⏵ APHAIA ⏴
At the request of those inhabiting Etraya, Aurora has adjusted the mission schedule a little in order to send everyone into a world that is actively dying. Which means that, on the morning of March 14th, everyone will be directed to a glowing, purple portal situated just outside the hospital. Aurora will recommend that those with pets leave them behind; given the mission parameters of survive, she anticipates that it will not be a place for companion animals to accompany their owners to. She will not, however, force this: people are welcome to bring their companions if they'd like!
Once they have stepped through the portal, it will become clear that survival will not come easily. The sky overhead is fractured into a kaleidoscope of neon colors, artificial stars blinking in and out of existence among shards. Towering structures resembling stadiums and coliseums stretch endlessly into the horizon, their surfaces plastered with massive holographic advertisements displaying the face of past "champions" - many of whom appear to be long-since deceased.
From the moment they step through the portal, cameras whir to life around them, zooming in on their expressions while loudly announcing their names, their specialties, and what they are capable of. Applause echoes through unseen speakers when talents worth the excitement are announced: those with fighting capabilities, unique extraordinary powers, or odd talents seem to get the loudest reaction.
And once introductions are complete, a loud, booming voice cuts through the noise:
WELCOME, CONTESTANTS! ARE YOU PREPARED TO SEE WHO AMONG YOU IS THE SMARTEST, THE HOTTEST, THE STRONGEST, AND THE SHINIEST? ONLY THOSE AMONG YOU WHO ARE WORTHY WILL SURVIVE. KALI TYCHI!!
There is no introduction to the voice. No explanation.
Welcome to Aphaia.
⏵ SURVIVAL SPOTLIGHT ⏴
Aphaia is a dying world. Once vibrant, now it is little more than a stage - an arena where survival meets spectacle and death is a form of entertainment. Cameras are everywhere, their mechanical eyes dissecting every action, hesitation, every moment of weakness. To the residents of Aphaia, it's all a game. After all, they know they are living on borrowed time - why not make it fun?
Towering holograms flicker with advertisements for upcoming challenges, massive leaderboards shift constantly, tracking the contestants' popularity in real time. Every move is judged, and every breath is measured.
Participation is not mandatory, but refusal comes with some hefty consequences. Those who refuse to play fade into the background, their scores slowly dropping closer and closer to zero.
And when it does bottom out? They disappear. No body, no remains, just - erased entirely from existence.
Now, survival is not just about brute force (although there is some of that too!), but about entertainment. Contestants are not simply fighters, but performers earning the favor of other contestants.
Each contestant has a score, visible using the HUD of their earpiece. Scores range from 1-100, with 80+ reserved for crowd favorites. The moment scores hit zero, they disappear, presumed (and are) dead.
New contestants start with a randomized score, assigned the moment they step onto Aphaia's surface. From there, their survival depends on strategy, skill, and showmanship.
Nanotechnology laces the very air they breathe, embedding itself into their bodies. It monitors oxygen, tracks food intake, measures every potential need for everyone, including alien species whose needs differ. Supplies are scarce - meaning only those who keep their scores up receive rations, shelter, and medical aid. The lower one's score? The less they get.
And there are no second chances.
⏵ DISTRICTS ⏴
Aphaia is separated into four districts.
The Colosseum is where blood is currency. A high-tech battle arena where combatants are pitted against each other for entertainment, the Colosseum is always prepared for any battle one may wish to take part of. The floors shift, and the environment changes at the whim of the audience. It's built to support any challenge that requires physicality: the floors will break into massive labyrinths meant to confuse individuals, or the walls will raise to create rooms that are difficult to escape to test one's intellect. Within the Colosseum, contestants are invited to battle one another and others for glory. Are you a warrior? Built for combat? Do you have capabilities that shine through with physical action, rather than mental stimulation? This is the place for you.
A place of luxury, the Symposium is where alliances are forged - and broken. Here, the highest-rated contestants (those who rank Luminary or higher) are invited to partake in fine dining and lavish parties. Violence is not permitted within the walls of the Symposium; while this may provide the false illusion of safety, it is anything but. Whispered betrayals are passed between contestants within the walls of the Symposium, with deals struck to ensure that those who rank high enough to enjoy all the benefits it offers continue to be able to visit.
In the heart of Aphaia is the Agora. Pulsing with flashing billboards featuring the faces of many past and current contestants and live polls of the current scores of those who are still alive, the Agora is where contestants are invited to engage with the public to shape their own narrative.
