The Chat Thread

[+Sorana she/her]

Did we decide who'll create the festival thread?

[mathiau he/him]

1 hour ago, Sorana said:

Did we decide who'll create the festival thread?

I don't think so

[AonEne he/him]

It’s just interacting, right? No specific plot, just us testing the waters of writing in a new Alleyverse? 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

5 hours ago, AonEne said:

It’s just interacting, right? No specific plot, just us testing the waters of writing in a new Alleyverse? 

Probably yeah. If we want to construct a loose order of the evening celebrations we can do that, or we can begin the storyline as the main bonfire is lit and everyone starts to party.

[+Sorana she/her]

1 hour ago, ZincAboutIt said:

Probably yeah. If we want to construct a loose order of the evening celebrations we can do that, or we can begin the storyline as the main bonfire is lit and everyone starts to party.

I like the idea with the bonfire.

I can do a corresponding writeup and post it on the 15th, so that we have something to start.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

@18th Shard did a gorgeous re-write of the Alleyverse creation story that could be useful to post here, so we all have a basis of what the Festival of Rebirth is all about when we begin RPing. If you're willing to share, 18th! :]

[18th Shard he/him]

Of course!

Quote

The old man with a short white beard stood on the street corner, "It is said that in the beginning, there was a Void, and into this void came many cosmoses. Every possible cosmos existed separate and apart from the others. Nothing stretched in the space between except for the primordial Void from which they were born. It is impossible for the minds of mortals to understand this Void as it is, but perhaps an analogy may serve. The Void is like the city alleyway between the buildings of each universe, stretching and twisting among all that is. 

"There was a solitary being who resided inside of the Void, Voidus, the Lonely God. I know no stories of of his creation, if indeed he was created. Like the Void which he inhabited, his true form is unknowable, even among the other gods. A sage of another world, a reptilian king, once tried to describe him thus, 'The Lonely God authors reality, pages upon pages of demigods springing from his words; his gaze is like a slow stabbing from behind, in an Alley without light. The ancients saw the Lonely God in the parasites of a forbidden world, preying on others, but that is too simplistic. The Lonely God is, to put it simply... the void that is in all of us.'

"The Solitary One entered the worlds and sought allies among the other gods. Some he slew; from others, he stole their souls; and in still others, he found those who would uphold his work: The Stranger, the Mother of Monsters, the Counter of Time - the gods of Alleys and abominations and lives. After many eons of time, the Lonely God took the Stranger to a disobedient world, doomed to destruction, and they fashioned from it a world anew. They took Alleyways and folded them like steel into a Damascan blade; they took the light of other worlds and cast it into the darkness of this new creation. They took the very soul of a cosmos and stabbed it into the blood of the world, a spike cast up like a mountain from a cosmic forge. The Void parted for the Separate Being and the One-eyed God, and a sun beamed brilliant in the sky. This was the first birth of the world.

"Coursing in the veins of this new world were the Alleys. The Alleys wove through reality like an endless plane of alleys cutting through a city of empty buildings. Truly infinite, they followed no logical order, shifting and moving themselves as the gods decreed. Within their depths lived demons and devils, eldritch abominations who feasted upon fear, the children of the Lady of Monsters. Upon these Alleys grew a city, a city of convergence and of power. Men and women sought the Solitary God within the Alleys, but in vain, for he dwelt not in them, and those who entered the Alleys rarely emerged unchanged. Their wrathful spirits haunted the city, possessed by the creatures whose homes they disturbed, searching for blood to spill. The monsters devoured the unworthy before disappearing back into the Alleys which birthed them. 

"Some say those whose souls were taken live in the Alleys still, Denizens with dreadful eyes of spikes and twisting limbs warped by time and their pride. As the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer, sometimes you can see them, standing in the darkness of street endings, holding cursed pastries and fey desserts, cookies with spikes of death within them. One bite, and the Denizen condemns you, stealing your soul, never to be released. And so the ages passed in darkness and death, in chaos and disruption.

"The time finally came when the dwellers of the Alleycity could no longer live in fear, and one among them, Mac Thorstensen, the Spymaster, was chosen to seek out the gods. Delving deep within the Alleys at the heart of the world, tempted not by Denizens for he was of pure heart, he found the path which led to the gods. He could not be kept from entering within, for the gods had willed him there. He pleaded that the city might be spared from the desolation, that the gods would protect them from the horrors of the world below them. The Lonely God heard his plea, and gave to Mac a Coin, which would protect their city, sealing the Alleys away forever. On that day, the city was again reborn, darkness giving way to the light of the modern days.

"Today is the Day of Rebirth, a day to celebrate, to commemorate that glorious illumination. We wear masks - of the gods who formed the world, of the creatures that once hunted us, and of the man who saved us - as a reminder that we will never again live in the fear of the Dark Alleys. We have these festivities of chaos, to remind ourselves of the chaos that once was our daily life. May the Lonely God send that it never be so again!"

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by 18th Shard

[mathiau he/him]

3 hours ago, 18th Shard said:

Of course!

 

Oh. My. God.

[AonEne he/him]

By the Lonely God, I love that! My one regret is that the darkness motif doesn’t let you stick Solar Power in there as one of the legend names given to Voidus. 

