Voidus

Either. Doesn't have to be any significant change if people don't want to, but if they want to try something different this would be an opportunity.

She was trying to imagine what the Enemy cared about most, they seemed to want her to leave the city, but then they had called her here as well. Did they even know that she would feel it? No, they had known. They had been waiting for her, tried to manipulate her when she arrived. But they had tried to direct her towards a part of the city, the Enemy of stone. So they wanted that destroyed and used her to do it? But they did care about the rest of the city. That was good. She imagined the city in flames, the other stone buildings melting beneath the inferno she would unleash upon them. Storms. The Voice resounded again. She wanted to burn that voice. Wanted her silence back. What was it even saying? She knew of storms but it felt different, like that Pretender who had worn the shape of other things, but had not been other things. Perhaps crawling on the ground made it harder for them to think. Perhaps the air was dirtier down there and that was why they all came up with such strange ideas. She felt another rush of pressure against her, wordless this time but an order nonetheless. She felt it seize the body, not her body any longer, and stop it now, retracting the earlier order. I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry. She felt an urge to cock her head at that. Confusion briefly tamping down the fires of her hatred at the Voice that continued to speak. Understanding transcended language here, but she still felt that she didn't understand what the Voice was saying. Was it pitying her? That made her angrier still. But it felt like it was pitying her for what it had done to her. That didn't make sense, if it didn't like a thing then why had it done it? I’m so sorry. The Voice echoed again. If it didn't want this done then it should undo it. How could the Voice not understand such simple things? She had assumed that she was an Enemy to the Enemy as well, it hadn't run when she had first met it after all, it had tried to fight back. The Enemy then had made sense, it knew she was an Enemy as well and knew that it could not flee her so it fought. But now the Enemy seemed different. It didn't understand anything, didn't understand the joys of Living. It had fled from her at that other city, tried to flee from her here. The first time I Rioted you, it was by accident. She remembered the first time she had felt the Enemy. It had been calling all her Kindred towards it, stoking their hatred and rage. She thought she might have even liked the Enemy if it hadn't made her so angry. She still would have had to hunt them, but they had been a good hunt, a good fight. But it had definitely been trying to get the Kindred to attack it, trying to draw them away from the rest of the city, just as it was asking her to do now. Was it trying to lie? I-I was angry. And I Rioted everyone. It hadn't seemed angry, it had seemed purposeful, determined. Only the second time she'd met the Enemy had it seemed Angry at something, that time it didn't even seem to intend to call her, it had seemed an accident. Something began to dawn on her at that moment, it seemed somehow easier to think here, in this place where she had nothing else. Where she couldn't live properly without recalling the past. The Enemy she'd met that first time, she definitely believed that she'd killed it. She had destroyed them until nothing was left to return from, enough that even she wouldn't be able to come back from it. How then was the Enemy still alive? And why did they seem so different the next time she met them? And the second time, it was blackmail. She felt the intention of the Voices words. When it said the second time it meant this time. But this was the third time the Enemy had called to her. Could this Enemy be different to the one she had first fought? This was my fault, though, this control, I’m sorry. Do you even understand me? I know you can think, but... It still wasn't making sense. It kept wishing that it didn't do a thing that it did, but then why did it do it? Was someone controlling the Enemy like it was controlling her? She wanted to tell it that she didn't understand it in the least, but she also felt that wasn't quite what it meant. It wanted to know if she could hear it. And I don’t want to let you go now, because I know you want to kill me. But, believe me, I really don’t want to do this. Why would her wanting to kill it stop it from letting her go? And if it didn't want to do it then why was it doing it? Did it not want to Live? Did it not wish to enjoy the thrill of a chase or the invigoration of battle? So many questions, and the Voice wasn't answering any. Why did it talk to her if it wasn't going to explain anything? It didn't give her commands, didn't tell her what to do or what to think. So why speak? She reached back towards the voice, the same way she had reached out to her Kindred when she had been connected to them. It was harder now, harder to do unless she was told to do it. That rankled, but she never backed down before a challenge. She forced her voice back towards it until she felt it reach a presence. Why do you say lies as though they were true? You say you want something but do a different thing. You... you are not the one who called me first? The one who stood here and fought? That one understood. You don't understand. @I think I am here.

Will definitely make sure it happens in threads not PMs, the general goings on should be transparent to players, just not necessarily to all characters. The 'only a few' is mostly just an expectation that most players will want to be involved in the main thread and that this is probably going to be very light in action and combat and so it may not appeal to many people to participate in directly, not an attempt to try to create an exclusive group or anything. As for the difficulties on spying on the DA, that's actually one of the parts I'm kind of interested in exploring. Infiltrating into the Alleys and eavesdropping on a planning session between the Department heads would probably be impossible, but tailing a Denizen who's heading out from the Alleys to collect information or materials wouldn't be. And the DA would also probably try to keep an eye on the other guilds to make sure they didn't learn anything so there could be a 'spying on the spies' type of thing going on, not sure how it'll pan out, but I think if we start RPing it we can see where it goes.

