WEEK 1

[bathymetric]

Happy New Year! ... You're still here. Looks like The Captain wasn't lying when he said the murdering is now up to you. That, or you can all live here on your own. Regardless, it's time to settle in. The days start passing much less eventfully after that first one, and, well... on it goes, huh?

There might not be a whole cruise ship to explore just yet, but there are a variety of amenities available to all of you! Who ever heard of a boring cruise ship, anyway? As the week goes on, you might even start to see some of those strange coins appear for you!

Better buckle down and get to know your fellow passengers, though, if you want to stand a chance of weathering this storm.



MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
FRIDAY | SATURDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to peace week! Feel free to mingle (and investigate, if you like) to your hearts' content! Please ensure all investigation toplevels are marked accordingly, and otherwise enjoy! If you wish to talk to The Captain or Davy Jones, look here for the former and here for the latter! ]

Comments

[scythegun]

I wouldn't have believed it at all, but so many of the people here seem surprised by the idea of monsters being a common threat...

[How do you people live if you aren't worried about being killed every time you step outside of a city?? Sounds boring tbh.]

[thisaroma]

Huh. [ ... ] Things would be a lot different that way.

[scythegun]

They certainly would be...

[But with that said!!]

Will you tell me a bit about where you come from?

[thisaroma]

[ BOY I DO NOT KNOW ASELIA NEARLY AS WELL AS I KNOW AULDRANT OR RIEZE MAXIA/ELYMPIOS, THIS SHOULD BE FUN ]

Oh? Sure, if you want.

[ He leans back against the edge of a nearby table, and takes a second to pop one of those shrimp from his plate in his mouth as he thinks how best to summarize it, since there's... kind of a lot, and he wasn't directly involved in most of it, and he has literally never had to explain all of this to anyone in his life. Hm. ]

So... thousands of years ago, our world was actually split in two — Sylvarant and Tethe'alla — and it stayed that way until just a few years ago. Aside from a few operatives who were involved on both sides, there wasn't any regular contact between the two up until then. While the Tethe'allans were at least aware of a legendary opposing world, most average Sylvaranti never even knew the other world existed.

As I understand it, the reason they were split up in the first place was because there wasn't enough mana to keep sustaining one world of that size, so they operated on a cycle where mana would flow back and forth between the two worlds. Whichever world mana was currently flowing into would prosper, while the other would decline, and once they got to a tipping point, the Chosen of Regeneration in the declining world would go on a journey that would basically flip the mana flow back into reverse.

Tethe'alla had been the prospering world for the past few centuries, so their magitechnology and everything was way ahead of what we had on the declining Sylvarant side. And now that they're united again after all that time, there's still a lot of tension between them... for that and other reasons.

[ Which, you know, he isn't exactly helping with, but hey.

Also, god, this isn't even the half of it, we haven't even gotten to the fucking HUMAN RANCHES yet ]

[scythegun]

[I'M SO SORRY ERIC]

My, what a fascinating and terrifying ordeal that must have been! I imagine it's been very difficult trying to adapt to having the two worlds connected again, ja? Though I am curious... How exactly did they end up being united again?

[thisaroma]

The mana links between the worlds had been maintained by summon spirits on either side. The Chosen and her group got the spirits to make new pacts with them, so eventually all the links were broken, and then they planted a new World Tree that was able to sustain both worlds.

[ He's not super clear on all the details of how that worked, but. ]

It's been pretty rocky, though, yeah. The Tethe'allan branch of the Church started trying to dominate everything, and the Vanguard that Alice and I are a part of was formed to stand up against them. Racial discrimination between humans and elves and half-elves is... not quite as bad now in some ways [ for Sylvaranti humans, mostly... ], but more complicated since the two worlds' situations were so different before.

[ Also the climate was kind of fucked for a while in various places, but he's just not going to get into the shit with the Centurions' cores!! ]

[scythegun]

It certainly does sound like it was a very rough transition for everyone. I can't even begin to imagine something on that scale...

[It was probably a little less jarring than meshing together any two worlds of the people present here, but still...]

Is that how you and Alice met, through the Vanguard?

[thisaroma]

Oh! No, I've known her for a lot longer than that... though I think there was always a space in my heart meant especially for her, even before I met her.

[ sparkles........... ]

We grew up in the same orphanage together, and we've been together ever since we left. She wanted to join the Vanguard, so I followed her.

[scythegun]

[oh no decus...... you've always been hopeless.........]

Ah, I see! You seem very dedicated to her. How did the two of you meet, then? Was it love at first sight?

[thisaroma]

Ah...

