agogelogs | all this energy calling me

all this energy calling me

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? Welcome home, nerds.
WHEN? Outside time and space, in the aether between dimensions.
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.

TOUCH BASE;

backfill armed services echelon
COST re-appropriated vehicle 854A-5.2

read the base setting infopage

DEPARTING FRANCE

The order comes out the second day after the Tuileries is sacked:

PACK UP, GET READY TO MOVE OUT. WE'VE DONE ALL WE CAN HERE.

DEPLOYMENT: BASE. WE NEED TO RESTOCK. BE PREPARED FOR MORE TRANSFERS ON ARRIVAL.

STAY SAFE. TIME-STEP EXPECTED TO BEGIN WITHIN THE HOUR. FOR THOSE OF YOU NEW TO COST: FIND A SECLUDED SPOT, AND TRY NOT TO EAT ANYTHING BEFORE THE JUMP.

The Time-Step

The transfer begins, and it starts like a vibrating heat on the collar bone, not painful, not to start with. Just a hum of sensation. But the vibration spreads. Veteran COST soldiers often refer to this phenomena as 'the buzz'. The sensation builds, feeling not unlike standing near a great engine, or the wind rattling the branches of a great tree. There is long a moment of motion sickness, and one cannot always be sure if it is you that is shaking from the inside out, or the world that is shaking you from the outside in. It may just be better to close your eyes against the growing nausea as the world blurs out of focus. A star shines in the distance. You may hear the faint rustling of leaves. Some swear they hear voices in this moment, indistinct words echoing off nothingness. Some swear they feel a touch of the divine; the eyes of the eternal look down upon you. Ancient bones rattle just out of earshot, cold and brittle. Or maybe it's an illusion brought on by powerful technology grafted into your skin.

One thing is for sure: One moment you are here, and the next, you are not.

Nausea is commonly accompanied by this shift. One moment, you're in the cold of France. The next, you're in a temperature regulated hallway, looking not unlike a very poorly put together space station. Droids rush up and down the long hallway, fixing broken bits of machinery or just chattering with each other. Crows sit on high ledges, looking down, watching.

(For those of you who just apped in and didn't participate in the TDM, you'll appear alongside your comrades now, standing in this long hallway filled with droids and crows and men and women in clothing from 18th century France. Of course, you'll be wearing the minimal COST athletic issued underwear, and holding whatever one item you were allowed to bring. Surprise!)

At the end of the hall is a long table with heaps of used clothing on it. The sizes and styles vary, along with color and detail (AKA none look exactly like the linked pics, they're just a baseline, use your ~imagination~). One thing's for certain, all the clothing has been used before, with holes darned and worn edges. They're all clean, though, and each bears a single patch with the words 'KNOW YOUR RIGHTS, THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN' and 'COST sewn into the side.

They're not exactly high fashion, but they might be more comfortable than the late 18th century digs you're still wearing, if you showed up in France. Or, you know, the underwear.

Meet the Drill Sergeant

There is the echoing sound of hooves, and a strange creature emerges from a nearby room: a centaur. He smiles kindly, happy to see you've arrived. He has a significant limp in his back left leg, causing his hoof-beats to pitch an irregular rhythm as he walks slowly through the hall.

"Hello, all!" His voice is kind, but it's pitched to carry. "You may know me as Sergeant-- I am in technicality a drill sergeant. You may call me Chiron, if you wish, though I'm to understand some may know others with the same name." He laughs, amused. "In any case, welcome home. It is not much, but we have tried to make it hospitable for you in your time here. Your room assignments have been uploaded onto your BCEs, along with some technological upgrades we've been testing out. There are a few prototypes and experiments you may find in your rooms as well. Our agents are..." He looks up at the crows. "We are a curious people."

He looks over to the table stacked with clothing. "Please pick out what suits you, and make adjustments as needed. If you have any complaints, and wish to change your rooming situation, your username, anything of that nature, please send me a request. I am also known in some capacity as a trainer-"

One of the crows caws, and it sounds almost sarcastic.

Sergeant Chiron ignores it. "Hm. If you wish for me to make a training regiment for you, to better your skill in this organization, please let me know. But for now: I am to understand your last mission was... tumultuous. Please, rest and acclimate yourself to BASE."

He turns to leave, before stopping-- "And please be kind to the crows. They remember slights."

The crows' cawing sounds like laughter.

HOTSPOTS

There's been some technical difficulty since the prognosticators had their little meltdown. Coolant is in short supply, and some of the corridors of BASE are a little warmer than others. Pleasantly warm. Comfortably so, like walking through a sunbeam. In these hotspots, it feels comfortable and snug.

