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

[therewerefifty]

Practice...

[The word is distant and she blinks distractedly. It's a peaceful enclosure, isn't it? Though...

...no. There's definite threat from some of the villagers now. She'd thought he was under attack, after all.]

Practice is an excellent idea. Have you learned much from these gifts? [It doesn't take much to summon a ball of light to her palm, naturally as if she's done it all her life.]

[knifesedge]

[That threat was why he was out here. He knew without a doubt that some of the villagers were dangerous, and it was only a matter of time. But only the blackwings. The rest were ... ignorable.

Bits of light remain behind, sitting sedately in the air. That he could pull off Moiraine's trick now was irrelevant, he couldn't before.]

Yes. The control of light isn't just lightbulbs. Minor illusions are possible too, just refracted light. It can be a weapon.

[Knives holds one hand up. Bluewhite light concentrates there, in roughly the same shape and length as a sword.]

Concentrated enough, narrow enough, it works like a laser. You could probably throw it or shoot it similarly. This method seems easiest, there isn't much that can't be cut through with time.

[therewerefifty]

[Makie's eyes light up at the sword creation. Of course. What an excellent use for it.]

I am Makie Otono-Tachibana. [The light in her palm ripples and distorts, forming something much closer to a dagger than a sword-- and then she lets it vanish, her hand going to the wrapped shamisen balanced in the crook of her other arm instead.] May I have your name?

[knifesedge]

[Now that he has it, it seems Knives is content to toy with the light-blade a little. No point in wasting energy now that he had it in-hand.

As she supplies her name, he glances at her again, but says little immediately, the name filed away but not repeated. Were names important?]

.. Knives.

[Which might well be a very peculiar name to give someone, but Rem was a very peculiar woman, and he didn't think about it much.]

You should practice. The blackwings won't remain 'mischief makers' for long.

[They'll need to defend themselves. They'll need to watch for backstabbing..]

[therewerefifty]

[But the blackwings are villagers like us. Helios, not so long ago... she frowns. She doesn't really want to get embroiled in trouble.

On the other hand...

...he speaks good sense. And if she can make weapons out of it, the possibilities for experimenting are endless.]

I believe I shall, Mr Knives. [The name is not so strange to her. Though it might lead to her making some assumptions about his character.] By chance, are you a swordsman?

[knifesedge]

[Knives had nothing to do with his naming. What sort of person would saddle a baby with a name like that? It's like she wanted him to grow into the name or something. He of course, obliged.

He doesn't answer her question immediately, instead thinking about it. He'd not really ever used a sword, but he knew how..]

... No. While I am capable of using such a weapon fairly well, I prefer things not crafted by human hands ordinarily.

['Villagers like us' meant little when he knew how violent and dangerous the average person in Luceti could be. Paranoia's a way of life, and Hyt just encouraged it.]

Do you require a swordsman?

[therewerefifty]

No, a swordsman is not required, although it may have helped. I was merely curious with your trick of before.

[The light she forms is much longer now, about three feet in length. This time she concentrates on reducing it to a thin blade of light.] I don't suppose you know if the trees here repair themselves the way the houses do.

[knifesedge]

Ah. I have a certain familiarity with using blades, but likely not the sort you might think of.

[Most people thought of manufactured blades. Swords, spears, knives, anything in between.. until recently he'd grown his own. A different origin and a different use..]

... I had not been aware the houses repair themselves at all. [It's a reminder that he's still new to Luceti, and a reminder he doesn't much like.] ..Presumably. I would ... suggest trying it on something small to be certain.

[therewerefifty]

...hmm.

[There's a lot of fallen twigs and even small branches in the undergrowth. Already broken and thus nobody will miss it.]

There was a game I used to play as a child with... another boy. This will do nicely. [She searches until she finds a long, slender twig with a couple of dying leaves still attached.]

The object was to see how many pieces you could cut it into before it hit the ground again.

[knifesedge]

[A.. game. When was the last time Knives played a game? He studies the branch she finds, brow furrowed. Not since the ships. A hundred and fifty years. And she had no idea what her opponent in this 'game' even was..]

I see. You wish to .. play, then I take it?

[Hyt had chosen her, she had to be worth more than the average human. The strange camaraderie that sharing a spirit inflicted was one that kept his usual dislike and hostility firmly in check, but the idea of playing a game was.. strange. How could she hope to win, against a plant?]

I have not played a game in a long, long time.

[But there was no reason he had to humiliate an ally. Restraint too had its uses.]

[therewerefifty]

Oh... [She looks faintly startled, actually.] I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect. I was merely explaining what I was about to do. It's less a game and more a... training exercise, I suppose. It teaches fine control and speed, which for something like this... [She glances at the blade of light.]

I imagine you've already come quite a long way yourself. I don't mean to insinuate you have not. But I haven't.

[She's not actually sure if he's annoyed or not, but Makie always errs on the side of caution. Adults playing games does sound demeaning.]

[knifesedge]

...There's no need to apologize.