In the streets, many contestants can be found putting on quirky performances, participating in challenges, or conducting interviews with other contestants. Charisma can be just as valuable as brute strength, and this is the place for those who rely on their ability to sweet-talk others to make sure their points remain high. This is where the facilities for the non-physical challenges resides, such as Echoes of the Past and Tychaios.
The Agora contains the housing district in which contestants reside. There are a few massive apartment towers stacked to the sky. The high-ranking live in luxury, enjoying rooms up to two bedrooms with plenty of space - the lower ranking individuals reside in smaller apartments, with significantly less amenities.
On the edges of Aphaia are the Backalleys, where rules are meant to be broken. A maze of shadowed corridors and hidden tunnels, there are multiple "convenient" corners where camera blind spots can be found. Here is where people come to converse between one another outside the eyes of the audience or to find temporary sanctuary from their lives being consistently narrated. However, it is also well-known that while they may be able to find areas where the cameras cannot reach, the Gamerunner is also aware of these blind spots.
⏵ RATED & REVIEWED ⏴
While the highest rated contestants get to go to The Symposium, those middling or in danger of falling off get invited to only the finest of trashy talk shows.
Anyone can see how this daily, midday TV show plays out. Stand in front of a television long enough and you’ll see reruns of bruised competitors hashing it out in front of an audience over failed plans, ruined alliances, and broken friendships. If you want to see the worst in others Kathiki Pidón is the show to watch.
Though one might wonder why anyone would ever go on this thing, it is a nearly universal guilty pleasure. There is a chance to raise one’s own rating without risking one’s life. But say the wrong things, and you may become more unpopular than ever. It is a desperate place to go- but they do always give a hot meal to anyone who agrees to come on. It might be your only chance to recuperate.
This is also a great opportunity to try to lower someone else’s ranking by airing out private grievances very publicly. Was the only reason you lost because you were tricked or betrayed? Is there a secret alliance you want people to know about? Or perhaps you need a platform to earn a little sympathy.
Kathiki will be more than happy to host you, donning his usual black and gold suit and holding his slim microphone for you to speak into.
For those who are a little shier, Kathiki has a private booth in the back of the studio where you can pour your heart out in front of a camera. This can have the same benefits, but it may be edited in very unfortunate ways before the public sees it.
⏵ NOTES ⏴
Please use our NPC Threads toplevel on this post for any NPC interactions you'd like! This includes Kathiki.
For all questions relating to this mission, please refer to the plotting post. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.
⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴
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etrayamods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
etrayalogs2025-03-14 11:19 am
no subject
That's new. He glances up at Kaeya, expression open, curious. ]
It's fucked up. And overly policed, I can see that much. They've pitted people against each other, or at least the poor ones... but what else should I be keeping an eye out for?
[ A good detective listens to the pros! And the implications of this guy being a pro at this aren't great, but he'll take what he can get. ]
no subject
But, combine them. [His eye narrows, sharping his diamond shaped pupil. He watches the city below them.
All of it makes him feel uneasy. It’s a reminder of the past. The lights might as well be campfires.]
No one goes to jobs or seem really headed anywhere. Only some are well fed. They are all focused on playing themselves up and having performances. [He looks at the board. He is sitting in the middle of the pack right now. But would doors and information open up if he climbs higher? Points rise and fall on the scoreboard as he watches.] What I want to know is how they got to this point.
[He glances down at Riz and gestures with one hand.] Aurora can’t seem to say why worlds are dying. Or why Echo, her creator says they are either.
no subject
He tilts his head, musing over it. Everyone is competing for the same thing, everyone tossed into the same competition, like it or not. Nobody was working for the future. Everyone was focused on tomorrow. ]
It's weird for there to be no kids, even if it would be a bad idea to have them, [ he muses aloud. ] I wonder if they're all infertile now.
[ Accidents happen. He has a hard time believing that everyone is too wary of the cameras on them to stop having sex. He glances up at Kaeya, interest written across his face. ]
The lack of oxygen makes me think it has something to do with the environment collapsing... but you're right. Aurora's been frustratingly vague about this whole thing. Have you experienced anything like this before?
[ It's a leading question. He knows that the answer has to be yes, in some way. What he wants to know is how, and in what form. People hailing from worlds already in jeopardy isn't common enough to be a trend, per se, but is common enough to make him uneasy. ]
no subject
Well. He looks at the lights of the city. It takes a minute to visibly fight years of keeping quiet.] It’s complicated. Most of the world is fine. Where I was born wasn’t. For a lot of reasons. It wasn’t like this. Everything was a wreck.