Characters walking through them will feel the urge to lie down and rest, maybe take a quick little nap.

Sleeping in these spots will cause unsettling or confusing dreams, but not nightmares. Dreams in these hotspots-- and sleeping in these hotspots will never be dreamless-- will be hard to remember upon waking, but they seemed very... strange. Almost as though you were intruding on something important but private.

Yet you can't quite remember it when you wake.

If you're clever and watchful, you'll notice the crows avoid these areas, so you can avoid them as well before you're seized by the urge to lie down and nap.

Particularly watchful characters may notice the hotspots are growing in size and number as the days wear on.

(More information about these and the forthcoming December plot will be coming in an infopost on the 12th, but if you have any questions now, feel free to ask here!)

read the base setting infopage

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC PLURK DISCORD

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[...Wow it's super fluffy? I'm so delighted!

That's a question that Chiron's never stopped to consider before, but once it's articulated, he...can't help but realize that the answer is largely, yes. Humanoid is the default, or so it seems.]

It's the most common form. Even for myself.

[What was a centaur, after all?

Chiron's eyes remained on the droids, who had only just finished their work on the corrosion. What charmed him most was that they seemed to be celebrating in a way, walking around in a little circle and waving appendages.]

What makes you call it regrettable?

[Even for myself.

Ashitaka eyes him closely, not necessarily suspicious but certainly interested.] You are one of these creatures? [That does seem what he implied, and for some reason it seems to fit. There's something in sharing a conversation with Chiron that reminds Ashitaka of something from back home - perhaps the moment he had seen the great forest spirit at a great distance, though he could be mistaken.

His attention turns back to the droids, which were celebrating their victory over the corroded metal.

He simply offers in response:] Man need not be an element separate from nature. [Even if it already seemed to be a done deal.]

I am, even if it doesn't show. But then again, you've already met myself, if you observed the centaur from earlier.

[There's no point in hiding identities. Not when his fellow Heroic Spirits arrived, and now it's even more pointless. Chiron's smile and shrug is an easy thing, and he looks quite content to be honest about it.]

So how would you propose that such harmony be achieved?

[...Wait, what.

Ashitaka's eyes grow a little spacey for a second as he pieces together what the man said. Of course he remembers the sergeant, but what does he mean himself.

Let's just say time travel has been stretching his mind enough; multi-verse and other versions of selves is a little far out of his reach right now.

So he says, slowly:] You... mean to say that you are the same type of creature as the sergeant? [No, wait. Not exactly. Revision.] No, the same person?

[He supposes they share some similar attributes, some very baseline character traits and demeanors, but he still looks quite confused.

It doesn't put him in much of a mental space to answer such a heavy question. He shakes his head.] I am not sure if it is so easily attainable now. I have seen that men think themselves not only separate from nature, but superior. That it is something to be conquered and controlled.

[He remembers the desperation and anger in the voices of the gods as they planned their final assault on the men and women of Irontown. He falls silent again, his mouth a thin line.]

Yes.

[Time, space, and Grail Wars. They are one hell of a combination, and while it's plenty easy for Chiron to understand how this could come to pass, he knows it is't the same for all. He pauses before explaining further.]

Your people seem to interact with your gods a great deal, from the sounds of it. Am I mistaken?

[The mention of forest spirits seems like the question is a logical extrapolation. It is where he will start, and where he can build out from.]

That is the nature of many men. And for that, I can't say I blame the natural world for any desire to protect itself.

[Just when he starts to feel he's understanding something...

He sets the thought aside, having been answered a question. He shakes his head.] How I was raised, it was a matter of respect and distance. [The gods of the forest typically did not attack if not provoked, allowing man to live in their own lands.] I left and found that this was not true elsewhere, and that men had begun to war with the gods.

[It was the reason he was cursed now - that, and his own hand in the death of a god.]

I cannot either.

[It was said automatically. He did not judge the gods for them feeling the need to defend themselves. He had simply wished that they and Eboshi would listen to reason.]

[It's both complicated and deeply silly, in the end. Magecraft has that effect.]

I see. The gods I've dealt with in the past are just...their personality traits are decidedly human. There is respect, but the gods are also creatures of whim and that makes a great deal of difference. They meddle, they have children with men, they fight and drag humans into their conflicts. [The contrast was stark, if Chiron had to guess.

But fighting gods was something that ended poorly. A thought that now rattled in his mind.]

Do you believe that yours can repair the relationship?

[For a young man whose entire mission in life was to see and to understand, he was beginning to think it best just to accept things as they were and try not to strain himself, contorting his mind to understand.

