awashooc | Event Twenty-Four.

Entry tags:

!event

Event Twenty-Four.

Bits of Paper
[ 6/14 - 6/21 ]

While it's about that time for weird stuff to start happening in the Town, at first...everything will seem surprisingly peaceful and normal. Characters can wake up the morning of 6/14 and feel reassured that there are no dragons, no crazy side-effects, and no sad newcomers at the bottom of the well. It's peaceful -- have some nettle tea and settle in for the day.

At least, until you notice your new gifts.

Each and every character has received a leather-bound notebook, and an old-style inkwell. The notebooks are boring, just a black leather cover and blank pages as far as the eye can see, but the ink will be your character's hexcolor.

And, naturally, as per all things like this from the Town? It's magical. You see, now it's time for the characters to write their own little additions to this fairy tale -- literally. Anything that they write will come true. If a character writes that their house is suddenly surrounded by flowers, it will come true in the Town. If your character writes that their neighbor's hats were all suddenly replaced with frogs, that, too, is entirely possible.

Changes written into the books will be permanent.

With that in mind, there are a few things to keep in mind!

The bigger the change, the more ink it will require, even if it's only a few words. For instance, adding flowers to the landscape is a relatively small change, and will allow the character to make many more changes, but changing something about another character is a large change -- if they change another's character's hair color, for instance, it will take practically all of their ink.
Please be sure to get player permission before making any changes to any other characters, seeing as how this is a permanent situation!
Your characters do not have enough ink for gigantic changes such as: changing another character's personality, removing the woods, killing another character, or restoring color to everything in the Town. For a good scale of reference, characters can restore color to two separate items before running out of ink, or change one cosmetic aspect of another character, or make one large item appear from their world or elsewhere.
Characters can combine their ink, but only for setting changes. Please let us know if characters plan on large setting changes, and we'd be happy to work with you on how much ink it will take and what's possible!
Ink can be used to undo something that has been done, and will generally only require half the ink to do so. For instance, if a character's hair color has changed and they hate it, they can use their own ink to rewrite it the way it's supposed to be, and still have enough ink left over to do a few other things.

And, of course, as per all fairy tales... these books are extremely literal, so be careful! What you write is what you get, even if it's not really what you were imagining or wished for. Try not to become an Aesop Fable Moral, okay?

And as ever, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them here. If you're not sure if the cost of changing something is too high, you can always ask us there as well, but for the most part we'll trust your judgments in playing with this! Thanks, everyone!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

What happens to the notebooks/inkwells after the 21st? Will they just lose their magic but stick around, or disappear entirely? Or will they work for as long as the character has ink left?

Will characters know what the notebooks can do when they receive them?

Also...what if Kaoru wrote that she wanted a store or large cupboard that is full of hygeine things like shampoo, conditioner, make up etc that magically restocks itself...would that be something that could exist?

We can't get rid of the forest, but how about making it recede?
In particular, to get rid of the trees on the town-side of the fences that Nyx, Tonbokiri and others are working on fixing?

Is it possible to conjure something abstract like the visions from the town (maybe as performed by puppets or miniatures or illusions or something)? (For example, this, this, or this.) If so, how much ink would that take? Would it even work if everything was written out in his trademark sappy poetry? The reason I'm asking is that he's wondering if these visions might have a conclusion of sorts, or lead to some other clue about the town's history, and if they can somehow be brought to light if he writes them down. It's fine if it doesn't work or he gets some really misleading results because he'll probably still write his sappy poetry anyway.

What would happen if Link wrote into existence a complete map of Chroma, including beyond the woods? Does he have enough ink for that, and if so, how much info would he actually get?

The notebooks will remain! The ink will all dry up, however, and they will then be totally normal.

You can play with it either way! We know that some characters wouldn't play with it without not knowing, but if you'd like your character to be totally aware of what it's for, that's also fine. It's up to you!

Kaoru can wish a store of hygiene items into existence, (a store will take all of her ink, a cupboard will not), but she doesn't have enough ink for anything magical that can restock itself.

If enough characters combine all of their ink, they can push the trees back! It will probably take at minimum four characters to devote all of their ink (at which point they could push the forest back four feet), with additional characters pushing the trees back further, one foot per character.

Characters could use their ink to conjure up visions and similar abstract things like that! They will have to be very specific about what they're hoping to see, or they are at risk of just seeing the Town at any given point when nothing is happening.

(Sappy poetry will work, so long as it's specific.)

You're welcome to message us if you'd like a vision in particular; just let us know what he'd write and we can let you know what he'll see. (You're also welcome to come up with visions for him to see as well, of course, it's ultimately up to you!)

It would take all of his ink if he explicitly writes looking for something plot related, but only about half if he looks for something more innocent, like basic life in the Town, etc etc. If in doubt, you can send us his idea and we'll let you know!

Link has enough ink to write into existence a map, including the woods and what lies beyond, though it may not tell him much -- he'll see that the woods does end at some point, and that after that there's a lot of open space and fields, with a mountain range in the distance. It won't look as though there are any other human settlements or anything around.