[He gestures to the world around them.] The air has the same quality. They know what awaits them. Dress it up. Tell stories about the golden years. But what is coming is coming.
I can’t tell which I prefer. The gaudy lights hiding it. Or the stories of the years before while everyone wept. Honestly, I’d rather have neither.
[He looks at him, then back at the lights. His almost casual air is stripped from him. He’s quiet and calm, but there’s a hint of the sadness trapped under the mask. He is good at hiding things but talking about this is enough to crack his facades.] All the more reason to make sure what Aurora and Echo want to achieve is really saving worlds. And not something nefarious.
I find it very odd that despite their supposed wants to save everyone. Their failsafe system has a lot of blind spots and a lack of contingencies for possible problems and failures.
no subject
Where they're from must have an impact on why they're here. And if this guy's world is anything like the ones that are being presented as unequivocally doomed... that's all the more valuable, no matter how difficult it may be to speak on. Still, it never fails to make Riz feel guiltily lucky, growing up in the suburbs of Elmville without the weight of the world on his shoulders, going out for movies and ice cream and arcade games while others out there were born in much less favourable circumstances. ]
Yeah. Neither sounds good. I don't... trust Aurora and Echo. Not really. They're not being forthright about what it is we're doing here, or how to do it. There are people here with experience, people who are smart and strategic, people who could actually do something if we had all the pieces to the puzzle.
[ He hums thoughtfully underneath his breath. After his failure to solve things, he has a hard time internalizing the idea that he's someone who could help solve it - which is out of character for him, confident kid that he is - but he knows that everyone probably could together. ]
What happened to your home? Is it something a force like Aurora or Echo could fix, d'you figure?
no subject
[So far it seems the case. He could be wrong.] They let in forces from the outside and now those things are trying to eat the world.
Magic at home is made from memory - of the world and the people. It’s like the abyssal corruption has been feeding on the existence of the world itself.
What has been fully devoured becomes a twisted wreck of its self. Land. People. Spirits. Gods. All of them become nothing like they were. I’m not sure how Aurora or Echo could fix that.
no subject
[ Riz is young and, in some ways, still more idealistic than more seasoned Adventurers. But he's been to Heaven and to Hell, he's seen the birth and the death of gods old and new alike, and some driving force within him wants to believe that even if it takes hundreds or thousands of years, there's always some way to fight back. ]
...but I don't know if Aurora or Echo are the ones to do it. If they can, or if they will. [ People have been insisting that Aurora is kind, these days. They may be right, though Riz will never get rid of his deeply harboured suspicion of her. But if they do have such incredible power, would they really use it for something like that? After all the talk of having to choose worlds to save, he has a hard time seeing them choose a world already afflicted by decay.
This is the second time he's found himself at a loss for words when someone tells him of their dead - dying - world. What do you say to that? Sorry for your loss? ]
And I guess through all that, all everyone's trying to do is survive? [ He nods up at the large leaderboard looming before them, the screen flashing between images of different participants fighting and either rising or plummeting in the ranks. ] Just like this place.
no subject
But I agree. I don't know if they can or will, or what rules they have set for themselves or have to follow. Aurora has some rules she has to follow. I assume you've asked her about Echo. [Unlike the rest of his people, Kaeya is a fighter chosen by the gods for a reason. He's a young adult with the prime of his life ahead of him. The burden of his people on his shoulders won't slow him down.] It was interesting what she couldn't say.
no subject
[ It's better than it used to be. He downright hated her -- still doesn't like her now, but in fairness, Riz doesn't like that many people and trusts even fewer. It's hard for him to trust anyone he sees as being allied with the people who have taken him from his home, who have kept him captive and who, frankly, have pretty wretched taste in world-saviors. ]
...what's the biggest thing you noticed?
[ He has his own notes, of course, but it's been a while. Having a different perspective - a more experienced perspective - can make all the difference. ]
no subject
In the event one of these cities fail, only the immediate admin around them will notice. If their aim was to save as many worlds as they can, I would imagine it wouldn’t be like this. This is akin to scattering dandelion seeds.
[Only some will survive. That alone was bad. The rest had been sobering.] When I questioned her on that point, she said we aren’t in direct opposition of other cities. But indirectly, we are.
The other thing was how little I could gather on Echo and their motives. Or even why they felt worlds were dying. It felt like diplomatic lip service.