reddosmod: (Default)
Deer Country Mod ([personal profile] reddosmod) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2021-12-08 02:19 am

I'd go back in time and change it, but I can't

DECEMBER 2021 EVENT
Hello! We are trying a new style of event this December with archival-like entries that characters can ICly find in the Archives. This should allow characters to be able to plan against certain events that occur in-game and do research ahead of time, during the event, or after the fact.

The idea is that these prompts will provide you with all the possibilities characters could theoretically face from the prompt. We hope this leaves more open-ended opportunities for people to engage with. Anything mentioned in the excerpts could be an experience characters encounter. You can always ask for clarification on any prompt on the plotting page.

This is a way to keep all event prompts relevant since new characters would be able to "read up" on these events/excerpts by visiting the Archives or other such resources for information about past events and what they can anticipate from the setting.

We hope this new style makes sense and is fun for players to work with! They will rely on players creating more of the atmosphere than the prompts, but we think that the prompts will provide the perfect guidance as to what the atmosphere should feel like. Enjoy!

IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Prompt One
[Image One: Holiday themed antler decoration.]
[Image Two: White stag with perfect, circular antlers with bits of ice attached.]

Prompt Two
[Image One: Sculpture of white rabbit with neck caught in a snare. Non-graphic.]
[Image Two: Person in red cloak and wolf mask turning around.]

Prompt Three
[Image One: Puppet making bloody snow angel in snow.]
[Image Two: Bloodied hands wrapped in bandages clenching.]

WINTER MOURNING
WHEN: Begins in December and can last until the end of Feb.
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Spoilers for various canons, survival situations, forced memory share


[A passage from Rituals of Trench: Remembering Our Pasts reads the following:]

"A long-standing tradition to celebrate Bone Season is for Deerians to collect antlers and bones salvaged from natural resources and create decorative home accents. These antler-bone decors are known formally as Winter Mournings and can be found in almost every residential home throughout Deer Country. Winter Mournings can be made to look like wreaths, candle holders, or simply an antler with a bow hung up on a wall.

Winter Mournings is seen as a way to honor one's past tribulations and how one has managed to survive and overcome hardships during their life. Winter Mournings serves as a testament to survival and a willingness to keep surviving even when things look bleak and dismal.

Creating Winter Mournings is considered a blessing to the Pthumerians Dorothea, Remina, and Argonaut. You will know if the blessing was accepted once your Winter Mourning begins to glow like the moon. Touch your Winter Mourning and you will be pulled back in time to a memory of a specific time when you or someone else had to survive something physically or mentally challenging. For some, it is merely a memory that cannot hurt, but for others, you may want to proceed with caution as it has been known to pull people physically back to times of war.

One cannot choose which memory they wind up in if it is their own, a friend's, or a complete stranger's. Winter Mournings was designed to create a sense of union and empathy among residents and is meant to open your mind and heart to those who have suffered around you. It is time you explore your past, or someone else's past, with an open mind and see how the other side has lived through hard times. These memories are known to be from adolescence, adulthood, or sometimes even futures that have not yet happened or timelines you have never known. After all, Remina sees all past and all history. That means they see all of your past and history too.

No memory lasts forever though. Once the memory has been concluded, you shall be brought back to the present by the Winter Mourning Stag: a great white beast with a circle of frozen antlers. It will come to you when the time is ready, and you will return to the present like waking from a dazzling dream.

Experiencing Winter Mournings can stabilize one's mood and provide restful sleep after, even if the memories may be difficult to swallow. It truly is a tribute to honor past horrors and traumas. Some memories are painful to remember, but forgetting them will never do anyone any good either. So hang your Winter Mournings and remember what matters.

Survive another day. You are worth it."

FAQ

1. Winter Mournings can produce new memories every time you touch them or the same memory.

2. Characters cannot choose what the memory is.

3. Characters can arrive in each other's memories regardless of if they already know each other. Multiple people can experience the same memory.

4. You can either experience the memory as a memory you can't touch or experience - or you can physically be in the memory and have to survive the situation as well. If you die in memory, your body will die wherever you had been touching the Winter Mourning.