It will take most of Link's ink to do so -- but at least they'll have a map!

...she'd totally mess around and end up doing something stupid.

Can she combine her ink with someone else's (or a lot of someones) to make the magical restocking happen? And if she riwhs for a restocking cupboard but only gets a normal cupboard then she does she only use the ink for a regular cupboard? As in she'd still have some extra left?

What if someone was looking into getting some sort of electricity for the town going? Would one person have enough for a decent sized generator? Would there need to be other parts, like cables or fuel?

Would the mods be willing to help me with actually drawing that map? If you gave me something made even in, say, MS paint, I could make a pretty version in CSP!

Thank you for the previous answer!
Off-topic about the event, but still about the forest -

Back in The Day, Guren gave out some medicine that would heighten mental defences.

Would that medicine be effective against the current side-effects of cutting down trees?

One person could certainly write the pieces required for a medium-sized generator into existence! They would need to write every single part they want and need to create electricity for the Town, yes; the remaining items necessary, like cables and fuel, do not exist in the Town.

That medicine would be relatively effective, yes! It wouldn't last forever, naturally, but it could be used as a defense against the trees for a little while.

We would be happy to write you up a more detailed description, and to look over any maps you draw and let you know how accurate it is! Unfortunately I have absolutely no artistic ability to speak of and any attempt at a map by me in paint would be more harm than good.

Sorry about that!

Magical restocking is going to be off the table unless they get a looot of ink -- the ink of perhaps five-six people could make for a magically restocking cupboard, with natural restrictions like the cabinet only restocking once every couple of weeks. It seems as though things that are completely magical take more ink than things that are relatively normal.

But yes, if she writes for a magical cupboard and doesn't have enough ink, she'll get a regular cupboard with plenty of ink leftover -- the ink required will only be what they actually end up receiving, regardless of what they write.

What about adding plumbing/running water to a house? Would that be within the power of one person's ink?

that's okay, a detailed description and a look-over what i draw will work!

Adding plumbing to one house would be within that realm, yes! A person could use all of their ink to change their own house in pretty much any reasonable way.

I can't believe I'm asking this.

No, that's a lie. This is pretty standard for me.

If Keigo starts writing a story about how he's the most popular guy in town with a super hot girlfriend, can an inflatable doll or RealDoll show up? Would getting a better quality product or more inflatable dolls greatly affect the amount of ink used? Would summoning an object leave him with enough ink to contribute towards making some part of one of the actually useful projects people have come up with?

That would be perfectly fine! An inflatable doll/RealDoll girlfriend can show up as his hot girlfriend. The quality of the item is entirely up to how well he describes said girlfriend when writing out his wish.

And he'll have enough ink leftover to help out with up to two of those projects after using it, yep -- just summoning an inanimate object won't cost too much ink!

A map drawn by the Lupin character can be found here -- we've already confirmed it to be accurate, so we'll just describe the stuff after that!

Outside of the Town there are the woods -- they ring the entirety of the outside of the Town, down to the harbor water; even an accurate map won't be able to properly depict any paths through the woods, as the woods constantly changes. Link will find that the map just shows a practically impenetrable forest that extends for far, far too long.

Outside of the woods, Link will find that the map shows the plains. There are some rolling hills to the direct north, and to the far north-east is a mountain range of a relatively decent size, though by no means towering peaks. To the north-west, the plains extend on, until the edge of the map. There are no human settlements on the map, and the Town seems very isolated in its current location.

Please let us know if you need any other information or have any questions!

So, characters can make one large item appear from their world -- for Mordred specifically, I'm thinking of having her write down Prydwen, aka King Arthur's legendary ship/shield that she stole and then (...somehow...) converted into a surfboard later on. Will it be capable of turning back into a ship, or will it just be stuck as a really strong surfboard/shield forever?

So Xie Lian and a friend want to summon a whole rice paddy...is that large enough to require a lot of ink? Does it count as a setting change? Just making sure!

Thank you! I'll make a nicer version later, but for now, is something with this general idea about right? https://pasteboard.co/Ik137lE.png

As for questions:
- If Link wrote down something like "a map showing as much of the world here as possible," would this be the map he got? (I can guarantee he's going to be unsatisfied that it stops where it does, lol)
- Any names for any of these features? i.e., name for the mountain range, etc.
- Any smaller landmarks of note, like lakes/ponds or smaller wooded areas?
- Would the map include a scale (km/miles per inch, for example), and if so, what would it be?

That's a large enough requirement to take one person's ink -- or they can split the cost between the two of them! As they would be changing the Town a sizeable amount, it would count as a setting change in that sense, but is totally doable!

It can absolutely turn back into a ship, why not?

Yes, that's correct to the geography that Link will see on the map!

- This is exactly the map he'll get, no matter how many specifiers he puts. (Unless he only asks for a map of the Town, of course, in which case he'll only get the Town). If this can be believed, he either a) doesn't have enough ink for a map of more, or b) this is the entire "world" here that can be displayed (which is the correct reason).

