On the morning of Day 20 (ooc: 9th October) passengers will notice that the void looks… weird. It swirls faster and more readily than usual. The colours seem bolder and shift violently from one extreme to another. Explanation will come quite quickly through an information piece on the ICP: They have entered a void storm.
What exactly a void storm is and what effects it will have will very rapidly become apparent.
In the VoidThe void is always strange and ever shifting, and usually, those who look too deeply might think they can see shapes or patterns. Usually, they are gone in seconds.
Now though, passengers will see faces, objects and scenery in the void. Places and people from home. The colours shift into images from their memories and shift away into chaos once more.
Worse are the voices: calling them are those they have known in their past. Asking them to come closer, tempting them, begging them.
There is no way for passengers to leave the train, but the more they look, the more they’ll want to try and reach out to those they see or hear. The worse the voices get, the greater the temptation to watch the void, until they can do nothing but stare out of the nearest window.
On the TrainThe images outside aren’t the only strange thing going on whilst the train navigates this storm. Passengers will find that the train seems a lot more crowded than usual. It may be that a carriage looks normal. Or, they enter a carriage to find it full; perhaps it is, suddenly, strangely, impossible to find a seat at the dinner table.
It may be that they see someone departed from the train, whether they knew them well or not, whether they departed recently or are long gone. Others are unfamiliar, though all wearing the train uniform. These echoes are, for the most part, silent, though they may laugh or say simple things in passing. Never to the passengers, of course, but as if they were speaking to someone else just out of sight. They appear from nowhere and fade just as quickly, going about simple tasks or sitting around: reading, playing games or even eating food. Passengers will find that when they fade so too does whatever they are using or holding, as if the whole scene is an illusion. Passing through an echo will cause chills and weakness, and is generally deeply unpleasant for any sustained period of time.
As the day goes on, these echoes will start following passengers, focusing on those that are alone. Being close to the echoes will cause weakness, fatigue and drowsiness. The more echoes following a passenger, the weaker and more tired that passenger will become.
CountermeasuresTo help fight off the effects of the echoes outside and inside the train, characters must spend time together. Talking, playing games, cooking together. Any shared activities will make the voices quieter and the images from the void fainter, and it will be easier to fight the draining effects of the echoes inside the train, or not attract their attention in the first place, when in company.
For the echoes inside the train, passengers will also find that if they name them, or acknowledge them by speaking of a memory or a moment shared between them, that echo will react positively - smiling, expressing goodwill, or similar - and then fade, leaving them alone completely.
End of the DayAs the swirls of the void are replaced by the pitch darkness of what passes for night, the echoes both inside and out disappear, as if they were never there. The next day the void is back to normal. Or, as normal as it ever is, at least...
Anticipated QuestionsMy character can sense/talk to/control spirits. Can they interact with the echoes. No. For those that have any kind of ‘spirit sense’ they will find that these don’t ‘feel’ like spirits at all, they won’t get any special sense or feeling from them. They cannot be spoken with or controlled via mystical means. The only interaction people will be successful with is naming them or sharing memories as mentioned in the Countermeasures section.
Can the echoes be recorded on a camera or other imagining device? No. Any photos taken throughout the event will not show the echoes at all, though the pictures themselves will look normal in all other respects.
My character cannot see. Will they still be compelled to look out into the void? They will still hear the voices and will still be compelled to ‘stare’. It will more be a wish for proximity; they may find themselves in the small gaps between cars, listening to the sounds.
What happens if my character doesn’t spend time with others or purposefully allows the echoes to overwhelm them? They will feel weaker and weaker until they fall asleep where they stand, at which point it won’t be possible for them to wake up on their own. However, other passengers can wake them as if from a deep sleep. They will feel quite weak for a few days afterwards.
Will my character be compelled to try and break the train (windows or otherwise) to get outside? If they are particularly weak to mind control/glamours/other such emotional manipulation, they may try to actually break out of the train. They will not be successful.
Are pets or companions affected? No. Pets and companions don’t seem to be able to perceive the echoes at all.
Who might we see? For the echoes inside the train: We have made a list
here of past characters who they may see. It doesn’t matter if your character doesn’t know them, and if you have no idea who any of them are, you can be nice and vague about the strange figures following your character! There are others not on that list as well- humanoid for the most part, though some who look more alien. All are in the Voidtrecker Uniform.
For echoes outside the train: These can be any places or people from your characters’ pasts. They will look and sound realistic enough to be tempting but will ultimately be trying to persuade passengers to join them.
Are we seeing the same thing as each other? Passengers will see the same echoes inside the train. If an echo is following character A and character B comes to help, they will both see the same echo.
Outside the train is a little more complex. They see their individual images, but if two people are looking at the same section of void those images may merge or overlap. Basically you can play this as weird as you wish with merged images.
Does my character have to see things? I think seeing X or Y will upset them too much. It is up to you what exactly your character sees. The echoes outside can be as detailed or vague as you wish. If there are past characters that it would upset your character too much to see on the train again they can easily just not run into those echoes. How many echoes they see and how frequently is completely up to you!
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