tushanshu_logs | EVENT | LANDFALL

EVENT | LANDFALL | VALISHAERA

Characters: ALL!
Date: JULY 13-26
Location: Valishaera
Situation: Tu Vishan has made landfall on Siaxhi, to explore the Dreaming Watch City of Valishaera.
Warnings/Rating: Please indicate content warnings in subject headers as applicable.

As Tu Vishan draws near, the heavy jungle visible even from miles out quickly identifies the landmass as Siaxhi, one of the westernmost continents in Konryu and one that has been largely untouched insofar as the kedan themselves have gone. There is a natural inlet along the southeast shore on the continent and Tu Vishan makes for that, though he fills nearly all of it.

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One of the three original Watch Cities designed to oversee protection of the various planes, Valishaera was tasked with presiding over the Dreaming Realm, the city as described should by rights be opulent. However when the Foreigners locate it set less than a mile inland from the eastern bay, they may be surprised to find the great city in nearly ruins, heavily overgrown.

This part of Siaxhi looks like it was pulled right from a lush tropic Eden itself. The jungle borders the coastline, sometimes running right down to the water's edge, sometimes pulled back revealing intricate networks of tide pools which can stretch nearly a kilometer out to the surf line. The eastern bay is shallow here and the water the purest turquoise, though Tu Vishan's berth has raised the water level somewhat. Even the weather seems to be welcoming them to Siaxhi, staying at a consistent balmy temperature and maintaining its good breeze.

Abundant in fish and other sea life, the kedan in general seem unenthusiastic about venturing into the dense jungle but they're already making plans to deploy an entire fleet of fishing vessels along the coast and bringing in what will be a record haul. Interactions with the Foreigners when they're out will be overwhelmingly positive, and while they haven't forgotten the threat of Malicant in the Palace, they do seem to be determined to be taking this stroke of good fortune without letting it cloud their intentions.

There are much smaller settlements of Arybar people along the coastline as well, and they're even more surprised to see the Foreigners than those living in the ruined city of Valishaera are. They're friendly, but any questions about the region will be directed toward the main contingent living just inland.

There is a small settlement of folk living there who, other than they are quite a bit taller than humans (heights of 7'+ are not uncommon) and have peculiar patterning on their skin vaguely reminiscent of jungle cats, seem very friendly, albeit surprised by the appearance of strangers. But they've heard of Tu Vishan, the last living Great Turtle, so they'll be welcoming and not hostile. These are the Arybar, the native people of Siaxhi. They're a mix of agricultural and foraging culture, hunting only sporadically rather than relying on it for their primary food source. They have little to no contact with the Duchy of Castis beyond they know it's there and they're mutually not interested in crossing into each other's territory.

The Arybar will tell the Foreigners that the Dan'effrei came to build the city of Valishaera eons ago and that they were a race the Arybar did not recognize at the time, but they obtained permission for the land and remained on excellent terms with the Dan'effrei for many centuries. When asked what happened to the monks and the city however, the Arybar become evasive and change the subject. Despite this odd quirk, the Foreigners will be invited to stay and explore to their heart's content and small but comfortable huts made for them to stay in if they choose to spend the night in Valishaera rather than return to Keeliai.

There is a motherly Arybar woman named Veldyzh who is especially friendly towards the Foreigners. (NPC played by Li.)

The city itself is made up of multi-leveled temples, bridges and arches, all designed to embrace the surrounding jungle rather than push it back. Lazy canals not unlike those found in the Water Sector in Keeliai meander their way through the ground level, though many are now clogged with native jungle plants. An ambitious person(s) might find a couple day's hard work clearing them out, which surely the Arybar might appreciate. They'll only ask that the Foreigners stay out of the long planted rows of crops that are nestled in the dozens of old courtyards, because this is the middle of their growing season. Other than these areas, they don't mind exploration.

Despite evidence that the city has been abandoned for centuries, the buildings remain in astoundingly good shape beneath the encroaching jungle foliage. The stone is all intact, apparently no worse for weathering so many years. Something interesting of note is that there are basically no remains of the monks who were living here: no abandoned furniture, remnants, evidence of these buildings being lived in at all. It's actually so pristine that it's... spooky.