Soft eyelids slowly lifted back up, exposing the large amber eyes underneath. The eyes blinked, focusing in on the broken rubble that surrounded them, rotating around in their sockets to fully take in their surroundings. Talons relaxed, opening back up into a wide spread from the tight curl that they had been in. They scrabbled at the ground beneath them, curving slightly until they found purchase enough to pull back up, righting the body that rested atop them into a standing position. Wings spread out, catching the warm air beneath them again and began a steady downbeat, lifting the body back into the sky. Flames flickered along the edges of those wings, heating the air to provide more lift, curling over the body to coat it once again in fiery armour. The head twisted about as it rose into the air, twisting until it pointed in the direction of the large, dark-purple flames in the distance. The head stretched forward, leading the rest of the body that followed as it slowly picked up speed, flying towards the dark Phoenix. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- She tried to screech but there was no sound, tried to burn but there was no light, tried to fly but there was no air. There was nothing but darkness in all directions, even the piercing pain that she had been fighting against was gone now. Okay, Phoenix The voice resounded around her. She tried to turn to find the source but even that proved impossible, she had no neck to twist, no head to search with, no eyes to see with. We don’t have the best of relationships, I’m sure. I don’t think you like me very much. She had not heard this voice before, but it was accompanied by a presence she knew all too well. The Enemy was responsible for this, for locking her away and stealing her wind and fire. She tried to screech back, but once again found herself unable to. But that doesn’t matter. She disagreed with the voice. It mattered very much, it was the only thing that mattered. She would hunt them, they would fight or run. That was all there was, that was life. The Enemy sought to deprive her of even that. You need to kill the Dark Phoenix. Kill the Dark Phoenix, and kill it far away from here. She recognized the image it was speaking of, her Rival in the skies. She had no particular wish to hunt it right now, but as soon as the words spoke she felt that pressure again. The words slammed against her mind with the weight of a mountain, pushing their way in. She felt the lie become truth. She didn't want to kill the Rival. She needed to. An imperative as absolute as the need to breathe. More so even, given that she could heal any damage caused by suffocation. She needed it, but she was still not in control. Dimly she felt eyes open, flames burst and wings beginning to soar. But they were not her eyes, not her flames and not her wings. They belonged to someone else now. The lie had become truth, but the rest had not been lies, they had been orders. And orders were carried out, regardless of what she thought of them. Those are your instructions. She seethed at the voice, felt her hatred of it rise to levels that dwarfed what she had felt before. It was no longer simply an Enemy to be hunted down and fought. She needed more than that. She would take their world from them like they took hers. They wanted her to leave this city? She would return. They wanted her to stop destroying? She would leave it all in cinders. They wanted to protect? She would destroy. She would burn the world around them, take every last thing until they were all that was left. And then she would leave them, alone in a world without sound or light.

Think we can call the poll at this point. Results: 1. Would you support the new world plot proposed by Fatebreaker? Yes - 16 No - 0 2. How long should the plot last 1 Era - 1 2 Eras - 15 3+ Eras (If possible please explain) - 0 N/A - 0 3. When should this plot start? Era 4 - 7 Era 5 - 6 Era 6 or later - 2 N/A - 1 Unanimous approval that the plot should happen at some point (Nicely done @Fatebreaker), general consensus on a 2-era long plot. Some contention around whether the plot should start in era 4 or 5, I think we may be able to compromise a bit by having it take a background role in era 4, as @MetaTerminal suggested, with another main plot at the fore acting as something of a distraction. Maybe a small number of characters involved and actually aware of what the DA is planning, some espionage and counterespionage activities going on to try to work out what is actually happening but the main focus of most characters will be on a different main plot. And then Era 5 for when the change actually takes effect and the plot comes to the fore. Thoughts? Anyone strongly opposed to that or has an alternative suggestion?

Laurelai looked up only to see Lita looking in a different direction, as was everyone else. She followed their line of sights and saw a new figure that had entered the Alley, the one from TUBA who had been at the meeting earlier. She regretted again her lack of any powers that would aid in perception, being the last to notice someone who could hav ebeen spying on them was not something she enjoyed. But moments later she forgot her irritation at herself, the wind picked up in the Alley, pulling even more cool air in towards them. The Alleystorm had finally hit, bringing with it a surge of power that infused any Invested object or being. Laurelai felt the Dor suddenly blazing within her veins, felt the pressure of it trying to escape. She wondered if this was how Elantrians felt, she'd met a few of those, bodies aglow with radiant energy. If she tried to Forge something during the Storm would she look like that as well? But she wouldn't, that was something she'd promised herself long ago, ever since she'd understood her Bane she'd ensured that she never Forged anything during the Storm. Even on a regular day, she'd accidentally blown things up before. If that Investiture surged out of her during an Alleystorm she feared that she might not survive the experience. She looked towards Lita, watched her reaction as the Storm flooded over them. She seemed to be twitching a lot, but that was probably just the increased sensation. Laurelai imagined that having this cold wind suddenly feel fifty times more sharp and biting would probably cause her to flinch a little as well. Is everything okay? She sent to Lita, best to check up to be sure. She didn't know how Tineyes would react in the Storm but perhaps they should try to find somewhere indoors at least. @ZincAboutIt ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Her talons curled into a tight ball, muscles tensing at the sudden pain that had invaded her. Her entire body was locked, paralyzed by the pain and the mental force that accompanied it. Dimly she felt a sudden pressure against her side and one of her wings, the ground possibly. The idea that she would be brought to the ground by another was something that would usually incite her to a murderous rage on its own, but right now she barely even noticed it. She fought back against the piercing sensation, tried to use her own mind to blunt its force, to turn it back. I rule, I do not serve. Her mind tried to burn the force away, but she had no fire here. I hunt, I do not flee. She tried to chase the force back along whatever path it had travelled, but all her speed meant nothing in this place. I live, I do not die. She hurled her mind against the pain, trying to break it beneath her as she had that building, but her mind had no weight with which to crush it. I.... I- Darkness claimed her vision entirely as the pain pierced through her entirely, and she felt the last wall of resistance shatter before it. @I think I am here.

