State of the City - AUGUST

[rubycitymods]

STATE OF THE CITY
August 2015

CR MEME AND TEST DRIVE INFO:

August is already upon us, and the test drive and plotting memes are up! Make good use of them, guys, and remember that the game's setting extends beyond the city walls! There's a lot of square footage for exploring, if anyone has a mind to, and if you're unsure of anything please drop the mods a message and we'll do our best to clear it up for you.

For those interested, the locations page can be found here, as well as which creatures might be most commonly encountered there.

METAPLOT INFO:
So what's going on with the city as a whole?

The Rumor War events have far-reaching consequences that aren't only restricted to the few days or weeks following their conclusions. Each event, and those NPCs whose influence over Ikaros and the city itself as a result, cause permanent alterations to the way that the city functions and its general appearance.

An early win in the first Rumor War event by the Virtue of Charity gave the city rations a boost. Everything from food and gardening supplies, to clothes and weapons were made more plentiful. Charity doesn't discriminate, after all. A later win by Wrath increased the amount of firearms, ammunition and other weaponry available in the city, piggybacking onto Charity's overall effect on the city. Additionally, victories by both Pride and Sloth restored part of the wall around the city and also supplied warmer, softer blankets and better quality materials for clothing (and stuffing pillows), giving an extra edge of comfort to the usual fare.

Most recently, a landslide win by Kindness has temporarily taken the edge off the ferocity of some of the more violent wildlife, as well as boosting the medical supplies in the clinic. For a time, there will also be an increase of stock at the hardware store to help with the rebuilding of the still partly-damaged northern quarter.

While several of the NPCs are still mistrustful of the people residing in the city, some are open to conversation and even questioning, up to a point. Some of those who are are being cooperative are making attempts to persuade others to do the same, with varied results. The benefits of success would, of course, be that the Virtues and Vices holding stronger and more reliable abilities will be more willing to be helpful. NPCs can be contacted using the NPC contact pages, but please be patient! Some of them take longer than others to answer their watches.

GAME FEEDBACK:

The mod team hopes that you enjoyed our Pokémon themed event! The next Rumour War event is scheduled for October and will be horror themed, so hang on to your butts.

If you have any suggestions or feedback for us, please don't hesitate to either PM the mod account or use the suggestions post to let us know! We are always open to ways that we can improve the game experience for all players, so please don't be shy. We don't bite!

EVENT LIST FOR THE MONTH:
A playbook for your PCs

AUGUST 9 - AUGUST 16: AGE IS JUST A NUMBER

This month, someone has got it into their head that the city residents really need to be reminded just how lucky they are to be exactly who they are. Beginning in the early morning on Sunday, August 9th, all those whose players opt them in will wake up either older or younger than their current canon point. Age events are simple, fun, and we know many of you have just been dying to see one, so here it is.

As ever, we revel in providing everyone with options, so here's what your choices are!

* Age Up/Down, no current memory loss: The individual is either older or younger than they were the night before, but their memory remains exactly the same as it was before. This would result in an older person being trapped in the body of their childhood self, or vice versa.

* Age Up/Down, memory loss: For this option, the character wakes up on the morning of the 8th as if they have either never been in the city before (age down) or they have returned after many years spent back in their home universes (age up). The latter may remember as much or as little about the city itself as the player desires.

* Age Up, RC memory: Only available for those who age their characters up, this option would offer the chance to speculate on years of life within Ruby City itself. Feel free to make up any future that you like within reason, since the one that your character's mind has been drawn from may be one of any number of possible time lines that the city could follow.

* Anything Else?: Do you have a suggestion? Any other alternative mix? Let us know and we'll see if we can include it!

On Thursday, August 13th, part way through the event, there will be an option to switch your character to another setting. You do not have to take this option, and you can also use it to either enter the event or stop tormenting your character decide to stop taking part. Please note, however, that if you decide to pull your character out of the event at this point, you will not be able to put them back into it! Make your decision carefully.

On Sunday, August 16th, everyone will be returned to their correct age. Unfortunately, they will remember everything that they did. Even the embarrassing parts.

