Long Game 36: State of Being

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

3 - Remembrance

The transition was shockingly fast, and surprisingly quite painless. Suddenly, Requiem was looking down on himself. He watched with horrified fascination as his body disintegrated, totally consumed by the withering.
And yet, he was still there. Standing over the remnant of his own corpse, wondering how he had died.

Everything around him save the remnants of his own body seemed to be out of focus, blurring and shifting constantly, the details arranging and rearranging themselves before his eyes. Underfoot, the formerly solid forest floor seemed to depress slightly as he stood upon it, suddenly less solid. A low, melodious hum hung in the air, something like the fading end of a deep bell chime; only it never actually faded or wavered. A charcoal grey fog pervaded his surroundings, flowing slowly in tiny motes around trees and other, smaller things that could have been insects. The fog seemed to react strangely to his presence, moving more quickly around him. Far overhead, he saw a cold, distant sun shining down, it's rays struggling to pierce through the fog.

Was this what it was like to become a shade?
He examined himself. He looked like a shade, certainly, if perhaps more substantial. Perhaps all shades appeared more substantial in this place.
More importantly, shades weren't supposed to be able to think. The dead passed on to the God Beyond; the shades were just echoes of what used to be there. Imprints on the world after the soul had departed.
He didn't feel very much like an echo.

He noticed that the presence that had precipitated all this was still very much present in the clearing. Perhaps less insistent, but Requiem could feel it pressing lightly at the back of his mind.

Tentatively, Requiem retraced his path to the clearing. If he could find people, and try to explain to them what had happened...
This was insane. Nobody had ever heard of a shade trying to communicate. The shades were mindless, and usuallly harmless, until you broke on of their rules...

4 - Rebirth

As the hooded figure started talking, Requiem was shaken from his reverie. He wasn't on Threnody... It had been a long time since he had visited Threnody. He was in the shade-world, assembled with several others in a circle around a green fire.

The green fire, was, of coarse, Devotion's shardpool. It was one of the most conveniently accessible shardpools in all the cosmere; Requiem had used it several times before. Without hesitation, he stepped into the green fire, his shade becoming one with the column of otherworldly flames.

The power in the shardpool was awesome. Requiem could scarcely comprehend it, even though he had done this many times before. This was how it always was. Life following death following life, an endless parade of reincarnations from the shardpools. It was the deep-spirit's curse, but it was also the deep-spirit's blessing. Requiem's plans were far to grand to accommodate only a single life.

From the raw power of creation, Requiem knit himself a new body, forming the flesh around the shade underneath. As always, the power of the shardpool was eager to create something, anything. The planet itself shaped the form Requiem took on. After centuries, the planet of Sel knew what it was to be a human, and the different types of human that were native to Sel, and the deep-spirit used this knowledge to choose a form for Requiem. For a moment, Requiem saw nothing, heard nothing, inhabiting the void between realms.

Then he breathed for the first time in days, surfacing from the waters of Devotion's shardpool.

Rebirth complete. This was his sixteenth life. An auspicious number. He examined himself. It was hard to tell without a mirror, but he thought he was Aonic this time. He tried to impress a feeling of appreciation upon the deep-spirit. It was a reasonable choice of forms; he would blend in with the indigenous peoples of Arelon.

The other shades were following close behind. They couldn't use the shardpools quite in the same way that Requiem could, but the essence marks would make it much easier for them. Combined with a perpendicularity, it was a rather clever trick to bring shades back from the dead.

 

The hooded man spoke, from the cognitive realm:

Behold: Elantris, the city of the gods.

Interesting trick, that. Speaking from the shade-world was hard. Especially if you were trying to talk to sane people, although Requiem doubted there were any of those here.

You must make haste down the mountain. Find your way to Kae, the eastern town. You will find someone there who can help... unless we are too late. Wyrn's wrath has been unleashed. Stop the Dakhor, and save this planet!