Her keen eyes watched the figure below, watched the golden flames that surrounded it, beginning to swirl in the winds of the Storm that had finally reached them. The figure rose above the ground, taking to the skies in truth rather than pretense now, and she felt a swell of excitement. Excitement that turned to surprise as the figure suddenly blurred, the air and ground exploding around them as they shot skywards towards her. Fast. Her eyes struggled to keep up with the figure, and she knew that if she so much as blinked she would lose track of it entirely. The excitement in her eyes stoked into a fire of passion as she flashed groundwards in response, both figures bound on a collision course towards each other. Suddenly she felt her gut wrench as something seemed to slam into her, not anything physical but she felt the sudden pressure all the same. Felt her interest in this hunt pale in comparison to a sudden burning interest in what else she might hunt outside of the city. Not now. She snarled back. This hunt has yet to finish. She tried to force the unnatural sensation from her mind, recognizing the influence that was trying to manipulate her. But even as her mind tried to snap back to the hunt, she realized that she'd lost track of her quarry entirely, and then even that thought was gone as she felt the pressure against her increase still farther. This was no wide-spread wave pushing against her mind. This was a targeted attack. The Enemy was watching from somewhere, using its hated abilities to try to direct her out and away from this city. Away from them. The pressure pierced deep within her mind, becoming pain all too quickly as it seemed to shred apart the defense that she was usually afforded against such attacks. She was used to pain, but this was different, the pain didn't stop, didn't heal like usual. It pierced deeper and deeper until she had to close her eyes to try to hold it back. She let out another loud screech, this time in pure pain as the invasion into her mind continued. She could already feel the driving impulse to leave the city growing stronger, strong enough to overcome her natural instinct. But she could not obey even that impulse right now, her wings folded in as she began to fall towards the ground, eyes still twisted shut in pain and discomfort. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it! She raged fiercely against the pain as well as the enemy that was the source of it, she'd already lost sensation over her body, unsure if she'd already collided with the other figure, or perhaps even fallen to the ground in a disgraced heap. All she knew was that there was pain, and pressure, and she needed it to stop. @kenod @I think I am here.

Whisper silently watched the woman vanish down the Alley, transported towards her final destination. The voices continued to whisper for a few more seconds before she finally dismissed the Lightweaving that had maintained them. The crease in her brow faded as she no longer needed to maintain the concentration required. Sounds had always been more difficult than images to her, especially if it had to come from somewhere else. Anything loud was particularly hard, so she usually stuck to quiet voices. Thankfully as a result of the experiments from her childhood she did have quite a capacity for complexity in her Lightweaving, more than most could maintain. But it was still taxing, especially after she'd been doing it so frequently today. She hoped that woman survived, she hated for preparations to go to waste. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Voidus watched the collapse of the building, waiting in case something unintended came out, but so far it seemed to be safe. The Phoenix had already crushed most of it to rubble, and now what looked to be another was following suit, burning what remained. The presence of that second one was somewhat concerning, but it could be dealt with later if it didn't take care of itself. For now it seemed to be acting in accordance with their plans anyway so he saw no need to interfere. Perhaps they could capture it afterwards, it may prove to be interesting for study. He twisted suddenly as he felt the Alley they stood in shift once more, it was likely just some of Macs department heading out to evacuate people. But given that one abomination was already loose in the city, it seemed appropriate to be cautious of any others that might be around. But what came out from the Alley was neither a Denizen nor an abomination. Instead he saw the same woman from TUBA that he'd met twice already today. "An interesting arrival." He commented drily as they stepped into the Alley. "Though it seemed you trespassed in order to travel here." That she had survived Alleytravelling without assistance at all was somewhat impressive, but she didn't even seem to be wounded. There was an interesting story to be had there, though given her glances towards the sky he doubted they would get to hear it anytime soon. Likely she would wish for them to intervene, or possibly intended to blame them for it all. Either way it seemed another headache was brewing. @ZincAboutIt @AonEne

Whisper nodded and began moving once again, they were almost there now anyway. She went back to writing in her book, brow furrowing a little in concentration. "They leave." The voices began again. "Will they return?" "No, they die." "All things die." "This one dies soon." "Many will die soon." The voices began to chuckle once more. The Alley shifted once more around them, the voices still whispered from the walls but grew a little fainter. Ahead the Alley continued straight, with no further twists or side passages. Whisper stopped her passage and turned around towards the woman. She ripped the page out of the book before holding it out, her other hand pointing further down the Alley. It was only a short distance before this Alley would join with the one outside of Plasmacore, but she didn't have any particular inclination to travel all the way out. A burning and likely destroyed city was not an appealing destination.