- No names! Much like the Town, they'll be labelled only as what they are. The Woods, the Mountains, the Hills, the Plains.

- There are lakes and ponds that will appear in the woods, but they are not consistent, just as the woods itself is; where a pond might be before, it could move the very next day. The map will show them, but it'll be a bit unreliable for the day-to-day for that reason.

- The map unfortunately does not include a scale; they'll have to eye that out themselves!

Alright, they'll be splitting their ink for that then! Because there's nothing more important than a solid rice supply, right!

I guess Saber won't have to kick her ass TOO hard, then... thanks!!

Hello mods! I have a question about the library books - would Cairngorm be able to use their ink to permanently change the books back to the way they were originally? If I recall, the books still change between fairy-tales and regular books intermittently.

Hello! Cairngorm will have enough ink to restore a few books to their previous state -- like with the above projects people have asked about, more people can add their ink to Cairngorm's to restore more books, a couple per each person.

It's quite expensive, and unfortunately, they won't have any idea which books they're restoring, unless they very carefully specify and manage to nail what kind of books are there.

The sorts of books they can find in the library after fixing them are along the lines of: old history books about the Town, which read more like logs of farming years and stories about the people there. Very old, archaic science books that are generally very inaccurate. Religious texts detailing their worship of a general concept of harmony through separation, not any particular deity. Mythological books about the various beasties that can be found in the Woods. And similar things along those lines! If you have any questions about any particular type of book appearing, feel free to ask.

Thank you mods, this helps a lot!

I'm sorry mods, I just thought of this, or I would have included it in my original message so as to not double the notification, but in a religious text that gets restored, are there any specific rituals that would get detailed in there? And were there religious officials or a hierarchy of any sort that would have been referred to in the text?

There are plenty of them! More than we could ever really write, but it's safe to assume that just about all of the rituals have to do with color. For instance, for newborns, there would be rituals to smear paint of their parents' particular color over their forehead as a sort of "anointing" ritual.

For another example, weddings all took place in the same church, but would have particular days of the week where people of particular colors could get married (for example, Blues could get married on Monday).

Likewise, a day of feast and rest would be declared on the first day of the flowers blooming, because it's the first "colorful" day of Spring.

You're more than welcome to be creative with rituals that would show up in these books -- just know that they almost all have to do either with the separation of the three colors in the Town, or color itself!

As for religious officials, there was a priest of sorts that would be referred to in the text -- but it seems as though this priest was chosen from each color and rotated, so that, for instance, a yellow priest would exist until he or she retired or died. Then the next would be Blue. These priests serviced every color, regardless of what color they were from. That's all there was in the way of hierarchy for the religion in this small Town, though!

Let us know if you have any other questions!

Hi, follow up to this and because of travel, time zones, and other RL stuff this is pretty late, but we have I believe five characters who are willing to do so. Is it too late to backdate thread this pushing of the trees back, now, or can we get started and consider it having happened?

(Crowe made a forum post asking about it within the time frame of the event, if that will make a difference.)

Sorry for poking in the middle of other organizational work going on, and thanks a bunch for giving an opportunity for something like this!

Hello! That's totally fine -- backdating these things is a-okay by our book. Thank you for letting us know; we'll use this information in this upcoming monthly mod post. You're always more than welcome to backdate any changes to the setting like that, so long as you just keep us posted on what's changing so we can let everyone else know!

Yay! Thank you, we'll get on that!

Regarding the books about stories of the people:

1. Are there any specific stories detailing about someone of particular importance to the town living in a houseboat?
2. Are there any regarding fishermen or merchants and what they saw at sea? Or one mentioning a trident/underwater city?
3. Is there any resident's story that mentions the castle that is thorn-covered? (Like employment, trade, etc.)?

1. There are stories about general residents setting up houseboats and when they did so (later on in the Town's lifespan, it took them time to learn to craft them and feel confident in living in them. However, there aren't any in stories of notable people living in them in particular.

2. There are! There are many stories of sea creatures and sea monsters, but also stories of mermaids and nymphs, and such fairy tale-esque creatures as you'd imagine would pop up. The stories are told in a very myth-esque manner; in other words, it's hard to tell what's an actual historical telling and what's just a fairy tale being passed down to children. Still, there can be assumed to be a kernel of truth to them. As for underwater cities, they will have to do a deep, deep search, but eventually they will find one small book, a fisherman's journal by the looks of it, that mentions the man nearly drowning in a storm. He writes that he saw an underwater city before the end -- and then that he was rescued by some mysterious creature. He also writes that he was never able to find said city again, and that he doesn't know if it was real, or if he just imagined it on the verge of death.

That's the only mention of said city. Hopefully it was worth the search!

3. There is, weirdly, nothing that mentions the castle. In fact, with how well-explored the nearby woods are, it seems very strange that it's not mentioned at all. In fact, if they're very careful in comparing the landmarks with landmarks mentioned in various exploration accounts, they will find that the Townspeople explored that area... and mention no castle whatsoever. Mysterious!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Event Twenty-Four.

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pretend i asked this in the right place

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