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meadowlarklogs2020-02-08 01:58 pm
EVENT #008 AFTERMATH LOG
WHERE: Lots of places—potentially? Mostly New Amsterdam as the focus.
WHEN: March 4, 2512
WHAT: Unlocking of the gates and the game's fast travel network.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Uninvited visions.
The vision itself is almost instantaneous once the last of the four gates activates, hitting the Displaced no matter where they are. It doesn't matter where that individual Displaced is: if they're in New Amsterdam, at one of the gates, or sleeping, they'll see the same vision. A flash of seven colors (red, blue, black, gold, orange, red, and white) followed by an image of a nomadic people heading up a long, stone bridge that appears to be naturally occurring. At the end of the bridge is an open, lit-up triangle that acts as a gateway, inviting them inside. Then there is another flash, followed by the nomads walking through the gate and ending up in a different, new location. And then another.
Any understanding of this vision isn't immediate. The answers won't be apparent until later, when there is an innate understanding of what they've learned and what they've unlocked for themselves. The world has opened up to the Displaced, and in some ways, it's there for them to access and even take for themselves if they so choose.
After the vision ends, any of the Displaced located at the four ruins will immediately begin to glow in all blue before they fade out of view and find themselves crammed into a new location. The relocation is immediate, and if anyone checks a map via their neural implant to see where they are geolocation wise, they'll be able to tell that they're underneath New Amsterdam. For anyone who's been in the underground cave system of New Amsterdam, they may think their surroundings are familiar, if not the same. After all, this area has been locked away for a very long time.
One more thing is apparent: they've landed on another form of gate that needs to be unlocked. After the numerous trials and puzzles the Displaced have faced, what's one more?
◉ The puzzle to solve is right beneath the feet of the Displaced on a bronze-colored mechanism. At the center of the mechanism are multiple overlapping triangles, and on the outside, there are five separated triangles that sit individually.
◉ Solving the puzzle involves connecting a daisychain of Displaced and having five key focal points step on the triangles at once.
◉ Once the puzzle unlocks, there will be another understanding: that what they saw in the vision belongs to them. Any of the Displaced outside of the caves will know what it means.
◉ With that work done, it's time to explore. The underground cave system of New Amsterdam is half-inhabited by the sprawling megacity, and half-uninhabited and untouched. This part of the cave system was locked away for centuries, and just like the other ruins, there are some relics and lost items from the past. The eras vary: some are early medieval burial sites with items like brittle, forgotten swords and shields, while others are crosses and manuscripts that refer to this location as the center of the Holy Roman Empire.
◉ The manuscripts are a mix of imagery from Catholicism and the same, omnipresent geometric imagery.
◉ The way out of the cave system involves touching a hand to a handprint alongside what appears to be a door. This print will only appear to the Displaced, so they will be able to move in and away from this location largely unobserved.
Now that the gates trip is done and the Displaced have new answers—if potentially unhelpful ones, depending on their perspective—it's time to return to their lives. Surprisingly, New Amsterdam has no festivals going on, as if it's time to now be hungover from a February that involved nonstop partying. The city has been cleaned up and everyone's returning to their jobs as if the city around them is not in a constant state of revelry.
◉ Ah, it's time to return to work! No one is required to lose their jobs, but it might take a bit of groveling for the Displaced to return to where they were working before. (With the exception of the Red Wings bar. Poor Mister Doctor Stephen Strange.) El will have sent along any excuses to any bosses who might need an explanation. Ze's used to this gig by now.
◉ What about those cities left behind? No one planned on abandoning those gates at that exact moment. They will remain open to the Displaced. Anyone who had a hotel room in New Oslo or even kept stuff stored at New Beijing will find that they can just teleport back via this new fast travel system.
◉ Though for anyone who's been dealing with tampered food, maybe it's time to go take a break. You know where's a good place to do it? The Displaced-run Red Wings bar. Ah, poor Mister Doctor Strange, at least the people coming in out of nowhere are all Displaced looking for proper food and a drink. It's time to mingle, share notes, and see what's what. Might as well get to seeing where there's overlap—and what to do next.
◉ Or it's time to explore! The world is finally open and available to one and all. Well, to one Displaced and all.
◉ The information on these gates and what they do won't immediately be available to El and Gaby. It's up to the Displaced if they decide to share with their NPC friends. (Of course, if it's mentioned via the Morningstar network, then they'll know!)
This is meant primarily as a laid back, return to life log for the Displaced after their exciting trips around the world (and trips-to-be, most likely). Any questions about the aftermath should be directed to our aftermath questions thread!