At some point while the Foreigners are investigating the overgrown ruins, they'll either catch sight of or be approached by someone they recognize (or someone they don't but who gives them a very strong sense of deja vu), offering to show them a way to see the "real Valishaera". They'll be led to one of the old temples and shown inside, revealing a portal similar in construction to the Dreaming arches, though not identical. Passing through the arch will leave them in the same room though their surroundings have vastly changed.

Once they've been guided through the portal to the Dreaming side of Valishaera, it's as if the city itself comes alive with a great breath of colour and sound. Though everything is in exactly the same places as it was on the Life side (and thus character who've explored would find their attention to detail rewarded by not getting lost), the city in this realm is a bright tapestry.

The portal from the Realm of Life to that of Dreaming brings the characters into the heart of a round chamber. The arch at its center, from which the characters emerge, is made of a mixture of onyx and white marble and stands in sharp contrast to the rest of the room which seems to be made of a translucent crystal of some kind. The walls and vaulted ceiling glow as if sunlight is cast down upon them, casting soft rainbow glows like stained glass across all within.

Though all walls and ceilings are made of the same crystal, the floors of each room vary between stained glass (which will not break), dirt, wood, grand mosaics, and one room even seems to be a cloud. The floors of each room may change from when a character enters one time to the next. Furniture will be similarly random, with everything from a large shell to a docile animal, carved metal to plain stone - seemingly anything you can imagine (excepting onyx or white marble, of which there is no sign outside of the arch)!

To the north is a grand antechamber of sorts which branches off into a very large prayer room (capable of housing all the monks within), a ritualistic room clearly used for ceremonies (equally large), a hallway off to a separate building which contains living quarters, a doorway out to a grand garden, and another hallway of miscellaneous prayer, meeting, and gathering rooms.

They will also explain that the city of Valishaera is out the south doors, Life is to the east (where the characters arrived from), the rest of the temple is to the north, and the alchemical lab is to the west.

To the west is the alchemical laboratory. A modest room filled with various glass beakers, burners, fires, kettles, etc. The walls are lined with jars of various herbs, all labeled in an alphabet neither of kedani or any foreigner language. Off of the lab is a small and extremely cluttered living space with all the necessities. Many monks use the lab and some might even be willing to attempt to teach interested characters.

At one "side" of the circular room is a wide doorway which leads out into a short hall before opening again into a grand library. The books here seem both familiar and nonsensical. Any book a character can think of well enough will be recreated, but if they only remember the title or a vague image, the missing pieces will be filled with gibberish. The rest of the library seems filled with others’ such vague memories. Some monks are wandering around the library and will give ambiguous responses to characters about what they do, directing them to Wlodzislaw and Karanea with further questions.

Wlodzislaw can also often be found in the lab or his quarters; (Wlodzislaw is an official NPC played by Kate).

To the north is a grand antechamber of sorts which branches off into a very large prayer room (capable of housing all the monks within), a ritualistic room clearly used for ceremonies (equally large), a hallway off to a separate building which contains living quarters, a doorway out to a grand garden, and another hallway of miscellaneous prayer, meeting, and gathering rooms.

Those who visit the garden will find a tall stone wall surrounding the beautiful flowers, topiary maze, fountains and pond, exotic animals, and so on. Those who try to fly to look above the walls will find that the walls never seem to end without ever seeming to grow - they can fly for 30min straight up, but it will only take them 30sec to land again as if they weren't moving at all. A sunny sky will look over the garden and yet, once characters leave the palace, they will find no sign of an exterior garden on or around the hill.

Karanea can be found in these areas and will be more likely than others to answer the characters’ questions. (Karanea is an official NPC played by Al).

Within the temple, several side portals lead to various ‘worlds’ within the Dreaming. Each portal seems identical to the others, giving no real clue as to its contents. But each one is vastly different.

