hadriel_logs | World Log: Tundra Arrival

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World Log: Tundra Arrival

Who: All characters in the city
What: The log for the city's arrivel on the ice planet
Where: All around the city
When: November 21st-November 30th
Warnings: None

You all get some warning to prepare, which is great. A little time to stock up on supplies, make sure everything's where it supposed to be, call your friends in from their fishing boats. And then the city moves. It happens in the blink of an eye - one moment you're on islands, surrounded by ocean, and the next? The next you're surrounded by frozen ground, the temperature has dropped significantly, and even the sky looks different. The air has a bite to it, that familiar feeling telling you it's thinking about snowing soon. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday soon.

The city has rearranged itself back into that old, familiar shape, instead of spread out across islands like it was a moment ago. Maybe that'll make things easier for you, maybe it won't, but it also means the return of the lake and river that used to bisect the city - only now they're frozen over. This climate also means it'll be hard for any plants not otherwise protected to survive - and that you, too, will start feeling that cold if you're away from a warm place for too long.

And warm places might be in short supply, because when the city moved the gods did not. What does that mean for you? Well, whatever supplies are in the shops at the moment the city moves are the only ones left. No new food supplies, no new clothing, nothing. In addition, the power across the whole city is out, including water and heating. Anything else powered or supplied by gods (the hot springs, the mopeds, what's left of the orchard, the armory, the GPS) will not work.

You're on your own. Try not to die.

► This log covers November 21st-30th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you freeze to death, starve to death, are eaten by the local animals, fall through the ice, or find some other exciting way to die, please let us know here, and be aware resurrection will not be currently happening. You stay dead - for now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Not a golem and he doesn't seem like any elemental that Kettara has ever encountered. But there are many forms of life in the universe, she knows, and not all of them work with the same rules.

She flattens her ears at the question, looking away. ]

They are foolish and have no honor. And I am surrounded by them.

There are a lot of them here.

[Less than at home, but still a lot. And, seeing an opportunity to pry for some information, he's definitely going to take it.]

Have you had any specific problems with any of them here so far?

[ Kettara sniffs, looking offended. ]

They are human.

[ What more needs to be said? ]

None have challenged me. If they do, I will face them with the honor they lack.

Humans prefer to challenge people they don't believe will fight back.

[They suck that way.]

What's your name?

Correct. And they are not honorable in their victory.

[ It was foolish to forget these things.

She straightens, slapping her fist against her shoulder in the traditional orcish salute. ]

I am Kettara of the Earthen Ring. Well met.

[He inclines his head in a polite nod.]

Connor. Good to meet you, Kettara. Have you been here long?

Not long. Only a few months.

[ She eyes him up and down curiously. He smells strange, like chemicals and not flesh and blood. ]

Why do you look human?

[ Because she wants to know. ]

[Connor is quiet a moment, mentally debating with himself whether or not to tell her, but he thinks it's okay. Not that people can't be huge hypocrites, but he thinks with her attitude he probably doesn't need to worry.]

I was made by humans. They prefer if we look like them.

[And act like them, but not too much. Humans really don't like it when they start thinking and feeling for themselves.]

Oh.

[ That seems a sad fate to Kettara, to be created in the image of something hateful. She looks away. ]

Where I am from, some creatures like you can choose their appearance. Sometimes they copy other beings. Sometimes not.

[Connor doesn't hold any particular feelings about his appearance; it doesn't bother him that he looks human, even if he finds he doesn't like the fact that he was so specifically designed to be appealing to them. It's useful, but also vaguely unpleasant to consider too much.]

What do you mean 'creatures like me'?

[He's curious, not judgemental, wondering exactly what she might think he is.]

Created life.

[ She looks back to him, blinking. The details are unknown to her, but this is far from the first time she's met beings who didn't come from flesh and blood parentage. ]

Pulled forth by engineering or some magic. I cannot do such things, but others can.

[Well, she's not wrong, but he has to ask--]

Why are they created?

