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.
[Is that an alien on a couch. An alien on a couch...
Wait. Having seen Feferi before, Don is not entirely unused to the figure staring intently at the underwater television. They're not the same, but there are some definite morphological similarities.
Even so. Troll [?? That was what Feferi called herself, right?] on couch. Troll on couch. Watching... a romantic comedy?]
You're only the second-weirdest thing I've seen watching a rom-com. [If Mikey was here, he'd be all over this.]
trolls probably have some absurd name for turtles like. who the fuck knows, shell lizard? shellizard? whatever it is, karkat just frowns at don because wow. rude. ]
Only the second? Wow, I need to pick up my game. I would rather have first place worthy insults thrown at me by a giant reptile. Who beat me, anyway? I need to know who my competition is.
[It totally is pot-calling-kettle-black, yes. Don is just not used to seeing aliens this casually, yet.]
My brother. I suppose I'd count, too, but Star Trek was more my thing. [He half-smiles, drifting up alongside the couch like it isn't the most bizarre thing underwater by virtue of being a mundane couch.]
Which one was Star Trek? The boring space show with the color coded outfits or the boring space movies with the glowing sticks? They all started to blur together after a while.
[ he doesn't think they're boring he just likes to insult anything his human kids like. it's therapeutic. ]
[Wow, rude. Don is here to save you and you're insulting his fandoms? He's not particularly offended though, merely smirking a little at that.]
The so-called 'boring space show'. I'd rate it a little higher than your pick, myself. Why isn't this boring?
[... Okay, so he probably should be helping the alien, but honestly this intrigues him. He can probably lead the conversation to where it should be going in a moment.]
Because this [ he gestures at the tv ] is art. Do you have any idea how much thought is put into making a romantic comedy? I mean, human ones tend to be less impressive than the ones from my world since their romantic plotlines are lacking in comparison. But witnessing how the writers choose between the different types of tropes and how they implement them into their story is fascinating. Not that many films in this genre do the timeksip strategy like this, except if it's only a period of months or if they're showing off the first meeting then fast forwarding years later until the second one, where the story actually begins. But this continuous usage of the device shows that Harry and Sally are intertwined together in some sort of bullshit human destiny. I can see why some people wouldn't be able to believe that such a plot is possible, especially since from what I know about New York City from the many films I have watched of it, it's pretty fucking large. The chance of continuously running into someone in a place that crowded are pretty low, even if it's over the span of years. But people always forget that this genre isn't meant to be super realistic, they are usually served as a sort of escapist fantasy for most people. Not me, of course, since I'm slightly more realistic about what I expect from any romantic endeavors. However, I can appreciate this type of film for what it is.
So. Don is actually listening? And he is learning some very interesting things about this alien in the process.]
You could write a dissertation on this. I'm impressed.
[Gonna just sit on the couch arm for a moment while he thinks about this.] Statistically speaking, the chances of meeting the same person repeatedly are pretty low, but if you look at a large enough population, like New York City's for instance, then the possibility of any two people meeting repeatedly is much bigger.
[... Don, no. Don't start talking about probability.]
[ please don't give him the idea of writing a dissertation because he will do it and he will make you read it, don, for suggesting it. ]
I wouldn't call myself a critic, per se, I just have no problems pointing out the inherent flaws of a piece. Like, shitty writing or a bad plot don't have to completely ruin a film since there are other ways for it to be enjoyable. Although sometimes there is just no saving a bad movie. I mean I guess that really just depends on what the fuck your definition of a film critic is? Is it just people who professionally review films, which is such a bullshit job by the way. A lot of them go into the movie already completely biased so their reviews are always skewed in a particular direction. But aren't we all film critics, in a way?
[ karkat completely bypasses the whole don asking for an introduction because like. this topic is far more interesting than going "hey i'm karkat" ]
[And Don would actually read it, sadly. Even though this is completely inane, it's at least fascinating.]
I guess the question is whether any one person's opinion is more important. From a scientific perspective, it probably doesn't matter; the overall perspective, averaged over many people, is likely a better indicator of something's quality.
Still, some movies are fun to watch even if they're terrible.
... Didn't think you would have such a strong opinion about this, though. Are movies a big part of your culture? [It kind of sounds like it. If this is the same alien that Feferi is, then this is totally an eye-opener about what sort of things she must think.]
I think it's more or less as important as it was for human culture.
[ which... karkat doesn't even know if donatello is aware of what that is? he knows what star trek is, which is a human thing, so karkat assumes he does. even though don is obviously not human. ]
My culture was more about expanding our territory throughout the universe, dominating other species, and ensuring that the Condesce's empire ruled over everything. It was kind of shitty.
Not what Don was thinking at all. Also not much like this unassuming gray guy in front of him. The surprise passes over his features.]
... Definitely sounds that way. You're well-adjusted for coming out of something that messed-up. [Usually, Don meets people who are... psychologically worse for wear, so Karkat is a surprise.]
