CRISIS ON INFINITE DREAMWIDTHS

[metamods]

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.

Comments

Sephiroth | FF7 | OTA

[unkindled_madness]

I. Polymythos: The Isle that Blooms
[Sephiroth is too unsettled by the initial energy surge to be making coffee when something yanks him out of his apartment in Sunset Falls. The world he's thrown into looks like a paradise by most definitions, but it gives him a sinking, trapped feeling. He's been here before. It's a part of the infinite archipelago, the Isle that Blooms.

True to its name, the island is bursting with flowers of every kind. Everything is green and vibrant. A ways away is a charming elevated village, occupied by friendly people dressed in brightly-dyed fabrics. Even the giant nocturnal mantises are civil now, should you stay past nightfall.

Should you be pulled here as well, you'll find yourself largely unchanged. Your powers seem in tact, although you can't used them to leave. In fact, as you settle into this place, something in the air seems to ease your aches and worries. But it doesn't dull your mind.

Sephiroth quickly checks his wrist, but the ScryWatch hasn't returned, and the Ferryman didn't bring him here; is this just an illusion? He turns to whoever is with him, determined not to waste time here.]

There must be a way back.


II. Sunset Falls
[After passing through a number of other worlds, Sephiroth manages to find his way back to Sunset Falls. He doesn't think this is what it feels like to come home, but for now, it's the place that he's chosen to be, so there's some relief in returning.

But the sky has cracks in it, and something about its very nature feels off. While the town has always had a certain energy to it, that magic feels in such easy reach now, like he could manifest a spell as soon as thinking it, without taking the time to cast--

And that feeling is completely accurate, because he made a fireball from that idle thought. At least it was poorly aimed, so hopefully he didn't torch anything important?]


III. Wildcard

((Sephiroth will be travelling through a number of worlds in his effort to return to Sunset Falls, so if you want to hit me with a different setting then go for it! You can reach me at yinza or via PM. Will match format!))

( I )

[dothelokimotion]

[ so many flowers . . . is this the place where sephiroth met him? what a strange location. and there's a power emanating from underneath, ever-present. ]

I cannot sense a waypoint.

[unkindled_madness]

[At least... if he is here, here is here with Loki. Sephiroth eyes him, wondering if he finds it at all familiar.]

A waypoint?

But does it seem... real, to you?

[dothelokimotion]

It seems . . . physical enough at least.

[unkindled_madness]

[His brow furrows at that answer, because it seems that way to him, too.]

When I was pulled into the reality of my other self, it felt unstable.

[dothelokimotion]

Well, that's probably because that was a matter of when. A point in time you did not tread.

This holds familiarity. Perhaps that's what keeps it stable.

[unkindled_madness]

Does it seem familiar to you?

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki goes quiet for a moment before sighing. ]

No. I don't recognize this place.

[unkindled_madness]

...I see.

[Loki meant, it's familiar to Sephiroth. He's perceptive, he must have noticed something in Sephiroth's reaction to it.]

I

[fallen_cetra]

[She stumbles, doe legs trembling from landing on her new opaline hooves, her hair thick with peonies and wildflowers as cherry blossom branches in full bloom weigh her head down like antlers. A long tail sweeps out from under her dress like a cow's, though instead of fur it's covered in soft rush grasses and as thick with flowers as her hair. Her pink sundress is slung low in the back to give way for the emerald embedded in her skin between her shoulders, and show how much of her freckled skin has been covered with pock-like scars. Doe-like ears flick up and forward as she looks around, shifting her grip on her staff.

This wasn't the Emerald District at all, her senses scrambled as she shifted, taking in everything around her. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, and tried to will the flare of anxiety away. Not being chased, it didn't feel like there were any enem—

Aerith froze at the sound of his voice.

Calm, collected. Yet her heart was still thudding heavily against her ribs, her darkened knuckles going pale as she gripped her staff tighter, and she turned to level him with an arched eyebrow and an inquisitive, doll-like stare with eyes that were now a solid blue-green; clear and bright as the Lifestream's glow. Something about her face was off, her freckles now fungal growths, and her bare arms striped with dark bands like the bark of a birch tree, and shelf fungi grew from her shoulders and along her thighs that peeked out from how her skirt was tied up to make it easier to move.]

I sure hope so, I promised someone I'd help them with a refugee problem in a few hours.

[unkindled_madness]

[There's no recognition on his part, and if he hadn't been to this island before, he might have taken her for one of its native inhabitants; she certainly seems to fit in among the flora. He's encountered stranger-looking nonhumans before, but he still takes a moment to look her over, assessing the differences. If he notices her fear, he doesn't take it for a fear of him. The situation is disorienting enough.

He pays special attention to her wrists. Not a Traveller either. But did they come here from the same place? A refugee problem...]

Are you affiliated with the Guardian Alliance?

[fallen_cetra]

No, Sephiroth, I'm not.

[She sighs, collapsing her staff and taking the time to swat some dirt off her dress.]

I've never heard of it, but it wouldn't surprise me if GemSci came up with something like that after they were so kind as to snap a bunch of us up out of our homeworlds and do....whatever kind of experiments it was to leave us with their little presents.

