⇨ EDEN

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 79 - Day 85
Where: Eden
What: Everyone arrives in Eden with their new animals forms - unfortunately, the welcoming party is a bit more intense than expected, with a ritual called 'The Anointment.' Better get this place figured out before anything gets any crazier.
Warnings: Hopefully no ritual sacrifice!

FLAME OF INSPIRATION↴ So it begins. After everyone has been given their new animal form and have had about an hour to readjust to it, the Ringmaster begins the infiltration. You don't see a lot of the specifics of the magic - all you know is that Pru's sword, the Hand of God, is somehow involved. It alone can tear through the wardings of Eden's realm, and once that entrance is made, the teleportation is instant. Everyone will find themselves in an open grassland overlooking a dense forest, with buildings and lights poking up out of the leaves. Behind you, there is a darker place - the barrens, the Ringmaster has explained. It's were the Outcasts are sent after they're banished. You are scattered across the area as if you've been dropped in with nothing. You've been given specific instructions - act as if you have no memory besides the vague life of being an animal. None of you know each other. You don't know how you got here, you've just been suddenly found yourself enlightened. Hopefully feigning ignorance will be what the residents are expecting, as what information the Ringmaster could find suggests it should be. Before the beasts of Eden come to claim you, you'll see the Ringmaster once last time, in the form of a giant serpent. With a nod of her head, she slithers away towards the barrens - she'll be in touch. ► THE WELCOMING: It's not long until you're discovered. The first to find you is a pigeon, who seems rather surprised. She'll ask the first few new arrivals she sees a couple questions - 'did you just get here?' 'did you meet the great Lilith?' Regardless of your answers, she'll hurriedly say she's going to go get help, and will fly away back into the forest. A short while later, an entire welcoming party of different animals will have come to greet you, sweeping out to find every straggler and explaining that you are the newest of the chosen. After they are sure that nobody is being left behind, they will invite you into Eden. ► THE GARDEN: Eden is a beautiful place. Every street, every structure, is surrounded by flowers and vibrant plant life - every bit as idyllic as its mythos would imply. The architecture is ambitious and creative, as if the residents have been perfecting the art for thousands of years, which they almost certainly have. There is the sweet smell of perfumes and incense on the other animals are you are led into the city. This is your home now, the locals will explain. You have been chosen by the Creator to serve Her cause. You will become one of the Honorable, one of Her artisans working towards the Divine Clarity. But first, of course, you must be sanctified. ► THE ANOINTMENT: On that first night, everyone is brought to a vast cathedral, covered in unknowable writings in a shining script. You are brought in through several gorgeous hallways lit with shining crystals and blue flame torches, only to emerge in a great hall built around a circular, sparkling pool of water. There are several braziers around its circumference blazing with fire, with sets of tools hanging out of them, like iron pokers. All of the new arrivals are gathered into the grand hall, and scriptures are read in the background that you can't really make out the specifics of. You will all be made to stand around the outside of the pool, and the local animals will gently explain to you what needs to be done. To become a new Honorable, you must be Anointed with the Flame of Inspiration - that is, they are going to brand you with the metal pokers they have heating up. If you go along with it, they will burn the mark into a highly visible part of your person (they have smaller brands for smaller animals), and then cool it off in the pool of water, where you are encouraged to bask until you are comfortable again. There are obviously a couple concerns with this. The biggest one is that it's sketchy as hell. The second one is that the brand is definitely made of medium grade iron. While the painful difference it makes won't be super obvious from the outside, long-term veterans and those with superlative fae qualities will find it very uncomfortable, and it will blister for a fair while afterward, which is seen as unusual. If your character refuses, or tries to get around it somehow, please explain in reply to the post down below. ► THE DAYS AFTER: After everyone is branded (or isn't, as the case may be), you'll be given the opportunity to dry off and head back into town. All of the fancy structures here are communal, they will explain, and you can choose wherever you'd like to sleep. There are a few buildings that are mostly empty that newbies seem welcome to hole up in, though the locals assure everyone they will be nearby in case they need help. In the days that follow, everyone will be welcome to explore Eden and find their bearings, and begin to discover what gifts the Anointment has bestowed on them. Whether or not you were good at a creative pursuit before, you will find yourself filled with inspiration for something - any artistic talent will do. It's like a creative talent will have been born in you overnight, or like an existing talent of yours has been boosted to near perfection. This effect will last as long as the characters are in Eden unless you are told otherwise. You won't feel the need to eat, but there is breakfast available, if you'd like it. The locals are very courteous, though they seem a bit confused. Something about your entry seems to strike them as different than usual.