He has known that they know different gods since Jerusalem, when he demanded to see the gods that the people warred for and against only to receive strange stares. It's not strange to Ashitaka that the gods have seemingly human traits — there were emotions within the gods he had seen that could be seen as human, though perhaps they were simply shared between them without being intrinsic to one or the other. But the meddling, and the intermingling with humanity... Noro had been, in a way, derisive and almost disgusted with San for humanity, though he knew that the god cared for her in a way that he could not understand.]

The gods that I have seen are great beasts of the forest, powerful both in body and mind. They seemed more akin to animals than to man, and in that they did not show this capriciousness you have mentioned. They merely acted as nature might dictate, as animals might.

[Not that they were stupid, but that they knew their place.

His mouth sets into a firm line as he considers the question. After a short time he shakes his head.]

I am not sure if the damage is something that can be repaired. While in the company of those gods, I heard that their power and influence seemed to be waning. That the beasts, their subjects, were growing stupid and tame in the face of humanity's expansion. [He grows silent for a moment, then continues.] I have heard that in the future of my own country, they no longer exist.

[He feels more sharply than normal the weight of the demon mark, thinks of Noro and Okkoto, and the divine creature he had glimpsed through the trees in the heart of the forest. All, gone.]

I see.

[Chiron is quiet for a long while. In a way, these are gods that seem much easier to deal with than the pantheon of Olympus. There is no Trojan War from gods like these, no cursing men for a husband's infiedlity. But it seems too rash a conclusion to declare one better than the other.]

Prior to the damage, what was their relationship like with those who paid homage to them?

[That was the real question, wasn't it? Chiron was interested in that, but he was equally concerned at the mention of waning power. In speaking to himself, the other Chiron had indicated that this exact thing had caused a number of gods to make rash decisions.]

Did you hear this from reliable sources?

[There were different problems presented by both. The gods that Chiron was familiar with seemed more powerful, more willing to impose their power and influence over lowly mortals. The gods that he was familiar with did not go to such an extent, but they also did not have the same amount of power, it seemed. Particularly as mankind discovered technologies that could hurt them, like rifles that could lodge them with projectiles that would poison them and rot them from the inside out.

His answer to this question wouldn't be the best. He had mostly heard about this topic from the older men in his village, about how the gods of the forest used to be much more widespread and a much more dangerous threat to anyone who ventured too far to lands untamed.]

Neutral, at best. [He looks thoughtful.] Paying respects to the gods was usually enough to assuage their anger for occasionally hunting creatures of their own clans. This was from before I was born, however, so I can only tell you what I was told.

[But it wasn't like the gods offered boons or curses to humans often. He isn't even sure if the forest spirit would've given him life renewed from his bullet wound if San hadn't acted as an intermediary.]

Back then they used to be more numerous. It... was relatively recently that man invented weapons that could begin to kill the gods.

[And the more their lands were stolen from them, the more it reduced their strength. It was a war of attrition in which they had little ability to regain ground.]

I am not sure. It could be a difference between our worlds, but speaking to him made it seem more apparent to me that that is what was happening, even in my own time.

[Chiron's curiosity and genuine interest meant that he had no commentary on responses to his questions not being so-called best. They were honest, and that was far more important. It didn't just give him a guage of these gods, but of the young man he was speaking with as well.]

Neutral is something I would have never associated with gods in the past. [At least, not with the gods he existed with.] But I also cannot imagine the men of my time being able to kill them.

[Now? Now he isn't so sure, after talking with Chiron.]

If it was not the same thing happening in your own time, then I think it is fair to say that it was something very, very similar. Regardless, the concept is frightening.

They are different than what I have heard of other gods. [He thinks about it a moment, trying to recapture pieces of thoughts he'd had before in Jerusalem, and later when he asked others about their own beliefs.] The gods are not our own. They are unto themselves, and to nature.

[They were like spirits — like the kodama and others — of the forest made flesh, powerful and ancient and intelligent so that they could guide their clans of creatures, though they were not all-knowing or all-powerful. There were even rumors that the great forest spirit could be killed now that others had been, though even to think of that made Ashitaka's stomach turn.]

Men of the past most likely thought the same. [A beat; his mouth presses into a line.] But times change, as do men.

[He remembers Eboshi, silhouetted against the night sky with rifle in hand, firing rounds into the charred landscape to frighten off the apes below.]

It is. [He looks about the room as the group of dactyl droids scurry further away towards another maintenance job in needs of attending to.] But I have noticed this since I was taken from my own time. A lack of spirits, a lack of gods. If this is the same world, something must have happened.

