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

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.]

[NAVIGATION]

Prompt 1 • Prompt 2 • Prompt 3 • Plotting • Newsletter

[JUMP TO COMMENTS]

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There's definitely something off about those other two; Palamedes is familiar with the concept of, ah, the beguiling corpse, but those two look like beguiling... un-corpses? The glassy stare is as much of a concern as the tent, even as the young man in question stands right next to him and explains what's happening.

Sort of. A little. Palamedes watches the double get taken into the tent with raised eyebrows, wondering.]

Right; I don't, not at all. [A pause, then he gestures at the tent.] What's happening to you?

[ Before Wu can quite respond, the memory shifts, and the pair of them are in the tent, and a few minutes must have passed because the Wu in the tent is strapped into a machine, a mask covering his mouth, a contraption on his head.

Mako and Bolin stare, deadeyed, and Wu cowers at the sight of them, shifting close to the stranger because, well, that seems safe. Maybe? ]

Um... brainwashing. Definitely brainwashing. That guy, [ He points to the guy in charge, who's telling the woman to turn on the machine ] is trying to use me, all of us! To win the election. Boy, this is bad. So bad...

[Oh— oh, and the sudden shift makes Palamedes move back half a step, startled by the sudden addition of strapping people into machines. No one in this memory seems able to see the two of them at all, and Palamedes is himself just a taller weed, but he still unconsciously holds out a hand at his side, as if ready to shield his surprise companion if needs must. He's never seen a machine quite like this one, but it's already making his skin crawl.]

To 'win the election'? [He frowns, then disdainfully:] Politics.

[He eyes the machine suspiciously and his frown deepens; yeah, not looking good.]

If this is insensitive I am truly sorry, but are you still brainwashed? Now, on this side of the tent?

[ The woman turns on the machine, and the Wu in the chair shuts his eyes tightly, his whole body tensing. A long moment later, he relaxes, and when his eyes open again, they're glassy and blank, just like Mako and Bolin behind him ]

Me? No. No! I was, um. Un-brainwashed. Ages ago. Well, not ages, a few months.

[ Timelines are confusing. He bites his lip at that epithet ]

It is all politics. All, all trying to bring the Earth Empire back. All of it.

[ Guan, the man, speaks now, a satisfied smile on his face. Mako and Bolin undo the restraints, and the Wu in the chair doesn't struggle or try to escape, completely pliant now ]

A pleasure to have you on our side, your majesty.

I don't remember this.

[ The words are a bare whisper, and Wu doesn't really want to know what he does, what he did, what Guan forced him to do. ]

[Well, this continues to get more unsettling as it goes on. Palamedes' experiences with brainwashing are, hm - limited, and he's fairly certain it was self-inflicted when he witnessed the result, but it's just as unsettling to see it performed in this memory.]

Well— "un-brainwashed" is good. [Or he'd have compulsively offered to try and help, and messing with the brain is not his number one skillset. Therefore: great. Good. Okay.

So. A memory unremembered, a whisper; Palamedes looks away from the Politics.]

How far outside of this tent does this extend? [Maybe now is not the time for the Theory of the work, so more broadly:] Do you want to get out of here?

Yes. Yes I do.

[ Even though his eyes are locked on himself, looking like that. He looks so... scary. Bored and serious and he knows what Guan did with him, mostly, he knows it all works out, but it doesn't mean that he likes seeing himself right there, replying to Guan in a dead-sounding voice.

He moves back, toward the flap of the tent. It really isn't all that big, just a tent full of the brainwashing machine which, to be fair, is rather large. But there's nothing else in it.

But as soon as he tries to leave through the flap, the memory shifts again, this time to the brainwashed Wu, alone now, in another tent. He's just sitting in a chair, staring straight forward, back straight, hands on his legs, like he's just waiting.

Wu looks around wildly, but nothing happens. ]

Oh, boy. Is this what he did with me?! This is so, so [ boring ]

[Palamedes turns to follow him out, curious to know if this memory manifestation keeps going and how far; particularly if this iteration of the other man doesn't technically remember it beyond a deep subconscious. It would be pretty impressive to manifest the whole area...

...But no, apparently not; it shifts again, and they are alone with the memory double. Palamedes pauses a moment before crossing to the brainwashed Wu and stooping down to get a closer look at his face. Even if the two of them weren't invisible here, or whatever, it doesn't look like this guy would do... anything.

Unsettling.]

He brainwashed you to put you in a different tent? [A beat.] Who are you, that putting you away in a tent will win elections?

Weird. Super weird! I, I know he did some other stuff. Uh, with me. [ He got a report from the officials in Gaoling, afterward. He wrings his hands together ] It's kind of a long story, but I'm sort of the King and I was, am? Was trying to turn all the provinces of the Earth Kingdom into their own democratic states! And Guan wanted to rig the election in Gaoling so he could take it over and try to rebuild the Earth Empire-- they tried to usurp the Earth Kingdom, and got really close, too!

