[OOC] The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

[shylarah]

It's not even a triangle, it's like trolls or something. Genuine rivals and then the guy that's friends to both. *giggles*

[Lovejoy]

Okay, so a bit of retconning is in order!

@shylarah pointed something out to me in our PM collab regarding Culmination. I wrote a while back that Culmination was meant to have occurred after The Rising Ball, but in one of @Scout's posts he mentioned Viveca experiencing her vision before the Rising. So, instead of having Scout go back and edit, let's just switch things around and have Culmination take place before. It actually works a lot better for me this way, so thanks Scout!

*goes back to writing post*

[Scout]

@Lovejoy Uhhhhh d'oh! >_< didn't catch that. Thanks! And... You're welcome, I suppose? ^^"

[Lovejoy]

@Scout Okay, I think that should do it for the ballroom scene. I'm going to send you a prompt concerning what happens next in the catacombs and you can take it from there!

(I swear Viveca's slice of the prologue is almost over :p)

@CollectorOfMyst @OppositionJ

In regards to the coded transmissions Indira mentioned, you'll receive those later. Tatiana and Oren aren't aware of Indira's revelation to Viveca at this current time during the prologue.

[shylarah]

@Lovejoy AAAAH! The circle! I knew it was something to do with Omestris! *flailing* but odd that it's cold while Omestris was the only one that held fire...perhaps it has to do with shielding against the destruction of the fire titan? I DON'T KNOW. AND I NEED TO KNOW.

All I know is that Ziotea is one of those drawn to it. *wriggles* And now I wanna rp stuff at the Rising, because AAAAH Aleksander was probably overwhelming for her. *drags @Drakey and Love off to write more!*

It's easy because we have half a scene at the ball already, Drakey and I. ^.^;;

[Lovejoy]

@shylarah Oh gods a scene between Aleksandre and Ziotea would be... wow :p

[CollectorOfMyst]

@Lovejoy *screams eternal screams*

[shylarah]

@Lovejoy I second @collectorofmyst in general.

I may need this scene now. I don't even know /why/ you're reacting this way. But I need it.

I can haz? *hopeful* Maybe not right away, but eventually?*

[CollectorOfMyst]

@shylarah Because mystic azure circles.

[Lovejoy]

@shylarah Sure! We can have a small aside with Aleksandre and Ziotea having a conversation. I actually have a pretty cool idea for a little character thing that might lead to interesting stuff with Magnus. PM me something to reply to!

[shylarah]

@Lovejoy *screeeching*

[CollectorOfMyst]

@shylarah
_{^{The cacophony grows}}

[shylarah]

Also I have an update on this commission I'm having my friend do of Ziotea and Rodion and AAAAAHHHHH. I need @Drakey to see it first, and then I am going to show THE ENTIRE PLANET because it's amazing. I really can't right now.

[Scout]

@Lovejoy Oh my god I love the post, the plot thickens. I feel we'll have an almost complete Omestrian language by the end of this rp XD

[Lovejoy]

By the way, if anyone doesn't know what the last bit of dialogue means, I wrote about this specific phrase a while ago.

Veshi'maru, Vashi'mara: One of the few surviving phrases of the ancient Omestrian language. It translates to "Come in Darkness, Proceed in Light". In modern times the phrase has been adopted by Omestrian slaves as a signal, its runic form used to denote safe havens and places of safe passage. This phrase is taught by Omestrian slave parents to their young so that they might recognize its meaning if they ever attempted to escape.

Also, there's been mention of something called the Narrow Gates and I just realized I haven't explained what that is!

The Narrow Gates: For the vast part of human history, the East has been closed off to the empire due in part to the strange, unnatural blizzards that violently dance across the frozen oceans as well as the colossal ice barrier beyond the Meridian (the easternmost point of land where Varya's explorers have ventured). Six years ago, a breakage in the monstrous eastern ice shelf had been predicted by the T'saraen MUSE Academy to occur on the summer of ME 130, the year our story takes place. This breakage would be the first time in history that a passage would open within the shelf. This passage, dubbed the "Narrow Gates" coupled with the advent of modern Hearth Systems which allow steam arks and their crews to survive out in the storms, has allowed the Varyan empire to finally journey eastward through the ice shelf and into the unknown eastern hemisphere.

[shylarah]

@Lovejoy I remembered it coming up, but I had to look it up in the glossary in the first OOC post. Which is there for exactly this reason! PSA~

[Lovejoy]

@shylarahYup. Good thing I put it on there!

Also, I'm finally working on a concrete timeline! ME 130 is the current year, ME standing for "Magnagrad Era". 130 years have passed since the end of the invasion campaign against Omestris, Muraad and T'sarae and subsequently, the beginning of Magnagrad's construction.
The LW ended on the year ME 109.

