asgarddawning | APRIL RUNDOWN + ANNOUNCEMENTS

Hey hey, all! Faith here with your April events and a few big announcements about the state of Asgard and the game, so let's get right down to it!

First of all, the results of the magic expansion plot! For those of you that might not have seen it or been able to get involved, the simple summary is that Loki gave Draco Malfoy (

wasthemaster ) a quest to expand the gods' magic outside of the city so that the Travellers could use their House Powers when they leave Asgard. After some struggling and coordination, Draco and several helpful volunteers have succeeded in their mission! This means that House Powers now work outside the city walls. The runes that support this magic signal boost are hidden in various locations and will remain active until such a point they are disrupted or destroyed. Let's keep our fingers crossed that never happens ( and let us know if you want it to )!

Secondly, Asgard is cut off from Utgard as of the conclusion of the Burning Bridges plot. A vast majority of the land between the two kingdoms has been completely coated in a massive wave of ice that is both fatally dangerous and impenetrable. This means that travel between the two cities is impossible and as a direct result of that, Asgard will be entering a supply shortage. This is very important and will impact your characters in a variety of ways, including but not limited to:

food shortages: without access to the farmland that has been destroyed, there will be less fresh produce on the market. Welcome Houses will have slightly stricter food supplies and restaurants will have to cut back on their menus in some places. It's not quite to the point of rationing, though.
supply shortages: medical supplies, general household amenities, things of that sort that might be manufactured in Utgard's factories will not be as readily available. This includes things like clothing, soaps, appliances, etc etc. Also not quite to the point of rationing, but enough so that natives will strongly encourage the Travellers to be careful with the supplies they do have.
black markets and crime: enough of the city has been healed from the Sickness that there's been lower levels of crime running about for awhile now. With the supply shortages, those rates will increase somewhat as people start to panic over whether or not they'll be able to support themselves and others. The black market will start peddling stolen items and cheaply made replacements for Utgard's wares. Nothing incredibly dangerous or overt, but it will be slightly more prevalent than it was before.
etcetera: anything else you can think of that might come as an after effect of being cut off from their main supply source! If you aren't sure or think it should be noted up here, let us know in the comment section below.

These things will be in effect for the indefinite future, until someone comes up with an idea for how to clear away the ice. We'll keep you updated on any changes; in the meanwhile, start sharpening your mining techniques!

Thirdly, a slight change to curses in the city: retroactively as of A Mother's Lullaby, all curses will no longer be invoked by the gods. The gods do not have the magic to expend on silly pranks or character building exercises; as such, they will not be cursing any of the Travellers themselves for any reason. This doesn't mean that you can't curse your characters though! It simply means that they'll be coming from a different source: Yggdrasil herself. In the same manner that the Grey Sickness came as a burst of rotten magic from the Mother's core, all curses henceforth will be a glitch in the magic that composes your character. You are still free to make your curses whatever you'd like them to be and they are still only allowed to last two OOC weeks, they simply won't come from the gods anymore. If you need any clarification or have any questions, feel free to ask at any time.

Fourth, last month's Holes event introduced singing and speaking flowers! These sentient flowers can be found anywhere there is open soil for them to grow. Thanks to Jax for the suggestion! Remember that we will be introducing a new item or feature from canon worlds every month, so submit your canon features in the appropriate comment section below and track the !holes tag for more information on these plots!

Last but not least, we broke the universe, so we will be making updates to the FAQ and info pages to reflect these changes. Slowly. Very slowly. We broke so many things, it'll take some time to get our facts straight. Please do bear with us as we comb our way through the rubble and try to make things presentable again. If you know of anything in specific that needs updated, please let us know!

And that's it for now! April is really plot heavy, so I'm not going to waste any time getting into it. As always, your calendar is here and you can skip past my rambling to the Fast Facts here!

PLOT EVENT: LOCUSTS! ( Apr. 10-17 / Days 431-434 )

The war-torn land of Yggdrasil has been fraying at the seams for some time now, and the most recent scuffle between the Giants has only helped to fuel its destruction. Things are falling closer and closer into the prophesied collapse of all - now, in a more literal sense.

Day 431 ( Apr. 10/11 ): Any early risers that head outdoors as the sun is rising will find a somewhat strange sight: hundreds of earthworms, scattered all across any available loose earth, squirming around on the ground. What caused them all to dig their way to the surface isn't clear just yet, but they aren't the only creatures behaving a bit strangely today.

Just as the sun breaks the horizon around 7AM, a single stag will come charging through the city coming from the north and heading straight through the Gate of Frost. Mere minutes after that, a whole herd of deer will follow his lead and stampede their way south without care for anyone or anything that might get in their way. Smaller animals like wolves, foxes, rabbits, and the likes will follow at their feet, birds flying overhead in great flocks - all headed the same direction. Any pets or animals within the city will be irritable and anxious, some trying to escape and follow the same path outside and away from Asgard.

