thisavrou_ooc | July Player Plot: Demon Plot

July Player Plot: Demon Plot

Death of Grinding Madness
The Demon Plot
(mild spoilers for The Raven Cycle)

Hello Thisavrou! July's player plot starts on July 9, when Joseph Kavinsky tries to summon a bonafide demon from the Raven Cycle through the Ingress, just as the freezing weather and other chaos residual from the metaplot disruptions begin to fade out. Kavinsky's intent is revenge on Ronan Lynch, his canon nemesis, who has been plagued by nightmares of this creature for months. The demon itself, in the meantime is a creature inherently of corruption and destruction.

Thus, their evil combined is creating Shadow Selves of the existing characters... that's you guys!

The Shadow Selves

These Shadow Selves will start to pop up, manifesting here and there between the two worlds to cause mayhem. They are a combination of magics, both Kavinsky's dream manifestation power and the demon's power to 'unmake' (destroy, dissolve) all forms of life and matter. They appear as:

Strange, black-eyed, identical "clones" of the original PCs,
Have intense bitterness, resentment, or even hatred based on the PC' actual experiences (in-game or from canon),
The ability to melt into black slime. This form is sentient and fast moving, and then reform into the shape of the individual. They can essentially regenerate indefinitely from damage. The cold does not affect them.
Strongly motivated, in general, to attack and injure (through ordinary weapon means) or consume ('unmake,' dissolve through 'acid' touch) PCs, especially ones that the original character either loves or hates (strong emotions). They may also cause damage through other manifestations of magic or special energy (e.g., telekinesis, energy beams) similar to the PC's powerset.
Intuitively/psychically find and detect individuals of interest to harry them.
Individual shadow selves may combine to form golems, or bigger, more mindless monsters, optionally!

Note that Shadow Selves will start out less aggressive, making gestures and minor attacks, and then become increasingly violent. Which begs the question: how can you kill something that's invincible?

The Sacrifice

By taking that invincibility away.

Four characters, J, Bryan, Kurt and Matthew Lynch, will discover the key to unlocking the invincibility of the shadow selves. On the network, one or more of them will announce: the key is to make an act of sacrifice, which can either involve another PC or simply mean giving up a valuable memory through an act of will. The "sacrifice" must fit with one of the four themes:

Anger vs forgiveness— verbally forgiving an in-game, enemy PC, rescuing an enemy PC, or at least offering another chance or giving up the memory of a wrongdoing committed against them.
[Relational] insecurity vs fidelity— declarations of love, renewed commitments, swearing an oath of alliance to other in-game PCs, accepting that it's "okay" to move on from a deceased/past love or giving up the memory of when one wronged a loved one.
Grief vs resilience— to disclose a true story of grief to another in-game PC (or on the network!) with full emotional expression (possibly even crying!) then give themself permission to move on, for at least a moment or giving up a self-punishing memory of their lost one that they have punished themselves with
Fear vs courage— confronting an active fear, such as heights, fire, grievous injury, etc. or giving up a memory of when cowardice was the better part of valor

Once the sacrifice is complete, the PC can either kill the creature or reason with it.

How To: Dramatize the Conflict

Summing it up! You have three (3) main options:

1. Opt Out

You choose not to participate! Cool beans. This can be accomplished through a variety of means:

Coincidentally, your character did not develop a shadow self at all. No problem, not everyone gets one! And the other Shadows don't take an interest.
Your character develops a shadow but barricades themselves somewhere safe, such as their own house or a Savrii government facility.
Alternatively, they used a clever combination of magic and/or other devices and abilities to disrupt the shadow selves from intuitively finding them.

In any case, they escape unscathed, no problem. A week later, your PC rejoins to some strange stories and mild property damage.

2. Non-Combat

Focus on RPing "the sacrifice." This is a great opportunity to finally get that ship or "found family" together, or start to repair burned bridges, whether from canon or due to in-game developments.

A public or private network disclosure, in which the character makes a gesture to another PC or simply shares a memory that they are willing to have erased forever
In person acts of courage, forgiveness, etc., such as rescuing other PCs in non-combat situations (from falling, gas leaks, etc.) or simply having a meaningful conversation

3. Combat Options

If you want to confine your involvement to straightforward 1:1 conflict, players are encouraged to focus on arranging an attack on another PC in-game. The attack target's player can then potentially NPC the shadow being against the rescuer, when the sacrifice is made.

