aionlogs | EVENT #3: THE COST OF INNOCENCE

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EVENT #3: THE COST OF INNOCENCE

The Cost of Innocence

INVESTIGATION

As the Aions arrive in Venera, they will find the natural beauty of the city in sharp contrast to its uncomfortable aura. Though the sun still shines and flowers still bloom in a place filled with physical vibrancy and life, the air itself is impossibly still, as if wind no longer blows. You can taste the stagnancy of it when you breathe, and the pleasant sights only make that feeling of absence more haunting. The streets are mostly empty, with most of the city's residents hiding away in their homes, fearing the touch of whatever illness has caused this. That is, all the citizens besides those most affected, who wander the streets in a lifeless and painless daze.

Normally, Venera would be occupied by both Hylician and Achamite soldiers, but it quickly becomes apparent that both have abandoned the city, only guarding its furthest outskirts. Their reasons vary: the Achamite soldiers seem to take religious objection to the feeling of the city, believing it to be some trickery of the Innocent, while the Hylicians simply see it as a plague they have no interest in catching or spreading. Because of this, it will be easy for Aions of both sects to explore with little pushback from any form of law enforcement. The Kenoma will be directed into the city with warnings about the potential physical and spiritual danger while Pleroma will be able to sneak in mostly unbothered. After all, no one is eager to follow you.

Most shops and businesses are currently closed, though some uninfected individuals still nervously keep watch over their workplaces, fearing potential looting. It's difficult, but not impossible, to find people to talk to, and while the most plentiful wanderers are the infected, the reactions from those with their minds still intact will vary. Some will be eager to speak to anyone who looks like they're trying to do something about their situation, desperate for any source of outside help. If revealed you are an Aion, this may either entice them even further or cause them to retreat, as if fearing that you are somehow to blame for their plight. For those that are enticed, it will become clear that they hold onto faith that Aions are in Horos to save them, and will tell these new arrivals whatever they can without discriminating between sects.

The base level information that can be found is thus: the infection began at the same levels it has been in the rest of Horos, only for the numbers of the afflicted to rapidly accelerate upon the coming of the Innocent's Moon. Some see it as a form of divine punishment for their cooperation with the Regent, while the less cooperative citizens see it as a malady brought about by the Aions themselves, their only hope being that they will be able to clean up the mess they made. Some citizen have managed to corral their inflicted loves ones into their rooms and will be willing to introduce you; most of these individuals are past the point of conversation, and seem fully lost to whatever fantasy world they are experiencing. They are disinterested in eating or drinking and it seems like, without help, they are destined for a slow death of starvation and atrophy. That is, if their apathetic state doesn't result in a severe accident, as it has in many cases already.

Any other clues will take more dogged investigation. It will be a day or so after the majority of Aions have arrived in the city that the first signs of their own infections become clear.

HEAVENLY BODIES

The first to feel its effects will be the Innocents, Lovers, and Celebrants; like a voice has fully awakening to them, whispering of how their touch can be the cure to the others' pain. It bids them to take their fellow Aions into their loving embrace, to share this gift, as only suffering lies ahead. It expresses without words that it will be a shield for their Aion kindred, and that those that accept will become their outstretched hands to a cosmos that craves peace. Any form of physical contact with those three Legacies will either introduce or rapidly accelerate the infections experienced by the others, this effect only becoming more intense if the wielder intentionally forces the power of this strange entity into their victims.

Even without that accelerating touch, however, other Aions are not necessarily safe; the infection will still seep in, albeit more slowly. All Aions may experience a growing feeling of connection to the infected Venerans, as if the energy within them is being drawn into their their own bodies. As the Aion's symptoms worsen, the the ones suffered by the Venerans will gradually lessen, though not go away entirely. It seems that the Aions soaking up this strange power is enough to take the edge off of what is happening to the citizens: but at what cost?

