OOC DISCUSSION POST: Putting an End to the End

[asgardmods]

About halfway through the events of the E.T. Phone Home catastrophe, the gods will push a message (which may or may not have been penned entirely by Freyr) en masse to all bracelets connected to the network. It will cut through the static and network malfunctions to read:

The World Tree is dying. You are resourceful heroes, Travelers, and you've saved this world once already from Thiazi. Now, please: help us save it from itself.

Our resources are at your disposal. Let us work together from now until the end, whenever that might be.

Currently, Asgard has a "stock" endgame in store, but how the events pan out (and what exactly those events are going to be) can be easily influenced by the Travelers interested in doing so. This is a post for OOC discussion about things to do and try, and also a place for handwaving IC research/investigation.

Think of this a little like Dungeons and Dragons: since it's not feasible to expect someone to RP "sitting in the library for two days researching X topic," HERE is an example of how the handwaving will go. Are they writing a letter to the dwarves? Pestering the dragons? Poring over books from the forbidden section of Vanaheim? Let me know, and we'll work out what they find out, and how it could be useful! There is no "right" answer, or certain "revelation" that I'm looking for in particular. If you think your character might get involved, go ahead and post under that heading! If you want to start some non-handwaved IC discussion between characters, you're welcome to do that on Mimir's post when it goes up at the end of the event to invite interested Travelers to Vanaheim. Otherwise, if you'd like to start some OOC discussion with fellow players or me about what there might even be to look into, go ahead and do it here!

Comments

HAND WAVED RESEARCH - MARIBELLE

[damselled]

Maribelle is going to be working with the investigation team, specifically Yosuke to make sure he doesn't slack off, linked here. In addition to helping him, she'll also be researching the possibility of people being able to access their powers in this place (preferably without dying), as being able to do so might be useful. She will also research diplomacy - any times a crisis has been averted without violence, as she frankly is not going to be able to do much in a fight without her normal abilities. She may as well try, right?

can you tell she won't be getting much sleep

[selfmadman]

It's a long shot (and I honestly have no idea how this portion of the plot is going to play out), but if the fire giants are receptive to the travelers' diplomatic overtures, Don would want to ask them about the prophecy/the world tree's demise--to get another perspective on it and give both groups a common purpose.

(Maybe the dragons could come as backup.)

Would Maribelle be interested in this at all? Also, mods, is it even a thing that could happen?

[damselled]

I sure am! Mari's good at diplomacy, when she's engaging in it with someone who's not batshit crazy, at least.

[asgardmods]

This could potentially happen - but not until Surt's surrender! So long as the Fire King continues to fight, so too will his underlings. Because you guys decided to approach this almost evenly split between killing him and entreating him, the event will sort of reach a middleground between the two wherein he will be weakened to the point of defeat, but urged into captivity instead of death. Details on this will be forthcoming.

After that point, the Travellers will be able to attempt speaking to the Fire Giants, and they will be met with varying degrees of - well, confusion. They have been bred to follow Surt's lead, and so they will show gratitude that their King's life was spared, but some may show enmity, thinking that it is dishonourable to admit defeat over dying with pride. But most aren't that smart and will generally think ??? King surrendered, so ... we do too??? At which point it will be easier to discuss anything you'd like with them.

The Fire Giant's interpretation of the prophecy is the idea of dominance, that they should be declared the supreme race of the land as all others are purged in their flame. They don't see this as "death" but as "purification"; that is, the return to the Mother by the strongest hand, the element of life and death both. It's not meant as something sweet, not hardly the deliverance of the Tree by their hands, but rather the establishment that they are the truest of Her children and the rest will yield to them, and they should be the last to die with pride and honour.

Basically: they wanna blow shit up and y'all should just accept it. That is their entire philosophy. They're really, seriously, not all that bright.

[asgardmods]

Unfortunately, her inquiry into home abilities will yield only the same results as before; that is, that there simply is no way to purify their magic so that it will be compatible with Yggdrasil's. The immediate result of any attempts to do so is a quick and painful death.

As far as a precedent to diplomatic resolutions, the seldom few that she will come across do not involve the Giants at all, but rather the warring between Asgard and Vanaheim! These two kingdoms have fought over matters of principle for thousands of years, and while most battles ended in bloodshed and territorial losses, a handful ended in stalemate either by equivalent loss of life or one side getting bored and leaving the field.

The most important that she will find, however, is the conflict that lead to the trade of Freyr and Freya for Mimir and Honir. In this battle, both kingdoms amassed an arsenal that threatened to demolish both kingdoms and wipe the presence of the gods from the map. When they came to this realisation, the trade was proposed as a means of reconciling their differences. By giving to each other someone of importance that carried with them strong tenets of their society, they could introduce these elements into the other kingdom and generate a better understanding of each other as well as enrich each other's cultures.

There is no precedent to diplomacy with the Giants - but if asked, some idealists might believe that a similar conclusion isn't entirely outside of the realm of possibility.