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.

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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.

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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!

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[catpiper]

[Instead of saying a word because the fire in her mouth has yet to quell, she starts drawing a big circle in the snow beside them with her finger and some small islands further away from the big one. The small ones have some finger doodle houses that look like they were made by a preschooler. Horrible. She's a bad artist on a good day and it turns out snow isn't the best tool to give directions with, so it's coming out extra bad.

There's that other weird island too, but she hasn't seen it with her own heathen eyes.]

It's like that.

[proficienciesouttheass]

[ A hand on his knee, he leans in to look at the...makeshift snow map thing. ]

Huh...

[ Interesting. ]

What's over there? [ He points out at the little holes she made to be houses. ]

[catpiper]

Homes. That's what those are called.

[She couldn't fit them all on the snow map. What a tragedy. She pushes her finger deep into the snow to make a house 'close up'-which is to say, she draws square with a triangle on top. Nice. Some of the shacks lacked even that, but it gets her point across.]

Like that.

[proficienciesouttheass]

Oh. Right.

[ He knows what...you know what, nevermind.

Leaning over with his hand on his knee, he scratches at his chin, looking over the map and thinking. ]

Are there other people around there, then? More fish people, or...?

[catpiper]

There are lots of people in that place. They all have kind smiles and say 'how are you?'. You'll be happy there.

[Hello, Ren is part of the new island homeowner's association? Are you sold on Enso's luxurious accommodations and neighbors yet??]

I haven't seen a fish. They're all humans and elves and cats.

[There might be a random fish-snake person there?? She has no idea.]

[proficienciesouttheass]

Oh, that sounds nice.

[ He doesn't register the elves part as weird, since...he just thinks he's somewhere else in Faerun.

Anyway, now he has an objective, after he gets what he needs from these fish people! He makes a mental checklist. ]

Guessing you're from there?

[catpiper]

I came from somewhere else, but now I'm from there-that place is where I live.

[She sounds happy about it? Like being kidnapped and whisked away to an unknown island is the best thing that could've happened to her. Yeah, she's gonna say she's from there. Maybe if she pretends it's possible, she might be able to stay.]

It's a good island.

[proficienciesouttheass]

[ Well, she doesn't seem too bothered. There must be a reason for it, he guesses. Each one to their own!]

Cool cool.

[ He looks at the makeshift map again.]

How do I, huh, go over to that there island? Are there boats?

[catpiper]

You throw a flower into the water and you get to go home-that's how it is.

[Doesn't that make The Most Sense Mango Icesides? Probably not. At the residual fire in her mouth is starting to wear off, making it easier to talk without fistfuls of snow against her face.]

I can show you.

[proficienciesouttheass]

Oh, yeah, that'd be awesome. Thanks.

[ Adding another empty bowl of Fire Soup to the pile, time to follow a little girl to a pond and to teleport into another island using a flower.]

[catpiper]

[That's right.

Follow her, mango magnus mighty burnsides, to the flower pit so she can show you a whole new world, shining shimmering splendid.

And guide him she does. Get ready to live the thug island life.]

[proficienciesouttheass]

[ Nothing more badass than a bit burly dude with an ass following around a small girl through an island of snakefish people.]

So, huh...got a name?

[catpiper]

[She can be his tiny fairy guide across the island. A Navi that he never asked for, but one he sure got. Sorry about your lot in life Mango.]

I'm Ren. What's your name?

[proficienciesouttheass]

[ You know, it could be worse. She's pretty nice and helpful!]

Huh. [ A moment, as he's met someone else with that name before. Maybe it's not that rare, but, you know, when you only know one other person with that name and stuff.]

Magnus. Magnus Burnsides, the Hammer.

[catpiper]

[Sweet baby jesus that's going to be difficult to remember. Heck.]

You don't look like a tool, Magnus Magnus Burnsides the Hammer.

[He looks human!! Not like a weapon or any kind of hammer she's ever seen. And after a short pause, she quietly repeats it once more, in a desperate attempt to use the power of repetition to seal this huge name in her mind.]

Magnus Magnus Burnsides the Hammer. That's long.

[proficienciesouttheass]

Huh--wait, no.

Just Magnus. Full name Magnus Burnsides. The Hammer sometimes.

[catpiper]

[This isn't getting better or worse!! It's on a weird, confusing line and she isn't sure what to make of his 20 names. Do other people live this way? Is it like -chan? Magnus-chan, the hammer? Are there different situations that warrant a name change? ]

Is this a 'sometimes'? Do you want to be The Hammer right now?

[proficienciesouttheass]

Ah--I mean, you can just call me Magnus. That's fine.

[ What the fuck is this conversation? Guys.]

[catpiper]

Okay!

[Was that so hard?? God. Life is simple again. No Hammers or Burnsides or Magnus Magnus. It's just-]

When I see your face, I'll say 'Hello Magnus.' That's how it'll be.

[proficienciesouttheass]

Huh...yeah.

[ That was weird. But also kind of cute? But mostly really weird.]

That sounds right.

[catpiper]

[And unfortunately this weird child is going to be a permanent fixture in Magnus Magnus Burnsides The Hammer's life until the end of island time.

And off she goes towards the manapool!! Adventure Adventure!!]

The end?

[proficienciesouttheass]

[ And they will become the best of friends, clearly. One child that Magnus physically just cannot bully.

Island Time Adventure will be amazing!]