Updating environmental system to version 2.69...
When you blink your eyes open, it is to the glare of blinding overhead lights and the sight of a pair of glassy mechanical eyes boring into your own. The face above yours moves like liquid mercury, forming an approximation of a figure that you recognize and trust implicitly: a friend, a loved one, a caretaker. Perhaps even a god or a goddess. From its lips fall the patterns of a language that is strange and robotic, and yet familiar to you:
Everything is fine.
Welcome to the ̶͓̃N̵̼̈ă̷͙m̴̝͋e̵͕͐l̴͔̋e̷̦͘š̴͙s̵̬̚ ̵̝͌I̴͙͐s̵͖̄l̷̞̓à̴͖n̷̺̏d̵̮͠.̶̼̊<
Darkness overtakes you once again. In the blackness of your dreamless sleep, you are sure you hear a strange chime. You are conscious of a choice:
Yes
Y̶o̶u̶ ̸h̵a̸v̸e̵ ̸c̷h̸o̶s̵e̵n̷ ̶w̶i̶s̵e̴l̷y̸.̷
The Augur thanks you for your loyalty.
I. Orientation
With your support, the Nameless Island will thrive and prosper -- but it may require a little more energy than usual to sustain. Step outside and you will soon see why: the skies are calm, the seas are clear and blue, and the pink sands of the beach have never looked more inviting.
Rome wasn't built in a day, but a facsimile of it certainly was. Enjoy new facades for all of the structures in the Nameless City - everything has been retooled, renewed, and restored to be sleek, shiny, and the absolute height of high tech, eco-friendly luxury, with lush greenery and futuristic architecture blending together seamlessly. You have been transported from the hospital directly to your new residence in either the Apartments or in the House of Worship, sparsely furnished with all the basics and some of your belongings. A friend, partner, or stranger may be there with you. This may be your roommate, but this place isn't hurting for space. No robot will stop them from selecting their own room if they wish.
The Augur calls everyone to the Loudinus Amphitheater, an outdoor stage nestled among the tropical foliage where 'bots put on a play about the purpose of the island, the Auspicious Acts, and the history of the past year, including the all-too-recent attack on the Augur. The robot sex scenes are numerous and explicit, and you may find yourself watching a horribly butchered version of any of your old encounters.
Pick up a free Playbook, a comprehensive list of the dramatis personae with detailed character profiles, and learn a thing or two about your fellow Islanders. No detail is too trivial!
(This play will be streamed to all devices to be viewed remotely, and a digital download of the Playbook is also available.)
II. With Great Power
As a boon for taking on guardianship of the land, characters will find themselves sublimating into the purest form of themselves, embodying a particular trait, quality, or concept to the point where they might as well be revered as its new lawful ruler. That's right: you've become as gods, right down to the development of unique magic powers OR changes to your form which reflect the very core of your being. Enjoy being able to create water, fly with your brand new wings, or even summon geese... among other things.
Of course, with semi-phenomenal, nearly-cosmic power comes semi-phenomenal, nearly-cosmic responsibility! After each expenditure of your new powers, you find yourself becoming weaker, hungrier -- but what you're craving isn't food or rest, it's eros energy. The more outrageous your power or transformation, the more your body will crave the completion of an Auspicious Act. Those who do not gather Eros Energy will be driven mad by this lust, until they begin to lose touch with their sense of self - perhaps even some of their most defining memories.
If the burden proves too great, these powers or changes may be wished away with a request to the Augur and the exchange of one Act.
No
You have chosen to exist away from the Augur's wisdom and b̷e̴n̸e̵v̵o̵l̶e̴n̵c̴e̸.
Please accept your gracious punishment. Have a p̴l̷e̷a̵s̴a̸n̷t̵ day!
III. Dis-Orientation
You awake outside of city limits, out of sight and out of mind, but with the looming sight of the bright and shiny Nameless City always on the horizon. What surrounds you is not luxury, but instead drab, run-down buildings and despair. Your orientation, an extravagant and sexually explicit play which describes the purpose and recent history of the Island, is remotely streamed to your device. Watch it if you wish. Meanwhile, there are a few 'bots to be seen among the rubble and rundown buildings that surround you -- but are they friend or foe? Ask them questions about what has happened to you, and they will be vague and evasive. You're inside a simulation, they say, and this is all very temporary while the Augur's systems update.
They do have one answer for you: if you want into the Nameless City before that time comes, it will cost you an Auspicious Act... and a visit to the Augur. The 'bots will escort you there, if you wish.