For the purposes of this event we will not be accepting age-AU accounts into the comms. However, you are free to comment to posts/threads with them. Please use tags as you would normally, with your character name. We will also be providing a mingle log on both the 9th and the 13th, for general use.

AUGUST 16 - ?

As an unfortunate side-effect of the age event, a percentage of those who were affected will find their memories in varying states of disarray. It can be difficult to put things into focus when you have recollections of an older version of yourself in a younger body, or memories of a strange and frightening city blended into (perhaps happier) one of your childhood.

Lingering effects of this will be strange, vivid dreams, auditory and visual hallucinations, and an increased propensity to daydream. Talking it out might help, if you're the kind of person who likes to talk about themselves, but all of those mixed up memories are going to need to be sorted out one way or another.

Effects will be strongest immediately after the event for those affected, and will fade slowly over time. However, there is no definite end date, so feel free to draw it out.

STATE OF THE CITY:

Full Weather Report | Threat Report

WEATHER:

Starting out on a high for this month but quickly falling back into the hot, humid and unfortunately wet weather that this year's summer has been plagued with. Opening windows at night offers little relief from the heat, given that the movement of the air outside is at a minimum, but a trip to the beach should offer some temporary relief as the ocean breeze makes it at least seem cooler than it is. Taking a trip down to the river is also an option, and the waterfall lagoon to the north should you wish to make such a journey, but be mindful of the creatures that may already be residing in the water...

The full moon for August is known as the Sturgeon Moon.

ANIMALS AND BESTIARY INFO:

The native fauna is mostly recovered from the shock of leviathan's escape, and with the effects of Kindness' win in the last rumour war event keeping some of the more bloodthirsty ones a little calmer than usual, the patrol teams might actually be able to take stock and rearrange themselves without worrying about the constant threat of attack. Efforts to weed out the wendigo numbers has been successful for now, and it would appear that those remaining have fallen back to their usual haunts in the darker parts of the forests.

Buoyed by the calmed behaviour of those they usually spend so much of their energy hunting, the dryad and elven populations native to the landmass on which Ruby City sits can be found to be more conversational and friendly, as long as one minds their manners properly.

MOD CONTACT:

Fiona hardtostarboard || AIM@LittleBritTeacup
Kitten GrimmKitty || AIM@SilverCrusnik

Moderator Plurk: rubycitymods

PLAYER ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Suggestions Post

Permanent Links
Phoenix Wright’s Records
Patrol Information Post
Spiral Training School Information

Anything to tell us? Let us know under QUESTIONS & COMMENTS below!

CLOSING:

Please remember that the Activity Check will commence on August 5th! Those who have apped into the game over the past month or have been on hiatus for two weeks or more since the start of the last activity check will be considered exempt from the check, but please check the lists given when the post goes up as sometimes people can be missed. We would hate to accidentally sweep somebody who didn't intend to leave.

Unfortunately, due to time restraints, the reshuffling of the death mechanic didn't get the attention that it needs last month, but it is on this month's to-do list as a priority. The playerbase will be updated when it has all been straightened out and clarified, but there will be no major changes to how it operates, so don't worry about any nasty surprises.

We have also been doing some restructuring of our shadow mod team behind the scenes. Things should run much more smoothly from here on out, and we all thank you for your patience while we've been moving a little more slowly than we would have liked.

Finally, the first mini-adventure will be rolled out within the next few days. Suggested by Badge, this will have places for three extra people and will take place in the catacombs. More information soon!

Comments

PLOTTING

[rubycitymods]

Event plotting here. Please take care to read all event information.

[takesyoubytheheart]

YAY AGE EVENT.

Will definitely be turning Mickey younger - but I can't decide whether to make him an actual child, or in his musketeer days. Both will have him be really confused that the animals don't talk and also WHAT ARE HUMANS??? But bitty will be... bitty, whereas Musketeer!Mickey might be a bit more defensive.

Not sure what to do with Mikan, or if I'll put her in the event at all. Any and all input on either character is appreciated!

