MAY MINGLE

[stellafortunamods]

May Mingle: Entombed City
Welcome to Teyvat - a vast magical world of adventure.
Everyone's hard work resulted in the gate to upper Dragonspine opening. These ruins have not been traversed in years, if not centuries - everything within has been lost to time and living memory. An entire city has been buried in the snow.

People once lived there. The broken buildings host damaged furniture and weathered streets. There are various cloth-covered mounds in a house here and there, accompanied by a sprig of blue flowers. Someone has laid these people to rest after they passed away.

Traces of technology can be found in the city - golden boxes that contain crystals capable of recording and playing back holograms. One of the boxes introduces this place as Vindagnyr; a land once full of greenery and life. Just what happened to these people? What caused the eternal winter?

The highest point in the city is occupied by a temple built into a Domain. Within the Domain is a pale white tree, split in half by a strange object that has fallen through the Domain's ceiling. This temple was once a site for worship for Vindagnyr's people, and even in death they continue to pray for salvation. The priests have been frozen in ice, and the sheer cold emanating from the Skyfrost Nail makes it obvious that it is the cause of winter.

The city's inhabitants worshipped Celestia. Why then were they left to die?

State of the World

On October 1st, the entombed city of Vindagnyr becomes open for exploration. Travelers can choose to look for clues or try to scavenge the city for ancient materials or tools. Recording boxes all around the city tell stories of Vindagnyr's greener past, and of the days when winter suddenly arrived. This is the cruelty of Celestia that Forneus wished you to see.

For all questions regarding May's mingle and events, please head over to our OOC post.

Comments

how to prevent corpse mountain, pt II, according to our host

[sufferean]

[Hey, so, everything on the mountain sucks! Everyone knows this! But there's a little more suckage at play here, and Rean is not looking happy about being the bearer of this particular bit of news.]

...I spoke with Forneus about what we saw at the peak of the mountain. Asked him what we could do to ensure such a thing never happens again.

[Which is clearly not the troubling part, since he definitely hesitates at this point before forming words.]

...He seems to think the only route is deicide. To kill all of Teyvat's gods, himself included.

[whiteshroud]

All of them...?

[UH. THATS NEWS TO HIM. This is why he doesn't trust you Forneus.]

That can't be the only way...

[sufferean]

[Rean sighs, trying to keep his voice stable as he repeats what he remembers from his conversation.]

"If we truly wish to end this mistreatment, stamp out any potential of gods abusing humans... then we must kill them all."

[He sighs.]

I said the same thing. He said we could try to bring them down to mortal again, and that might make them listen to us, but he seemed doubtful about that. And I certainly have no idea where I'd even start with something like that.

[whiteshroud]

["Any potential", huh...he scoffs]

In that case we might as well wipe out humans too, to stamp out any possibility one will abuse other humans falsely in the name of a god. For that'll certainly happen, even if there are no real gods left.

[See: Earth's history. His tone is a sarcastic one, he swears he's not actually proposing that idea. ]

...Bringing them down to mortal might work. Even if they don't listen, they'll be limited in what damage they could do. It can be done, though...I don't know the exact process.

[sufferean]

[Rean just closes his eyes, frowning deeper.]

I can't say that I disagree with you there.

[He's seen more than enough to know the pain that humans can bring all on their own, after all. But even so.]

Well... if we know it's at least a possibility, we can look for clues going forward, right? That's at least a path to take that isn't just... this.

[whiteshroud]

[Yeah, humans suck, such is life. Jun gives a nod.]

Right. If a solution like that is viable, I think that would be much better.

[Because murder is wrong! ... Ok so maybe Jun doesn't care about sparing the other gods so much as he doesn't want to kill the one here he is emotionally attached to so bad he'll gladly grasp at straws for an alternative.

But hey, whatever reasoning works right?]

[sufferean]

[Whatever reasoning works! Rean's not asking for a detailed description, he's just asking for someone to help him come up with an alternative to murder.]

Guess we'll have to see if we can get the others on board...

[whiteshroud]

[Ah....right. The thing he's least skilled at: human interaction to make an emotional argument. ]

It ... shouldn't be too hard to do that, should it? Most of the group is pretty nice to me despite what I am...

[So surely they won't be that deadset on murdering all the gods???]

