Event: No Place Like Home

[voidtreckermods]

Many of you long to return home...

THE SETUP

On Poi 21 (February 10th), the Voidtrecker Express will share an announcement with everyone: It will be doing what it can to send everyone who wants to return from where they came back. It has heard their arguments, it has witnessed what they reported to the ministry, and they want to make things right. They will warn characters that there may be issues as they attempt to remove the tether, and there's a likely chance they'll return, so they should make the most of their time off the train that they can. (Mod Note: This announcement will now be part of the event post and happen on Poi 22)

So, on Poi 22, the train will arrive at a platform, and those that wish to leave will be allowed to. Opening their eyes, they will find themselves in the last place they remember being - the last spot on a world, in a space station, somewhere familiar. And after the distress caused by the Ministry's information, even if they had reason to be concerned about their bodies, they seem - and feel - fine.

Just, there's two things: They still happen to be wearing their SCAs, and if they move more than five miles out from where they've appeared…

…they'll find themselves walking into a fog, leading them right back onto the platform from where they came.

THE EVENT

This will be a 2-parter event, with the first part around February 12th to 19th (Poi 22-25), and the second February 20th to 25th (26-28). The first half will be considered the main portion of the event for those returning to their worlds, and the second part will focus on those left behind on the train and their efforts to help.

Note: Don't worry about hurrying to wrap up these threads in the above times! This is so you know that on the 25th, the train will have a response for what happened.

RETURNING:

Voidtreckers will return to where they came from, but will be doing so still tethered to the train - so, not in their actual bodies, but as their void selves. Moving too far from where they came to will lead them to the Void Platform, making it possible to meet other 'sent back' passengers. It's also possible to go to their worlds from here, or wherever the other is tethered from. At first, they'll need to be invited, but then they'll be able to enter locations at will once they know where they're going (so to speak). As the event goes on, they will find themselves returning to the platform and then onto other worlds more often, even if they don't stray too far away.

Whilst on their own world or on others, they will realise that people do not automatically perceive them. If they approach or speak to someone, they will be noticed and nothing will seem amiss. But otherwise peoples eyes seem to glide past them, and so those that don't 'fit' in the world don't seem to cause any alarm unless they make a scene.


STUCK BETWEEN:

For some who try returning, it doesn't seem to work. For whatever reason, they don't find themselves on their world but instead on a void platform. They will be able to visit other worlds with the other returners, even if their own is closed to them. This option is here mainly for those whose own worlds aren't viable, or who want to take part in the world-hopping portion of the event but feel seeing their own world would upset their character too much.


ON THE TRAIN:

Those still on the train can interact with one another. Those that remain might be those that have made the choice to, or those who attempt to go to their world but find themselves mysteriously back on the train instead- for those that need an opt out.

The train will attempt to return to the void but find itself unable to, throughout the event there will be attempts to enter voidspace, but they will return to the platform. The doors remain closed, but they might catch a glimpse of passengers that left through the windows as they move from world to world. During the second part of the event, they'll be helping the released passengers return to the train using the anchoring method introduced during the Fake Diagad event.

SOME POINTS

LOCATIONS:

To help with planning, we're willing to allow the location to be slightly different from their 'pick up' point if it's rather boring, but it has to be somewhere near this spot. So if you want a town, island, etc. instead of an empty big desert, then that's fine. But even an area of land with some landmarks can be fun! Include details about these locations: those fun, and those not-so-fun. What are people like? What sort of cultural norms are there? It doesn't have to be super detailed, just enough for people to be able to add flavour into their tags.

The world they return to is the one they were pulled from. This means for CRAU characters it is their game worlds- we realise this might be trickier, especially if the game has now closed, and so it might be easier for them to be 'stuck between' and able to visit other worlds but not go to their own.


TIME:

The maximum amount of time we'll allow characters to experience passing while off the time is two weeks. On train, it will be six days.


NPCs:

If there would be people in that area, then they can be spoken to! Mods and mod helpers will not be NPCing for this event. For those of you who know the Ministry will be around on their world, some details can be discussed in the Questions section. Characters won't be perceived unless they make first contact.


CASTMATES:

For those who are on the train with others from their world, they will find it highly unlikely that they're from the same world. They will most likely find that their version of that character is still on their world, having never left. If there are castmates currently on the train from the exact same canon point, and you decide you wish to be from the same world, then that is alright to plot. But as a general rule, every character is from a different slice of the reality pie.


