[Event] // [New Maps!!]

[rubycitymods]

So, we've kept you waiting on this for far longer than we wanted to, but we finally have everything straightened up and ready. Please read everything in this post so there's no confusion after the switch!

THE PRELUDE

On Monday, August 18th at midday, the clock tower will chime as it always does, but residents may notice that it doesn't sound normal. The noise is oddly hollow, as if it were ringing from inside a cavern.

At 12:01, after the last chime dies off, the city will be plunged into darkness. This will not be something as simple as all the lights going out, but a thick, heavy blackness that descends between one moment and the next as if sight has been robbed from everyone in the city and the lands surrounding it all at once. At the same time, the network will disconnect entirely. Attempts to create light sources using candles or torches will only partially succeed - it isn't that the lights don't work, but it doesn't seem that there's anything for them to fall on.

It will be possible to find other people stumbling around in the dark and to feel your way around familiar areas.

At 12:05, a sudden noise will erupt from every corner of the city and the area beyond. It will sound like a hellish mixture of tearing metal, shifting stone and all manner of other shrieks and bone-shuddering creaking. The floors inside the buildings and the ground outside will shake in addition to the continuing darkness. At this time, the network will flicker on and off with a spotty text service only, if you can see well enough to use it.

At 12:10, the noise will abruptly stop. A few moments later, the lights will flicker back on and, while no one seems to have moved from where they were before, the city itself has certainly changed.

THE SWITCH



So, what's new?

• More houses
• An observatory (in dire need of some fixing up)
• New stores (inc. a bike shop)
• A specific store for home regains (marked with a star on the map), this will be put into proper operation asap
• Space for a greenhouse and an old apothecary store
• The rebuilt Hotel ShinRa
• The stores now stock less ready-made goods and more raw materials (such as ingredients and cloth)

**IMPORTANT** We would appreciate it very much if the people who lived in houses previously would go to the residences page and post a quick note for the location of their home after the shift! Please note that although the page shows the new map, it will not come into effect until Monday! In the meantime, you can locate the previous map here and also in the link provided in the residences which will remain there for a little while after the switch to give a point of reference to anyone who wants to claim a place of residence relative to where they were before.

Also, please let us know if we missed anything!

In addition to this, there is now also a map available on the locations page. The shake-up did much more than just shuffle the city around.

Okay, so what's new here?

• To begin with, the void that previously surrounded the chunk of land on which the city sat has been pushed back to make way for an ocean. The void is still present, but being utilised differently. More information on this can be found in the locations entry here.
• There are two beaches, one well within walking distance of the city.
• The hot springs are now located outside the city walls.
• Travel distances and likely creature encounters are now on each entry, with the former added to the locations outside of the city.
• There are a number of new locations -- we advise that you read the location page entries thoroughly!

Got it, what else?

The shaking up appears to have shaken a few things out of the proverbial rafters to be discovered after everything settles. Underneath one of the pews in the cathedral, an old iron cross pendant can be found with 'U. Vale' etched into the back, as well as an old Bible with notes scrawled in the margin in rough, spidery handwriting.

In the clinic, there are two grey, cardboard files pushed under a cabinet, the corner of one just poking out enough to be seen. They appear to be medical records for an 'L. Barrows' and 'H. Lear'. Both describe the patients as 'subjects' and speak of them using detached, neutral pronouns, as if they weren't people at all. 'L. Barrows' is listed as aged eight, while 'H. Lear' is noted to be of indeterminate age, but presumed in his late twenties.

At the back of the theatre, there are a few pages of sheet music by the composers Chopin, Brahms, and Liszt with 'Landry' written across the top in careful script. These can be found with the rest of the sheet music. The name is written in pink.

We will need a few volunteers to find these things! Please put your character/s forwards under the relevant comment below. If there are a lot of volunteers, we'll use an RNG (or you can organise into groups!). There's no time limit on discovering these titbits, but please bear in mind that they are relevant to the NPCs and, depending on how they are used, the plot of the game as a whole.

Please use the relevant comments below for questions, volunteering and plotting! Thank you c:

Comments

QUESTIONS

[rubycitymods]

Any questions about the new maps or any information given, put them here!

