my oath shall be sped;

[agogemod]

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? The January TDM.
WHEN? The mythic dimension of Vorspiel.
ANYTHING ELSE? Violence, as always. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence, and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.

JANUARY TEST DRIVE MEME;

Vorspiel; a land of song.

arrival for new recruits

You wake up in a patch of verdant forest, with the birds chirping all around you. You're not in a clearing; your body lies between the trees. Near you, a frail woman with tired eyes rocks back and forth. You have none of your clothing, just black military-issued underwear, and none of your previous possessions beyond the one you chose (if you remember choosing) to bring with you.

When the tired woman notices you've come to, she speaks in a tongue you won't recognize, but somehow understand, in tilting tones that somehow always rhyme. Tired and sorrowful though she is, if you have questions as to what's going on, she'll answer: you are a member of COST, a paramilitary organization of time travelers fighting against the Regency, a tyrannous kingdom of the future who are trying to stamp out freedom and individuality in the name of peace.

She will provide you with the clothing necessary to fit in, and show you how to use your BCE implant to look up information on this dimension and its social and political mores. She won't let you leave until you're properly dressed to fit in, but once you are, she'll wish you luck. She thinks you'll need it.

And, she says as you depart, if you see the Gods, spit on them. They will do you no favors here.

ARRIVAL FOR VETERANS

While on BASE, you'll receive a message on your BCE.

URGENT MISSION: VORSPIEL UNDER MAJOR ATTACK. ALL POSSIBLE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO PROVIDE AID.

ACCEPT: Y / N ?

Selecting 'Y' will instantly teleport you to Vorspiel. Or maybe you're not the volunteering type, but your BCE glitches and signs you up anyway. Them's the breaks.

When you appear in Vorspiel, you'll find yourself in that same forest with the same woman who is ushering new recruits. She will give you clothes and wish you luck-- though luck, she says, is something true heroes have in short supply.

VORSPIEL

Regardless of how you got here, your BCE will have a short rundown of the situation once you arrive.

Vorspiel is a mythical, magical dimension rich in rare and precious resources. During the course of the war, it's been fought over by both sides. The Regency has recently allied with the leader of the misty country of Nibelheim to issue what is known as a Time Break; a sort of spell only possible in ancient dimensions such as these. Essentially, linear time has been destroyed in this dimension. Everything is happening at once, simultaneously and perpetually, a never ending cycle of lives and deaths and battles. While Vorspiel is a vast dimension, its borders have become warped; it is possible to walk from one country to another across the sea in a matter of moments, by accident. While the BCE is trying to send people to Nibelheim, it's entirely possible it misses the mark completely, or sends them to several places before they reach Nibelheim.

This chaos is meant to be a punishment: bow down before the Regency, or nothing will ever be the same again.

There is good news, though. Vorspiel is a dimension of inherent magic; singing or humming or whistling certain magical tunes will have an inherent effect upon one's surroundings. The BCE lists all the spells, though it notes that some have varying results (AKA go wild, guys, have fun), and the ones named after people will do little unless the person in question is present (a statistical unlikelihood).

As you enter different parts of Vorspiel, the BCE will sometimes give you different assignments, prompting you to take this action or that. If you have any questions about how this setting works, feel free to ask!

THE RHEIN

You come upon a giant river with clear and beautiful water. The sun shines down upon it in yellow light, and wherever the light touches it, gold floats to the surface of the water. The BCE will prompt you to fetch as much of this gold as you can-- it is an extremely powerful magical resource, rheingold-- but it will not warn you about the Rheinmaidens.

The rheinmaidens are mermaids, essentially, and at first, they are very friendly and gentle, singing nonsense songs and welcoming you to their home. But as soon as you begin to make any moves toward the gold, they will curse you, dive for you with surprising speed, and attempt to drown you. They will be vicious, and their natural element is water. You're in their territory, taking their things, as far as they are concerned. They have every right to kill you.

Killing the rhienmaidens will work... for a minute or so. And then they will rise again. Wounds will undo themselves-- whether they're inflicted by the rheinmaidens or you. Drowning doesn't seem permanent either-- you're pulled under, and all air escapes you, death befalls you... and then you wake up a moment later, standing on the shore.

Time has been fundamentally broken. Nothing done here is permanent.

WALHALL

You stand outside a fortress bathed in rainbow light atop a glorious mountain. Around you, the air is cool and still, and the roof of the sky seems terribly close. No matter how far toward the fortress you run, you can never make it inside. And thundering footsteps are coming just around the mountain pass, coming for you.

Lumbering giants wander around the fortress, searching for something they mutter and murmur is theirs. If they see anyone around, they will attempt to carry them off, kidnapping them for unknown purposes. They do not seem interested in eating their catch; they seem more interested in kidnapping it. Still, they are dangerous, brutish and sloppy with their strength. It is best to avoid them if possible, hiding in the trees.

