July Intro: Upsy-Daisy!

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: JULY

Who: New arrivals, your lif᷆t̕i͗n᷅ģ f̧̞ͅr̡̦̃ḭ̅ͭe̩᷅̂n̟̣̤d̨̬̏, and you!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr, and everyone makes a new friend!
When: July 5th and onward
Where: All over Ensō
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Like a Bat Out of Hell
At this stage, the appearance of new arrivals to Ensō's shores is hardly a surprise to anyone but the arrivals themselves. Whatever mysterious force is responsible seems to have taken a vaguely nostalgic route this month, depositing the new and unconscious across the shoreline of the beach closest to the tumbled stone bastion of the Storyteller's temple. At first, that seems to be all there is to it. The arrivals stir to the smell of salt and the summer sea air, and the cycle of questions, searching, and settling begins.

For about five minutes. Perhaps ten.

Almost like an afterthought, something else shows up, plummeting straight out of the sky and landing with a veritable explosion of water some hundred feet from the shore. A large, rectangular shape breaches the surface after a few moments, bobbing, cork-like, in the foam-crested waves before ever so slowly beginning to sink into those aquamarine depths. For those familiar with such objects, it makes for a rather odd sight. That most certainly was an elevator, or you can be...fairly sure it was?

Give it another minute, and you'll be certain. The elevator streaks out from the ocean like a creature possessed. Maybe, in those split seconds prior to its approach, you'll be able to note the elevator's distinct features: a disturbingly smiling face on its doors, and a set of teeth framing a very organic mouth.

Meet Upsy, your lifting friend. In case it wasn't obvious by now, Upsy is far from a conventional elevator by any standards. What's more, Upsy has not taken to LifeAftr as well as some others. Armed with the ability to move in any direction, the rogue contraption takes no prisoners - by which we mean, they take as many prisoners as possible. Upsy proceeds to swoop across the shoreline, combing the beach in the most haphazard and patternless path possible, scooping up anyone slow enough to be caught in their maw. Once you're caught up in their jaws, it comes down to the winds of fortune, in regards to wherever Upsy proceeds to spit out their cargo. While the journey itself will be rough and...sticky, it is not inherently dangerous.

Hopefully, the same can be said for wherever you end up Ensō hosts a great deal of predators, environmental hazards, and worse. Though you could always end up belched into the ocean. Hope you can swim!

When the Metal is Hot and the Engine is Hungry
Upsy’s reign of terror isn't restricted to mere adventurers. Those with livestock or animal companions may be in for a small shock or, perhaps more likely, a very large one, when flying elevator sucks up those cuddly critters with a grin and spirits them off into the great unknown.

Though your phoenix, chocobo, or tigerlily may not be where you saw them last, you can at least be assured that they are still on Ensō. All you need to do is round them up. And if this isn't good enough news, well...at least you don't keep bludrocs.

Whether you're out searching for an animal or not, be careful traversing Ensō for the next three days. If Upsy is empty, they'll most certainly snap you up. And if they aren't? You may find anything from birds to horses spat out at you.

The velocity of these organic projectiles tends to vary. Dramatically. Upsy's reign of terror will end on the evening of July 9th. At that point, the elevator will fly off to greener pastures...and our RNG spreadsheet for potential encounters in future. Sweet dreams.

---

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

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

[braceforimpact]

"...."

Kaworu looks at Legion.

He's used to hearing voices come out of inanimate objects. That's how SEELE communicates with the outside world. Flat black monoliths, illuminated by red text: SOUND ONLY.

They're not real--or not alive, rather, but the effect is the same. The person speaking to him is nowhere physically near him. But this isn't the case here.

He can tell.

Which is... weird. That's weird. It doesn't make sense.

"What are you?" he blurts out, instead of anything remotely relevant to the topic, or tactful, or polite.

[forwearemany]

Well, Legion doesn't seem offended at least.

They raise a headflp.

"We are Legion, relict of the Geth."

[braceforimpact]

"We?" Kaworu asks, and looks around. He didn't know anyone else was here--he doesn't see them, if they are. Maybe this thing is a representative? A detachment, or something like that.

But why is it here talking to him?

[forwearemany]

Affirmative. 1,183 programs reside within this platform.

(They are a swarm intelligence. Come on it can't be that hard to guess, they're even named after a swarm of demons from the bible.)

[braceforimpact]

[This may come as a shock, but SEELE did not actually take the time to sit Kaworu down and teach him the entire Bible. Just the relevant parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls and scripture as it pertains to that and Kaworu's existence... his sole objective.

So, Angels, not Demons.]

......

