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
onerthes: (Default)

[personal profile] onerthes 2021-12-11 07:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, if you want to dissemble for a bit, I'll play along," she said, laughing back at him and winking. "You're clearly not so covered in crystals yet that you can't move at all. So there's time for you to pretend nothing's wrong. But..."

The water started to percolate as she added that but. She gave him such a look this time. "You don't leave my house without directions on how to fix your little problem. Understood?"
kyley_b: https://burquillos.tumblr.com/ (ugggh)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-12-11 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Crap. That wink always meant she had his number.

He sighed. "Mostly it's bruising at the joints, which I didn't realise was a big deal. There's little rocks on my elbow now though, yeah. And DON'T tell me to go to the Lumenarium, because I wont. I don't want to go anywhere near a hospital."
onerthes: (02)

[personal profile] onerthes 2021-12-12 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
She settled down against the counter and shook her head. "Well, that's one solution to the problem out of the way, Kyle. Not that I'm faulting you. There's only one Blood Minister I truly trust, and I don't know how you'd feel going to him." Wesker was ... an acquired taste. "But yes. It's a serious problem. It will only get worse, affecting your mobility, hurting more and with more protruding blood crystals."

"There are options. If you won't let someone blood let, they could be removed directly but there might be scarring and a lot of pain." She frowned. "Actually, there is one other. I still have one dose of red salts left. They would work if you bathed with them, but you'd want to be a little careful."

She had one more for herself. It'd be fine. Totally fine. Sure. Right. Totally fine because bathing in aphrodisiac bath salts was always a good idea. a bridge to cross later.
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (uhmm)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-12-12 07:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyle scowled worriedly, taking off his winter coat and then pushing up the sleeve of his sweater. There were indeed very small dark, sparkling crystals there. He studied them awkwardly because of the angle.

"There's more on my ankle," he confessed.

He blinked at Vira-Lorr in surprise. "Okay, I was expecting cutting them out, but... bath salts?"
onerthes: (05)

[personal profile] onerthes 2021-12-15 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, they are magical salts. I went back to the Titanic to get a little more before the nightmare ended and they managed to come over here safely. But the red salts can help ease physical suffering if you wish it. I'm pretty sure that they should work.

And oddly, I've heard bath salts help, though I haven't used them yet. I went to someone I trusted the first time.
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (uhmm)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-12-16 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
"Huh!" It was a solution much, much easier than he'd been anticipating.

"I'm not even going to ask about the Titanic. See how chill I'm being? But, uhm, okay. Do they have any side effects I should be aware of?"
onerthes: (Default)

[personal profile] onerthes 2021-12-18 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
An easy solution, save that this was all that there probably was left of the stuff, almost like the event was a perfect way to get rid of them forever, right before they'd need them more in the future.

"Most of the side effects won't matter because I've only got a very small amount. Enough for a bath or two. So if you don't overuse them? You'll be fine." Oh... wait... there was... "As long as you don't eat them. I know that sounds strange, but don't eat them. It's like they go from helping to making everything worse?"

...

"I honestly don't remember why I know that. I imagine someone actually tried."
kyley_b: https://fmdinisio.tumblr.com/ (yup)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-12-19 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyle stared at Vira-Lorr. "Why would I eat bath salts? No, you know what? Nevermind. Maul probably did just that because he's a giant terrifying toddler."

He looked at his elbow again and sighed. "Only if you're SURE you don't mind. Because I can always ask my boyfriend to cut em off, he's pretty good with a knife. Although he'd probably scream at me the whole time at full volume."
onerthes: (Default)

[personal profile] onerthes 2021-12-20 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, that's probably a better way to think about it. Don't think about it. Hah. I think he might ahve tried it to prove he could, yes." A shake of her head and she grinned.

"You can do that, yes. If you want, you can take the salts, or if not... just be ready to use that method. I'll be giving them to someone. I don't want anyone in danger to suffer after all."
kyley_b: https://fmdinisio.tumblr.com/ (yup)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-12-22 06:22 am (UTC)(link)
Kyle hems and haws a little, but then he nods. "Okay," he says. "I'll take em. I really don't want to wind up all immobile and shit. It's already been a rough enough month, you know? I think I might have killed a monster and put ribbons on its corpse. That's a little fuzzy."
onerthes: (Default)

[personal profile] onerthes 2021-12-22 05:39 pm (UTC)(link)
She offered the jar and nodded over at him. "It's been... actually, forgive me. This Lockjoint is unpleasant but it's manageable. I've just been fighting this infernal impatience all month. It feels like I should be doing more, but it's so persistent that I think something is affecting me a little." Thankfully palebloods were a little better off than others.
kyley_b: https://fmdinisio.tumblr.com/ (yup)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-12-22 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyle took the jar and then looked at Vira-Lorr curiously. "Maybe it's the moon," he suggested. "Everybody seems a little tense. I've been annoyed at almost everything all month." Well, when he wasn't rolling on magic computer glitch shit anyway.
onerthes: (02)

[personal profile] onerthes 2021-12-23 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"There seems to be something in the air, yes." She nodded in understanding. "Everyone has been on edge and suspicious. I've had some mention something about a hunt, but it's hard to say if that's the cause or not. Best to be cautious of people's moods. It is a safe rule at all times, but especially if everyone's on edge here."
kyley_b: https://thedoublepp.tumblr.com/ (o yeah eh?)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-12-25 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
He nodded. "I'd heard a little bit about that, but mostly I've been staying inside. After last month I can't say I'm super keen on getting into trouble."

He studied the jar again. "Thank you. I owe you, you know. Like, a lot."
onerthes: (09)

[personal profile] onerthes 2021-12-30 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"More sensible than some. I've been doing a little keeping of some of our ilk very busy with chattering about things they think are important, just to keep them out of trouble." Kyle would not believe the extensive conversation on the lore of the nightmare she'd had with Chara to keep them from going out on their murder rampage one day.

"I know you're good for it, Kyle. It's more important to me that these things get used. They were rare an uniquely perfect for this moment. Better to use them than not."
kyley_b: https://thedoublepp.tumblr.com/ (o yeah eh?)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-12-30 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyle laughed, because 'things they think are important' is such a ira-Lorr way of putting things.

"Thank you." He hesitated. "Uhm. Can I hug you?"

Boy was a hugger.
Edited 2021-12-30 20:40 (UTC)
onerthes: (03)

[personal profile] onerthes 2022-01-01 04:01 pm (UTC)(link)
She chuckled and opened her arms in an easy spread. "By all means, feel free. What is the world without a few hugs, mmm?" she said as she invited him in. She hadn't always been quite as much a hugger, but she'd grown used to it over time.
kyley_b: art uncredited - pm me if you know (snugs)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-01-01 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyle was all sharp angles, but he still gave good hugs.

"Thank you," he said again. "For being my friend, especially."
onerthes: (10)

[personal profile] onerthes 2022-01-03 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
"You're quite welcome," she said in the midst of the embrace, keeping him in close for a little while they talked. "One of the little joys of being a friend is getting to have one right back. You've been quite a nice addition to my life, Kyle. Just so you know." Always had to play things casual didn't she?