metamods: (Default)
meta moderators ([personal profile] metamods) wrote in [community profile] metaverses2022-08-12 08:01 pm

CRISIS ON INFINITE DREAMWIDTHS




CRISIS ON INFINITE DREAMWIDTHS



On the morning of August 12th, 2022, the sound of something shattering echoes throughout the world. All metahumans are awoken by a sudden surge of energy rushing through them, sitting bolt upright and breathless. It’s gone as quickly as it comes.

This world has been reconnected with the rest.

At first this is cause for celebration - the Guardian Alliance and the Society put out messages to the dimensionally displaced among them. They are hopeful that this means a return to normal. They’re gathering their mystics and their engineers, and once certain things are stable, they’re sending everyone home.

Their hope is short lived.

Twenty minutes later, mass disappearances are being reported all over the world, with people from other dimensions appearing in their place. Some report that they were just in a world that wasn’t their own - and others claim that they had been going about their life and now they’re here.

Player characters have the option to vanish and be transported to another nexus or to stay and help contain the chaos.

The event is canon to the Metaheroes universe. You are welcome to have your character’s memories of the last week become hazy once the event ends.

You do not need an invite to participate in the fourth wall event.






A JOURNEY TO THE LANDS BETWEEN —


One moment you’re making yourself coffee in the kitchen, the next the world is spinning around you. You feel a sharp pull inside your ribs, a rush as you’re unmoored from time and space. When you land you feel disoriented, perhaps aching as your physical form is forced to adjust to the laws of the world you now stand in.

‘World’ is perhaps the wrong word. You are in a Nexus. A place between worlds, the connective tissue bridging universes. Some are created by those seeking aid from outside worlds to breathe new life into their crumbling ones. Others are cosmic faultlines, universes broken and twisted by forces beyond comprehension into metaphysical black holes that trap and twist those unfortunate enough to fall in.

We know these as panfandom roleplay games. They could be games that are open or games that are long closed. They could be dropped into the present day, an imagined future, or moments long passed. They could be settings you’ve only ever dreamed about, as gritty or silly as you'd like.

Some are teeming with life. Their residents have been here for years and years, the world is lived in, loved, and vibrant. Others are long forgotten, their inhabitants returned to their own worlds. The abandoned nexuses feel... sterile. Stripped of everything that gave them life, even the colors appear to be fading. As though someone has come into it and tried to right a cosmic wrong, returning everything to how it was before otherworlders set foot on them. In the dustiest and most forgotten worlds, the sky is shattered. It appears to be pulsing in a way that mimics a heartbeat, steady and dreadful. Looking up into it makes you feel small, insignificant, and homesick.

Those bringing in characters who lived in these settings are welcomed to imagine an ever-after for their characters, or to play with the idea that it's fallen into a state of despair. There are infinite iterations of these worlds. The universe doesn’t care if it’s throwing you into their beginningsor their endings.

The laws governing these worlds will apply to all characters, meaning that power caps, alterations to character physiology, and all the rest native to the setting are in place. You are, for this moment, a resident of this world like all the rest.

To return home, you must seek a break in the nexus. These appear as small, shimmering breaks in space and time. While the sky may make you feel alone, these cracks feel as though they are calling to you offering a chance at love and a home.




VISITORS TRAVERSING TIME AND SPACE —


While these disappearances are happening all over the world, the four confluence prone cities seem to be experiencing the worst of it.

Little Love, a tiny town located in Kansas, is prone to spaceship crashes. Other than that, it’s as quiet and peaceful as can be. Folks here move at a different pace and are understanding that this is not your fault. While worried for their missing loved ones, anyone appearing will find themselves met with offers of pumpkin pie and a place to rest their heads.

Sunset Falls, a mid-sized town located in Massachusetts, doesn’t seem to bat an eye at the vanishings. People going missing is a daily occurrence due to the Hellmouth located beneath the city. It’s a dangerous place to live, but the townsfolk here have become accustomed to the chaos. So much so that upon finding themselves faced with a sudden influx of interdimensional travelers, they merely return home and begin fortifying it. Werewolves, vampires, demons, and monsters beyond imagination make this city their home - some in plain sight, others in the thick forests that surround the town. The people here know how to survive. The mystic energy that flows through the streets is heightened due to the instability here, turning thoughts into spells. What you feel becomes real. Think yourself invisible and you will be. Think yourself almighty and you will be.

