promittere: (Default)
lunae calamitas mods ([personal profile] promittere) wrote in [community profile] lunaecalamitas2024-04-04 11:33 pm

if you say it's magic, then you're my wizard

WANING GIBBOUS OVERTURE
The seconds tick by, the elevator rattles. There's a soft, musical chime announcing your arrival before the elevator doors creak open, leaving you and a number of others in the courtyard of a stone manor. The manor is large, looming over the trees surrounding it, and the gardens are well maintained, rows of hedges and beds of blooming flowers as far as you can see. The doors linger open until you clear the threshold, as if waiting patiently for you. Dawdle too long and you’ll feel a gentle push, nudging you out into the yard. The doors shut with more rattles and a cheerful ding!, and if you turn to look at it there's nothing to be seen behind you but the milling strangers.

Then there's a sting, mild at first. But soon, the spot where your sage's crest is starts to burn. It's as though you have been branded, and the searing heat clings to your skin. Should you look at your crest, you'll find it glows a faint red, like the dying embers of a fire, but given enough time it will cool to black and no longer hurt.

Once the pain fades, you notice is that the air around you feels distinctly different. It's hard to say exactly what makes it different, or how. It feels brittle, but malleable. That perhaps if you said or did the right thing, you could command reality to your liking—

The wind blows, stirring leaves and flowers, and that's when you notice there are two people in the courtyard that did not emerge from the elevator like everyone else. The taller of the two looks briefly shocked, before a warm smile blots it out, while the shorter of the two looks remarkably unimpressed—for as much as you can make out his expression under the large hat he wears. He glances at the taller man, the charms that hang from his hat clinking, and crosses his arm over his chest.

The taller man nods, turns to the group, and says, "Sorry. I know you were probably in the middle of something important. But...I need you. My name is Tatara Totsuka. I'm your sage, and you are my witches and wizards."

He looks up to the moon hanging in the sky, still pale and visible despite the light of day, and lays it all out for you: a wizard under the sage's guidance is supposed to fight off the Great Calamity—the moon—when it nears. But you are not meant to carry out this task. The original sage and twenty-one wizards suddenly vanished not long ago. No one knows what happened to them, or where they are. They aren't dead. They are gone.

That you are here, that there are so many of you, that you came from different worlds, means that this is a mistake. Something, somewhere, isn't right. Yet the world has decided to claim you in a frantic attempt to keep itself together.

This world is breaking. If you don't fix this, then you'll be stuck here fighting the Calamity yourselves.

When Tatara looks back down to the rest of you, there's a smile on his face, tinged with apology. "But I think it'll be okay. We'll figure this out... Right?"

The golden light of sunset is oddly cold. It settles over you not in a welcoming embrace, but in a possessive hold. There is a sinking feeling in your gut: whatever your home was before matters no longer. Welcome to a world on the brink of destruction—let's hope it's not for good.


The day begins to draw to a close. You're given the rest of the day to process Tatara's words and to familiarize yourselves with the manor. There are plenty of empty spaces in the manor with sparse furniture where you can rest and try to unwind, and hopefully get some sleep. Everything about today might be a lot to unpack, but surely you can at least relax and prepare for the next day.

The morning starts with the sound of bells. A cacophonous racket of them, ringing in your rooms, in your head, jolting you from whatever slumber you can grasp. The source seems to be a note, unassuming if not for the way it shakes with each toll of the bells, and the noise only stops when you read it.

"Go to the courtyard," it says, and if you try to ignore it the noise returns, growing louder and louder until your vision swims and you find yourself standing in the courtyard with everyone else—and the shorter of the two men from yesterday.

"Practice starts right now," he says, looking bored and just as unimpressed as he did yesterday. The sun has barely started over the horizon—it's early, almost absurdly so. "You need to learn magic sooner instead of later, unless you want to die like miserable worms. If you do, just quit now so we can replace you with someone useful."

His explanation on magic is brief—he explains that magic is a deal struck between caster and the spirits of the world, using a meaningful word or phrase to communicate your will to the as-of-yet unseen spirits of the world, who will respond to your desires and power your magic. A focus, an object of significant meaning, will help strengthen your ties to the land and direct the magic for your spells. If you have nothing that would work as a focus right now, he says, chances are the perfect thing will find you anyways.