Or if you're interested in a bigger scenario, a large shopping complex in R1 will be under attack by a massive shadow golem, standing 4 stories tall and just as wide. They will be targeting Savrii as well as PCs who have barricaded themselves inside, in a Walking Dead-like scenario. The monster will be a grotesque amalgamation of limbs and faces, and extremely strong! Players are invited to

Dive in and save each other from getting crushed/blasted/etc.,
Perform medical care, healing, hurt/comfort,
NPC 'parts' of the monster attacks for each other,
Note: the golem will gradually weaken and take more permanent damage as more "sacrifices" are made

Final Resolution

On July 21, twelve days later, the plot will suddenly conclude. Unbeknownst to most, PCs (Ronan Lynch, Declan Lynch, et al.) will perform a sacrifice, eradicating Kavinsky from the game (a permanent drop, WHICH MAKES ME VERY SAD, THIS GAME IS FABULOUS ♥ ♥ ♥ I hope someday I will be back), cutting off the demon's arrival, and ending the plot once and for all. Any surviving shadow beings will disappear. A moderate amount of property damage will have been caused; PCs will have managed to help prevent more.

Sacrificed memories will reappear in the character's mind within a few days. You can optionally have your PC experience emotional growth as a result of the brief break! The PC can also either "regress" or experience psychological growth from other sacrifices, including the gestures made to other PCs. Though the sacrifice had to be heartfelt at the time, people can change their minds! It's completely up to you.

Questions?

Ask below!

Otherwise, feel free to use this post for plotting.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Please summarize the topic of your question in the subject header so other players can easily find it if threads collapse.

How sentient are these shadow selves? Can they talk, or are they just very "grr, argh"?

HI WOLVERINE

Individually, the sentient shadow selves vary in sentience, they can be as articulate as the characters or silent, hateful creeps with a more-instinct level set of cognitive rules. Whatever you like.

Once they merge into the golem, they're more mindless!

If we have a character who would not try to confront their shadowselves at all, would we be able to still play the shadowself running around mucking things up independently of them? For example, if the actual character barricades themself in their room until things blow over, would we still be able to play their shadowself doing their own thing on the outside? Or do we need to play them as a package deal?

You can play them independently! Just make sure you OOCly have the consent of all the players involved before perpetrating any kind of harm, with the understanding that your character will not be intervening to save anybody if that's the case.

NEAT.

So. Liz has so many issues, and there's two angles I'd love to play with that come from different points in her canon. Normally I'd try to smush them together for the sake of ease, but one of them has a more religious extremism bent and the other is just straight up angry-revenge-quest. Is it better to just pick one, or have the shadow appear in whichever form based on the other player's flavor-preference, or...? I don't plan on switching back and forth in one thread, just giving people the option of which one is more interesting.

Feel free to pick a form based on the player's preference! This seems like it'd make the best story to me. :)

Sweet! Thanks dude! :Db

So Vanilla Flavor Chara has a knife and locket that they have on their person at all times. would the shadow version of them have exact replicas of those objects?

also, would it be possible for shadows to manifest with something on their person that their original real self might not have otherwise? like along the lines of something they would carry in their pocket, equipment, etc.?

Go ahead and equip the shadow being with exact replicas. Just note that the replicas, just like the rest of the being, will dissolve away at the end of the plot.

As for shadow beings manifesting other items, feel free to do non-powered/normal objects that have story value. However, please stay away from powered/exceptional items (i.e., that would typically have to be noted in a character application) unless you get mod permission.

Does that answer your question? Let me know!

bless, that's exactly what i needed to know!

the objects in question would be little more than perishable food items, so to speak!

what..... how do you have such a perfect icon for this plot? Awesome.

With something that innocuous, I don't mind if the perishable food actually hangs around past the end of the plot (apart from that it's perishable I guess) (don't eat anything fuzzy, Chara). It sounds like you're up to something eloquent! Have fun.

Are any native Savides going to be affected?

Sorry I missed this question earlier! They will be 'affected' as collateral damage and perhaps if they have strong relationships with PCs and might be targeted by the shadow beings. But they will not develop shadow beings themselves.

That's going to go over real well with the locals.

But thank you though, helps me figure out how much craziness is going on.