Whisper hesitated mid-step, her pen paused in its writing as she looked back again, tilting her head to one side and raising an eyebrow towards the Woman. Did she wish to speak with the voices? "You have secrets" "Your secrets" "Others' secrets" "We have secrets too" "Many secrets." Whisper didn't pay any attention to the voices, she simply hesitated and silently asked the woman if they should wait here. "Secrets that were" The voices began again. "That are." "That will be." The voices devolved into soft laughter, only a few at first but soon it seemed to be a hundred different voices all laughing quietly before they suddenly all stopped. @AonEne

Whisper continued to ignore the voices as they walked, she pulled out a small book and pen, though there didn't seem to be any obvious pockets which could have hidden such items in her clothes, and began writing something down on one of the pages. The voices grew a little louder around them, some becoming more distinct. They overlapped with each other as they spilled out into the Alley, echoing off of the walls to add yet another layer of sound. "Unwelcome." "Get them out." "They hide." "They deceive." "Secrets. They have secrets." "Give us their secrets." She continued to write as they entered into another Alley, almost at their destination now. Whisper glanced behind her, making sure the woman was still following, giving her a small nod of approval when she saw that they were. @AonEne

Whisper nodded, beckoning with one hand as she turned around and began walking further down the Alley. She stuck close to the wall as they moved, always best to keep something solid nearby, and the shadows tended to be a little thicker around them, easier to hide in. She took a left down a nearby passageway, unsure if it had already been there or not, but it made an easier jumping off point for a new path, one that was a little safer and shorter. Quiet voices began to start up as she turned the corner, they were indistinct, impossible to tell if they were even speaking a language at all let alone what words they may have been. But they added a soft background noise to counterpoint the soft sound of her footfalls against the stone. @AonEne

Whisper paused, keeping her distance once she saw the woman leaning back a little. Still cautious, that was probably for the best. If they lacked even that level of caution while travelling through the Alleys inexperienced then they wouldn't survive long enough to be useful anyway. She nodded to the question. eyes now staying fixed on the woman's. This would be a lot easier if more people knew Alleycant. She understood the need for it to remain secretive from others, that was the entire point after all. But it was such an efficient means of communication for her, gestures and nods could only get one so far in conversation. She pointed to herself purposefully and then held up two fingers, hoping the woman would catch her meaning. Four minutes faster and around 100% less likely to result in your premature death.

Whisper gave the woman a curious look over when she spotted her. She seemed anxious certainly, perhaps a little afraid? Enough caution to keep her distance. But she still asked Whisper a question, so she couldn't be that afraid yet. Whisper looked down the Alley the woman was travelling in, trying to gauge the distance of the path that had been constructed. Around 6 minutes or so? Could probably make it in 3 but she'd need to run for that. In most of the Alleys, running was a bad idea. Sometimes it was the only option you had, but running was noisy. And noise attracted... things. She held up 6 fingers towards the woman, but didn't bother smiling as she normally would when playing the helpful and innocent street urchin. They were in the Alleys, any reasonable person would be cautious of a small child wandering alone through here, trying to act innocent would only make it even more suspicious. She took a few small steps forward, testing how the woman would react. @AonEne ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Her talons raked straight through the simple flesh, there wasn't even time for a counterattack before the figure was hurled groundward. She was a little disappointed that there hadn't been more to it, that she hadn't been able to enjoy herself for longer. But the storm was upon them now, there was no more time to play around. She gave a slight nod of her head towards the ground, it had put up something of a resistance at least. They had Lived together for a short while, so she gave her thanks before beginning to bank towards where the Enemy had last been spotted. She almost missed the first flash of light, dismissing it as more buildings catching alight from her passage. But this was a brighter flame than any building burned with. And not the dark purplish flames that the Rival had given off either. She slowed her pursuit long enough to search the ground below, just as the flames suddenly magnified further, impacting with the ground and sending up a hail of fire a debris. A golden white flame blanketed the streets and in the center a figure slowly rose back up. It appeared different again that when had thrown it to the ground, but it was unmistakably the same creature as the one she called the Pretender. And now it seemed that it was pretending to be her. The figure on the ground stood back up, golden flames licking the ground around it and blasting rock and stone upwards in a very familiar display, she had done the same thing to the Enemy of Stone less than a minute ago after all. The figure raised a great scream as it finally reached its feet, staring back at her. It was a good scream, not the meaningless babble of noises that the creatures on the ground usually made, nor entirely a scream of pain. It was a scream of life, a scream meant to challenge those who heard it. So she raised a screech in response, weathering the hail of stone that flew towards her, and bursting back alight into the same golden flames. She liked this Enemy. @kenod

