Fatebreaker

The Stranger watched as Lita's eyes went wide. Her flared tin during the spiking would make this an experience she would never forget. He'd done it a few times himself, and man did it hurt. It was no surprise that she collapsed. What was surprising was the TUBA woman stepping in. She seemed horrified, though it could have been at the use of Hemalurgy rather than the potential loss of life. He snortedin derision as she checked for a pulse. As if his placement hadn't been accurate on the molecular level. Fearing for Lita's safety was an insult to his skill, but he supposed a member of TUBA couldn't understand. Voidus stepped in immediately after and remedied the situation. The Stranger nodded approvingly as Voidus administered a vial of pewter solution to the unconscious Lita. He moved with certainty and skill, until his eyes found Laurelai. Then they were touched with a whisper of longing and regret, as soft and brief as a passing breeze. It struck the Stranger like a blow to the throat, snatching the air from him for an instant. It had been one thing when they were in a room dawdling and bandying pleasantries with the other guilds. Nothing there could have been more pressing than the presence of his kin. But here, in the midst of ongoing hemalurgy and an attack on the city, Voidus's attention wandered. Voidus possessed dedication and focus that was unmatchable, yet the very presence of Laurelai caused his focus to waver.His heart yearned. For her, for the time lost, for the time they could have had. The Stranger's eyes moved to Lita, to the new gleaming spike, to the trickle of blood that dyed her clothes the color of finality. For others, this would have been a simple upgrade, a mere enhancement. He had seen the scales in her eyes, weighing her past and future. He had felt something within her break, something that had nothing to do with muscle and tendon. The Coin had fallen to land beside her, Spiked Skull grinning up from it's now slick surface. He bent down and picked it up. It weighed heavy in his hand, as if to imply the gravity of the current situation. Had this really been her choice? Had he been pushing a young impressionable denizen on a path without giving her the chance to forge her own destiny? Had he just robbed her of creating her own Scientific path? Was he now manufacturing people as he did abominations? These were not things an Archdenizen worried about. He should forge ahead, in pursuit of knowledge and discovery. But he looked at Laurelai, and realized something. She had no idea that she was currently the safest person in the Universe. Voidus would do anything to protect her, but she was afraid of him, her own father. She feared for the safety of herself and her friend as if their lives weren't worth the price of postage. Because her father hadn't been there to tell her so, so declare her value to the world. He had been with the Stranger, forging a world. The Stranger's friendship with Voidus had cost her a family. The Stranger looked at the people around him, then at Mac. The wind tore at his dapper clothes, but could not seem to rumple them. He had held onto that core element of humanity. He still felt like a person, not an entity. A powerful person, make no mistake, but still a person. The Stranger had become a deity, or a devil, depending on who you asked. And so had Voidus. Gods had servants, followers, and worshipers. Maybe even friends, if they were very, very lucky. But never families. There was still much to be done this day, but the Stranger had much to think about. But that could wait, now was the time for business. He knelt down and placed the coin in Lita's palm, where her hand closed around it instinctively. He allowed himself a smirk. Now that she had this power, she would be even more tenacious. Good, the Alleys needed vim and vigor these days. Whatever the price had been, Lita had already paid it. She would have to deal with the consequences of her sacrifice. But she would not do so as a helpless maiden. She was a Denizen. He lifted his head to speak to Laurelai, "She's fine, just wasn't prepared for the procedure. Pulled a rookie move, flaring tin while receiving an unpgrade, likely blacked out from sheer sensory overload. We'll have her up and running in no time." He whispered softly, and his words carried a stirring power. "Now now, napping comes after we save the day. It's just a wee spike, and it wasn't even one of the more dangerous bindpoints, though our friend from TUBA here likely couldn't tell the difference. Rise and face your new reality, Little Lita." @ZincAboutIt

That’s a large motivation for the upcoming arc and the scaling back of the guilds, to allow greater interaction between individuals of different guilds.

It will take definite effort on the part of the players with DA characters to make sure there is an engageable level of interactivity outside of the Alleys.

