The North Sea

[+Ark1002]

Quote

Nope, this island has a sense of dramatic affect. That's the explanation, not changing it.

 

[Archer he/him]

Quote

Guys, this isn't good. We're making contradictory posts, and getting bogged down. 

What I think is causing the problem is Xino is treating the island like it's his character, and is thus he has the authority to determine its motivations and actions, and Ark is treating it like it's a setting, and thus anyone can worldbuild it and develop its nature. Both arguments are valid. 

As far as I can tell, this is a minor change. It makes the island different from what Xino envisioned it being, but it doesn't contradict established worldbuilding. There's enough ambiguity that what Ark is trying to do should be possible. Unless it's written down somewhere, everything is open to a little interpretation. 

So can we just let Ark's character return and move on? If there's still objections, I'd like to talk through them and settle this before continuing, because I don't know which version of events to follow. And I don't want to have to choose. 

 

[+Ark1002]

Quote

Yes, I think it should be considered a setting. Xino dictating the actions of an island in somebody else's thread isn't exactly fair.

 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Quote

...But it is a character. Its motivations and decisions are essential to the plot.

That being said, it's also insane. So I suppose it's possible.

 

[+Ark1002]

Quote

I know, it can be a character, but others can dictate some actions to. And yes, it's insane(ly dramatic).

 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Quote

You can't dictate actions if you don't know what its motivations are.

 

[+Ark1002]

Quote

As you didn't specify, I can make those motivations.

 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Quote

The island already has motivations. I just haven't told you because it hasn't come up yet. I could tell you, if you want.

 

[+Ark1002]

Quote

Yes, otherwise we can't RP.

 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Quote

Ok then.

So, a little while back- before all this started- the island was more or less a standard island, with one peculiarity; it had intelligent life. Because of this, it wasn't the most stable of entities even before Axe's aliens came: that pushed it over the edge. The main cause was that the aliens could fly, which it could not- it had grown too big for that a long time ago. It decided that it needed to fly again. The easiest way to do this, in its mind, was to create new gemhearts to provide more lift. It struck a bargain with Rotcennoc, where it would form the gemhearts and he would kill the new island so it wouldn't try and break off. Everything is almost in place: the alleycanes are fast approaching, Rotcennoc is in the gemheart cavern- it only needs one more thing; the connection to another island. Nogard can provide that connection, but he needs to be fairly close to the gemheart or the island won't be able to force him to help.

The island does have a sense of drama- that's why it's bringing everyone else. I really don't see how that would translate to dumping Araha, though.

 

[+Sorana she/her]

Quote

Because Damaya was sad and the island reacted unconciously to that?

If it is sentinent it could have tried to ease pain.

Not that great an argument, but the best I can think of right now.

 

[+Ark1002]

Quote

Yep, good enough, lets go!

 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Quote

My personal opinion is that the island decided to separate Araha because of her Windrunner powers, then changed its mind, for whatever reason. But yes, let's go.

 

[+Ark1002]

Araha felt herself go conscience for a second. She breathed in, a gasp of pain. And then stormlight filled her. It was still excruciating, but she healed. Smiling, she pushed herself onto her knees. Then she saw Klasten with the battleaxe. Uh, uh, what do I do, what do I do. She rolled, punching him in the stomach.

[+Sorana she/her]

Damaya shot Nogard an apologetic glance and then ran over to Araha. Teaching would have to wait. Strange how it always ended with this. Teaching waited and she did something else.

She reached Araha shortly after Klasten, only to see her friend get to her feet and punch him. Without thinking she jumped in between, took the brunt of the blow herself. Coughing she doubled over, fell to her knees.

"What are you doing? He tried to save you."

@Ark1002

@Ookla the Paragon

[+Ark1002]

Araha looked down at her. Oh no, oh no. Then she heard it. "He tried to save you." She looked down, confused. "He was holding an axe above my head!"

[Archer he/him]

Klasten smiled. The waved the axe, as if he were cutting through an invisible body. Then he realized what he was doing could very easily be taken the wrong way, so he just put the tool back in his bag and uncomfortably shuffled his feet. 

He pointed at Damaya and gave her a thumbs up. What she said, he wanted to say. Sometimes being the strong but silent type had its drawbacks. 

A pebble fell on his head. He looked up to dee where it had come from, just in time for another to hit him square in the forehead. I get it, I get, he muttered in his thoughts. With one last apologetic glance towards Araha, he turned his back on here and began awkwardly continuing to walk down the tunnel, hoping his face had turned invisible by now so they couldn't see him blushing.  

[+Sorana she/her]

Damaya slowly got to her feet and then grabbed Araha's hands.

"I thought you were dead. Don't do that again. Come, I don't want to be left behind."

She followed Klasten, quietly observed his body, wondered what was wrong with, or if her eyes tricked her.

Quote

Are his cloths turning invisible, too?

 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Nogard felt a twinge of disappointment as Damaya ran off. He wished he could put into words exactly why.

[+Ark1002]

Araha smiled, running off after Damaya.

