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 Shops are open, and its people are withdrawn but superficially friendly when meeting strangers.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

[youngprodigy]

[He falls silent, looking from her reaction to the sea. If he notices the injury on her left arm, he refrains from acknowledging it.]

...Then...

[He trails off, clearly trying to give her words serious weight.]

...There's someone I desperately want to save. Someone I want to believe is still alive; that our worlds aren't lost.

[He sighs, sullen.]

...but I can't keep hoping without evidence. Our mission has made me realize something. That I must needs put aside my own longing for the sake of this world.

I won't tell you how to feel or what to do. That's not right of me. But I...

[warmare]

[So this man, too, has turned away from his world and instead of dwelling in the dark... seems to have chosen to turn his heart towards this world. How noble it sounds in words aloud. To "put aside my own longing for the sake of this world".

It's not the first time she's heard it, or something similar. People who told her that they were sorry about their worlds, but that this one needed them...

And yet Hayame cannot feel it. She can't even see how others could. When she looks into the eyes of the inhabitants of this world... she feels no attachment, no duty. They, this place, this land...]

Why must you?

[Her voice is hard, her eyes harder. There is a woman and her baby below deck that she had saved, that a Kenoma had bid her to save instead of him... and all she feels is resentment. She sees failure instead of success, because what does she care if-]

We didn't ask to be here. These people have done nothing for us.

[Not... as a whole. Of course individuals claimed that natives were kind, or fair, or any number of positive things, but-]

Even if you decide to play house here-

I cannot.

[... If there is bitterness there, obvious in her tone despite her best efforts. It is because she truly believes she cannot. Even if she wanted to... even if she fell so far as to want to make a life here...

She would never belong. Not in a world of two-legged beings. Not as the last jinba.]

[youngprodigy]

Because that is my creed. "Freedom through technology". I made it my mission to fight against tyranny a long time ago, after my nation destroyed another and decided to cover it up as an "incident".

[He folds his arms across his chest, but it doesn't seem to be a defensive gesture as much as it is him thinking deeply.]

Though you've said nothing of your world, I can tell you've experienced no small amount of horrors. So I won't try and win you over to my beliefs; you have your reasons for doing and believing what you do.

What matters is that you follow the path you believe in.

[warmare]

["Freedom through technology". Hayame can scarce even imagine what that means, when anything she might have once called "technology" is outclassed and strange in so many ways compared to what she sees and experiences in this world, what she hears from people of other worlds who insist that things she'd never even had the creativity to dream of just... existed.

- How does a nation destroy a whole other nation? She certainly can't conceive of it.

Just like how she can't conceive of-]

The path I believe in is not here.

[The only thing she'd ever hoped for herself had been ruined by her own failure. The path that had been offered to her to replace it, she had been too afraid to walk. And now- ?

Now... the ship lurches, and Hayame, who has felt sick this entire journey on unfamiliar seas and boat and footing...

Turns pale, and lurches forward over the side of the ship, the last meal she'd eaten (or at least, what was left of it in her first stomach) ending up in the waves below.]

[youngprodigy]

...I see.

[He can't truly blame her for that; the world is still very new and strange, and most are not like to be the sort to rally to the side of complete strangers.

He opens his mouth as though to say more, even if he doesn't know what to say before she... well, is ill.

He mulls over what exactly he should say, and decides that... maybe not acknowledging the fact that she was just sick over the side of the boat is a good idea.]

There's... no shame in not knowing what to do.

[warmare]

[He says there is no shame in it, but Hayame knows in these moments noting but shame. It's as if her body is intent on humiliating her further, forcing her stomach to reject her last meal over the side of the ship. Perhaps a kinder person would excuse themselves, after all, she had never been on a ship, but-

Another thing that she does not know what to do about.

And as she retches pitifully over the waves, her four equine legs trembling and the glamor breaking as her concentration splinters... Hayame aggressively gestures with her hand at the other man, waving him to leave.

Leave her alone with her failings.]

[youngprodigy]

[He looks like he wants to say more to her, but instead of speaking, he just sort of... deflates.

Ultimately, there are still people he needs to see to on the ship; Veneran refugees who will need assurance, even if it's not his place to give it. So after giving her a long, concerned look, he excuses himself to leave her be.]