5. Palebloods are capable of altering memories or how they or others experience memories.

6. Characters can be pulled into memories at random - as long as one of the characters in the memory share is touching a Winter Mourning at first.
RUN, RABBIT, RUN
WHEN: Month of December
WHERE: Everywhere/the woods
CONTENT WARNINGS: Themes of hunting, ghosts, curses, attempts at animal violence, hunting people based on blood types.


[An excerpt from Legends of Trench: Curses and Causations reads the following:]

"One of the most notorious legends of Trench is without a doubt the tale of The Huntress and the Hare. Most Trenchies have been told this tale since they were children, but for those unfamiliar, settle in.

This story begins with a mischievous god and an ambitious huntress. The Pthumerian Dorothea loved to play tricks on hunters trying to survive the Bone Season, setting animals free from traps and remaking the traps to catch the hunters instead. One day, a darkblood Huntress was fed up with Dorothea preventing her from catching food for her family and decided to settle the score. The Huntress began to hunt for Dorothea specifically, but it is no small feat hunting the god of trickery and survival.

The Huntress started to rely on her darkblood powers to alter reality to make the perfect traps. Innocuous trees turned into glue traps that anyone would stick to until they were freed by a darkblood or death took their pain from them. Walking through bushes would snag legs and necks, effectively trapping whatever creatures were unfortunate enough to wander for food. Magical snares and beartraps lock around victims with unrelenting force, leaving people and animals to try for help until they cry no more. While this took many innocent lives in the woods, animals, and people alike, it never seemed to work on Dorothea.

Dorothea continued to outwit the Huntress until she eventually drove the Huntress insane. The Huntress died without ever catching Dorothea, but they say her vengeful spirit awakens in winter and begins to set her traps yet again. The Huntress sends her traps and her dead animals after vilebloods and warmbloods to spite Dorothea and hope to maybe catch the god's attention. But Dorothea is no passive god. Dorothea spurs vilebloods and warmbloods to defend themselves against darkbloods and coldbloods.

Infamously, this has created enormous tension between the blood types during December some years, and it is said that the blood lust has caused the types to begin hunting one another regardless of old friendships and alliances. Beware the Huntress's curse. Some believe darkbloods and coldbloods can still hear her haunting commands and cries from the Trenchwood.

They say there is no ease for the tension between the bloodtypes until December has passed, but some believe palebloods may provide relief if they are willing."

FAQ

1. Characters will increasingly feel the urge to actively hunt one another using traps/etc.

2. The Huntress's curse includes undead animals/beasts chasing after warmbloods and vilebloods and magical traps. Players can invent unique traps for their characters.

3. There will be an innate urge to chase/hide from one another.

4. The curse can be broken by paleblood intervention, character death, or a gradual wearing off by the end of the month.
LOCKJOINT
WHEN: All of Bone Season
WHERE: On Sleeper bodies
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mild body horror, blood magic curses, physical curses, cures through blood ministration/blood letting, possible skin removal, injuries, possible death via starvation/exposure.


[An passage from The Sleeper Condition; Chapter 13: Bodily Aches and More. Found exclusively at the Lumenarium:]

"Generally speaking, Sleeper blood allows Sleepers to navigate this world without the fear of illness and disease. However, no organic body is perfect, and Sleeper blood has its own set of ailments to fret over. Blood Ministers have studied the phenomena of Lockjoint for years now and believe that it is linked to the crystalization found in Sleeper death, though the exact connection remains unknown.

Lockjoint tends to begin and last throughout Bone Season. Some Sleepers may never experience it, but for many, it becomes a reoccurring issue to dread each season. This condition forces blood magic to gather at the joints and effectively lock up. Sleepers find it difficult to move their bodies at the bends, fingers, knees, shoulders, etc without some form of discomfort. Minimal lockjoint can be painful and annoyance, but critical lockjoint can be fatal.

The most severe cases of lockjoint documented have shown Sleepers to have crystalization form over their joints, rendering parts of their bodies completely immobile. Some Sleepers have been found dead in this condition, all their joints crystallized, and it is believed most died from natural causes thereafter.

One can determine they are experiencing lockjoint when the coloration around the joints begins to darken in color, typically looking like a bruise. Calcification may occur rapidly the more magic a Sleeper uses or the more they expose themselves to outside elements. It is imperative that Sleepers remain properly clothed during Bone Season, even if they are coldbloods, and to invest in enchanted clothes that can lock in heat.

