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
notimeforfailure: (Default)

mourning ii

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2021-12-16 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
[His companion is a silver-haired girl who sits quietly in a plastic seat under the harsh fluorescent lights. She glances around their surroundings and remarks, somewhat banally:]

This... is a hospital.

[Medical wards in her world look very different. This is actually partially a question. ...But she is familiar with this atmosphere, this sensation of stifled pressure and tension, the wait for somebody who may or may not return alive...

Her voice is uncharacteristically gentle.]


Mistake or no, I believe we must carry through.
kingofsarcasm: (25)

holidays consumed me, sorry for how late this is!

[personal profile] kingofsarcasm 2022-01-09 07:40 am (UTC)(link)
[Stiles' jaw is tight and set and his posture is tense as he looks over to her with a look that says he's like a second away from verbally eviscerating someone who steps wrong. She hasn't stepped wrong, so his response isn't cutting, but it's still a bit on the testy and anxious side.]

"Carry through"? Carry through to what? Is there a rule I missed that says you have to relive your worst memories with total strangers or else? What…

[He sucks in a shuddered breath as he realizes he needs air, and then lets it out as he continues.] What if we just don't do that?
notimeforfailure: (Pensive)

no worries, if you'd rather let it drop, it's fine with me! can find another opportunity elsewhere

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2022-01-09 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[She responds in the same gentle tone, though it is set with a certain grimness.]

Historically, we will be held captive until the intended purpose has been accomplished.

[A faint pause.]

I have completed a few of these experiences already myself. If it's any comfort, these memories are not meant to hurt you.

They provide a sort of closure, painful as it might be.
kingofsarcasm: (3)

I'm good to continue if you are! :3

[personal profile] kingofsarcasm 2022-01-14 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
[His jaw clenches, a muscle in his cheek fluttering as he tries to grapple with that. In his gut, he knows she's got no reason to lie about that, and his frustration is better directed elsewhere. Then he scoffs and turns away a bit.]

Closure. Yeah, right. Sure.

[His tone says exactly what he thinks about that. Then he lets out a breath and stares hard as the wall for a moment before abruptly moving to the door he remembers all too well.]

Let's get this over with.

[He opens it, and when they walk in what is there to greet them is a woman in the bed, hooked to machines. A young boy sits with her alone and looking oddly on edge, though hopeful at the same time as he tries to get close and touch his mother's hand.]

Mommy?

[She opens her eyes all of a sudden, sees him and starts screaming in terror. Her hand lashes out to smack him across the face. Present day Stiles' own head jerks to the side to look away in response, as the screaming continues.]
notimeforfailure: (Surprise)

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2022-01-15 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
[She had been expecting some sort of tragic, if commonplace, scene. A dying relative or friend - mourning family - a pivotal point in this unknown stranger's life, some emotional peak in his formative years. The first few moments pass exactly as she expects, but Lysithea cannot help her shocked exclamation when the boy is slapped.]

What --

[Something is clearly wrong.]

Why is...

[But she doesn't know this person. She is an intruder. Like those who appeared in her darkest moments, she cannot ask for more than what he is willing to give. Lysithea falls silent, keeping back to allow him space.]
kingofsarcasm: (57)

[personal profile] kingofsarcasm 2022-01-17 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
[Even if the last thing he wants to do is talk about this, he can't allow the memory of his mother be tarnished. This isn't her and he needs to explain that… still, it takes him some gearing up and swallowing down of bile and emotion before he can explain. As he does, his child self is crying silently holding his cheek and his mother is screaming in terror to 'stay away'.]

She had a… rare form of dementia. Her brain was atrophying… she was losing herself. [He finds that he has to quickly wipe at his face and his chest feels tight and his breath is starting to come fast in panic, because this isn't what he remembers.] But this is all wrong, she… this isn't what happened.

[There's an edge to his voice that screams denial. His memories of this time aren't complete, filled with holes and edits his mind made to protect him. Almost as though his shield around his mind manifests it, there's a ghost image of how he made himself remember it super-imposed on reality. His mother is more peaceful, clearly frightened, but not violent and the ghost image of young Stiles is holding her hand. It flickers and glitches in and out of existence and present day Stiles' brows draw together and the building panic doesn't subside.]
notimeforfailure: (Pensive)

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2022-01-17 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
Dementia...

[She has no personal experience with this herself, but even in a world where people frequently died long before any maladies of old age set in, senility was commonly recorded. Those who died of such ailments were known to forget - to rant and rave at nothing - to lose their language and their minds.

A deeply traumatic fate, doubtlessly, for their loved ones.]


I understand.

...I'm sorry. It is nothing a child should experience.

[But the scene is wrong. There are flickers - images less clear than what she had just witnessed. She is on the verge of opening her mouth to speak once more, to ask what is happening, but... she is intuitive. It is obvious, given a few moments' thought, what is happening.

He wishes to revise the memory.

And she knows -- even if this is what he wishes, that it would defeat the purpose. A fantasy cannot bring true relief. If this is what Trench wants him to see, then... it seems likely it wishes him to come to terms with the truth. If he allows it, she will place a hand lightly on his shoulder.]