Requiem stared right at the hooded man's shade, then nodded in acknowledgement. If the hooded man spoke the truth, that meant Requiem had traveled backwards in time since his last death. That happened sometimes. He still wasn't sure what caused it.

 

The Atad mountains certainly afforded an excellent view. Requiem scanned his surroundings. Elantris was besieged and burning, as the hooded man had warned. That decided it, then. To Kae he would go.

 

Word Count: Most definitely more than 200.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Drake Marshall

[asterion137 he/him]

Wow! I love being to tell how old things are! Im going for the lotto guys

 

I'll drop a tentative vote on Yitzi for reacting a bit harshly imo to someone gutreading him elim. 

[Alvron]

I'm going to throw a vote on Straw.  Something about his characters name seems ... evil.

[manukos he/him]

hmmm i got some gold after i transformed i am going all out on the auction i would recomend not participating 
unless someone wants the item very much in which case i could cancel my order and let you have it

i am also considering anouncing my essence mark symbol? (not the role )

any ideas for that or for how we should continue

[Sami she/her]

@Ecthelion III How long does the day cycle last? Would you mind putting a countdown up to make it a bit easier to keep track of the cycles? 

[Yitzi2]

The Wanderer smiled.  It was good to be in a physical body again, and better yet to be in his own.  Perhaps this really was the end of his journey.

Seeing a loose piece of metal, he burned Iron, and Pulled it toward him.  It had been a while since he'd been a Lurcher...or had it?  His memory was fuzzy in some places.  Perhaps it was a side effect of the time travel.  That was one disadvantage of the Physical realm: He didn't get the answers to these questions as easily as in the Cognitive.

Just then, he heard a voice in his mind.  Behold: Elantris, the city of the gods.   Had he been here before?  He must have...it was one of the primary locations for these...adventures.  Except adventures wasn't quite the right word, was it?  There had been another, that fit far better...

You must make haste down the mountain. Find your way to Kae, the eastern town. You will find someone there who can help... unless we are too late. Wyrn's wrath has been unleashed. Stop the Dakhor, and save this planet!

Dakhor...channelers of the power of Dominion.  He had once followed beliefs aligned with Dominion, hadn't he?  Or something sort of similar, anyway.  How had he changed his mind?  It had been early in his journey, he remembered that.

And that already makes over 200 words.  Just a bit more of the Wanderer's backstory...

5 hours ago, Alvron said:

I'm going to throw a vote on Straw.  Something about his characters name seems ... evil.

Names were chosen in the sign-up thread, before getting alignments.  Voting based on that makes no sense, so Alvron.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Yitzi2

[Aonar he/him]

Yitzi. Stop being a killjoy, man.  (Can't tell if you're being serious or not, but still.)

@Manukos I'm more interested in the lottery item than the auction, but fair warning, I highly doubt you'll be able to beat my bid anyways.

Edit: I am not voting on Manukos, colours just won't change. >>

Edited July 19, 2017 by Aonar Faileas
Storming mobile colour tags. >>

[Yitzi2]

8 minutes ago, Aonar Faileas said:

Yitzi. [/color]Stop being a killjoy, man. (Can't tell if you're being serious or not, but still.)

Killjoy?  I didn't even realize that Straw was joking.

[Yitzi2]

Correction to the above: I didn't even realize that Alvron was joking; I hadn't voted for Straw.

[Aonar he/him]

Yitzi. It's an unsubstantiated poke vote with joke reasoning.  Pretty standard fare for D1. Feel free to vote for him if you don't like the poke vote, but yeah, the reasoning was a joke.

[Yitzi2]

1 minute ago, Aonar Faileas said:

Yitzi. It's an unsubstantiated poke vote with joke reasoning.  Pretty standard fare for D1. Feel free to vote for him if you don't like the poke vote, but yeah, the reasoning was a joke.

Yeah, well, my sense of humor is...different.

[Megasif he/him]

Alvron for attacking the hooded man.

I'm going for the lottery but pretty sure no one can compete with my wallet atm. 