In the midst of the mass exodus, the bracelet's SOS function will blare loudly as one of the gods summons the Travellers to the castle.

The Travellers will have less than an hour to get themselves to the heart of the city where natives will already be ushering people indoors with a nervous calm. The whole of the city will be rushing their way through the barrier, and it will be made obvious fairly early on that not everyone can fit inside the castle. Jockey for a safe position and keep a strong hold on your loved ones so that you don't get separated in the chaos, but be fast about it.

After that hour mark, a wave of water will come crashing through the city from the north, flooding the streets at a height of approximately 10ft / 300cm. Anyone not within the castle barrier by that point will either drown or be swept away in a violent current that will carry send their bodies into whatever solid objects might stand in their way. Those safely within the barrier will see Heimdall at the front gate with his hands raised as though pressed against an invisible wall; if they look closely, they will be able to make out all city structures glowing with a faint shimmer - either royal blue, pale green, or amber - before their view is obscured by the water pounding against the barrier. The dome over the castle will be made visible by the flood encapsulating it as it washes anything that wasn't rooted down through the streets. It will be an awesome sight, though grim enough, as nature takes its course through the city.

The flooding will continue for several hours, during which time the Travellers will be largely left to their own devices as they wait out the worst of it. Sigyn, Freyr, and Freya will be going around with castle maids to make sure that no one in harmed and to try to keep people relatively calm. Hel, Fenrir, and Jormungand will be doing their level best to intimidate people into compliance by coordinating the immediate relief efforts that will take place as soon as they are able to leave. This means that, for the few hours it takes for the flood to die down, the castle will be largely unmonitored as the gods try to minimise the damage.

We will need three volunteers to be jerks and take advantage of this opportunity. These volunteers will be breaking into Odin's office to find a vital piece of plot information, so only sign up for this position if your character is willing to not only risk the gods' ire but is invasive enough to break into the private quarters of the fallen King. They will also have to be willing to share this information, as it will tie into another plot for next month. Details of what they'll find will be given to the chosen volunteers in private. Sign-ups for this volunteer position will close April 6 and will be decided, as always, by RNG.

After the worst of the flooding passes, the residents of Asgard will be free to return to their homes. There will still be a foot of water to wade through, but it will be slow moving and relatively harmless. Thanks to Thor, Baldr, and Loki's protection spells, all buildings will still be structurally sound, if not wholly intact. Glass panes may be shattered and wooden doors may be splintered; anything that wasn't firmly tied down may be displaced somewhere down the road or otherwise destroyed. But for the most part, the damage is minimal. Now just to do something about this pesky water ...
Day 432 ( Apr. 12/13 ): By now, the floodwater has lowered to a scant inch or two, leaving the city streets littered with debris but otherwise safe for travel. Natives will be setting up booths to help coordinate the return of lost possessions or missing pets, reporting any property damage, and recovering any bodies of those that might not've made it to the castle in time. Travellers are welcome and encouraged to assist in the relief efforts. There will be district clean-up sign-ups below, but these are not mandatory to get involved, they're more of a way to see who will be in your district to make plotting easier.

Later in the day, while everyone is still trying to rid the streets of the lingering water and put everything back to rights, the first survivors of the flood will begin trickling into the waterlogged city. Outlying villages and encampments were destroyed in the disaster and are now seeking refuge with their gods in the capitol. Despite the stress Asgard is already under with the supply shortage and the damage from the flood, the Prince Regent will not deny his citizens the aid they require and will welcome them into the city until they can revive the land to health.
Days 433-434 ( Apr. 14-17 ): Relief efforts will now be split into two different areas: recovering the city and creating space for the new arrivals. The natives will need help setting up temporary housing, like filtering families into unused housing and setting up tents for the remaining numbers. They will need to ration out food and general camping supplies, and when Asgard is currently in a supply shortage, making ends meet will be a bit of a struggle. We would really love to see some player created groups banding together to do this! Things like donation collections or fostering an NPC or anything at all, you guys should work together to help facilitate the arrival of these refugees and their temporary(?) stay within the city.

On the other side of relief efforts will be cleaning up the streets, boarding up broken windows, things like that. Sigyn will be working to rebuild the wall and could use some assistance in not only construction but the magic of her barrier as well. More player coordination here will help put things back to rights, so if your character has an idea of what they can do to help, please comment below to start up some relief projects! It'll basically be two days of everyone trying to dig themselves out of the mess and get settled again.

