EVENT #3: THE COST OF INNOCENCE

[aionmods]

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.

Comments

[comelately]

[ it's either a credit to Johnny's toughness or the power of the Innocence's influence that he doesn't cry out when he gets smacked in the face. He does, however, immediately fling one hand up to his now-sore cheek, glaring over at Gen with a retaliatory fire in his gaze, even as he's hoisted up like a jockey-shaped sack of potatoes. The anger is purely instinctual - a response to being hurt; the rest of him is still reeling in confusion, and getting hit only dazes him more. Why the fuck is Gyro hitting him now?

It's a good question. As is "Do I look like Gyro to you?" Now that he's staring at him, up close, it's more and more obvious that this isn't Gyro at all. In fact, he has no idea who this is - and the headache he's feeling is as familiar as the man in front of him isn't. He's remembering that he was sick. And while he's still a little too out of it to remember the Pleroma and Kenoma and everything else, Johnny's starting to realize that this is not America, and this guy is definitely not his friend.

In lieu of an answer, Johnny grunts, slapping one hand on the wrist holding him for support - and then, in almost the same instant, he launches an uppercut right at Gen's jaw with his other hand. ]

[epiprocta]

[ Motherfucker. He goes through the effort of snapping this loser out of his daydreams, and this is the thanks he gets?

Lucky for him and unlucky for Johnny, that slap at his wrist gives him just enough warning that the uppercut doesn't land perfectly on point. Instead, Gen manages to jerk his head back just enough that Johnny's knuckles glance off the underside of his jaw; the impact carries just enough force to snap his head to the side, his teeth clicking together, thankfully it won't leave much more than a small bruise and a dull ache for the following day.

Thankfully for Johnny, not Gen. Because if that blow had landed any more properly, Gen would have really made sure to get payback for it.

As it is, he only looks at Johnny with narrowed eyes for a moment, disdain coloring his expression as he gives an experimental shift of his jaw ... then abruptly gets up on his feet. The strong grip he maintains on Johnny's shirtfront means he, of course, is also getting dragged up along with Gen -- right until the moment Gen straightens to his full height, then simply drops him back onto the pavement. ]

[comelately]

[ is it a curse or a blessing that he mostly can't feel it when he lands hard on his ass? He's going to call it a curse, because the fried bits of his nerves that do catch the impact ache like a motherfucker, and that succeeds in choking a cry of pain out of him. If Gen hadn't already dragged him out of the dream, that probably would have done the trick. If nothing else, it brings him straight back to reality. Shitty, shitty reality, where he's stuck in some disease-ridden town with chicken feathers growing out of his skin and some guy he's never seen in his life tossing him on the ground after Johnny mistook him for Gyro. The tiny piece of satisfaction he gleaned from managing to land that hit is immediately outweighed by anxiety; he has no idea how much of what he said or did happened in reality, and he doesn't like that. ]

Fucking -- hell...

[ the throbbing remains, but it's dulling as time goes by; he lifts a hand to his cheek, knowing there's nothing to be done about his back, and squishes his eyes shut once before shooting his gaze up at Gen again. He's on the spot and he doesn't know how to feel, which means he goes to his default: defensive. ]

-- who're you? What d'you want?