While he looks unhappy to do so, he emphasizes that magic—as it works here—is all tied to your emotions and your convictions, and then he assigns you a challenge for the week. He wants you to come up with your incantation—the words you'll use to cast all of your magic—as well as find or draw forward your focus, with the final task being summoning a magic broom you'll use for transportation.
Threading out magic practice and ICly discovering your characters' magic words, manifesting their foci, and summoning their broom will count as three different jobs, and will be eligible for a set of rewards each. While not technically classified as a job this time around, this is a special circumstance. When you've accomplished any of these things, please submit them to the rewards page as a job submission.

If you're having trouble coming up with a focus or incantation, think about your answers for the first and third mandatory questions on your app! Your focus of choice does not have to be in your character's inventory—if what works best for them as a focus did not come with them, then they can focus and reach across universes to bring it here with them.

JOB BOARD
You may have just gotten here, but people across the continent still need the sage's wizards to do things for them. The job board will typically have 2 - 3 requests each event that can be turned in for rewards when completed.
Sugar delivery. Confectionery shops and pharmacies put in regular orders for wizard sugar to the manor, and despite the unusual circumstances, now is no different. Wizard sugar—sugar spontaneously created through a wizard's magic—is said to have restorative properties and said to bless those that consume it, so it's no wonder it's in high demand. It also happens to be one of the first things young wizards learn to do. So once you've perfected your sugar, go deliver it to the shops in Central capital and to the Southern merchants waiting for shipment near the Central tower.

The Southern merchants, in particular, seem rather anxious to receive as much sugar as possible, as soon as possible.

WANDERER TASKS
The wizards' new mentor knows that this must be an incredibly overwhelming experience, so he has a list of things that should help break down the process of learning and understanding magic. Or that's what he says, at least, but it feels like he's trying to make things more difficult...
Nobody is going to hold your hands for you, and the best way to learn is to understand the root cause of an issue. Use that paper being left around for something actually useful and do some research on the spirits of the countries you've been tasked to represent. I'll be expecting some actual thought out papers within the week.

For the idiots who can't research to save their lives, prove you can actually manage the bare minimum. There's a spot you can't reach without magic within the manor grounds—bring me one of the trinkets you find there.

For the even bigger idiots who are overconfident, come find me and we can spar. I won't go easy on you.

TATARA ACTIVITIES
Tatara knows things are tense and uncomfortable for his new wizards, so he'll offer up a few activities each event post to help them relax if things get too tough.
We're all new here, but we'll be friends before long, I know it! There's a table in the dining room with paper, pens, markers, glitter, and pins so we can all make name tags and get to know each other better. We'll go from strangers to neighbors to besties before you know it!

Oh, you should probably get a feel of the manor, too. This IS your new home, after all! And what better way than...hide and seek?! Sounds fun, right? I'd tell you MY favorite spot to hide, but then that wouldn't be fair!

I don't know how long we're going to be here, so it probably wouldn't hurt to settle in. Grab a friend or two and head to the market in the Central capital to stock up on whatever food you like and stuff for your room. May as well get comfortable!

OOC NOTES
🌙 Welcome to Lunae Calamitas's first event post! Yer a wizard, whether you like it or not.
🌙 While not technically jobs, ICly working out your character's focus, incantation, and broom are all separately eligible for rewards. Good luck on your basics, little wizards! You'll need them...
🌙 Your OOC plotting post is here! Please keep all your plotting on the plotting post, since not everyone uses discord or plurk.
🌙 The South will be going on their mission next week to get this party started. Keep an eye out, Southies!
lustro: (028)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-12 06:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ It might be too subtle to catch, but Ginger seems to understand what Akira is saying immediately. He doesn’t hear things as different languages*; rather, it’s more like a comprehensive string of meaning.

So. He hears meaning.

How else would angels and demons peer into the hearts of humans, hear their prayers or tempt them with their own desires?

*Excluding any non-Earth languages. ]


Is that a not-so-subtle nudge for me to repeat that to myself? I think a Latin equivalent would be ad astra per aspera - “through hardships to the stars.”
chronosynthesis: (❖ Self-Deception)

[personal profile] chronosynthesis 2024-04-12 06:15 am (UTC)(link)
I understand. You would want to use it sooner rather than later. [Unfortunately, he's no magitech engineer. Still, he gives Malice's arm a curious look.] How did it operate before?
dyingtohealyou: ([Sweat] I was singing to)

2/2

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-12 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
...Anyway, the school's prestigious. Even if I don't pursue magic after I graduate, finding a job somewhere else shouldn't be a problem.

