welcome to the kingdom of akvos.It will happen at random- you could be asleep, or wandering the Temple, or a variety of other options. It will feel a little strange, like a sudden warmth spreading across your skin, and then your bracelet will light up. When you blink again, everything has shifted - changed, developed, like in that blink of an eye you have advanced . . . where, exactly? A NOTE FROM YOUR FRIENDLY . . . WAIT, WHO IS THAT?But before anything too weird can happen . . . your watch flashes again, beeps once, and on it has a new message, a hologram-sparkly image with a young man who (to some individuals!) looks quasi-familiar. He is thin, with large eyes and speaks quietly, but with great purpose. Whoever this is, it doesn't seem to be a person that is a fan of much pomp and circumstance. . . but wherever he is, he is speaking on dry-land, though he looks like he's just recently gotten out of a pool.
 "If you are watching this, then you are a member of the Circle, and have triggered a protective rune that I have cast within this Kingdom known as Akvos that has activated this message. I do not have much time, but my name is Kathashun. I need your assistance, and I am not sure whether we will ever find one another again. But if you are listening to this, heed my words: take care, because you know not what your actions do. The magic in this world is powerful, and whatever is seeping through this planet may not be able to be stopped, but trust me when I say that when we meet -- "
There is a noise, a banging on a door, and Kathashun's eyes dart to the left, before a voice off-screen says, "As much as I love listening to you talk, we need to go." There's a moment's pause before Kathashun refocuses his attention on you, and his eyes (normally a deep brown) begin to change into what appears to be a liquid gold color, and the message begins to crackle.
"We will meet again. Heed my words; find the Princess."
And, just like that, the connection dies, leaving you to the depths of the ocean.
Welcome to Akvos.  ARRIVAL A: THE PALACE OF WAHINE.The first group arrives at the Royal Palace of Wahine, smack-dab in the bustling center of what appears to be the lost city of Atlantis. It is in an area of Akvos that is completely underwater, with gentle currents wafting through the water that guide people on their merry way.
There is plenty to locate here, depending on what you want to find. There are dozens of musically inclined merfolk wandering through the courtyards of the Palace, a shopping area selling intricate jewelry and other decorative pieces, and even the Queen herself. Feel free to set up threads regarding any information you discovered in the World OOC post, but here are some ideas for those needing a place to start!
Prompt Ideas:
- Are you musically inclined? There seems to be a band of colorful mermaids striking up a merry tune with reed flutes, horns made out of massive seashells, and is that a bass playing the bass? You bet your ass it is. . There's even a potential spot for the Circle to join in, if you're so inclined! They may even pay you for your services if you're really good.
- The Queen has offered a reward for any information concerning the location of Princess Kea, who has been missing for a little over a week. A band of scrappy young investigators (complete with matching uniforms) is eager to begin, and has a list of potential "clues" to track down in the Palace area, ranging from: the Princess' prized hair-comb, her harpoon, information on her favorite restaurant, and her beloved pet flounder. None of these items are actually within reach except her favorite restaurant, which will happily either (1) talk about how amazing the Princess is or (2) accept help in the kitchens to serve up a busy restaurant time. Either way, you can earn some seashells.
- The Royal Guard is looking for some mercenary work to comb the city for clues, and seeing as the Circle is oh-so-eager to help out with whatever is going on in Akvos, they're willing to give you a shot! The only problem is that you have to be ready to swim, so be prepared to swim endless laps in circles around the perimeter of Queen Wai's massive home to seemingly no avail. . . . do they actually need the help or are they just laughing at you? Dammit.
- The Palace of Wahine has an underwater library, which is pretty expansive . . . how do they have all of these materials underwater? There are several helpful octopus-libraries that are using their various tentacles to grab books, scrolls, and other materials off of the shelves to hand them to nearby patrons, and there's a lot of material here about the history of Akvos! You may also find a pretty interesting comic book series revolving around a powerful mermaid who looks suspiciously like Queen Wai, who thwarts the evils of inequality. If you ask Queen Wai about it, she will assure you that she has nothing to do with it, and her constituents are creatively minded people . . . but she doesn't seem to mind the good press.
