⇨ NPC MEET & GREET

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 76 - Day 78
Where: The Carnival
What: A gaggle of NPCs have arrived at the carnival to help with the acquisition of the Silver Mirror. There is an investigation thread for casual NPC interactions, and the rest will be handled in expositional megathreads.
Warnings: Nothing in particular!

HERE BEHIND YOU↴ As promised by the Ringmaster, near the end of the week there will be a number of guests arriving. All of them have encountered the carnival before in a variety of ways - you may have met them, or they may have been before your time. Either way, there are here to help. They owe the carnival a favour, after all. They are around for specific reasons, which will be carried out in the form of a couple conversational megathreads, but beyond that you are free to ask them questions in the investigation thread. ► THE DWARF FAMILY: This trio of dwarves (pictures here) are the heart and soul of the Worldwalker Caravan, aka the merchants that came to entertain the carnival during their solstic vacation on the moon. Brunis is a master tinkerer, Brauni is a master blacksmith, and Bal is a master chef. All of them are capable of creating amazing things, and if necessary they may be willing to do a few commissions for the carnival. ► SHIMMER & SCALD: A pair of escaped Winter Court changelings who used to belong to a fae called the Mother of Invention, and are now part of the Worldwalker Caravan. Shimmer is the more vocal of the two, and was apparently one of the Mother's top scientists before she fled. For obvious reasons, neither of them want the Winter Court to win the day. ► RAPH THE NEPHILIM: Mostly known for the fact that she was the brewer of the healing draughts that the carnival bought on mass from the Caravan during solstice. She uses her angelic powers to create and restore angelic artifacts, and knows a bit about angelic history. She's also had more direct experience with the Nephilim lifestyle than most. ► MOSS THE CHANGELING: Another changeling seeking refuge within the Caravan, she mostly gave the impression of being from the Summer Court. Unfortunately, whatever she went through seems to have traumatized her, leaving her so socially anxious that she struggles to carry on normal conversations. For those that met her, seeing her come out to the carnival in such a small group may come as a surprise. ► ALYSS & REYNA: A rabbit girl and a fox girl who were first encountered as starcrossed lovers under the tyrannical rule of the Prince. The efforts of the carnival helped to free them and the rest of the Manor servants, and instead of seeking refuge in the Summerlands, they chose to travel with the Caravan. They are mostly here on a social call, eager to say hello and lend what aid they can to the people who saved their lives. ► PRUDENCE & DAMIEN: The odd ducks out, these two are actually not from the Caravan at all! Instead, they are from Portland, in the version of earth that the carnival was trapped in for a month almost half a year ago. They were allies with the carnival during their efforts to break the barrier trapping them, and now, somehow, they've arrived at the carnival. Prudence is notably another nephilim, and the holder of a powerful angelic artifact called the Hand of God. Damien is her partner in crime and a warlock, or something.

Comments

[npcarnival]

"Well, look at it from Lilith's perspective, right?" Raph says. "As far as they're concerned, all the sapient species are junk. Can't use them to make a new species because they'll just fuck everything up, get their taint on it. So, they take a bunch of beasts, creatures that'd never had the chance to rule anything, or have a true will. They give them what they need to flourish."

"Lilith wants perfection. So... what does a perfect society need? They don't need doctors, because there's no injury or disease. They don't need police, because everyone coexists. What does a civilization do when it has surviving down pat? It starts to create."

"It betters itself philosophically, culturally. She gets these animals to showcase the best that sapient life has to offer because maybe, somehow, that'll give some perspective into what would make the perfect being." Raph shrugs. "That's just a theory, anyway. The parable never got super specific."

[moonfang]

“That sounds so boring,” Zangetsu adds blithely from the stands, chin and cheek resting on one curled hand. “If all ya do is take the average between pure chaos and pure order and never deviate, what is it you have? Just a blob of gray mediocrity. So this Lilith is an idealistic idiot with more power than they know what ya do with. Good to know.”

[npcarnival]

"I guess?" Raph says, raising her arms in a shrug.

"That's presuming there even is a straight forward chaos to order gradient in the first place," Pru adds.

"But hey," Damien says. "What is the human body if not a work of art? I know I couldn't come up with that shit. And I sure as hell couldn't make it better, without reducing everything into 'boring mediocrity', like you said."

[hippocarnival]

"What did the angels and demons think of Lilith?" Yuya leans forward, propping his chin on his hand. "Did happen that made them want something that nobody else was good enough for?"

[npcarnival]

"Well," Raph says, "the other Nephilim always told the story like Heaven and Hell both hated that Lilith was around, but... y'know. They might have been projecting a little, if you catch my drift."

"But it's not hard to imagine that you'd look at this place and think 'what the fuck', right?" Raph glances at the Ringmaster and then back to Yuuya. "I mean the whole multiverse, not the carnival. The carnival's alright, I guess."

[anti_nonsense]

Not wanting to miss a word of this, Rita's seated herself near the front with a notebook and pen in hand, her legs crossed as she leans forward in her seat.

"I guess I can imagine what Lilith's going for on a societal level, sort of..." Rita begins, frowning, "but what good is there in trying to make a perfect being? I mean, what's this ideal species supposed to have that mortals aren't capable of? Or Nephalem?"