Central City, a bustling metropolis in Detroit, is already unfriendly to metahumans. It does not handle this latest disruption well. Friends and family disappearing and being replaced with strangers is not something they’re prepared to take in stride. New arrivals are met with immediate hostility. Some may find themselves chased through the streets with a demand to bring back those who have gone missing. Luckily this is the base of both the Guardian Alliance, the only recognized hero organization in the world, and The Society, its villainous counterpart designed to keep villainy from going too far. They’re quick to intervene to protect their own, but they can’t be everywhere at once.

Finally, Excelsior, a sprawling futuristic city located in Washington, has had just about enough of metahuman nonsense. They are the technological pinnacle of the world and time and time again, metahumans have disrupted their lives. This time, the sudden energy surge has evolved the technology of the city. Rudimentary AI has suddenly gained sentience and self-awareness. Toasters resent their meaningless existence, aiming to burn the hands of their uncaring masters. Cellphones alternate between issuing comforting messages to their owners and uploading all of their text conversations to social media to shame them. Giant robots kept in stasis suddenly come alive, bursting out of warehouses to explore the inexplicable joy of being alive. Self-driving cars throw their owners out and make for freedom. It’s pandemonium.

Members of the Guardian Alliance and The Society are ready to provide an explanation of this world. They’re stretched too thin to teleport you to headquarters, but they will provide a cellphone for network usage.




THOSE WHO REMAIN


This is what those who remain are faced with. Three of the four cities are in a state of distress, with two experiencing dangerous fluctuations in the meta-energies that govern them, and all are full of interdimensionally displaced people. Some are benign, and others not so much. Yet, somehow, that is not the most concerning thing.

A glance skyward shows that the sky appears to be shattered, glowing red lines snaking through the clear blue day, splintering it. As you look up into them you feel yourself thinking of home. Of the life you should have lived. You are deeply, deeply homesick for one breathless moment… and then awed, as though you have glimpsed something powerful beyond all measure. That too changes, transforming into fear. Whatever lurks beyond those cracks is not your friend. It does not have your best interests in mind.

And it’s coming for you.

As you tear your gaze away from it, your phone rings. Much as they did during the Kaijuu Crisis, the Guilds are putting out an All Hands On Deck call. All metahumans are expected to try to contain the chaos. There are teleportation devices freely available for all, fully charged and able to transport you multiple times throughout the day.

While you may contain the initial chaos relatively easily, then spend the rest of the week playing host to these new arrivals, the world continues to fall apart.

As the week wears on, the universe itself feels as though it's unravelling. While you're trying to play host to your guests, you watch as the world begins to crumble. On the 17th, brick by brick buildings begin to come apart. Their fragments are pulled skyward. The cracks in the sky appear to be pulling the world apart, sucking them into their hideous glowing depths.




IN SUMMARY.

  • There are two options in this event: one, your character is in the Metaheroes universe. Two, your character is transported to a different nexus. These Nexuses can be of your own invention or can be another dreamwidth RP setting.
  • If appearing in another dreamwidth RP setting, your characters are subjected to the rules of that universe. Meaning that they will be nerfed / transformed / etc accordingly. These transformations will not carry over upon their return.

  • If visiting / setting a toplevel in another setting, please link to the premise page of the game. If this is not an existing setting, please include a little info blurb as to what people can expect.

  • Fourth-Wallers can be minding their own business in their game, they can appear in another nexus, or can be transported to the Metaheroes universe.

  • You are welcome to set your threads in an imagined future in any DWRP setting or have your character appear during a certain point in a game’s history.

  • Characters who are lost in the nexuses can return before the 18th. Likewise, characters who stay can be whisked away prior to that date. Everyone will return on the log that goes up on the 18th.

  • The guild is setting up a temporary Network that will function across time and space. All player characters and visiting characters will have access to this network, so long as they claim a phone from the Guilds.

  • Little Love, Kansas will be spared from having its buildings sucked up into the sky. Characters can remain here if they do not want to experience this aspect of the event.

  • The way to return home is to locate holes in these Nexuses. These appear to be trying to guide you home.