 ARRIVAL B: THE DEPTHS OF MARKOLOS.The second group arrives in a rare pocket of air in Akvos -- a massive cavern, with multiple alcoves along the walls. Here, the population seems to be rather bleak in comparison to the rainbow-colored folk in the Palace of Wahine -- merpeople with larger eyes, sharper teeth, and darker scales. You have successfully located the hunting grounds of the Kingdom of Akvos, known as the Depths of Markolos -- an impossibly deep sinkhole that stretches into the depths of oblivion.
The local population here doesn't actually know what's at the bottom of it, but lately, there are odd happenings in the Depths that the population will tel you about. For one, dead fish seem to be appearing with increasing frequency, and the temperature of the Depths has dropped to a frigid point. Layers of ice have been found below the surface that were not there previously, and there is plenty of talk of whether or not their food supply for the Kingdom is endangered by whatever is causing this random bout of ice.
Prompt Ideas:
- Have you ever tried spear-fishing? An angler-fish mermaid, with haunting eyes and massively sharp teeth, is eager to teach the Otherworlders! She's pretty nice, despite her scary appearance, and will pay seashells to folks willing to stay in the "shallow" area of the Depths to spear pretty easy looking fish. She will also lend out fishing equipment for those want to give it a try!
- The Brig is located in the Depths, and if you violate the law in other areas, you will be brought here. The cells are small and cramped, with no beds or cots to speak of, and you are fed less-than-great quality raw fish while in here. Petty thievery and the like will be punished for two days, and once you are released, you are stuck in the Depths You can also talk to some of the prisoners here, who will be interested in swapping a surprising amount of seashells for fresh raw fish. They also like to gamble. :)
- There are some side-tunnels in the Depths along the walls that contain shellfish to hunt and scavange! The only problem is that some of them have a fairly strong current, and -- voila, it is a massive Slip-N-Slide. Sneaking into one will rocket you through a tunnel and spit you out at a lower level of the Depths, but be careful -- you might wind up face to face with a pretty terrifying looking fish that is a bit too big for you to handle, so explore these tunnels with some care.
- The mermaids here will warn against going too deep into the Depths, but there is nothing to stop you from exploring. In addition to the ice clustered along the western wall of the cavern, there's plenty of creepy looking fish in the depths. In particular, the mermaids will warn you against infuriating a creature named Honohu -- who is this beloved little Leviathian-looking monstrosity who will absolutely attempt to eat you if you go too deep. Enjoy?  ARRIVAL C: THE FIELDS OF AKOVOSIAThe third group will be deposited in a beautiful coral reef, full of color and swaying seaweed. It is an impossibly beautiful sight, and the merpeople here are equally bright and colorful, to blend in with tehir surroundings. There are no shortage of clownfish and angelfish-esque merpeople floating around, collecting plantlife, creating new clothing, or even hunting poisonous smaller fish for usage in their medicinal techniques.
However, the more you explore the fields, the more you begin to notice odd patches of dead coral. It almost looks as if certain random patches were afflicted by some type of illness that has completely robbed it of its color. The merpeople nearby will not know very much about it, but if you continue digging and asking the right people, perhaps you'll find out the source of this sudden illness.
Prompt Ideas
- Have you ever gone dolphin-racing? . . . or, well, they look like dolphins, complete with saddles and harnesses that the merfolk are entirely too eager to pass off onto the landfolk. It seems they race these dolphins in the currents for sport in between their collecting of plantlife and hunting. Feel free to ask the curator of these beings, a burly-looking mermaid who will happily lend you a dolphin for a seashell an hour.
- Batter up! You can find what appears to be a weird baseball/rugby crossover sport, in which the merpeople crack hunks of coral with sticks . . . but then tackle each other at the different bases instead of, you know, tapping them lightly to signify them being out. They're always looking for new players to join, but be warned! They take their sport seriously.