She watched the Pretender soar up towards her, they were making use of flames rather than air to fly, bursts flying from beneath them to push them upwards and towards her in a suicidal dash. Inefficient. But brave. She turned to face them fully, she would give them her attention fully this moment in respect. But she caught a glimpse of what had overtaken the horizon, what was almost upon the city itself now. The storm had finally caught up to her. Out of time now. Her eyes turned back towards the Pretender, closing for a moment to acknowledge them. You lived well. Her talons flashed out as she uncurled them, ready to receive the oncoming foe. She made use of all of her speed to pull them up in time and slash down at the tiny figure that rocketed towards her. @kenod

Figured I should probably put up a bio for the Phoenix given everything that's going on, since some people weren't here during the SDW and the profile is buried in a PM somewhere. Name: Phoenix Abilities: Hemalurgic: Feruchemical Iron, Feruchemical brass(x10), Feruchemical gold(x10), Allomantic gold(x10), Allomantic brass(x10), Gravitation(x10), physical speed(x20). Skills: Expert Flier, very practiced with all of her abilities, Intelligent. Weaknesses: Prideful and an obsessive hunter. Very little can gain her attention while she is focused on a hunt. Hemalurgy: Has a large number of spikes, enough to be manipulated by powerful emotional Allomancy, but has stability spikes to combat this weakness to some degree. Physical characteristics: An enormous bird with large, amber eyes and reddish-gold feathers which burst into flame while she is utilizing her abilities. Her figure is often hidden entirely behind flames while she is in a serious battle. Home planet: Unknown Guild: Created by the DA, but is not a part of the Guild Backstory: One of the few unique creations in the DA, the Phoenix has yet to be replicated beyond a single specimen. She was given a cave in a mountain near the Alleycity as a roost, where she slept for a number of years before finally being awoken during the Seven Days War by an immense Rioting. She attacked the city, destroying large sections of it and killing a number of fighters from the war, including Rashan who was the first that she ever dubbed the Enemy. Many years later she was called to the Oasis city when Max performed a large scale Rioting there, she believed him to be the return of her Enemy and attacked the city, eventually breaking the barrier down completely and spreading destruction before finally leaving, unable to find her Enemy.

The small purple flames continued to fly in from around her, but she paid them no mind. Even if they hit her they would do no lasting damage. This Pretender would learn its mistake of challenging her if it thought this would be enough. She twisted again, sending a spiral of flame out from her body as they flew. Several buildings ignited from the passage of the flames, but the Pretender dropped out of the way, changing once more. She watched the figure carefully but did not slow, if the Pretender could not even keep pace with her at this speed then it wouldn't be worth the trouble of burning. First sky, then fire. What form will you challenge me with next? She wondered. A hint of excitement bubbling up through the rage. New flames burst out below as the figure rocketed back into the air, its form had certainly changed, but it still reeked of the Flame. Perhaps it thought it was more powerful this way? But that would still not be enough to challenge her. She locked eyes with theirs and dimmed the flow of her own flames down. Enough that her body would be visible without difficulty. Try your best. I accept the challenge. She would endure anything that this Pretender could produce, and then it would submit or it would be destroyed with all the rest.

Laurelai stared at Lita, it took her a while for the words to sink in, for the situation to sink in. The creature that had destroyed half the city two decades ago had returned, was destroying the city once more. And here they stood having a polite conversation. It just seemed too surreal to be real, for a moment she thought she was midway through a bad and particularly unlikely Forgery. But she wasn't, this was reality. The creature that had orphaned her and many others was taking lives the way a farmer reaped a field of wheat. And she was doing nothing to stop it, could do nothing to stop it. Still feeling a little strange she turned towards Lita and gave an awkward and uncertain smile. "Well." She began, licking her dried and cracked lips. "Even if it's destroyed I don't plan on letting that stop us." She tapped the ground with her foot, it wasn't entirely necessary but sometimes gestures like that felt like they helped. And the circle of stone that Lita had blackened returned to pristine condition once more. Is that all you can do? Fix a place to drink once the city is destroyed? Shouldn't you be trying to help people? Heal them at least? Her eyes darted towards the mouth of the Alley, towards the faint sounds of screaming she could hear in the distance. But she made no move towards them. Maybe in some other life she could have been brave enough to try and help, but not in this one. And she was not interested in changing herself into that other life just so that she could feel good about herself in the moments before she was incinerated. @ZincAboutIt --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The two legged one who pretended to claim the skies darted out from beneath her as she dove, something about them seemed different as they darted out of the way, but they were not an Enemy, not yet. Her eyes shifted towards the Enemy of Stone, it was the only thing that mattered right now, that was the principle of her hunt. The principle of life. When something was an enemy that meant it died, and nothing else mattered until that happened. Her weight-enhanced body slammed into the building, and she felt the concrete shatter beneath her, the metal reinforcements melted and warped as her mass slowly compressed it all down. A spray of dust and flame sprang up around the building as she crashed through one floor after the next before finally spreading her wings once again and restoring her body to its usual lightened form. The building lay crumbled beneath her, a mass of indistinguishable parts. But even that was not enough to satisfy her, she would burn it until only ash remained. No, she would burn it further until not even ash was left, she would remove its very existence from this world. But it was not the only Enemy she faced today, there was still another, elsewhere in the city. She'd never had two Enemies at once before, she didn't know what to do. Did she finish this one for good or chase the other as well? The other Enemy had already returned once before when she'd thought it dead, could she allow this one to do the same? But what if she stayed to finish this Enemy and the other escaped once again? Enemies could not be allowed to escape. The joy of having another Enemy to contend with still was matched only by her frustration and confusion at how to handle them. Her flames flared bright once again as she spun around in midair, wings flaring out to catch pieces of the building and knock them aside. Even this brief contact was enough to cause the stone to begin glowing at the edges as they were thrust out and over the city. And then the chucks of concrete and metal began to descend again in a fiery shower. You may finish this one. She sent towards her Rival in the air. I hunt the other Enemy. She loathed sharing her Enemy with another, but there were two enemies now, that meant she needed two hunters. She gathered herself to pursue when she saw a collection of purple balls of fire appear. She would have attributed them to her Rival, but these were on the wrong side, and behind them, arms thrust forward, was the one who had Pretended to the skies. Rushing towards her once more. First the Skies and now the Flame. Does this Pretender know no shame? She screeched towards them once more, altering her course slightly. Her pride would not allow her to let this Pretender continue to live, Enemy or no. So she dove forwards, ignoring the flames that screeched towards her and matching them with her own. @kenod