[It's a strange thought, playing a game, with a human of all things. Being treated so politely wasn't something he'd encountered thus far in Luceti, and that was pleasant at least.]

If it is a game then call it a game. Many things learn through play.

[Knives is emphatically not one of them but he's not going to stop her. He doesn't seem terribly annoyed ... or terribly accepting, but it was difficult to dredge most emotions up into full action right now, save where the black-winged people were involved.]

I have a lifetime's familiarity with various sharp objects, but no, I don't have much experience with using light in such a fashion. If you wish to practice it..

[He gestures; feel free to.]

[therewerefifty]

I need... precision.

[Gently Makie sets down the bundle tucked under her arm against a tree-- her shamisen-- and takes enough steps away from it to ensure it's out of harm's way. She would never have thought before now that light could be sharp as a blade-- but with the possibility raised--

She tosses the stick as high into the air as she can, and waits a beat. Two.

The light flashes, a blinding curve through the air. Her first strike is clumsy, but Makie improves with each one, slicing into the thin wood and sending it kicking back up into the air again, until it finally hits the grass in seven separate pieces. She's fast.

She also can do better. But it's a start.]

[knifesedge]

[Knives stays silent and almost completely motionless, only breathing and the occasional tug of wind on his person proving him an animate thing at all. To most people it might be kind of creepy but.. well. Hyt encourages it. Makie's probably felt it as well.

But it isn't all Hyt. He's watching closely, observing the actions Makie takes attentively. She's fast. Not as fast as he could be, but for a human it's almost admirable. And she adapts quickly.

After a while, he finally moves, a spark of light forming and collecting rapidly into something roughly the size of a baseball. It's bright but not painfully so, easy to track and watch.]

Try a moving object that isn't falling.

[It's flicked in her direction. It's moving quickly, and fairly erratically. Since she's using the same power he is, she should be able to swat it around or slice it up fairly easily. If she can hit it.]

[therewerefifty]

[Her stroke is both smooth and automatic now, arcing out to slice the object cleanly in half, expression serene. She barely looked at it.

This is what she's been missing. Peaceful nature aside, there's nothing quite like moving with a blade, regardless of what it's made of.

Although...]

I wonder if lethal force will be necessary.

[knifesedge]

[Fairly promptly, he conjures up another. It takes no effort to make the little light orbs, and if she's handling one fine, several more should be easy.]

It's possible. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

[It kept surprise from being a Thing to worry about. Knives was good at planning for worst-case scenarios and usually he was right.]

... Are you capable of killing?

[That seems like an odd question, and he seems only mildly curious. She certainly had weapon skills, which would suggest she IS capable pretty clearly, but he asks anyway. Which means he's possibly used to those who can, but don't.]

[therewerefifty]

[...what a question. Before today she'd be reluctant to answer it, especially to someone she's just met. But...this is different.]

When I must. [Though her smile is a little sad, she's fully sincere. Killing... won't be an issue. If they have to go that far.] I assume you are, also.

[knifesedge]

['When I must' didn't mean she was a wanton murderer, like those he used to collect like fine personal weapons.]

There's no pleasure in killing. But it may prove necessary. ... Part of 'prepare for the worst'.

[And Knives' habitual paranoia and suspicion was only heightened by Hyt's; sooner or later the Twila-possessed would have to face purging. He shakes his head slightly, then sets to work practicing the more difficult part of light control: illusions. He's figured out how to make them visually believable, but there were more senses than just vision. The beast he conjures up moves realistically, but no sound, no smell.]

But it's ... nice, to have an excuse to practice new power. Even if it might not last.

[therewerefifty]

[Makie is soon distracted from her own work by the beast. Illusions and blades of light aren't things that occur naturally to a woman from such old times, but once she sees them she feels...reassured. As if there's a small voice whispering within that such things are more than possible.]

I agree. I've never felt anything like it. [Hyt feels warm to her, giving her power that doesn't necessarily have to end in slaughter.] But I'm rather narrow-minded when it comes to ways to practice, I see.

[The first part about necessary killing, she leaves be. She might be reluctant to agree, but she's always been practical. He's right.]

[knifesedge]

[There had to be a way to make it seem more realistic. A way to imitate sound as well. Would that require wind's influence? After all, sound was vibrations in the air.. The image flickers, like a mirage on the horizon.]

Humans can have difficulty adapting to things wildly outside their experience. It isn't ... narrowmindedness, but instinct. The new and unusual can kill you, after all. Instinct can be overcome.

[Many of their new abilities didn't involve causing direct harm. He was okay with it. It interested him, gave him something to toy with completely outside the realm of his power as a plant.]

An illusion is more difficult than I'd expected. [A reluctant admittance, even more reluctant because she might know how to fix the annoying problem he had with the images.] I can't figure out sound, or scent. It's incomplete without them. Is there a way to fool those senses with just light, I wonder?

[therewerefifty]

[Humans, huh...? He looks human to her, but in such a bizarre village Makie certainly won't point this out. Filing that for future reference.]

Such an illusion with the an appropriate level of distraction will still be believed as genuine. If you give them no space to examine your work, it will pass muster.