EVENT #1: THE EMPTY THRONE

[aionmods]

The Empty Throne

DESCENT

Nearly two weeks after being dragged from shrine caverns, you hear along the grapevine that the "the throne room is complete." It doesn't take long to figure out what that means; the ritual grounds that you have been hearing mention of are finally prepared, and it's only a short while before you are once again being gathered together for travel. As a small mercy, at least this time the journey is short.

Through a passage that has been blocked by a gathering of soldiers for the entire length of your stay, a stairway is revealed to you. It leads deep into the ruins, through unfamiliar structures and into the bowels of the earth. Though your feel your are mostly going downward, the walk is still long on account of how many stairs their are, and the soldiers escorting you are restless. They are now being led by the stray, mask wearing Achamites that have been accompanying the group till now, silently observing. Whatever place this is, it seems that they now hold court.

Funneled into the chambers below, you are greeted by a massive, domed enclosure of stone. Positioned around its circular radius are twelve thrones in various states of disrepair, sized as if meant to seat giants. The backs of these thrones all differ slightly in design, though most have great cleaves of stone broken loose from their architecture, as if subjected to some great cataclysm. Each is engraved with a sigil, though some have been obscured by the destruction wrought. The throne closest to the entrance has been almost entirely demolished, making it impossible to glean much about.

The dome's ceiling appears to be hundreds of feet tall at its apex, its smooth surface disrupted by stalactites that puncture through its form like teeth. As a result, many chunks of the original structure seem to have cracked and collapsed in to the floor below. When examined closely, these fragments of the domed ceiling seem to be made of a material strangely reflective in quality, though caked in many years of dirt and grime. If large enough sections are cleaned, patterns may emerge, revealing designs that look almost like star maps. The floor beneath your feet as a similar, but subtly different quality, covered in wreckage and ruin but can be cleaned to reveal complex patterns of intersecting lines.

A careful eye will indicate that these lines all lead towards the center of the room - the one space that has been cleared and scrubbed prior to your arrival. Here, the lines converge, with carefully preserved marking in the stone that bely increasing levels of runic complexity the closer you look. This is where the ritual will be held, you are told.

THE RITUAL

There is not much time to regain your bearings before you are being shuffled forth towards the ritual space; no, all the waiting has already been done. Under the command of the smaller group of Achamites, the Hylicians will make heavy use of the whips in leading everyone to their places along the rune-inscribed circle. Before that, however, small cuts will be made to each prisoner with an athame, either on their hand or arm. With a sharp, burning sensation in the afflicted skin, these cuts will spread into wounds reflecting the image of one of the eleven sigils displayed on the thrones encircling the group, and matching the shrine they were originally pulled from.

With this accomplished, they can finally be taken into the circle. With a design comprised of four triangles overlapping, the design of an open eye carved at its center, all prisoners will be led to separates points on its design where the lines cross. Seemingly arranged by their shrine sigil to be closest to whatever throne represents them, they will be brought to their designated positions one by one. Any attempts to flee or disrupt the process will be dealt with swiftly and harshly, exacerbated by the increasing levels of paranoia and fear in the soldiers themselves. Whatever is being done here, they don't seem happy to involved with it either.

When everyone is in place, the seeming master of ceremonies will finally emerge. A dark haired woman will appear from the shadows, motes of golden light fluttering about her otherwise darkness-clad visage. Moving towards the center of the circle, she will stand over the marking of the eye and begin working her magicks. As if on cue, the soldiers will withdraw any remaining whips and scurry to the outside of the circle, only for new bonds of ethereal energy to lash out of the ritual circle itself, binding each and every prisoner and dragging them down to their knees. Among the soldiers, you can hear mutterings identifying this woman as "the Aion."

"Come," she says to the coterie of robed Achamites, who will approach the circle with an assortment of vials collected into cases. There is enough for each prisoner to be given a drink, and so they will; a vial of abyssal liquid will be forced into each one of your throats, no matter how uncomfortably it must be done. While no less ruthless, the Achamites have a different way about them as they work, forcing themselves upon you with a strange familiarity that feels more akin to a mother forcing their child to take medicine than the suspicious hostility of the soldiers. As the foul liquid touches your tongue, it takes on a consistency almost like a living thing, crawling down your throat even if you refuse to swallow, all while the Achamites stroke your hair and make saccharine assurances.

Once all the prisoners have been fed their vial, the Achamamites too will retreat from the circle - all except for one. Joining 'the Aion' at the center, the two of them will begin enacting a planned ceremony of sorts, that culminates in the following scene:

The Achamite kneels before the Aion, lifting their masked face to meet their dark gaze. They speak, in practiced tones.