[He doesn't sound too concerned with the future, though. And why would he?

His body might not even last long enough for it to matter, thanks to that self-same magic.
]
dyingtohealyou: ([Surprise] Amid the noise of the)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-04-12 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
...

Can you see yourself in mirrors?
lustro: (051)

[personal profile] lustro 2024-04-12 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, it’s not you, it’s me. It’s part of my job.

[ Then he realizes how rude that sounds. ]

Not that… I… wouldn’t help you out anyway. Probably.
fellheart: (gιve мe yoυr eye)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-04-12 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
Our timelines probably aren't all running in parallel. Civilization as we know it may have arisen earlier or later in some versus others, to say nothing of how it developed.

[ or didn't, as i stare into the distance at how awakening, set some ~2400 years past marth and alm's times still seems to have pretty much the same tech level outside of a few small things like the concept of parasols and extra fancy clothing for nobles. ]

What counts as time immemorial here shouldn't have any bearing on our own worlds or vice versa. My main point is that they've had plenty of time to try to work on figuring something out, but haven't. The reason could be as you say, but going from the mere notion of a more permanent solution straight to complete destruction is quite the leap.

[ and he says that as a being of destruction himself. congratulations, random worm whose name he has not asked. ]
chronosynthesis: (❖ Sand through Glass)

[personal profile] chronosynthesis 2024-04-12 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, you do theater! [Not that he understands how idolatry fits into that.] That must be great fun. And... very different from saving the world.
chronosynthesis: (❖ Mantra of Concentration)

[personal profile] chronosynthesis 2024-04-12 06:24 am (UTC)(link)
And there was no correspondence of anyone else disappearing at the same time you arrived?
chronosynthesis: (❖ Psychic Force)

[personal profile] chronosynthesis 2024-04-12 06:29 am (UTC)(link)
Every year? [Syrlya's gaze trails up.] Is there not a more permanent solution?

[Like, okay, he knows that's often not simple, but there surely must be a better way that people don't have to live in fear that this year could be their last.] How do we stop it?
shortleash: (pic#17106767)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-04-12 06:31 am (UTC)(link)
( No vampires for real... Must be a nice place. (lol)

Mika pauses, then sort of shrugs. If plantman (said like Spider-man) doesn't know, what's the point of getting into it? )


... Putting it simply, humans are alive, and vampires are undead. You can guess we don't really get along.

( That isn't exactly the specific reason he was alluding to, but, )

Anyway, I don't have a problem with plants. So it's fine, I guess. ( Weird, but fine. ) What do they call your type of people?

( feels weird to just... call him "plant"... )
shadowkin: (Default)

[personal profile] shadowkin 2024-04-12 06:34 am (UTC)(link)
Right, it would get way too complicated trying to keep all these timelines straight or even related, so. Seems like not everyone has magic or tech or magic and tech or magitech? Something? At the same time either?

I feel like we all just got pulled out of a hat.

[Maybe even.......... the Wanderer's hat?!

Anyway he thinks timetravel is the coolest shit ever even if it doesn't make sense. Sometimes you get isekai'd from the modern day into some weird post-Industrial Revolution magitech life into some literally feudal(ish) pre-Industrial Revolution something-or-other and you learn to just kind of live with it.

Will they live? That's another question altogether, but the important part is the timetravel. ☆]

I mean, like you said, it's been so long but they're still stuck in the cycle, right? So either there's no way to destroy it, 'cause it's a god or a legend or a zombie or something, or there's some reason it can't be destroyed... I don't think it's that much of a leap?

[Looks at Shadow in canon re: destruction and closes my eyes forever.]
chronosynthesis: (❖ Deja Vu)

[personal profile] chronosynthesis 2024-04-12 06:38 am (UTC)(link)
[He continues waving the smoke away. If it gets in Solomon's face instead, his bad.]

I see. [He is going to ruin that pan.] Actually, how does the sugar taste? Er, before you burned it.
meanspirited: (pic#16390288)

[personal profile] meanspirited 2024-04-12 06:41 am (UTC)(link)
They were still here when I arrived, if you mean the prior Sage's wizards and prior Sage. They knew it was going to happen.
meanspirited: (pic#16390279)

[personal profile] meanspirited 2024-04-12 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
[The more Kiryu speaks the more the begrudging respects grows.