- Investigating the beautiful coral reef will garner a lot of pretty looking rocks and other types of intricate material that could be used for crafting, which is always up for collecting for money. Mermaids will be wandering around with baskets to collect various goods, so feel free to help out!
- Finally, there are a lot of mermaids just sitting around shooting the shit, gossiping, fussing about home, and collecting materials to make what's needed in their day to day lives. A few of them seem to be knitting some type of material underwater -- weird, right? But feel free to obtain some cool textiles fresh off the proverbial racks, for a price.  ARRIVAL D: THE THUNDERDOME.The last group to arrive may think that this is some type of stupid joke, as the merfolk around this area really do refer to it as the Thunderdome. It is a massive underwater cavern, filled with thousands and thousands of jellyfish. It seems that the merfolk tend to these beings for a multitude of reasons -- one, for food, two, for venom, and three, for . . . electricity?
The jellyfish in this area seem to crackle with energy, and the merfolk in this area will inform you that this is where they obtain power which they charge their weapons and lights with. The bioluminescence is pretty startling to see, and the jellyfish themselves seem to be relatively harmless. But there is a certain area of the Thunderdome that is flickering in and out of darkness . . . an area where the jellyfish seem to be a lot less bright. The merfolk don't really understand what's going on, but whatever is happening in Akvos seems to be affecting the jellyfish in a negative way. They don't seem horribly concerned, but. Here we are.
Prompt Ideas:
- The armory is located in the Thunderdome, and you can buy a bunch of cool weapons here! Glow in the dark swords, electrified knives, bows, and harpoons can be found here, varying in price. They all seem to be rust-proof, too, given their environment, and the craftsmanship here is like no other. The people here really take their craft seriously, so happy shopping.
- The main attraction here, though, is definitely the jellyfish. They deliver a rather nasty shock, and anyone who touches them will glow a weird blue color for at least three days afterwards. The merpeople seem to know how to fix this, but likely will not do so because they warned you not to touch the damn things, you stupid landfolk. Navigate them carefully, and you may even be able to earn some coin in helping shepherd them!
- A group of mermaids are looking for people to fish out the sickly looking jellyfish in order to be treated by what appears to be Akvos' version of a veterinarian. The sickly looking ones are the ones that are flickering dim, and while the veterinarian has no idea what is going on with them, they want them out. Just be careful not to touch them, though. You will definitely glow blue for a few days, even though these ones are ill!
- The mermaids in the Thunderdome enjoy practicing their skills with each other, in terms of weaponry, battle tactics, and the like, but they also enjoy their downtime too! Find little pockets of folks hanging out, chatting, and playing some weird game that involves what appear to be coral dice and flattened stones. It almost looks like they're gambling seashells or something . . . time to get in on the action, if you can learn the rules, anyway. Additionally, please feel free to write up and work with your own prompts! These are presented as jumping off points for your characters, not limitations. The idea of this world- as with all the others- is to explore. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them back on the various threads back in the OOC post from before! REMEMBER: For the entirety of this log, you can only physically interact with those in your group. For the first two weeks, the network will be completely defunct. After two weeks, you may send intermittent text messages to those in other groups. From this point forward, the Circle has become involved with the Kingdom of Akvos. What your character finds out, decides, and does from here on out will affect the future of this city- one way or another! But what you do is completely up to you. What you discover, explore, and uncover will be yours to discover, explore, and uncover. Who knows what you might find? :) |
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acatalepsy_logs2018-11-12 08:55 am
1
[ Never one to stay still or anything less than vigilant underwater, Simon spots Connor before he can get the shit startled out of him by his purposeful approach and does a half-turn to face him, finger still poised on his own watch.
He’s pretty relieved to see him, despite how weird their last conversation (?) was. No matter how much Simon navelgazes over the unfairness of the creation of synthetic people to serve humanity, Connor’s presence... also has the effect intended by his creators, which is “oh good Connor’s here and he’s an intelligent superdetective”. Especially now, when almost everybody else is MIA, for some reason.
To his request, he just has: ] Please tell me you’re a Wi-Fi hotspot.