A known cure for lockjoint is the art of bloodletting. Puncturing the joints with small incisions seems to allow a release of the built-up magic and can provide immediate relief to the Sleeper. Catching lockjoint early is imperative. Alternative methods are soaking in hot springs and salted water.

Those who are in a more severe state will have to carefully have the crystals removed. This will likely remove the skin as well. Local anesthesia is highly recommended for the procedure. This process is known to leave scarring. The crystals can be saved and used as bloodstones from whoever they were harvested from. If you find a Sleeper dead from lockjoint, make sure to harvest the crystals as they are incredibly valuable.

This curse is believed to stem from Sleeper blood magic congealing within the body in contrast with the atmospheric magic of Bone Season. There is no known prevention for lockjoint. Lockjoint can impact all Sleepers regardless of bloodtype or the material their bodies are made from."

FAQ

1. This impacts characters regardless of blood type or their body - meaning it can impact characters with metal/plastic/plant/wood/etc bodies.

2. Players can choose how rapid or severe this gets and how quickly they can be healed.
CODING
onekindsoul: (We're the same)

[personal profile] onekindsoul 2021-12-17 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[OOC: I'm cool either way! Neo's had to deal with Ruby in october and they got into mutual trouble last month. So it's probably Neo's turn to have the upper hand here!

I'd say some mix of their past feelings on this situation mixing in with the whole need to hunt is probably enough to justify them getting at one another. But I'm down to clown with whatever!]
threelayers: (Default)

[personal profile] threelayers 2021-12-19 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
(OOC: Yeah we can go with them hashing it out and Neo getting the upper hand this time. Would you be ok with her winning a fight and chase scene, leading to Neo calming down at the last second, maybe with a thought of Emerald, and instead of stabbing, she taps her with her umbrella and says something like 'tag?' Turn it into a 'counting coup' sort of moment, if that works?)
onekindsoul: (The light will guide us)

[personal profile] onekindsoul 2021-12-19 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
[OOC: Yeah! I think that would work out! It would show a lot of growth between the two of them over the last year since the last time the town messed with them in this kind of way. I like it a lot. The tag bit could grow into a sort of game between the two of them going forward!

Plus I like the idea of both of them kind of being affected by hoonter must hoont.]
threelayers: (05)

[personal profile] threelayers 2021-12-21 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
(OOC: Finally time. Gotta love the holidays. Here we go!)

Neopolitan had her prey. No, no, it wasn't one of the vilebloods but fuck it she was past caring at this point. This hunt was deeper and more important and with the orders screaming in her head, it was hard not to fall back into the old beat of it. She lunged forward, rolling under one of her trip-wires and pulling it with the hook of Hush's handle.

It set the trap off prematurely, but she had every feeling that the girl trying to get away and get higher ground on her would have to dodge backwards when the tree trunk tied off was released and came crashing down. No, Neo didn't do nice traps when she meant the fight to go one way.
onekindsoul: (pic#15019289)

[personal profile] onekindsoul 2021-12-21 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)
It had been tense all month. Ruby had felt the vague need for revenge bubbling up in her cold blood and the sudden urge to hunt had only intensified it. Except the main reason for trapping and hunting for the patrons was pushed aside when she caught sight of a flash of pink hair in the snow. She had been working on pushing the awkward feelings from home aside but the memory of Yang being struck and knocked off that bridge into the void came back fresh and hot.

She immediately abandoned the safety of her own trap set territory and followed into the deeper into the woods. Unfortunately she lost track of Neo in the brush and began to push uphill to get a better sense of the area. She'd have the advantage with Crescent Rose after all.

Except it's then that she heard a snap and a tree trunk came smashing down in her direction. She readied her scythe but didn't have the time or space to neatly cut it into. Instead leapt and fired a few shots, firing herself backwards and away from the attack and landing roughly after a few skidding attempts to stop.