[He's having a really hard time grasping what that means.... is this like the S.C. Magi System? A creation of human ingenuity...? He doesn't understand any of this. He has no idea what's going on.]

Why are you here?

[forwearemany]

(They chatter.)

Many have arrived in this location. There is no known mechanism or motive for which we are brought here.

[braceforimpact]

Oh. So it has nothing to do with me.

[That's something, anyway, and he appears to lighten up immediately.

His smile, though wide, is totally void of any deeper sentiment.]

Are all 1,183 of you here?

[It's a reasonable question: all of Lilim obviously isn't.]

[forwearemany]

Yes.

(They'd have reduced functionality otherwise.

But more importantly... headtilt.)

You believe it is possible for you to have such influence?

(Why would he have had something to do with them coming here?)

[braceforimpact]

I don't know. You reminded me that it could be, though.

[It's as honest an answer as Legion may get, even if its clarity is somewhat lacking.

He knows that this has nothing to do with SEELE's plan, at least as told to him. But not having seen the Dead Sea Scrolls himself, anything possible is... well, possible.]

Does that bother you?

[forwearemany]

(Have some confused chatter, Kaworu.)

Negative. We are merely curious as to why.

(Their headflaps lift slightly.)

[braceforimpact]

.....

[His smile fades. If this were anywhere near where he was supposed to be, this would be a sticky situation.]

It's actually against the rules to tell you. But I guess if you're not part of their plan, it doesn't matter what I say.

[Unless this 'Legion' is, but he doesn't really care if that's the case. He won't be telling them anything they don't know. He'll get in trouble for talking about it, but that's no worse than anything else... so it really doesn't matter what he does after all.]

The old men who keep me have a lot of resources at their disposal... I don't know what they do. It wouldn't surprise me if they had something like you.

[forwearemany]

(The little lights on the side of their head flash red.)

You are enslaved?

(Owned. Against the rules. The statements of their power. They believe the current sensation they are experiencing is analogous to "alarm bells".)

[braceforimpact]

[....?

Kaworu stares at Legion for a good second or two, his brows peaking gently and mouth upturned in a really inappropriate smile.]

Isn't that a strange question to ask somebody?

[forwearemany]

Perhaps.

(They'll agree that it is unusual.)

However, it is also atypical that a situation would arise in which it needed to be asked.

(Because it needed to be asked.)

[braceforimpact]

[Interesting choice of words. 'Needed' to be asked. Why would a machine 'need' to ask that?]

Is that so.

You're a very weird machine.

[forwearemany]

Self-Determination is the right of all sapient beings.

(And they will absolutely kick some ass to enforce this, if needed.)

[braceforimpact]

Oh--

[Is that all?]

Well then there's no problem.

I'm not 'sapient.'

[That was easy.]

[forwearemany]

(...

...

Headtilt.)

Elaborate.

[braceforimpact]

...

[If he must.]

Sapient is the word Lilim uses to mean intelligence like its own. The human mind. Culture and science and that kind of ability. Those are human thoughts.

[This is technically not classified information. It's still not something Kaworu was prepared to break down; anyone who needed to know this was already well aware. Or at least, that was the assumption. SEELE made a lot of assumptions, but they were well within their rights to do so.

After all, they alone had the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The next part is, however, extremely classified, and he smiles directly into the camera at the centre of Legion's 'face.']

I don't have those.

[forwearemany]

(You're going to get more headtilting, Kaworu.)

Define: Lilim

Humanlike intelligence is not required for Sapience.

(They are, after all, not remotely Human.)

You are not Human?

[braceforimpact]

Lilim calls itself Homo sapiens. The word 'human' means Homo sapiens, too... but Lilim doesn't restrict that word to such a narrow definition.

Still, even if you define humanity by what makes Lilim most unique, that's the Fruit of Knowledge. So my human form is still just a disguise.

[Which is to say, no, he is not human. And no, he is not on the same page as Legion in regards to sapience.

They're not even reading the same book.]

[forwearemany]

(True but now they have a pretty good idea what book Kaworu is reading.)

(They make a note that Kaworu seems to regard Humans as one being with many minds, similar to how the Geth function.)

When referring to the "fruit of knowledge" are you speaking of the forbidden fruit mentioned in the bible?

[braceforimpact]

Yes.

It is in the gifts of that Fruit that human thought originates.

[Kaworu is a genetic reproduction of the human form, but his nature ensures he will never possess what specific gift of mind Lilim does.]

[forwearemany]

...Acknowledged.

(They headtilt. Is he a being of biblical nature?

Uncertain. More data is required.)

[braceforimpact]

[Kaworu continues to smile up at Legion for a few seconds, as though waiting for or expecting something.]