"To the Kenoma my body, to the Kenoma my soul."

In response, the Aion holds the Achamite's face between their hands in almost a loving gesture. She speaks softly:

"By the blood of the Martyr, I accept your sacrifice."

From the Aion's hands a darkness spreads across the Achamite's body, as if they are melting and dissolving on a cellular level. She kneels along with them, cradling them as their body breaks down, pooling in a void-black liquid around their knees. It drains into the lines of the ritual circle, surging out towards the prisoners.

Within moments, the ritual is complete.

KENOMA SICKNESS

As this dark power surges throughout the ritual circle, you will find yourself almost consumed by the tide. Whatever foul creation you were forced to swallow wakes within your chest, and you can feel it move within your veins, inside you lungs, behind your eyes. As quickly as it begins, the flood of darkness washes over you, but not without leaving you stained.

Something has changed in its wake. As you return to your senses, you will notice the magical bonds of the circle have fallen away, leaving you free to move; for once, the soldiers will not move to lead or restrain you. Instead, the Hylicians warily back away from the ritual space, retreating towards the only path upwards, where they form a defensive line. The Achamites that linger make a series of ritual gestures, praying in voices too soft to hear. The Aion woman stands in the center, her hands blackened with residue from the person you just watched fall to pieces in her arms.

"You will be given time to find your truth," she says. "Use it well."

As you recover from the experience enough to stand, she and her Achamite entourage are already retreating to join the Hylician guard. Gradually, your situation will become clear: they intend to keep your trapped down here. However, it will not be the same as when you waited before. Instead, the soldiers simply intend to block your only exit out, and otherwise leave you free to roam the full diameter of the throne room, seemingly free to do whatever you want as long as it isn't trying to break free of the cavern's confines. Each day, they will offer to their prisoners a limit supply of food, water, and firewood, but nothing more. Beyond that, you only have your increasingly dirty white robes and the same bedrolls as before.

❖ COMMUNION
The first change you will experience is an itching darkness in your mind, like a psychic wound that is becoming infected. The sort of thoughts you would normally try to force down become increasingly hard to resist; despair, hatred, and fear will plague you, and requiring great feats of will to silence even temporarily. Phantoms of the things you'd rather forget will become a constant companion, all while a presence seems to whisper: when you accept your fate, the pain will stop.

Worse than this, the darkness of your mind may not remain private. As if awakened by the ritual, your empathetic sense has become impossibly strong, to the point that you feel the broadcasted emotions and thoughts of others, and in turn, your darkest thoughts will be psychically projected to others with a volume proportional to the intensity with which you feel them. This effect is most potent between those sharing Legacy, with the capacity for their identities to become momentarily confused. In all cases, this connection may bleed into your dreams, or manifest as hallucinations.

❖ TRANSFORMATION
Yet, your mind is not the only thing that ails. In proportion to the strength of your emotions, your body may begin changing to match your state of mind. Physical transformations akin to those mentioned here will begin to manifest, themed to your inner suffering and the most negative aspects of your self conception. These alterations may shift from moment to moment, depending on the turbulence of your emotional state. They may or may not be painful.

❖ AFFLICTION
Along with the above effects, characters may also experience various more mundane ailments; essentially anything traditionally associated with illness could fit. Weakness, nausea, body aches, and chills are all common options. Along with this, void-black ooze may start to trickle from virtually any orifice. While it may stain clothing and skin, the material itself will dissipate after a few minutes in a manner reminiscent of ectoplasm. This effect may also appear around your Shard, as if the stone itself has begun to bleed.

RESISTANCE

Even as the Kenoma threatens to overwhelm you, you still have the power to fight. Though it may be a grueling war of attrition, you can force back its advances with sufficient will to survive and resist the darkness. Of course, your captors are not going to make this easy for you. Those that fight hard enough to expel the Kenoma from their bodies and spirits will take at least a week to do so, and for that duration they will be trapped within this chilly cavern, haunted by their worst thoughts and emotions.

The bedrolls barely strand up against the cold, your clothing doesn't at all, and to be comfortable you'll require fire. Yet, there is a limited amount provided to you, along with food and water, and the soldiers do not seem to be making any effort to distribute it evenly. Achieving basic warmth and sustenance may become a battle against your fellow inmates, all while you struggle against the enemy infecting your body. Cracks in the dome of the cavern lead into some smaller caverns and crevasses in the stone that can offer some privacy or protection, but the more splintered the group becomes the less the supplies will hold up. Fortunately for you, neither the cold nor starvation will kill you, but it will make you suffer.

