subnautica | July IC Intro

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July IC Intro

PREMISE & NAVIGATION ✦ RULES ✦ MOD CONTACT
TAKEN ✦ RESERVES ✦ APPLICATIONS ✦ HIATUS & DROPS
FAQ ✦ BASE ✦ BIOMES ✦ URSULA ✦ URSULA CONTACT

Arrival!

This month's intro features a recently discovered object, the Monolith and the new crew members asleep within it.

New crew members enter the game asleep in a deep immersion dream after hearing a song in their heads. This dream, while beautiful and captivating, has a more sinister purpose. With their bodies trapped within the Monolith, they must not only be rescued mentally but physically as well. They won't, however, make it easy.

Old crew members, meanwhile, have a lot on their plate. The planet's song will sing them a lullaby, causing some crew members to fall into a deep sleep. There is no special selection process; you can have your character fall asleep or not. Those that are asleep are in a prime position to save the dreamers, while those awake will need to travel to the Monolith to rescue them in another way.

DREAM PROJECTION CLIFFNOTES
As for the cliffnotes, the dreamscape is a place that can be accessed while asleep. Characters here are capable of interacting with other sleeping crew members (and sea life!) through their dream projections. It's a beautiful, surreal place that feels warm and alive to anyone within it. Nothing manmade exists in the dreamscape, so no Aurora, no URSULA, no base, nothing but the sea and it's creatures. These creatures can communicate and even 'talk' in the dreams as well. They will have roughly the personalities you would expect given their descriptions in the Biomes page. Any bonds you make or break with those creatures will be remembered in the waking world. Any damage done to projections in the dream will definitely hurt but won't cause any death or injuries and will not carry over to the waking world.

There are more details here, and you can ask any questions on the question section of this post as well.

DREAMERS
New characters will wake in the dream world as if they're supposed to be there. It will feel that way, at least. It can connect to their memories however you would like, whether this is part of it or not. This deep immersion dreaming is different from the dreaming experienced by other characters through the previously month. New arrivals will find themselves in a beautiful, surreal landscape that makes them feel a strong sense of self-worth, belonging, love, purpose and other positive emotions that would be extremely difficult for them to shake.

To add to this, these dreamers will find the landscape trying its best to meet their needs in a way it didn't last month. Places of comfort and happiness will form as long as the dreamer has a desire for it. Even the ghostly whispers of friends or family soothing them with words they want to hear will tempt them to stay. Their dreams will try to make them resistant towards rescue attempts.

Those characters that feel resistant toward rescue attempts will be able to weaponize the dreamscape for either active or passive resistance against their rescuers. For example, manifesting friends of their to fight for them and being able to direct them or versions of themselves that can fight better based on what they would like to fight like. Other ways to weaponize it are possible, such as calling for other dreamers to help them, including sleeping sealife, or more creative ways of using the pliant dreamscape to capture or stop a rescuer. However, they can also fight more insiduously. Out of their subconscious they can even manifest things that might try to convince the rescuers to stay in the dreamscape with them.

DREAM TEAM

"Oh, no, why was I sleep mode...? More importantly why are you all so troubled? Signs show many of you just suddenly went to sleep. It's usually not healthy to drop suddenly into sleep. Please keep your health intact."
Old crew members in the dream world, meanwhile, will need to shake the new arrivals from their dreams. Though not literally; you can try of course but it won't work aside from irritating the person in question probably. How do they know they need to wake them though? Upon falling asleep, a shadowy figure will warn them the dreamers must wake up, with two hints. "BRING THEM BACK." and "WAKE THEM."

Talking them out of it is an option, though a difficult one. The easier way is to bring them to the dream world monolith where they will be able to sense their bodies and understand this is only a dream. In extreme cases, it may take humming or singing the song that brought the old characters to the dream world to wake them. However, using the song will cause the dreamer to become extremely obedient to the singer's every suggestion for the dream, and for some time after. This consequence should be discussed between players before use.

