lifeaftr | New Island: Elytlan

NEW ISLAND: ELYTLAN

Who: Everyone!
What: Elytlan arrives to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: April 20th, and onward
Where: The new island of Elytlan
Warnings: Please mark if anything comes up!

It All Makes Perfect Sense To Me

[ click here to enlarge ]
The island of Elytlan is one that none of you have yet encountered, and it's a striking sight; it's a land of seemingly endless plains of gray earth and meadows of glowing white flowers. Ruins and strange shapes mark the land as if they'd crashed to earth there, forming dark and wavering shapes in the fog that seems to suffuse this entire island, making visibility dubious even at the best of times.

There is an avatar altar in the ruins near the site of the island's mana pool, but it is an exception to most of the others that came before it in that it appears to be completely deserted. No avatar will materialize to greet you. Not at first, at least. If you stick around for long enough, you might find yourself approached eventually.

Despite the bleak, ruined look of this place, it doesn't feel hostile, unlike other islands you might have experienced. No monsters come crawling out of the fog to chase you, no mental effect encroaches on your mind or sense of self; this is a place of peace.

Even if it does seem rather eerie.

While no monsters seem to exist here, no wildlife seem to exist here either; the only sign of movement beside yourselves are bright, bird-like silhouettes in the grey sky, wheeling endlessly, crying with distant voices. Since they never seem to land, it's impossible to tell if they truly are birds.

And it's impossible to ignore that Elytlan looks and feels faded, the way other islands do not, almost Mu-like in that it is a place where time seems to stand still. Though the sun still gleams through the fog, casting a hazy light, it never moves; only when you return to Ensō will you be able to track the time that has passed. Any timekeeping devices simply stand still for the duration of your visits to Elytlan - not broken, as all attempts to 'repair' such devices will prove only that they're working correctly, but simply sleeping, and unable to be woken.

And there are yet more oddities to be discovered, the longer you explore.

Oh Roses, They Don't Mean A Thing
If you've ever died - on Ensō, or elsewhere in your adventures on this world's various islands, or even back in your own worlds - you're likely to find yourself in these endless meadows. Or, at least, a shadow of you, sporting the very same injuries you did when you died. And for every death, you've cast a shadow - so the more times you've died, the more of them you'll see. Many of these shades will reflect the moment of death, whether in the abstract or in the immediate. Someone who once died via stabbing, for example, might find a shade of themself hobbling around with a sword stuck through their middle, or they might find them walking about easily with a smooth, round gap in their midsection. The shades of these deaths can be as grotesque or as simplistic as you like, and their state may honestly vary.

These shades aren't hostile. In fact, they're downright friendly, especially to those they were born from, and will happily make for easy conversation, but it can still make for a potentially startling sight. They don't seem all the way there, for one, and perhaps unsurprisingly. In the fog, it's easy to mistake a person's shadow for the person themselves; you aren't the only one who can see your own death, after all. Everyone can.

But unlike a real shadow, these shadows, both of yourself and of others, won't stay by your side for long. In fact, they seem to get impatient staying in one spot, and would much rather play, or run...or lead you elsewhere.

When All I Feel is an Aimless Direction
Should you follow these shades to their apparent destinations, you'll find broken shrines and equally shattered idols made of some ethereal stone. They flicker with the slightest hints of inner light.

These stone statues disrupt the island's near-monochromatic, foggy nature; characters who approach these idols will find themselves in projected, frozen scenes that seem to correspond with the domain of each one. And for many, especially those who have been on Ensō for long enough to see several islands come and go, some of these idols will have familiar domains - ones that correspond to islands both near and far.

[ ♆ ] Idol Fountain: This idol is partially concealed, and mostly eroded, under the constant, silent stream of bright water, pouring into a still, cold lake that emits mist. Gray butterflies flit among bright white clusters of larkspur, tinted faintly pink. Drinking from the lake's water or standing in the mist that steams off its surface will make you feel calmer and steadier in your purpose - whatever that purpose is. Whatever decision you make, for a time, will be something you are at peace with no matter the outcome.

[ ♆ ] Idol Tree: This idol seems to be as much plant as it is stone. Inescapably entwined with vines and seeming to grow out of the rocky bark of a towering tree, there can be seen only the barest hints of face and feature among the overgrowth. Small, white birds perch in the tree's branches, soundlessly twittering and hopping in a strange imitation of reality. A field of sweet pea flowers waves, gently, in a wind you can't feel. Inhaling the scent of these flowers or picking them will make you feel relaxed and happy.

