Possession Event

[lucetimods]

Who: People in Luceti
What: Spiritual possession
When: The 26th to the 1st
Where: Luceti!
Summary: Check out the previous mod post.
Rating: If it gets smutty, move it somewhere private.


Starting at midnight on the 26th, Luceti and its inhabitants will find itself the focus of the Filial spirits, usually quiet and reclusive, now stepping out to deal with one of their own.

As promised, here is some additional information to help figure out how to play around with the spirits and interacting with similarly possessed people.

First off, each spirit has a certain time or place when they are at their most powerful. Consequently, characters possessed by them will enjoy these boosts and this in itself can be a deciding factor in what would otherwise be a stalemate. Here’s a quick run down:

Sona - She’s most powerful around lakes, rivers, and the ocean. Mostly this is concentrated at the southern lake.

Kipinn - He’s most powerful in high places, like mountain tops and the roofs of community buildings.

Faeren - She’s most powerful in the farmlands alongside things that grow.

Tsinku - He’s most powerful in the village itself, where technology thrives.

Eferin - He’s most powerful in the center of the forest where his heat may cause trees to burn. In fact, the upcoming forest fire may cause some trouble if his followers get too rowdy.

Hyt - It’s most powerful during the daytime under a bright sky.

Twila - It’s most powerful during the night time.

Nala- She has no domain and is generally welcome wherever she goes.

How possessed characters will deal with other possessed characters will depend on the interactions of the spirits themselves. A useful spreadsheet sums up these relationships. Those that have a friendly attitude to one another will generally allow ‘trespassers’ into their domain, but those they are not so friendly with may cause conflict.

Finally, to elaborate on Twila-possessed characters. Those with a natural affinity for darkness are likely to be possessed first. Once they have, they can try to recruit others less-compatible candidates to ‘join the cause’. Their goal is numbers. The more who are working with Twila, the better. Once they do, they’ll be inclined to act in their own self interest and if necessary, deal with others who try to get in their way. In the long term, the spirit Twila wants to stay this way, bonded to the Lucetians as hybrids, that way it cannot be imprisoned again. Think of it as pure survival instinct of an animal that’s spent way too long in a cage.

All isn’t lost. The other spirits may not be able to cage it again, but they won’t accept Twila reacting in this manner. Though it’s hard to tell what their beef with Twila is, they have an instinctive familiarity with the dark spirit and seem to act as its jail keepers.

They have the power to free people from Twila, but given their poor communication skills, figuring that out might just be a challenge. After all, the spirits can only communicate in shades of feeling and intentions, but not actually verbalize directions or marching orders. However, there will be a Malnosso post mid-event that will give everyone, possessed or otherwise, the info they need to turn things around.

Comments

all days (unpossessed)

[bowgunner]

[ this is madness. the first time claire noticed a large-winged individual, she passed it off as some strangeness of this place she'd yet to encounter. the second time? when they were on someone she'd seen with short wings just the day before? well -- she panicked a little more sincerely.

now, she walks the town's paths wondering what could possibly be causing people to mutate. their powers. their wings. their personalities. all were changing in the service of something bigger, and it's that something which claire fears.

she keeps her knife sheathed at her shoulder and her journal never far from her person as she wonders not just the worn paths but also into the forests. perhaps even as far as the lake. she does try to maintain contact with people she's met. perhaps a simple written message: ARE YOU OKAY? --CLAIRE ]

[rather_be_surfing]

As the one who'd unwittingly started this whole mess, Derek has been out and about and not carrying his journal at all, so even if he'd been one of the ones she'd left that message for, he didn't answer. Still, before the entire situation drives him to disappear to the beach, he's checking out the village and the area around. During one of the times when he feels he needs more distance so he can mull things over in peace, Claire might run across him. He's perched in a tree like a dark-winged hawk, sparks of electricity sparking along his pinions in an unconscious echo of the unease he's feeling.

[bowgunner]

...The sparks were what she saw first -- arcing off him and fizzling mid-air before they touched the ground. She craned her neck and peered at the branches, not quite surprised to find one of the affected hiding among the newborn foliage.

Some of them, she'd noticed, were tractable. So -- with a voice raised only enough to make herself heard: "I'm passing by. I mean you now harm, whoever you are..."

After all, she'd never met Derek in person.

[rather_be_surfing]

"I don't mean you any harm, either," he replies quietly, peering at her more closely.

