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

[thelittlebrother]

[Susumu looks shocked by the sudden outburst. Ayumu was never like this when she was alive. She was either the stern, demanding shinobi leader or the friendly Shinsengumi housekeeper, but she never showed vulnerability. She never cried.

Only Tetsu had seen this side of her before she left for her final mission. No one else. Especially not her brother.]

Ane-ue...

[He holds her and is surprised by how small and frail she feels. It hasn’t escaped his notice that she bears the wounds of her murder at Masuya’s hands. How could it? Her ruined face, her crooked hand...everything matches with his memory of how she had looked when he found her body in the rain five years ago.]

I don’t understand. What is this place?

[kagenonadeshiko]

[Ayumu's been giving others comfort and reassurance, brushing up a little on current events and exchanging information while she can, without a whole lot given in return. To simply hold her brother, even for a moment, is enough to steady her into regaining some of her usual composure. Slowly, she pulls away just a little.

He looks shocked and confused and why wouldn't he be? She's never really taken off her mask around him, at least, not since they were both very young. Back when he'd been little more than a baby and she'd barely been into her teens, pushed much too young into the dangerous, adult world of shinobi life.]

This is the afterlife, Susumu. This is where we go when we die.

[She's studying him rather intently and that look should be rather familiar, it's the same sort of scrutiny she'd given him when receiving reports or assessing his strengh or progress in skills. However, it's not quite as cuttiing or cold as it used to be, there's a little more gentle warmth in her gaze now.]

You look older. You've grown up.

[Even if the war had been in vain, her sacrifice hadn't been. As she'd told Toshi during one of their many talks during her visits, together, they'd managed to give her brother a few more years of living. And if he's talking to her, that must mean that Tetsu accomplished what she'd asked of him, right? After all, Ayumu hadn't been able to speak this freely at this age.]

How long?

[thelittlebrother]

[Susumu snorts derisively.]

That's what they told me when I woke up, but I didn't really believe them. Why would I be a god?

[That whole "death hallucination" idea is really beginning to make sense.]

Five years.

[He suddenly frowns. Five years. Does this mean?]

Have you been here all that time?

[kagenonadeshiko]

No, it hasn't been that long for me. I don't understand it but time works very strangely. I think that all together, I have been here for over a year or so but it's been in intervals. And I'm not quite sure.

[She's probably confusing him even further but her own relationship with this place is bizarre even among those who've been here a while. How many Far Shore residents can honestly say they've gone from god to shinki to ayakashi to god again? Ayumu's simple shinobi existence has become so complicated since arriving here.]

Hijikata-san and Okita-san were here as well as Tetsu-kun for a time but many more years had passed for them than me. Even though I arrived here before them.

[And this is why Ayumu prefers to leave spiritual matters to the priests. So much of this place is and continues to be beyond her understanding.]

I don't understand any of it. No one does. I try not to think about it. I don't know if we are gods but we're certainly no longer human upon coming here.

[Then almost as an afterthought:]

And some of those that arrive here never were human to begin with.

[And then she abruptly switches topics again, smiling brightly at Susumu in a way she'd never felt free enough to do in life.]

Five years. I'm so glad.

[It really hadn't been for nothing.]