[ ♆ ] Idol Flute: An idol made out of iron, beaten and shaped by careful hands long past, rears its head among the clustering trees of a chestnut forest, their boughs hanging heavy with bright white chestnuts. Though it's clearly fallen to disrepair and neglect, there's still a pride in the way it was posed and the way it holds itself. As wind you can feel blows through the area periodically, it whistles through the idol's broken parts, producing haunting calls similar to those of birds. Those who hear such calls, or eat from the chestnut trees, will feel that any previous feelings - sadness, irritation, even happiness - simply cease to bother them, so that they can reflect on what caused such feelings with a clear head...or maybe simply an impassive one.

[ ♆ ] The Altar: Unlike every other island you've visited thus far, Elytlan is the first one that appears to have two avatar altars. The first is near the site of the island's mana pool. The second is situated much farther away, marked on the map above, and is little more than a simple slab of dark, smooth stone. It doesn't appear to be a natural rock formation, and drawing near to it will leave one with the inexorable sensation similar to the altars and temples the other avatars on the other islands that there is...something here. It's hard to say what...

There will be an NPC top-level below, if anyone's interested with interacting with the presence that inhabits the island of Elytlan.

Watch the Beauty Drown
Of course, there's a lot going on in the background as well. Characters are not required to go to Elytlan; you're free to explore any other minor events listed on our Monthly Rundown post. You are also 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!

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

we are just fragments and pieces
[Church has died but once, back home. Well...that's technically true. He's "died" so many times but only one for real and for certain.

The unfortunate thing is that Church has never been just one. Church is multitudes. Every fragment shed off of him is, in some sense, as much Church as a person unto themselves. They all came from somewhere, from a single source. There are a lot of fragments.

All of them are dead.

So it is entirely possible to come across several colorful, holographic representations of the same type of armor Church and Wash (and Maine and Carolina and Tex and CT) all sport. They range from a cool light blue to vibrant pink-purple, and if anyone was paying attention to Church's lanterns, they all match up. Two of them are constantly by each other's sides, yellow and cyan, holding hands. Not very talkative. Two of them look almost like people, with faces, not armor, in simple outfits, but no real...features to them.

One is perpetually on fire. That's just what he does. Don't worry about it.

One seems to be Tex, apparently, though clad in black armor, never taking it digitally off. There's one of Church himself. ...There's two of Church, actually. From the surface, they look identical. Well, nearly. Maybe one seems to be a lighter, even whiter color, but they're both definitely blue-tinted, and speak with the same voice.

All of them are from some moment of death. That moment is represented by their forms glitching, going skewed and jagged, their voices warbling and cutting out, everything stuttering, before evening out again.

One is human. Actually human. A man who's been on the island before, briefly, with thick glasses and salt and pepper hair and eyes so bright green they practically glow. Director Leonard Church stands placidly, hands behind his back, and a clearly self-inflicted gunshot wound through his head. He's the most placid of all of them, congenial but clearly not too interested in making conversation.

Eleven in all to run into. And they'll take you different places if you let them.]

don't even know our own secrets
[Church, the real and actual and present one, does some exploring. He's...cautious, but there doesn't seem to be any malevolence to this one. The clock on his HUD's stopped, though, and this place reminds him of one of the floating islands, but just...quieter. Save for the birds. The...birds? The uhhhh shadows cawing above.

He takes a visit to each weird idol in turn, waiting for something awful to happen. It never does. Well, aside from running into the AI and getting summarily creeped the fuck out by them, but otherwise, it's just...kind of nice, kind of weird? It's the tree that gets him most, with the smell of sweet pea flowers relaxing him. Even so much that the fact that the actual birds are fucking silent doesn't bother him. So much.

The second altar does bother him, as much as his relaxed state will let him, and he runs a hand over smooth stone. Something else? A second avatar, one that used to be here, or one that just hasn't shown itself? He lays himself out on the slab, because he's not all that bright sometimes, and watches the shadows circle in the clouds.]

Not sure who or what's here, but this place sure could use some color, if you've got it in you.

New Island: Elytlan

leonard church | cw: suicide