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.





badbutsadboy: (010)

[personal profile] badbutsadboy 2022-08-30 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not from Earth!

[Hunter teleports again, avoiding another swat by the monster.]

I don't get that reference!

I'm not going to understand any human codes!
codicies: (pic#15750444)

[personal profile] codicies 2022-08-30 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
[ Dylan beams at Nico's idea. At Hunter's answer, he looks up and calls out: ]

He's telling you and Dazzler up there to go high and try to get this thing to chase you forward. I've got work to do down here.

[ And with that he leaps down, catching another tendril on an exposed piece of metal and lowering himself to the robot's legs. After a little experimentation with movement, he stretches one tendril to latch on to its upper "thigh", then kicks off to swing around its legs, wrapping them up like a maypole as he descends. ]
determinationtofist: (Gear Smile)

[personal profile] determinationtofist 2022-08-30 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
Oh! I get it!

[ Is all she says before she gets back to singing, though she only really catches onto what the strategy once she sees Dylan start to swing around the thing's legs like that.

This is definitely a better strategy compared to "hit it until it breaks", especially since Hibiki can land a proper finishing blow if they're successful. ]


Can you hear me putting? (Burnin’!)

All my heart (burnin’!) all my soul (burnin’!)

Into this song…!

Somebody that doesn’t hesitate, to attack on sight, has no honor here

(Live now, live now)


Still I’ve not (blazin’!) taken hold (blazin’!)

Of the truth (blazin’!) answer me!

I need to understand why, is it that we fight

If I am to walk this road, with the wind at my back!


[ She starts doing her best, generally just jumping around and pestering the robot right in front of it
demigoth: (030)

[personal profile] demigoth 2022-08-30 09:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Who or what is a Dazzler?

Oh, right. Has to be the singer by elimination. Fantastic, he didn't want to ask and sound dumb.

Why is no one here human?

[ It's grunted under his breath, because it's not currently that important and he's a little busy getting the stego to circle around and fully charge the legs of the giant robot.

On impulse, Nico jumps onto the leg of the robot, just above the tentacles, and starts climbing, hacking at loose wires along the way. ]
badbutsadboy: (038)

[personal profile] badbutsadboy 2022-08-31 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
Got it!

[Hunter starts zipping around in a way that gradually moves in the direction they're asking for.]

Hey, idiot!
codicies: (pic#15750442)

[personal profile] codicies 2022-09-02 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ After spiraling down the robot's legs and wrapping it tightly, Dylan's feet plant firmly on the ground — and he kicks off again, sprinting toward an adjacent building, sticking the ooze web to the masonwork.

Gathering all his strength, more than he's ever used at once before, Dylan kicks off again and leaps over to the building across the way, crossing another ooze web in front of its legs, then kicks off again to cross behind, and repeats this to continue wrapping it up, until finally it attempts another step forward —

— and starts going down.
]
determinationtofist: (Default)

[personal profile] determinationtofist 2022-09-03 08:12 am (UTC)(link)
[ Hibiki's song continues as everyone does their part, and finally, the robot starts to go down... and if that's not a chance, then Hibiki doesn't know what is.

She jumps up, now directly above the robot as it falls, and the gauntlet on her right fist transforms into a drill... ]


ORRRYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

[ The punch may not have done much at first, but this is way more than just an ordinary punch. Hibiki frankly punches straight through the robot's chest and straight into the ground below.

But hey, a hole in the chest has gotta mean something, right? ]
demigoth: (002)

[personal profile] demigoth 2022-09-04 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
[ That punch sent reverberations through the entire robot, which was already starting to tip like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Now it's tipped over into toppling, and Nico's first instinct is to hold on tighter and ride it down.

Then he realizes - the way it's twisting... he's about to be squished. The huge robot is casting a shadow much wider than Nico, though, so it's no trouble at all to reach into that darkness and just - poof.

Although he doesn't shadow travel far. A half second later, he's stumbling out from behind a dumpster. The momentum doesn't stop when he shadow travels, and Nico trips on some spare parts and sits down hard on his tailbone. Remember when he was just helping the blond kid? Yeah. This is what happens. Every time.
]
badbutsadboy: (Default)

[personal profile] badbutsadboy 2022-09-04 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
[Hunter is about to teleport over to grab Nico when he disappears in the shadows and reappears elsewhere.]