In one such portal is a mystical sort of land, think World Of Warcraft, and that one place with the GIANT FREAKING MUSHROOMS. Twenty stories tall if they’re an inch, vaguely luminescent, and carrying on for miles in a vast forest. The ground is soft and forgiving, and animals of all kinds wander there. The Realm of Fae will give the character pleasant visions of possible magical potential. If a character has magic, there might be a way to increase its power. If a character is baseline, they can leave having memorized one very simple spell. (Light projection, heal small wounds, that sort of thing.)

The jungle portal is overrun with flora and fauna that you’d expect in that environment. It’s a test of survival. Characters who enter this realm will find themselves learning how to fight, if necessary. Weapons will appear and disappear as thought of, real only in the Dreaming. If a character enters as a fighter, they will be given a trial of combat, with success granting them a temporary boost of physical strength. If not a trained fighter, they will be given training in basics, which they’ll remember as a vague, blurry memory but clear muscle memories. (I.E. they won’t consciously remember how to fight, but if pressed they’ll discover that they’re surprisingly good at it for a newbie.)

Just what it says on the tin. A huge, echoing library filled with even more books than the temple in Valishaera. As always in dreams, it's impossible to read any of the books consciously. But certain facts will remain with a character, should they attempt to do so. Characters can leave the Library knowing one fact about the world of the turtle Tu Vishan OR they can leave with a fact from their homes, of their future or past that they did not already know. (Characters are limited to one only.)

The last few days have been horrible, beyond horrible, as far as Enjolras is concerned, and the fact that they've reached a new place to explore has not done a LOT to reach him, in his current rather reserved state, but he HAS, nonetheless, decided that some time away might do him good. And them once he notices the coast, well, the first thing he is doing is finding a spot near the water's edge, one that reminds him, in terms of temperature, and color, of home, the one that he grew up in.

The sound of the water helps a little too, he thinks, recalling his lessons with Saint-Walker. And now, more than ever, he could stand for a little peace. So, he might be found, eyes closed, breathing as evenly as possible as he tries to calm his mind. Some interruption wouldn't be minded though, of course.

[While Enjolras has become somewhat used to new and exotic places, and the idea that dreamscapes can take one many places in a year, he's nonetheless, a bit baffled by what he has wandered into this time. What? But this is nothing like anything he knows or knew, or has seen. Nonetheless, it's pleasant enough, especially when what looks to be some sort of deer creature, only different to those he's seen in books, passes by him on her way to graze.

Still, what in the world?

Edited 2014-07-13 07:52 (UTC)

[He's prepared now for something new to hit him when he enters a new portal, but, nonetheless, Enjolras does feel a little lost the moment he enters the portal, glancing around at a particularly vivid flower, and continuing to walk a little, having to step over some particularly overgrown plantlife as he continues to make his way around.]

[Here is somewhere Enjolras feels much more at home. Libraries are comfortable for him, and have been for quite some time, though, he will admit, that after Paris and school, they have another association too. Libraries make him remember Feuilly,who would have loved to have seen this, and Combeferre, whose excitement he can only imagine.

He would have been so at home here, Enjolras thinks of his lover, considering all of the books they've amassed at home, most of them Combeferre's. Of course, their impressive library for such a short time as a year and some months, could never measure up to this but still.]

You would have loved this, Etienne.

[He's saying it out loud before he realizes how idiotic that sounds, and he's letting a few tears slip down his face, even in the dreaming realm because the loss is still so new, and palpable, and...there is only one thing he can do here, particularly as Combeferre can not.

So, Enjolras is steadying himself and his nerves, adding a few deep breaths, then crossing to the shelves to select a volume at random, carefully leafing through the pages as he settles on the ground in front of the elaborate case he took this from, looking for a good place to begin.

"Hey, Don."

"... Kirby?"

"Good to see you again, pal. Hey, I found this crazy portal inside the temple. You really ought to see it. I think it leads to the real Valishaera!"

"The real Valishaera...?"

No sooner had Don crossed through the portal, than Kirby was nowhere to be found. It gave him a bad feeling, but as he moved cautiously through the crystal rooms, it was hard not to be tempted by the laboratory. It's crowded with beakers and jars, Bunsen burners and bubbling experiments, but strangely empty of any people.

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

An interruption comes in the form of someone saying, "Shell, he's huge."