Now I need to figure out how days, months and seasons work...

This goes out to everyone-- any ideas at all for how this would work? I'm contemplating using an Earth-like calendar in order to not overcomplicate things, but I'm not sure how the state of this world would affect that, both scientifically and culturally. Like how do arctic cultures view the seasons? Anyone have any input on this? I'm also looking for ideas on the names of days, months, ect.

[shylarah]

@Lovejoy I figure there's the stormy season -- that's winter. Bitter cold, blizzards, etc. Long nights, that sort of thing. And then summer is more "the warm(er) season". I'm going off of the concept of a rainy season and a dry season, like in deserts, only with the cold and lots of snow being an issue.

Although actually if it's cold enough snow doesn't form! But we can totally handwave that. Alternatively, there can be the first stormy season, the dark season, the second stormy season, and the warm season, where storms happen when it's cold but not TOO cold -- so spring and autumn. Warm season is still summer, and dark season is based off of the longer nights. Although I am sure that axial tilt is far less related to the changing temperatures here, or that it would at least work very differently.

I think drawing solid parallels to earth and the world we players are familiar with helps keep things grounded. Yeah, the odds are low, and it's fun to come up with some complicated system. But it's not really necessary for enjoyment, and this serves to help us keep things straight. Seven day weeks, twelve months in a year. Sun rises in the east, stuff like that. I've played with multiple moons in my writing, but that would in turn affect the way locals marked the passage of time, if you think about it. Of course you don't /have/ to...but I often like to. ^.^;;

Then again, I don't know if these guys can see a moon, so...I know there's no stars, so the concept is somehting from pictures and stories, most likely. Is there a moon?

[shylarah]

we could rename everything. if we're going to name days, I suggest just numbering them and them maybe throwing in something like "rest day" or "Varsday" as either the first or seventh. Alternatively, I can't remember the number of remnants, but the days /might/ be named after them. Still, keeping track is simpler with numbering.

Varsday
Tsarsday
Mursday
Lansday
Omsday
Sunsday/Sunday

That's six. Now, we could go with six, and make months thirty days each -- five weeks. It'd come pretty close to an earth yearh, with 360 days instead of 365/366. I dont' want to get into leap years. Might be they have a leap month, like the Jewish calendar, or maybe their calendar matches up better. Iunno.

Anyhow, that's name ideas. Now for order. I feel like Varya should be first, if only because the Varyans won...only it's been only 130 since the victory of Varya over Omestris and the rest, even discounting Lanostre. Actually, just a hundred years...I keep thinking that's awfully fast to entirely destroy Omestrian culture, and that things moved really fast. Like...there's people whose grandparents were alive while Omestris was still around. That doesn't feel like "ancient history" the way it feels when it's discussed IC. Iunno, maybe that's just me. Or maybe that's when Muraada fell -- only no, because we have folk that are alive from when T'sarae fell and such, and I'm sure it's relevant. EHHH. x.x I guess major oppression works wonders, eh?

Anyhow, given that the titans died ages ago, I think the remnants probably did have days named after them. many days are named after the gods of pantheons. Hellenic, and I think Norse days were similar. Thor's day, etc. The moon often had a day, and it's possible there's a holdover from when the moon could still be seen. The sun usually has a day as well.

And if we make Omestris' day bad luck on a certain day of the month, it'd line up with friday the thirteen as a superstition!

Firstday
Varsday
Mursday
Lansday
Tsarday
Omsday
Sunsday

if you want seven, or remove Firstday if you like six better?

On second thought, here:

Firstday/Varsday
Secondday/Mursday
Thirdday/Lansday
Fourthday/Tsarday
Fifthday/Omsday
Sixthday/Sunsday

numbers to remember them by, and actual name-names for fancy! They can be called whichever is simpler for the individual. yeah?

[Lovejoy]

@shylarah You're right. The fall of Omestris does seem to have happened too recently. I think that's kind of by design though. The idea of having it happen just 130 years ago is so that the legacy of their civilization and culture is still fresh in mind for a lot of Omestrians, but any kind of ownership of that history is stomped out by Varyan society. Like, just a few generations ago their culture still prospered, which actually works against them too, since the concept of Omestris as a nation of dark heretics is still fresh in mind to most of imperial society, which is why until very recently people have been largely unbothered with the horrible conditions in which Omestrian slaves are treated. The fall of Omestris was pretty also pretty sudden, and there are mysterious circumstances surrounding the actual destruction of Iddin-Mar. They didn't really fight back.

Also, I should mention that the life expectancy in this world is very low. Not a lot of people survive long enough to be grandparents.