Edited May 7, 2020 by AonEne

[mathiau he/him]

1 hour ago, AonEne said:

By the Lonely God, I love that! My one regret is that the darkness motif doesn’t let you stick Solar Power in there as one of the legend names given to Voidus. 

"The Void parted for the Separate Being and the One-eyed God, and a sun beamed brilliant in the sky. This was the first birth of the world."

Sounds to me like he literally made the sun

(If that's not enough for you, there could be a small religion worshipping him as The Solar Power while no one else does that, a bit like Sliverism in W&W)

[AonEne he/him]

2 hours ago, mathiau said:

there could be a small religion worshipping him as The Solar Power while no one else does that

Spoiler

Can we do this

 

[mathiau he/him]

24 minutes ago, AonEne said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Can we do this

 

Spoiler

Do want you want, I take no responsibilities

 

[Emi she/her]

On 6.05.2020 at 8:54 AM, Sorana said:

Did we decide who'll create the festival thread?

What's that?

[kenod]

2 minutes ago, Emi said:

What's that?

Basically when the next Era starts we'll open with a festival, so we'll need to thread for RPing it in.

[Emi she/her]

3 minutes ago, kenod said:

Basically when the next Era starts we'll open with a festival, so we'll need to thread for RPing it in.

oh, ok. My last question is: what we'll do there?

Edited May 7, 2020 by Emi

[kenod]

3 minutes ago, Emi said:

oh, ok. My last question is: what we're doing there?

I don't think we've decided on anything like that yet. I guess it'll mostly be a place to introduce our characters, writing initial scenes for them, having them interact with a few other characters... I guess some people might also use parts of it to start or foreshadow some of the future plots.

Edited May 7, 2020 by kenod

[Emi she/her]

1 minute ago, kenod said:

I don't think we've decided on anything like that. I guess it'll mostly be a place to introduce our characters, writing initial scenes for them, having them interact with a few other characters... I guess some people might also use parts of it to start or foreshadow some of the future plots.

Seems fun!
Even though I have no idea what to write there if we decide to do it

[kenod]

Same, to be honest. I'll probably figure it out as I go along.

[mathiau he/him]

7 minutes ago, Emi said:

Seems fun!
Even though I have no idea what to write there if we decide to do it

A spontaneous group is probably gonna appear at the TUBA headquarter so maybe you can start there

Do any of you know what their character will wear during the festival? I think I will go with a cosplay of Invocation Earth's SteelHeart for NullBlade but I don't know what to use for Folorian, I had thought of dressing him up as a Cryptic or as Harmony but I think the first would weird his spren and the second is essentially a colour swap of his normal attire.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

If we want, we can semi-canonize a few of the archetype Festival Characters' costumes so that we can call out someone dressing as "The Lonely God" or "The Assassin," etc. I imagined the Lonely God costume as a long black robe with a shrouded face, maybe a black mask under it that is pretty smooth and featureless since Voidus is supposed to be "unknowable" in the mythology. For the Stranger, perhaps an eye patch covering the left eye and a long tattered grey robe? (Ah look, I have described Odin ) Does anyone have any other ideas? I might sketch up some little prototypes if I get enough cool suggestions.

I'll be dressing up Lita as the Coin/the Sun, one because it fits marvelously with her storyline but also because I think she'd really enjoy the chance to dress up in something very flashy for once while still managing to blend in completely incognito. Quite a nice thrill for the secret DA's resident spymistress. 

[18th Shard he/him]

The scene I had with Xanas planned has him as the Stranger with a black mask with a silver eye patch, so that sounds great. I think @kenod could probably chip in on how Aylitha (the Mother of Monsters) might be depicted. I don't know that anyone would dress as the Counter of Time, but just in case, @Voidus how would one make a Metronome mask? (I know it is impossible to get anything quite so powerful as the Almighty Metronome, but...) 

[kenod]

Hmm, Aylitha would probably be various dark animal masks, probably distorted in some way to distinguish them from normal animals. For clothing, really simple black outfit, like basic dress or shirt and jeans, possibly a bit tattered, with a cheap-looking material (cheap as in stuff you'd find in old medieval villages, or just low-quality fabric, not cheap as what you'd find in party-goods store).

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

9 minutes ago, 18th Shard said:

I don't know that anyone would dress as the Counter of Time, but just in case, @Voidus how would one make a Metronome mask?

It should absolutely be an actual metronome set into a hood, kind of Cryptic-style. Or maybe a clock mask. XD I'm making myself laugh over here.

[Voidus]

48 minutes ago, 18th Shard said:

but just in case, @Voidus how would one make a Metronome mask? (I know it is impossible to get anything quite so powerful as the Almighty Metronome, but...) 

You seek to capture the essence of the all powerful Metronome in a simple mask!?! Have you no shame? No awareness of the extents of your own hubris!?
For historical accuracy he had a pretty plain, rounded face, not much distinctive about him. But a mask with some clock hands on it would probably be appropriate to capture the feel of it.

[Fatebreaker he/him]

The Stranger costume would be a tattered grey robe and a smiling mask with one eye either covered or missing.