Yet, you may still persevere. As you fight back the Kenoma, something else will be cultivated in its place. Bit by bit, a comforting and warm presence will grow within you, gradually disrupting the maladies afflicting your body and mind. Your faith and perseverance has been rewarded with an attunement to the Pleroma, the Kenoma's cosmological opposite; given enough time, the Kenoma will be forced from your being entirely, in the form of void-black sludge. Only then will your power begin to shine through, the abilities of your past life slowly returning.

You must keep your guard. With or without otherworldly power, escape will be a struggle.

ACCEPTANCE

Or, you may choose the easy option. Maybe the Kenoma resonates with your history and emotions in a way that makes it seem like it isn't the enemy. Maybe the depths of your despair are too deep to escape. Maybe your simply lack the strength to fight. Whatever the reason, sooner or later, the Kenoma claims you. The more you let it in, the less it feels like a poison and the more it feels like strength. The darkness settles comfortably into the cracks and holes of your spirit, and you awaken to its power. You feel the change viscerally.

This world is not good enough, a voice seems to speak through the Kenoma. This suffering you feel, the cruelty that has birthed this darkness in you... it is simply the rot that is consuming this existence. A better universe awaits, one forged by your own hand, and all you need do is first bring about this broken reality's end.

Whatever effects you were suffering from the Kenoma's presence will fade away, and in its place, you will feel your endurance bolstered. The clarity is stark in comparison to the mire you were trapped in before. As the other prisoners suffer around you, the Aion woman from before and an accompaniment of a couple Hylician soldiers will approach you among the ruins, as if summoned straight to your location. She looks you over, her dark eyes impassive, and then asks:

"Did you feel it?"

She doesn't actually wait for an answer, your expression alone enough to assure her. She'll tell the soldiers that you are free to go, and that you are to be given a share of their food and a change of clothes. She'll escort you out of cavern and towards the upper ruins, where the soldiers and Achamites have set up camp. This feels natural to you, somehow, like you and her are on the same wavelength in a way that is hard to comprehend. She is like you, you sense. That dark power is within her as well.

She doesn't linger with you for long, but she will see that you are on your way before heading back to the caverns. She'll say that the voice you heard, that promise, was the Regent, the ruler of this land. They spoke of a power that could birth a new, better universe, and they weren't misleading you. It's within their reach, closer than ever, and if you help them achieve it you will be rewarded lavishly. For now, you are free to regain your strength while the others make their choices. She only asks that you stay in the area and be ready to join the Regent in Achamoth when all is prepared.

If you're prone to boredom, though, she will mention that you'd really be doing the prisoners a favor by convincing them to accept the Kenoma like you did. You could convince them with words, or by making their situations so unbearable they won't have a choice but to break. However you'd like. It won't be worse than what's coming for them if they carry on this way.

When she parts ways with you, you are left to your own devices. Somehow, you feel inclined to cooperate. After all, the Regent did have a point.

QUESTIONS

Are the involuntary transformations during the Kenoma sickness period temporary afflictions or permanent ones?
By default they are temporary, but characters can also keep a couple keepsake changes if you'd like! An Aion's physical appearance is something that is generally in flux, and so even if you keep something from this event, you can always alter it later.

What kind of supplies are going to be distributed to those who accept Kenoma and leave the caverns?
They'll be given food, water, and clothing. They'll be given more/better rations than they were as prisoners, but it's still the sort of food that is limited by the fact that they are out here on a mission. The soldiers will have some fresh meat from prey they've been hunting in the forest, and will generally be having a lot of stew-based food going. There are actual spices in it, though, so that's cool. This is all set up where the Hylicians are camping.

As for clothes, they will get a fresh set (including boots or shoes) and some soap to clean themselves up in the nearby creeks and ponds. Hylici has an aesthetic that leans towards ancient Greek/Roman, so while they won't have anything fancy with them, you are free to assume they are able to acquire anything in that general ballpark. They do also have pants, though. While it is now spring and Horos has a generally temperate climate, it can be chilly at night.

Will Pleroma attuned be able to escape once they've regained their powers?
Yes, they will be allowed to escape at that point, and a second log will be going up to cover that part of the event. This log should generally cover up until shortly after Pleroma start ejecting the Kenoma's influence. Characters are permitted to escape by their own power if they somehow devise a plan to do so, but as we know the Pleromas are at a significant disadvantage in this situation, some characters who have fought against the Kenoma particularly valiantly will be given some magical assistance to help the survivors escape.

Will the Kenomas be able to try to stop them?
Yes! The second log will be set up to contain some PVP, though given the Pleromas do need to escape, we ask that you play nice. There will be a battle, but it will be structured in the context of the Pleromas having to hold off the Kenomas long enough to escape, so it will be relatively brief.