Still, it seems like he has this pretty handled?]


I'll leave you to it, then.

[And he'll give him a jaunty little wave. He needs to go check(?) on the rest of his dear(??) little(???) students.]
fellheart: (now lιѕтen careғυlly)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-04-12 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
Hah! And perhaps we'll leave the same way, then? Maybe all we need do is locate another hat.

[ cid keeps getting yote further back in time......... perhaps one day he'll end up in the before times with dinosaurs.............. ]

Who knows? There might be a way to force it into more fixed orbit, or to quell whatever influence it has; or, perhaps, since it has not yet been accomplished there is indeed no way for it to be done without the theoretical complete destruction that you're speaking of.

For us it might just be enough to figure out how to deal with it the once, but I do wonder about the ones who preceded us. Will we be needed to stay for as long as it takes for them to be located?

[ because fighting the moon and starting a missing persons search are not very related seeming except for in the case that the moon was the one who disappeared them.

but then again, it does seem that the moon is the main problem here... from the sounds of things, if it weren't for the yearly calamity a significant amount of the population would not be bothered if the wizards continued to stay missing. ]
chronosynthesis: (❖ Distortion)

[personal profile] chronosynthesis 2024-04-12 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
[Syrlya chuckles.] Not at all. It's simply something I have experience in.

[And wanting better food on the go is a pain point for most soldiers and adventurers. And, speaking of that experience--] It may not be a war exactly, but one always needs to be prepared if taking a long journey away from civilization. Such as well preserved, compact food. We don't know what this calamity is, or its lingering effects that will need to be dealt with.
meanspirited: (pic#16390290)

[personal profile] meanspirited 2024-04-12 07:08 am (UTC)(link)
It's not always entirely literal, but that's the gist of it.

[Sort of.

Anyways.]


They're as unique as the countries in this world, and you'll come to understand that once you've seen more of this place for yourself.
dadsandals: (yama43)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-04-12 07:11 am (UTC)(link)
A journalist? Haha, you'd probably enjoy having easy access to an idol, then.

[ He points at himself. Not like he'll give the goss, but hey, if she wants a basic interview? He's around for it! ]

A bowl of ramen sounds good. Not sure if they have that here, but we'll find an equivalent. I'll come and see you if I find anything like it.
chronosynthesis: (❖ Healing Prism)

[personal profile] chronosynthesis 2024-04-12 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
[A beat passes. Syrlya's lips curl.] Well, the grass might prefer an apology before you go.

[Maybe he shouldn't tease him too much about it, but, well...]
jorunna: (comet10)

[personal profile] jorunna 2024-04-12 07:19 am (UTC)(link)
As long as they're not here right now.

[ They trust the people here? It's nicer to think that way right now. They're about pick up the tidier Japanese nametag because Comet is sure that Kiryu would struggle to read the one with moon calligraphy... but they hold it to their chest instead. ]

I should give you one with my real name... That feels only fair.
leewards: (007)

[personal profile] leewards 2024-04-12 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
Mm, I've not decided on that yet. [Then he shrugs as he shoulders his axe once more.]

But I will get there eventually. Language is tricky, isn't it? Thus I mustn't rush.

[He's confident-- which is a good thing, is it not?]
meanspirited: (pic#16390283)

[personal profile] meanspirited 2024-04-12 07:35 am (UTC)(link)
[His eyes are glazing over the longer this kid talks... Literally who cares about school? It's just a waste of time for largely no reason for most mortals with how few of them retain any information.]

I've not been so lucky.

[Are they done with this conversation yet...]

Are you done wasting my time with questions?
troublereduction: (day67)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-12 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
I...think I kinda get it. The monks are kinda like that where I'm from. What does "hierophant" mean?
troublereduction: (pic#17020440)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-04-12 07:58 am (UTC)(link)
Huh. Guess I have somewhere to start practising, then.

[ Blessings are a kind of protection, anyway. ]
fullspbar: (96)

[personal profile] fullspbar 2024-04-12 08:00 am (UTC)(link)
You just like handin' out life advice or something, old man?

[ It's not derogatory, though; he's got a point.

Hmmmmmm. Something short. Something important... ]


...Guess if I had to pick, something about 'remembering' would be good enough.