Or perhaps you'd rather fight these fifteen-foot monstrosities on your own?

Of course, if you kill them, they just... come back. Death cannot be permanent in a place where time has been caught in an endless loop.

NIBELHEIM

The misty country of Nibelheim is located within a network of caverns dug into the side of a great mountain. It's a foggy, polluted place that brings to mind a city on the brink of the industrial revolution, not unlike Victorian London, though Nibelheim is entirely underground. There is smoke and smog everywhere, and living conditions are generally poor. The rich class is one family, ruled by a Nibelung named Alberich. He has various objects of great power that keep him enslaving his fellow Nibelung, working constantly in factories of his making. He has allied with the Regency to achieve this goal, and the time break within his home dimension is due in large part to his planning and plotting.

Human visitors to Nibelheim aren't unheard of, due to trade, though they are in a minority. Nibelungs, for the record, look and feel and act completely human, but they are ultimately alien, averaging a foot shorter in height at least, having naturally sallow skin, large eyes, hairless regardless of gender, and long, nimble fingers. They are a race of people made to live underground, and it shows; most can see in the dark, and climb nearly any surface. They are famed as smiths and metalworkers. Most just want to make a living and feed their families, though Alberich's clan keeps them in line.

Your duty here, the BCE says, is to try and befriend these people, the average Nibelung, and spark some kind of revolt. There are Regency spies everywhere, however, so be careful; you cannot call for rebellion in an open voice on every street corner. No, it's better, safer, to be subtle about it. Win the trust of a local businessman, seek out influential Nibelungs and figure out their opinions. Be tactical, be clever, be quick.

And avoid Alberich and his family at any cost.

But if you can, try and save some of the Nibelungs. Due to Alberich's machinations, Nibelheim is the only part of Vorspiel that has been untouched by the time break, but that will only stay true for so long. If you can convince any Nibelungs to join COST, they will do so willingly; you'll just have to escort them to safe places in hidden back rooms within dingy bars and forgotten libraries, the places where COST cells have been fermenting under the nose of the Regency. Don't get caught, and be careful; save as many as you can.

AT THE BASE OF A GREAT TREE

A man lays dying. He looks very much like the woman who introduced you to this place. Regardless, he lies in a pool of his own blood, a stab wound through his heart. The time break keeps him from ever truly passing into the next life; as soon as he dies, his eyes open, and he begins the process of his last painful moments once again.

Each time, he begs you to avenge him and find his love (or sometimes his sister; he seems very confused), and if you ask him his name, he will only respond that he is, "the woeful one". And then he will die again, for the hundredth time.

In the trees, warriors watch, poised to attack. They see you communing with their enemy, and they wish to defeat you as well. These warriors care little for your protest; they are locked in an endless battle that they cannot free themselves from, and you have just joined it.

IN THE FOREST

There is a serpent, larger than anything you have ever seen, sitting at the mouth of a cave. It sits upon a hoard of gold that may be familiar to you. It may not, but the BCE will inform you of what it is: rheingold, an incredibly potent and valuable magical resource.

Regardless, the serpent will attack anyone that comes near it or its hoard, even by accident. It, too, is caught in an endless loop of battle long over, for it calls you boy and foolish young man regardless of who or what you are. It speaks in a deep and sonorous voice, and will not stop until its head is cut off. The creature is obnoxiously large and highly dangerous, and battle with it will be long and painful, not least because, like everything in this place where time has been so fundamentally broken, it is very bad at staying dead.

Be careful when you fight it -- if you accidentally get some of its blood in your mouth, you will be suddenly and temporarily able to understand the language of birds. Which is cool, but also, you know, distracting.

The birds will tell you to find the Valkyries, who will bring you great fame and glory. They will also tell you to run, for Fafnir does not die so easy.

AT THE END OF THE WORLD

You are at a funeral. A golden-haired woman stands upon an unlit pyre, standing next to the man who, she sings, is her dead husband. Her song is beautiful and loud and incomprehensible, and when the pyre is lit, the fire swallows her whole. But the burning doesn't stop there; it begins to destroy the assembled mourners, the forest around it, the castle, the very river burns. The fabric of the world crackles and sets to flame.

Run from the flame all you like, but it always licks at your heels.

There is a trick, though, to saving your life. If one is truly unafraid of death, the fire cannot harm you, or anyone you touch. The BCE won't warn you of this; it doesn't know. But if you are unafraid, you can simply walk through the flames unharmed.

It will bring you to a wide field atop a mountain, where a woman lies sleeping. It's the same woman at the funeral, peaceful in sleep, unmoving, unsinged. She can be awoken by a kiss.

Of course, awakening her will begin the cycle again: the pyre, the fire, the fearlessness, the clearing. Over and over again, endlessly, until the BCE manages to pull you out.

