Intro Log: Fly, My Pretties!

[hadrielmods]

What: The intro log for May
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: May 10th-14th
Warnings: Flying monkeys! New friends! Prosthetic limbs!

Here in Hadriel, we do introductions right. That means dumping you on the ground of an old Roman-style Colosseum with a bunch of scary monsters and also a bunch of weird shit. Your monster of the day happens to be Winged Monkeys, more commonly known as flying monkeys, from the Wizard of Oz and affiliated stories!

As you may have been able to guess, these creatures can fly and they're rather intelligent- intelligent enough to wield spears and daggers as crude weapons and strong enough to pick someone right up off the ground and fly with them to a perch, where they'll... you know, stab them with their knives and stuff.

Why? We don't know. It's Hadriel.

Just in case you lose a couple of limbs in the process of escaping these critters, we've got you covered. Scattered around the newbies are prosthetic limbs for various body parts. These limbs are all fully functional, even if they look a bit... odd, so if you've lost an arm or two, or a leg, or even a pinkie finger, feel free to grab one and try to figure out how to use it!

Good job dealing with those monkeys! It's kind of a weird thing to be threatening, but clearly someone was afraid of them once. Once you're done, you can explore the rest of the city! Find a house, a new monster, a project to help with, or simply scavenge for supplies. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers May 10th-14th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► All characters arrive with phones that have network communication and the newbie guide installed.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

Comments

[magician_king]

A universal sink? It's like- something that draws you into another reality. Sometimes it's an object where you can touch it and travel, occasionally it's something weirder. I don't exactly remember coming through.

[He's setting off, albeit with a glance over his shoulder to see if he's following them.]

So we're here to be something's food?

[kingforboth]

Oh. Yes. We call those transfer portals, although I've never heard of it being used on such a wide scale such as this. I don't see why it couldn't be though, at least in theory.

[Kelson follows the man as he starts walking, arching an eyebrow at his interesting people skills.]

I don't remember coming through either. That's not to say we didn't, or that our memories weren't altered.

[Kelson didn't think his memory was altered. But he also knew that his own magical education was far from complete, and if it was done well, he might not know at all. Besides, it was rather hard to check yourself.]

Yes. We're food. From what I understand, these beings previous host population died, and due to their own conflicts with another species known as the Null, these are the only ones left in the entire species. Their previous balance and society was decimated, so they are attempting to fill the gap as best the can....with....obviously limited results.

Are you going somewhere in particular?

[magician_king]

Mine either wasn't, or was by someone so good at magic it's legitimately frightening and we should give up now.

[And he is not prepared to give up now.]

I'm headed towards that stand of structures. Things are kind of- oriented that way, aren't they?

[Following the street, in the direction of spyres and temples.]

Where do we find these gods, when we're looking for them?

[kingforboth]

I don't believe in giving up that easily, especially when I'm being used as food and I'm surrounded by kidnap victims.

[Kelson looked where Quentin was oriented, toward the spires and the temples.]

Yeah, the living structures are those buildings over there, and the temples...I assume are those, but I confess I've never been in one. I assume they'd be in the temples, but I hear they use these devices as well.

[Kelson brought up his own comm device/phone]

[magician_king]

So they aren't tampering with our memories, not in the traditional way. They're bringing us through hard and fast so we don't feel it happening, or the system itself is one that can't be contained in a human mind.

[Either possbility would be interesting.]

Which way are the temples? I'm not phoning a small god. Literally nothing good can come of that.

[kingforboth]

I'm not entirely sure to be honest. They obviously have some connection to us in order to feed, and shortly after I arrived there was a feast, with all our favorite foods. As I was not asked, that begets some sort of mind reading or rapport. I wonder if this portal that pulled us here didn't originally transfer us into the arena, and there was another place we just don't remember. Memory manipulation and rapport, at least from my experience, doesn't take long individually, but on a mass range....

[Kelson is of course neglecting to realize that these are gods and their limitations might be significantly less.]

The temples are over there, each dedicated to a different being. Or so I'm told.

[Kelson cocked his head] Small god? [At least someone had told him what a phone and a toilet was?]

[magician_king]

Small god. Didn't create the universe, did create a world within it.

[Agrees Quentin, still striding gamely down the road, contemplating this news about the feast.

It'd make sense for the magic, and the deities, from his world.]

If they're eating you, why was there a feast?

[kingforboth]

[Huh. That was a definition Kelson actually might be able to live with. Way to go Quentin!]

Is that common where you're from? That would make a fair amount of sense. I suppose. I was told that these....small gods original host species could generate emotions at will, and the arrangement was quite pleasing for both. That's in a way why we had the feast. It was for Hope. Hopeful feelings so he could eat.

I personally would have preferred they asked permission first.

[magician_king]

Did you ask your sandwich permission the last time you ate chicken?

[He wants to know, wryly.]

Gods may teach, and take, but they very rarely genuinely communicate, in my experience. I've dealt with a few and it's uniformly a shitty experience.

[kingforboth]

No, I didn't, but that is exactly the way others of my kind treated humans three hundred years ago, and I've done my best to work to undo their mistakes. Maybe I don't ask permission from my food when I eat it, but perhaps I should.

I do hope that the backlash that Deryni suffered when everything finally came to head is not what will happen here to these small gods.

[Kelson has a thought, and murmurs softly.]

Or perhaps it already has. And they never learned their lesson.