[+Sorana she/her]

On 20.12.2018 at 1:15 AM, xinoehp512 said:

Nogard felt a twinge of disappointment as Damaya ran off. He wished he could put into words exactly why.

Quote

You know in my headcanon she was on her way back to Nogard with following Klasten.

Damaya rejoined Nogard and smiled at him.

"Sorry. I had to make sure she is fine."

Hesitating she looked aside and then asked carefully:

"So back to teaching?"

@xinoehp512

Edited December 21, 2018 by Sorana

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Quote

Oof. Really took too long to respond on this one. Hopefully we can still get this plotline finished before era 3...

Nogard paused for a second to collect his thoughts, then began.

"17 years ago- for us, at least- the Seven Day War happened. There were many, many effects of that battle, but one- the alleystorm- has had a profound impact on these islands.

"Before the alleycanes, the islands that were here were your ordinary, run-of-the-mill volcanic islands, much like North Island remains today. There was no intelligence. There was, however, Connection. It wasn't very powerful, but it was there. Given time, it may have grown and developed into sapience. Who knows? The islands, however, didn't have to wait. 

"Because after the war came the alleycanes."

Nogard paused for breath.

"The alleystorm, as you probably know, doesn't reach the whole of the alleyplanet: it travels a set path around the planet's surface, leaving out the North and South poles, along with their surrounding areas.

"The storm still reaches these places, however, because of alleycanes, storms that split off from the main, developing a life- and usually, sapience- of their own. They travel all the surface of the planet that the alleystorm doesn't cover, bringing investiture to places that otherwise would not receive it. When they came to these islands, they mutated the Connection that was already there, speeding up the process by which it gathered sapience. Eventually, the various Connection scattered about on one particular island gathered together into one central location.

"That was the first island gemheart."

[+Sorana she/her]

Quote

It's not the only thread that's still open... and at least we could simply go on as we're in a completely different place.

And we pushed the ending of era 2 backwards.

Damaya listened to Nogard's explanation. The Alleystorm, Alleycanes, the islands. It was confusing, and yet it was beautiful.

"The island really is a sentinent being?"

She asked, looked at the stone walls around her and then tentatively touched the rock. It felt like rock.

"It dreams, it hopes,  it is sad?"

Without waiting for an answer she asked a question that suddenly felt important.

"What is its name? And can I talk to it?"

@xinoehp512

[+Ark1002]

Araha felt a slight sense of awe. The island... is alive... truly alive. Then something came to her, something confusing. If it has a gemheart... "If it has a gemheart..." It has to have a spren... "It has to have a spren..." And those Parshendi we saw in the pool... "And those Parshendi we saw in the pool..." This side of the world is greater than we think. "This side of the world is greater than we think." She shook her head, then patted the rocks. "Hi island. If you can hear me, I think you're cool." She smiled, standing up. "Yep, really cool."

[Archer he/him]

Quote

1. Islands being alive raises a bunch of questions about what's considered ethical behavior when interacting with them. I love it!

On 12/19/2018 at 1:16 AM, Sorana said:

Are his cloths turning invisible, too?

 2. Yes. My headcanon is that his entire body is turning invisible, as well as anything in close contact with his skin, like his clothes. The reason will be that the poison that's on his skin and that his body is cycling out through his pores gets on his clothes and turns them invisible too. Since it's diluted, it will change at a slower rate than he (maybe taking 24-36 hours to fully disappear). Since Klasten and the clothes he's wearing right now were it with a concentrated dose, they'll change faster (taking less than a day to become invisible). This way, if he touches a wall or shakes someone's hand, it won't turn invisible, not unless he holds it for an extended length of time. That would create too many narrative problems. But he may wake up in the morning to find parts of his bed have disappeared. However, I'll say that if an object goes too long without touching him, it will become visible again as the poison is diluted too much by its surroundings.

On that note, I'm going to rush this process along. I want to get him to Floating Head Mode so I can start scaring superstitious islanders.

Klasten waved his hand in front of his face. He could see right through it. Cautiously, he brought it closer to his head, but accidentally poked himself in the nose. Evidently getting used to coordinating his actions without being able to see what he was doing was going to take practice. No time like the present, he reflected grimly. As he walked, he started bringing his visible hand and his invisible one together, before pulling them apart and repeating the process again and again. The others had slowed down, but he didn't wait up for them. He did listen to what Nogard was saying though. That was interesting information. 

Could it be manipulated? Allomantically or through traditional means? His mind wandered, thinking about the possibilities. Its size indicated intelligence, but he was hesitant to make that assumption. It would be better to study it first, preferably through more direct interactions. How does it determine which species are relevant? Or worth its time? So many questions. 

He glanced at his leg, and found it had disappeared. Its pair was quickly following suit. Silently sighing, he looked away, back at the tunnel. He din't know why, but he had the distinct impression that he was nearing the end of it. Almost as if I'll round this corner and step into a spacious and well lit cavern. But he wasn't feeling anything nearby, so it probably wouldn't be something so cliche. 

Maybe it'll be one of those surprise slides, he thought. I like those.