These robots are a far cry from the well-oiled machines of the Nameless City, though they're no less helpful. In a rundown shack, a robot bartender dispenses rations and bootleg moonshine. (You can even check out the bathtub it's brewed in!) The liquor is definitely real, and it can definitely strip the rust right off the robots. Whether it's fit for human consumption remains to be seen. Regardless, it's going to give you the night of your life - drinking the stuff may cause a variety of effects, from normal intoxication, to erections lasting more than four hours, to wild hallucinations.
IV. It's Morphin' Time
Later, the rogue robots bring some scavenged technology: small, pink globes with "PROJECT DAEMON" etched on the side. These globes bond to specific individuals and morph into different creatures based on the emotions that those individuals exhibit: someone feeling brave might find themselves with a bright, roaring lion, while someone scared may find themselves pocketing a small mouse. A singer may find themselves warbling alongside a siren.
They shift often and at will, and they are here to help you survive in this landscape. Need someone to help you catch fish, gather firewood, or find you a partner to complete that Auspicious Act? This little critter has your back!
These creatures can communicate with everyone in simple language, but you'll soon realize they're not just voicing their own thoughts, but the thoughts of the person they've bonded with.
These are temporary creatures who will run out of power by the end of the month, though they can be resurrected with rewards at a later date.
Continue
V. The Doctor's Back In
All of this must be a lot for Islanders to take in and process. A lot of new information, new feelings, and new surroundings to become acquainted with. But they should know they are not alone here. Dr D. Love is still as present as ever to help anyone who may need to work through accepting their new situation. He and his helpers might even be rather insistent on you having a session!
Whether you're in the city or out of it, you may suddenly awaken to find yourself sitting in a comfortable chair in the doctor’s newly remodeled office that is tastefully decorated with finely detailed, “hand” painted posters of beings in positions of pleasure. So many positions. Or you may find yourself in the Immersion Room, an equally tastefully decorated room filled with a large, comfortable bed (perfect for group therapy sessions!) and shelves full of toys and other supplies. For the duration of your session, enjoy access to anything one might need to help relieve the stress of their body and mind on their own - or with a partner, who might have been brought here just as unwittingly as you were.
The Doctor is there to help you work through your feelings and discomfort if needed, please have no fear. He knows some of you may be resistant to his help, but he’s as cheerful and devoted as ever, to the point of not letting you leave the building until you’ve admitted to whatever feelings you are holding back - not just to him, but also to your therapy buddy. What's the diagnosis? The fact is, you must not be receiving enough pleasure. You are too tense, you need to relax and allow yourself to embrace the carnal nature of this world and what it can provide you.
The more you resist, the more the Doctor shall insist. He may even choose to activate your Neural Implant, which all Islanders have been gifted with upon arrival. Said neural implant may cause immediate arousal, sexual attraction to those near you, and even turn various parts of your body into extreme erogenous zones! Once activated, the Implant's effects may kick in at the most random of times.
The Doctor knew all you needed was the right motivation.
OOC Notes:
Welcome to the updated Erku! As this is a setting shift and a re-launch of sorts, this TDM is open to top-levels from both current and prospective players. Feel free to tag around with reckless abandon, and have fun!
Whether you are new or old, it is entirely up to you as to whether your character wakes up in the Nameless City or in the ruinous world of the Simulation. Even characters who acted to attack in the Augur in Event 16 may wake up in the City and vice-versa, according to player preference. This simulation is a temporary run and will last for about two weeks (in other words, the duration of the TDM), at which point all characters will wake in their new Nameless City apartments. Even if you choose "No", you may future-date prompts for the City for this time period.
For now, previously requested safe havens and residences are not currently accessible. They will be made available again in following Simulations, but 'bots are inclined to leave characters in mystery and suspense about this!
Feel free to ask questions below.
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N A V I G A T I O N
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no subject
and there he falters, and sinks back into himself, stating bitterly: "I thought if I was helpful enough, I wouldn't get made fun of for my efforts.
I thought you wouldn't all team up on me and laugh while doing so.
I thought you were different. I thought it was different. I thought with all that Ethan and the others said..." He shakes his head. Is there even a point in discussing this? Of course it wouldn't be different. He shouldn't have expected otherwise. But also, that's still not the whole story.
"I was - I was angry." And here he hunches over, pulling his shoulders up, more deeply uncomfortable than bitter now. "I ran off because I was afraid of becoming too angry. It's bad enough if that happens to you. If I-" He shakes his head. "I didn't want that to happen. And I wanted to get away.
