lifeaftr | April Intro: Better Get to Digging

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April Intro: Better Get to Digging

INTRO LOG: APRIL

Who: New arrivals, and you!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: April 4th and onward
Where: Cahypdo
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Waking up to the gentle proddings of what appears to be very curious, sentient trees isn't the worst wake up call LifeAftr has to offer. For our newest arrivals, however, it may be a tad…odd.

Situated in the valley between two mountains, Elower is a scenic village filled with the friendly Roaka, tree-like beings that are rather peaceable and happy to assist those who have just arrived. I'’s a peaceful location for one to start their adventures - though, unfortunately, it doesn't stay peaceful for long.

Cahypdo: You'll Bury Me Low
Those who have explored the new island of Cahypdo in the last month will undoubtedly recall the series of quakes that shook the island throughout March. With the arrival of LifeAftr's newest adventurers comes Cahypdo's largest tremor to date, striking without warning and more than enough force to throw even the steadiest and sturdiest of your number to the ground. With a low rumble, the mountains heaped on either side of the island will start to shed an abundance of slag and debris, pouring down their slopes. Anyone who's scaling those peaks risks being flung bodily off them when the outpouring of shale comes roaring down those mountains, and anyone at the mountain bases risks being crushed beneath.

As one might expect, unsuspecting newcomers aren't all that have been shaken up. Though protected by netting and retaining walls, the cliffs around and above the village of Elower can only take so much pressure before giving way - a threshold that has been crossed entirely. With a sound like thunder, rocks fall.

Everyone dies?

Only if you don't act quickly. Roaka housing is sturdy in build, enough to protect a decidedly less sturdy body from all but the heaviest of boulders. Hiding inside any of their village constructs built into the sides of the mountains will certainly save you from taking a new weight onto your shoulders. They will not, however, save you from being buried alive.

For those who become trapped inside any of those abodes, your options appear limited. Work to free yourself, or wait for help to arrive. Though, speaking of help, those outside may think to offer the Roaka a helping hand in getting their trapped people - and yours, at that - a few breaths of fresh air.

Before you suffocate.

Cahypdo: Stay Acting Brave
Such seismic activity will also stir up the local wildlife, of course. Those unfortunate enough to come across them will recognize the restless shark-dragon hybrids, hydrac, now prowling across the shorelines, while the wickedly fanged wabbits will also be far more frequent, traveling in larger numbers in the jungle and at the bases of the mountains. Taking care to avoid them would be wise - though another creature may make that venture much more difficult.

Lorbies have been unlocked in the bestiary!

A strange mix between owl and serpent, the recent quake has clearly startled these usually reclusive creatures into the open. Alone, a lorby is a rather skittish animal, prone to hiding from most perceived threats. Useless for food due to the toxicity of their flesh, lorbies do have the potential to be tamed...but this comes with its own risks.

A lorby may be prone to flight rather than fight when encountered solo, but in groups, these feathery critters are far more hostile. A defensive lorby emits a piercing cry alone, but a group is an almost ear-piercing experience, capable of rendering the unfortunate unstable on their feet at best, and unconscious at worst. For the days that follow the severe earthquake that so rocked everyone's foundations, any hope for silence is lost in the infrequent bursts of almighty screeching by colonies of lorbies who have so rudely had their homes overturned and disturbed.

While the lorby is omnivorous, it may not think to take a bite at anything so much larger than them. That doesn't mean that conflict with these fluffy creatures won't attract something much more willing to take advantage of the fact that you may or may not have been reduced to a prone sack of meat. If something else does arrive, you best hope that it's a friendly face.

If you're interested in keeping a lorby for your own, bear LifeAftr's companion limit in mind - two per character, and no more. The lorby is omnivorous and can survive off of most odds and ends: insects, fruits, berries, critters it can dig up in the sand, and more. However, the process of trying to tame a lorby is not always successful. We recommend use of a d10, with the following guidelines:

Rolling a 10: Critical success! This lorby will love and adore you, and may even feel comfortable enough to drape itself along your neck like a beautiful, furry scarf, churring softly all the way.
Rolling 7-9: This lorby will prove high-strung and timid, even if safely befriended, and will take several weeks to warm up to you. But once it does, it's yours!
Rolling 2-6: Failure. The lorby enters a state of distress and starts screaming. Hope you brought earplugs, or you'll be snoozing for several long hours for your efforts.
Rolling a 1: Critical failure. Not only does the lorby start screaming, but its panic attracts a colony of its friends, and they all start screaming too.

Bear in mind that these are only guidelines; you are free to predetermine successes or failures as you'd like, presuming your character can sustain the companion! Our discord channel has a room for dice-rolls, if you prefer.

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Rocks. Dirt clods. Anything but souls!!

(The gimmicky knife is still lodged between his toe bones, which counts as touching enough to keep some glow going.)

He shuffles, silently, not really paying attention to the phone. People love their fancy blinky toys. And he's dealing, the silence dragging on... and on...]

[...this sucks.]

So, what happens in your afterlife? How do you spend your time?

[The cards are dealt and it's time to play. He's barely paying attention, honestly.]

It's not that different from the living world. Work, family, sports, parties, whatever... it's just like any other city, only with more skeletons and less flesh.

Flesh is gross.

[Michael agrees idly. He actually does seem to be paying some attention to the game, even if it's limited in its ability to engage him.]

What do you need to work for? You're dead people. [Demons work because that's what they are, but humans only work to get themselves money. Which doesn't seem to have any point in an infinite afterlife.]

