sangreine | [Seasons] De-hibernation Plot Brainstorming Post!

Entry tags:

plotting,
seasons

[Seasons] De-hibernation Plot Brainstorming Post!

Hey EllipsaFam!

For those not aware, Saya has approximately a year until her 30 year hibernation starts, after which she'll have total amnesia. Obviously, this sucks. She'd like to not do that anymore. That's where you come in! I'll be doing a longer term plot to help get rid of Saya's hibernation-amnesia cycle, which will involve several characters and their powers/abilities as well as several failures before succeeding. The mods have said I can plot out what I want to do so that's what we're doing here. I want to involve as many characters as would like to be involved, so let's plot some shit!

Be aware that anything we plot is subject to mod approval so things might have to get tweaked some.

Here's what I want to do:

Part 1: FETCH QUESTS
I want to do several quests (as many as are interesting and people want to do!) where Saya + whoever all go out and get ~rare magic items~ (which we can make up as long as the mods approve it!) that can be used to help fix her hibernation problem. These should be difficult to get for maximum fun. Here's what I want to know from you:

+ What powers and abilities does your character have that can be used for a cool fetch quest? (ie, can they breathe underwater? Can they enhance the magic inside things? Whatever you think would be fun!)
+ Do you have any ideas for magical things that could stop a hibernation or allow someone to keep their memories that sound sufficiently awesome to find and collect?
+ CLICK HERE to leave a comment for fetch quest plotting!

Part 2: We're doing MAGIC-SCIENCE, BABY!
Saya will want to involve the Research Center and also anyone who has experience with science or magic to help tweak her body so she has no more need to hibernate. DNA experts and scientists of all kids are welcome, as well as anyone who has powers or abilities that you want to play with! I'm totally open to creativity here. But be aware that there will be at least two failures before success. The Nintendo Three, if you will. If you want to participate in this part your character has to be open to trying again even after there are some Consequences for Saya after attempts which don't work.

+ What Sciencey Stuff your character can do that we could use for this?
+ What materials from either Saya (blood and tissue samples) or from fetch quests would be necessary and/or cool to use for this?
+ CLICK HERE to leave a comment for science plotting!

Part 3: MURDER FRIENDS and other consequences
Saya has a berserker mode that she will be worried about activating with the cure attempts. (I haven't decided whether that will happen or not.) ICly she will want Badass people present when they attempt the hibernation fixes, just in case she goes out of control and needs to be contained. These people will need to be prepared to kill her if necessary and she will make that clear.

Failure consequences I am considering:
+ Saya goes to sleep for a short while and wakes up with amnesia, which she recovers from in a couple of days
+ Extreme Bloodthirst for a day or two
+ Weakness and general loss of her abilities for a little bit, which makes her need constant touch
+ MAYBE berserker mode?! Depends what people want to mess with.
+ CLICK HERE to be involved in any of these!!

THANKS FRIENDS! Looking forward to running this plot ♥

Threaded | Flat

Adventure-y characters, fill this out:

Edited 2023-03-31 18:09 (UTC)

Fill this out for brainy characters:

Characters who pack a punch or need some angst, here's your form:

Edited 2023-03-31 18:10 (UTC)

To establish a more cyclical life cycle:
The WereShrooms grow in the Winter segment, on a mysterious bridge behind the Wolf's Blood Mountains. These fungi have a lunar cycle, blooming every night despite living in near-darkness on the underside of frozen embankments and structures. They are difficult to obtain, being both in generally inhospitable conditions and being dangerous in their own right as their blossoms have thorns that resemble fangs and can easily prick or sever a finger. If bitten, venom can be an issue. Symptoms range from difficulty controlling your temper to a compulsion to speak your every honest thought. No one really goes after these because who would struggle with creating a cyclical sleeping pattern? Beware though, that location has roaming werewolves -- fittingly enough.

To combat the need to hibernate:
A bioluminescent whale occasionally surfaces in the dead of night in the Great Ocean Lake in the Summer Segment, but never is more than a brief flash of this creature seen before it dives back into the deep dark for seemingly months at a time. Millenia old, it hasn't slept in its lifetime. The mermaids tend to give it wide berth as it has been known to cause hallucinations if you brush against its skin, but its teeth are widely prized as hyper-caffeinating drugs. Normally it's only recommended to take a microdose at a time, but for a decades-long hibernation it'll do the trick. The key is not making yourself manic in the process.