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subnautica2016-06-30 07:35 pm
A for awesome BD
Wait. Having seen Feferi before, Don is not entirely unused to the figure staring intently at the underwater television. They're not the same, but there are some definite morphological similarities.
Even so. Troll [?? That was what Feferi called herself, right?] on couch. Troll on couch. Watching... a romantic comedy?]
You're only the second-weirdest thing I've seen watching a rom-com. [If Mikey was here, he'd be all over this.]
no subject
trolls probably have some absurd name for turtles like. who the fuck knows, shell lizard? shellizard? whatever it is, karkat just frowns at don because wow. rude. ]
Only the second? Wow, I need to pick up my game. I would rather have first place worthy insults thrown at me by a giant reptile. Who beat me, anyway? I need to know who my competition is.
no subject
My brother. I suppose I'd count, too, but Star Trek was more my thing. [He half-smiles, drifting up alongside the couch like it isn't the most bizarre thing underwater by virtue of being a mundane couch.]
no subject
[ he doesn't think they're boring he just likes to insult anything his human kids like. it's therapeutic. ]
no subject
The so-called 'boring space show'. I'd rate it a little higher than your pick, myself. Why isn't this boring?
[... Okay, so he probably should be helping the alien, but honestly this intrigues him. He can probably lead the conversation to where it should be going in a moment.]
no subject
Because this [ he gestures at the tv ] is art. Do you have any idea how much thought is put into making a romantic comedy? I mean, human ones tend to be less impressive than the ones from my world since their romantic plotlines are lacking in comparison. But witnessing how the writers choose between the different types of tropes and how they implement them into their story is fascinating. Not that many films in this genre do the timeksip strategy like this, except if it's only a period of months or if they're showing off the first meeting then fast forwarding years later until the second one, where the story actually begins. But this continuous usage of the device shows that Harry and Sally are intertwined together in some sort of bullshit human destiny. I can see why some people wouldn't be able to believe that such a plot is possible, especially since from what I know about New York City from the many films I have watched of it, it's pretty fucking large. The chance of continuously running into someone in a place that crowded are pretty low, even if it's over the span of years. But people always forget that this genre isn't meant to be super realistic, they are usually served as a sort of escapist fantasy for most people. Not me, of course, since I'm slightly more realistic about what I expect from any romantic endeavors. However, I can appreciate this type of film for what it is.
[ oh no. ]
That tag is beautiful.
So. Don is actually listening? And he is learning some very interesting things about this alien in the process.]
You could write a dissertation on this. I'm impressed.
[Gonna just sit on the couch arm for a moment while he thinks about this.] Statistically speaking, the chances of meeting the same person repeatedly are pretty low, but if you look at a large enough population, like New York City's for instance, then the possibility of any two people meeting repeatedly is much bigger.
[... Don, no. Don't start talking about probability.]
So who exactly are you? An alien film critic?
writing nonsense is my specialty
I wouldn't call myself a critic, per se, I just have no problems pointing out the inherent flaws of a piece. Like, shitty writing or a bad plot don't have to completely ruin a film since there are other ways for it to be enjoyable. Although sometimes there is just no saving a bad movie. I mean I guess that really just depends on what the fuck your definition of a film critic is? Is it just people who professionally review films, which is such a bullshit job by the way. A lot of them go into the movie already completely biased so their reviews are always skewed in a particular direction. But aren't we all film critics, in a way?
[ karkat completely bypasses the whole don asking for an introduction because like. this topic is far more interesting than going "hey i'm karkat" ]
Same, sadly
I guess the question is whether any one person's opinion is more important. From a scientific perspective, it probably doesn't matter; the overall perspective, averaged over many people, is likely a better indicator of something's quality.
Still, some movies are fun to watch even if they're terrible.
... Didn't think you would have such a strong opinion about this, though. Are movies a big part of your culture? [It kind of sounds like it. If this is the same alien that Feferi is, then this is totally an eye-opener about what sort of things she must think.]
no subject
[ which... karkat doesn't even know if donatello is aware of what that is? he knows what star trek is, which is a human thing, so karkat assumes he does. even though don is obviously not human. ]
My culture was more about expanding our territory throughout the universe, dominating other species, and ensuring that the Condesce's empire ruled over everything. It was kind of shitty.
no subject
Not what Don was thinking at all. Also not much like this unassuming gray guy in front of him. The surprise passes over his features.]
... Definitely sounds that way. You're well-adjusted for coming out of something that messed-up. [Usually, Don meets people who are... psychologically worse for wear, so Karkat is a surprise.]
no subject
I guess that depends on your opinion of well-adjusted. What are you, anyway? You seem to be familiar with human culture.
no subject
I'm a mutant Turtle.
... We're not common. [But they happened anyway.] But I am from Earth. A version of Earth, at least.
no subject
[ karkat says, as if his planet wasn't also weird as fuck. ]
no subject
... Then again, I keep running into the weirdest things, so maybe this is just par for the course. [Turtle Luck running true to form?]