[WORLD ONE | SEPTEMBER INTRO LOG]

[spellbindmods]

Who: The new coven members, old blood & Palai people
Where: In and around the city land of Aimintas
When: Day 61
Open/Closed: Open to All

The initial setting information found here should be utilized for threads here.

There's no official OOC account for the Palai people. You're free to roleplay their actions and reactions on your own, as in depth as you want -- asking questions, hand-waved interactions, becoming best friends. The new world is your oyster!

All characters are told briefly what their powers are by Genette -- no extemporaneous details. For instance, if your character has the ability to detect lies, they'll be told as such -- no warning about limitations, repurcussions or the like. They'll also be given a variant of this letter so they aren't totally ignorant of the situation -- though of course adapt this letter to the current setting and surroundings of the game.

This setting may be familiar to you -- maybe you caught a glimpse of it when you first visited. Maybe this is your first time experiencing this weird world and the panic is setting in. If you're totally lost, a tall human woman with a long scroll of paper will stop by to give you the run down. She'll also give you a letter, which may give you more questions than answers since the information is a wee out of date. (Maybe someone else can fill in some gaps for you). What you may not know is that this world recently experienced something of a tragedy. You wouldn't be able to guess this based on the festive energy in the air. The main marketplace where you've shown up finished reconstruction last night, and after grief comes joy to the Palai -- those lizard creatures you see wandering around. They're now hosting a festival to celebrate their success and the lives of those both still present and those lost. It's also a chance for them to host one of those big celebrations like they'd previously seen in human books. However, their resources are limited -- don't blame them if things are a little cut-and-paste! A ▢ One of the preferred methods for masking grief in the Palai world is playing games. Because the Palai are still on their shrimp kick (the old blood characters are probably sick of them at this point), the shrimp are being used as part of a few festival games: Shrimp Scoop: Live prawns have been placed in a tank of water. Instead of paper scoops, players are handed small scraps of cloth which they may then dive into the six-foot tall tank to try and grab the prawns with -- no hands! And no magic or your prawn will be revoked. For extra incentive, sacks of golden coins have been tied to the prawns. These coins can be exchanged for goods and prizes, though what your character receives for their coin -- no matter how bland or wacky -- is up to your character. Shrimp Shock: Dead shrimp have been placed in a wading pool. Your character and another character enter the pool while Elto shock the shrimp out of the water. With about 20 shrimp in the water, the character with the most shrimps caught out of the air wins an allotment of coins. Whack-a-Shrimp: Eltos have powered six large, stuffed shrimp dolls (made with cloth), that will pop out of cut holes in a large game board. Hit the shrimp as many times as you can in 30 seconds, and your number will amount to the coins you receive. Shrimp Fest: Is your character a big eater? Your character is given a plate of cooked jumbo prawns. If they can eat all 50 jumbo prawns in 30 seconds, they win 100 coins. B ▢ What good is a festival if there's no face painting? Don't worry, you have more options than shrimp. Palai have an assortment of paints and are making colourful designs on both their kin and coven members -- your request may not look exactly as you want it to since they have bumpy hands and claws that get in the way.