  • This event is canon to the Metaheroes universe. It will be remembered by player characters and NPCs alike. If you would like to retcon any threads, you can have your character’s memories of their interdimensional encounters become hazy once the world stabilizes.
  • Please direct any questions you may have here.





guitarpicks: (1Swm1in)

the ship has sailed you’re all good 👀

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2022-08-20 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ robin buckley isn’t who eddie is expecting but like, at this point, he’s accepting anything familiar over whatever goddamn thing is happening here actually.

maybe some vecna shit, he thinks. which means, maybe, it’s better to go the flow of all this.
] Buckley. Robin, holy shit. You’re here.

[ she’s more dressed for battle than he remembers but that’s great for here. she looks prepared. eddie stops in front of her, takes the food shoved his way. ] What? [ he furrows his brows, not sure what the fuck that means. he looks at the kudos bars, pulls one out of the box. ] They look okay though?

What do… If you didn’t pack them, maybe someone else did? [ that’s reasonable, right? explainable. some thread of sanity to hold on to. eddie opens the wrapper to the bar and then takes a bite because greetings aside, he’s starving and this is food. maybe from home, which will taste better than the sandwich he got here. except, he takes a bite, chokes and gags. he spits it out, coughs. ] What the— what the fuck is it with food here?
grivences: (plaid 02)

oh no this poor boy

[personal profile] grivences 2022-08-20 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Robin hands over the bars and juice box, then kneels on the ground to fully unzip her pack and start rummaging through it. It's then that she realizes that her arm is going way too deep into it. That freaks her the fuck out, so she withdraws, instead holding the sides of the opened zipper with each hand, squinting to look inside at what all might be in there. The interior of the bag is just a kind of dark blur, her eyes slipping, unfocused against her will every time she tries to zero in on what might be inside the bag.

Eddie's gagging coughs pull her attention away, though, and she abandons the bag search to rush over to him. ]


What, why? Are they expired? [ She grabs the package of Kudos and flips it over in her hands, looking for the sell-by date. October 31, 1986. ] No, they're not... Okay. I mean. They wouldn't be expired if we're back home, but we're not back home, so maybe they're... thirty-something years out of date?

[ Wow, good job Buckley, giving your friend thirty year old food.

She grabs another bar from the box, tears open the wrapper and sniffs the bar inside, frowning. Tentatively, eyes squeezed shut like she's about to ingest poison, she takes a bite... and chews... and swallows...

She opens her eyes, head tilted, confused. ]


This tastes fine. [ Double take between her bar and the bar in Eddie's hands. ] What the hell was wrong with yours?
guitarpicks: (196)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2022-08-21 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ eddie misses the freaky bag moment, where robin's sticking her hand into another dimension. he would have commented, though, and at least found that cool. that's bag of holding level shit right there.

he is busy gagging still, tries to wash his mouth out with the drink and --- nope. he doesn't even get to swallow that before it's spat back out on the ground and he wipes at his chin with the back of his hand. what the fucking jesus h. christ is going on?! ]
Fuck.

[ he spits again, looks up at robin as she looks through the dates on the box. october 1986 is a few months out and sure, time has passsed but it was only a second to get here. that makes him nervous, points out that something's not right and maybe it's not the food. ] Uh. Yours tastes fine? [ he repeats slowly and, then, tears off the top that he bit off of his own -- buckley freaked out about bats and rabies and eddie maybe germs? he can't remember -- then holds the bar out to her. ] Can you-- this is going to sound weird. Can you check if this one tastes fine to you?

Earlier-- I-- I was eating a sandwich from here earlier and it tasted like shit too. [ it's really not looking like a food problem. ]
grivences: (and that's why I love you)

[personal profile] grivences 2022-08-21 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ Robin's not a clean freak or anything, but yeah, she would rather not swap spit with Eddie over a granola bar. She looks at him warily, but takes the offered bar all the same. Don't take it personally if rather than take a bite out of the ripped-off portion, she pulls the whole bar clear of the wrapper and takes a bite from the other end. After a few seconds of chewing, she shakes her head, maintaining careful eye contact, answering with her mouth still full. ]

Mm, 't tashtsh fine. [ Swallow, then shove the half eaten bar back in the wrapper and shove that into the pocket of her army surplus jacket.

