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faderiftooc2020-11-27 11:39 am
faderifting) wrote in faderiftooc2020-11-27 11:39 am
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MOD PLOT ↠ The Darkest Realms of Dream
MOD PLOT: THE DARKEST REALMS OF DREAM
OOC MECHANICS
Overview
November's mod plot—which we'll start RPing now but which actually take place ICly during a single night in Wintersend/January, see below—will involve Riftwatch getting sucked into a mass dream that will show them glimpses of two possible outcomes. (Yes, this is similar to the Dark Future plot we did several years ago, we know. It was fun and most people in the game now weren't around for it. And if you were around back then, the mechanics here are fairly different and neither of the futures here are identical to that one.) Characters will have to navigate these alternate realities, join up with other PCs, realize what's going on, and ultimately break out of the dream.
OOCly, this will essentially allow you to create and RP some normal-DA:I and/or dark future AUs, deal with memory conflicts, and play out some action-adventure scenarios with a dream's flexible level of realism, all while getting some major hints at things Riftwatch should probably be looking into in the real world.
A log in which characters reach Dream Skyhold, find the entity that's trapping them in the dream, escape it, and wake up will be posted in January. In the meantime, everyone has a month to RP their characters' AU lives and the build up toward that log.
Dream Settings
There will be two separate AU settings for these dreams.
Herald AU is set in the canonical Dragon Age timeline from the video games, where the Inquisitor defeated Corypheus in 9:42, the events of Trespasser occured in 9:44, and as of 9:45 Thedas is being destabilized anew by the Qunari invasion of Tevinter and a marked increase in mysterious elven scheming (as recently depicted in Tevinter Nights). In this world, characters might have returned to peaceful lives after Corypheus' defeat, might have never gotten involved in the conflict at all, or might be involved in trying to save the world from these new threats.
FR Future AU is set in 9:52, five years after the current FR canon, in a world where Corypheus has essentially won and the world is changed as a result. The remnants of the forces standing against him will have been reduced to smaller numbers and to working in secret in an increasingly hopeless situation.
When deciding on your character's AU, bear in mind that their personalities, relationships, and the roles they play in the dreamworlds will be projections of their current selves—so just what the characters as they currently exist think, hope, or fear would happen to them in these scenarios. They don't need to make perfect sense, and they don't predict the actual future. You can say that your character has died in one of these AUs without committing to them actually dying in any way at any time; it will just be that, presented with the premise of the AU, their subconscious minds for some reason decided they'd be dead. Everything in this plot is just a dream, so don't overthink it.
Timing
These dreams will be had (and woken up from) in early Wintersend/January. We'll post a new log after the holidays that will include finding the cause of the dream and figuring a way out of it, plus space for aftermath logs the next morning.
Participation & Opt-Out
Native characters can be part of either AU or both. Because this plot takes place entirely in dreams over the course of a single night, you're welcome to assume your character had multiple dreams that night and AU your character into both settings, but they'll only have one life per world. For this part of the plot, there will be no overlap between the two dreamworlds, and there won't be any instances of characters meeting someone from the other AU or alternate versions of themselves.
Rifters can only be AUed into the FR Future AU, continuing from their current lives in Fade Rift. In Herald AU, which tracks the events of DA:I, the Herald closed the Breach properly at Haven and no rifters ever arrived. Rifters will be able to enter the Herald AU and interact with other characters there, but they'll still be their normal selves with their normal memories and full awareness that the dreamworld isn't right. (This is the same mechanic that applies to characters who died in an AU prior to the dream starting. There's more in the "Character Death" section below.)
Anyone who wishes to opt out of this plot entirely can have their character be away from Kirkwall when it happens. ICly, this will all be taking place over a single night's dreaming, so absences can be easily explained and there won't be any reason for non-participating characters to notice anything happening.
Character Death
You have the option of saying that your character died sometime prior to the starting-point in either of these dream worlds. Characters who are dead in a given timeline, as well as all rifters in the Herald AU timeline, will show up in these dreams as if waking up in a new world. They'll have their memories of the real present intact and be fully aware that this isn't what's supposed to be happening. Whether they know it's a dream or think there's some other explanation, like time magic fuckery, is up to you. They won't have any memories of anything from the AU dreamworld, including what led up to their deaths.
All characters can also die "on-screen" during the dream. If they die in one timeline, they can continue to participate in the other. If they die in both, they'll wake up.
Making Connections
In the dreamworlds, characters will be pushed and pulled together in ways that don't need to necessarily be realistic. It's fine if they encounter one another in normal and believable ways, too! Many of them may still be coworkers, friends, et cetera.
But if your character is separated from everyone else at the start of things with no motive to travel closer to where the action is, they may receive an urgent letter from an old NPC friend asking them to come to the town that just happens to be where several other PCs have gathered, or get into a shared carriage to discover another PC is inside, or if all else fails be inadvertently packed into a crate of onions and shipped to the correct location. Exactly as if the world is conspiring to make them all reconnect, no matter how far apart they start.
After characters have had some time to explore these alternate worlds and meet up with various other people, the world will begin similarly pushing people toward Skyhold. Especially as people become more aware that they're trapped in a dreamworld (see below) they'll begin to hear the word in indistinct conversations around them, see images of the fortress in reflections, and otherwise receive signals it's important. If they don't go voluntarily, the world will start pushing them that way more directly. Again, onion crates may be involved if necessary.
Actually reaching the fortress should be saved for the second log that will go up in January, but you can use this pressure to journey there as a way for characters to consolidate into larger groups on the road there.
Gaining Awareness
Other than rifters/previously-deceased characters who enter the world aware that it's wrong from the get-go, it's up to you how slowly or quickly your characters begin to notice something is amiss. Some people may notice inconsistencies on their own, while others might fully believe everything is fine until someone else is able to convince them otherwise. How long it takes won't correlate to whether or not someone is a mage; this is a very powerful dream. So powerful even the dwarves are having it. Etc.
Once characters gain awareness that they're in a dream, they'll also gain some limited ability to manipulate the dreamworld and deliberately will things to happen. That doesn't mean non-mages will develop traditional magic, but that the world will seem to more naturally bend to their will. Rather than shooting lightning out of their hands, for example, someone may be able to really want it to storm and have storm clouds roll in swiftly in answer.
Developing this awareness and especially using this ability, however, will draw the attention of minor demons, much the same way demons are drawn to mages in the Fade. The demons will generally appear to be normal people within the dream world unless they're individually cornered or engaged in a fight. Some of them will be violent and hostile, while others may try more subtle ways of convincing someone to give them a foothold into the outside world. And as people move closer to Skyhold, they'll be opposed by moderately more powerful demons that seem to be trying to prevent them from reaching it. Many of these demons will take the form of the forces of Corypheus, doing their best to prevent characters reaching Skyhold.
Consistency & Dream Logic
Within these two AU dreamworlds, there will be an attempt at a coherent timeline, as if something is trying its best to tie everything together and make sure the major historical events (as outlined below) are consistent for everyone. But it isn't a fully cohesive or completely comprehensive dream-story. Things that aren't important may be left up to individual dreamers' minds to fill in or never addressed at all.
In other words, you don't need to ask us about minor historical details. If we haven't specifically noted an event or state-of-a-place in the world descriptions further below, it probably doesn't really matter, so you can fill things in however you want as long as you stick with the general outline we've provided. And it's fine if different people fill them in in different, contradicting ways. (If we have mentioned an event below and you have questions about it, on the other hand, feel free to ask, since these are the things the dream is trying to communicate consistently to everyone.)
Characters may also remember minor and personal events differently. For example, two characters may start off in the AU angry at each other and not on speaking terms, but have completely different memories of the reason why. Characters may also find that they just don't know certain things even if, were the dreamworld a real world, they would. For example, your character might be the sort of person who would know the specific gruesome fates of various prominent Orlesian nobles because they'd write a hilariously morbid ditty about it. But in the dream, they may find that while they are sure they wrote just such a song and it was a huge hit, when pressed they can't actually remember the words or what happened to the people it was about.
Essentially, there's a lot of dream-logic at work here. Characters may simply take things for granted, like how in a dream you know instinctively that the place you're in is your house even though it doesn't actually look anything like your real house, or you know that you just arrived back at that house after a trip even if you didn't actually dream the trip and don't know anything else about it. Characters may set out on a journey that should take several weeks and find themselves instead instantly arriving, and they may or may not notice or think it's odd.
Overall, we're trying to excuse everyone from coordinating on every little thing, allow us to focus on the key pillars of these dreamworlds rather than getting hung up on creating a million details, and allow you to play with people having conflicting memories or eerie dream inconsistencies.
What Everyone Will Remember Afterwards
On waking, characters will remember these dreams pretty clearly. But they'll only remember the dreams themselves, not the unseen span of years leading up to them. They won't retain new skills just because they'd learned them in the dream, they won't have clear memories of anything that happened outside the dream itself, and generally speaking this shouldn't be the basis for having years' worth of emotional or intellectual growth occur overnight any more than dreaming you're a martial arts expert in real life lets you wake up an actual expert, or dreaming that you've gotten over your ex and grown as a person doesn't necessarily mean you'll wake up to that actually being true. So, for example:
This won't be relevant IC until January/Wintersend, but we wanted everyone to know in advance, just so (1) you don't get invested in the idea of your character waking up instantly multilingual with 5 years of character development under their belts and (2) you make sure to actually play out the things you'd like your character to be able to remember afterwards.Over several years of the AU, your character learned the Ancient Tevinter language and uses it to translate something during the dream. They may remember what they translated "on-screen," but they won't remember the actual Tevinter language. Trying to recall the contents of books and so on that weren't specifically read and discussed during a scene/log won't work. And if they recall the specific Tevinter phrase they translated, it will turn out to be nonsense—really just their brain's Tevinter-sounding hodgepodge. Your character has children in the AU. When they wake up, they'll remember interacting with those children during the dream, but they won't have any separate memories of the children being born or growing up, and they won't have the same emotional attachment to these imaginary dream children that they would to a real child. Character 1 married Character 2 in the AU, but Character 2 died prior to the dream's starting point. Character 2 arrives in the dreamworld aware only of the real present, with no memory of marrying Character 1 or of dying. Within the dream, Character 1 remembers both and can be shocked to see them alive after all. Once the dream ends, however, Character 1 will remember only the on-screen reunion and the feelings it caused in that moment; they won't have any separate memory of the off-screen marriage or death that occurred prior to the dream beginning.
IC WORLD INFO
Finally, the most important information: what do these worlds look like? As discussed above, the dreamworlds will be just that, dreamworlds, with all the accompanying vagueness and the potential memory conflicts we mentioned. But there will be some consistent features that every character in the dreamworld will know and will remember when they wake up.
Herald AU (9:45 in the DA Canon Timeline)
In this universe, events played out as in DA:I canon, with the Inquisitor, Evelyn Trevelyan, defeating Corypheus in 9:42.
After Corypheus' defeat, Cassandra Pentaghast became Divine Victoria. Celene remained Empress of Orlais, Gaspard was executed, and Briala was exiled. The Grey Wardens were exiled from the South, and most of the Grey Wardens from Orlais and Ferelden shortly became embroiled in a battle for control of the Order in the Anderfels.
Many Templars went through the process of ending their lyrium addictions, like Cullen, and reformed the Order under the condition that Divine Victoria not continue to use lyrium as a leash.
The rebel mages who had allied with the Inquisition established the College of Enchanters as a new organization without Chantry oversight, where apprentices voluntarily turned over by their families (or themselves) were housed but then able to come and go freely after completing their training. However, the Circle of Magi was also reorganized by Loyalist mages. It continued to operate within the Chantry's control, with Templar assistance, and to seize any mages who were reportedly out of control of their abilities. The College and Circle have been in conflict ever since, making people nervous about the prospect of a violent conflict between the two sects.
The events of Trespasser occurred in 9:44. Afterwards the Inquisition formally disbanded, but a smaller network of former members and new agents continued to operate as a network focused on stopping Fen'Harel.
As of the time the dreams will start, the primary, open threat to Thedas now comes from the Qun, which has invaded the coast of Tevinter and begun conquering their way inland. Ventus (formerly Qarinus) and Carastes fell swiftly in 9:44, before Tevinter had managed to muster a military response. In the year since then, the Qunari have taken Neromenian and Marothius, Vyrantium is under siege, and the harbors of Marnus Pell, Asarias, and Minrathous are nearly impossible to reach by sea without falling afoul of the Qun's naval forces. While the invasion is currently limited to Tevinter, there are concerns that the Qun may not stop there.
There is also increasing activity by elven operatives, led by an elf calling himself Fen'Harel. While the general public knows them only as elven agitators, the Inquisition is aware that Fen'Harel is actually Solas, an ancient elf mage of incredible power who was responsible for raising the Veil in ages past. They're also aware that he is now intent on destroying the Veil and returning the world to what it was before. No one knows what the full effect of that would be, but even Solas and his agents acknowledge that at minimum the sudden flood of unrestrained magic, spirits, and demons into Thedas as it currently exists would be an event that many people would not survive.
AUing your characters into this timeline could mean AUing them as minor participants in the Inquisition who didn't play a significant role in Corypheus' defeat or AUing them in as new agents who were recruited after the Inquisition disbanded and its remnant began focusing on Fen'Harel. You could also say that they never joined at all and have continued leading their own lives elsewhere in Thedas.
Rifters who participate in this dreamworld will not have existed prior to the point they materialize into existence in the dream in 9:45. They won't have anchors, and they may be wearing their Thedosian wardrobes and otherwise able to blend in immediately. No one will know who they are or be familiar with the concept of rifters' existence.
FR Future AU (9:52 in the Fade Rift Timeline)
Red lyrium infestation and Blight have affected much of the world. Rifts appear with increasing frequency in all corners of the world, and now many of them are black and corrupted, spilling out Blight. The Veil has grown so weak that the Fade has begun to bleed into the real, chunks of impossible fade landscapes appearing in the tangible world. Spirit appearances and possessions have also grown more common.
The open warfare currently occurring in the real present has ended, with Corypheus defeating the Inquisition and its allies and controlling most of Thedas through the now vast ranks of his Venatori followers and with the help of his army of darkspawn and red lyrium-infected. There is also now a small army of people with anchors, used both in combat and to open and close rifts at will. This is used primarily for magical experimentation and as a tool to control the populace with the threat of opening rifts in communities that misbehave. Anyone with an anchor, whether rifter or native, is in danger of being captured by the Venatori and either experimented on or forced into service (or both!).
Precisely how the war proceeded from 9:47-9:52 isn't something PCs will remember. If asked how he won or how the war ended, people are likely to sigh and say something like, "It was all over after he broke open the Gates." There will sometimes be arguments about which of the seven gates it was that truly signaled the end of their hopes of victory, but PCs will not remember details, just that there are seven gates and they're clearly important.
The Tevinter Imperium once again stretches the length and breadth of the known world, from the Donarks to the Brecilian Forest. Corypheus and his six closest allies rule it as gods. They are known only by their titles, and while PCs won't remember precisely what those titles were, they may recall that some of them were familiar from the legends of the ancient magisters, while others were in a similar style, but new. Throughout Thedas, the Venatori rule has brought back the worst excesses of the ancient Imperium. Slavery is commonplace, and blood magic rituals are now practiced openly.
The southern Chantry has been abolished and, despite a period in which it attempted to reconcile Corypheus's rule with its beliefs, the Black Chantry as well. Worship of Corypheus and (to a slightly lesser extent) his six fellow Magisters is now the only accepted religion in Thedas. While perhaps not quite healing the ages-long schism, this fate has brought together the faithful throughout Thedas, and several prominent resistance factions are run by former clerics from one Chantry or another and cultivate religious fervor.
Major cities and many larger towns are ruled with some degree of strict military-enforced control, similar to how occupied territories were handled during the war. Citizens who keep their heads down, follow the rules, and don't make waves can go about their lives and trades more or less as before, but the climate is, at best, tense. Those who make waves, or who are believed to be any sort of potential threat to do so are likely to be watched, followed, harassed, and preemptively imprisoned or enslaved if the authorities feel it necessary. They've cultivated a paranoid culture in which guilt by association is accepted, informing on neighbors is rewarded and failure to do so often punished.
People in smaller communities or the countryside are less subject to this sort of direct control, but have problems of their own. Darkspawn are more common now than they have ever been between Blights, and attacks on isolated communities or travelers are not uncommon. Red lyrium-infected or Fade-touched creatures are also common dangers, and bandits of every variety stalk the rural areas where Tevinter's grip is less immediate.
Resistance to the new order is scattered and weakened, but continues in various forms across the world. There are factions motivated by religion and the belief that Corypheus proclaiming himself a god and destroying the Chantry is an atrocity that cannot be allowed to stand. There are those motivated by national pride, or by a desire to reclaim titles or powers lost in the conquest, or hatred of the Venatori and their methods. These factions vary wildly in size, methods, and resources.
The most concentrated core of resistance focused on overthrowing the regime as a whole formed out of the survivors of the Inquisition and Riftwatch, and is now based in the Korcari Wilds in southern Ferelden. Ferelden remains less pacified than most of Thedas, having been something of an afterthought for the enemy, not eager to spend significant resources on conquering a half-empty backwater with tricky geography. Queen Anora was executed some years ago for her participation in a plot against Corypheus, and her name has been a rallying cry for the resistance in Ferelden. Her former husband, revealed to be a member of the Venatori, now rules alone. (PCs will not remember his name or where he was from.) Denerim is fully controlled, and the coastlands and Bannorn more than not, but the edges of the country beyond the reach of the Imperial Highway: the Hinterlands, the foothills of the Frostbacks, and particularly the Brecilian Forest and Korcari Wilds, remain more free than most of Thedas, for now.
Hidden deep in the wetlands, the resistance has built a camp over the last year or two that now houses a few hundred people in collections of buildings on stilts or even perched in trees, connected by raised walkways. Travel is conducted primarily by poling rafts or shallow boats through the narrow and often-changing waterways. They trade with the Chasind, but otherwise make do with living off the land. A single eluvian, connected to a small network of precious others dotted about Thedas, remains in their control and allows them to work in the outside world. Most of the Crossroads is now either destroyed or dominated by the enemy, so these last few eluvians are guarded with extreme care. A few are still hidden in ruins, and using them requires creeping out under cover of darkness to avoid even the chance of a passerby noting activity and going exploring. One remains hidden in a basement in Antiva City, and users must come and go via an old sewer tunnel to avoid detection.
AUing your characters into this timeline could mean AUing them as members of the resistance based in the Korcari Wilds, or members of other factions elsewhere in Thedas. Or they might be former members of Riftwatch now just trying to go about their lives under Venatori rule, or even prisoners of some sort. They could also have been off-screen casualties, now arriving in the dream aware only of the real present and without memory of the AU death their friends lived through.
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