Comments

[npcarnival]

They are, but they are for spiritual questions instead of just general questions about the Honorable condition. Like if you want to make confessions, or the like.

The formalized ritual party is pretty fun, though!

[npcarnival]

The only way you can become an architect is if you are replacing one of the existing ones when they move on. That hasn't happened for a long time, though, and usually each Architect has a few heirs they've prepared for the event.

[npcarnival]

Not really - you're just kind of supposed to start working your way towards Divine Clarity on your own, because too much guidance would just set everyone on the same path, theoretically. You can go to church ceremonies at noon and midnight every day, though - there is a cycle of Honorables that gives lectures there and they are usually pretty inspiring.

[npcarnival]

Not really. It's just kind of everyone's job to acclimate newbies - it's a communal thing. So you can really just ask anyone on the street for help if you need it.

[npcarnival]

She looked at some of the Twelve's works, as well as the best of the Honorables. She didn't seem very impressed over all, though.

But, nothing they've ever shown her has ever been good enough, so that's not super surprising.

[npcarnival]

Since the artistic endeavours come in many forms, how they are displayed varies. The buildings that are up right now are some of the best architecture. The best food makers will have special food parties when they have something new. In terms of paintings and the like, there are some galleries that people go to for inspiration.

Sometimes people who are higher up will make contests, but only if they are looking to recruit for help with a particular sort of project. So the contest is basically like and interview for a collaboration process.

[kingsroads]

Oh. Well okay then. Lord knows that there were times Strange wanted to be alone, he can respect that. There's a small pause before Strange continues. "Very well. I'll see you later."

And he does leave Ignatius alone! Though if he doesn't hear from Ignatius in the next few hours, Strange is going to start up some creepy, routine scrying to see what he's up to.

[npcarnival]

Moral purity is sort of an ambiguous concept to these guys, since perfection is really beyond morals. It's not about good or evil, it's about beauty and understanding.

Their main sense of morality is to do what's good for the creative process. That is, help each other out when necessary, don't hurt each other, don't get in the way of other people's art.

Virtue mostly just means 'being good at this stuff', and being close to the Divine Clarity. Which is sort of a hard to describe concept - nobody knows what the Divine Clarity really is because it hasn't been discovered yet.

[npcarnival]

You have to make your own path, they'll tell her. Nobody can tell you have to achieve the Divine Clarity, you have to make your way there on your own.

You've already received the gift of the Flame of Inspiration, so use it!

[npcarnival]

Mostly because there's not that many Honorables and if you make the city super big everything will be too confusing. Besides, letting stuff sit around just makes people inclined to live in the past! You need to move forward, not backwards.

[npcarnival]

1. Bezaliel is best known for being kind of mysterious and full of secrets. Also, when they come down to it, it's Bezaliel's job to maintain order in Eden. Sometimes... well, sometimes Honorables will lose sight of their purpose, and somebody needs to reign them in. That's kind of what Bezaliel is all about.

So... come to think of it, he really doesn't do much art that anybody else gets to see. Everything else he does is kept to the secrecy of the Twelve and their purposes.

The highest of his disciples that is regularly out and about is an elephant named Rizo****. He keeps the peace.

2. The Architects look into each individual's soul and picks and appropriate name based on that.

[periphrasing]

Just because she's making the effort to be calm doesn't necessarily mean she's succeeding. Just barely under the surface of that cute and cuddly exterior, she's a raging sea of nerves.

"Nobody would tell you or nobody could tell you?" asks the raccoon, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Or let me put this another way: Do you think he ran away from you on purpose? Or do you think someone took him."

[chronosynthesis]

Well, he will keep that in mind ans thank them for their time before setting off. He's gonna need a different approach to this.

Which means time for some eavesdropping. He'll hover around the cathedral, making little illusions and ostensibly interested in the lectures while trying to catch anything from that or nearby conversations that sounds notable about the Twelve, the mirror, or the new arrivals.