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Gliding over close enough to keep a conversation going, even throughout the muffling of the water, Connor is in a Serious Mode and therefore takes the question Seriously.]
No, unfortunately, I don't possess any capabilities like that. And even if I did, our abilities are back to being completely defunct, so the point would be moot.
[He's eying Simon's watch, with the finger still pressed upon the screen.]
So you're having difficulties, too. Can you try texting me, since I'm closer? Or is it not working at all?
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Anyway, he humors him, typing:
Testing testing 123 ]
I can see the list of everyone in the Circle, but none of the messages are getting through.
[ And, as if to illustrate, there it... doesn’t go. Well, that’s about what he expected. ]
So you can’t scan this to see what’s wrong with it?
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Then it has nothing to do with proximity, near or far. The evidence points to the network being completely down.
[that’s just dandy!!!]
No, my scans no longer work. Whatever constitutes as the ‘native powers’ that we all once possessed, my scanning capabilities — as well other both basic and advanced functions — apparently fit the bill.
[And his Astoria-gifted ability is nigh useless in this situation.]
We need a way to communicate with each other long-distance. It’s been essential thus far, and that’s not even considering the fact that we seem to be missing a large portion of our group.
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[ “Go somewhere else until you get a signal” is probably not how the network works, since it’s magic, but that’s why it shouldn’t have gone down in the first place.
Even as Simon heads off he’s still fiddling with the watch, not even looking at what he’s doing, which is compulsive, repetitive nothing. The devices are useless right now, but it’s better than feeling like he’s empty-handed down here, no matter how colorful and bustling the city is. ]
Are you okay down here? Mechanically?
[ He asked Connor something similar about having been in the lake, but now he’s watching the guy inhale (?) water. At length. It looks pretty unnerving, and Connor breaking is even worse of a prospect than usual when the breakage is everywhere. ]
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Two birds, one stone.
He follows, a wipe sweep of his arms heralding the beginning of an effective yet awkward-bodied swim, as he trails next to Simon.]
Working fully and completely, disregarding the functions that are normally offline as per being a member of the Circle. [Abilities from home, he means, utterly back to being dormant.] What about you, Simon?
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[ He’ll take Connor’s word for it that he’s okay down here. If everything in PATHOS-II, which was decidedly pre-extremely human androids era, could be water-compatible, so can Connor. He’s still surprised when he glances back and sees him swimming, though.
at any rate, it might be a good thing the watches don’t work since Simon is probably just fucking with the volume dial right now. Curiosity and alarm about sum it up; he is as eager to find their missing coworkers as he is increasingly uncertain that it’s even a good thing if all of them are down here. ]
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So no big deal as he just glides alongside, right?]
You’re talking about your time at the bottom of the Lake Dona?
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[ No big deal indeed. Until they actually have to be able to swim for some reason or another. Then Simon’s kind of boned, and will possibly be relegated to the Shore of Shame with the other paperweight robots in a repeat of the cavern expedition. ]
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And what was your objective at the time, moving from building to building?
[Simon has granted him context, of a sort, but nothing more than pieces that haven't quite formed the whole. The setting of his world, the make of his body... but not necessarily the exact role he possessed.]
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[ ...he says, while fidgeting with his nonfunctioning smartwatch. ]
Launching things into space was what they did down there, and the ARK could survive for thousands of years that way.
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Did you have trouble defending yourself from these monsters?
[Maybe he can hear the implication, in which Connor is too polite or too inherently oblivious to ward away: You aren’t much of a combat unit, Simon.]
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But hey, having lived as an unathletic Canadian nerd, being in an unarmed, poorly-constructed half-toaster body wasn’t too much of a blow to his ego. ]
I couldn’t defend myself, I had to run. Just being near them scrambles your circuits. I don’t know if killing them would even be possible... probably wouldn’t stick.
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Are they really that resilient? What was it about them that made proximity dangerous?
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[ Simon is..... not a difficult person to probe for answers on this topic, because it turns out the emotional numbing that leads morticians to have work-break conversations that would appall most normal people can be induced over just a couple days if your circumstances are fucked up enough. ]
That’s all it needed. I mean, they were already dead — probably could’ve kept piloting monsters around until it ran out of structure gel, and I didn’t see that happening. That stuff was coming out of the walls.