[Okay, he's got teleportation of his own, that's useful.]

[So he looks at another way to try to help. An idea strikes him. (Or maybe it's an instinct, the magic inside him calling out to him.) Other people's magic and powers seem to work in this world like it welcomes otherworldly forms of magic.]

[When he lands his staff transforms back into a bird, instinctually knowing what he's about to try and that he might need help.]

I don't know why...but I think this will work. I just need to remember the glyph.

[Flapjack trills at him, his little birdy calls sounded cuckoo-like, saying it's a good idea, and Hunter thinks hard.]

[Though he's studied ancient forms of wild magic in some of his books, none of them had the actual glyphs. They'd been lost to the ages after witches evolved to have their magic bile sacs. As far as he knows, Luz is the first person to rediscover them. Somehow.]

[But he thinks he can remember at least one glyph. When he and Luz had been trapped in Belos' mind and Belos had dragged him down into the abyss of his subconscious, before he dissolved into nothingness, he'd clawed his way out of the cold, oppressive darkness by activating one of the paper glyphs in her jacket.]

[The plant glyph. He'd ridden the vines back up to Belos' conscious again. The glyph - and the fact Luz pre-wrote them all on papers - saved his life.]

[He draws it in the dirt.]

I think that's it.

[Flapjack, who's seen a few of the glyphs himself in their time near Luz, trills a negative sounding noise and lands on a part of the glyph with no marks. The bird uses a little foot to erase a line, and his beak to redraw a line in a different place, then flies to land Hunter's shoulder.]

Okay. Here goes nothing.

[He presses his hands against the glyph and... it glows!]

[Vines erupt out from it, rooted in the ground and start wrapping around the fallen monster, holding it in place so it can't get up again and will find attacking difficult. The vines threading through the machines also make it so it'll be hard for any of them to detach again. They're all tangling with it.]

[Since he has a little control over them, he makes sure they don't get tangled in Dylan's...goop or whatever it is.]

It actually worked! I can do glyph magic here!

Which...makes no sense. How can this world have our world's magic?

[The bird actually shrugs.]
codicies: (anger)

[personal profile] codicies 2022-09-06 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ Dylan's heart stops when he sees the goth kid about to be crushed, but then he teleports.

Damn, that guy is cool as hell.

When the other boy draws on the ground and makes the vines sprout from the earth, Dylan's super grateful for the extra help — even with the extra strength his alien heritage grants him, it's taking a LOT of effort to keep the robot from getting back up. It strains against its bonds and Dylan extends himself further, wrapping more ooze tendrils around it to pin its arms to its sides.

This is... a lot. He's never used this much before, and he can feel himself being stretched very thin. He's sweating, feels a little lightheaded, and looks a little pale, but he holds steady nonetheless.
]
determinationtofist: (Hibiki is dead)

[personal profile] determinationtofist 2022-09-06 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
EHHH!? It's still moving!?

[ Hibiki yells out from the ground underneath the robot. Crap, if they need to destroy all of it, Hibiki doesn't really have the ability to do that in any short amount of time. She doesn't have the same kind of AOE firepower as Chris back home. Aside from her Climax Song, that is, but she can't exactly fire that off. That's a last-resort.

The sound of her drill whirring back to life can be somewhat heard until she suddenly bursts out from underneath the robot, further damaging it, but ultimately not changing the situation where the robot is simply being held in place. ]


Should I try the head next!?

[ She's just shooting ideas, here! ]
demigoth: (Default)

[personal profile] demigoth 2022-09-06 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Why wouldn’t the magic work here? If you’re magic, then … magic?

[ The vines are impressive and maybe the first power that Nico’s seen in this world that makes sense to him. Making plants grow and entwine people, a solid normal power. Obviously it should work.

But they’re still kind of in trouble here. The guy with the tentacles looks not great, Nico feels not great.

He gets up, though, because they have to break the robot before the tentacles and vines can’t hold it.
]

Sure? Go for the head.

[ Robots don’t have to have their brain in their head, though. All the machines had different… machine brains. Feeling stupid, Nico says nothing about his misgivings and starts hacking at the feet to try to keep it disabled. ]

This thing is electric? Does anyone do water?

[ He does not need Percy Jackson right now. Except maybe a little, because even he knows that electricity and water don’t mix. ]