OPT-OUT EVENT: The Soothsayers' Silence ( Apr. 14-19 / Days 433-435 )

As we recognise that not everyone wants to stick around for yet another rebuilding of the city, we also have another bit of plot available in an opt-out event. Note that this only covers the last two days of the plot event; all characters that go on this trip instead will still be in the city for the flood itself!

Day 433 ( Apr. 14/15 ): Those of you that were around for the Nature and Nurture event may see a few familiar faces amidst the refugees. Most of the Asgardian hippies will have died in the flood, but the Loljesker's warnings were heard by enough to help them escape the worst of it. They will be tired, grieving, but most of all, they will be panicked. They will speak of the mirror's collapse, the loss of reflection, and a deep rooted emptiness. Their babblings will make little sense to most anyone, but they are adamant in their confused distress, causing quite the commotion until one of the gods come to settle affairs. Freyr will listen closely to their words and decipher the messages lost within their despair.

The Loljesker warned them of something happening to Mirror Lake, and all was lost to the waters.

What exactly this means in plain terms, however, is a mystery. The young god will discuss matters with his sister before bringing it to the Prince Regent, and they will all three agree that perhaps a trip out to the Lake is in order. Any Travellers able and willing to go on a bit of a journey will be given instructions on how to reach Mirror Lake from Asgard. Pack an overnight kit for this one, as it will take some time to wade through the flood-ravaged land. The first day's travel will be fairly uneventful, largely spent sloughing through mud and collapsed woods. As soon as they come across a dry enough clearing, they should lay down their pallets for the night and do their best to keep warm.
Day 434 ( Apr. 16/17 ): As they continue on in early morning, their path will take them past the hippie camp that is now only strips of fabric and scattered belongings; the Loljesker's forest is near completely uprooted, and no tittering will be heard throughout the entirety of the Travellers' walk past this grim scene. Several hours after that, when the sun is already beginning to make its way down to the horizon, they will come across a vast expanse of nothing. They are not lost, however; they followed Freyr and Freya's instructions to the tee. It's simply as the frenzied Asgardians foretold, Mirror Lake is completely gone.

In its place is a seemingly bottomless pit that stretches several hundred feet across - the exact diameter of Mirror Lake. Peering into the sinkhole, the Travellers will find only an endless darkness and an empty silence. The Lake, as most things in this world, held a very unique magic that would show one's true reflection, speaking of truths otherwise lost to the nether. If a Traveller had looked into its waters, they would have seen themselves staring back but in the backdrop of their home world, their true place in the threads of existence. Now, however, there is only darkness.

It will almost be compelling to give the emptiness your attention, a sort of magnetic drag towards the edges of the sinkhole. Staring into the depths for too long will bring bone-creeping chill and a profound sense of loss, as though something very precious to them had been taken - though what, exactly, is not clear. If one happened to slip from the brink as they are lured to the darkness, however, things might become a bit more clear.

Falling into the sinkhole will kill your character. Death will not be immediate, though. The Lake speaks of truths lost to the nether; the fall will seem endless, as though suspended in time and place despite the distinct feeling of a drop, and down here, you will not be alone. Those that fall in will be given waking visions of home, just as they would've in the waters, but now there is darkness swallowing the light. They will see their worlds in ruin, burning in wildfire or ravaged by warfare, torn apart by plagues and disasters or simply collapsing into itself like a folding house of cards. Whatever form it takes, these visions will be nightmarish glimpses of the complete destruction of their home world. It will last no longer than five minutes in reality, but to the Traveller experiencing it, it may feel like hours or even days during which they fall into nothing. At its end, they will wake in the castle by the standard means of resurrection, and they will remember every second of their fall.

Back on the surface, once the Travellers have tired of being sapped of warmth and happiness and hearing their fallen friends' screams, they will opt not to linger in this madness for longer than is necessary to agree there is no hope for salvaging this area. They will head right back the way they came, making camp in the hippies' ruins for the night to think on their experiences.
Day 435 ( Apr. 18/19 ): The trip back to Asgard will be equally uneventful, though their numbers are fewer and the ground more solid from the drying water. By their return, the refugee camps will have been built just outside of Asgard's gates and natives will be attempting to find a means of living in these dire times. If the Travellers seek out the hippies to speak to them of their discovery, they will find their mellow friends lost too deeply into their own minds for conversation. Reflecting on oneself for two long can very well lead to madness. Better, perhaps, to simply forget what they saw ...

SPECIAL EVENT: Almost Useful ( Apr. 22/23 / Day 437 )

This one will be a player driven plot headed by one Sam Winchester (

smartwinchester ), who has been speaking with the gods of how to help them during this time of trial. It will be a very simple event that establishes a few new facts about magic in this world. It will also come with a bit of a unexpected twist.