DEAD CHARACTERS/STATE OF THE WORLD:

What players will need to consider is the state of their characters' world. They've been gone for a while, and whatever effect their disappearance would have on the world will hold true, depending on their role in their world. For some, it's as simple as family being upset at their being gone; for others, it's as big as the world no longer existing. But essentially you are writing an 'AU' world where your character fell into a magical sleep at their pull point. Feel free to explore that as much or as little as you wish.

As long as a place exists, they'll still appear there, even if they were dying or dead at pull point. For those who have no place to return to, they will find themselves stuck on the platform but will be able to visit other peoples worlds as people begin stumbling into the platform again.


A LOST PLACE:

Among the many worlds and realities characters may find themselves stumbling into, one might stick out: Because it is nothing. They will appear in a black emptiness- they can breathe and exist thanks to their SCA's, but this doesn't even seem to be like space. It is not the Void that they travel in, but it is a void, devoid of anything. It is an incredibly unnerving place to be, luckily they will only be there a few moments before they return to the platform.


SCAS:

SCA comms will not be working. The only people from the train that can be spoken to are those on the platform that you meet. Passengers still on the train can't be interacted with. Those who attempt to evacuate to the train will find themselves back on the platform... To wander into yet another world.


LONG TERM EFFECTS:

As you can probably imagine, trying to send a large group of people back to their worlds along unstable tethers is going to cause some... hiccups. The larger world consequences are something that will be further explored in March's mission!

PLOTTING

On the mod side, we will include a page with a list of locations made available during this event! Each world - or location - will be available for visiting, and players can top-level and mess around. We would love to see a variety of locations to hub together.

<B>Character:</b> <B>Type of location:</b> City, plains, beach island? Space station? <B>About the location:</b> Here go the details! Please add a description of the area, images if possible, and any concerns of issues (hazards, dangers, etc). <B>Any other details:</b>
Remember that your character will think they're returning from where they came. The train will not agree to sending people anywhere else but the place they came from, even if that is... exactly what ends up happening.

Comments

Plotting: Returners and Stuck Betweens

[voidtreckermods]

For all the world hopping plans.

[jingyeets]

Jingyi will be going 'home' as he doesn't plan to not make himself try, and also because if things go wrong he's technically expendable (look, not that he admits this). As it will have him in the situation of visiting tethered, aside from trying to reassure people once he makes contact with them, but he won't want to spend time in a situation he also cannot control.

Notably, little will change in his world for him being struck like this, though he will be able to tell them it's not a random curse.

He's here to support friends (or fellow Voidtreckers) by accompanying them to their worlds once he realises that's possible, partly out of being curious, and partly because he's reassured that his assumptions about his world are correct: exactly zero is falling apart other than giving his best friend and best friend's family a case of worryitis.

Also, if anyone wants someone to go dragon in that 5mi radius on their world for whatever reason, Jingyi is That Guy who can, for Shenanigans (or necessities or whatever, if you want a flight up for a dragon's eye view on the area you're confined to on your world).

[fivemilesdeep]

Ryo is absolutely thrilled to be going home, though it may take a little time for him to come around to the idea that this isn't just another illusion. He's been unconscious for most of autumn and winter, which is inconvenient (and scares the hell out of his friends) but not world-breaking, so once he's established that everyone is okay, he's going to be beyond happy to see everyone. He may visit others' homes; he's far more likely to welcome the people he loves on the train back to his world, so they can have some context as to where he comes from and meet his friends and his mentor. (Come tattle on him to his mentor so Keita can talk a little sense into him.)

[dyingpro]

Come visit Zag's world so he can introduce you to Mom?

[10billionpercent]

Senku is absolutely delighted to be going home, in the hopes of staying there - and that's gonna last all of thirty seconds when he realizes his world has continued onto the point something has gone terribly wrong and all of humanity has again been petrified. Lacking the context, it seems like the worst case scenario.

It's an experience right out of his nightmares. Voidtreckers wouldn't be amiss if they didn't wonder how this wasn't a catastrophe situation.

He might need to be snapped out of another panic attack, one that he will very much not appreciate. Once he's calmed and back to himself he'll be glad to take people around to show them his world, if not a bit resigned and irritated by the situation. He can't fix it, there's nothing within his power at the moment to do that. He doesn't even have what he needs to wake a single soul.

Senku is unlikely to want to linger, but he will rather want to see his friends' worlds for the opportunity.

In Senku's world there are no NPCs to find.

[mtsilver_conquor]

Eva would like to visit his world.

and he can see hers ofc

[blitzcheer]

SO. SENKU. What would you think about the possibility of de-petrifying people when it comes around the time to help people come back to the train?