Yes it will be Awkward. :D

This is so rad that I'm bummed I'm on hiatus for it - but offering up cloney and CRAU!Nate (

ascendit) to be sacrificed by anyone if you want! Just let me know.

Edited (A subject line!) 2017-07-07 04:05 (UTC)

BELATED but if you want Cloney murdered by a shadow, Rinzler's will be pretty kill-happy and it could provoke interesting ~~revenge~~ CR later? (Though if you'd rather not give her more reason to hate synthetics, that's 100% fair.)

((Also-- hopefully obvious, but this is me volunteering as a player, not any ~official mod answer~ to your query))

Thank you for the offer! But you have hit the nail on the head with more reason to hate synthetics - I'm trying to get her out of her xenophobia; I haven't earned a backslide at this point.

YEAH I figured that might be a concern. No worries!

WOWEE WOW, who wants to come up against some Crazy Bitches? I've got two flavors, depending on what your poison is--

Our Lady Elizabeth (AKA: Bad End Liz) is what happens when Comstock succeeds in torturing Elizabeth into compliance after Booker is unable to rescue her. This particular form comes with a healthy side of religious extremism and turbo nationalism, and is probably best for getting into your character's head about any latent abandonment issues or classic fire-and-brimstone proselytizing.

Cohen's Songbird (AKA: End of Burial At Sea Ep. 1 Liz) is Elizabeth at her most vengeful and violent peak. She is angry, she blames anyone even remotely connected to her circumstances, and she is not going to hesitate to take it out on you. She will plow through innocent people to make it happen, she just plain does not care about anything aside from revenge. This one is the more fighty-shooty type, great if your kid cares about something antagonizing innocent people.

If Elizabeth ever hears about these things running around, she's going to want to dispatch them immediately, hopefully with as few people involved as is possible. She has many stories of grief to relate to someone if it means these ugly versions of herself go away. 8Db

Edited 2017-07-09 01:45 (UTC)

Abandonment issues, you say? :D

YES INDEEDY 8D Does Wanda want to partake of the evilLiz?

She doesn't want to but I want her to, lol

WELL THEN BOOP, have some awful!

So for those who know RvB canon, Tex's shadow is essentially going to be eTex—super bitter about her own existence and ready to throw down with anyone who gets in her way. Tex herself will be really reluctant to give up memories to protect others, but will do so if it's the last resort. She's especially going to focus on her own failure to rescue Church, if that turns out to be what's necessary.

So to the uninitiated, Chara is this awful trauma-bundle edgelord supreme and their shadow is going to be ramping all this up to the nth degree in the worst way possible and I am very very sorry.

This is obviously going to be a REALLY TERRIBLE TIME for everyone involved so I'll preface this with a warning that everyone with any CR with Chara will be a target. If your characters are gonna be too busy for this shit or you would just straight up not deal with any of it, that is absolutely fine and you are free to opt out as you would so choose. Likewise, if you don't have CR with this child and would like the world's worst introduction to them via their shadow of poorly-repressed emotion, COME AT ME SCRUBLORDS I'M RIPPED.

Chara's shadow is everything they've suppressed, every denial they've ever had about themself, made manifest. They're the solid representation of Chara's fears and general attachment to people - the way they end up caring about people despite struggling desperately not to. Their end goal is not only to get Chara to admit to these attachments, to every positive relationship they've ever formed, but is also to isolate them utterly from these relationships. Accentuate the negative, and carve the positive away. Take all of Chara's positive qualities and crush them underfoot, leaving nothing but the demon.

What does this mean for you?

It means that the requirements for Shadow Chara's dissolution before the event's end are...multi-layered. Certain benchmarks will need to be met. Certain interactions will need to be had. Certain admissions and confessions will need to happen. Numerous requirements will be met before they can disperse.

If all these benchmarks are met and the shadow dissolves, then Chara's sum EXP and LOVE will be going back to 0. Hard RESET. GAME OVER. Begin again.

The kicker for this is that uh in the interest of not influencing anyone, including myself, OOCly to get a desired result?

I won't be telling anyone what these benchmarks are.

If you want closed starters or the like, please do let me know! Chara will probably be getting a log for this, and I'll be tagging them out deliberately to a lot of their CR.

Have fun.

:)

x2 combo kid shadow fight, y/hell y/hell fuck y????

I thought you'd never ask.