To maintain and stabilize her immortality: (NSFW, no one under 16 on this quest!)
In the Lava Fields at the corner of the Summer Segment, there grows a flower that burns for its entire life. This so-called everburning flower, which resembles a cross between a rose and a sunflower, is poorly named because it only blooms for one day and one night before speeding through the process of death and desiccation in a matter of minutes. There are a few patches of these rare flora but it means camping near and hiking through the lava itself. The smell of the flower is pleasant and delicate, and many have tried to bottle it for its properties as a potent aphrodisiac. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the effects last only a few hours, so none have made it back to Nightwake with the scent intact. The dried petals themselves, however, no longer having the aphro effect, have a variety of uses including cosmetics that enhance youthfulness.

To help keep her memory sharp:
In the Forest of Courage lives a very peculiar squirrel. Making its home high in the tallest trees and shying far away from most people, there has long been a rumor that the squirrel was once a woman who has been cursed to live a solitary and skittish life, but it's only a rumor. The intelligent look in this squirrel's eyes is probably due to its diet: rose quartz nuggets which closely resemble acorns, which have given it an unnaturally sharp memory. It's probably this and not a curse which has it acting so odd, right? No one knows where the acorns themselves are gathered (possibly stolen from the Rock Boring Owls that make their homes in the trees), but they are addictive unless purified -- they provide a raw and sharp feeling evoked by your most intense memories. A smell, a voice on the air, even a momentary, memory-piquing feeling so strong it almost can't be denied, the rocks have been known to produce them all. Properly distilled, they are of great benefit and are much-sought, if seldom found. The squirrel itself is a little, uh, squirrely, and doesn't tend to appreciate meddling in its affairs, so approach with caution.

To increase her memory longevity:
In the Silent Mountains grows the Ghost Moss, so named both because it's essentially transparent and because it absorbs memory from those who wander near and projects those memories in the form of ghostlike tableaus which are, of course, soundless, like a silent film. But the moss itself is useless medicinally -- what you want is the root, which grows deep in the Silent Mountains, winding is way through crevices too narrow and caverns too deep for most to traverse. If one can find a way through the rock, however, the roots are prized for their ability to restore memory function to those who have lost it -- temporarily, at least. Further testing is always underway.

To stabilize the concoction:
The Spring Segment being known for its slimes, there is a large variety of them. They are overall good for collecting as they're not volatile and not dangerous, but that doesn't mean they're all equally easy to find. A certain slime is a bit more of a challenge, since it's essentially flat -- the binding slime. It anchors itself to whatever it touches, and moves only slowly, stretching itself thin and narrow and rendering itself nearly invisible. It can be found by following its trail: leaf clumps which won't separate, tree branches stuck together, rocks impossibly balanced, sometimes even animals locked together and frantically scurrying for freedom. If you find it and collect it, whatever you touch first will stick to you for half a day, so be careful.

Edited 2023-04-05 12:48 (UTC)

The Diary of Joel Goldschmidt: 1805 - 2007

♦ Until 1885, the diary is in French. Afterwards, a mix of French, American English, Vietnamese, and Japanese.

♦ Joel I is a wealthy man living in Bordeaux, France who fancies himself a scientist. His estate is colloquially called The Zoo because of his many experiments on animals. Really he's just rich and bored, this is evident from his scattered note taking style and lack of technical terms, even ones that would have been common in the era.

♦ After Joel's death in 1883, the diary was continued by his heirs. Around the section in 1883 where he died there is substantial smoke and fire damage to the pages.

♦ Around 1820, an expedition finds a mummified creature in Iceland, along with two cocoons which they believe to be fossilized. It takes Joel until 1833 to secure a way to bring the creature to Bordeaux. He describes the creature as huge and batlike, and calls it Saya. The species is named Chiropterans, after the vaguely scientific name for a bat. He and his research assistant, Amshel, try to dissect it and the cocoons but find them impenetrable.

♦ In April 1833, Amshel cuts himself trying to open one of the cocoons and bleeds on it. After that, it shows signs of life: a faint heartbeat, subtle movement. They splash the second cocoon with blood as well. In August 1833, two twin Queens are hatched. One is Saya, the other remains unnamed. The twins appear human, they theorize that this is because they were revived with human blood.