[magician_king]

You're not human?

[He hadn't realized he'd only been listening with one ear until Kelson goes and says that. Then Quentin's full attention snaps over to him.]

What are you?

[kingforboth]

[Kelson still had to fight the urge to backpedal. He was proud of his heritage, and there was no one here who was going to drug him, chain him to a stake and set it on fire. On the contrary, people here seemed to be okay with magic. Especially this man, who openly used it.]

I'm Deryni. We can use magic, and have certain abilities on my world.

[and sensitivities, but he wasn't exactly going to spread that around.]

[magician_king]

In my world, humans can use magic too. Merely being a magician wouldn't make you a different species. It's not the same for you?

[He asks, eyebrows lifting. Weirder things have happened than for a simple genetic propensity to do spellwork being incorrectly identified as non-human. But it pays to check before assuming.]

[kingforboth]

[Kelson shakes his head, wishing not for the first time that he had more of a magical education and knew more.]

No. Not usually at least. Some humans can have magic like abilities turned on, but it's not common.

There are humans in an area of my kingdom who have what they call the 'second sight', but I honestly don't know if they really are just humans with the ability to assume limited magical abilities, or if they're descendants of Deryni who simply went into hiding.

[He paused.]

It was not a good thing to be Deryni in my kingdom for... a very long while. My own mother didn't know what she was until she tried to defend me with her own magic.

But your saying your....world? kingdom? is populated by humans who are capable of doing magic?

[magician_king]

It's a world with many countries and kingdoms on it. A tiny fraction of that population can perform magic. They get training, and then return home and live their lives, discretely.

[You could never say 'populated by.']

Probably more people who are capable of magic but don't pursue it, or qualify for training, or have the discipline to make the stuff work. It doesn't manifest accidentally, for us.

[kingforboth]

[If only Kelson had a better understanding of genetics, he could have given Quentin more information. As it was, it comes down to sets of genes, not an entirely different species.]

Your world and mine sound similar in that respect at least. Those who are Deryni and know it are able to get training, although the breadth of that training is extremely variable.

You have training then, of course?

[Kelson looked rather interested, Quentin touching upon something he could only dream about. Getting actual training, forming schola, educating his people and his human citizens so that they were both no longer a danger to one another.]

Are the humans in your world not afraid of those who can do magic?

[Then again, perhaps the humans in Quentin's world never lived under magical despotic rule so, there was that.]

[magician_king]

The magical community exists, and tains, in secret. The rest of the world believes it's fantasy.

[Which is awfully convenient, and probably the best system all around.]

We have universities. A five year program, intensive and secretive.

[That he taught at one, he doesn't mention. It ended a little too badly to go into.]

[kingforboth]

[The mere fact that Quentin can call it a 'magical community' is like music to Kelson's ears. It's everything he's wanted. Except for the secret part. So he almost breathes his next words.]

You have a community. And universities.

From what I've been able to recover from records, we used to as well. But most of the knowledge about them or what they taught has been destroyed.

[magician_king]

The nonmagical world found out, I take it?

[The only thing he can imagine wrecking that kind of destruction.]

So you really are a hunted subspecies.

[kingforboth]

[Kelson shook his head.] It was never a secret. But when the Festil's were overthrown and my ancestors restored, humans forgot that not all Deryni were responsible for their crimes. People have short memories.

2/3 of the population were killed, most went into hiding.

I guess you could say the nonmagical world had enough. Combine it with anti-magic religious rhetoric and Gwynedd was ripe for anti-magic backlash.

[He looked at Quentin for a moment.] I should be preaching tolerance and unity but if separation is working for you, don't let fail. The price for peoples lives is too high.

[magician_king]

We wouldn't. It's cleaner, more convenient, and safer for everyone.

[He's aware that his world is extremely lucky, that their system has been all but perfect.]

There are magicians who enforce those laws.

[kingforboth]

[Kelson wished he knew more about what it was like in the old times, so he had something to compare what Quentin was telling him.]

I realize we just met, and you have no reason to trust me or share your knowledge, but would you be willing to teach me what you know? I'd like to be able to start something similar in Gwynedd, and we're lacking in some of the knowledge or resources to make it happen.

[Much knowledge was lost. But not all. And there were factions who would prefer to keep the king as he was, partially trained and hopefully more easy to manipulate. Kelson was doing everything he could to say 'fuck you' and do the opposite.]

[magician_king]

I'm sorry. You're right, we have just met, and I don't know you or trust you.

[He answers, quietly. A younger Quentin would feel differently about this, would probably have had the good sense not to tell him anything but would have handled it by agreeing to and then just passive aggressively hiding or being busy for the rest of the time they'd know each other.

But he's thirty now, and he's been around the block, and has learned a thing or two about the difference between politeness and respect.]

And, I don't intend to be here that long. If I am doing foundational magical work, it'll be on tearing my way back out of here.

[kingforboth]

[At least Quentin had been diplomatic about it. Kelson was disappointed, but no more so than he had been for the last few years, knowing that knowledge was out of his reach because others would not trust.]

Well then I wish you good luck.

[And because Quentin wasn't sharing information, Kelson felt no need to share with him his own work regarding the Door/Portal.]

Would you really leave without sharing information on the exit?

[Kelson watched the older man, trying to gauge just what kind of a person he was.]

[magician_king]

What?

[He asks, looking over at him, now not altogether politely or respectfully.]

No. And why would you imply that?