[inafadingcrown]

I've pretty much decided on aging down Galadriel to her teen (equivalent) years. For those who are not familiar with Galadriel's backstory, this will involve several important changes:

-She will not know or respond to the name 'Galadriel.' She will go by either 'Artanis' or 'Nerwen'
-She will not know about/recognize the sun or the moon since neither existed at her time.
-This also goes for humans. She will have heard foretellings of their arrival, but that's it.
-She won't speak Sindarin (more relevant for castmates, obviously)
-She will be a spoiled princess who is a bit of a troublemaker and far too intelligent for her own good, basically.

[childofthemusic]

Nerwen got taaaaaaaaaaaaaall

[seenthefire]

Thranduil will be aged down to roughly 30 years old though appears as a teenager. He will only have the memories of Doriath and Menegroth before Thingol's death. He only speaks Sindarin and has limited experience with humans and absolutely none with Noldor other than what he's been told of them from Thingol and Oropher. To Thranduil, this will be the first time he's ever left Doriath.

Glorfindel is babysitting all you youngling elves and thanking Eru for kiddie leashes. Imagine all the trouble in Arda that could have been saved by kiddie leashes.

[bythewaves]

.................I am just thinking. To cause more confusion. We should have bitty Thran meet bitty Mags. >3

Re: PLOTTING

[wright_idea]

Current plans for this event:

Phoenix: Ages down, remembers things, hates his life. Basically, he gets the pleasure of repeating history, and being unable to reach kitchen counters. I COULD vary it up, but I find the idea too amusing to resist.

Hiroshi: Ages up with RC memories. He may end up hinting at upcoming things.

Tojiko: Ages down. Way down. Like, "before she died" down. She's going to be horribly confused at all this strange architecture and stuff. She's also going to be depowered (since she's human) and marginally more tactful about her language.

Re: PLOTTING

[frilliance]

Phoenix how would you like a Bratworth being really infuriating?

PLOTTING

[goldeneyeball]

MAURICE is going to be come his smol angry teenage self. He was the school bully for several years and he'll be getting a memory wipe. Hide your glasses, nerds. He will be reacting to his new environment with fear and fear means ANGER!!!!

JW, meanwhile, will revert to better, much hazier days. He'll also come in memory wipe flavor and will be making friends with EVERYBODY. He used to be so nice and chill but he will also eat your food if you aren't keeping an eye on it so there's that.

Enjoy.

[magaleta]

JW DON'T EAT THE KID'S FOOD SHE'S TRYING TO SURVIVE HERE


aka we could plot something maybe?

Also, my Alice will be aged down a bit for the first part of the event, if Maurice wants angry buddies-not-buddies!

plotties?

[scary_music]

Ibuki Mioda will be a small child for this event with memories regressed as well.

This means she won't recognize anybody!!!!!!! But she'll be an attentioned starved child so it won't be... too hard to get her trust.

She's gonna be even more hyper and nonsensical than usual!

[magaleta]

Does Ibuki want to be taken care of by a chirpy 11 year-old Maggie? :D
They can play and be silly kids together!

[airshipcaptain]

Alright, alright, alright!

Afonso's going to start out the event aged up, feeling as though he's returned to the city after a really long time home. And by really long time I mean he's going to be in his forties. At that point he's an Actual Aiship Captain, as well as a father, so he'll be turning Spiral School into a temporary daycare for any of the kids to come play/stay at. He'll also probably be offering to feed any of them while trying to figure what the hell is going on and taking lots of notes for himself.

On the fourteenth though he miiiihgt end up waking up as a seven year old with no memories. In which case he'll probably start throwing shoes at any poor teenagers/adults and demanding to know where his baby sister is. Maybe. Possibly. I'm not sure.

[fearsnothing]

OH BOY here we go

Alice will be aged down progressively! Which is to say, during the first half of the event she will be returned to her 18 year-old self, battling with her final memories before she's released from Rutledge Asylum. She'll retain her Wonderland appearance for the most part, though younger and a bit less composed than usual. Also, she will have no memories of Ruby City.

Meanwhile, during the second half of the event she will be aged down to 8 years old, before all kinds of tragedies took place in her life. You might be getting tags from this little child here - twotimestooreckless. Be warned; she pulls a lot of pranks.

Margaretha will be aged down to 11 or so and will lose most of her powers and also her memories of the city. She'll be an acolyte and very much out of her place, but she'll be as friendly as ever!