I stayed away because..." Because many thoughts, a whole, painful jumble of them that only partly makes sense in hindsight. Still, the decision doesn't feel wrong. However much of a decision there was. "...I want to see my parents. They care."
no subject
"I care." She argued in return. Getting into nitpicking about what she should and shouldn't have done wasn't going to do anything useful. But Colin needed to say this. "Stand up straight and look at me properly." Ren took hold of his upper arms and tried to make him look her in the eye. "I care. Y'weren't yourself but that don't mean you weren't right to have a go. I'm sorry if y'felt that way. I weren't laughin' at you. I was laughin' at the scenario. Would've been just the same if it were Jabari, Hunter or Johan. Wasn't anythin' about you."
"But what I need you to understand Colin is that blockin' yourself off to the rest of us was really shitty. I get needin' to cool yourself. Johan runs to get rid o'it. I have my own methods. But you put y'self into an unsafe place without any backup 'nd now I don't know where the rest of the fuckin' pack are and they're without us." Alone. In fairyland.
no subject
Just. Give him a moment as he gawks at you and works through this, Ren.
And then his brain moves on.
To.
What. Ren lost the pack, and what she's implying is- Are they somewhere in faerie, too? Either way it sounds like they...
"You came after me?"
no subject
What kind of shitty pack didn't go after their missing theurge? Ren blinked at him in confusion. "We was trying to give you space t'cool off after havin' a pop. Nobody was expectin' you t'drop outta pack chat or fuck off with the fairies." The we in that was more centred around Ren herself. She knew the embarrassment of having a pop at someone you didn't mean to and sulking off to lick your wounds. But Colin had gone too far.
"We went to go 'nd find you 'nd we got to the fuckin' gate and lost yeh."
no subject
But why?" They'd just expect for them to return eventually, because where else would he go? No matter how they treated him, of course they'd expect him to return to them. They probably would just shrug and move on until then. Deep down, that'd been what he expected, once the anger had faded and he had had time (a lot of time, hard to measure as it had been) to think. Not that he knew if he wanted to. But - they would have been right, would they not? That's what he thought. And then, talking to Marianna, he had realised that the was a place he could return to where they wouldn't just shrug and wait for the return of the metis they'd gotten burdened with, where they'd give him a hug and be happy that Colin had returned. And that had been. Really really nice to realise, even though he knew even then that it would not be a permanent return. Just a vacation into bliss. But...
But now Ren is saying that they came to look for him?
(And he might start to apologise for having gotten them in trouble in a moment, but right now he's too stuck on that to think about anything else.)
no subject
"Col. You're our friend."
Was he geeky and nerdy and a little bit lame and a fuckin' wet blanket at times? Yes. Absolutely. But, was he surprisingly brave in the face of danger, surprisingly capable of things he shouldn't be, surprisingly integral to keeping them all together? Yes.
"We din't want you doin' somethin' to hurt y'self or somethin' you were goin' to regret once you came back to y'senses."
no subject
Colin just. Stares.
It's not that he's never been called anything nice. He's been a nice young lad according to the little old ladies he used to help with mechanical and electronic issues around their houses. He's been a good kid, according to his parents. He has, begrudgingly, been told that he did fine at something a couple of times by others.
But a friend? Someone's friend?
That's not something he has heard ever. It would imply that he would have any peers who actually wanted him around - actively wanted him around for his own good.
And that's what she makes it sounds like.
And.
What.
"I didn't- I didn't think you - your friend? But-" where to even take this- "are you sure?"
He can't think of any one thing that he could have done to deserve something like that. Sure, he's tried to do his very best up until that fateful return to the Sept. Tried to be the best him that he could be, tried to provide the most value that he could to the pack and the Sept as a whole, however well that has gone.
But friend, that's such a ...badge of honour, of being someone better than what he is, that's not something he had even been aiming for. All he ever hoped was that they would continue to let him be just another pack member, that their acceptance of his presence in the pack would remain as positive as it was.
Friend. That's such a big thing.
no subject
"Yes. Friend."
There were things of herself that she didn't share with other people. Like what her other tattoo meant, how it linked her to her family, how it was significant to her. She wasn't eloquent enough to put it into words. But actions were easier and Ren struggled to show her sincerity.
no subject
Oh.
It's not that he has never looked at the stag head and wondered. It's not that he has doesn't treasure it. Because, in the end, he got it together with her. She took that time out of the evening. It is a lasting reminder of Ren having used valuable minutes, an hour even, of a Beltane night to spend with him. A reminder she carries, too. It holds meaning.
It's just - this is not a meaning he would have, remotely, associated with it.
Friends.
Not just packmates, people thrown together by the demands of a Sept alpha. Not just a community of fate.
Friends.
He stares at the tattoo, and then back at Ren, and then-
what can he even say?
He quickly averts his eyes, looking down instead. "Sorry, I- sorry." There's nothing that can really said to that, can it. Or the situation that he placed himself - and apparently everyone - in.