[ He stares at himself, sitting there with that awful look on his face. He's also kind of fascinated by the changes he's gone through since being in Deerington and Trench. It isn't that different, but he's less weedy now, a little more muscle on him, his cheeks a little less round.

He gets distracted from looking at himself to glance at Palamedes, who he still doesn't know. Awkwardly: ]

So, um. Buddy! I haven't seen you around before. You are a Sleeper, right?

[Oh: more politics. Palamedes takes in this explanation with measured neutrality, particularly because only some of the concepts make sense to him at a base level. He's from an Empire, himself, but with the Houses set in their ways for a myriad and also on separate planets, well. Matters of state mostly... aren't.]

I understood most of that, [he offers, and then sighs shortly. For a split second he grimaces at the word Sleeper — poor association — but:]

I'm really here, if that's a concern. Not a- [well is he not-a-ghost, technically, the jury is still out] -threat. I'm new in town, I suppose, but yes: one of the group, for better or worse.

[He holds a hand out with a half-smile, wry; trying to inject normalcy into this interaction.]

Palamedes. Do I have to call you 'majesty'?

Oh, boy. No! Please. Just Wu. It's nice to meet you, Palamedes.

I was trying to abdicate! That's how all... this. Happened. [ He waves a hand vaguely at his stationary form in that chair. ] I'm not a very good king. I much prefer running my theater, in Trench. You should come by sometime! The Raccoon Room.

[ Super casual, a super casual conversation to have in the middle of a memory of Wu's that he doesn't want to think about.

He's about to say something else when the memory shifts again, to a nicely appointed office. Wu, two green-garbed guards, Palamedes, and the other Wu, step through the door. A man stands up from the desk with a smile, exchanging pleasantries with Wu ]

There's been a chance of plans. [ The brainwashed Wu says, his voice toneless, his glassy and blank ] The election will take place today.

Oh boy. [ The other Wu shifts closer to Palamedes, as the only other solid thing here that doesn't feel like a nightmare. ] I did that? I did that?!

Today? But the voters won't even know to show up. [ The man, a government official says, looking stunned. ]

They're already here. [ Brainwashed Wu gestures to the window. The other Wu leaves Palamedes to peer over, and lets out a squeak. There are hundreds of citizens outside, holding signs supporting Guan ]

I'm really glad that Korra fixed all this! This is bad, so, so bad.

[Palamedes smiles briefly, endeared; that was mostly a joke, but one always has to ask when it comes to People With Titles; he should know. He immediately has a whole bunch of opinions and gently prying questions about the type of man who would admit to being not a very good king, but he's busy nodding and remembering the name of the theater and before he can say anything else, the next shift comes.

Again Wu moves closer to him, and again Palamedes wonders if this odd space will notice them at any moment now and have cause to become violent. Wu has more experience in this place than he does, perhaps memories have ambushed people in Trench before...]

Korra is a friend of yours? [Guessing, as he moves to peek out the window himself. Huh! People! Really, this bubble is remarkable—as a feat and not as an instrument of torment, certainly.]

Then you and I, here, are merely supposed to watch. [Not interact, not the way it had been in Bigby's memory—] What are these encounters for?

[That's mostly to himself, frowning down at the crowd. It doesn't make sense! What's the goal behind making a person relive something like this, and from outside of it, as well...]

Do you still want to try leaving?

They're, they're, to get us to know each other? [ It sounds lame, even to his own ears, and he flinches ] This place, Trench, and Deerington, were really into getting us to open up and be vulnerable with each other, and sometimes they do it with a, um, sledgehammer, so to speak. Like--

[ He gestures lamely to the scene in front of them ]

Yes. Leaving would be great. Super great. I don't, this is making me really uncomfortable.

[ To see himself like this, to see himself acting like a king, like his Auntie was as the Queen. The memory of Wu starts to speak again, still standing so formally and stiff ]

For the good of the kingdom, I've decided that the move to democracy can't wait any longer.

In the interest of fairness, please allow me a few days to inform the other precincts about the change.

[ The official responds, rather reasonably, to Wu's mind, as his hand reaches the door of the office. ]

You dare defy your king?!

[ The memory of Wu snaps, loud and furious, and Wu yanks open the door as fast as he can, stumbling out into the hall. They aren't whisked away quite yet this time, and he shuts the door again once Palamedes joins him, breathing hard.

If he thought it was uncomfortable before ]

Yeah, it's sure great to be forced to see this stuff! Really loving this.