Since if Tidus shows up (or maybe someone else can with an idea to help!), he'd have the idea to use what he has on his canon world to help with it... and if you'd want it to work, they could mess with canon, have Senku speak to people before he agrees to return? They could also maybe. Leave a few things behind. Waves hand.

Tidus will only appear during the second part of the event, but!! Also a thought for anyone else this might be able to work with during the first. Who says you've got to follow canon, fingerguns.

[tactlesstantei]

Sera's going home, but unfortunately she'll be limited to Kyoto since she was on a school trip there at her canon point. I don't know what locations/landmarks will be within the five mile radius Sera can access unfortunately, and Sera isn't super familiar with the city, but she'll still be happy to wander around/sightsee with whoever visits.

Since she can use her phone to call people in her world, there may also be the chance for Sera to let people talk to her brother via phone if they want to meet him. She won't willingly let people talk to her mother, but it'll be possible to catch her trying to talk to her over the phone too.

She'll also be willing to worldhop around to other people's worlds, so please feel free to invite her to your character's worlds.

[yondu]

Yondu's going to go home though not entirely by choice. I'm going with the "woops" with the tether expirementation messing up. Though because he died out in the middle of space he's going to end up on the closest space port. Generally this means people would visit the MCU circa 2014, one year after the Dark World and the same year as Winter Soldier, and would have access to whatever space-based news characters could get. (This not provide much in the way of Earth outside of talking about some invasion antics in recent years on small non-space faring worlds like Earth/Terra/C53, but may give some helpful clues about what's going on/be able to pick up broadcasts if the character can figure out how?)

Because I've been awful to him he'll finally find out that his crew missed him, mourned him, and teamed back up. He'll also find out the Guardians of the Galaxy are still out there doing their thing.

Otherwise he'll be able to go with other people as needed and be some moral support.

If it matters to anyone whether he left intentionally or not, all of his little knickknacks will still be in his room, and if he goes anywhere he will usually take at least a couple with him. (I don't know if ICly that it'll be explained that 'accidents happen' but there's at least that.)

[spikelet]

Guess who's going back to a nondescript riverbank to look at her mutilated bodyyyyy.

Once she's dealt with her own remains and determined that she can't get back to anywhere useful within the tether radius, she'll start world-hopping. SHOW HER YOUR WORLDS???

[monkeyinthewrench]

Jake's going home. Brooklyn is a very dense place with lots to do, so he'd love to bring people along for a food truck tour (and to have backup to help him assure Amy he hasn't lost his mind). If any characters are true gourmands who want to explore Earth cuisine, Charles Boyle is available to assist you.

Jake also might ask Captain Holt if he can bring visitors to the precinct, since most of you don't seem to believe this doofus is really NYPD. He'll be pestering the squad about what happened while he was gone, spending a lot of time trying to reassure Amy...having to leave will be so tough.

But he's down to explore others' worlds! What cool stuff do you have?

[catti]

K'zeka will be going home out of curiosity and a desire to see certain people again. He'll have been 'gone' for nearly three months by this and while this hasn't made a huge impact on his world (yet), his unconscious state has sent his friends into a panic and rumors have been circulating that he's ill, dying, or dead. Which isn't great, considering he's the sole 'Warrior of Light' and no one's stepped up to try to take his place while he's out of commission.

There'll be spoilers up to patch 5.3 and possibly 6.0 if anyone interacts with him here and K'zeka will be in varying states of distressed upon realizing exactly what's going on.

[bakegarasu]

Otoha is going to be going back to Shinjuku literally the second he's able to. Unfortunately his body is unavailable, having been taken back to the yokai realm to figure out what happened to him.

He's going to be horrified that he’s not Karas anymore and have a total identity crisis so he will be a bit easier to pull away than he would normally.

[another_moon]

Usagi's going home, mostly to complete a promise she made to return the gems she carries in her Sailor Moon form and activate the other Sailor Guardians. She also needs to see if everything is okay in her world and if she needs to stay (which, sadly, won't happen).

Outside of that, she'll be making sure things are okay at home and check up on everything before helping out anyone who decided to visits her world.

Of course, there's a problem - Ail and An arrived prior and Sailor Venus is a little overwhelmed dealing with sudden Cardian monster attacks, so there's that!

