[PLAYER PLOT | HUB SCANNING SYSTEM INSTALLATION]

[spellbindmods]

Who: Any coven members interested in installing the hub scanning system OR exploring the (???) on the map!
Where: From the mansion to the peak of the hub's tallest mountain.
When: Day 128
Open/Closed: OTA!

[ Come one, come all, it's time to head to the top of the Hub mountain! Whether your character has been involved in the preparations up till now or not, anyone near the mansion on this clear morning can join the expedition that's going out. The mission: to boldly install some monitoring equipment up on top of a mountain, and see what's there while you're in the area. Time for departures and last-minute tinkering! ]

((ooc note: If you'd like to backdate any participation, please feel free to comment to the post linked above -- if not, jump in from here!))

Comments

[splinten]

Like a storm or a hammer. To refer back to Thor again, apparently.

Does that have to be all they're capable of for them to be a monster?

[rootandbranch]

I've never thought about it. I think it doesn't have to be all, but it has to be... the most important thing. If your ability to destroy is so great that nothing else you can do changes that. In the end, nothing else makes sense but to just do that. It's just in you.

I dunno if that's all I can be, but I know I'd have to fight my Name to be more. So all this is a little...

[his mental voice is soft and contemplative.]

I worry about it with Vern sometimes. But maybe since I'm his, it will be okay either way.

[splinten]

You mean that as long as you're with him you'll be okay no matter what? Or that being with him will help you be a person.

[rootandbranch]

I mean, I think that's true too, but what worries me is if I can't. If I'll hurt him.

[he flies in silence for a few wingbeats.]

I don't think monsters can really turn on their summoners much, though. So maybe I only have to worry about that if we... go through with things.

[and destroy the world.]

[splinten]

[He thinks he knows the blank being left there.]

Why would that change things? Does it have something to do with your Name? You keep saying it like it's its own capitalized thing.

[rootandbranch]

...how much have I told you about the Tree? I forget.

[splinten]

I know some of it from what's Norse Mythology on my world. Yggdrasil is the tree that connects all the nine realms. You bite it, that kicks of Ragnarok, you participate in the grand Shitwreckoning.

[Geir can't see his pun but Dirk is proud of it.]

[rootandbranch]

Nidhoggr bites the Tree. That's a name I know Dad wanted me to take, too. Jormungand's the one I already had, before I... gave it up.

[he considers how to present it for a moment. he's had some practice explaining at this point, but he wants to get things right, because it's Dirk.]

You'll probably get this better than most of the people I tell it to, but the Tree isn't in the same place as rocks and trees and grass, and everything like that. It's part of our world, but not physical, unless you're close enough to it. "Close" is about the power you can grasp. If you're strong enough to take a Name... or if you're born to one... you're part of the power that surrounds the Tree.

Nidhoggr is the one who brings the Tree down. That's a Name much closer to the Tree, so close that it gets embodied more than taken. No one was born to be Nidhoggr, but someone with the teeth and power for it could be Nidhoggr, for long enough to bite.

A lot of the rest are further away, but still part of the Tree's power. Jormungand is the one who starts Ragnarok and kills Thor. Geir is... Geir isn't a Name at all. It's just a child-name. I was born to be Jormungand. I mean... I am, just, it's complicated.

[splinten]

It is complicated, that's cool though.

[He wants to reassure Geir about that. That the Tree is not physically present in the same way as normal things does make perfect sense. That 'proximity' to the tree makes it physical, and that proximity is defined by poweer, also makes sense. He isn't sure he fully understands names, but he's trying to get it set properly.]

If I'm understanding correctly, this is partly in the structure of fate. It's set down that these Names have roles in the inevitably theomachy. You aren't Nidhoggr unless you destroy the tree, but you have that potential and are intended to take that role. You already are Jormungand, int that you've been born into that name, but you also aren't it because you haven't yet taken the action that makes you truly embody that Name. But you're Loki's serpent kid; it's your fate. There's no ambiguity about it.

And Geir is just what you're called.

Is that right?

[rootandbranch]

[of course Dirk picks up on it fast. Geir's inordinately relieved by this, and also pleased. he knew Dirk would.]

Almost right. I wasn't doing things right as Jormungand back home, so I'd stepped back from the Name a little. It was still mine to take, just...

Everything else you said is right though. It's what I'm supposed to do.

But, Qri's had the name "Jormungand" in her caravan since I got here. So that's really strange. I don't know exactly how she's doing it either; that's a Qri thing, not a Tree thing.

[splinten]

[.........]

Okay yeah that's super fucking weird.

[She took a NAME. WHAT.]

[rootandbranch]

I think she wrote it down on something and then did a thing. Best guess. This is why poets are scary.

[splinten]

What does that even mean for you?

[rootandbranch]

It hasn't really come up a lot. Vern and I were already going to try something different for a while before we decided about Ragnarok, so unless I need to take it back all of a sudden, we don't mind if the something different is here...

Not being able to touch it is weird, if I think about it. I've never not felt it within reach.

[splinten]

Can you tell me a little more about how you interact with it? I know it wouldn't be physical.

[rootandbranch]

Sure.

[Geir starts spiraling down through the trees -- they've reached the point where it's a better idea to walk the rest of the way. Dirk's question is an interesting question. no one has asked it quite like that before.]

It's always been there, ever since I was old enough to remember. It's like... a weight? You carry it around with you. I guess it's sort of like your sword. You might not be able to draw it, but you're still wearing it.

[splinten]

[Goodbye, flying. He'll miss you. His lungs won't, but he will.]

So now you feel like you can't even grab it.

Do you think that gives you more freedom from that Name?

[rootandbranch]

[Geir lands solidly, with a little thump. time to hack their way through the trees... luckily, Geir is a natural trailblazer that way.]

Not any more than before. It's still there, I just can't reach it. Mostly it just makes me nervous that I'm not choosing to step back for a while. What if I needed it all of a sudden?

[splinten]

[Thanks, bulldozer dragon.]

What would it mean to need it? I'm not sure if that would constitute as a kind of power or as taking a role in events, or some other option.

[rootandbranch]

Yyyyyes. Both of those. Maybe all three?

I can't start Ragnarok without it, anyway.

[splinten]

What would happen if you tried to start Ragnarok without it?

[rootandbranch]

. . . what. I have no idea. I don't think that Heimdallr would blow his horn, or that anything. . . I. . . huh. I never even thought about it!

I think, probably nothing? I feel like it's nothing, I just don't know how I know that.

[splinten]

It might be some kind of intuition related to your place in the world. Could someone else start Ragnarok?

[rootandbranch]

No. I wake up. That's the first part.

[splinten]

Is it bad if Ragnarok can't happen?