[Orlok Tsubodai]

7 hours ago, Manukos said:

i am also considering anouncing my essence mark symbol? (not the role )

any ideas for that or for how we should continue

Manukos. Would you care to respond to my post last cycle discussing that whilst this generates information, it makes the eliminator's task far easier, through allowing them to potentially identify roles (either that they share, or pairing players with the same essence mark). You obviously disagree with my post, and I'm interested in your justification for encouraging a practice that will help the eliminators far more than the village.

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

7 hours ago, Manukos said:

hmmm i got some gold after i transformed i am going all out on the auction i would recomend not participating 
unless someone wants the item very much in which case i could cancel my order and let you have it

i am also considering anouncing my essence mark symbol? (not the role )

any ideas for that or for how we should continue

 

2 hours ago, Aonar Faileas said:

Yitzi. Stop being a killjoy, man.  (Can't tell if you're being serious or not, but still.)

@Manukos I'm more interested in the lottery item than the auction, but fair warning, I highly doubt you'll be able to beat my bid anyways.

Edit: I am not voting on Manukos, colours just won't change. >>

 

Hmmmm... Can I get any hints about how much you guys are bidding?

I want to know if I have any shot at getting it.

[Steeldancer he/him]

Finally. Eobard had a body. Lightning surged around him. He grinned, and focused.

The Negative Speed Force might be weak here, but he could still run. And he ran. KA-BOOM!!!! 

A sonic boom! He tore across the landscape. 

Now. Should he focus on finding Barry Allen, or do what the voice in his head was saying? Hm. 

Non RP- applause for Alvron for being creative 

[Sparkrunner he/him]

Weston's voice in his head guided him through the process of choosing a body. Sometimes, the voices in Silver Feather's head proved to be useful. Weston had grown up in the same little unnamed prairie village that Silver had, but had disappeared for twenty years and came back seventy years older. Silver had shot him, for he had tried to turn them in to the lawmen. For some reason, the old world-hopper had slithered into Silver's mind. Now he gave, deep, advanced advice. This is the cognitive realm. This is Sel. You fool. Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you. Over there. Did you see that?  Sometimes he blended in with the other voices. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. Who am I? Who are you? and th, e ever present Oh, Light! Illenya! Sometimes Silver forgot who he was. It did not concern him overly much, he had his rifle and he could shoot the eye out of a blowfly at five hundred feet.

His reformation was almost over. Thank the light. An image of his body appeared before him. He added feathers, a tail, beak, wings, crest, and scaly four toed legs. Perfect. He shrank the size down to about three feet tall. Perfect.

A massive roadrunner appeared sitting at the side of the shardpool. He stretched. He picked up a revolver, unwavering, in one powerful leg. He shot Mr. Hooded Cloak in the face. Nothing happened. What a shame. He hid his gun-belt and tried to look just like a native bird enjoying his day, hoping nobody here was a Selish biologist.

(266 words)

Ok, so what is the difference between an Arelon Villager and a vanilla villager?

25 minutes ago, Megasif said:

I'm going for the lottery but pretty sure no one can compete with my wallet atm. 

You sound like someone who has a trap for potential thieves, or just wanting to be robbed.

I will jump behind Orlok for now, and vote on Manukos, but this is more of a poke vote.

[Clanky he/him]

So of the five people who didn't use an essence mark/ find another way to the physical realm only two of them actually posted Night 0, Alvron and STINK. Both of them mentioned testing the warning from Phil about the essence marks. 

Daniyah, A Joe in the Bush, and Araris didn't post last cycle and stayed in the Cognitive realm.. Araris was active on the shard during Night 0 so likely had read his GM PM and rreceived the warning. Why did you choose to remain in the Cognitive realm? The same goes for Daniyah and A Joe in the Bush since it seems like you were online during the night as well

 

[StrikerEZ he/him]

Jaspian clutched his stick as the strange light began to make him a new body. It was weird, the feeling of being dead than all of a sudden being alive again. He didn't quite care all that much about the discomfort, because now he was alive again! He could live, breathe, eat, everything a normal person could do. 