[mystic_mongoose]

Mina's heading home with the goal of staying there. Last she remembered, there was still problems in her world, what with Sonic and Shadow missing and two Robotniks waging war against each other and her friends. It'll end up being a nice homecoming, though, since not only will she be able to let everyone know she's okay, she'll find out Sonic and Shadow are back.

Most of the action will take place around the Kingdom of Knothole, a technologically-advanced village hidden within the woods of the Great Forest. There, you'll be able to not only meet Mina's mother, Minerva, but also her friends within the Knothole Freedom Fighter and the Chaotix!

Also, in the fringes of that 5 mile limit, there'll be invasions by various robots sent by the two Robotniks.

[foxyou]

Shen Qingqiu wants nothing more than to go home and is absolutely taking this chance!

Except I took him from like half a second before he stepped through that portal back to that home sweet human realm, which means "home" this time gets to be the Endless Abyss, which in itself is a barren lifeless anomaly of time and space, so there's literally no way for him to tell that his absence affected anything at all...especially since if his body's supposed to have fainted around here, the single living person who was with him at the time would've left the Abyss with it and built an entire demonic empire while guarding it like a dragon who's decided to hoard Sleeping Beauty specifically.

So! The long and short of it is that he's going to be Extremely Disappointed upon discovering that he's left one place he wanted to escape only to end up back in the previous place he'd wanted to escape, and will consequently be more interested in visiting other people's worlds instead (or just sulking on the train). Anyone is free to visit and regret along with him! Because there's no way anybody would actually enjoy spending the night here!

Cw: executions, dead bodies, tyranny, brainwashing and so eating, planned self murder

[longforgottenpromise]

Also spoilers for Hills of Silver Ruin, a Black Moon

SO Taiki was taken from a very critical point of his canon. The day of Gyousou's execution. The courtyard of the palace was full of people dragged in to watch and among them all their allies- some captured, some snuck in to try and rescue Gyosuou and co. Taiki (who through very convuluted plotting had convinced the false emperor Asen that he was the true emperor so he could try and convince him to not let the people freeze and starve) has a plan. He plans to get to Gyousou's side, bow before him and prove he is the true king. And then probably die with him because he didn't have a plan past that. He kills the guard who is watching him and then with Yari at his side he runs towards Gyousou...

In canon they survive because Taiki's powers have returned without him realising and he transforms into kirin beast and it causes enough chaos and awe for them to escape. However he is taken from the run towards his king so in this Alternate Universe Taiki stabs a man, runs from his "true king" Asen and then... falls into a magical sleep.

Clearly a sleep that is punishment from the gods for his disobedience and violence. Kirin are not supposed to be able to wield weapons unless ordered to by their king after all. Gyousou is executed, as our those that began fighting the moment Taiki made his move.

Welcome to bad end Tai.

For Asen this is the best possible solution to all his problems. Gyousou is dead, brought low before the people. A new king has been picked by the gods but that doesn't matter because he has Taiki. He has the best kind of Taiki because Taiki is asleep and therefore not making trouble. He has Taiki locked away deep in the Palace and given the best care. He doesn't want Taiki to die because that will mean a new Taiki would be born, one who could seak out the new true king. This way there is no one to interfere with his plans and if Taiki wakes up well... He's not going to make the mistake of giving him any free reign again.

Only those on the pavilion knew that Taiki killed a guard and it is kept under wraps. After all if your pacifist holy creature is stabbing your dudes then something is seriously wrong. Instead the story given to the Palace and people is: Asen is the true king as proven by the fact there are witnesses who saw Taiki bow down before him. However Taiki, being a delicate and compassionate creature like all kirin was distraut at seeing his former King being led to his death so he defied his new master in a fool hardy attempt to save Gyousou's life. Kirin aren't supposed to be able to defy a direct order from their king and attempting to do so led to his current sickness. He is recovering in the Palace and Asen has provided for him the best care.

The bodies of Gyousou and the rebels are displayed in the courtyard-though they are very much skeletons now, unrecognisable unless you know the context. Any rebellions out of the Palace have been put down with great violence and Bun province, which was not in the best of states anyways, is set upon by soldiers in an attempt to root out any of the last of Gyousou's allies.

In his heart Taiki thinks he has prepared himself for this but its still going to destroy him. Since they can't get more than five miles away from the courtyard he is going to be stuck- he can't get to Tai itself below the sea of clouds, he can't fly to any of the other kingdoms or Mount Hou. So he will focus on trying to find some way to solve things from inside the Palace walls. This will probably involve plans such as trying to forge papers to give food supplies to people, trying to stop orders for soldiers and war and maybe trying to organise an assassination attempt on his own body to trigger the birth of the next Taiki.

