EVENT #5: SOVEREIGN CITIZENS (VENERA)

[aionmods]

Sovereign Citizens

VENERA

In contrast the Aion's last visit, they now arrive in Venera on a completely average day... or so it seems. Unlike Godsblood, Venera has been given no warning as to what's about to befall it; the Kenoma are simply authorized to arrive and begin their bloody work without fanfare. Even their entourage of Achamite soldier don't stick out that much; in the time since the plague left, the city has refilled with occupying forces. Notably, the Hylician ones seem to be keeping out of the way, almost as if they've heard some things and would rather not be involved too closely in what's to come.

As opposed to the ghost town it was during the plague, Venera is now reasonably active, with most attending to their usual business. Shops are open, and its people are withdrawn but superficially friendly when meeting strangers. Initially, the targets of the Kenoma hit list will have no way of knowing what's coming for them, but after the first couple attacks word will begin to spread. Those that have recently been engaging in seditious behavior will become harder to find, leaving their usual homes and workplaces to stay elsewhere, and making other attempts to escape the Regent's attention.

Once those alerts have been raised, the Kenoma will have to engage in more detective work to find their targets, questioning other Venerans and seeking out fugitives in the homes of their family and friends. In the meantime, some of those who believe they are in danger may become desperately enough to seek out the Pleroma directly, imploring them for aid. Unfortunately, seeking out one sect may just as easily draw the attention of the other. Most uninvolved Venerans will be too terrified to intervene one way or another, reluctant to aid in the persecution of their neighbors but fearful of consequences. If your Aion travels openly, it will take some effort to pin them down long enough to hold a conversation.

SEEDS OF DESPAIR

Several days into the culling of Venera, the Aions will have witnessed the city gradually withdraw into itself. The streets become vacant as more and more people decide it isn't worth the risk to be seen outside, abandoning work and play alike to hide out in their homes, refusing to answer their doors to all except the most desperate pleading. Those that can't avoid their daily obligations are quiet and morose, trying their best to remain unseen and unremarked upon.

If your character has been observed as a Kenoma, either now or in their previous visits to the city, the citizens will look upon them as if they are the messengers of death. If you are seen as a Pleroma, they will resist your gaze, as if fearing your presence alone might leave them marked. In rarer cases, you will see those with stronger spirits, with glares of hatred or determination. They are powerless now, but seeds have been sewn, and whether they are the seeds of despair or of action are yet unclear.

By the time the Kenoma's hit list has been fully addressed, several have been killed and several more have been rushed from their homes to flee the city entirely. There have been holes left in the tapestry of the community they were once part of. One way or another, their absence will be felt keenly by those they left behind.

QUESTIONS

What is the best way for Aions to travel to Venera?
Estinien has plans to get an early start for the Pleroma by teleporting to the Lover's shrine and flying somewhere closer to set up a portal from the ocean caves near the Godsblood Lodestone to a spot of farmland closer to Venera. Paul will be setting up a portal directly from Achamoth to one of the Achamite outposts in Venera.

How much force can the Kenoma use while interrogating Venerans?
While they are generally not permitted to kill Venerans who haven't tried to physically fight them, they will be permitted to apply both physical and mental pressure upon those that refuse to provide them with information regarding the whereabouts of their targets. This duress should be proportional to the resistance the Veneran is offering. The Regent is not inviting them to terrorize Venera on a level to a level they cannot reasonably blaim themselves for.

Comments

[perfectlygoodbird]

If a bird could jerk its head back in an all-too-human gesture of surprise, that is what Meteion does now, beak agape in shock. On a person, it might be amusing; on a bird, it's downright comical.

She shuts her beak with a snap that would be audible were someone close enough. How could he--oh. Of course. Etheirys. He must be from Etheirys--there were certainly enough of them. Emet-Selch. Zenos. Estinien and Himeka, and now this man. He's not familiar, and she still doesn't know his name, but...

Maybe in good time, she can find out.

Meteion lets him catch up to the old woman, allows them to disappear from her sight (but not from her empathy, not yet) before she wings into the air again, keeping an eye out for Achamite soldiers or even other Kenoma, so she can lead them astray, if necessary.

[youngprodigy]

There must be something he can do for Meteion. Though he knows only what the Scions have told him, what he has been told indicated that Meteion is someone driven primarily by emotion. Dynamis, emotion made flesh. He's an engineer, so he can't say he understands it, but he's heard tell of what happened during the Final Days enough to know it's powerful. Without Zodiark's shield of aether, Dynamis had managed to kill countless people.

But also, was it any wonder that the poor Meteia's wonder so quickly turned to despair? They'd discovered naught but death and misery. Mayhap not at the same scale, but he can understand only too well the guilt of being a part of something that ended so many lives. It had nearly consumed him on more than one occasion.

If there's one thing watching so many people come together to complete the Ragnarok has taught him, it's that hope may as well be the most powerful magick in the universe. Those Horos is a fragile, precarious realm, it's not too late. It won't be too late to pull the land back from the brink.

Though he's still not yet brought Elise to safety, he will. She'll be welcomed into Godsblood with opened arms, along with the other refugees.

[perfectlygoodbird]

For now, until Elise is ensconced somewhere in safety, Meteion will stay in starbird form, if only so she can be unobtrusive. So far there have been none to gainsay those she watches over, but Meteion knows better. There are those who are far more cunning than she. She'll watch, just in case.

Hope is indeed a powerful force, but Meteion does not know of its certainty. Of the way people can band together and use it to drive off despair...

Though truly, if she needed evidence, her own eyes certainly won't deceive her here in Venera. Sure, there are those who slip through the cracks, but there were also those Venerans who banded together to help each other, both in the time of the Innocence plague, and even now.

All the Pleroma need to do is get their refugees to Godsblood. And Meteion is doing her best to make sure at least one woman gets there. She just sits atop a chimney, keeping guard, keeping up the act of a little bird who sings a pretty song. With any luck, it will lift the people's spirits as they wait for their journey.