[npcarnival]

While waiting for the noon ceremony to begin, Syrlya will overhear a macaw and a vulture gossiping about the newbies. They are trying to keep their voices down, but the macaw is pretty loud, and isn't doing the best job of it.

The macaw is mostly talking about how weird some of them are, and is asking the vulture if they think it might be the influence of... well. You know what they mean. The guys they aren't supposed to talk about.

Like, no offense to them, but this whole process has seemed off.

The vulture doesn't seem super interested in talking about that, and will eventually excuse themselves to fly away and sit in a different part of the cathedral.

[chronosynthesis]

"Oh, wonderful." He doesn't even sound disbelieving even though his expression gets as shocked as a bird can get. Who thought bringing him was a good idea anyway?

"Did they say what happened to him? If he was recovered enough to run off on his own? Or..." He waves a wing vaguely. "They were shocked we were taking the branding so poorly."

[chronosynthesis]

After the vulture leaves, Syrlya will approach the macaw before the ceremony starts and asks in a low, inquisitive tone that he couldn't help but overhear, but is their arrival strange? They made it sound almost worrying.

It's easy to feign ignorance when he doesn't know how things usually go.

sick as a dog >> through to naming >> whenever we want

[whattaprick]

When Childermass comes to the first time after passing out and staggers to his feet again, he’ll find a cat close by his side — hilariously small in comparison, the only clue to his identity the golden eyes and striped markings over one eye that mimic familiar scars. One ear is blistered, puffy, but he’s otherwise in good shape.

He doesn’t say much until the dog lays down again. When he does, it’s a simple ‘get some rest.’ By the time Childermass swims back to wakefulness, he’ll find the cat sitting up, tail twitching alertly while his ears pivot at every sound he picks up.

[stompadour]

She doesn't like this, but she'll accept it -- she just can't believe that there's no kind of in-between authority between the Twelve and the rest of them. Doesn't the Stag have any right hoof guys?? (She does not phrase it like that, though.)

[periphrasing]

Fitting in is for squares.

"Well yeah. In a place like this there's plenty worth looking at," Peridot says, making a vague gesture with one paw. "It's all so... New! New and UN-familiar to me. Just being given a name is weird! I'm still trying to get used to it."

Lean into the awkwardness, Peridot. It'll make the act seem more convincing. Probably.

She sits back on her haunches and cocks her head at the borzoi. "I asked someone about that, actually. The names, I mean. Being given a name where I had none prior is... an honor, of course, but I was curious how that even worked. So I asked this coyote-- A coyote, can you believe that? A natural predator of my species, the raccoons-- I asked, 'How do the architects even come up with so many names for all the animals here?' and SHE told me that the Architects can read your soul and derive the name from that."

[npcarnival]

The macaw will mostly sound super caught off guard that they were overheard, and will mostly respond with sputtered apologies and assurances that they weren't trying to be rude.

Really, don't worry about it! It's almost certainly no big deal.

[anti_nonsense]

Only the best of the Honorables...? How does one come to be counted among those? Do they know of anyone who is considered among the best, someone Rita could... (it's awkward for her to say something like this) look up to as an example?

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya doesn't look so sure, and expresses concern that they mentioned someone could be influencing them--is there someone working against the divine clarity they're trying to achieve or something?

[npcarnival]

Weeeeelll.... More like a few individuals have a problem with the way Eden is run, and couldn't be reasoned with, so they try to come mess things up for everyone.

[periphrasing]

"I've never even had non-flowering tea before," Peridot says, peering at the tea ball with widened eyes that are full of genuine appreciation for the craft. Neither Salathi the raccoon nor Peridot the gem have tried it, since food and drink typically hold little interest to her. Tea is something that Pearl was always interested in back home, but Peridot never really saw the appeal of just brewing a bunch of leaves and drinking the result.

THIS kind of tea sounds interesting, though. Flowers are a particular special interest of hers. She sticks her nose at it and gives a little sniff, and then looks up at Yuya. "Smells sharp-- but not in offensive way. Marigolds?"

[periphrasing]

About a day or two after her naming, Peridot would like to ask someone about going to see the works of the different Architects, if there are any on display. Ideally she'd like to see a sampling from each of them, but she'll say that Saraqael sounds like a good place to start off! What's his talent, anyway?