The Stranger watched as a storm raged inside of Lita, even as the Alleystorm raged without. He saw her hunger, her brokenness, the war between what she was and what she wanted to be. She wanted power, to transform into something new. She was willing to sacrifice who she was to become something more. She was reaching her limits and was not satisfied. It was a hunger the Stranger had seen many, many times. In Research and Development many came to test limits. The limits of the mind, the body, the universe. They molded and reshaped their bodies, minds, and souls. Often once they got a taste, it consumed them. Few were recognizable in as little as a year. If they survived that long. It was what the Stranger himself did, test the limits of reality to understand the world that was rich with glorious knowledge. And with that knowledge came power. But there was an important distinction: The Stranger was after the knowledge, Lita was after the power. He could tell, even before she answered what she would choose. The hunger in her eyes was too great, and it filled her like a tempest. A small voice whispered that this could consume her. It almost gave him pause. He had never waivered in his offers to Denizens, it was they who made the choice. But out of the corner of his eye he saw Laurelai,and the earlier conversation with Voidus flashed through his head. Voidus, the greatest scientific mind the world had known, had regrets. Would Lita one day become something she couldn't reverse? Would she regret her choices from a place in which there was no returning? Did she truly understand the weight of Sacrifice? "I seek to build." Lightning flashed, reflecting off of the Coin as it spun in place. Then it froze, floating at eye level, both faces showing a skull with a spike through the left eye socket. The Stranger stared into Lita's eyes and whispered in a voice of blood and iron. "So be it." And he stepped forward and drove the spike in his left hand into Lita's torso. @ZincAboutIt @Voidus

“Yes.” She looked into his face, and he saw it. She was breaking. She probably didn’t even realize it herself, but there were cracks forming. Could she continue? They would find out. “Then I offer you a Choice. Would you have Power, or Subtlety?” The Coin shot from her hand, cutting through the air and thudding into the Stranger’s waiting palm. He caught it and it began to dance across his fingers. Then he flicked it, sending it spinning straight upwards. It reached the peak of it’s ascent and held there, still spinning as it floated. “Would you steal the secrets of the world with cunning and guile? Would you wear a thousand faces and have none of your own? Or would you tear secrets out with your bare hands from those who would keep them from you? Would you rip the truth from the hearts of your enemies?” The Coin spun faster and faster, becoming a blur. The Stranger reached within his coat and pulled out two long metal spikes, dripping with a crimson liquid. The Shadows began emerging from him, the figures sorrowful, raging, writhing in their spectral forms. Alleystorm seemed to scream with wordless fury. “This choice I offer you, but know that you will never be who you once were. Are you seeking to build upon a weakness, or are you someone seeking to hide the fact that you are weak?” His eye spike glowed, his right eye deepened, and his voice was as cold and sharp as a scalpel. @ZincAboutIt

The Stranger had watched the unfolding events with an amused expression. The Phoenix sure made for a dynamic encounter, that was for sure. The appearance of an imitation was intriguing. The timing of the Alleystorm was even more intriguing. But what held his attention at the moment were Laurelai and Lita. Laurelai was afraid. The Stranger could sense her fear and trepidation, her frustration at her inability to match the Denizens around her in terms of power. The Stranger knew she was safe, Voidus would raze the city before he let anything happen to her, yet she seemed so nervous. Lita was another story.Throughout the recent events he had been registering her emotions. The awe, the fear, the excitement. But mostly, the Hunger. She took in the goings on around her and hungered for more. More knowledge, more secrets, more power. She was glaring tin at a reckless pace, he could sense it coursing through her. She held the Coin in her hand, it’s surface glowing with a ghostly light. He turned to face her. “Tell me, Little Lita, does your Hunger still drive you?” His voice was the faintest of whispers, “Do you crave yet more?” @ZincAboutIt

Almost anything is possible. Characters could remain mostly unchanged, or they could have completely new lives. I’d say to keep the changes focused mostly on CD, as everyone trying to get new characters approved would be exhausting for the Mods, so maybe don’t add powers or abilities, but rather swap them with powers of the same level or remove powers. The idea for this arc is that most of the character changes would be up to the individual rather than plot requirements. Indeed. The idea is that the guilds would have their power greatly reduced in terms of resources and manpower. They might still have some muscle, but no one is gonna have an army.