"...You're Claire, right?" The question is punctuated with a restless twitch and semi flap of his wings, sending more electricity into the air.

[bowgunner]

"...We've met?" She stepped back -- shading her eyes to better focus on the man. Sure, something about him seemed familiar. However: "Sorry. I've made a lot of new contacts this past month. You're gonna have to give me a clue, here."

[rather_be_surfing]

"Derek Bliss. Think we spoke your first day here. On the journals."

[bowgunner]

"But...you weren't sporting those beauties back then, I take it."

The wings. She meant the wings.

[rather_be_surfing]

He knows. They open fully for a second, stretching and then making one downward flap, still shedding sparks before they're tucked neatly closed again against his back.

"I'm assuming it's an experiment."

Only, he less inclined to believe that than he is to credit that box he'd found.

[bowgunner]

"...Are they usually like this?"

Because Claire was beginning to wonder whether her constitution could cope with a barrage of mutations every month.

[rather_be_surfing]

"Not always. Usually people just act strange, or the environment itself gets changed around, from what I understand. People don't usually mutate."

He shifts a little on the branch, "I still feel mostly like me, if that helps. I'm not suddenly wanting to go on a rampage or anything."

[bowgunner]

She frowned as he spoke the very word she'd been thinking.

"...That's just the problem. How do you know if you still feel like yourself, when it could be the change that's duping you into that belief?"

[rather_be_surfing]

"...I seem to have a habit of losing control of my darker nature when I'm compromised. That, and even now, the afflicted tend not to realize they're caught up. Not until towards the end. I know there's someone in here with me. And I'm not always agreeing with the pushes being offered."

[bowgunner]

"...That doesn't inspire much confidence, Bliss."

written;

[selfnamed]

I may be crazy.

written;

[bowgunner]

We may both be. [ ... ] Are your wings...?

[ what? claire isn't sure how she wants to finish that sentence. healed? freaky large? ]

How are your wings?

written;

[selfnamed]

Small.

written;

[bowgunner]

Same. But maybe that actually makes us the rare sane ones.

written;

[selfnamed]

Doesn't that sound familiar. How long before they turn on us?

written;

[bowgunner]

For now, they seem more interested in turning on each other. I'm not convinced it's for the best.

[ hello, understatement. ]

written;

[selfnamed]

[Now would be a good time to know how to do those filters. Well.]

Thirsty?

written;

[bowgunner]

[ hmm. she scrutinizes the offer, as if extra time will truly dredge more meaning from those scant few letters.

in the end, she believes she understands the jerryrigged code for confidentiality (of a sort) and so replies in kind: ] I am if you are. But how about we agree to both of us leaving our sharpest objects behind?

written;

[selfnamed]

So much for my wit. Tea or booze?

written;

[bowgunner]

[ had circumstances been less horrifying, the joke might have inspired a laugh or two. not that said hypothetical laughs would ever have been heard by anyone but herself.

instead, she settles on a small and private smile. mirthless, maybe. but appreciative. when strangers sprouted extra feathers all around and seemed to be mutating, even dangerous slightly-less-strangers could be a comfort. ]

Tea. Not that I'm against a cold beer on a hit day, but I think this calls for some sobriety. Booze can wait for things to either get a whole lot better or a whole lot worse. Meet you there?

[ and there certainly stood for the little tea shop she'd seen a few times before now, but had never entered. ]

written;

[selfnamed]

I was worried you'd say that. Fine. Tea shop. Twenty minutes.

[He shuts the journal and goes to grab his stuff. No knife, but he does have a pistol. It's not for her. It's for any crazy big wing people. And a potentially dangerous older brother.]

action;

[bowgunner]

...Knifeless, but certainly toting an indeterminate something in a jacket pocket, Claire made the questionable trip through town. It wasn't that the mutated individuals were often outwardly violent; rather, a few seemed more interested in discussion than in violence. She wasn't yet certain whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, but she hoped it was the former. Although, it wasn't lost on her that a great deal of uncertainty would evaporate if one of them would just hurry up and attack her. All this suspense was deadly.

She slipped into the tea shop, moving quietly in spite of all the daylight and the lack of appropriate cover. Even still, her arrival was hardly inconspicuous. Claire paused just inside the entrance, craning her neck as she searched out a second pair of innocuously sized wings.