Jaspian looked around at the fellow ghosts' new bodies, trying to see if everyone had made it through. He noticed that six of them hadn't used their Essence Marks like he had. Interesting, he thought to himself while absentmindedly petting the stick.

I am a stick? Jaspian sighed, looking around at the people again. Then he realized that there was a bird trying to act as if it hadn't just come out of the shardpool. Jaspian just shrugged, looking away from the bird-person and back to his stick. He had been wrong, only five of them hadn't used their Essence Marks. But why did one of them turn themselves into a bird? he asked himself, hugging the stick. 

Of course, now he had to listen to the rude voice inside of his head and the cloaked guy and go see what these fires below them were all about.

EDIT: 207 words

Edited July 19, 2017 by StrikerEZ

[Steeldancer he/him]

LIGHTNING. 

Eobard was a blur of brown. He had explored a large area. The place was quite beautiful. 

But where was he? 

He skidded to a stop in the burning village. He picked up some gold and some trinkets lying on the ground. Maybe they would do something. 

THWACK! 

A stick collided with his head. 

Eobard only took a moment to recover, then went into speedster time. Before the man could blink, he had lashed out with a kick, knocking the attacker off of his feet. He went to bash his face off, but something... restrained him. 

"Don't do that again," he hissed at the man. 

BOOM! And Eobard left the village. 

Lightning crackled around the wound, and it healed with the accelerated metabolism that he had. Speaking of which, he needed to find some food. 

Well, back to the village then. 

KRA-KOOM

[STINK he/him]

1 hour ago, Clanky said:

Both of them mentioned testing the warning from Phil about the essence marks. 

a plan im still sticking with

[Sparkrunner he/him]

@STINK dreaded triple-post glitch

[manukos he/him]

3 hours ago, OrlokTsubodai said:

Manukos. Would you care to respond to my post last cycle discussing that whilst this generates information, it makes the eliminator's task far easier, through allowing them to potentially identify roles (either that they share, or pairing players with the same essence mark). You obviously disagree with my post, and I'm interested in your justification for encouraging a practice that will help the eliminators far more than the village.

I dont disagree actually,  that is why I wouldnt say my role but marks could be helpful 

But I dont think that I will , it was just an idea (btw I hadnt seen your post last night ,... weird and I read through everything twice ...) 

I do have an idea actualy about how we could continue even if it is a half baked one , still needs some work . 

I am not going to vote cos I never vote the first cycle but I am suspicious of someone (dont remember the name , [edit : asterion]) for his/her reaction to ytzi 

Edit : on second thought perhaps it would be advantageus for me to reveal my stamp , but you are right it would be a disaster if the elims new everyone's roles 

Edited July 19, 2017 by Manukos

[Orlok Tsubodai]

28 minutes ago, Manukos said:

I dont disagree actually,  that is why I wouldnt say my role but marks could be helpful 

But I dont think that I will , it was just an idea (btw I hadnt seen your post last night ,... weird and I read through everything twice ...) 

I do have an idea actualy about how we could continue even if it is a half baked one , still needs some work . 

I am not going to vote cos I never vote the first cycle but I am suspicious of someone (dont remember the name , [edit : asterion]) for his/her reaction to ytzi 

Edit : on second thought perhaps it would be advantageus for me to reveal my stamp , but you are right it would be a disaster if the elims new everyone's roles 

I don't see what use a discussion of marks presents, if not working out roles. Even revealing marks may tell the eliminators your role, if they have a member with the same essence mark. If they do not, you still reveal information to the eliminators, as they don't need to worry about you having roles that are on their team, narrowing the potential field of candidates further.

[Steeldancer he/him]

Ok i think I figured out what this game is about (maybe) 

If odium is on Sel right now, is this the shattering of Dominion and Devotion? 

I thought that was prehistory on Sel, but whatever we shall see

[Ecthelion III he/him]

Many apologies. This is a Day cycle lasting 48 hours.