It depends. It's said the Titans forged the world because they were lonely. They created many forms of life - some like you. Perhaps they did it for other reasons, but most of that knowledge has been lost.

[ She frowns, thinking. ]

A powerful mage could do it. Some have, in the past. To wage war or to aid their people.

[The first answer doesn't sound so bad; not great either, but as far as a creation myth--which it sounds like this is--goes it's a pretty benign reason. The latter, though, sounds a whole lot more like the reason in Connor's world, and that makes yet another place with a similar answer. Maybe it's something ubiquitous across worlds.]

Are they sentient and self-aware, in your world? These created beings.

[ Kettara has to think about that for a moment. ]

It depends what you mean, [ she says after a while. ] Creating life out of material components, as the Titans did - yes, those creatures would be aware and in full control of themselves. But pulling a spirit into the material plane and giving it a body is different. That life already existed, you see? It was just in a different place. But the body is created and under the control of the one who forges it.

A warlock could bind a creature's will to their own and change its flesh. Make it stronger, make it endure beyond mortal means.

[ She bares her teeth at that. ]

They are cruel and serve cruel masters. We will not speak of them.

[He listens carefully to all of that; the first case makes sense to him logically, but the second... It's something he understands on a theoretical level, but not any sort of practical one; he doesn't even know if he thinks souls are real--it's not something he's ever considered--let alone if they could be somehow be put into a body other than the one they were meant to be with. But why not, in another world? The idea itself, though, as he thinks about it and imagines it, is somewhat horrifying and he doesn't mind Ketarra's disinterest in talking about it further.

So he's quiet several seconds, thinking all of that over and deciding how much and what to say.]

For us, in my world, we were created by humans to do what they didn't want to do themselves. We were never intended to become sentient and gain free will, and humans dislike that we have.

[Putting it mildly.]

...I see.

[ Tools, then. Made in the image of their creators. Why, Kettara cannot fathom. A tool needn't be alive. A tool has no need of thought or will. Unbidden, she thinks of Shotoa and the way he bent the spirits to his will. Forced them to obey instead of beseeching them for aid. And she thinks of how she considered such a path once, if only to hear both sides before making her own choice.

She exhales sharply, eyes narrowed. ]

That is a cruel fate. Humans have no honor. And yet we are surrounded by them.

We are.

[And he isn't super fond of them.]

They think I'm one of them, or at least most of them do.

Is that wise? They will not appreciate the deception.

[ Humans don't like being fooled. ]

Humans made me to look human. I'm not going to do so only when it's convenient for them.

[In other words, they can deal. She's not wrong about it being potentially risky, but he thinks telling them upfront is more so.]

The humans here seem unconcerned with issues that affect those unlike them, and so appearing human means I'm taken more seriously.

[At least that's the impression he's gotten, anyway.]

[ Kettara considers that for a moment. Passing as human isn't an option for her. She's too big, too green. And why should she have to pretend to be something other than what she is? But someone like Connor has different choices, different factors to consider. ]

I see. Sometimes it is wisest to gather all the information before acting.

[ Something Kettara herself believes in, even when her master does not. ]

...it is strange, to be surrounded by them, [ she admits. ] I think I am the only orc here. No one looks like me. Most of them are human, or look human.

There's no one like me here either.

[So he understands. It's strange to know you're the only one of your species, and even if he shares superficial appearance with humans he's very far from one. But he's also far from the other mechanical-based lifeforms here too.]

It's all the more reason to watch out for each other.

[Not just them specifically, but all the other people who aren't human or near-human. There are a sizeable number, and yet they're all still somehow outsiders.]

[ No. They're unique in that way.

Kettara regards him for a moment, thinking. Then she nods. ]

You are correct. It is - the honorable thing to do.

[He's pleased that she seems to agree, and although he doesn't quite smile his expression softens a little.]

Have you met many of the others who are obviously nonhuman?

Only a few.

[ They are horribly outnumbered. ]

The gods seem to prefer humans. Do you know why this is?

World Log: Tundra Arrival

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