[It is a concept that while alien to the gods he knows, Chiron quite likes. Not being beholden to men is a fascinating concept for a god, but...unto nature sounded as if the forest creatures themselves paid homage in a way.] I see. And certain creatures are associated with certain gods, I take it?

[He wants to be sure the guess is correct. Regardless, the changing hearts of men is something Chiron does know and understand. That is a universal matter, one impossible to not understand.]

It seems as if the exercise of this all is to underscore that as men change, gods suffer. The impact of that suffering on man remains to be seen. [Chiron is unsure of how it will all play out. He isn't sure he wants to.]

Even if it not the same world, it means the matter is not limited to one place or time. That's cause for concern as well.

The ones I have seen are representative of certain clans of beasts, yes; I have seen boars and wolves. They are great in size, powerful and intelligent — and they lend some of that size, power, and intelligence to the creatures of their clans.

[He wonders if all of the beasts were ruled like such in the past, and their power had gradually been slipping away, causing the gods to die or fade and leaving their kin to grow small, stupid, and weak, as prey for others.]

Though there is also the forest spirit. I only caught a glimpse of it once, but it was... different.

[He seems to find it difficult to put how that was into words.

At Chiron's words, however, he nods.] Perhaps that is why the gods suffer. [His mouth forms a grim line.] They do not change as men do.

[Not the gods he knows, at least. It's not in their nature.]

Perhaps there is something we can discover about it. Something we can do.

I see. Boars and wolves generally are group animals to begin with, are they not? Perhaps there is also that fact in play.

[Not a rule, but gravitation of like to like. But beyond that the mention of a forest spirit has his curiosity at astronomical levels.]

Different how? Or different beyond words? Some gods are.

[The idea of men changing but gods not is a logical conclusion. One that makes perfect sense, and Chiron lowers his head slightly to give an indication that he thinks this is absolutely the right line of thinking.]

Not so much. And if we can discover a way to get them to change, then so much the better. Adaptation is a struggle, but it speaks poorly of powerful beings if they cannot do this simple thing.

Hm. [He hadn't ever really thought of it that way. He remembered the apes, too, in the field—Eboshi had shot at them to prevent them from planting more trees where they had razed the earth. They were creatures that lived in groups as well, and they had seemed to have the increased intelligence a god might give them.]

I never thought of that. That might be a part of it.

[He gets a faint impression of Chiron's interest at the mention of the forest spirit. He thinks a moment, trying to recall the time he had briefly glimpsed it through the trees—and what little he could remember through the haze during the time it had saved his life.]

It does not merely take the form of an animal. At first glance, it seems to have the body of an elk or a deer, but the feet are strange, and the head is... almost like that of a man. [He frowns, trying to recall.] It... feels different. The other gods are powerful, but it is more than that. Those gods represent the power of beasts, but it represents the power of the forest itself, everything nature contains.

[A power over life and death. It had managed to bring Ashitaka from the brink of death as he bled out from a gunshot wound through his chest, and yet it it had left him with his curse. He had wanted to go back to it, to try to understand why. But then there was what Eboshi was planning...

He nods, slowly. It seems somewhat unsure.]

If not that, then we must protect them.

[A brief pause.]

I feel it is what I am meant to be doing now. [And yet, he is here, and he doesn't even remember why he agreed.]

It might be. Or else I'm reading meaning into things that do not happen to exist. Both are valid.

[In a culture Chiron knows nothing about, he is also willing to bet it's the second one and noy the first. Either way, the forest spirit is what truly has his attention, and his eyes grow in genuine awe as the spirit is described.]

It's a manifestation of Earth. [His voice is soft, the awe apparent.] That other gods would defer to it makes perfect sense. [It embodied all of them, it seems. Even man. For better or worse on that particular account, but Chiron does not voice that thought.]

Protection is well and good, but the question perhaps is when do they need to be protected versus when do they need to be fought against? [It's a question brought on by hearing of Olympus' current standing. They've forsaken what they were in order to survive. Those versions are not worth the effort. Going back though? Protecting them in another point of time? That might well be worth it.]

[It simply might be something humans were not meant to know or to understand. Much of the gods seemed that way, as if something spoken in a language that was always slightly outside one's comprehension.

The vivid spark of interest that possessed Chiron as he spoke of the forest spirit made sense to him. That he would be so interested in such a thing seemed in-line with his general mien, the way that something about Chiron seemed much more alike to Ashitaka and what he was used to than others in the crew. Someone else used to the endless verdant sea of trees, the wind and rain and elements all in one.]