[npcarnival]

"It fundamentally doesn't make any sense," Pru clarifies, crossing her arms. "You might as well invent a new color, while you're at it. You can't imagine a concept that doesn't exist, and that's what this is."

"Yeah," Raph says, just a little bit defensively, "but the point is that she tried anyway. She wasn't... complacent with what she was given, or whatever."

"Ehh..." Damien says uneasily. "That kind of ambition sounds good on paper, but... it's pretty messy. Especially when you think you can invent what you're craving with magic."

Pru frowns at him in a way that is hard to read, and then looks back to the audience.

"Raph knows a lot more about angelic history than me, when it comes to any planet but my own," she says. "But, Damien and I came across some factual information from an informant - one of the angels of the Highest Heavens. At least as much as she could tell me."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's attention bounces around with their debate and he purses his lips. "They aren't trying to make anything like a Nephalem either, right? So they don't think they're perfect or... fit to rule either."

He understands part of that motive, but they're also all coming up with their own perspective and not Lilith's anyway. So he looks over at Pru, expectant. "What is it?"

[npcarnival]

"We had a bit of an ulterior motive, when we started helping with the Severing situation..." Pru admits, carefully. "We didn't know it was destroying the Earth Spirit... and so a lot of it started out personal. Since before the Severing ever started, there had been a high ranking angel, a seraph, trapped in the depths of hell. My mother."

"After the barrier was gone, and after a long story I won't relate here, Damien and I managed to go to our plane's version of a hell dimension. Somehow, we were actually successful, and... it turns out our Heaven and THE Heaven weren't so different after all."

"My mother first came from the Highest Heavens, and was there to oversee the protection of our world. Most of the angels serving there were lesser kinds, created to do the seraphs work on a smaller scale. But it was all connected."

[soft_focus]

Reira does not pretend that she isn't confused by Most- possibly all- of what is being discussed. She actually misses Damien scrawling Heaven and Hell on the blackboard due to making the mistake of sitting behind a bunch of people at the start, and ends up having to fumble around a bit so she can get close to the front and listen.

She doesn't wait for Yuuya to get his answer, only raising her hand (She was told to Do That if you're asking a question in a 'class', and this is basically a class she's pretty sure)...and waiting until Pru is finished speaking, since it's a bit rude to interrupt that much.

"...Is that why 'Lilith' took the 'Mirror'?" she asks, blinking as she considers Yuuya's words. "If it's made of things that can't be the same, maybe she thinks it can make the chaos and order become the 'same'?" Best as she has understood at least, it's supposed to be made of opposites, somehow.

And opposites can't be the same. She pauses, lowering her hand when she supposes she should acknowledge whatever Pru just said.

Even if she doesn't. Know what to make of it. (She is trying very hard though) "...So...all of the heavens go back to the Real one? Like how everything goes back to Creation?" That whole 'reflections of reflections' speech Foster gave her is coming to mind now.

[npcarnival]

"Yeah," Raph says, "but she's saying that the Heaven from her world is the exact same brand as the big one, as opposed to just a derivative like a bunch of the other ones. It's, like, one step removed instead of three or four steps removed. Which means all of you guys with angel auras are only one step removed, too."

"Lucky for you, this means she actually knew about Lilith, and has experienced her personally," Pru goes on. "Lilith is still active around the multiverse, so it sounds like the thrill wore off a long time ago. She probably only checks back on her personal project once in a thousand years."

[kingsroads]

Well that's the best news Strange has heard so far—and something less jargony that he can actually understand. All this talk of heavens and more heavens and hells is so far outside of his realm of interest that he's not being his normal chatty self that he would be if people were mentioning the fae.

"So if we're lucky, we won't have to deal with Lilith herself." There's a pause, before, "Of course, when have we ever been that lucky to begin with?"

[npcarnival]

"Mhmm," Pru agrees grimly. "In my experience... no matter how rare an occurrence, your objective will probably intersect with it. But at least it means there's a chance. The seraph told me that she collects beasts intermittently - which probably means that she replenishes the population, on occasion."

"And so," the Ringmaster continues for her, "the idea is that we will take the forms of animals, slip in, and pretend to be of new stock. I entered once myself to take a look around, with Pru's assistance - and I have a plan."

[espigeon]

Julien wants to ask about this seraph, but he knows that whether or not he's heard about her it'll be uncomfortable. His impressions of the seraph Iuliael was mouthpiece for are very strange.

"Does Lilith monitor things, you think, or have... beasts there that can get in contact?" He shrugs a doubled shoulder. "I mean it probably doesn't matter, don't want to stand out even if we get lucky. So, what's the plan?"

If the Ringmaster got in the residents probably don't stop and vet every new arrival. Probably.

[npcarnival]

"It's like I said," the Ringmaster says. "We act as if we are the expected arrivals, and integrate with society. Then, we use the opportunity to find the location of the Mirror, acquire it, and then escape."

"No idea if she can monitor the place," Pru says. "The fact that the Ringmaster didn't already summon them by entering seems to imply they doesn't though."

[whattaprick]

Turning into animals sounds like a terrible idea, considering what happened the last time he turned into one, but Lambert’s face stays stony — even if his curling tail betrays his discomfort.

“I don’t usually think ‘creative’ when I think of ‘animals,’” he says slowly. “How’s the place run? What are they like, so we know how to act?”

He can’t help grimacing at the last word. Some of them are really, really bad actors.