[There's a gesture over her shoulder at her gem that glitters like the white materia. She can't reach it but it pulses with Manna, echoing the state of her emotions.]

I don't remember the first few days very well, I haven't taken well to scientists experimenting on me without my consent since ShinRa.

[She says it so casually as she rubs the back of her neck and lets her hand drop, as if this is just another day for her. Aerith is incredibly used to it by now, and clasps her hands in front of her as she turns back to him, her staff dangling carelessly from her fingertips.]

So, what're the Guardian Alliance like?

[unkindled_madness]

[No, we need to back up here.

It would be one thing for a stranger to know his name, but the casual mention of Shinra and their experiments leaves him staring, brow furrowed, almost wary. He can barely speak of such things, even with those he's closest to.

He looks her over anew, wondering if... Should he recognize her? If she used to be human, then how different does she look now? Or does she know a different Sephiroth?]

...have we met?

[fallen_cetra]

That depends on how much you remember about when we were younger.

[She sighs, her gaze dropping to the flowers around them, her ears flicking back and the color of her emerald turning dark like a bottomless spring. After a moment, she gestures to her floral growths, her tail sweeping the air behind her and scattering petals everywhere.]

These are new, it's part of the enchantment in my Emerald. My mother was Ifalna, but she didn't survive when she tried to escape the ShinRa tower with me when I was small, we only got as far as the Sector 7 slums before she collapsed from her injuries.

[She looks up at him, giving him a lopsided smile.]

My name's Aerith Gainsborough now, rather than Aerith Gast, though Hojo probably just assigned me an experiment number.

[unkindled_madness]

[When they were younger? He doesn't remember knowing any other children, although... he prefers not to think too hard about those days.

He's still confounded by the ease with which she says these things.]

Gast? You're related to Professor Gast?

["Daughter" doesn't occur to him. Gast didn't have a family.]

[fallen_cetra]

[He's not the only one, but Aerith simply doesn't remember much because of how young she'd been.

She only nods.]

Mm-hmm, he married my mother on his research trip to the north.

[The one he'd never returned from, though Aerith doesn't mention this or why he never came back.]

I'd just been born when Hojo came and took me and my mother back to ShinRa for his research.

[unkindled_madness]

[Gast... married a woman on a research trip.

No. He thinks he understands. He always suspected that Hojo murdered Gast, but maybe this was the reason. Maybe this is why Gast never mentioned a wife or a daughter; he was trying to keep them secret from Hojo.]

You and your mother... were "special"?

I

[portolan]

Balthier is vaguely aware of a crash of energy before a disorienting sense of falling. It feels an awful lot like the Confluence that brought him here, but when he comes to he's generally calm, and there's no grand crash or people running around shouting.

He doesn't know where this is though, and there's a cold thread of panic. All week, people disappearing --

He doesn't want to be on another world. He doesn't want to be away from David, or anyone else he cares about for that matter. And here he'd thought his week couldn't get worse.

There's a voice, though, and he realizes he recognizes it -- Sephiroth. Well, assuming it's the one he knows, then maybe this isn't as dire as he'd feared.

"We've certainly done it before," he agrees. "I vote some other activity for our next social outing."

[unkindled_madness]

Is it a relief to be here with someone he recognizes? What Balthier knows of him already is... uncomfortable. But he seems an intelligent enough ally.

Much as he hates to admit it, he could probably use that, to escape from this place.

"At the very least, I propose the next location be chosen from your experiences," he offers dryly. His attention drops to Balthier's wrists, checking to make sure they don't bear the Ancient's monitoring device. He's more optimistic about their chances if they weren't brought here by her power.

ok the migraines are receding fingers crossed

[portolan]

If there's anything Balthier is good at, escaping is high on the list.

"I wasn't aware any choices were being made, but yes, by all means, I would prefer we end up on my ship."

As casual as he seems, his mind is ever-observant and he sees that gaze flick to his wrists. "What are you looking for? Cuffs?"

/sprays migraines with a squirt bottle

[unkindled_madness]

"The being who controls this realm uses enchanted bracelets to monitor her captives." But Balthier doesn't have one. Satisfied, Sephiroth looks away, assessing their surroundings.

"You have a ship?"

[portolan]

"I did at home," he says. It's been eight months since he set foot in it, longest he's been out of the skies since he was a child. There's nothing like it on Earth, but he's starting to think it's time to settle for a cheap imitation. "Sky pirate isn't much of a sky pirate without a ship."

[unkindled_madness]

"A sky pirate?" Sephiroth's eyebrows raise as he glances back at Balthier. He has no real problems with piracy, to be honest, but it's a new term. "Then you had an airship."

He glances skyward. Would the ability to fly avail them of anything in the moment? It never did here before.

[portolan]

The only kind of ship, as far as he's concerned.

"Beautiful one, very fast, one-of-a-kind cloaking system." There's longing in his voice. There's not a lot he misses from Ivalice but the Strahl is second on the list only to Fran. "Ran on sky stone, not fuel like the ones here. Or, in Excelsior, anyway."

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth begins walking, heading in the direction of the island's meagre harbor. Standing still won't get them out of here.

"What sort of power source is a sky stone? Magic?"