She felt the force begin to give underneath her, the dark flames from the Rival joined with hers and assaulted the barrier. The air shimmered around them both from the combined heat and the streets below began to blacken and char. With a finally loud screech she snapped her wings back out, and pulled herself upward on the updraft of flames just as the barrier shattered entirely. The flames that had gathered over the surface began to spill in and there was a sudden storm of winds as the incredibly hot air from the outside mingled with the cooler air that had been kept within. Within that wind one blast of air seemed to fly straight towards her, catching in her wings and trying to lift her up, push her away from the building. The flames around her soared up and back, deflected from the building and into the sky, her feathers streamed backwards, seemingly anxious to rejoin with the flames as the headwind slowly lifted her back. Her eyes snapped to a point on the roof, gazing at it with predatory rage. Even lightened as she was few ordinary winds had the power to lift her enormous body off the ground entirely, this was something else. This was another plan from one of the two-legged creatures that scurried about, trying to stop her from taking what was hers. Her eyes caught one figure with arms raised, eyes staring challengingly back towards her, wind blasted forwards from the figure as it strained to push her back. There was something different about this one, it didn't feel like one who crawled, but neither did it entirely feel like one who soared. Pretender. Not a true child of the sky, unworthy to share the skies and yet it seeks to take them. The fire within her burst into even more fiery brilliance as she stared back. If this Pretender opposed her then that was simply one more reason to destroy the enemy of stone which supported them. There were many enemies today, so much life to enjoy. She began to draw more weight, stabilizing herself in the gale that tried to push her back, she fought her way back towards the building, twisting to find favourable winds in the storm of them that had arisen. Finally she came to a position directly above the building, the winds still fought to push her skyward but that didn't matter any more. Her wings folded in, removing the purchase the winds held on her as she pulled even more weight in and began to plummet towards the ground, talons outstretched and ready to tear the enemy of stone to pieces. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The heat in the alley intensified as the Phoenix assaulted the PlasmaCore building. They were at enough of a distance that it wouldn't cause any harm at least, but it was far from comfortable. Voidus scanned the skies, tracking the Phoenix as it assaulted the barrier around the PlasmaCore building. Stopping it was not impossible, but emotional Allomancy had not been something he'd been expecting to need today. Any other methods would likely destroy the building anyway, or expend resources that it would be wiser to conserve for the time being. They were planning on destroying the Vortex anyway, would it be so troublesome for the Phoenix to do it for them? It appeared that someone else had summoned the creature, so they were not exactly reneging on their agreement to avoid using abominations. Perhaps it would do the people of the city some good to be reminded of what the DA could unleash if they were actually intent on destroying them. He soulcast the nearby air into a cooler breeze, fighting against the encroaching heat before answering Lita's question. "Now we wait." He replied. "If they want to poke the hornets nest then they can try to deal with the consequences themselves. Our only agreement was regarding the Vortex." It may even prove to be an opportunity to see what kind of trump cards the other guilds might play in this situation. @ZincAboutIt --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whisper crept through the Alleys, eyes alert for any danger. She'd sown chaos among a number of groups of people throughout the city, sowing some seeds that she could hopefully harvest later. But it had been a long day, and she had no Pewter or Stormlight to push back against her bodies lethargy. And as soon as she'd seen the light of the Phoenix descending upon the city she'd realized it was time to head home. Hopefully at least some of those she'd spoken with would survive, it would have been a shame for that effort to have been wasted. She began reaching for another Alley, trying to pick as safe a path as she could when she felt a sudden writhing. Alleys slipping chaotically into place without the usual care or caution. The Alleys made a clear path, but it was neither safe nor exactly straightforward, likely to doom whoever trod upon it. But this chaotic placement... either someone wished to die, or someone who was not experienced was trying to Alleytravel. Could be an opportunity, another seed to plant. If I cut them off before they reach 639 then that should minimize danger. After weighing her options she began to shift the Alleys once more, connecting her own path with the other. At the same time she began to Lightweave again, adopting one of her usual disguises. Her hair grew into a long, dirty blonde tangle, smudges of dirt and city grime began to appear over her clothes as they shifted to the rags worn by the cities poorest children. She stepped into the next Alley, curious to see what she would find. @AonEne