[ He wonders sometimes if she remembers their very first meeting as well as he does... though it wasn't really a happy occasion, so maybe it's not so bad if she doesn't. ]

Well, if you ask me, yeah. But there was a time when she saved my life some years after that, so... after that there was never any question that I'd be dedicated only to her from there on out.

[scythegun]

[Best not to touch on that then, got it.]

Oh, I see! How did that happen, if you don't mind my asking?

[thisaroma]

That's... kind of a lot to get into, actually.

[ Objectively, it's a whole lot less than the world history lesson he just finished giving, but it's a lot more personal. Telling Marta and Emil and everyone when he did was one thing, but with these people here, it feels like he's close to overstepping a boundary with her by even mentioning that she'd saved him at all. ]

...The short version is, I was framed for somebody else's crime, and I would have been executed for it if she hadn't stepped in and put a stop to it.

[scythegun]

[Huh. Well, perhaps more context would make that a bit less surprising, but it's absolutely fair not to want to get into the whole story.]

No wonder you're so attached to her! That must have been a difficult experience.

[Possibly even for both of them.]

My apologies, though; it wasn't my intention to pry!

[thisaroma]

Nah, it's fine. It's just not really a cute story or anything, and I feel like if anyone's going to tell people here about things she's done, it should be her, you know?

[ He shrugs, and idly dips a shrimp in the pool of cocktail sauce at the edge of his plate. ]

Anyway, what's your world like? Hopefully a little less complicated?

[scythegun]

Ja, that's certainly fair!

[Let Alice brag about her own accomplishments!!

But anyway, he laughs at that.]

Oh yes, certainly! We haven't had to deal with alternate worlds or merging them with our own or any of the difficulties that come with transitioning after such an event, so things have certainly been easier! The most we really have to deal with is occasional tension between the Empire and the guilds and monsters, but neither of those is all that much of a problem.

[thisaroma]

[ Empire, huh...? Man. Tethe'alla had its royal family and big capital and everything, but Sylvarant didn't even have a fucking government...

Anyway, he nods. That's good! At least the polwigles get to chill somewhere. ]

Oh yeah, you lead a guild, right? What do you do?

[ ...And what do guilds do in general! ]

[scythegun]

Ja, I do! Leviathan's Claw [good luck parsing that one out in this accent??] is a guild that primarily focuses around mercenary work. Often, we handle bodyguard work with clients who need us to protect them, though we'll take on other tasks as needed!

["isn't that the blood alliance?" shhhhh.]

I also personally oversee blastia sales, so my work always keeps me very busy!

[thisaroma]

[ OH, HE GOT IT, DON'T UNDERESTIMATE HIS OWN RANDOM NOT-GERMAN EVEN IF IT IS NOT CONVERSATIONAL

All right, sounds pretty cool... He'd done some mercenary work before the Vanguard, but that had just been him on his own, and nothing organized like this. He's not sure he gets what differentiates a guild from any other kind of business, but he also doesn't care that much, so he'll roll with it. ]

Anyone try to hire you to guard them here yet?

And what's that, is that some kind of weapon?

[ since, you know, blast ]

[scythegun]

No, not yet! Though really, that isn't usually a job I take on myself!

[But oh, right, it's time for the Blastia Explanation Power Hour.]

Blastia are power sources - they can essentially power just about anything! We use them to create barriers to keep monsters out of our cities, but even smaller ones are very precious! Blastia can be used to cast magic or strengthen one's natural abilities, so they're very valuable!

[thisaroma]

[ Ah, so it's something like that. ]

I see... That sounds a little similar to something we have, but their use wasn't ever that widespread. They're sort of being phased out now, so it's getting hard to find any anymore.

[ Maybe they could figure out a way for Alice to use blastia instead...? Hm. ]

Do you know what blastia are made from?

[scythegun]

[Just imagine phasing out blastia usage, that'll never happen!!]

Hmm, that one's a bit tricky... I'm no researcher so I couldn't give you the exact details, but from what I understand, blastia can't be created. We uncover them in ancient ruins, and then they're polished up and configured to work again. There have been some attempts at creating blastia from scratch, but there hasn't been any success at creating a blastia's core - essentially the power source.

[thisaroma]

So you'll run out eventually, right?

[ never would have had to worry about that with exspheres lol but ]

[scythegun]

Theoretically, yes! Though that doesn't seem to be too much of a concern right now, at least.

[at least not if you're not a researcher or a party member!!]

[thisaroma]

Really? [ Do they just have that many of them hanging out in their ruins, or are they not big on technological advancement? ] Then that all sounds like a pretty good deal, honestly. Almost too bad you're not selling those things here too.