lifeaftr | November Undercurrent: And We Give Thanks

NOVEMBER UNDERCURRENT

Who: Everyone!
What: Have you told someone you loved them yet?
When: November 3rd to November 20th
Where: Everywhere!
Warnings: Nothing of note; please mark if anything comes up!

Take Me Back to the Reasons Why
The Water wishes to demonstrate their power to you, as well as just what they mean, when they suggest that they require your cooperation. They are going to bring back the harvest island of Nuidan, a generally fondly remembered island that explorers have encountered in the past. What's more, they're going to require your help to do it.

Starting November 3rd, characters will discover a simple strip of dark leather among their belongings, meant to be worn around the neck or wrist. They can disregard it, of course, but if they attempt to discard or destroy it, it will always find its way back to them, no matter how improbable this might seem. How strange...

Perhaps even stranger is the sudden appearance of a smooth slab of stone, half-submerged in the waters just off of Ensō's coast. It's an altar, and around its edges are a series of deep notches, as though something is meant to be inserted into them. In its center is a pool of water, though it curiously doesn't seem to reflect anything.

The purpose of this will only really become obvious once the month goes on. Characters will find themselves to compelled to be honest with the people around them as to why they care, why they appreciate them as people, or what they like most about them. This compulsion can vary wildly and at the player's discretion, from a gentle mental pressure to an unstoppable force, and anything in between!

The bottom line is that every time one admits to some feeling of gratitude, no matter how small or big, their little plait of leather will receive a crystal from the interaction. All crystals will be roughly the same shape, but they may vary in color, pattern, and texture. Some might be simple sticks of quartz, while others might be comprised of myriad, ever-changing swirls of color. Again, the only limit here is your imagination.

Now the presence of that strange, altar-shaped stone in the water might make a bit more sense. Those notches in its sides are the perfect size and shape to fit a crystal smoothly into any one of them. The more grateful interactions one has with others, the more crystals they will gather, and the more they can fit into the altar. As more crystals are fed to the altar, it will start to glow. The pool of water at the altar's top will start to reflect the likeness island of Nuidan in increasing clarity, as though one is peering at its likeness in a snowglobe. What's more is that the number of crystals in the altar will very obviously affect Nuidan's state: very few crystals will make the island look as though it is mostly wilderness only a handful of structures in dire need of repair, while a great deal of crystals will cause the island to look as though it is thriving, in full bloom, and in more need of harvest than maintenance.

But, ultimately, the state in which Nuidan returns to you is up to you...and how far you're willing to go to express a little gratitude. Don't worry if you don't know anyone, either - this marks a great opportunity to start doing nice things for people, even if you don't know them! You've got most of the month to get to know each other, after all.

Don't think you can get away with heaping compliments on your closest friends and companions, however; variety is the name of the game here. While you can collect all sorts of crystals for personal use from repeat interactions, you can only feed one crystal to the altar per person. That is to say, Character A can be as grateful to Character B as they like, but only one crystal from each character can be delivered to the altar. If they want to procure more for the altar's purposes, Character A will have to have a positive interaction with Character C, and so on.

Take Me Back to That Big Sky

Of course, there's a lot going on in the background as well. You're free to use this log as a catch-all for the duration of November's Undercurrent Event, as well as the other minor events listed on our Monthly Rundown post. You are very, very free to let your dreams about creepers and baby lorbies become reality, and you are always free to create your own individual logs and posts as needed.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them over on our Monthly Rundown post!

November Timeline

[ ♆ ] November 3rd: "And We Give Thanks" begins and lasts until November 20th
[ ♆ ] November 4th: "Aw, Man" begins and lasts until November 12th
[ ♆ ] November 11th: "The Lorblings" begins and lasts until November 25th
[ ♆ ] November 20th: Nuidan returns to the archipelago
[ ♆ ] November 21st: "Return to Your Roots" begins and lasts until November 30th

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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I've made literal blood moons.

[Not...important...]

It's just fascinating how so many little mortal creatures keep going on, even though the earth is trying to kill them. You'd think they'd die out.

With literal blood?

[The question pops out before Ignis can stop himself because he really doesn't want to know the answer, but sometimes his sassiness gets ahead of him. He waves the question off quickly thereafter.]

Life is stubborn once it has been created. Surely, that's something you've noticed over the years.

[yeah he'll take that subject change!]

You know, I really haven't. How stubborn humans can be in general, sure, but we don't interact with anything still alive. The most I've ever seen is what happens when you go to kill a Janet.

[...oh, that requires further explanation.]

They beg for their lives. Although technically, they're not alive to begin with.

A 'Janet?'

[He may require just a little more explanation than that.]

Fear and desperation will often lead to that response in humans, at least. Even when proof is presented otherwise, people like to believe there is some good left in everyone, good that might be swayed by such an emotional plea.

Oh, sure. Humans'll beg demons, too.

[...that seems, after a moment, to settle with Michael unpleasantly.]

But Janets aren't humans. They resemble human women, but they're artificial afterlife creations - we use them to construct and maintain pocket dimensions, contain all the knowledge in the universe, that sort of thing.

[Ignis can't help but blink at that in surprise. They contain all the knowledge of the universe? How intriguing, but as interesting as it is, it also seems like it could be dangerous. He doesn't even what to think about what might happen if the Empire got their hands on a 'Janet.']

Can they learn? Or might they have the desire to do so?

[After all, how does one continue to hold all the knowledge of a changing universe without learning?]

The database just auto-updates.

[He says off-handedly, and after a moment adds:]

Unless you mean personally? Janet has - my Janet - but that's not common. I wasn't really following standard practice, with her.

I suppose it would be too hard to control them otherwise.

[He has to grin after that, though.]

You don't do much per standard practice anymore, do you? It sounds like more people should follow your lead.

[Too bad they won't.]

They should! Janet's great! And so are humans, of course, but that might be the harder sell.

[At least Janets are commonplace and immortal.]

[Ignis smiles a little at that correction. How hard must it be to change the thought patterns of so long? At least Michael is trying.]

One step at a time. Perhaps if they begin treating Janets better, humans may follow someday.

The angels, maybe. I don't know how they treat their Janet's. But us?

[Shrug]

The law has to change. That's the only way to make them stop.

Do you think it's actually possible to get a law like that changed considering all you have told me?

I was in the middle of this whole legal thing when I left. So it's possible right now!

[.....]

Of course, I could always screw that up, too.

[That addition earns a raised eyebrow from Ignis. Even blind, he's got the 'excuse you' look down cold.]

I have a feeling you will do just fine. Have more faith in yourself.

[Besides, sometimes screw ups turn out to be the best path to a solution.]

[yeeesh, how does he do that]

Well, we'll see.

November Undercurrent: And We Give Thanks

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