March Training / Fourth Wall Event

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Information and Training and... Fourth Wall Event Kickoff!
When: April 22nd 2017 (Kickoff) but Fourth Wall lasts through April 26th
Where: The Far Shore (to start); All Locations here and Map here
Summary: Unexpected visitors arrive in The Far Shore for a little while.





Gods and shinki arriving at heaven's meeting hall are brought into small one-on-one meeting rooms as they appear, with a white-robed shinki offering them an explanation of their current role, the name of the god they will represent or the god they will serve, and directions to the temple that will be their new home.

They are cordially invited to a training session beginning in midafternoon, once they've had the chance to return to their homes, meet their new partners, and have their questions answered.

Gods and Shinki: The Real McCoys

New gods and shinki - the real ones, the ones that were expected - are being packed off to their new temples for the morning to settle in and meet their partners -- this is also a good time to visit with new neighbors or explore the area! What does your new temple look like? Are you headed straight there, or taking the scenic route to get a better sense of your new surroundings?

The Heavens are going about their usual business preparing for the new gods and shinki that they were actually expecting, when unexpected visitors appear out of thin air, as if having teleported in on their own power. They are scooped up along with the new gods and shinki and, initially, treated no differently. "Gods" are new arrivals who have strong memories of who they are, while "shinki" are experiencing various states of memory loss.

4th Wall Gods: A House is not a Home

New gods are normally shown their new temples in the morning and introduced to their new partners. The characters who arrived for the event and experienced no memory loss seem like they should be "Gods" and so white-robed escorts with chrsyanthemum logos on their backs take them to where they think their temples should be - in the Western District, where the other "New and Obscure Gods' Temples" always are. Despite many cleanup attempts, the Western District is still scarred from the aftereffects of a volcanic eruption and earthquake only 3 months ago, with fissures in some of the roads and burn scars in the wild landscape. Along the way, the escort can answer questions as provided on the God 101 page.

When they arrive, the escort is surprised to discover a set of ruins instead. This happens, they explain, but usually when a god leaves The Far Shore, not when they arrive. While the escort starts to rifle through some paperwork to figure out what's going on, the "God" is welcome to explore the ruins and - to the shock of both - the ruins transform.

How it transforms is up to the 4th wall player! It should not be very large, no bigger than a one-room building or, if more natural, a small garden or lake complex. Alternately, the ruins can not transform at all, or simply get cleared away into something more clean-slate like a rock garden plot. Get creative!

Afterwards, the "Gods" are encouraged to show up at the afternoon Training session to better understand their circumstances. Before the escort leaves, the "God" will be provided a phone with which they can access the Heavens' BBS system; their display name will be a warped version of their real name, such as "Bob Smith" appearing as "bOBsMITH" or something else that looks like a glitch.

4th Wall Shinki: And you may ask yourself

New "shinki" will wake by the Meeting Hall in a set of white robes from laying down on a tatami mat with a small box wrapped up and set at their feet. (The box can contain a few belongings of the character's from their canon, provided it can fit. Due to the memory loss, it can include things the character wouldn't recognize.) From the way that the bustling people around the area are talking, this is not a common occurrence.

At some point, a person in white robes with a big chrsyanthemum logo on the back will come to interview the person. "We are working on assigning you to a god and temple, but some things have come up," they try to explain, and will then be able to answer other questions as outlined on the Shinki 101. The "shinki" are encouraged to get dressed and explore the Far Shore if they would like, because eventually they will be assigned to one of the temples out there anyway. At this point, the shinki are also handed a phone in order to connect with the Heavens' BBS system; their display name will be a warped version of their real name, such as "Bob Smith" appearing as "bOBsMITH" or something else that looks like a glitch.

God Training: New and 4th Wall Both

Newly arrived gods are escorted into a small meeting room, with tatami floors and a stage at the front of the room where the speaker stands. A minor deity is giving the speech, and none of the white-robed shinki enter. Paper and pens are provided to all the attendees as an unsubtle suggestion to take notes on the information they're given. Newly arrived gods are encouraged to discuss the information with each other and ask questions of more experienced gods, as well as instructed to guide their new shinki appropriately. They are allowed to remain in the room as long as they wish, should they want to discuss questions with each other or with more experienced gods who are here to help out. The speaker delivers her welcome speech in the monotone of someone who's practiced it far too often. Hopefully no one's feeling sleepy!

It's around this time that the 4th Wall "Gods" might realize that, for as weird as everything's been, their experiences with their temples this morning are not the same as most new Gods. Additionally, they do not possess the power to teleport to and from the Near Shore; they might need a buddy to help them with that part! The 4th Wall Gods can't hear any prayers whispered on the winds either. They can't name shinki, whether those shinki were in the Far Shore before today, or only arrived through the 4th Wall situation. (There is one other kind of shinki that might still respond to their commands though...)

Shinki Training: New and 4th Wall Both

A well-appointed dojo has been prepared for newcomers to practice the physical or magical arts. Outside, there are two impromptu target practice areas: one is for long-range weapons, with targets set up against hay bales at the other side of a wide, grassy area and a line drawn for the weapons' wielders to stand behind. The other is for borderlines.

What are borderlines? The 4th Wall shinki can't do them, no matter how hard they try. If they had previous magical powers, those still work though! Existing gods can name these "shinki" but 4th walled gods can't. The 4th Wall shinki have no death memories to convey to the god and no shinki vessel power, but they can still be used to Rend an ayakashi.