The someone turns out to be a bipedal turtle, bigger than the norm but nowhere near the size of their host Tu Vishan. He's standing in the water, dripping wet but rapidly drying, staring out towards the city - or, to be more accurate, what the city is riding on. He doesn't seem to have noticed the meditating Frenchman.

[It was the Library that drew her attention most of all. Because of course it was.]

[Massive. One could spend their entire life in this place, and hardly make a dent in the inventory. As it was, she slowly walked up and down each of the aisles. Fingers lightly brushing against the spines of those at eye-level, while her eyes continued to scan the heavens above in hopes of catching even a glimpse of a familiar title.]

[Knowledge. Information. Intel. It was all right in front of her. The one thing she could always fall back on, even when she was left alone. Relationships came and went, but so long as she kept learning about the world around her, she would survive.]

I wonder if there's a reading room.

[If not , she wasn't against planting herself right on the floor in front of the shelves. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, after all.]

[It would have been a lie to say she wasn't a little hesitant.]

[Zatanna's past experiences with these Realms hadn't always been the most pleasant. Even the ones that had were bittersweet, at best. Memories or Promises of a life that would vanish the moment she left. Even worse, Promises to those closest to her she hadn't been able to keep.]

[But this place felt...different. There was a strange spark of energy that seemed to crackle in the very air. At one point, she could have sworn her hair stood up on end. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply. The scent of nature filled her lungs. Fresh grass, as it would smell just after a rainstorm. Earth. The clarity of a rushing stream of pure water. Hints of herbs off in the distance..]

[She wouldn't be able to see it, herself, without the aid of a reflection...but when Zatanna's eyes opened again...they were glowing softly.]

[Was anybody surprised that Aya found her way to the laboratories? Anybody at all?]

[Because that was precisely where the young (not-so-)artificial intelligence headed for the moment she was made aware of its existence. Her motives were pure. Curiosity. A desire to learn more. The potential to gain something that might better support the systems currently provided to her two companies back in Keelai.]

[The books were of little interest to her; her only thoughts were vague recollections of a collection she had once seen in the Science Director's laboratory. And even then, it was only the large, black cover with the undeciphered symbol that even drew more than a momentary glance. Interesting.]

[She moved on, eager to observe their sciences first-hand.]

Permission to enter?

You're assuming that permission is required.

[Wlodzislaw glanced up from his work with what could be described as a twinkle in his eye. Then his attention was back to the pelican and long-beak alembics before him where he was clearly preparing a number of different tinctures. It barely took more than a look for him to understand what Aya was, in a sense, and the potential which laid before her.]

Bring me that beaker, would you?

[He gestured at a table with a number of glass beakers behind her without looking up, his gaze instead diverting to the pages sprawled across the counter beside him.]

[Her assumptions were not wrong. Not entirely. While it may not have been required, it was her understanding that common courtesy stated she should at least announce her presence before entering in the domain of another.]

[It was a lesson that took a while to learn, and thus, one she could not ignore.]

Certainly.

[What was a single beaker in the face of a welcomed greeting?]

May I then ask what it is for?

Certainly.

[He echoed, though the response guaranteed no answer to her question. Wlodzislaw lifted a quill that wasn't there a moment before to scribble some notes on the page before him. Then he dropped the item and returned to watching his materials distill.

A few seconds later, he straightened and finally regarded the creation for any real period of time.]

You're green. Are you supposed to be?

[Rather than take offense by the question, Aya smiled. She was proud of her existence, and the fact that there were others of similar skin tone she had encountered further fueled that confidence.]

If I was not supposed to be green, then I would not be green.

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Page 1 of 36

EVENT | LANDFALL | VALISHAERA

CITY OF VALISHAERA

Exploring the Coast

The Arybar

A Ruined City

WITHIN THE DREAMING

The Monks' Domain

The Labs & Library

Gathering Rooms & Garden

POCKET DREAMING PORTALS

FAE

JUNGLE

LIBRARY

Enjolras: OPEN

Enjolras

Enjolras:

Enjolras

Donatello

no subject

Midii | ota

Zatanna | ota

Aya | ota

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject