Fade Rift Mods (
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MOD PLOT: With Strides Immeasurable
MOD PLOT: With Strides Immeasurable
Remember way back in January when everyone arranged the eluvians into a circle in a safe area of the Crossroads? Over the course of the month, Riftwatch will be establishing a stronger presence in multiple strategic locations within Thedas, using those eluvians to interconnect these locations so moving between them is no more troublesome than taking the ferry into Kirkwall. The locations range from snowy to tropical, and the safehouses range from hidden places embedded within enemy territory that will require caution and finesse to relatively safe and remote locations that can be used for storage (or dangerous experiments, Research) or as fall-back locations if Riftwatch ever needs to retreat from Kirkwall. When the work is done, Riftwatch will essentially have a base that's fractured across the continent, enabling your characters to walk from an outpost in Minrathous to a thaig in Ferelden over the course of a conversation.
In the meantime, it's a reason to visit all these places, get a read on how they're doing in the wake of everything that's happened, and assist where possible.
This plot is fairly laid back and intended to let people create adventures to suit them, whether that means having your character narrowly evade death in the streets of Minrathous or fight demons in a beleaguered seaside village or meet with an allied rebel in Qarinus or just spend some time chatting with a friend while sweeping cobwebs out of a safehouse. Since they're using the eluvians to travel, you can easily have your character be in any and all of the possible locations at different times—you don't have to choose between them.
The one rule here is that you can't write the enemy discovering Riftwatch's eluvians/new outposts and living to tell about it, because that'd invalidate a lot of other people's work at the outset. Otherwise, if your character gets up to something that's particularly noteworthy or you invent an NPC with staying power, you can drop a comment here. You don't need to wait for us to approve these; this is just to help us and everyone else stay informed. (Or if there is an issue, we'll yell stop the presses and talk it over with you.) Some examples include:
- Your character is caught in Minrathous and requires a jailbreak, or other events that the Division Heads in particular would need to be aware of.
- You invent an NPC contact in Seere who's going to keep Riftwatch informed of naval activity on the coast, or other notable NPCs who people could reference during future visits.
- You create a location where the Veil is especially thin and there's a notable strange effect, or other problems Riftwatch might need to visit a second time to deal with.
REWARDS
Rewards are earned by writing tags in the mod plot. Generally, unless we specify otherwise due to some particular plot mechanic, five log tags (from you, not total) per thread will earn a reward. Rewards are organized into tiers; you unlock a tier by completing the requisite number of threads within a single mod plot. So if you do one thread that has at least five log tags from you, you unlock Tier 1. If you have two, you unlock Tier 2, etc.
There are three tiers, and everyone is limited to three rewards total (per player, not per character). You can downgrade your rewards from the second or third tiers to lower tiers if the higher tier items don’t appeal to you (for example, if you've unlocked Tier 3 but you'd rather have two things from Tier 2 instead). If this is confusing, here is a little chart where the Xs are rewards you can claim. You can only ever have three rewards total per mod plot.
Rewards unique to this mod plot are starred. For these unique rewards, you must do a thread in that reward's place of origin, noted in parenthesis, in order to claim it. Just one thread is enough to unlock a particular place—you don't need your three threads to all be in Tevinter to claim the Tekla Orb, for instance, and you can claim multiple Tevinter rewards even if one of your threads is in Tevinter and the other two are set elsewhere. For our usual every-plot rewards, your threads can be from anywhere.
For this plot, threads in the log will count, as will top-level rookery posts or ten-comments-from-you response threads that are clearly tied to the work or given locations, such as alerting people to a danger, discussing information gathered about the status of a place, or asking for advice or assistance with a plot-related problem. (Asking what people's favorite sandwich is and just noting in the background that your character is in Minrathous or making one comment about a plot point and then discussing sandwiches for the rest of a thread doesn't count.) The deadline to write the requisite number of tags and claim any rewards for this plot is October 31, 2024, at which point we assume everyone is going to be busy for a little while anyway. :) To claim a reward, reply here.
Tier 1
- Runes. You can acquire any one canonical runestone to add to your character's weapon or armor so their sword has fire or their armor is imbued with some magical protection.
- Rift items, gag/simple variety. Your character can find an item that came through a rift from another world, their own or not. Snack foods, posters of pop idols, underpants with elastic, etc. Things that are fun or sentimental but don't have much in the way of moving parts and won't generally be useful on missions.
- Weird pets. Bring home a monkey or a wolf. The pet must be something that can semi-realistically be either permanently contained (sharks in tanks, small rodents, etc.) or trained/tamed out of being dangerous to the general populace. No dragons, nothing rideable (see mounts under Tier 2).
- First anchor ability. If your character currently has a vanilla anchor, the anchor can develop either an offensive (shooting small rift-energy projectiles) or defensive (generating a small rift-energy protective barrier, similar in size to a personal shield) capability.
- ★ Ghost Plants (Nevarra). Not literally spirits, but odd, pale varieties of common plants created through a combination of magic and selective cross-pollination. Originally intended as a way for the revered dead to be entombed with their favorite plants. They range from silvery sage-green to fully white, and they require no light and minimal water to grow, enabling someone to have a healthy wall of ivy or a potted tree in a dark room. (Unlimited.)
- ★ Enchanted Banana Pot (Rivain). A sizable (approx. 30 gallon) clay pot inlaid with runes that keep the soil the proper temperature for growing banana plants, already host to one plant that's prepared to bear fruit within the next few months. While the obvious use is to allow the owner to have fresh bananas in otherwise inhospitable climes, the pots could easily be used to grow other useful seasonal plants that do better outdoors but can't handle the cold—or traded to wealthy Southerners who are gaga for exotic fruits. (Unlimited.)
- ★ Rainbow Lamps (Tevinter). A set of seven glass globes, each faintly tinted a different color, in a case with a metal stick. When tapped with the stick, the globes will glow in a brighter version of their tint.
- ★ Griffon Rider Goggles (Anderfels). Not the goggles themselves, but the design, passed along by a rebel Warden who made plans for them when the griffon eggs first hatched. The goggles will keep the wind out of your eyes in the sky, with an additional binocular layer that can be flipped down over your eyes to magnify your vision and allow a clearer view of the surface from great heights. Simple to actually construct once the materials are acquired. (Unlimited.)
- ★ Potion Pallette (Orlais). A case containing an array of colored powders, half of which are in fact mild poisons and potions—things that cause itching or swelling when applied to the skin, a minor sedative that might calm mild nerves or loosen someone's tongue a tad, etc. The other half are actually make-up, so it can be used to prevent suspicion. The mirror in the lid is somewhat transparent, allowing the user to appear to be intently focused on their own reflection while actually focused on whatever is happening beyond it. (Unlimited.)
- ★ Space Heater (Tevinter). A black metal contraption that resembles an angular flower, with legs to keep it standing at a slightly upward angle. The center of the flower is a glowing yellow-orange orb that emits as much ambient heat as a brazier of equivalent size, with less light and no need for maintenance or risk of real fire. (Unlimited.)
- Fade-touched materials. Your character can acquire materials that have been touched by the Fade and have them made into a weapon, armor, or other item that has special abilities. There's a list here.
- Half of a specialization. To reflect the time and effort it requires to actually learn a new specialization, acquiring a new one requires two rewards spread across two mod plots. You can use one of the canon specializations or create your own. If you create your own, put it in mod contact for us to review and approve.
- Mabari. A mabari can imprint on your character. How your character acquires the mabari—getting unwillingly adopted by an old one without a master, intentionally buying a puppy, etc.—is up to you.
- Weird mounts. A hart (or equivalent), dracolisk, or nuggalope.
- Second anchor ability. If your character has a first anchor ability (see Tier 1), they can now have the second one, too.
- ★ Hoverboard (Tevinter). A round, lightweight platform wide enough to stand on that's been enchanted—in part using blood magic, most likely, but if you steal it rather than buy it maybe that's slightly less icky?—to be moveable when pressure is applied to the runes on either side of the edge, typically in the form of gripping it in your hand, but to stay wherever it is upon being released. Even midair. Its common uses in Tevinter households include as a step stool or as a temporary wine and cheese table in the middle of wading pools. Gripping the rune to move it will also cause gravity to reassert itself, so it can't be moved and stood on at the same time. (Unlimited.)
- ★ Aesthetic Anesthetic (Tevinter). A stylish cuff, inlaid with runes, that causes near-complete numbness to whichever limb it's applied to—preventing pain along with every other sensation, and rendering the limb a bit useless until it's removed. Also available in belt form, designed for abdominal pain. This is not related to any mods' recent real-life experiences. (Unlimited.)
- ★ Blight Alarm (Anderfels). Experimental enchanted technology developed in cooperation with Kal-Sharok, this device is a small drinking-glass sized pillar made of porous stone, with a glass and lyrium-rune contraption on top. When planted stone-side down in the ground, it will just sit there, unless the Blight (in its slow-spreading, fungus-like, plant-life-destroying form) contaminates the stone, at which time it will light up in warning. Once contaminated, the stone portion can be disposed of and replaced with another rock of the same type and shape. (Unlimited.)
- Enchanted or legendary items. You can use named items from canon, invent your own named item from made-up Thedasosian history, or have an enchanted item of your own invention or discovery that doesn't have a name and/or former owner. These can be items that are useful in combat, like weapons and armor, but they don't have to be. E.g., a self-filling tea pot.
- Rift items (magical/useful/complex). Your character can come across an item from another world. This tier is for things more serious and useful than snacks and underwear. As a rule, advanced technology (if it is allowed at all) will be converted into something enchanted.
- Griffon tamer. Now that the griffons are breeding freely in the mountains around Kirkwall (and the existing griffons are reaching middle age), your character can befriend, tame, and ride a wild griffon that you invent and name yourself.
- Anchor upgrade. This reward is only available to characters who have had their anchors for more than nine months. With this upgrade anchor can grow to the size of the Herald’s anchor, allowing them to close rifts alone. They'll also exhibit more powerful versions of the anchor abilities (if they have them).
- ★ Rosamunde (Nevarra). A skull from Nevarra that has long been home to a soul (or spirit of indeterminate type, depending on your opinion on souls). Rosamunde has seen better days; her lower jaw is missing, her polish is scuffed, and the casings that once housed a few jewels have been empty for some time. She's also spent several hundred years alone, inside a chest, in the forgotten lower levels of the Necropolis. When found, she'll imprint on her rescuer, the first new face she's seen after so long—which is to say she'll emit an unending unholy shriek if they attempt to pass her off on anyone else. She'll be particularly insistent on not being given to the Mortalitasi. She's been in the Necropolis with these assholes for so long, and then they FORGOT her. Don't even tell them about her. She wants to see the world! (Limit: 1.)
- ★ Stalker Compass (Antiva). A set containing an enchanted compass and enchanted runestone. The compass's needle points north as expected, most of the time, but when activated by the runes in the lid it will instead point toward its paired runestone, which can be—for example—slipped into a target's pocket or hidden in their carriage. Effective only within limited distances; it can track someone on the other side of the average city, but not from another city altogether. (Limit: 5.)
- ★ Tekla Orb (Tevinter). A gleaming black orb that looks a lot like volcanic glass but is relatively indestructible. Once activated, it will build energy for around thirty seconds, then spend the next five minutes emitting constant, dangerous arcs of lightning that strike anything nearby, with effects ranging from mild shock to death. Possible uses include rolling or catapulting it into enemy military formations and finding a way to contain and channel its electric energy for other purposes. But be careful. Its inventor, Tekla, is rumored to have been killed by his own creation. (Limit: 3.)
QUESTIONS
Re: QUESTIONS
1. can i claim something and have someone else find it if my character is going to get use out of it? for instance, hypothetically, could i claim tier 1 gold star stickers as a rift item and have stephen strange find them and star ness' magic homework?
2. can i claim an enchanted item and bank it to actually acquire later if i tell you exactly what it will be and under what circumstances it will trigger?
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2. That's also fine! There's no deadline to actually find an object (or bond with a griffon or learn a specialization IC) once it's been purchased.
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Re: QUESTIONS
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Re: QUESTIONS
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She does talk. Ymmv on "normally." Her long years of isolation have distilled her down to purer emotions than a person would feel—so she talks like an adult, but she feels kind of like an overtired, demanding toddler who can only feel one thing at a time. Picture an extremely educated college professor who's also so immature she'll sit on the floor and cry if her students don't pay attention in class.
SAFEHOUSES & SUBPLOTS & NPCS & NEIGHBORHOODS
- The names of involved player characters
- A link to where your event is occurring or your NPCs/locations/etc. are being referenced
- A brief summary—one or two sentences is plenty
MINRATHOUS - MAGICAL DISTURBANCE
Isaac is threading in a small gladiatorial arena that's been subject to rapid magical aging. Living beings inside the ring of the arena grow at unusual pace, more quickly the closer one gets to the center. They, accordingly, get old and die at the same pace.
The effects on creatures and people that exit the direct ring of the arena (into the stands, or the basements, or street beyond) resume their normal appearance and physical age.
NEVARRA CITY - MAGICAL DISTURBANCE / NEIGHBOURHOOD
Cedric is threading in the Nevarra City Alienage, which has been cleared of the dead, and largely abandoned. The Alienage's Vhenadahl has been magically warped, and some of the bones interred beneath (by the poor or particularly elf-traditional) have fused and grown into the living tree.
FERELDEN - OSTAGAR RUINS
Isaac and Benedict are going to see some displaced apostates hanging out near the ruins of Ostagar, where scavengers and highwaymen have taken up residence prying bits off the old fortress. They're not going inside, and nothing's been established about that, so there's still plenty of room for whatever there.
VAL ROYEAUX—NPC
Ness and Stephen are threading an attempt to recruit elven University of Orlais biology adjunct Luc-Mercier Volante to come to Kirkwall to work on penicillin research.
They will ultimately be successful.MINRATHOUS - NPC
The Nistas can provide hooks for Ambassadoria-related intel/plots, and Riftwatch has a vested interest in Avigd’s safety to keep their actual informant happy, but his behaviour will probably get him in trouble with the Carta someday for encroaching on lyrium smuggling and he might need a safe extraction. Could be a player plot someday, but others can totally feel free to run with this!
VAL ROYEAUX - MAGICAL DISTURBANCE & NPC
NEVARRA CITY - SAFEHOUSE + NPC
These interests are "not getting done for treason in Orlais". In exchange for his life and this opportunity, Marcellin will be providing Riftwatch with a list of Orlesian collaborators attempting to benefit materially from the war and his allegiance and support, including using his new home as a safehouse and possible base of operations if working in Nevarra City. He is on a Riftwatch leash rather than joining as an agent, will be reporting directly to them anything of interest he becomes privy to, etc. His efforts in Nevarra will all be funded out of his own pockets.
REWARD CLAIMS
The deadline is October 31, 2024.
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Player: k2
Character: Isaac
Link(s): Petra & Isaac - Minrathous
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: 1 - Rift items - Gag
Notes/Specifications: A box of AI-generated objects to make characters identify / invent uses for.
Character: Cedric Carsus
Link(s): Gwen & Cedric - Nevarra
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: 2 - Half a specialization
Notes/Specifications: Chippin' away.
Character: Cedric Carsus
Link(s): Hermione & Cedric - Antiva (4 + Starter)
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: 2 - Second anchor ability
Notes/Specifications: Pew pew.
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Character: ness
Link(s): Ness & Vanya
Tier Reached: 1
Reward: 1 - rift item - simple
Notes/Specifications: a box of gold star sticker rolls, to be found by ness and stephen
Link(s): Ness & Petra
Tier Reached: 2
Reward: 2 - hoverboard
Notes/Specifications: gonna get so much use in the library
Link(s): Ness & Stephen
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: 3 - rosamunde
Notes/Specifications: skull friend SKULL FRIEND
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Character: Gwenaëlle Baudin
Link(s): Petra and Ness in Tevinter
Tier Reached: 1
Reward: ★ Rainbow Lamps (Tevinter). A set of seven glass globes, each faintly tinted a different color, in a case with a metal stick. When tapped with the stick, the globes will glow in a brighter version of their tint.
Link(s): Hanging with Gramps in Orlais
Tier Reached: 2
Reward: ★ Potion Pallette (Orlais). A case containing an array of colored powders, half of which are in fact mild poisons and potions—things that cause itching or swelling when applied to the skin, a minor sedative that might calm mild nerves or loosen someone's tongue a tad, etc. The other half are actually make-up, so it can be used to prevent suspicion. The mirror in the lid is somewhat transparent, allowing the user to appear to be intently focused on their own reflection while actually focused on whatever is happening beyond it.
Link(s): Gwen and Cedric in Nevarra
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Enchanted or legendary items. You can use named items from canon, invent your own named item from made-up Thedasosian history, or have an enchanted item of your own invention or discovery that doesn't have a name and/or former owner. These can be items that are useful in combat, like weapons and armor, but they don't have to be. E.g., a self-filling tea pot.
Notes/Specifications: The Skin That Stalks, unique armour.
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Character: Stephen Strange
Link(s): 1, 2, 3 (set in Tevinter)
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Tier 1 - Space Heater (Tevinter)
Reward: Tier 2 - Aesthetic Anesthetic (Tevinter)
Reward: Tier 2 - First half of a specialisation
Notes/Specifications: Starting to save up for a spec, will submit a request for the actual build later down the line!
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Character: Jayce Talis
Link(s): 1, 2, 3
Tier Reached: 3
Reward:
- Tier 1: ★ Griffon Rider Goggles (Anderfels): He plans to make these in bulk for Riftwatch.
- Tier 2: Second anchor ability: Pew pew.
- Tier 3: Enchanted or legendary items: See below.
Notes/Specifications:
Forging an enchanted set of ~seven posts that produce a lyrium-based barrier when activated, to be stationed around the perimeter of and the highest point of the Gallows as a defense. The posts are movable (idk maybe they weigh 30kg each or something so they're not easily pluckable?), and can work with no less than two posts together. I guess they're kind of like batteries?; the energy they discharge is the barrier and they can be recharged with lyrium (or refilled?). It would be a modification of Jayce's canon tech (see: energy barrier on the Mercury Hammer and the Atlas Gauntlets), lyrium, and the Anchor barrier function.
He's also still drafting plans for a lyrium/enchanted cannon for the Gallows artillery, but the barrier idea seemed the better of the two to start with for logistical and personal reasons...
ETA: Actually, he'd probably equip the individual posts with physical anchors, probably a mechanism that drives a spike down into the ground or something using the lyrium as a power source for it.
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Let us know if you have any questions!
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Character: Hermione Granger
Link(s): Clarisse and Hermione catch these hands while on a rebuilding assignement
Tier Reached: 1
Reward: First anchor ability
Notes/Specifications: Pew pew.
Link(s): Captain Baudin and Hermione secured a dwarven outpost in Orzammar
Tier Reached: 2
Reward: One half of a specialisation
Notes/Specifications: Extended spell list, I'm comin' for you (in 1-2 mod plots time).
Link(s): Astrid and Hermione intimidate a dwarf in Minrathous
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Tekla Orb
Notes/Specifications: If available, if not available, I'll take it something else.
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Character: Viktor "Give Me All Your Wizard Shit" Tendercrisp
Link(s): with Strange in Orlais
Tier Reached: 1
Reward: Space Heater (Tevinter)
Link(s): with Lazar at the abandoned outpost
Tier Reached: 2
Reward: Aesthetic Anesthetic (Tevinter)
Specifications: the cuff version
Link(s): with Gwen in Minrathous
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Tekla Orb (Tevinter)!!!
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sliding in before the deadline
Character: Vanya
Link(s): Vanya & Stephen (with special guest star) - Nevarra
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Runes
Notes/Specifications: Specifically, a demon-slaying rune, which he will have worked into his formerly unmagical sword
Character: Siegfried
Link(s): Siegfried & Astrid - Anderfels
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Fade-touched materials
Notes/Specifications: He'll pick up some fade-touched imperial vestment cotton, if allowed, which he'll have made into a new lining for his cloak
Character: Vanya
Link(s): Vanya & Ness - Nevarra
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Enchanted or legendary items
Notes/Specifications: The Best Defense (shield) if that's OK! If it's too much lmk and I'll think of something else.
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Character: Benedict
Link(s): this one and stealing one from barrow
Tier Reached: 2
Reward: half a spec
Notes/Specifications: I'll write up a custom spec for yas before I ask for the second half
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Character: Bastien
Link(s): In Orlais
Tier Reached: 1
Reward: Space heater
Notes/Specifications: n/a
Character: Xiomara
Link(s): In Tevinter
Tier Reached: 2
Reward: Hoverboard
Notes/Specifications: n/a
Character: Bastien
Link(s): In Ferelden
Tier Reached: 3
Reward: Enchanted Object
Notes/Specifications: Brass knuckles (for one hand only, next time I am coming for the other hand with a different effect) enchanted to store energy over time (faster w punching impacts) and periodically allow them to apply Fade Step to a target in the direction of the applied force. Which is to say he can punch somebody and Fade Step them away from him or he could if necessary thump himself in the chest instead and get Fade Stepped back.
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