January Intro: I Know the Winter's Getting Colder

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: JANUARY

Who: Everyone!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: January 5th and onward
Where: Chol and surrounding waters
Warnings: Mark as needed!

The Overview: New Lands
New arrivals will not be waking in the typical hub of activity; instead, they will find themselves coming to on the small island of Chol. While the island's fringes are little more than an unforgiving spread of craggy, canyon-like rock and coastal cliffs, the island dips down to form a fertile divot of edenic woodland in its center. The people living there will even be helpful and polite to you, should you inquire after them.

All new arrivals will additionally awake with knapsacks, their names stitched to the front. The contents of said knapsacks can all be found in your acceptance notices!

Icebreaker: This is the Winter of Our Youth
Unless you're someone with a fondness for the cold, you'll undoubtedly be waking with more than a slight chill in your bones. The appearance of the island of Chol has signaled a coming event of great import in LifeAftr, and unfortunately, the signs of that event's approach have already been set in motion. The temperature has begun to drop as the sun's rays begin to die, faster and faster, leading to an impressive cold snap in the ocean waters - particularly those surrounding Chol.

It is for that reason that you won't be waking on Chol, per se. Instead, you'll be waking on a thick crust of ice that's mantled itself over the ocean waters, freezing solid enough to bear your weight...for the most part. The ice won't hold forever; it isn't meant to. If you happen to be particularly vivacious in your waking, or especially active in general, thick cracks will start to spiderweb out from underneath those impacts with low, warning chunks and wrenches of fracturing ice. Better hurry to land soon, unless you care to take a little dip into those freezing cold ocean waters.

Mainland: When We Pick Over the Past
Should you make it to the land of Chol, braving the iced-over waters surrounding its craggy shores, you'll encounter something at least as startling - the people who have elected to set up a rudimentary encampment upon its lands. While a bit on the scalier side, the Jormun are nonetheless allied to you land-dwellers, and will welcome you to the island. Most will be preoccupied with preparations for an approaching siege, but many will comment idly that the cold is a sign of the coming battle. Some may point you to their leader, known to most as Munin, but others will venture hospitality based on the actions of those land-dwellers that came before you, who were successful in allying themselves to this sea-dwelling people.

Those who might have braved the cold a little too fiercely will quickly be offered some rather rough blankets - perhaps more on par with burlap sacks in terms of texture - as well as a hot brew that the Jormun call brrkshavak. Heated to a boil just prior to being served, the drink will be more than adequate in warming your weary bones, though it bodes mentioning that it is both scalding hot and made with a fleshy kind of undersea herb that is akin to crushed chili pepper in taste.

It'll warm you up, all right.

---

As a final note to those who participated in the Test Drive Meme, bear in mind that those threads, if all parties involved would like, can be game canon in the form of dream-like memories involving a place very much like this one, though the layout is considerably different.

---

Feeling a tad adrift? Make sure to check the Locations Page, which has details regarding the starting areas and a handy map for those who feel better with a bird's eye view!

---

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[ratsinadaze]

S'not always this cold, don't worry.

[The spice is making her nose run a bit and she sniffs absently, nodding as the Jormun she was talking to excuses themselves to continue making preparations. Gobbet's hand wanders to her hip where she strokes the head of another rat, this one a snowy white.]

Welcome to Chol. One of...what are we up to, three islands now? You want to figure things out for yourself or would you like a little rundown on the situation?

[It's not like she has a solid handle on it herself, but she's been here long enough to see the pattern and make some assumptions. The least she can do is offer a bit of knowledge to the newbies.]

[lightlessfuture]

[ The knight's gaze is drawn by so much motion happening simultaneously, though they focus back on Gobbet's face soon enough. It's impossible for them not to turn their head to look at the new rat for a little while, though.

When they turn their attention back to Gobbet, they stare intently for a long moment, as if trying to puzzle something out. How to convey what's caught their attention without words? Eventually they make a curving motion where a mouth on their face would be, and then stick their hands up on either side afterwards. Then they nod, pleased.

Apparently they are trying to convey that they like her teeth. How well this gets across is debatable.

(They do, at the very least, nod to convey that more information would be nice, too.) ]

[ratsinadaze]

[She's uh. She's never really spoken to a mute person before. The concept is a little foreign and it doesn't occur to her at first that the creature isn't just refusing to talk, but can't. Gobbet arches an eyebrow and is about to make a joke about mimes when she figures it out.]

Oh, uh. Can you just...not...talk? That's a dumb question to ask if you can't, though.

[The white rat squeaks and pulls back into her clothes. Gobbet's hand drops, idle. She is clearly very used to these creatures just sort of. Hanging out.]

Well either way, I'm guessing you'd like to know what's up, at least. I don't know why you're here - about once a month, the islands spit out a bunch of new people and a catastrophe happens for bonding purposes I guess. You're showing up just in time for the death of the sun, apparently.

[She's had a little time to process this and get pumped about the upcoming defense mission, so forgive her if she doesn't seemed too bothered.]

Let's see...There are some islets and a mainland where we usually live. Once this is over you'll get a chance to see everything. The rabbit in your dreams is the local god, the Storyteller. Once a month we tell them stories that we can call in for favors. I think there's some others here who have trouble talking, but they manage to relay their stories well enough so I think you'll be fine.

[Gobbet's cheeks puff out with air as she tries to think of what else might be useful to know. She can't exactly ask if they need clarification, or what they want to know.]

There's a temple on the main land that you can get to by hopping through these magical pools of water that teleport us different places. The temple is the Storyteller's and it's pretty safe and not directly on the water. So if you can't fight, you might want to camp out there for the next week or so. I can take you there if you need an escort, but you should get a weapon if you didn't show up with one, just in case. But I guess I should ask if you're the fighting type before I go assuming you'd rather sit out the upcoming hoard mode.

[lightlessfuture]

[ One headshake, for "no". They can't talk, and they tap the middle of their face-mask (???) to indicate that.

They sit and absorb information quite intently (though there's no expression on their face, they do seem to be listening quite hard), but when the question of fighting comes up, they draw their sword for Gobbet's inspection.

Though it's quite small, it gleams. It's well taken care of. And it appears to have a razor's edge. ]

[ratsinadaze]

[Gobbet looks impressed. She'd have thought something - someone - so small would be less willing to get physical. Self preservation and all that. But although it surprises her, it doesn't displease her. They'll need all the help they can get.]

[That sword also looks dope as hell, she notes.]

Nice. Looks like you've got experience with close combat then. I don't know exactly what we're up against, just that there's going to be a lot of them and they're going to keep coming for a week straight.