ookla the Irreplaceable