Well, looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me! I think something everyone can work on is to start thinking about how you would want your characters to change and how you want them to stay the same. If you have questions or please feel free to ask Voidus or myself here in the chat thread, or in a pm if you’d prefer to keep it a surprise. And having another plot take the foreground for era 4 sounds great.

Most likely not, they would regain their resources and knowledge. But that’s not to say it would change in some other ways. There could be considerable conflict among the higher ups that could reshape the guild as we know it.

To clarify, this is in no way a ploy to undermine the other guilds while making the DA more powerful, my idea is for the DA to experience the exact same scaling back. The majority of the Stranger's power would be devoted to maintaining the new world, severely handicapping him. One of my main hopes for this is to allow character interactions that the current power levels of both guilds and individuals wouldn't really allow. Both halves of the plot are currently very loose, and I'm happy to work out further specifics if we decide to go through with it. What I see as the main pro of this plot would be a huge level of community collaboration. Younger guilds means more opportunities for establishing alliances and enemies. Maybe a member of the ghostbloods wakes up as a member of TUBA, or something. Another big thing this plot would do is allow a huge scaling back of the DA. They would be on nearly equal footing as the other guilds, rather than drastically OP. While I do enjoy RPing an OP character, I'd like to RP as a denizen without having to find a convoluted explanation as to why they're not using the full power available to them. I have ideas for depowered denizens, even the Stranger. It would make the guilds a lot more interactive then they currently are. Right now it's all massive armies and insane powerlevels, and it's almost impossible for there to be a meeting between the guilds without the threat of leveling most of the city. Lowering the powerlevels of the guilds will require more creative solutions and RP for interguild conflict. More subterfuge and less all out war. There are a lot of themes to explore as well, but the main one is Sacrifice. This is something I've been exploring a little with the Stranger and Lita, but it would be expanded upon immensely in the build up and aftermath. Every character would have to make some kind of sacrifice, whether they wanted to reverse the shift or keep it. I'm totally fine if this is set for an era further down the road, or if we make the first part run in the background of the next era as previously mentioned. It could start out as a sideplot and then take center stage. And the set up can take as long as we like, there's no rush. Especially if people want to have character scenes that would make the Shift all the more impactful.

I had an idea for the following eras and have work-shopped it somewhat with other members of the DA. This plot would last for at least 2 eras, the first being a set up of sorts. The main premise goes as follows: I know it’s a long shot, but I have sooo many ideas for this. We could make this hugely collaborative and let the community decide what they want changed for their characters or guilds. We could discuss how we want each character to change or stay the same. This could allow some players to have their characters age and others remain the same. Players kids could develop into new characters. Relationships could grow or regress. If the community agrees we could even have characters come back that were killed. We could talk about power level adjustment in the post spike world as well. There could be cross guild alliances or relationships, different levels of memory retention. I would want to keep this very open and collaborative so no one feels powerless or out of the loop. Both arcs are still easily changed, and we could cement those details if we as a community decide to move forward on this. It doesn't even have to be the next main plot, it could come later. This is just a loose outline. Anyway, that’s my pitch. I think it’d be a great shift for the subforum and would open up a lot of plot options and character development. This could really happen whenever, so it doesn’t have to be this next era. It can be tweaked or changed however everyone sees fit, but I think it’s doable. I'm happy to hear y'alls thoughts and input!

Whaaaat, nooo... but if I did play it, the Sisters of Battle In Godhome would be my favorite boss.

The Stranger grinned. He snapped his fingers and small tablet appeared on the table. Lines of text scrolled rapidly across the screen, making it difficult to read. The Stranger made a sweeping gesture and grinned. "Here are the terms. You are welcome to bring up negotiations and concerns, but are lawyers are quite thorough and the more time you waste the more innocent people die." He nodded towards the representatives of the other guilds with something akin to mock formality. "At each escape route I can have Steelrunners for administration, Smoker guides for increased stealth, and some general security to deal with outside interference. We can do this with unparalleled speed and efficiency, and perhaps we can even have med teams rescuing the salvageable parties. Mac is the best connected and informed person in this city, and could organize and coordinate an extremely intricate mass evacuation in his sleep. He'll probably run it and come with us to investigate the vortex, he's that good. R&D can handle the vortex, under our supervision. And I won't even bring any abominations, just little old me." His gaze bored into the occupants of the room. "Time is short, for them at least." He gesturd towards the city beyond the walls of the room. "Let's get this underway, shall we?"