[Palamedes' eyebrows fly up at the suggestion that this trauma roulette - because what else is it, really - is supposed to make them bond. Will it work? Maybe, but that's entirely beside the point! Whatever powers that be are kicking around these memory reels here don't have any ethical ground to stand on, but—

More importantly, and maybe straight into the point of the exercise as he's mentally warring with it: Wu is freaking out, and Palamedes, who has known him for all of half an hour, if that, is concerned about it. The memory-Wu gets stern, and that is the cue; Palamedes can't help looking over his shoulder at the proceedings as he hastily follows real-Wu out of the room.

Well. He looks at the closed door for a beat, halfway stunned, then turns to Wu. Hesitantly, because he's having a rough moment, Palamedes puts a hand on his shoulder.]

Please understand that I mean this suggestion completely honestly: shut your eyes. [No, really. He squeezes that shoulder, attempting to inject some reassurance into this.] You said so yourself — that isn't you anymore. The way to beat this thing is simply not to look.

[ Wu twitches when Palamedes touches him, but he doesn't move away. Instead, he looks up at him with big green eyes, glad for any suggestion right now, anything to make this better. He nods soundless at him, and does just that: he shuts his eyes, hands fisting at his sides.

Except-- well. That seems to have been the worst of it. The memory shifts again just as the door to the office is opening again, and this time they're in another tent, but this time Wu, Mako, and Bolin are all in those set-ups with the helmet on top, but this time there are no masks over their mouths or straps tying them to the chairs. A group of women gathers around them, watching them intently.

One of them, Korra, reads off a script: ]

You will no longer obey Commander Guan's orders. You minds are yours again.

[ All three men's glassy expressions shifts instantaneously, looking more alive, all surprised. As soon as they realize what happened, they're all up and out of the chairs. Bolin runs over to Opal and wraps her in a bear hug, and Wu goes straight to Mako, squeezing him tight while Mako looks somewhere between uncomfortable and relieved.

The Wu with Palamedes peeks out from under his lashes, then lets out a breath ]

Oh, boy! We sure were on the brink there, weren't we, buddy? I told you it all worked out! I remember this part!

My brain is back! [ The memory Wu sing-songs as he squeezes Mako tight, and the Trench Wu smiles softly at them. All of the stress seems gone from him, and it isn't really, but he sure likes to pretend it is. They're out of the woods, now. ]

You know, for all this was really awful and terrible and all that, I'm honestly pretty glad that Guan tried to mess all of this up. Well-- that was certainly a trip, there, Palamedes.

[Despite himself, Palamedes wants to get a look at the machine. There's a patented danger there, a thing-what-needs-understanding, so that if he encounters similar he will know with precision accuracy how to pick it apart. Bones can be programmed, even a corpse can be animated, but to rewrite a brain—

Specifically, to rewrite a brain not the way his friends might, with physical pieces and severe trauma—

Well, he's never met a horror that wasn't worth trying to overturn. But he's getting away with himself, this is a memory, and one can hope Trench doesn't have... brain changey machines. At least in excess.

He looks politely away from dream Wu hugging the tall stranger at a glance at the real Wu's face; aha. Very sweet.]

Absolute power reveals absolutely, indeed, [because he assumes this Guan was at least arrested, besides all the hugging happening, and that's also a plus.] Your friends seem like good people.

[......]

How do we... leave?

They are.

[ Even if it's complicated, at least he has most of them with him in Trench. At Palamedes question, Wu looks around with a frown. ]

I don't actually know? There might be more, but, honestly, after this it was a lot of meetings and then days on an airship. I don't really want to be stuck in my own memories for that long.

[ Just as he says it, though, a large white stag steps into the tent. None of his friends seem to notice it, but Wu's eyes go wide. That has to be the way home, doesn't it? Deer were important in Deerington, and seem to be in Trench, too. ]

Ah, that might be it.

[ He doesn't move just yet, though, glancing at Palamedes ]

Thank you, for helping me through this. This wasn't the most pleasant thing to relive-- or to experience for the first time, I suppose.

[It does feel done, thematically. There's a resolution, and an emotional conclusion, and so Palamedes thinks—

big animal

what's going on]

"That might be"...? Alright.

[Yeah, he has no idea how this is logical or happening or what a stag is, but sure; Wu seems to be taking it in stride, so. Okay. He tries a little smile, weary but earnest.]

Right; you're welcome. I... I'll visit your theater sometime, shall I? I'll bring a friend.

Yes, yes! You should come by. It's a good time. My friend Ryan performs every Saturday, he's amazing.

[ It's nice to talk about something normal right now, after seeing into his not so distant past like this. He gives Palamedes a smile and reaches out for the deer, which starts to walk as soon as he touches it. It takes him away from the memory, the world fading around him. Another deer should come for Palamedes too, to lead him home ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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

howdy 😌

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