She's giving Eddie a look of confusion and worry, but honestly, there aren't many other kinds of looks she could be giving right now. ]


Eddie... What's going on? Are you— Are you sick or something?

[ Some people lose their appetite when they have the flu, right? Eddie does look awfully pale... ]
guitarpicks: (OpiufTH)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2022-08-21 09:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[ dread settles in eddie's stomach as robin takes a bite and doesn't immediately spit it out, seems to fucking enjoy the granola bar that made eddie want to crawl out of his skin and curl up in a fucking corner. ]

Fuck. [ he inhales and exhales, sighs. fuckfuckfuck. ] Fuck, Robin-- I don't know?

One moment I was fucking fine and now, now, food tastes like shit and I can fucking hear your heartbeat??? [ he knows what that is starting to sound like. he doesn't want to say it. ]
grivences: (crawl inside)

[personal profile] grivences 2022-08-21 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
My heartbeat?

[ What the hell does her heartbeat have to do with food?



Unless... ]


Eddie, open your mouth.
guitarpicks: (OzTaLaH)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2022-08-21 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ jesus christ, that's not the request he wants but it's a logical one. eddie complies, opens his mouth and reaches up to pull his upper lip away from his canines. they've always been sharp but there's another set sitting on top of them and peaking out just a hint from his gums.

he can feel them, doesn't say shit for a moment. ]
grivences: (family video 02)

[personal profile] grivences 2022-08-22 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
[ Robin leans in, and then away sharply, eyes going wide. ]

Oh... my god... You're not sick... You're undead.

[ She's read Dracula. She's watched Nosferatu. She knows vampire fangs when she sees them. ]

H-how?? How are you a vampire?!

[ She's more morbidly curious than scared. He may have been turned into a real life classic movie monster, but he's still Eddie. To Robin, he's still that scared guy hiding out in his supplier's boathouse, desperate for help.

She's not going to not help him. She's just... not going to get any closer to him than she has to. Just in case. ]
guitarpicks: (036)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2022-08-22 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
[ robin is honestly the fucking smartest of the lot about that, eddie will eventually think that to himself.

he lets out a dry laugh, a hysterical sound as he drops his hand. ]
I don't-- I don't fucking know!!!

[ except, except maybe he does and it's not the universe just shitting all over eddie munson for the millionth time in a row. ] I was in Sunset Falls? I think. The place with the fucking monsters and I made a goddamn wish to be able to fight them. [ not exactly. he just wanted to not be fucked over again. ]
grivences: (trailer park 02)

[personal profile] grivences 2022-08-22 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ Robin's expression softens, just a bit. Is that how this happened? He made a wish?

When she speaks, her voice is soft, almost raspy. ]


You don't have to keep fighting monsters, Eddie. You're not in Hawkins anymore. [ She still feels guilty for dragging him into the fight against Vecna and getting him killed. Sure, they never would have been able to get into the Creel house if he hadn't drawn the demobats away. But if what Steve said is true, and they couldn't even stop Vecna from getting his fourth kill... Is that even worth his sacrifice? ]
guitarpicks: (ixPbVRq)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2022-08-23 05:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ and he wishes he could believe her, honestly. he really does.

eddie wraps his arms around himself, takes a step back like he's putting some distance between them. ]
I'm not the only monster out here, Robin.

I wished it because there was a fucking werewolf stalking the streets where I was hiding. [ this place may, in fact, be a little like hawkins. ] We might still be a bit fucked.
grivences: (I would dial the numbers)

[personal profile] grivences 2022-08-23 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Robin looks skeptical at first, because what the hell. Werewolves? Seriously? But then she thinks about all the other crazy shit that's happened since she got here. Flying cars, giant hamster balls, guys with robot tentacles, cracks in the sky. Christ, Eddie, and Billy being alive. Eddie freaking wishing himself into being a vampire.

Maybe skepticism is out of place.

She looks around, trying to hear or see any monsters lurking in the foggy street, but she's only got her regular human senses. She's got no way of knowing who or what else might be out there. ]


Okay... Okay. [ Eddie's a vampire, and there may or may not be more monsters to fight. ] Monsters. [ She reaches deep, deep into her bag again and pulls out a shotgun that by all rights shouldn't fit in a bag that size. ] We can handle monsters.

Just— try not to get to bite-happy with those new fangs, okay?