Inside the dojo, there's room for several pairs to spar, and weapons are set up all along one wall, everything from polearms to rifles, chakrams to broadswords. They're all meant for practice, with edges dulled or padded to avoid any accidental deaths, but sparring partners will still have to be careful to avoid injury. There are stacks of informational pamphlets sitting out on tables around the dojo.

Physical Training

The dojo is stocked with a wide variety of practice weapons, traditional and modern, to offer some practice opportunity to gods who, for example, find themselves with a sword shinki but are at risk of cutting off their own toes. It's also useful for veteran new gods wishing to train with their current partner shinki.

Several magically animated straw-stuffed training dummies, many of which have been carefully mended and patched with neat black stitching, are set up on the lawn with a white-robed shinki hovering nearby to watch over them. They make good training partners, although anyone who comes too close risks being targeted for a sparring match whether they wanted one or not. The supervising white-robed shinki has a nametag which reads HELLO, MY NAME IS SABIMEI. (To interact with Sabimei, please comment on the "NPC REQUEST" thread below! If you prefer, you may also handwave his assistance or advice with your character learning spells.)

Rest and Refreshments

There are casks of fresh, cold water near the dojo to make sure no one gets dehydrated, but for those who've finished working, hot tea and enough seasonal treats are available to make it look as though the Heavens bought out an entire sweet shop. They're being distributed by a few shinki in indigo-blue and plain brown robes with the sleeves tied back, who aren't above teasing the newcomers a bit.

In Summary:

• Get all the information you can handle
• Mingle with the 4th Wall "Gods" and "Shinki"
• Veteran new gods and shinki are welcome to volunteer showing the ropes
• Get in some training
• Have fun~
• OOC Event Information Post - ask us questions if you need to!

Comments

[welcome_home]

[ Don't look now, but the Heavens have an off-day every other week or so, it seems. Although this one is a little stranger than most.

But Nanako just smiles at him reassuringly as she nods. ] Yeah, there are. It's okay. We were all new here and really confused at first. Except for the Old Gods, but they don't usually come to things like this anyway.

[ She looks at the snack he points at and beams, carefully setting the plate down before reaching for one of the treats to help split. ]

Oh, yeah! These looked really yummy!

[21kingpuddings]

[Surely a lesson he will learn in time, but best to take things one step at a time for now.]

Old Gods...? [A lot that can't be bothered to show up for this, huh?] Are they in charge around here?

[If they're gonna talk about the general hierarchy of the heavens, the least they can do is have something good to eat while heads or tails is made of that. Once the treat is broken in half, Tamaki will accept whichever piece Nanako offers up.]

[welcome_home]

[ She offers him the slightly bigger piece, of course. Because he's bigger than she is, obviously. ]

Mmm, yeah, sort of? I think, anyway. Ammy.... I mean Amaterasu... she's in charge of all of Heaven, sorta, but then everyone else does their own god things, too.

[21kingpuddings]

[They are both growing kids who need all the nutrition they can get!

Or, at least one of them technically is? Maybe Nanako should be saving the larger pieces for herself...]

And she usually doesn't show up for these things, huh? [Kind of disappointing, given the general confusion of today, but,] Guess you'd be pretty busy, running everything.

[Surely someone else under her could be overseeing things? But, really, he's not too interested in picking apart the workings of heaven, especially not when there's an entire plate of sweets to be tackling. May as well take a bite of his half of the tart, and,]

Oh, wow! This is really good...!

[welcome_home]

Mmm, I think all the white-robed shinki here are hers to come help out with everyone! [ Nanako supplies this as she glances around. ] But yeah, I think Ammy is always busy. The first time I met her, she'd had to sneak away just to have fun with everyone for an afternoon. I think she gets lonely, having to do all that by herself...

[ She sees a little glum about her busy friend, but knows Ammy has a lot of people counting on her.

Still, she smiles brightly at him as he tastes the tart. ] Do you like it? I'm glad!

[21kingpuddings]

[Given the tone of the day so far, he kind of assumed there was a little less care put into today. But, if the person in charge is so busy, that must be pretty rough.]

Hopefully she can sneak out more often. [Responsibilities. vv] Working all the time sounds awfully lonely. [He knows he'd go stir-crazy without some kind of time off, not that he can particularly remember what kinds of stuff he would be doing. Hm.]

Yeah, if we aren't getting set up with everything right, at least they have good food for us. [It's a good enough compromise for him.] Try it!

[welcome_home]

Yeah, I think so too. [ Responsibilities are all well and good, but not if that's all you end up having time for. She's looking at you, Dad. ] Maybe if she doesn't get to sneak out soon, I can go help her...

[ That seems like a valid plan, right?

But for now she tries her half of the tart, making a delighted noise when she finally gets a taste. ]

Oooh! Those are really yummy, you're right!

[21kingpuddings]

[A totally valid plan, one which Tamaki doesn't see any problem in enabling.]

A mission to break her out for a day off...! [A worthy cause!] That might be tricky, if she's in charge. [Surely someone that important would be surrounded by people pretty much all the time, right?

A situation to think on, at least. Maybe getting some more energy will help them come up with a good strategy, and with that thought in mind, he finishes off his half of the tart.]

[welcome_home]

Hmmm. Yeah. We'd have to be real sneaky about it!

[ But Nanako looks excited about that prospect, rather than discouraged. ]