The Stranger spoke up, "There is an easy way to evacuate." He reached into his coat and pulled out a copper colored spike which he placed on the table. It was an inch long and about the same thickness as a sewing needle. "This is a little something I developed a while back to allow the transport of non denizens through Alleys with minimal interference. It limits cognitive and spiritual interactivity, allowing the recipient to move unaffected by the lingering madness, as well as keep a low profile from potential predators. In addition it should also make it harder for the spren terrorizing the city to target them. This will allow us to open more hastily organized Alleys without the increased risk of personal safety. I can have R&D members at each entrance to administer the spikes as well as protect against attacks." He looked around the room with a grin. "This is the fastest and safest way for a mass evacuation. I can have teams ready in an instant. But of course, I wouldn't want to force this without your consent. Your opinions are respected*." The listeners wondered how it was possible for them to hear an asterisk, without any sound to indicate it's existence.

The Stranger raised his voice and said, "Let it be known the DA has offered to end this with speed and efficiency, but the other guilds have declined the most efficient option. Any collateral damage that results due to this decision rests on your shoulders." He turned his one-eyed gaze towards the two representatives from the other guilds that had been speaking. "So I hope you have something worth while to go off of. You are the ones who need another plan, we have no need for further strategy." He grinned almost lazily, like a well fed crocodile. "So you had better come up with some good information, or we might just opt for some topographical rearrangement." He Soulcast the nearest plate of TUBA cookies into smoke, then produced a platter of cookies from thin air, which he set on the table.

Oof, running with an open container will land you in decades of safety re-education...

The Stranger's head emerged from a nearby garbage can, a banana peel on it. "Is the coast clear? I just burned every chair I owned." He waited a moment to be safe, then stepped out of the trash, dusting himself off. He looked to his two compatriots, shaking his head. "HR showed up without so much as a warning. We've never been able to determine their place of origin or how they even got here. One thing is for sure though, they fear nothing. Not death nor pain can stop them, they are immovable in their pursuit of efficacy." He turned towards the building and assessed the investiture signatures within, identifying those present. He listened to the conversation for a moment, then said, "Doesn't sound like anything important is being discussed, should we head in or wait a moment? Also, should we all enter at once, or stagger our arrivals? We don't want to cause any heart attacks at the moment."

The Stranger immediately froze, panicked, and half shouted, “It’s for a project! I filled out the paperwork! The meeting was at a time that wasn’t conducive to my schedule! I’m already certified! No comment at this time!” His go to whenever anyone from HR spoke to him was to rattle off a list of potential responses in hopes that one of them was the right one. He then clapped loudly for no particular reason and turned himself into a lark which flew away hurriedly.

The Stranger was still processing the fact that Voidus had a daughter, when Mac arrived at the Worldspike. When Mac nonchalantly revealed the identity of said daughter, the Stranger just about fell over. How... He shook his head. Mac was the Head of The DOCI, and this was the perfect demonstration of why that was the case. The Stranger listened as Voidus and Mac spoke briefly, still thinking about Voidus’ words. We have both lost much, but he may yet lose more. And that would either break him, or turn him into a true monster. The thought chilled him, for there were few things he feared more than the destruction of his last remaining friend. He filed this information away for further consideration and turned to the task at hand. When Voidus suggested the three of them go on an outing, The Stranger grinned wolfishly. “I for one am very much in favor. I need to stretch my legs, visit the new neighbors, perhaps bring some welcome cookies.” He thought for a moment, then asked, “To be clear, this is just a scouting mission? Cause I have some lovely little surprises for when we go full disciplinarian.” @Voidus @MacThorstenson