[ this may not be difficult to believe given the look of its proliferation in Simon’s horrific body. ]
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I see. That's unfortunate for you, Simon, but I'm glad to see that you obviously managed to survive that kind of ordeal.
[Presumably, given that he's here.]
Did you end up succeeding in what it was you were trying to achieve?
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[ this like, definitely isn’t how timelines and alternate universes work but they’re confusing and Simon’s just some guy, okay.
This is making him miss Catherine now, so after a pause, he- kinda sorta changes the subject. ]
What about you, Connor? Do you miss home?
[ ....from somebody more conniving this could be some kind of android-emotion sting operation, but no, it’s an entirely earnest question. ]
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I don’t miss home, as such.
[He could insert the spiel of how he doesn’t technically miss anything — that’s far too human of an inclination. But Simon is spared.]
I do have a pressing obligation to return, however, for the sake of my on-going investigation. And I’ll admit that being in a more familiar environment is preferable to one that constantly changes with each “world jump”, so to speak.
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Simon gives him a long look; long for him, at least. The searching nature of it is less detectable— no, actually, a little too detectable, by the unnatural actuator-powered twitches of the singular unit of his eyes. The task of finding a clue in a facial expression, in a flash of feeling, is too subtle for jury-rigged equipment made for undersea robot drones to simulate with much grace.
Is it true, or what Connor feels like he has to say? It could be true. It sounds kind of bleak there, after all... maybe nobody would miss that. ]
Right... the android criminals. [ Connor’s function is so weird, hunting down others of his own kind, he asks with uncertainty in his tone. Besides, he knows too much about the YoRHa androids to not be a little afraid of the answer. ] What happens to them? Do they get put in prison, like humans?
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It seems to be a growing trend lately. That talk of home seems to plant a small seed of doubt in whomever he’s speaking with — is it a problem on his end? Is he not explaining clearly enough? Is he giving them reason to doubt?
His LED spins twice as he pushes the thought aside and down for now.]
If they’re caught, they’re returned to CyberLife for diagnosis and eventual disassembly, in hopes of finding the root cause of their deviancy.
[Even prison is too generous for something that’s viewed as an object rather than a person.]
There’s one here now, you know. From my world. A deviant.
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I was afraid you were going to say something like that.
[ Simon doesn’t know what to think. That Connor participates in that, against other androids. Is it really his fault? Like the YoRHa androids, all of them— is it really their fault?
Unlike YoRHa’s androids, Simon doesn’t exactly have a mental schema for what androids from Connor’s world... look like. Apparently they don’t have white hair and carry giant swords, which is a disadvantage if you’re gonna look for one. ]
Who is it?
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It’s necessary. Finding out the cause of the uptick in deviancy is imperative — all there is to work with thus far is… insubstantial explanations of ‘ideas being like viruses’.
[A concept spoken like it obviously wasn’t something originated by him.]
Her name is North. Are you familiar with her? She’s only recently arrived.
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Simon gives him a sidelong glance. ] Imperative... right.
[ he sounds super convinced. ]
Is she... what did she do? Doesn’t ring a bell.
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It's only a matter of time, given the limited size of the Circle itself.]
She's a member of an organization called Jericho. An underground resistance consisting of androids who have gone deviant.
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“Gone deviant” meaning, they’re all criminals on the run? Is she violent?
[ He sounds cautious, asking it, and yet—
There’s violent robots, and Simon guesses, sure — maybe an android could be as human as Connor, as seemingly capable of the full range of human expression, and still have sudden outbursts of violent crime only possible through some kind of glitch, or something. But an underground resistance movement doesn’t exactly have that “crazy robot, how did this weird malfunction happen” vibe that he feels Connor wants him to get out of that explanation.
On the third hand, again, doesn’t mean he wants to run into any of them, if, you know... they’re aggressive android outlaws. ]
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what a delay, i'm so sorry