This is the will of the Regency.

As a final note: This will not be the main mission for January. This TDM is meant as a one-off to dump characters into a setting they don't have to read a ton of infopages for, while still getting a sense of what Agoge could be (and as always, this TDM is game canon).

The main mission for January will be the Gallipoli campaign, as detailed here. Future missions for Agoge are always listed here months in advance.

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC MEMES PLURK

Comments

[impend]

[ A nemesis? Of course, it was a scary thing - maybe it's fear of the end of all things, but better yet it's a fear of the unknown. Not even he knew what was waiting for them when it arrived to greet them eventually. Actually, Ryoji might find it a little funny, being who (or what) he is, if he ever found out how the other feels about it.

Ryuji comes to stand next to him and they spend a moment side by side, looking down at the serene face of the sleeping woman. The sorrow frozen in sleep, but Ryoji feels like there's still hints of it along the curve of her closed eyes, the line of her mouth, and the song still echoes in his ear. ]

Maybe this is her dream, and the fire is what's actually happening.

[ He doesn't draw in any closer, or move to touch her -- the fire couldn't harm them, he knew that now, but it was nice to have a little bit of a peace and quiet among all the chaotic happenings. Just a little pause to all the misery and death. ]

I don't blame her. It's ... painful, losing someone you love.

[ryuji]

[He doesn't handle metaphysical questions like that all too well, so when Ryoji points out that maybe this isn't the reality of things, he furrows his eyebrows and tries to make heads from tails out of the situation. If this was the dream, then how did they pass from certain death into this? And she looks like she's sleeping, right?

Oh. Yeah. That's an important thing to point out. He nods over in her direction.]

She doesn't look dead to me or anything. Maybe sleepin'?

[For a second, he moves a foot forward, and then stops in his tracks. That sort of comment about love and loss doesn't exactly come from a person who hasn't experienced it. Ryuji is caught- because on one hand, everyone he's met over the last few months have told him to push aside feelings or pain in this line of work, but at the core of it, he still struggles to deal with his empathy towards people and their situations.

He just doesn't have it in him to tell Ryoji to stuff it, that a mission is a mission, and they have work to do ahead of him.]

You sound like you've lost someone yourself. Don't think I've seen you around the BASE. I'm Ryuji.

[impend]

[ On the other hand, Ryoji is all about metaphysical questions and all the rest of those deep, soul-searching questions.... But it doesn't really bother him necessarily if other people don't understand him. He's still trying to figure it all out for himself, living on borrowed time as he is now. But more importantly, it's the fact that they're here to do something, and that they obviously thought that he would be some kind of help in restoring the balance of this place. ]

All the same, we better not touch her in case something more dangerous happens.

[ At this point, he really wouldn't be surprised if she turned into a dragon or some kind of mythical creature and burnt both of them to a crisp for real, this time. ]

Oh, that's probably because I'm new. I haven't really met anyone properly yet.

[ also, seriously??? ]

Is it coincidence, or fate? I'm Ryoji!

[ryuji]

[At least her turning into a dragon would be better than babysitting a sleeping princess like this. But... Ryoji is right. It feels like one of those JRPGs where you get to the end of a long campaign and there's an object you're supposed to interact with, but you don't know it yet- there's a looming figure waiting in the shadows to bring about permadeath on one of your party members. Then, on subsequent playthroughs... you just stand there at the altar and decide life is better for the characters and don't commit to the chain of events that were meant to happen.

In that case, maybe Ryoji and Ryuji can have a happy ending too. He hesitates, and doesn't take further action just yet.]

Wait, no shit? [Ryoji... Ryuji... one tiny hiragana difference.]

It's nice to meet other Japanese people in COST. We're like the Ni-jis now.

[impend]

[ That makes him laugh, the sound suddenly all the more brighter than the others that had come before; even in a strange place like this far from everything he knew or understood (or rather, had thought he'd known or understood - funny how one little detail shifted your whole worldview, right?), the joke that would otherwise fall flat is -- enough. He feels human enough for this, at least, to be able to laugh. Maybe there's some hope yet. Maybe the happy ending they're hoping for is a glimmer of possibility in the horizon. ]

The Ni-jis! That's great!

It's really nice to meet you. I'm glad.

[ryuji]

[God, he knows his sense of jokes are entirely shit, but the sound of Ryoji laughing along anyway hits him straight in the chest. The air is lifted, it doesn't feel so doom and gloom at the moment, and he feels like he's done his job. That's what he's best at. Ruining a mood, for better or worse.]

Give it a few weeks, you'll regret sayin' that. [He smiles, offering a small sideways long glance at his new friend.]

... She looks kinda peaceful. [Looks around for something, anything, and settles on picking up a few bunches of flowers in a nearby spot.] Let's go at least pay her some respects.