It both gives and takes life. [He says it softly, thinking of the place on his chest where a ragged gunshot wound should be.] But only on its own terms. Outside of our understanding.

[It had healed him of that wound, but it had left him with his curse. The question of "why?" still plagues him.

The question seems an odd one to him. Was not something worth protecting always worth protecting?]

I believe that at any point, going to war with them will be something which initiates a cycle of violence impossible to break from. [Not until one side or the other capitulates or is destroyed.] I am... unsure if the same is the case for the gods with which you are familiar.

Which is what the natural world is, in the end. Something we inhabit and try to comprehend, but there are actions that will never make any kind of logical sense to us. [He smiles faintly at he says it. It was a beautiful thing, to have that kind of mystery in life. To know it would always be a mystery, no matter what and no matter how far human understanding advanced.

Nature would always find a new way to baffle. And that perhaps ensured a total lack of destruction.]

I don't doubt that you are correct about the cycle of violence. So far as I understand the matter, the gods I'm familiar with are already involved in said cycle.

[But he will elaborate on his own question.] It was explained to me that at some point in time, the Regency was able to offer the gods that I knew in life a way to perpetuate their power, so long as they became allies. If I was asked to protect and defend those gods after that point in time, I would decline to do so. If it was before that point in time, the answer would be different.

And yet there are those who think that they could control what they do not understand.

[He isn't sure if it's a problem Chiron has experienced, but the arrogance of man in their affairs with the gods was something still fresh in Ashitaka's mind. Perhaps what he does here with COST could provide him with the wisdom required to figure out how to field the problems he faced back in his own home and time. But for now, it was merely a mental puzzle which plagued him in idle hours.]

I see. [The gods they were familiar with were quite different. Those Chiron dealt with were meddling with humans, so that made war that much more closer and present of a threat.

Though, as he elaborates, things get a little more interesting.]

So the Regency did recruitment of their own. [It didn't seem very different from what COST did, though COST didn't offer much in return. Just the satisfaction of fighting against something which could ruin all.]

Your decision makes sense, particularly if these gods were aware of what the Regency's intentions are. To be willing to sell the freedom of people across all of time for power is not something I would be able to agree with or support either.

It seems like your gods are keener on proving that it's impossible to understand. I respect that.

[It isn't something that seems to have played out in other times and places. He knows it wasn't the case in Trifas, when he was summoned and introduced to a very different world. Hell, even in France it wasn't the case, and that speaks volumes as well.]

It seems that they did. And moreover, they went for where the greatest powers rest. [Chiron didn't like it. But he didn't like that there were deities willing to transform themselves that completely either.] Kings are still mortal, after all.

[But they are not speaking of men. Warily, Chiron asks his next question:] Do you think it possible that the great powers you know might give in to this temptation?

[They scarcely needed to try to prove it. Ashitaka's last conversation with Noro cemented that he would never completely understand their intentions and their desires, only doing what he could not to anger them to the point of conflict.]

They do seem to have the power in this war.

[COST was merely a collection of rogue factions, fighting against a future that already seemed set.

Chiron's questions is a difficult one, not because it is difficult to answer but because the answer was readily available to him, and not particularly good.] There are both humans and gods I can think of that might, due to their ambition or desperation, agree to such a thing, yes.

[He looks troubled by this.]

On purpose, and because they had the foresight to begin it before anyone else caught on, I suspect.

[It's a conjecture. Something that perhaps the other Chiron could speak to in greater detail, but for now, it was an acceptable thing to leave behind in conversation.]

Then you know who to be cautious of.

[But it isn't good news. Chiron's own face is worn and unhappy with the new information, although he can't say he is surprised. All gods everywhere are like this, it seems.]

And who to expect, I suppose.

They hold power over time itself. [Ashitaka shakes his head.] They will always seem one step ahead of us in this regard, I believe.

[He considers the inner workings of both the Regency's and COST's recruitment to be just as esoteric as the intentions of gods, so he doesn't put too much thought to it besides the occasional wonder as to why COST decided to bring on certain individuals rather than others...

He nods, solemn.]

We shall prepare ourselves for what we can imagine to be the worst, then.

[He's used to doing such things.

Something occurs to him.]

May I ask you for your name? [He hasn't, up until this point.] I am Ashitaka.

It does feel like constantly picking pieces up after they've been broken, I agree. I would not go so far as to compare the situation to Sisyphus, but it seems like it is a close cousin.

[Chiron's pretty sure that other Chiron would not appreciate that comparison. However, it's been made, and that's that.]

I am Chiron.

[He waits. Just in case there's a need for clarification.]

all this energy calling me

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