Madness of the Skies— OOC Info and How to Play Along
https://media.giphy.com/media/FD4WzUvVCJCo0/giphy.gif
Each year there are multiple meteor showers that blossom across Rhy'din's night sky. Not all are very impressive, easily seen or even visible from each hemisphere. The most visually spectacular are those that happen on the trailing edge of winter leading into spring. Usually.
Once every three hundred and fifty years or so it is the showers that start just after the summer solstice wander near enough to the planet to create a most wonderful display.
The showers begin with just one or two a night around the 17th of July, so near to dawn they can barely be seen. As the weeks drag on the shooting stars are more plentiful and begin earlier in the night. Towards the peak, around the 9th of August, the sky almost looks to be on fire there are so many.
Normally after that they would taper off again, creeping closer and closer to the rise of the sun. However this year marks not only the return of the meteors, but another rare event: a total solar eclipse.
Order of the Sky Watchers
In an age long forgotten, on planet not unlike Earth, the Ancients Ones first observed a phenomenon that would come to be known as the Madness of the Skies. They had come to expect the yearly showers, but this year they were very different.
As the celestial objects grew closer to the atmosphere people upon the earth began to notice strange occurrences. Water put to boil would freeze solid. Raindrops falling from the sky would suddenly reverse direction and return to the heavens. Their magi's powers began to become unreliable and ineffective.
Most remarkably, people scattered throughout the world suddenly had a knowing. They saw the scatter of stardust bouncing across their sky not as motes and pieces of rock and mineral, but something grander. Something far more dangerous. For this was the Breath, Essence and Enlightenment of Divinity.
At the peak of the shower larger pieces of meteors are able to penetrate the atmosphere and survive the firey fall to the ground. These are no dull space stones one might expect of meteorite, instead they are a glossy oil slick black on the outside. If broken open maybe contain pockets of rainbow hued crystalline growth. The largest pieces are often no larger than a softball.
The Ancients came to call these stones as Discordite, after the effect they cause, even from the sky. Wildness, madness, dis-inhibition. But more than that it inspires creativity and ambition for those who manage to maintain composure.
The Order of the Sky Watchers formed shortly after the first event, with those who heard "The Calling" being drawn together. These people are immune to the adverse effects of the Discordite, but believe the pieces are the key to the secret of Divinity. They follow the meteor shower from world to world (when they can) to both preserve the pieces and protect the denizens from the Madness.
And then there is the eclipse....
Event Summary
This SL was inspired by the Perseid Meteor Showers, which started around July 17th, and various star myths out there. Right now the meteors will be a little hard to see. They will be best the 9th-12th. It's over the 24th. There is also a total solar eclipse on the 21st! which will be incorporated into this SL as well. I am shifting the dates around a little to give more time to play.
Beginning Tuesday, August 1st the Rhy'Din meteor showers will start to get close enough, bright enough to begin affecting people. From Wednesday August 9th through Sunday August 20th there will be a notable increase in meteors and effects.
Right now there are board and vapored events in the pipeline, with the possibility of a live event at the end of August.
How can I Play Along"
As always, if you don't want to have your character effected, they don't have to be. This SL is meant to be open and inclusive, so people can participate how they see fit.
Feel free to use information here and in upcoming threads as you will. If you happen to post in your own folder/thread, please post a link to it here!
First off, the most common effect is merely that people may feel more drawn to watch the stars! And yanno, it looks cool.
So the meteor shower can cause "madness", but this doesn't necessarily mean insanity—unless your character is already be prone to such. It is more of an (non-magical) enhancement of what is already there, even if the character is not aware of it. It can manifest in giddiness, mania, grandiosity, overconfidence.
The effects can be anywhere from mild—like a fit of giggles—to severe like the dancing plague. note: The effects are meant to be temporary! Feel free to interpret this as you will.
Or your character could suddenly be inspired to do something grand—like get up and travel the world, paint a huge mural, or profess their love (maybe to a complete stranger!)
They could feel suddenly fantastically lucky—or even be lucky akin to the effects of the Felix Felicis potion
How about a little obsession"
It's always possible, though, that your character observes another (NPC or otherwise) being effected, tries to help, etc.
The Watchers will also become more involved as the showers spike. In the beginning they are merely observing. As the event progresses there will be more posts for people to react to.
Another note for our sci-fi/space faring characters, but the effects of the Discordite are negated in space. They are normal meteoroids at that point! They are altered by the impact with Rhy'Din's atmosphere. This is just so we don't have a bunch of stark raving mad people in space ships. However! They might examine them and find some interesting properties! (psst, so might alchemists...if they don't go nutters)
What Can't I Do"
No stopping the meteor shower! It will come to an end all on its own, don't ruin it for people.
Sorry, but your character can't become a Watcher. They are meant to be NPCs for this event only! Unless you want to control an NPC for the event—and then we can talk, send me some mail.
I'm taking this directly from Jewell's midsummer post(as well as using her helpful format!): "I have given everyone a fair amount of OOC knowledge about what is going on during this SL including prior knowledge that it is going to happen. Do not have your character magically know all the things that you now know."
There is an exception to that!
Since I'm using the time-frame of 350 years, there are very likely existing characters who would have been alive during the last Madness and may remember it! All I ask is that you contact me first.
Perhaps your character knows a lot about the stars, meteors, etc" Again, just drop me a line.
I am more than happy to offer even more information than I included here to people who might want to be more involved!
Thanks for all the fish
Comments, questions, can be direct messaged to this account or catch me logged in as Sira.