Our CR meme will be posted on February 14th (Happy Valentine's Day!), and our arrival log for all newbies will be going up on February 15th.
Thanks again for making this a great event!
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"I have no clue. So far, nothing from what I can find seems to lead to something special."
He nods.
"I hope it is all just... something ancient and cool, not bad and worldshaking."
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So maybe things are exactly what they are, even if they're buried in ancient pyramids. But the designs and motifs on some of the items are definitely more pointed and connected to them.
"I don't think we can avoid world-shaking at this point. We're already here."
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Reminded of its existence, he sips his drink, and smiles.
"Maybe not. I am hoping to avoid the fun of the last world I was in."
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"I need to make the rounds, but that sounds like a story. Are you willing to share?"
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Probably.
He smiles at her, and lifts his food to eat.
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Only when it seems like noting needs her immediate attention does Ginia grab a glass of water for herself and come back to Kal-El's table and take a seat across from him. Hi. Sup. Ready for a story.
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"When the first one occurred, I was new to my power, and to knowing who I was, and the soldiers who came threatened me and the whole of the world. I had been adopted by humans, and had come to love the world. And I would not let it be massacred for the rise of a new version of my birth world."
He looks down at his hands.
"I took up arms against them, joining humans of the Amerian Military in a hail mary strike, very nearly dying in the process. A little over a year later, I did die, when a human madman, not happy with me being around, used the body of one of my dead people to create a monster, one who I died stopping." His hands tremble as he finishes that first part, and he sighs, raising, and finishing his drink, then raises his eyes.
"It would take the start of that second invasion for me to be brought back, and to nearly die again."
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It was not the story she expected. In truth, she thought it would be something lighter. She listens without interrupting, nodding attentively, expression sincerely sympathetic. And when he's done, she's quiet still, fully processing everything the best she can.
Yes. Well. Hopefully that doesn't happen here.
"...For the record, consider your drink and meal on the house." Her hands settle, breathing out slowly. "I'm sorry. That's a lot to go through."
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"Sorry, that was a lot. I shouldn't have laid that all out on you." He is not so good at holding back when he tells that story, which is probably a good reason for him not telling it almost ever.
"And thank you."
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"No, no, it's fine. It's your story, you have every right to tell it."
It's heavy, yes, but that he was willing to share it too speaks to his character. Her story is nowhere as world-shattering as his and she doesn't dare speak of it to anyone. The entirety of it is something she'll have to sit with more, but she doesn't mind.
"I'm still getting used to how different every Earth is. Of how varied everyone's personal story is."
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"Thank you."
He cocks his head to the side, thinking. "Me too. I see so much here and already have met at least two people from different versions of my world, as well as so many from worlds completely different."
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There's one other person she knows that's ahead of her in terms of years. She wondered if this might have been a future of her world until history proved otherwise. It's still always possible someone comes from the past her world though.
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"2019. And you?"
He is curious, and wondering what other timelines might be here.
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So definitely different Earths.
"I've only met one person ahead of me. The 2010s seem to be a pretty popular time to pull people from."
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"Hmmm, I wonder if that is a clue as to how this place works. Maybe whatever is linking all of us here is tied to that time period most strongly."
he rubs his chin, and notes down the ideas.
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Ginia sips her drink as she thinks on the situation. It's one she's talked about with Quentin and mulled over plenty enough on her own.
"More pressing is the fact almost everyone here seems to have some kind of skill or training."
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He nods.
"Its almost as if we are beign gathered for... something. something specific."
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Which makes sense given the wide range of skills most people seem to have. Physical training, magic, doctors, people used to tech.
"If that's true, who are we fighting for, or what?"
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"I don't know, but I bet it will involve something like the gate quest did. Lots of puzzles and challenges to face."
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"If you had to much a bunch of people without anyone noticing on a regulated train system, how would you manage it?"
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All over the world, they existed.
"And did they come into being first, or did the cities?"
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In ways that raise questions about how long people like them have been around. The influence they might have had on cultures, assuming they weren't rules themselves. But also, where are the others now? What happened to those before?
"Harder to explain for the cities. It would speak to an impressive amount of fore-planning. Or deliberate moves to ensure they would be accessible."
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He spreads his hands as the idea of a temporal causality loops kind of hits him hard.
"Why not time travel?"
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It's a theory she can accept. At this rate, it's as probable as anything. However, like with any theory, it comes down to the why.
"If it's one of us in the future, why wouldn't we leave information about what was going on?"
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"I figure, if it did happen that way, we did it, at some point, and because we didn't find any information, we could not leave it, either. Else, we would change the past, and wipe out the future that had allowed us to do it."
He rubs his head.
"This is giving me a headache."
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