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 Shops are open, and its people are withdrawn but superficially friendly when meeting strangers.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

[warmare]

[The cobblestones of the street, jagged where they are broken by her enemy's powers, cut and scrape at her bony knees. Her left shoulder bulges out unnaturally, higher than the right and spasming, popped out of place by the trench fall. Her two sets of lunges heave, heavy and straining through ignoring the pain... and her dark eyes find her opponent, a sick, half-victorious smirk twisting her lip and revealing glimpses of her teeth, far sharper than what should belong to a woman who looked part human and part horse.

This isn't the first time she's been called a bitch. It certainly won't be the last.]

Who's the bitch here?

[This time... the movement of the earth is slower. She can see the strain on his face. He has to move his arm to do it this time. She can use it to her advantage... she has to. The sound of the Achamite guards' approach is growing closer, a shout goes up... There's only one chance-]

Were you going to get help from your little friends? Let's make them work for it.

[The earth moves. She moves with it, letting it take her down... and slam her dislocated shoulder into the ground, using her heavy weight and the momentum to try and pop it back in. Did it work? Blood smears her lips from her badly bitten tongue, she cries out as she feels the bone move, tendons and ligaments snap back... and then she scrambles up faster than she may ever had in her life, throwing herself forward with a feral snarl...

And throwing herself into him, with enough force to carry the both of them over the railing behind him and into the waters of the canal below.]

[epiprocta]

[ That taunt in return only earns a vicious smirk, teeth bared as he tries to play strong. Really, it's too bad they're on opposite sides -- Hayame's hot. But war is war, and so Gen grits his teeth even at the stomach-turning sound of bones cracking and cartilate snapping back into place. Mind racing as he tries to figure out the next move to make ... until Hayame's comment distracts him.

It's only for a split second. Only because his very human ears hadn't caught that muffled sound of approaching footsteps, and he reflexively seeks out that rhythmic drumbeat of heavy boots at Hayame's words. And while it's only the briefest moment that Gen looks aside, just long enough to pinpoint that noise before he looks back in Hayame's direction -- even that is too much.

Hayame is upon him with the deafening thunder of hooves. ]

-- shit.

[ That breathless (and perhaps surprisingly juvenile) comment is all he can manage before Hayame's entire weight barrels into him, ripping the air from his lungs and plunging him into the chill of the canal. Just the impact of his back breaking through the water is enough to flatten his lungs; the added pressure of Hayame's bulk exerting a tremendous pressure upon completely purges the air from him in a flurry of bubbles as he's dragged underwater.

Somewhere overhead he vaguely hears the shouts of those guards drawing nearer, but in this moment, animal instincts trump rational thought. And all he can think is that this isn't how he wants to die. Is Hayame surprised to be answered with the frantic claw of nails against her skin as Gen tries to free himself? Having completely lost his advantage of control of the earth while afloat in the water like this, all Gen can do is struggle frantically to free himself -- even if that means blindly trying to claw at her eyes. Whatever it will take to dislodge that weight that sinks him deeper, deeper into the water, regardless of the way their blood renders the water dark and cloudy from their frantic movements. ]

[warmare]

[For some reason, most people she has encountered in this place did not seem to think that a jinba would be a decent swimmer. But she is willing to play that to her advantage in this moment... and use him to break the surface. Once they plunge beneath, before the buoy of two sets of massive lungs filled with air, he'll have to deal with the thrash of her hooves, the motion powerful enough to do damage even slowed by the water resistance.

He saves himself from most of it by clawing at her, keeping himself close even after she releases ... and though Hayame despises such actions, the primitive, feral actions of a beast... or only slightly better, an Armless that does not have the ability to use the tools of civilized...

Bubbles escape as she snarls in the depth of the canal, bares those sharp teeth again... And sinks them deep into his shoulder where it curves into neck, blood filling her mouth with hot iron as she savages at the flesh and muscle she can fit in her mouth.]

[epiprocta]

[ His field of vision is awash with blurry smears of color, his ears full of the sound of rushing water. His lungs feel tight, he can't move his body quite right, and the pressure of being trapped underwater with such an overwhelming physical presence has his pulse thrumming against his ribcage. The desire to pull away and get himself to the surface trumps all else, and Gen makes an attempt to kick away from Hayame --

only to feel the puncture of teeth rending into his shoulder.

His voice catches in his throat, muffled by the water, but his guttural scream still emerges as a flurry of bubbles. Clouds of blood begin to bloom from that injury, churned by his halting movements when he fights to free himself. And though Gen's struggles are frantic at first, he does manage to think past that brilliant shockwave of pain just long enough to focus -- and grab at Hayame's arm where his mace at struck, jamming his thumb right against the spongy center of the welling bruise there, where tendons and ligaments had been stretched to their limits.

Overhead, the sounds of commotion are growing -- multiple voices shout from above the water's surface, no doubt struggling to make out what's going on in the canal. Then there's the sound of something sharp plunging into the water. Arrows, Hayame might realize when one grazes her flank; even with the water slowing it down, it still grazes her haunch, with more arrows cutting through the water around her lower half. ]

[warmare]

[She gets what she wanted, even if it came with a price. She gets his hands away from her face and her eyes, even if she gives him access to her shoulder in the process and allows him to apply pressure there that half pops her jaw open... before she digs back in reflexively, jerking her head to the side to rip...

And then an arrow grazes her flank, another embeds in the fleshy part of her rump... and though the force is slowed by the water, it's enough to hurt... and enough to pull her teeth from her enemy's flesh, releasing curls of color into the water... that despite their differences, both seem to be red.

But she cannot stay here. As much as Hayame hates to flee from a battle... she is outnumbered, and she cannot die in disgrace like this, shot down by weak humans in the water.

With a last push, gaining traction in the thrash when her back hoof connects to the wall of the canal, she shoves the Kenoma away from her and then pushes off herself, kicking her way disgracefully towards escape, breaching the surface a distance away with a ragged gasp... and forcing herself onward until she can clear the range of arrows and drag herself out of the water looking like a drowned horse rat with only a half moment to pant and rest before she has to flee back to the outskirts of the city to regroup.]