[bythewaves]

Mags is aging down. RIGHT DOWN. In human terms, he's a child about 3-4 in size, but will talk like a 6-7 year old and if you ask him he'll tell you he's about 25 because #Elves. He won't have his memories~ which means:
- He only speaks Quenya (and will only respond to his Quenya names - Makalaure Kanafinwe, or Kano)
- He has no idea what a human is
- He has no clue what a moon or a sun are, and will insist the world should be lit by trees
- He has, as a highly protected and doted on little princeling in paradise, no concept of war, death, or well... danger in general. Want to kidnap him?

Poor long-suffering Erestor gets to stay adult and help Glorfindel babysit the bitties.

[hallacious]

Ishimaru here is going to be aged up to around his mid-30s for the first half of the event, as if he's coming back to the city after a long time, and is going to be understandably confused and upset for a number of reasons. Without spoiling too much, at that point in his life he would be an up-and-coming young politician in the Japanese House of Representatives, working towards becoming the Chief Cabinet Secretary. He's probably even more super stressed out than usual, if the dark circles under his eyes and the progression of grey hairs will tell you anything. Comes with the addition of glasses!

And then halfway through the event he's going to be brought down to elementary school age, as if he's never been in the city before, where...very little about his demeanor will be changed from his present self, which should probably be concerning. It's basically just an Ishimaru who is a foot shorter and significantly more adorable. Prepare for long talks about how his dad is the best. Fair warning: there's a chance some of his threads will involve implications of neglect, though nothing super direct or outright since he's so young. I'll warn in the thread titles if anything major comes up. Otherwise, he's just a dorky little kid who very much wants some playtime buddies!

also excuse me showing off my icons i may be very very excited about this

Re: PLOTTING

[frilliance]

Edgeworth will be deaged to Bratworth during the event i.e when he is a fresh attorney at 20 with memory loss.This will mean he is ruder and more immature than his current canon point. Also, needless to say, he will suck up to his mentor and believe in getting every defendant guilty. So have fun with that. Warning: implications of psychological abuse might come up but I will warn you beforehand if it is relevant.

As for Komaeda I am undecided whether to have him age a few years at RC for spoiler reasons or leave him unaffected and have him react to everyone. Input for either guy is welcome!

Re: PLOTTING

[heirdisqualification]

Togami will be aged up for the event--somewhere around his mid-twenties. This will follow the timeline of the games, so he'd be an agent for the Future Foundation--more specifically, a psychological analyst. For those of you that don't follow the series, Togami will be a lot more approachable, though a lot more stressed.

[lapidarius]

OKAY LET'S SEE HERE I'm hoping to do both age down and up variants for both of mine, but we'll see how it works out. IF I manage to have the time/energy for it, this is what I'm planning for:

Kirei Kotomine:
Aged down to ten, with regressed memories
Since Kirei didn't fully catch on to his emotional issues until he was a teenager, he'll be kind of apathy personified in a very small package. He'll spend most of the time being creepily blank at people, because this child has no idea what emotions are or how to have them. Kirei was also a full-fledged heretic hunter for the church by that age, which...it's pretty screwed up.

Aged up to thirty-eight, fabricated RC memories
HA HA HOO BOY I am actually going to have some fun with this one. I'm fairly sure that if Kirei spent ten years in RC from the point he is right now, he might end up less openly murderous than his actual Fate/stay night self. It's a weird kind of gray area he's in where he wouldn't end up stagnant so much as being very aware he just doesn't enjoy a goddamn thing around here and trying to learn to live with being ~completely emotionally dead inside~. Also he'll look a hell of a lot different, and I'll be using blackmass for tagging with that.

Noriaki Kakyoin:
Aged down to about eight/nine, regressed memories
Okay, so. Kakyoin as a child has a vaguely similar issue that Kirei does later on in life; he doesn't think anyone can understand him. The difference is that Kakyoin was incredibly lonely and desperately wanted friends: but they have to be people that can see his Stand, because Hierophant is just part of himself as far as he's concerned. (He was kind of a screwed up kid.) Also, he won't recognize his first name--he'll insist he's 'Tenmei Kakyoin' instead. also he looked pretty much exactly the same as a kid, just scaled down. idk it's weird.