It'll be a real get-together.

if you want one of my chara log starters can be a double-shadow extravaganza where people can pick their fighter

Honestly that sounds the best for us both, since I just remembered Frisk is tag-teaming with Rinzler for Asriel's disk anyway I think???? I'm so good at this shit but YE

either way things will Explode

nICE NICE i'll do that!!

Rinzler's development has stuck him between two ideals: being the "perfect" weapon, serving Clu and killing with no hesitation, versus becoming his own person with attachments and qualms. Rinzler resents Clu for making him a slave—and taking away his voice and face particularly. But he also resents users for how they treat programs. He resents his CR's attempts to hold him back, and has trouble viewing kindness as anything but lies or temporary mistakes.

All of which will result in...

Murderbot Redux: the Murder-y-er

Appearance: Normal Rinzler with black eyes. \o/ MADE VISIBLE BY the fact that shadow!Rinzler can and will take off his helmet. He has a program-scar (geometric cracks) running up his neck and face on the left side, with barely-visible black goo at the bottom. He also stands straighter than Rinzler.

Behavior: The shadow is the living incarnation of both sides of what Rinzler wants to be... taken to the worst possible conclusion. He's the perfect killer, combining all of Rinzler's skills with shadow goop powers and a complete lack of morals. He doesn't serve Clu, or fight for the users. He serves himself, and kills whatever he wants to. Because they annoyed him. Because they got in his way. Because it's fun, and he's strong enough to do so. That's what real strength is: the capability to harm whoever you want and destroy anyone who would limit you.

Naturally, this includes Clu. And those users who have been bothering him about growing some morals. And really, just about anyone who breathes on him wrong. But! Destruction isn't limited to killing, and shadow!Rinzler is, of course, ~~strong~~ enough to toy with his prey.

Early in the event (~10th-15th), shadow!Rinzler will mostly be in Taunt mode. He'll appear to Rinzler's CR to push them around and explain how pathetic they are, how weak they've made Rinzler, and generally pry apart every crack of mistrust or doubt in their CRship. Because yes, Rinzler's shadow is a talker. And much better at it than Rinzler, even by text! Around the second half of the event, he'll escalate rapidly to maiming/murder attempts. While mocking the shit out of you, because why stop?

Actual!Rinzler...

...will mostly be playing catchup with his CR. He's free to encounter other people's shadows, or as a team encounter with his own; he'll do his best to kill it, and it will keep being awful because he can't talk back while he fights. Rinzler is, naturally, the person his shadow hates most, and around the end of the event, it's going to do its best to set him straight for good~ (See: super awful shadow teamup with Alan's evil double.)

Oooh boy this is going to be an adventure. SO for those unaware, Ginko’s past before he arrived on the Moira kind of sucked! He has no memories from before he was about ten and no surviving family to tell him who he was, which left him with very little in the way of attachments or identity. Thanks to his tendency to attract occasionally-disease-causing ghost bugs, he couldn’t safely stay in any one place for very long, and on top of that he had the bad luck to be taken in by a number of really shitty people who basically all ended up abandoning or betraying him, and when he did get taken in by a less-shitty person he fucked up and got kicked out.

Basically his shadow self sure is going to be something, by which I mean all the fear and paranoia and abandonment issues that Ginko has built up over time are going to be twisted instead into anger, resentment, and more certainty than ever that he’s bound to end up alone eventually - so why not just get the fallout out of the way now.

Shadow Ginko is going to be seeking out basically anyone Ginko has a generally positive relationship with (despite everything, it does not take a lot for this boy to get attached to someone). Just let me know if you’d like to opt out of all this, of course, but if you want to deal with an intensely bitter and untrusting fourteen-year-old who’s a hundred percent sure that the world is out to get him, let’s talk!

Actual Ginko is available to try to work through aftermath, and is sure as hell going to need to talk to some people about his relationships with them to get this sorted out. Anyway this is kind of a mess but I need to go to bed SO hit me up and let's make some plans!

slides in with a rose clenched in their teeth

you rang?

HELLO it's time to get some DRAMA in here

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July Player Plot: Demon Plot

QUESTIONS

Sentience

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Playing shadowselves independently?

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Multiple Shadow Flavors

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EQUIPMENT ON THE SHADOW'S PERSON

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FREE SACRIFICES HERE

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CHARA + SHADOW CHARA

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Rinzler + Shadow

Ginko

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