Various symptoms will manifest in afflicted Aions with outcomes far more diverse and devastating than what the Veneran civilians have experienced. Visionaries, Firebrands, and Artisans will suffer the most catastrophic symptoms, the clash between their spiritual natures and that of the Innocence being the most extreme. This malady is characterized by its innate desire to quell its victims of their resistance, smothering them in artificial peace, even if it has to deprive them of their bodies and minds to do so.

It is not without treatment, however. It will gradually become apparent that feelings of intense suffering or upset are capable of purging the infection, that clash with painful reality seeming to wake them up from their trance and reduce or eliminate physical symptoms. The more intense the distress, the more effective it will be. Fortunately, this heightening of Aion spiritual energy has the added consequence of making empathic communion connections far more acute. Instead of just transmitting and receiving emotions and thoughts, Aions will find themselves more easily able to enter the delusions and memories of their kindred, drawing them out and manipulating them for this purpose. The catch is that they will only be able to access what is on the surface of the other Aion's mind.

When an infection is reduced or expelled this way, the energy causing it seems to be dispelled from the city, lowering the intensity of its ambient effects. While similar can be done to Veneran citizens to help treat them, the energy will not leave, and will either go into the Aion casting it out or return to the nebulous source of Innocence and eventually infect someone else. Something about going through the Aions specifically seems to act as a filter, as unpleasant of a way as it is to help.

IN THE SILENCE

For those unlucky enough to develop complete, or near complete, infections (IE. a full Innocence petrification) a presence will awaken within them regardless of their Legacy. It will urge them to join with it, to embrace the peace it offers, and to become the extensions of their will in this ravaged world. With an infection of this intensity, there will be little they can do but to hear its call. What exactly this would ultimately entail is unclear, but there is the sense that his entity is looking to join with you on a spiritual level. If your character becomes infected to this degree please let us know under the Committed Actions toplevel below along with the context of that transformation and whether or not they are being cured from it. You may receive some additional information in return!

QUESTIONS

What is the best way for Aions to travel to Venera?
The quickest travel paths are for Kenoma to take a boat from Achamoth, which will take about a day, and for Pleroma to teleport to the Celebrant's shrine and take either a carriage or river boat to the city (there are offshoot rivers not marked on the setting map). The riverboats would be the faster option option of the two, and would also take about a day. The carriages/delivery carts would be slower and take a couple days, but have relay access to horses and therefore could keep going overnight. Characters with flight are also able to use that, though flying right into the city might cause a bit of spectacle. Then again, none of the local law enforcement is eager to chase you at the moment.

Are Veneran civilians experiencing the same symptoms as the Aions?
Veneran civilians are only experiencing apathy/loss of self/daydreaming and maybe the loss of pigments/color for advanced cases. The more body horror orientated effects are Aion only and are being caused by their body's spiritual makeup.

Can 'cured' Aions be reinfected?
Yes! Even if cured or treated, symptoms can return or worsen again. This will keep happening until the build up of Innocence energy in Venera is entirely expunged, at which point the illness will fade away across the continent. Whether or not the Aions mere presence will be enough to trigger that is yet unknown, but it does seem to be helping lessen the effects suffered by the civilians, at least.

How long does the infection period last in Aions?
Chronologically, we are considering the infection period of the plot to last 2-3 days.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ it's incredibly strange. if he had to choose a kenoma off the street of this city — any city — he wouldn't in a million years choose misa. she's just so bubbly, so cheerful, so amused even when the topic of conversation is, well, this. he'd met amos on his arrival in horos and assumed all of the regent's lackeys would be much the same. (stupid, after what happened with dana.) and yet. when she talks, something about her isn't so dissimilar from amos at all. it's in the attitude — the instinctive idea that she's right and he's wrong, based purely on faction divisions. the notion that it's foolish of him to lie to her about where the pleroma are, as if she wouldn't take that knowledge directly to the regent to do who knows what. nothing good, from everything he's seen and heard of the kenoma.

if misa doesn't seem to be taking this conversation very seriously, rand must be a fairly comical contrast. his bearing is fully the opposite, eyebrows drawn together in consternation, something of an animal wariness in the tension at his hands at his sides, the line of his shoulders, the way he looks down to her.

slowly, ] Why do you want us to get along?