♦ Experiments conducted on Saya are more benign, Joel bribes and cajoles her into learning various skills to test her abilities. They find out fairly quickly that she needs to drink blood to survive, though he feeds it to her in a glass and calls it "medicine." Saya is never told what she is. The way Joel writes about her it's clear that he thinks of her as a daughter, but the way he describes her is just creepy. He writes about her alternately in language one would use to describe a tool or object, and in overly effusive prose like he's writing a love letter. Reading it is fairly sickening. He exploits her to show off for his rich friends as some sort of proof that he's found the next stage of human evolution.

♦ The unnamed twin queen with blue eyes is stored in a cell in one of the towers. They feed her just enough blood to keep her alive, but very weak. The experiments conducted on her are horrifying. Evisceration, severing limbs, testing how much she can be starved before she nears death, testing different types and freshness of blood on her as well as other concoctions such as acid and preservatives. Essentially they discover that she can heal from anything but the pain of injuries is as potent as a human's.

♦ The twins' blood has an incredible healing factor and reacted violently when mixed. Further experiments on it were not successful, though it was found that the reactivity of their blood diminishes quickly once its removed from them.

♦ In 1883, Saya found her sister, named her Diva, and let her out. Diva proceeded to burn the Zoo to the ground and killed Joel and most of his guests (there was an event that night for Joel's birthday). Amshel, the research assistant, took Diva and fled.

♦ Saya turned her longtime friend Haji by feeding him her blood, and the term Chevalier was coined.

♦ Shortly after Diva's release and escape, Saya began falling into hibernation. When she woke the amnesia was discovered, but there is a cure for it: repeatedly drinking the blood of a Chevalier.

♦ The journal painstakingly lists the approximate death dates and locations of all of the Chevaliers, and due to the organization's tendency to blow up places where Saya or a Chevalier had been fighting to remove evidence there are no known remains. The closest thing to a body available is somewhere in the Ural Mountains near Yekaterinburg, exact location unknown.

♦ Theories for a Queen's hibernation abound. Most prominent is that is could be intended to limit their numbers, as they can be territorial. The theory for the amnesia is that sleeping for so long just numbs their mind until they are nothing but base instincts.

♦ Joel's descendants form and organization called Red Shield and discuss Saya as if she's a weapon for their use in the fight against Diva and Amshel and all Diva's subsequent Chevaliers. Many attempts are made to coerce or outright force her into fighting where and when they want her to. Usually, she complies because she is told it's necessary to protect people. They tap into her guilt about Diva frequently.

♦ As technology progressed over the decades, Amshel was able to use some of Diva's blood to create lesser Chiropterans from humans using experimental serums. These cannot appear human as Queens and Chevaliers do and are essentially in a pure rampage all the time. This is what typically results from DNA manipulation of a Queen's blood.

♦ Many, many attempts were made to create bullets and other weapons using Saya's blood, but anticoagulants and time outside her body render it useless. Saya needs to have direct blood to blood contact with a Chiropteran monster or Chevalier to kill it, and it is presumed that mixing her blood with Diva's would kill Diva, and vice-versa. She was given a sword outfitted with blood channels to aid in killing them.

♦ There is an explanation for Saya's berserk rampage: Red Shield tried to wake her from hibernation early so she could fight some Chiropterans in Vietnam during the war. When they attempted to give her blood to wake her, she massacred the town where they woke her and several squads of soldiers. Estimated casualties were in the hundreds.

♦ There are many, many entries about skirmishes where Red Shield dropped Saya in and commanded her to fight, then destroyed all evidence using some sort of catastrophe or war zone as an excuse.

♦ Diva was able to mate with one of Saya's Chevaliers, her younger foster brother Riku, age 14, and produce new Queens. It is not stated outright but is heavily implied that Diva assaulted Riku. She then killed him by force feeding him her blood.

♦ After having the new Queens' cocoons removed from her, Diva and Saya fought. They both mixed their blood with the other's, though Diva was killed and Saya was not. A Queen's blood retains purity only until she gives birth. The new Queens could not hatch until their mother was killed; when Diva was gone, they hatched immediately.

♦ The journal lists Saya as the last remaining member of her species. There is a note at the end of the journal, listing the name Kai Miyagusuku and an address in Okinawa, Japan. (What happened to the new Queens, Diva's children? Unclear.)

Edited 2023-04-17 19:55 (UTC)

[ Things Saya left for her loved ones while she sleeps ]

Threaded | Flat

FETCH QUEST PLOTTING!

SCIENCE-MAGIC PLOTTING

MURDERFRIENDS and other Consequences

Fetch quests! Now with mod approval~!

Joel's Diary cw: blood, torture, murder/death, objectification/exploitation, SA of a minor

Letters (and other messages)