Anyone coming into this world is going to be dealing with a very very serious Taiki and a very high stakes game of hide and speak. Try not to get your soul eaten by demon birds.

Re: Plotting: Returners and Stuck Betweens

[nell_of_soulwood]

Nell is going to return to Soulwood to defend her land and home only to find she/her body has been in a coma for the last three and a half months and currently is in a long term care ward associated with the hospital in Knoxville.

The church and her family are locked in a battle for her land - her family wanting to keep it for her for when she wakes up and the church wanting complete control. Her mother, her sister Mud, and some of the elder women have been looking after it and keeping up the gardens and such.

She's also probably going to learn some of the truth behind the stories John and Leah told her about her family.

Things could get messy.

[firewalled]

Rich is GOING HOME and is so excited about going home that he's probably going to stubbornly avoid perceiving any evidence that this isn't exactly... really happening. He's got a life to live! He's got a leaf to turn over! It's all good!

He'll be waking up at the Beth Israel ICU, and after some discussion with nurses, he'll probably manage to actually get in contact with his friends again. And he can go to school and everything! He'll be happy to show people around if they visit, and particularly introduce them to the dudes or to Christine. His world isn't very exciting, but maybe it'd be fun to have someone help Rich confront his SQUIP salesman and crush some little robot pills!

Let me know if you have any ideas, or want to drag Rich to a different world- he's at least willing to visit other places, but he's nervous about abandoning his world for too long!

Re: Plotting: Returners and Stuck Betweens

[averyusefultray]

Hera will be going back to a very much still Imperial occupied Lothal. Turns out a lot of things hinged on her flying that TIE Defender data through a blockade!

If anyone is interested in helping find ways to ruin the Empire's day within five miles of that base she'd appreciate the help once she finishes certain activities the train so rudely interrupted...

Re: Plotting: Returners and Stuck Betweens

[cureofmanyworlds]

Nozomi’s going to try to go home, but guess what? She gets to be one of the stuck betweeners! Since Nozomi’s “world” is basically three different games, it’s too much of a strain and Nozomi’s going to be stuck on the void until someone urges her elsewhere!

Re: Plotting: Returners and Stuck Betweens

[gathersnomoss]

Because I took Zelgadis from post-series and the series had an epilog that was mostly on the 'Zelgadis is traveling', I had an open ability to decide where he was at the time, and I picked a named city (Saillune City) with some of the canonical characters present and so Zelgadis can deal constant anxiety about the other shoe dropping. Nothing much is going on -- whatever Lina Inverse (series protagonist and general trouble magnet) is doing, it's not here.

After Zelgadis establishes his body is fine, and that the transformation magic cast on his void self also affected his body, suddenly getting his void self tethered back to his body is a priority. This will mean discovering that he's got a 5-mile radius he can wander when he and his friend, Amelia (aka Princess Amelia of Saillune), go out looking for answers.

Cue flitting between the station, other worlds, and his own, to try to find how to handle the re-tethering. If others want to come to visit, he'll be happy to host. Despite the setback and Zelgadis's continued feeling that the last months are going far too well for him personally[1], he's in a good mood.

[1] Look, the life he's led meant that facing world-ending peril is just one of those things that happened, and even being less effective in a fight is not the worst thing.

Koumyou Sanzo

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou did not choose to leave the train, but got booted in error. He will be here for the first half or so of the event.

And then he won't be.

If anyone wants him for anything, HMU.

[knifewithnoname]

Little One will be going home. She will be torn about it but finally decide that it is her duty to her god.

She will be arriving in her city to find that nothing has really changed. The world still turns, the city still bustles and in her small place, the Poison Apple... No one seems to care that she's gone.

Their experiment was a failure, one girl dead and the other deep in a sleep. They've moved on.

Depending on interest I might have her talk to Taiwin and I might have Kant around but for the most part she's just going to skulk around and then try and go to the temple- since that was her last order- and then end up back on the platform for some world hopping times.

[silver_eyes_rose]

Ruby is going to take the plunge and try to return home… only to find out that, since she disappeared, the events of Volume 8 went sideways. She’ll be rattled badly, seeing as she wanted to try and save everyone and, well, they didn’t.

She’ll find a new city with the survivors of the fall of Atlas and Mantle living there along with Ruby’s friends and family that she traveled with.

The big thing Ruby will try to want to do is travel the ruins of Atlas and find the missing Penny and the Staff of Creation to at least fix things before she’s dragged back to the train.