[ It isn't lost on her— the reservation he so obviously has about speaking with her. And, yes, she's aware too of the weight of the conflict between the two sects, understands why a Pleroma would want nothing to do with her... but the difference is that she finds she simply doesn't care to acknowledge it in every waking present hour. What he's worried about is all true, of course— the Kenoma are an immediate danger to the Pleroma, and Misa really shouldn't be trusted. But to her, she finds there's no reason to be openly hostile to them, not now at least. It'd be to her benefit if any of the Pleroma saw her as some ditzy, airheaded girl who doesn't take the situation seriously at all, who just wanted to make friends, if they assumed she was just along for the ride with the Regent for her own safety. ]

What? I mean, why not? It's not like we're exactly crossing fire right now... and I'm not really involved in that stuff to begin with. [ There's a pout in her voice, her expression disappointed and altogether very helpless seeming. ] I really can't do anything to you, honest. You can ask any of the older Aions you know. Oh— like Abel! He'd vouch for me. You must know him, right?

[ he really isn't very good at lying.

so there's a flash of recognition across his face when misa mentions abel because yes, actually, rand does know him. it's always so strange to consider that the first group of aions arrived together, suffered under the regent together, and then parted ways. not like his experience at all, meeting representatives (sort of) from each faction, spending almost no time around anyone who chose the kenoma. he's experienced this before, when mentioning amos to ernesto, the way aions had been friends — or at least not so enemy-like — before...well, before they'd separated.

for better or for worse, there's a part of him that's inclined to believe her. maybe she really doesn't get involved in the fighting, whatever there's been. but it doesn't make her trustworthy, even if that's true. ]

Yeah, [ admitted, ] I do. I didn't realize you did too.

[ then again, he wouldn't be surprised if abel knew pretty much everybody, given the priest's nature. ]

Yeah! He's such a sweetie, huh? I really like him.

[ Undeniably, those words are honest, warm, fond. Perhaps it's contradictory— her unquestioning placement with the Regent and the forward friendliness she shows the Pleroma, but she either doesn't notice that it may be unnerving, or simply doesn't care. She notes his hesitance, but does nothing to back down or edit her forwardness at all— actually, she's thinking that he's likely just the very careful and meticulous type, which is adorable in its own right. ]

I'm sure you've heard all about that nasty cavern? That's where I met most of the Pleroma that I know. Abel helped me a lot there, so we became friends.

[ She gives a shrug, suddenly wondering if there are even any Kenoma that he knows— she wasn't much help at the shrines, so she has zero clue who's run into who. ]

[ just as he's able to mentally connect her to amos, she manages to slam in the face with dissonance all over again. his eyebrows knit as he listens to her, trying to work out the contradictions for himself. she. she really likes abel? she considers them friends? and if she's willing to blithely say that of one pleroma, why not others? he'd mostly heard of their ordeal in the cavern from ernesto, back when rand had been so freshly arrived he barely knew one sect from the other, and even then he'd wondered why anyone would stay with the regent after all that. ernesto had painted a grim picture.

it occurs to him that he could find out now, from maybe a source better qualified to answer him. ]

And after all that, you went back to Achamoth? [ he doesn't bother trying to mask the bafflement in his voice. ] Even after what those people did to you?

[ it just really seems like imprisonment and torture should be, like, a turn-off?? ]

I mean, don't get me wrong, what happened in the cavern and on the way there was awful. I hated it...

[ She says that bluntly, neutralizing her expression as she sees just how shocked he is to hear this. Has he just not met any of the Kenoma that are willingly on that side? Does he think they're all kidnappees? There's a few that weren't consensually taken to the Kenoma, that's true, but... ]

In the end though, yes, I chose to go there. I could tell you about it... but do you mind if I ask what you know about the Kenoma first?