Seems most people have voted at this point and poll is pretty decisive. Timeskip for next era will be a short timeskip, will tentatively say 6 months at this point unless anyone has any reason for it to be different. Should be short enough that lingering side threads can just lag a bit behind time wise without too much consequence. Results: What kind of Timeskip would you like to see next era? No timeskip / very short timeskip (1-30 days after end of era) - 3 Short timeskip (2-12 months after end of era) - 9 Mid length timeskip (2-5 years) - 3 Long timeskip (5-20 years) - 2 Very long timeskip (20-100 years) - 0 Far distant future (>100 years) - 0 New poll concerns the plot proposal mentioned here: Discussion has clarified a few more points since then.

She'd seen no sign of the enemy that walked, but the enemy of stone still stood tall. It still tried to rise into the skies and claim what was hers, still taunted her with its existence, fueling the rage that she continued to feel towards it. The enemy that walked could be dealt with later, she would find it eventually. But she already knew where this one lay. Another great beat of her wings sent her careening towards it, talons spread before her and heat spilling from her to melt whatever her talons could not break. She lightened herself to start with, enough that her wings could keep her aloft and moving. But once she'd built up enough momentum she reversed that magic, draining the metal within her to become even heavier than a creature of her size would normally be. She thought about using the storm as well, but that was best saved for later. She would use the metal for now. She soared across the city with blinding speed, ready to tear the center of the building apart and burn whatever remained. But just an instant before she reached the building she felt something else, a sudden force sprung into existence, pushing back as her weight carried her forwards. She saw a spiderweb of light appear beneath her talons and outlining the shape of a large dome, surrounding the building. The same as then. Her mind flashed back to the last time she had felt the enemy, hiding within a different city and protected by a dome of energy. That time it had been the enemy that walked, but it appeared that this enemy of stone used the same tactic. All the more reason to burn it. She had crushed her own body in this first attack, but before she could even begin to fall her bones had already snapped back into place, bruises and ruptured tendons had mended as though they were never there. She hovered over the barrier, perfect once more. Amber eyes narrowed towards the dome as she stretched out her talons, ready to try another attack. She received a sudden response from one of the connections she still heard. Not the Rival who still flew with her, one of the others, a walker and possibly a Kindred. Found. Her eyes lit up with glee at the message. Both enemies lay within her grasp. She could end them both and then burn the city to ensure that neither of them came back again. Hold it. She sent back. This enemy will burn soon, and then that one will join it. She moved a little higher towards the peak of the dome that surrounded this building and then let herself drop ontop of it, perching atop the force that continued to try to repel her. Her head cocked to one side as she regarded the light that spread out beneath her, and her talons flexed atop the shield attempting to dig through with sheer force. But that did not seem to be enough. Burn. Her flames flashed white once more as she pulled on her stores of accumulated heat. A sudden updraft was generated as the air became superheated and rose, new air rushing in to replace it. She had to fold her wings in to prevent from being pulled back into the skies, but she stood firm, talons still scratching against the shield, trying to find a gap that she could grip onto. But still the shield resisted. Burn. She commanded again, beak clacking momentarily in irritation at its refusal to obey. The flames spread out further still, spilling across the dome and down the sides towards the streets below.