"Okay... This might have been a bad move."
threelayers: (07)

[personal profile] threelayers 2021-12-23 07:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Honestly? The dark thought in the back of Neo's currently addled mind probably would have been 'Now you know what it's like to lose someone you love.' She'd hate herself for even having or entertaining that thought after this month. It wasn't even that she'd grown past that. She'd never entertained that kind of vengeance because it was ridiculous. That was how Cinder worked. She hurt the people they loved to get to them. To Neo, it was counter-productive. Ruby was the one who had to die. Nobody else. Ruby and Cinder were responsible, and she viewed things in a black and white way when she was like this. What happened with Yang had been a fucking mistake. But right now? Oh, she wasn't there. No, this was a corrupted, violent version of herself chasing her friend down.

The shots did their job. The tree-trunk didn't literally shatter Ruby's chest cavity in the process. Neo expected no less. There was a near gleeful look in her eyes that she never had when they'd fought in the past as Ruby did that, not because Ruby'd gotten out, but because Ruby was still a challenge. Even one-eyed, she was still absolutely a fight, and ... Neo wanted a fight.

She rolled around one of the trees, and when she emerged there were two of her, coming out both sides of it. Of course there were. Why would there be anything else? She whipped between the trees, blurring a little as the identical looks of rapacious violence showed, first one coming in to make a slash and then the other. No mercy or quarter was given. Here? She knew where the traps and pitfalls were. No matter how good they were, or crude, she was the one that had set them, like the one right behind Ruby she was trying to goad her towards.
onekindsoul: (pic#15218821)

[personal profile] onekindsoul 2021-12-28 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
And a fight was exactly what Neo was going to get. Ruby had been doing her best to keep these feelings under control but when they flooded out there wasn't much she could do about it. It had gotten the best of her in Deerington and it was getting the best of her here too. She let out a breath as the tree trunk landed near where she did without harming her but she didn't have much time to get her bearings as not one but two Neo's came at her.

She swung Crescent Rose to parry the first slash but she needed to distance before she could switch from offense to defense. Unfortunately for her she's a little too preoccupied to notice the trap behind her until she hears the snap of the trip wire.
threelayers: (06)

[personal profile] threelayers 2021-12-30 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
The trip-wire went off without a hitch, so to speak as one of the versions of hush grazed an arm, just barely. The one that was parried was still standing, so it was hard to tell which was which, but in the next second, Ruby was given something else to worry about. The whole floor under her lunged upwards with full force. Netting was going out from under her legs, hurling her skyward, even as Neo kept in motion.

The pint-sized assassin wasn't going to be able to get at her just yet, but she figured that the net trap would do a good job of trapping her, assuming she didn't manage to get that scythe moving properly in there, but it was worth a shot. Lunging back and forth between a pair of nearby trees, she was parkouring her way up towards the branch that the net was tied to as it tried to snare Ruby, closing the distance with dangerous speed.
onekindsoul: (We fall apart)

[personal profile] onekindsoul 2022-01-01 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
She felt Hush's blade pierce her arm lightly and a she activated her aura. Letting a thin coat of ice cover the light injury and start to heal it. She twisted her scythe to try and bat one of the duplicates away from her but the world suddenly shot up from below her feet and she lost all of sense of what was going on.

She fumbled to try and keep the Crescent Rose from slipping out of the net as it rose up around her and while she succeeded the weapon's shaft smacked her in the face as it was pressed up against her, dazing her briefly as she was hung up in the air.

Once she managed to get her senses she glanced about frantically for any sign of Neo but only heard her leaping from tree to tree. She didn't have a lot of room to move around but she made an attempt to start trying to swing back and forth and either dislodge the net or get a hold of the trunk of the tree hold it up.
Edited 2022-01-01 21:21 (UTC)
threelayers: (05)

[personal profile] threelayers 2022-01-05 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
So, it did work. More or less, Ruby managed to free herself with the swinging force, just about the time that she could feel the tapping of the feet on the tree branch above, from both sides. Swinging back and forth, as the world swayed, the snap of rope breaking was audible. the world hurtled towards Ruby fast, but the net was dislodging in the process, giving her a chance to set up the landing at least partially.

Above, Neo let out a curse silently and leaped down, both of hers racing down in gymnastic leaps from branch to branch. Going down was easier than going up, but she was still fighting to get down before Ruby could set herself up, Hush at the ready to attack with one of her forms while the other sailed down more lazily, using the umbrella to break her fall. She was almost on Ruby, giving the huntress just barely enough time to recover from the topple.