[queenofwinter]

Hey! So with those big green spaces between the library and the park, could Elsa's palace have gotten shuffled from the park to the one opposite the library when everything got moved around?

Re: QUESTIONS

[lastincident]

In a similar vein of questions (though it may be moot if Tony bullies him enough) to Elsa, did Bruce's cabin move/vanish/alter?

[crowsicle]

Just a minor thing, but in that total darkness where light sources don't really fall on anything, will light sources still be able to fall on other characters, or is it really like total TOTAL blackness?

Just asking 'cause someone literally glows in the dark

[chaoticwhimsy]

This is the problem with inheriting buildings from other players...

Lumina and Yang both live in houses that were built by previous characters. I think Yang's magical video game princess castle was supposed to be behind where apartment building A1 is, and I have...no idea where the house Lumina got from Lightning and Serah is...

Should I try to figure these out, or would it be easier to say the buildings wound up in one of the numbered house plots instead, because MAGIC or somesuch?

[neverbeamemory]

I put this on the Mod-plurk but just to ask here as well.

I recall some information being somewhere about what generally a House, Apartment etc. would have to it feature/amenities-wise as a base which characters could then adapt upon/alter to suit them. Only as I've posted to move my character and I'd like to know what they move into!

I noticed there are different color-codings to different areas and wondered if this meant there were different types or something?

VOLUNTEERS

[rubycitymods]

If you want to volunteer to find one of the titbits of information, put your character forward here.

[clearasil]

Volunteering Nat for the sheet music if possible!!

Re: VOLUNTEERS

[wright_idea]

I'll volunteer Phoenix for the cathedral findings, if that's all right.

Re: VOLUNTEERS

[frilliance]

Volunteering Edgeworth for medical records, if that's okay. I'm happy for him to discover this in a group as well.

[calmbefore]

On second thought, Eight likely has more reason to be in the clinic than the theater, so volunteering him for that instead.

[chaoticwhimsy]

Volunteering Lumina to find the cross in the cathedral.

[lastincident]

Volunteering Bruce for medical records, and Edward for the theater discoveries, since he's there with Rip fairly frequently.

Re: VOLUNTEERS

[singinghuntress]

Volunteering Rip to find the sheet music considering... She LIVES in the Theater.

[asapphireheart]

Volunteering Aqua to find to medical files since she's always working on tidying up the clinic. And because she runs it.

Re: VOLUNTEERS

[for_redemption]

Volunteering Richter to find the Bible!

VOLUNTEERS

[neurotic_insect]

I offer Dimitri as tribute for the music sheets and/or the clinic and Rosalind to the cathedral items!

PLOTTING

[rubycitymods]

You know what to do!

[calmbefore]

Once Eight figures out that the city has an observatory, he's most likely going to see about fixing it up properly or help out with doing the same, if anyone else would prefer to spearhead the effort.

Other than that, however, I haven't got any definite plans for either the sudden darkness or the various things afterwards.

Re: PLOTTING

[singinghuntress]

So, seeing as there are things to find IN the theater and Rip lives there, uh... plotting may be a good idea at this point. Especially since she's not.. exactly happy about people using/entering the Theater without asking.


So.... plot with me? IDK.

Re: PLOTTING

[goddamnmoron]

Can we get a show of hands on Team Have a Beach Party Now That We Have a Beach? Because Newt'd definitely be in on that >_>

PLOTTING

[neurotic_insect]

Death is absolutely going to want to have his thestral in the stables.

Rosalind will be absolutely interested in the bike shop.

Dimitri will be checking out the greenhouse.

Anyone want to join me~?

[all_onis_are_true]

Something I'll note is that there's a pretty decent chance the sudden midday blackout might unsettle Hiroshi enough to set off his anxiety pretty badly. Anybody want to volunteer to help him settle THAT issue?

HOTEL SHINRA

[provenworth]

Is back, boo-yeah!

Elena is obviously going to be relocating. Plans for the hotel include:

- Creating temporary housing for new arrivals
- Creating laboratories for in-house work
- Offering housing to current residents who'd like to come (aka NotTurk!Family and
ShinRa!Family)

Also considering a small party to welcome back the Hotel. More to come if this becomes a thing or not.