Day 437 ( Apr. 22/23 ): After giving some consideration to the nature of their bonds with their patron deities, Sam will post to the network supposing a theory: if the gods can feed magic into the Travellers to give them their House Powers, perhaps, then, the Travellers can feed magic back into the gods. They have been under great duress both with Odin's collapse and the most recent disasters in the kingdom, even the smallest bit of a boost may make a difference.

Using the same runes from Draco's magic expansion plot, Travellers will be advised to draw the personalised god runes for their patron deity somewhere on their bodies in runic ink, anywhere it might not be disrupted or broken. For the duration of this day, every time the Travellers use any form of magic - be it House Powers or other runic magic - the god rune will glow faintly in the colour of their patron. The energy they pour into their magic will travel along the bond to their god and give them something of an energy shot, just the slightest lift in their strength and energy.

However, performing this transfer comes at a cost. The more magic performed, the more the Travellers will be drained of their own energy in a nearly euphoric way. The exhaustion will come in a vague sense of warmth and affection ( as it is, after all, the spirit of the Mother that gives the gods their magic ), as the need for a nice cup of their favourite cocoa, or perhaps a comfortable nap in the sunlight, or maybe even a profession of love.

Yes, we're giving you an ecstasy curse. As the Travellers grow more and more tired, they will grow more and more inclined to cuddle up with someone they care about and sleep off the exhaustion. This is generally harmless and will not be an extreme; it will not create feelings of love where there are none and it will not encourage them to do the nasty or anything like that. It's more simplistic than that, a base sort of love that comes in simple touches or a spoken word of love.

Anyone participating in this event is more than welcome to vary up the way this manifests in their characters, but by the end of the day, all Travellers using the transfer will be taking a collective nap for a few hours. When they wake, the euphoric effects will be gone and the god runes will no longer be active. Fingers crossed no one came across them cuddling with their best friend!

FAST FACTS

PLOT EVENT: LOCUSTS! ( Apr. 10-17 / Days 431-434 )

Day 431 ( Apr. 10/11 ): Early in the morning, hundreds of animals will stampede their way through the city coming from the Gate of Fire and leaving through the Gate of Frost. Pets and other animals within the city will attempt to join them. An SOS message will summon the Travellers to the castle for protection as a flood washes through the city. Anyone that does not reach the castle within an hour will die. Anything not rooted down may be swept through the city. The flood lasts a few hours and then the Travellers will be free to go.
Day 432 ( Apr. 12/13 ): While Asgard is in the middle of its repairs, survivors of the flood from outlying villages will come to the city for aid. Thor will welcome them into their ward.
Day 433-434 ( Apr. 14-17 ): Half of the city will work on rebuilding damages structures while the other half works on building refugee camps for the survivors. Travellers will have to work with them to clothe and feed these new arrivals in the middle of a food shortage.

OPT-OUT EVENT: The Soothsayers' Silence ( Apr. 14-19 / Days 433-435 )

Day 433 ( Apr. 14/15 ): Some of the hippies from the Nature and Nurture event will arrive bearing cryptic and foreboding messages. Freyr and Freya with Thor's permission will send some Travellers to investigate Mirror Lake. After travelling through flooded ruins for a few hours, they will make camp wherever they find a dry enough stretch of land.
Day 434 ( Apr. 16/17 ): They will pass the hippie encampment to find it ruined and all Loljesker vanished from their ruined forests. Travelling on, they will come across a bottomless pit where Mirror Lake used to be. They will be drawn towards the edge and given chills and a vague yet profound sense of loss. Anyone that falls into the pit will be caught in freefall and given visions of their home world's destruction for a seemingless indeterminate amount of time before dying and resurrecting in the castle. The remaining Travellers will leave and make camp at the hippie ruins.
Day 435 ( Apr. 18/19 ): The Travellers will arrive back in Asgard to find the refugee camps already set up. Speaking to the hippies about what they saw will be impossible, as they have fallen into their own madness.

SPECIAL EVENT: Almost Useful ( Apr. 22/23 / Day 437 )

Day 437 ( Apr. 22/23 ): Sam Winchester will advise the city to draw the personalised god rune of their patron deity somewhere on their body. For this day, any magic used will feed energy back into the gods. Transferring energy this way will exhaust the Travellers with euphoric effects. They will feel inclined to stay close to the things and people they love before falling into a deep sleep for a few hours. Euphoric effects and the god runes will all stop after waking.

And that's it for the month of April! We hope you guys enjoy this month of chaotic nonsense. Remember to fill out your AC and never trust anything Vince Vaughn tells you. These are dangerous times, my friends. Let us know if you have any questions / comments / concerns / dirty jokes!

APRIL RUNDOWN + ANNOUNCEMENTS

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