This is all pretty juvenile, but fear not! For the mature sort and adults of Aimintas, there's a more quiet part set up that may cater to your older interests. A softer atmosphere, away from the excitement of things. If you want to wind down from the thrill of being magicked away to a new world, this is probably the best way for it. C ▢ Fans of alcohol will find that the Palai have broken out their best spirits for themselves and the coven. Some of these aged spirits are decades old and have aged accordingly, giving them a bitter flavor with a nasty bite of alcohol. Others are more recently distilled or imbued with magic for an extra buzz. Accordingly, some drinks can get you inebriated pretty quickly. Some drinks are essentially giddy truth serums. Others may have an effect on magic or telepathy. Pick your poison! D ▢ The environment in this more secluded area of the marketplace is supposed to be more relaxed, but it's also the best place to sit if you want a front row seat to the fireworks exhibit the remaining Eltos are putting on. Through balls of dye and their electrical powers, they're quickly blowing up the sky with arcs of color that rain down in the form of bright pieces of glitter once the spectacle is over. They also have a special service they're offering -- the Eltos have a grasp on electrical magic, which means they can draw certain things in the sky with these dye balls. If you have a request for a written message or a drawing of some sort, they'd be happy to comply with your wish! For the real adult experience, however, you may want to check out the large rolling cart that Palai are pushing around the marketplace, landing it in the fireworks area. This cart is filled with all of the eggs that were a product of their mating season, and this part of Aimintas is the warmest. E ▢ For newbies and those who missed the egg train, your character can instead be Egg Parent for a Night. The Palai are holding their eggs to warm them for the evening, but (like most parents with new babies) they're certainly trying to show off their creations. Hold them, pass them around -- or maybe even act a fool and fend off a fiercely angry Palai parent.

Finally, the Palai are getting used to the standard familiar faces, so they aren't unaware that there are quite a few new faces in the mix. Based on how familiar your character is, they'll receive a nice little gift from the Palai. Older coven members will receive a scrolled parchment that lists them as honorary citizens of Aimintas and a handmade, harden clay sculpture of their likeness. It may not look a lot like them, but they tried. F ▢ What about new members? Well, they get the Aimintas Starter Kit: an unmarked vial containing Palai mating pheromones (makes your character affectionate, etc), a bag of cooked shrimp, a collection of their baked goods and energy drinks (containing Elto magic that makes magical abilities hard to handle), and a harmless paper flower. Your character likely isn't used to the dangers of some of these items, so maybe someone can help them...or is it too late? G ▢ Because the Palai recognize new faces, these new coven members will be dragged to other coven members who they do recognize. In an effort to help make introductions, the Palai are trying to connect new members with old members in order to foster friendships. Say hi to a new, awkwardly introduced covenmate...? H ▢ Wildcard! How will your character interact with this new and unusual world?

Comments

[mech_and_mutt]

[WHAAAAAAAAAAT]

That thing's huge! the heck d'ya even feed it??

[songbird_slayer]

[She shrugged and looked matter-of-factly.]

Oh- Small children and dogs, mostly.

1/2

[mech_and_mutt]

2/2

[mech_and_mutt]

[Wait, wait, no. He should be used to getting this from just about everyone by now.]

C'mon, it's bad enough when Rotty does that.

Re: 2/2

[songbird_slayer]

[Her smile widened, and she reached up to give one of his ears a little fiddle.]

Vegetables, you silly thing. They enjoy grasses and vegetables.

[mech_and_mutt]

Yeah, guess I shoulda seen that coming. You don't get that kinda upgrade just by drinking your milk.

[He gave an irritated wince at the ear-touch-- why did EVERYONE want to pet him, anyway? Was it his deodorant?-- but quickly eased up. Somehow Madhuri's seemed a little less... condescending.]

I mostly raced aircraft, myself. You had some'a those back in your world, right? Sounds like it wasn't exactly mud-and-sticks.

[songbird_slayer]

Airships. But only the larger guilds had them, unless you knew a few Garleans with some free time on their hands.

A good sort, those Garleans, but only after they pull their heads out of their backsides, you see.

[WELL. Except for Nero. That was a man who could be a dick on his most gracious of days and yet Madhuri still fought urges to ruffle his hair and spend a little 'free time' with him. But she was sure he'd look in a mirror the whole time in order to get his jollies.]

[mech_and_mutt]

Really? They were pretty common back home for me, but I guess there ain't much other choice when most of the land's floatin' in the sky. I lived on one, and I ain't exactly rich.

Don't get me started on what the 'larger guilds' had.

[A glance back to the display case.]

Maybe I should get a Pyramidion Model Airship Kit, too. You any good at those?

[songbird_slayer]

Never built a model before. Man, check out the beak on that ship... get rammed with that and it's no joke.