A general harsh shock to their mind will help wake them, so great creative and have fun!

EVACUATION TEAM

"I also have an important alert. It's very weak, so I can't be sure, but life signals seem to be coming from that strange monolith. It would be wise to retrieve them immediately. I'm not sure if they're out of range or in danger. I do also sense a single Reaper Leviathan patrolling that area. One against so many should be more than a fair fight if needed but your priority is rescue of any living crew members. Please take care."
Meanwhile, URSULA will urge the characters who remain awake to travel to the Monolith to rescue the dreamers while she monitors the sleeping crew. She will give them enough breathers and devices for the amount of life signals she detects.

The entrance into the Monolith is at the very bottom of the structure, a seemingly recently made hole that was created by something large. Luckily the inside hasn't been flooded.

The inside of the Monolith contains a large room similar to the deck of a space ship with three branching pathways down into rooms lined with sleep pods in an upright position. Most of them are empty. Some, however, contain the new arrivals. New characters will be asleep inside of them. Each pod has a monitor set up beside it, with characters' vitals displayed, showing that they are slowly dropping. All characters will have vitals in safe ranges at first, however it is clear this deep immersion dreaming is taking a toll on their bodies.

A Reaper Leviathan is on patrol around the Monolith to deter rescue and aid attempts. This Reaper Leviathan can be killed. As many people can sign up to fight it as want to fight it. For this reason, the fight itself will be handwaved this time. The killing blow will given randomly from those that sign up for the fight. Killing it will clear the path and make it easy to lead the new arrivals back home.

This section of the Monolith can also be explored at this point if anyone likes. New arrivals will also find their belongings tucked away in different storage units throughout the small area.

AFTER EFFECTS (there is usually a post-arrival mingle post, so don't worry about playing out the first week here!)
Once dreaming mind and body have been reunited though whatever means, the effects of the deep dreaming will become evident with a number of symptoms including grogginess, dizziness, fever chills and restlessness. All dreamers will have the almost overwhelming need to return to the ocean and will have strong impulses to swim through the ocean to nowhere in particular for a week. Great care will need to be taken to watch over them. Many will remain sleepy and dream of the song. Any who heard it sung in their dreams will remain prone to suggestion for the week. Babysitting duty and care to their conditions will be vital.

After seven days, the song will fade from their dreams and the dream world will become temporarily inaccessible to anyone except for the distant sense in dreams that something more is there.

OOC Organization

Below, we have threads for QUESTIONS, REAPER BATTLE SIGN-UPS (to roll for the killing blow), and PLOTTING, so that everyone can get things into order if they want! You are also welcome to use the monthly OOC post for plotting purposes but we felt having it all in one place would make it easier to plot out wake ups.

BASED ON CODE BY TESSISAMESS AND SUPERSUITS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ karkat has been thoroughly stalling heading to the base because he does... not want to go. he had been walking by, being generally nosy, when horō gets out of her pod. ]

You. Hurry up and get your shit so everyone can leave.

[ never mind the fact that karkat can just? leave on his own, there is no one forcing him to stay here. ]

Roger. [That sounds like a logical way to proceed, and she shuffles it into her priorities. She breathes in, then stands again, sole of her shoe scuffing softly Tenkichi had flown right out of the pod and run down this hallway, so she she decides to follow, hoping to find her lost equipment. Horō takes a few loping steps in that direction, then skids to a stop.]

There will not be anyone left behind, will there?

[Glancing back over her shoulder at the pods, Horō frowns. If they have allies here, she won't abandon them - and he might have overlooked someone.]

[ he glances back at the pods too. there are still people asleep in them, but he doubts the crew will let them just stay there. granted, he doesn't know shit about most of the crew but dave said they were nice. that probably translates to won't abandon others to die. ]

Probably not? Not everyone is out yet but I am almost positive everyone won't leave until they're all are.