Laurelai gasped as she felt the pressure suddenly let up, she had felt her mind on the point of breaking under it if it had continued for much longer. Whatever that was had been no ordinary Soother, not to get past two stability spikes and also affect such a wide area. She still felt deadened by it, the pressure was gone but its effects remained to some degree even now. She struggled to muster up even a small amount of anger towards it, but all she could feel was fear. No, nothing controls me but me. Emotions are just a distraction, clouding logical thinking and rational decision making. Allomancy or no I should be better than this! She straightened up, struggling to regain the breath that she'd lost when the Soothing hit. Tried to regain her composure. That was when her mind finally processed what would happen, and she heard KanMien confirm her suspicions a moment later. "Phoenix." The giant creature that had razed half the city during the seven day war, probably killed thousands in its passage. It had arrived inexplicably in the middle of the war and then left just as suddenly after a huge explosion in the sky. Reports were mixed but a number of powerful figures met their deaths at the hands of the Phoenix, people far more powerful than she was. It was one of the DAs unique creations, creatures that only existed as a single specimen. Irreplacable and unable to be duplicated. She'd seen records of a number of them, but the Phoenix had always been the one that interested her the most. After all, it was the Phoenix that had burned her house down when she was a child, the Phoenix that had made her an orphan like it had so many others. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sudden shift in emotion caught Voidus by surprise, emotional Allomancy was a power that the Phoenix possessed but not one it made much use of. Not under ordinary circumstances anyway. The force was not enough to cause any real concern, but he raised a Coppercloud to be safe. It was an ability that most who stayed in the DA for long managed to acquire, a failsafe against the inherent weaknesses of Hemalurgy. Stability spikes helped, but they could only mitigate so much. Copper was usually safer. But the question is why is that necessary? His eyes veered upwards once more catching a flash of red and orange as it past overhead, accompanied by a fresh wave of heat on the air. It didn't seem to be lingering here at least, it was heading towards something. But what? What had attracted its attention? The only thing of note in that direction would be... "Plasmacore?" He asked, turning and seeing Mac and the Stranger arriving at the same conclusion. With a start he recalled that they were not alone and his head snapped towards Laurelai, eyes widening for a moment before he saw her. She was still standing, and seemed focused enough that no influence had slipped in through her spikes. But she was breathing rapidly and pale, clearly she'd felt the emotional impact at the least and that had been enough to take the wind out of her. Voidus' eyes narrowed as he glanced towards the Phoenix once more. The air had been almost hot enough to burn moments ago, but now there seemed to be a sudden chill surrounding him. @Sorana

Definitely agree that they should still exist in some aspect at least, personally I would like to explore the possibilities involved with the actual creation of the guilds in-world to really flesh them out, because while there is a lot of characterisation of the guilds OOC I do feel like they're all a little underdeveloped in-world but ultimately the exact nature of the changes would be a communal discussion. I hadn't even thought of that angle but yeah that's a really good point. I expect that the depowering of the guilds would almost certainly be reverted at the end of the era, I think the goal would be more around trying to explore the guilds from a different viewpoint rather than undoing what they've done. I see it as the same principle as a character, yes you can have an OP character who is characterized in an interesting way, but one of the most interesting questions you could ask about such a character is 'who were they before they gained this power?' I'd be interested in using it as an opportunity to make a pseudo-origin story for the guilds.

Not quite sure what you mean here, you could RP whatever you wanted, either old characters or new. Allows those who wanted a timeskip so they could RP their kids to do so without needing everyone else to either abandon or significantly change their existing characters. So it would be over two eras, the first of which would be a pretty standard plot as far as they go, similar to SDW. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about another plot based around rampaging abominations that need to be dealt with but at its core all it needs to be is a distraction so we could workshop and change things around a bit. That era would be fairly similar to previous eras. The one after that would be post-spiking, so everyone would have had an era to set characters up as they want to. Would still be across multiple threads, probably more spread out than we are at the moment to be honest since I imagine it would open up the possibilities for a lot of smaller plots. The main plot would only be for those who want to be involved in it, it wouldn't be a super obvious city-ending threat like the SDW or Plasmacore, just some people remembering the old world and potentially wanting it back, while others may want to stop them. It'd essentially be a PvP driven main plot, not a whole lot of oversight to drive it.

The Stranger would be the only one from the DA with any appreciable level of power compared to what exists currently, and the entire goal would be around keeping this going, not trying to take over the world or anything. And as Snip mentioned, that's not a new problem, the DA has always been OP compared to everything else. Every era we've come up with some justification for why they're not getting involved in things but it is going to be getting more and more difficult over time. On a personal level I would really enjoy a plot where I didn't have to worry about keeping the DA/Voidus from overshadowing things. One of the things I really liked about this when FB pitched it was that it's essentially a chance to create a huge Fanfic which can become selectively canonical at the end or be easily retconned. People could remember things from both realities so players don't need to remember everything that was real vs. what wasn't, reality could be restored patchily or in its entirety so the parts that people wanted to be permanent could be permanent, others could be less permanent. This would also be an option for people to change characters around if they wanted to, alter powersets without needing to resort to Hemalurgy, etc. I think it's safe to say that at least some of it would be undone at the end, how much would be up to how the RP goes and community decisions as always. That was my thinking here as well, especially given the plot Sorana has posted it feels to me that the general consensus is that we're moving away from the early days of the Alleyverse being all about OOC spying and infiltration and the guilds and are moving into a more fully fleshed out world with players that trust each other. Lowering the power of the guilds allows us to give them enemies outside of just other guilds or swarms of abominations. But even the guild warfare would be more interesting, TUBA and the DA could actually have conflicts without TUBA needing to worry about giant Kaijuu being unleashed and destroying the world. The GBs could actually try to assassinate people again. Smaller groups of people from outside the guilds could form with their own interests and actually provide meaningful opposition because characters couldn't just summon a guild army to take care of it. Could even go a step further and say that at the start of the era the guilds aren't yet established at all, could give a chance to actually RP the creation of guilds, recruiting, laying out claims throughout the city. Explore the actual reasoning behind why characters would join these guilds, if they would join at all, and have a bunch of newcomers all signing up at the same time, easy way to start scenes for characters to interact with each other on a personal level rather than just missions and fighting.