[ Since the tone has shifted to something more serious, she at least has the tact to drop the over-excitable cutesy fun, seeming more open and conversational. Still remarkedly casual for something that's allegedly so life altering, but at the very least, her curiosity and willingness to know what he thinks seems true. ]

[ not all kidnappees. amos had seemed pretty convinced of the purity of the regent's mission. but some of them must be; rand has come close to being one. that makes some sense to him, aions not getting a choice. but he's more surprised by some of them having a choice, and then choosing to leave with their tormentors.

there's a here and gone thought that maybe they're having this conversation a little publicly, out in broad daylight. but venera's a ghost town, and it's likely unwise to seek out privacy with misa. maybe she can't do anything to him, but just the same.

he shrugs. ]

Not very much. All of you follow the Regent. Your plans are to destroy the world — all the worlds left. There's some substance you have to drink, before you can properly go to Achamoth.

[ he doesn't exactly relax, but they are only talking. civilly, even. and misa seems open to this, having this conversation without needing to be at odds. ]

Umm... okay, but that's not the way I see it at all?

[ There's almost a ditzy-ness to the way she responds to his explanation, her head tilting as she turns each of the words he'd spoken over and over for clues. Huh. So this is what the newer Pleroma make of the Kenoma? She gets where the description comes from, but it's obvious in every inch of her body language that she doesn't agree on its accuracy. ]

The Kenoma care about creating new worlds. Being able to right the wrongs in your home world, to recreate it as you see fit... that's what I was told, anyway. The world I came from was rotten, and I really want to fix it if I can. I want to make a kinder world for everyone...

[ And just like that, she offers her motivations up to him as plainly as possible; she's not ashamed of them, after all, so she has no reason to beat around the bush. Besides, if she can help contextualize some of the Kenoma's motivations to a newer Pleroma, then she should try to be honest. Then, with an honest to goodness lighthearted tone: ]

The part about the potion is true, though.

[ he wasn't expecting her answer to be so familiar. one night in a town a long, long way from here, another girl had tried to explain to him why she was a darkfriend.

the wheel keeps turning, and people keep hurting...but the dragon has a chance to change all that. break the wheel.

and from the dark one himself: you can remake the world in your image. make it whatever you want it to be.

the truth is? he had been tempted. for just a moment. the beautiful image of the life he'd wanted hadn't been easy to deny. who doesn't want a kinder life than what they have? so if he looks surprised, this isn't exactly a shock. a part of him can understand why someone would follow a person who offers that. (the potion doesn't, after all, seem to be mind control.) but... ]

What gives you the right to do that? [ his voice is soft, where the question could sound combative. it's not an accusation, just — a question. ] How is it kind to destroy the lives people already have, so you can make something new?

Just saying, but according to those dreams we had, the worlds we knew are already gone... though I understand the people in Horos are a different story.

[ She says this with a slight hint of skepticism. She would actually prefer that the worlds they knew weren't gone, but also, if it turns out to be true, she wouldn't be that surprised. Likewise to him, she keeps her words non-combative, simply becoming more and more thoughtful as their debate goes on. ]

What if this is the only way to preserve some of what we had before, since what we had might all be gone? I think about that sometimes. If that were true, I think there'd be Kenoma, and maybe even Pleroma, who would sacrifice anything to save someone or something from the world they came from... whether or not it'd be kind to do that.

[ She simply has things that are worth destroying others for. She doesn't speak in specific terms of her own allegiance to that mindset, but in talking about it, she clearly doesn't condemn that opinion - at the very least, she accepts it for what it is. A valid way to think about the world they've been brought into. ]

[ that

hits him squarely in the chest, actually. he goes back and forth on what he believes about that dream: either home is gone, and it's his fault, or it's not, and they're better off without him. there's no option to return home, even if it ever becomes possible, so in some ways the possibilities are weighted equal for him. in other ways, though...there was never supposed to be a future where he lived and they didn't. if that's what's happened, he will never, ever, forgive himself for it.

what if there were a way to make that right? ]

Is that what they've promised you?