This kind of pain is... unbearable.
kingofsarcasm: (64)

[personal profile] kingofsarcasm 2022-01-23 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
[This is the first time he's seeing what actually happened since he was a kid. He's smart enough to figure out that the most rational explanation is that as a child his mind edited the memory to protect him. But this is an emotional revelation and the shadow image of the memory he's had all this time tries its hardest to stay put.

He has to turn away from the scene as his mother screams that he's trying to kill her and tries to get away from him or attack him. She makes more swipes and his child self cowers away, afraid but still trying to talk to her, "It's me, mommy. It's Stiles."

And then she's visibly having trouble breathing, catching her breath. Even with the assistance from machines. Her screams turn into hoarse wheezing breaths and her eyes go glassy. Her protests turn into mutters between wheezing gasps of "Get away. Get it away."

Stiles doesn't move away from the touch on his arm, but he's definitely trembling as he looks back at the scene. Though the violence and screaming has died down, the look on his mother's face is haunting as she struggles to breathe and mutter incoherently. Her eyes are glassy and unfocused, but wide and terrified, unblinking.]


…It… won't be long now. [He manages to say in a quiet, hoarse voice.]
notimeforfailure: (Time)

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2022-01-25 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
I pray she has found peace.

[Lysithea's words are simple. Her role here is simply to act as observer, to bear witness to the fact that he is confronting something that has long caused him undefinable pain.]

...And you.

[Peace came easily to the dead. Not so much for the living, for those who had to bear the scars of the past upon their hearts and continue forward solely because there was no other choice. As the boy trembles beside her, the touch on his shoulder gently becomes a light squeeze, anchoring him in place as he gazes upon the gibbering woman.]

Do you wish to say good-bye properly? Now that you... understand.
kingofsarcasm: (13)

[personal profile] kingofsarcasm 2022-01-30 07:40 am (UTC)(link)
[He watches as she dies, fearing him in her last moments, still mumbling about getting him away rom her and then suddenly her heart monitor is flatlining and her eyes are not blinking anymore. He doesn't look at Lysithea when she asks if he wants to say goodbye properly, but wrenches his eyes away to rest on the floor, shaking his head.]

She's... just a memory.

[In the background, his younger self isn't registering what happened, he asks for her, "Mommy?" She doesn't respond. He starts to creep closer to try and touch her, shakes her shoulder. Death is a new concept for him, he doesn't understand, "Mommy, I don't like this game. Say something."]
notimeforfailure: (Default)

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2022-01-30 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
...I had the chance to say goodbye to my ghosts.

[She responds quietly.]

It helped... more than I thought it would. Memory is no substitute for reality, but perhaps it might still offer some closure.

[The hand retreats now and Lysithea backs up, closer to the door, ready to stand to the side in case there is anything he wishes to say to his mother - anything he wishes to say to himself.]
kingofsarcasm: (134)

can end the memory or move into one of her memories now if you like!

[personal profile] kingofsarcasm 2022-02-01 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
[After she says her piece, his arms tightly cross over his chest as he hunches his shoulders. For a long moment, he just stands where he is looking at the ground. Then he steps over to the bed, on the other side of his younger self where he's still trying to get his mother's attention. He looks over at himself sadly.

Then he looks to her. Honestly, he doesn't know what to say. Other than the one thing he didn't get to because he didn't understand back then he wouldn't get another chance.]
Love you, mom.

[And with that, he turns on his heel and heads to the door, swiping at his eyes. Nurses and doctors finally flood into the room too late and he brushes past them out into the hall.]
notimeforfailure: (Default)

ok! I think I'm good with lysithea's memories so we can close if you'd like

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2022-02-03 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
((or if you want to continue some aftermath threading, also fine with me))

[She waits patiently by the door, gazing out at nothing in particular. There isn't much to see outside this one room that stands out in his memories.

It is curious that she feels a strange detachment from this. Perhaps because the only deaths she has known has been violent ones. Nothing so... clinical. It is an odd sensation to watch a body in a sterile room with the life slowly draining like a shallow pool. ...In some ways, she prefers to see the thread being cleanly cut by the sweep of a blade or the intensity of flame.]


...Are you alright?
kingofsarcasm: (90)

k o7

[personal profile] kingofsarcasm 2022-02-06 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[He reaches a shaking hand up to his eyes as he gets out of the room and takes a handful of deep, wheezing breaths. Like he was barely breathing or holding his breath the entire time he was in there. Which is more or less the case.

The fact that he doesn't sarcastically call her out for that question says a lot about how not okay he is. People who know him well would see that, anyway.]


…No. I don't think I am.

[Okay, maybe there's a little bit of sarcasm in there. Just a teeny bit.]
notimeforfailure: (Pensive)

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2022-02-07 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
[Lysithea takes it at face value. This is not the time or place to interrogate sarcastic statements too closely.]

...Sometimes, I think I can't ever be.

But you know... it just becomes a part of me over time. There's no getting over it or moving beyond it. It sits within me, and I... hold it closely, because there's nothing else I can do with it.

[...Her hands are clasped at her chest. She opens them, gazes down at them with a curious expression.]

I fear a stranger can offer scant comfort in these circumstances.