Aged up to twenty-eight, fabricated RC memories
Because, you know. I hate my own emotions. Kakyoin plus about ten years in the city would definitely equal a reasonably well-adjusted and much more open individual instead of a secretive teenager with serious trust and self-worth issues. He'll be the kind of nerd person that spends a lot of time in the library, because goddammit if he can't go to university he's going to study anyway. Kakyoin's also going to end up looking a little different when he's older, but I'll probably just use the same journal and fiddle with icons a bit.

[phobophage]

Okay, Deimonea doesn't exactly age, but she has taken on multiple forms throughout the years. So I'll be reverting her to her prehistoric form, when she took on the shape of a black sabertooth tiger with red eyes.

And she'll be very confused at all the post-prehistoric tech and architecture in Ruby City. Also, she'll be prowling around the city and messing around with Dreamers out of pure curiosity.

[stonebird]

Sansa is gonna be amazed at the bitties. Her Mama instinct might kick in with a few of them - so if you need someone to look after your bitty, just ask!

Aragorn is gonna become Estel. More particularly an early teen Estel. (His journal is hopeisborn.) Get ready for mischief!

Apollo is gonna be mystified at the tiny humans. What is even going on. Seriously. Someone. Fill him in.

PLOTTINS (Discord, The Inu no Taishou)

[honorabledogfather]

How quaint, an Age Event. :U I'm going to throw two losers into this, hopefully!

Discord is for sure being a part of this, and will be sized down to a precious babbin, with no memories of the city! Instead he's going to be super confused, and perhaps slightly frightened of the two-legs all over the place, and a little shy to speak! Of course, he is the baby spirit of chaos, and will probably attempt to use his magic to play tricks on people. He won't be terribly good at it yet though, he's just a little one. :U

The Inu no Taishou is also (hopefully) going to be a tiny child (as visually imagined by Patches365 in her writings). He's going to be generally meek since he's only a kid, and he'll be more predisposed to reckless and ignoble actions, if only because he doesn't have the knowledge of centuries which he's acquired as an adult. That said, he's still a fairly accepting kid. He doesn't hate humans so much as he doesn't understand them entirely, and most hate his kind anyway.

Since there's no canon information for him at this age, how I choose to write him will be purely speculative. That said, he won't mention parents, and if asked, will state that he's just been living alone for a long time.

[seeingscarlet]

Wanda will be aged down to 10 before the bombing of Sokovia with no memory of Ruby City and no powers. She's going to be scared not because she's in a strange place but because she's in a strange place without Pietro and will consequently be all over the city looking for him.

After the event, Wanda will suffer lingering hallucinations of little!Pietro. For the first day or so, she will also be struggling to regain control over her powers, which opens the door for so many shenanigans. Traumatize her with your character's bad memories? Have her accidentally smack your character with something? Something else? Let me know!

I am debating having Wanda remain her usual age for half the event or regain her memories but stay de-aged on the 13th. I can definitely be swayed by plotting!

(I'll be using Emily Browning as Violet Baudelaire for child!Wanda since the Olsens are all naturally very blonde and Wanda is...not. Very much open to better ideas!)

Plotting!

[cursedtosleep]

Ritsuka: Ritsuka is going to be aged UP with memory loss! And not only is he going to be aged up, but the trauma of his life has made him a much more somber, darker person with a bit of disgust regarding the human populace (if he even thinks to call them that).

Chibi Chibi: Since Chibi Chibi is already in disguise she's going to be aged down... waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down with memory loss, GUESS WHO IS BEING TURNED INTO BABY SERENITY!? That's right, the little moon princess is going to be walking around wondering about all the humans and how she got on earth, literally.

Aurora: Will be aged down with memory loss. She's going to be bitty-Briar Rose and wonder where her forest is, who people are, and where her aunts are. She still has an amazing set of pipes on her though.

Plotting with Dante

[stylish_hunter]

Okay so Dante is getting aged down to a complete brat and won't have any memories. At some point he's gonna bite off more than he can chew in the form of TOO MANY PARK MONSTERS but that's okay he's got a nanny elf.

Otherwise he needs more shenanigans to get himself into. Who's game?