And I want to send a huge thank you to Jewell for having such an organized post format for the Midsummer event that I quite obviously am stealing to use for this!
https://media.giphy.com/media/FD4WzUvVCJCo0/giphy.gif
Each year there are multiple meteor showers that blossom across Rhy'din's night sky. Not all are very impressive, easily seen or even visible from each hemisphere. The most visually spectacular are those that happen on the trailing edge of winter leading into spring. Usually.
Once every three hundred and fifty years or so it is the showers that start just after the summer solstice wander near enough to the planet to create a most wonderful display.
The showers begin with just one or two a night around the 17th of July, so near to dawn they can barely be seen. As the weeks drag on the shooting stars are more plentiful and begin earlier in the night. Towards the peak, around the 9th of August, the sky almost looks to be on fire there are so many.
Normally after that they would taper off again, creeping closer and closer to the rise of the sun. However this year marks not only the return of the meteors, but another rare event: a total solar eclipse.
Order of the Sky Watchers
In an age long forgotten, on planet not unlike Earth, the Ancients Ones first observed a phenomenon that would come to be known as the Madness of the Skies. They had come to expect the yearly showers, but this year they were very different.
As the celestial objects grew closer to the atmosphere people upon the earth began to notice strange occurrences. Water put to boil would freeze solid. Raindrops falling from the sky would suddenly reverse direction and return to the heavens. Their magi's powers began to become unreliable and ineffective.
Most remarkably, people scattered throughout the world suddenly had a knowing. They saw the scatter of stardust bouncing across their sky not as motes and pieces of rock and mineral, but something grander. Something far more dangerous. For this was the Breath, Essence and Enlightenment of Divinity.
At the peak of the shower larger pieces of meteors are able to penetrate the atmosphere and survive the firey fall to the ground. These are no dull space stones one might expect of meteorite, instead they are a glossy oil slick black on the outside. If broken open maybe contain pockets of rainbow hued crystalline growth. The largest pieces are often no larger than a softball.
The Ancients came to call these stones as Discordite, after the effect they cause, even from the sky. Wildness, madness, dis-inhibition. But more than that it inspires creativity and ambition for those who manage to maintain composure.
The Order of the Sky Watchers formed shortly after the first event, with those who heard "The Calling" being drawn together. These people are immune to the adverse effects of the Discordite, but believe the pieces are the key to the secret of Divinity. They follow the meteor shower from world to world (when they can) to both preserve the pieces and protect the denizens from the Madness.
And then there is the eclipse....
Event Summary
This SL was inspired by the Perseid Meteor Showers, which started around July 17th, and various star myths out there. Right now the meteors will be a little hard to see. They will be best the 9th-12th. It's over the 24th. There is also a total solar eclipse on the 21st! which will be incorporated into this SL as well. I am shifting the dates around a little to give more time to play.
Beginning Tuesday, August 1st the Rhy'Din meteor showers will start to get close enough, bright enough to begin affecting people. From Wednesday August 9th through Sunday August 20th there will be a notable increase in meteors and effects.
Right now there are board and vapored events in the pipeline, with the possibility of a live event at the end of August.
How can I Play Along"
As always, if you don't want to have your character effected, they don't have to be. This SL is meant to be open and inclusive, so people can participate how they see fit.
Feel free to use information here and in upcoming threads as you will. If you happen to post in your own folder/thread, please post a link to it here!
First off, the most common effect is merely that people may feel more drawn to watch the stars! And yanno, it looks cool.
So the meteor shower can cause "madness", but this doesn't necessarily mean insanity—unless your character is already be prone to such. It is more of an (non-magical) enhancement of what is already there, even if the character is not aware of it. It can manifest in giddiness, mania, grandiosity, overconfidence.
The effects can be anywhere from mild—like a fit of giggles—to severe like the dancing plague. note: The effects are meant to be temporary! Feel free to interpret this as you will.
Or your character could suddenly be inspired to do something grand—like get up and travel the world, paint a huge mural, or profess their love (maybe to a complete stranger!)
They could feel suddenly fantastically lucky—or even be lucky akin to the effects of the Felix Felicis potion
How about a little obsession"
It's always possible, though, that your character observes another (NPC or otherwise) being effected, tries to help, etc.
The Watchers will also become more involved as the showers spike. In the beginning they are merely observing. As the event progresses there will be more posts for people to react to.
Another note for our sci-fi/space faring characters, but the effects of the Discordite are negated in space. They are normal meteoroids at that point! They are altered by the impact with Rhy'Din's atmosphere. This is just so we don't have a bunch of stark raving mad people in space ships. However! They might examine them and find some interesting properties! (psst, so might alchemists...if they don't go nutters)
What Can't I Do"
No stopping the meteor shower! It will come to an end all on its own, don't ruin it for people.
Sorry, but your character can't become a Watcher. They are meant to be NPCs for this event only! Unless you want to control an NPC for the event—and then we can talk, send me some mail.
I'm taking this directly from Jewell's midsummer post(as well as using her helpful format!): "I have given everyone a fair amount of OOC knowledge about what is going on during this SL including prior knowledge that it is going to happen. Do not have your character magically know all the things that you now know."
There is an exception to that!
Since I'm using the time-frame of 350 years, there are very likely existing characters who would have been alive during the last Madness and may remember it! All I ask is that you contact me first.
Perhaps your character knows a lot about the stars, meteors, etc" Again, just drop me a line.
I am more than happy to offer even more information than I included here to people who might want to be more involved!
Thanks for all the fish
Comments, questions, can be direct messaged to this account or catch me logged in as Sira.
And I want to send a huge thank you to Jewell for having such an organized post format for the Midsummer event that I quite obviously am stealing to use for this!