[ he wishes he sounded thoroughly unaffected, but at least he sounds more curious than anything else. egwene would — never agree to such a cost, for her life. nor most people he loves, being honest. there was a reason he'd had to sneak off to the eye of the world alone. loving people who'd willingly die for the greater good isn't an easy thing. ]

The promise is recreating the world the way we see fit... isn't it obvious that that includes making decisions about the people from the worlds, too?

[ This is her assumption, of course - it's never really been laid out in specific terms like that with the Regent. But Misa certainly feels sure that she'll have that degree of control, which is why she says this all with such a blunt, matter-of-fact tone. She hears that curiosity in his voice— wonders if he, too, has someone he wants to save. ]

[ the thing is, that does seem obvious to him. whether or not the regent has made such a promise. it was on this exact premise that he'd denied the last offer like this he'd received, back at the eye of the world. then, it'd been a simpler matter to reject the dark one. it had hurt, of course — turning his back on the life he'd always wanted, the identity he wished (wishes) was still his — but it's more straightforward to look at a living person and decide not to make choices for her.

it's less straightforward when everything might be gone, and the decision could save their lives. might; could. moiraine would certainly scold him for that. maybe home is still out there, and this whole dilemma is foolish. but maybe it isn't.

he breathes out harshly, shakes his head. light, this is the last thing he should be thinking about right now. ]

How do you know the Regent isn't lying?

How do you know they are?

[ She parries, quirking a brow. ]

I know one thing— the Regent is incredibly powerful. Did you know they're the one who brought each Aion here, to Horos? That means they have at least some kind of reach to our worlds. So I have no reason to doubt they could do what they said.

[ And no reason to doubt that that reach could pluck others from her world, if she willed it in the end, before everything was destroyed. ]

[ if he'd looked surprised before, he's flabbergasted now, literally taking a step back as that sinks in. ]

No, they didn't.

[ but his denial is more reflexive than anything else. he hasn't been told anything about what brought them to horos. he'd assumed it was random, or — pretty much any force but the regent. ]

They couldn't have done.

They did.

[ She says that bluntly, seeing his denial exactly for what it is. For the first time, she's reminded of how much the Pleroma simply don't know, due to not being in the Regent's presence. ]

When we got to Achamoth, they answered a bunch of our questions personally. That was one of the first.

[ At the very least... she doesn't say this to spite him. She just says it, watching his shocked reaction evenly, wondering if it had never dawned on him that the Regent already had come so close to all their worlds - close enough to pluck them out of it and drag them to Horos. ]

[ it's such an unsettling thought.

that someone — and that someone — might've had some hand in their arrival to horos. might've even deliberately selected them. he doesn't want it to be possible, but it could be possible. it makes as much sense as anything.

except, and this thought he scrabbles for, believing that means taking the regent at their word. and maybe misa thinks it makes sense to trust them, but does it? there's no real way to know if they're telling the truth or not, same as their other promises to the kenoma aions in their grasp. it makes a neat story, that the regent summoned them here, intends to grant their wishes, and that resisting them is foolish. that doesn't make it real. or, more to the point — he can't afford to consider believing this right now, so he buries the notion. ]

What are you doing here? In Venera.

[ not to fight, apparently, but there has to be a reason. if she's here, there are likely others, and that has to be towards some purpose. ]

Edited 2022-06-09 15:27 (UTC)

[ And just as he is willing to bury the idea, Misa is equally at peace with moving on, not particularly caring whether or not he decides to believe it. To her, it's the truth. It must be the truth. Without a single other force present in the world that seems capable of doing it, logic states that it had to have been the Regent. But she's not going to overwork herself trying to convince him of the fact— in the end, it's his decision to stay on that side of the fence and believe in what he does. It makes no difference to her. ]

Oh, I'm sure you've heard all about it. The contagion?

[ At least, this is what Ernesto has led her to believe— that basically everyone in the continent knows what's going on due to the widespread nature of the disease. She shrugs. ]

It's just a big mess for everybody, even in the city, so we got sent here to help.

[ """help""" being the flexible word here.... one she will not elaborate on much further. ]

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EVENT #3: THE COST OF INNOCENCE

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