Can we speak to "the Aion"?
Yes, she will be around for the full length of the event. All characters will have the chance to find her watching over the group whether they are Kenomas or soon to be Pleromas. She will not be that talkative, though, so anyone tagging her will have to lead the conversation. She will not make small talk. Martyrs will recognize her as one of them.

Comments

[aionpcs]

Though she doesn't seem offended by him offering his name or extending a hand, she won't take him up on it. Her brow is ever so slightly furrowed as she shakes her head, keeping her hands close to her body.

"No," she says softly. "Not while you're like this. What you're trying to do here... it will only hurt you in the long run."

[inutilis]

He holds his hand out only long enough for hers to draw back; suppose that is answer to the unspoken question, then. Abel takes no offense all the same; he gently rubs at his elbow, instead.

...She isn't unkind. There's no sense of malice behind her actions, nor has she been dismissive or cruel with him. Abel finds a sort of conflict rising in his chest as the pieces all come together - and while he can't hope to know the larger picture, he wants to believe in what he's seen so far. Does she truly believe what she's done here is just? In their best interest?

"There's so much I don't understand... but I would like to."

Bridge the gap. Climb the wall. The first step is trying to see eye to eye, right...?

"I'd like to understand why you're here-- what all this means for you. And for all of them."

Is this really what she wants...? Is it a belief in something that drives her? Someone? A deity, a faith, a religion? Is the means to an end truly worth the prices paid in her eyes, or is she here against her will and acting out of necessity? He doesn't know-- none of them do. He wants to. What if she is just cog in a machine, a pawn like the rest of them? Could they help free her?

Could she help free them? ...It isn't impossible, but his thoughts are running atop one another in a jumble. Calm down. One thing at a time... let the woman answer, for goodness sake. Right... right. Patience is a virtue, they say. (Ah, if only being virtuous wasn't so laughable.)

[aionpcs]

She glances at the line of soldiers blocking the entrance, falling silent for a short while. As with everything, she seems to be in two minds about answering his questions. It's not that she seems afraid of the soldiers or what they might do; whatever tension there is between them, she comports herself more boldly than she would were she under their control.

"...The Hylicians are here because they have to be. Given the opportunity, I'm sure they would have preferred to remain uninvolved... or perhaps to crush your Shards while you were still fresh from the shrine."

She looks back to him.

"I'm here because the Regent asked me to be. Those of you that accept the Kenoma will return to them with me."

[inutilis]

The priest's gaze follows Xishen's to the soldiers standing at the stoic ready, though several days into the pattern of misery, few of their wards the strength to keep ramming their heads against their guards. Hylicians. He isn't terribly surprised to hear that they're grudging in their duties; they have not been shy nor subtle about their disdain toward the menagerie of captives from the beginning.

But his attention returns to her as he feels her gaze stray back, and there's a deepening knit at his brow. The Regent? He's unfamiliar with this entity, but it does solidify that she is acting on the will -- voluntarily or otherwise -- of another. The distinction is important.

"And... what about you, Miss Xishen?"

The question comes quietly. It is for her ears alone; he doesn't wish to cause any discord between her and the Hylicians if he can help it. Even if it seems she has some kind of rank on them in the pecking order, he is asking a question that might be troublesome if overheard, perhaps.

"Is this what you want...?"

[aionpcs]

She sighs, the tone of it and her expression suggesting that she knows what he's trying to do. It's a well known song and dance to her, looking for understanding, looking for compromises. She make a gesture with her hand, as if to wave off his question.

"I'm not their slave, if that's what you mean," she says. "I joined with the Kenoma because I want what it can offer me."

She narrows her eyes at him, as if trying to see more clearly.

"The real question is what you think is left for you if you carry on this way."

[inutilis]

Xishen's eyes narrow, and Abel's grow muddied by a sense of confusion, the innate desire to understand a transparent one. If she believes she stands something to gain from all this... it's only natural for him to wish to know what that might be. But such a thing is bound to be personal, isn't it? Should he pry...?

Before he can give the thought further consideration, Xishen levies a question of her own, one that has Abel lightly shifting his weight where he stands. It's a sort of hesitation; he knows that should her loyalties lie with the Kenoma-- whether for personal gain or in the name of a more selfless cause-- that there is a sort of expectation here.

One he cannot satisfy.

"...It isn't a matter of what will be left, as much as knowing I cannot give what it wants to take."

The answer comes quietly, softly. It is almost apologetic, but it is unwaveringly resolute. It doesn't come from any sense of pride nor self-preservation.