I think if I made something that flew, it'd be elegant... almost a large flying theater, maybe! I heard a story once about a theater company that traveled from town to town by air.

But if something like that were real, I'd be a monkey's uncle.

[mech_and_mutt]

A theater airship? Hey, I've seen stranger. Some of my best performances were on an Arena airship.

[Then again, a theater airship might not have worked so well. Kinda hard to make out actors above all that wind, right?]

Kinda weird to think about those things being so uncommon.

[songbird_slayer]

Well you said yourself that you required air travel with your world hovering so far above it all. Of the lands I've seen, some demanded you take a local flying creature to get around, as there were few bridges connecting the islands!

...Thaaaat and the giant sky whale eating all the usable land.

[mech_and_mutt]

...sky whale?

[Airships were one thing, but... sky whales.]

You lost me, maddie.

[songbird_slayer]

The Vanu Vanu people have a lord of the skies, a great white whale named Bismarck. He, as a primal, desires immense amounts of energy via crystals, and the floating islands themselves are loaded with them.

So, naturally, he liked to nibble on the land and scare the Vanu Vanu witless, all while they presume he does it to punish them for their transgressions.

[mech_and_mutt]

[Okay, this was just getting weird... and not because he'd never heard of anything like this before.

Quite the opposite.]

...Y'know, other than the whole 'eating everything' part, that cuts kinda close to some stuff I've seen back home. Are we sure we're from different worlds?

No offense, but you could kinda... pass for a halfway point between a human and somethin' like me.

[songbird_slayer]

I assure you that only some parts of my world are up in the air. The natives are the Vanu Vanu only, and you don't look like a fat owl mixed with a bear.

[She tapped her chin.]

You've a sky whale problem?

[mech_and_mutt]

Guilty as charged, I look a lot better than that. [Did he mention he was a smooth operator.]

Can't really say it's a 'problem' but... yeah, we've got sky whales. Lotta things drifting around up there, actually.

Lemme put it this way-- before I came here, I thought 'fishing' usually involved a mech and a giant harpoon.

[songbird_slayer]

[Yuh-huh.]

Well... technically, spear-fishing is still alive and well. I could teach you once we return to our little base of operations, and I can use that scaling knife!

[mech_and_mutt]

Okay, okay. The Palai Navy Knife AND the Model Airship, but you owe me one'a those fish when you cook 'em up.

[He protectively tucked the plush carp underneath his arm.]

Still got... [That's a big stack.] ...a buncha coins left over, though. Whaddaya think, gumball machine?

[songbird_slayer]

I wouldn't dream of denying the opportunity to feed someone.

[She took a peek at the stack.]

...A machine that dispenses thickening agents?

[mech_and_mutt]

No, gumballs! Never had one?

[Well, may as well teach her a thing or two.]

Okay, y'see that big thing over there with the glass bubble? There's this kinda candy you put in it that you chew for a long time.

I always liked bones more, myself...

[songbird_slayer]

So you chew and chew... to what end? Jaw injury?

[mech_and_mutt]

NO! You just chew it because it tastes good! And it's... y'know, satisfyin'! At least until it loses its flavor.

Augh, it sounds weird when I say it out loud! Just trust me, it's good. Even if I usually prefer bones.

[songbird_slayer]

I tend to boil the bones I gather and make a broth. I --

[She blinked, then she clapped his arm.]

I need to roast some bone marrow for you! Of course! Why didn't I think of this sooner? I've seen you nibble on bones all the time but never thought to connect the doggy dots!

[mech_and_mutt]

...doggy dots...?

[Well, her word choice may have been a bit weird to hear, but her offer was tempting enough to draw his attention entirely away from the shelves and shelves of Palai kitsch.]

Roast bone marrow? Is that a thing??

[songbird_slayer]

Oh, yes. You roast the bones in a hot oven until the marrow is just about to melt, and then you spread it on toast with a lovely green salad.

Rather than chew until you get the flavor out, it's warm and cozy, and ready for dipping.