I see. Then we must be prepared to evacuate the others at a moment's notice. [And the sooner she has her things in her possession, the sooner she can fight to cover their retreat. The knowledge that others have found things that belong to them here is oddly comforting. Horō's rifle is practically an extension of her arm.

She looks Karkat up and down. Perhaps he is a fighter like her. He wears a mask, does he not?]

Will you help me search? I am afraid I don't know the layout of this labyrinthine building.

[ karkat is a big fan of actually, you know, doing shit when stuff like this goes down, so he is more than happy to help her look. he just doesn't not look happy about it since he. never actually looks happy. ]

Yeah, I've already been up and down it enough times so I think I got the basics down. It's a shitty layout whoever designed it should be fired.

[Horō's face lights up - or, rather, it becomes slightly more expressive, her eyes slightly brighter. Finally, someone who may be able to explain the nature of her strange awakening. She kneels down to open an (unfortunately empty) storage locker.]

Then I defer to your expertise. Could you explain in full the purpose of this place and the reason I have come here? Only the facts will be necessary.

[She makes it sound as though her expectation for some sort of debriefing is both completely standard protocol and made completely in earnest.]

[ on one hand, karkat appreciates someone who clearly wants to actually get shit done? he has been surrounded for years by people who either go with the flow or don't actually care or who have super complex plans that they never share with anyone else. so this is a nice change!

on the other hand, karkat knows none of this information. well, he knows some, from what he learned from other people after he woke up, but those answers just brings up more questions so?? sorry gurl. ]

I am about to thoroughly disappoint you because I just popped out of one of those pod things like you did. But apparently some AI, who I assume to be the leader of the base, detected living signals coming from this place and she sent everyone here to save us? None of them seem to have a clue what the fuck we were doing here though.

Oh. [That is, in fact, pretty disappointing. But isn't his fault, and Horō doesn't think for a second about blaming him.]

I am afraid I have no explanation for this phenomenon as of yet. [Her feat that it could be a miasmatic disruption grows the more she hears, though. But if they were all of them ripped through time by demons, surely they would be dead or maimed by now. Horō takes a few deep breaths - the air might be stale, but it isn't heavy. Her head swims, but for other reasons. Expecting Karkat to continue following her, her only glance back is brief and perfunctory. He looks - young, so far as she can tell, beneath the dress and the costuming.]

Are you a Slayer from beyond the village? The horns you wear are of an odd design.

[ it takes a moment for her question to sink in.

oh so she thinks he's... what, playing dress up? a slayer sounds really fucking cool, actually, but with karkat's luck it's probably something super lame. people never think he's something cool. ]

The horns that I "wear" are attached to my skull. I'm a troll.

[She pauses mod-trot down the next hallway, whole body freezing at once. The information takes a moment to process - 'troll' isn't exactly the most benign-sounding species, and she wonders for a moment if she's been lured into a trap.

Then again, he didn't seem to be faking his confusion about this place either. For better or worse, she has to conclude that they're in the same situation.]

As you have yet to prove physically menacing to me, I see no reason to categorize you as a threat.

I'm afraid I am unfamiliar with your race. [Her tone is apologetic but puzzled at the same time. Where could a troll have come from? Is this another memory she lost?]

[ he scowls when she says he isn't physically menacing. he is totally menacing? the most menacing, even. ]

Big surprise. I'm from Alternia. [ he says it in a way that implies he does not think she'd have heard of it. ]

[And, indeed, she hasn't. For once the blame might not rest entirely on different universes.

Her expression is blank, but not unsympathetic. Is it worse to be from a forgotten place, or to have forgotten one's place?]

I may have known such a place once before, but the name does nothing to stimulate my memory.

I assume this means you'll be unable to tell me whence I originate, as well.

[ oh. does she have amnesia? that must suck. he's seen enough movies and read enough books with amnesia as a plot device to assume that it sucks. ]

You look like you're from Earth. [ except she kept saying weird things? granted the only parts of earth that karkat really paid any attention to were the ones that were directly connected to the beta kids (specifically john) and movies so maybe she's from some weird part of earth. ]

That doesn't ring the bell.