"Those are things I don't want to see taken from anyone else, either." And yet, some of them have already walked beyond that line of guards to the outside, bereft a light in their eyes that had been there before. "But, it's... it isn't too late, is it? For them, or for you. Whatever reason you have for all of this-- can you really tell me you truly believe your only hope is in oblivion...?"

[aionpcs]

She looks at him and after a moment of deliberation she sighs heavily and with her own kind of surrender. At first she says nothing, simply staring him down as if continue to search for something. In the end, she strides closer to him, her eyes slightly narrowed as she speaks in a softer voice.

"You would save them, then?" she asks, pointedly. "You believe that you can?"

[inutilis]

Abel remains still as Xishen makes her approach; he wonders if she's found whatever it is she has been looking for. Is it something in him? Something he cannot see himself? Perhaps self-reflection has never been his strongest suit, but... now more than ever he feels painfully aware of his glaring helplessness.

It makes the answer a rather simple one. There is a sadness in the smile that finds his lips.

"Ah... do I seem the heroic sort to you, Miss Xishen?" The effort to bring some sort of levity to this is habitual, even if weak in the moment. "I'm afraid I'm falling a bit short of capable of that kind of miracle. This is... personal, isn't it?" A choice every soul here must make themselves, much as it pains Abel to admit as much aloud. Who wants to resign their comrades to this anguish...? Watch them struggle, knowing there is nothing one can do to help them? "It feels like frustratingly little - to sit here and implore someone to hold on through this. And it feels cruel, maybe, considering how they're suffering. It's only because the alternative is so dire..."

...He trails off, a slight sink to his shoulders. Abel feels he understand the stakes, and he doesn't take the fight to avoid catastrophe lightly.

"But there is no way out but through, is there? I'd be happy to be proven wrong, just between the two of us."

[aionpcs]

I would, too.

It's a ghost of an emotion, flickering through his mind, so soft that it seems as if he wasn't meant to receive it. Instead, her gaze stays settled on him, focused on his words. He's lacking in the bravado that often accompanies this things.

"Where is your Shard?" she asks. "The crystal you were born with in the cavern."

[inutilis]

There is a small flit across his face as that small, almost too-quiet voice that isn't his own pervades his thoughts. There's a melancholy in it... and after the involuntary sharings of the past few days, Abel realizes what it must be after a beat.

...Ah. She is...

He sees.

He does his best not to make a grandiose show of its acknowledgment; thoughts are private things, and if she is no less victim to her innermost wishes being broadcast like an inconvenient radio station, well-- he doesn't want to make it a spectacle for the sake of her comfort. But... maybe, he is relieved. Xishen is not a cold-hearted master of ceremony. There's compassion in her, empathy.

He pushes aside his rumination for the moment, gently pulling the collar of his (sadly dirtied) robe, revealing the Shard's location where it sits following the line of his sternum, its uppermost tip sitting between his clavicles. And he waits, still and quietly curious.

[aionpcs]

She touches it with her fingers in a similarly assessing way, appreciating something about its tint or purity that isn't easily apparent. Finally, she cups it beneath her palm.

"When you feel the change," she says, quiet enough to be a secret between them, "draw the sigil of the Innocent and place your Shard upon it. Think of warmth, and peace, and a valley of flowers. Think of belonging and truth."

Taking her hand from his Shard, she traces her finger across one of his palms, leaving faint lines in a shape matching the symbol on one of the thrones.

"If you're strong enough, if they're strong enough, you may bring the ones that survive with you."

[inutilis]

...He is being given something precious.

Abel takes in her every word with an attentive stillness - and in the quiet, involuntary sharing between them is a restlessness, a worry... but greater than both is a bloom of hope. It swells up with enough force that it cannot help but find outlet in a renewed light in his eyes as he watches her finger etch a pattern into the skin of his palm. --He will commit this to memory with all he's got.

She's given him far more than the possibility of an escape from this cold, miserable cavern, even if he might not yet understand it. 'You may bring the ones that survive with you.' Then, to outlast this poison is entirely possible. Survival is possible.

The relief is palpable, and he very gently nods his head in perfect understanding.

"...thank you," he exhales, an earnest gratitude in those quiet words he hopes to impress upon her. "This... I won't pretend to understand what's happening here, but-- I understand this." It is no meager gesture on her part, is it...?

Thank you.

[aionpcs]

She slowly pulls away, silent as she meets his eyes one more time. She has no answer to his thanks, the melancholy in her eyes only intensifying as she hears and feels it. She lingers for only a moment longer before stepping back into the shadows and vanishing from sight.