[If It were infinite, surely he wouldn't be wearing glorified rags for pants and no shoes. Other skeletons work. The ones who aren't exhausted, shambling safety hazards.]

Money? Pride? Something to do? Same reasons living people would.

You've got money in the afterlife? [Michael makes a play and rests his chin on a fist idly.] We only set up capitalism for torture reasons. Don't even use money ourselves.

[They work, yes, but there's no need to be paid when resources are meaningless. You gain in respect, in power, in privilege.

So - well, maybe that's just cutting out the middleman. But demons are cruel to each other, too.]

Hah, torture. [He grins, not entirely amused, but he's good at putting on a happy face. Torture. By demons. The worst demons could think up, and humans do it to each other on their own anyway.] I can't argue with that.

You should all stop, then.

[Man. What a blessed existence, where humans can just take control of the whole afterlife all on their own. No one could stop them doing what they liked.]

I don't think it's that simple. [Or was that supposed to be a joke? He keeps on playing, absently. Which means he's probably going to lose. Whatever.] Also not up to me.

You've got eternity. Make it up to you.

[Sure, he's a random human in a sea of them, but Michael's just one demon among many. And while nothing is up to him even now, he is damned close.

Also, given that he's the only person here not terrified by his company, he is definitely winning the card game.]

What's that thing you all like to have? A social movement?

[So much faith in him, when he's literally the last person anyone anywhere would take seriously! Everyone knows Héctor is made of lies and bullshit!]

We don't have eternity. We only stick around as long as someone in the living world remembers us.

[Michael looks up, frowning.]

Seriously? What happens after that? [That sounds so unfair, it's like - ] Are you sure you don't have demons?

No idea. Nobody knows.

[What's the point of saying it's unfair? Of course it is, it always has been.]

As sure as I can be? No angels, no demons.

Sounds like a demon thing...

[He mutters, half to himself. Bit of a silly thing to do on a large scale, especially if it means you don't get to drag the really famous ones off. Everyone loves to get a famous guy. But he bets they really tie themselves up in knots over being remembered - they do that anyway.]

[Michael has no idea.]

...I don't think so. [Call it intuition, or something. It's not demons. It's just people.]

Hm.

[Michael makes a vaguely displeased sound. Sure, no demons is objectively a good thing! But no authorities at all also means no one to appeal to, no singular source that could change everything. Michael wouldn't quite know where to start.

He's quiet for a few more plays.]

We don't run the whole afterlife. There's a Judge over everything, she's supposed to be neutral.

[Dare he ask? It's not like he's a Catholic anymore, exactly. Just enough of one to be creeped out by the idea of demons.]

No God?

No, no.

[The Judge is powerful, sure. Even Michael, in his proper world, is probably powerful enough that he could claim godhood to a bunch of humans, make it work. But he wouldn't, because all the baggage humans have about God - that's just not a thing. There's no one looking out for them like that.]

None of us created the Earth, or humans. And their fates are just decided by the system.

Huh. What are the chances of a good ending?

[Probably even less than his current chances. At least things were looking up for him back in the Land of the Dead.]

[Michael frowns, jaw tightening for a moment.]

Zero.

[Part of him expected that. He nearly flinches anyway. Why did he have to be stuck in a hole with this guy??]

I'll stick with my afterlife then.

It wasn't always like that. Something went wrong in the past five-hundred years or so...not to defend it, really, I'm not sure it was ever defensible. [.....] Actually, I think the problem was global capitalism.

How's that?

[Sure, the modern world is far from perfect, but... it's not all bad. Medicine seems to be getting better, at least.]

Well, here's an example.

[Michael swipes on his holo-phone, quickly moving past his home screen to a notes app, and starts tallying up numbers on it as he talks. You asked for this.]

In the 1500s, Douglas Johnson decides to get his grandmother a bouquet of roses for her birthday. So he finds a wild rosebush, picks some, walks down the lane to her house, and hands them to her. There's a good deed.

[+22.6 on the phone, in bright green text!]

Now, in the year 2017, Doug Wallace decides to get his grandmother roses for her birthday. [why are they all named Doug] So he takes out his smartphone, which was manufactured by underpaid laborers in horrific conditions, and he orders some to be sent to her house. The roses come from a farm whose labor practices Doug is now indirectly supporting. You've got to get them from there to a florist, and then to his grandmother, all of which ultimately contributes to - oh. I should have asked what year you're from...well, there's poison being spewed into the air the entire time. Also on Doug. The money he paid goes mostly to the CEO of the flower company, who spends most of his time sending dick pics to his female employees. The app developer also gets some, and he's about the same. Most rich men are. There's a few other things, but to keep it brief...

[Each of those got a negative number, Michael adds a few more real quick, and eventually you end up with something in the negative hundreds.]

By the time you tally up all the unintended bad consequences, they far outweigh any credit Doug might get for doing a nice thing. And it isn't just about not causing bad things - Doug Forcett has avoided a lot of that, but only because he lives alone in the woods, drinking his own piss and letting teenagers bully him. And since he's afraid to do anything bad, he's also never going to do enough good to be accepted into Heaven. Just can't aim high enough.

What t--

[He interrupts pointlessly half a dozen times or so, all along the lines of 'what' and 'why', forgetting they were playing cards at all.

Because (while some of it doesn't surprise him--the rich and famous will almost always be assholes, Michael has that right)... what. Why. God.]

You can't blame a guy for what the rich are doing! Who decided that?!

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cw: sexual harassment mention?

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