[sufferean]

[...Oh, Jun. Despite everything else happening right now, Rean manages a smile for him.]

Yeah, because you're a nice person. You get what you give, in my experience.

But it's true, everyone I've talked to has been pretty nice, too. And if they don't agree immediately... well, hopefully someone has some other ideas, at least.

[whiteshroud]

[Jun gives a sidelook, like he's hitting the #doubt button on being a nice person , but he will choose not to address it and not risk this turning into a meeting full of people saying nice things he doesn't know how to respond to]

Yeah. All of this is going to take a long time, so we have time to figure out what to do.

[evilisnotatoy]

[UM. Excuse him??? What the actual fuck, Forneus???? Sooga has enough self control that he's outwardly keeping his cool (mostly), but this? This is just reinforcing his thought that gods are exactly the kind of people you don't want holding phenomenal cosmic power.]

...I have no issue with deicide if it proves necessary. However, someone whose first plan is to offer themselves up for the slaughter is not to be trusted with plans of this magnitude without very careful consideration.

[dispassionatedevotion]

[ ... Ledah did not look bothered.

In fact, he did not look even surprised. It actually sounded like a plausible and rational solution to him. However, he did acknowledge it was A Lot, and he would like to know more before he decided to assist in killing off gods.

Of course, that's not to say he wasn't open to any other options (because there was one suggested just a second ago), but he's going to keep his options open...

For now. ]

I assume Forneus has reason to advocate for deicide as a permanent and final solution.

[ Beat. ]

I suggest we inquire about his reasons, which I am perfectly fine with doing so.

[ He would be fine if someone else did as well. ]

[evilisnotatoy]

I do not doubt that he has a reason. I simply doubt what the reason might be.

[He pauses, trying to choose the words to properly articulate the problem.]

To choose death is an act of desperation. If he feels things are so desperate, the more who ask, the better.

[dispassionatedevotion]

[ ... ]

At the very least by doing so, we'll find answers.

[evilisnotatoy]

[He nods.]

Precisely.

[sufferean]

[Somewhere, in the back of Rean's mind, there's the tiniest notion of a thought that maybe this statement also applies to him? Just maybe?

But naturally, it's gone as quickly as it came.]

I mean... I'm sure he's given it plenty of thought. When you're the god of time, I can only imagine you've got, well... a lot of time to think it over. But even so...

If he wants to stop this so badly he's willing to die for the cause, does he truly deserve to die? And he can't be alone in thinking that way, right? I can't imagine every single god here on Teyvat wants to watch the people suffer.

[evilisnotatoy]

[Give it time, Rean. He'll be sure to spell it out for you when he realizes you're the self-sacrificing type.]

If he's willing to go so far that he would sacrifice himself for those in his care, I believe we should try to prevent that from being a necessity.

[The words "I can't split-- you're my best lackey!" play across his memory, at once affirming his convictions and making him feel a bit lonely.]

...Such a person is worthy of protection.

[sufferean]

[And yet again, there's that teensy little voice in the back of Rean's mind: You. All of this could apply to you. People love you, you know that, right?

Aaaand... nope. Not letting that settle in! There are bigger fish to fry. God-sized ones. Or, well, not fry, because that would kill them, and...

...This metaphor just isn't working out, is it.]

I agree.

If... there's a way to bring Celestia down to our level, to force them to listen to us and change... then that's the way I want to go. Even after having seen all this... I can't bring myself to just kill indiscriminately. And I'm... really hoping I'm not alone on that.

[evilisnotatoy]

[Accept that people love you, Rean.

Sooga's body language radiates quiet anger at the reminder of what Celestia has done, and how uncomfortably close it comes to events that have shaped his own people's history.]

...I would hope none of us intend to stoop to their level. We are here as arbiters of change, not as instruments of vengeance.

[His tone makes it absolutely clear that he will do some stabbing if they show no remorse though.]

[sufferean]

[Rean's not about to judge Sooga on that. While he certainly sounds and looks forlorn, and he IS, it's not as if he's not furious, too. He's just... gotten very, very good at reining that particular emotion in.

It tends to not end well when he doesn't.]

Mm. [...] Maybe it's better not to dwell on that possibility, though. ...Like you, [because he CAN read the room,] I already know what choice I'd make if it came to that. But... I want to hold out hope.