[She has noticed that the majority of people in her dreams and on the ground here look like her. They are probably human. And while Utakata is not her home village, the place Horō's from originally can only be so far removed.

She knows how frustrating her punctured memory can be, and as she pulls back the cover on another storage chest (finally, she won't be left defenseless), she hastens to explain.]

But - that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Many places have more than one name.

[ that's technically true. hell, his planet used to be called beforus pre-scratch, which he still thinks is stupid as fuck. he does not mention any of this to horō though, simply because having to explain what the scratch it sounds like far more trouble than what it's worth. ]

Well is there anything that you do remember? What do you have to go on?

Yes. I am a female, approximately 20 years of age, and I fight with the demons who slay demons, the Slayers of Utakata Village. Though it is not where I come from. I fell down a ravine and lost consciousness, then arrived at the village shortly thereafter. I believe I was called there to fulfill my highest priority order.

[Horō is taking her answer to the question very literally, providing Karkat with an shortened list of everything she knows. He did ask.

She's silent after that, rifling through her memories as she rifles through the cargo crate. Horō checks the chamber of her Phantom Rifle before slinging it on her back. Everything else goes into pouches fastened at her hip and thigh.

There's a lot she remembers from before coming here, but...]

It is my point of origin of which I have no memory.

[ karkat is like, "why is she telling me all of this i don't care" until he realizes that she is answering his question as literally as possible. why is everyone that he knows like this??

although not remembering where you're from definitely sucks. karkat can't imagine not knowing that? as shitty as troll culture can be, it is still a pretty important part of his identity, and he has to somehow help rebuild it now. if for whatever reason horō was given a task like that, she couldn't even accomplish it. ]

Wow, that's shitty. [ he is very comforting. ] And you have nothing to go on? At all?

[It seems like he's commiserating, so she takes it as a comfort even if it sounds strange.]

I've seen things in places that seem familiar, like relics lifted out of time. [How could something from a century ago feel as familiar as something from the last decade? And what made her think the answer would be here at the bottom of the sea?]

I anticipate that, should I discover enough evidence, I will be able to put the pieces together and make some meaning of my existence.

[ karkat agrees with that introspection. ]

How the fuck are you going to do that here though? We're on an entirely different planet from wherever you're from, right? Unless your people have mastered space travel I'm not really sure what you're gonna figure out here unless you run into someone that you know.

I -

[That does sound illogical. It has to be right...if it's one of the few truths she knows. Knowing there must be an explanation, Horō fishes for one, not wanting to disappoint Karkat by not having the correct answers.]

The demons possess the power to traverse dimensions. It at any point the barriers between these worlds collapsed... [So it isn't impossible. She's troubled, but her expression remains neutral.]

However, my memory has not yet been jarred.

[ karkat does not counter since he has seen enough seemingly impossible things happen to know that there is always a chance for something absurd to occur, no matter how unlikely. ]

Have you tried hitting your head really, really hard? Maybe the jolt will make you remember something.

[ or give her a concussion. ]

[That seems...like such a bad idea. She knows bad ideas; she is surrounded by them, daily, and it feels as though in her fervor she has occasionally launched her own (adventuring into a frozen wasteland to save a lost party only to end up trapped by a heavy blizzard, anyone?).]

I see what you're saying. If it was the fall that stole my memory, another injury might repair the damage.

However, I would like to remain in good health in case another fight is imminent. I already feel quite nauseated.

Alright good point, we can shelf that idea for a later date after we've exhausted other options.

[ he still thinks it's worth a shot but. WHATEVER it's not his head that's getting hit. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

July IC Intro

c

dude i was gonna send her to watch movies with kk; great minds think alike

we are in sync

we're social links

muffled reach for the truth plays in the distance

i art thou

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