aionlogs | Kenoma Team Training

Entry tags:

Kenoma Team Training

WHO: The Kenoma
WHAT: Training Activities
WHERE: Starts at the Citadel, varies per activity
WHEN: Starting on 6/4
WARNINGS: None yet...?

After a period of relative quiet, the Kenoma will receive a Communion post of utmost importance:

"Good day, everyone. This is Ciel. We may have received a passing grade from the Regent following the events in Venera, but they have sorely underlined how ill-prepared we were for a proper mission on Horos. Emet-Selch, Eustace, and I are in agreement, thus we have organized a series of training and teambuilding exercises. We ask that you all please attend, there will be... prizes."

OVERVIEW

When trainees arrive in the Courtyard after the Communion, a plethora of training activities await them.

The courtyard itself is sectioned off into areas, one for each training activity for the day. The activities vary from one subject to another, and still manage to be related to their tasks as a Kenoma while still leaving room for "fun". Weapons training, tag, survival training, and strength training are all provided. Kenoma is also welcome to spar on their own if they so choose. (This is not included as a specific prompt to avoid too much PVP, but you can add it in a TL if you like.)

Instructions on each activity will be provided to the participant before they begin. For those who can’t participate or choose to show up for moral support or to dodge the activities, water will be provided so that you may gossip around the proverbial "water cooler".

Each of the three trainers are on hand in some capacity or another to provide instructions on that activity or training on a specific skill.

These exercises can be done at any point and do not necessarily have to be done on a training day with the group. Characters can return after the crowd has dispersed to train on their own or with a chosen individual. The equipment will still be there and trainers (or fellow Kenoma) can be brought here at their leisure.

I. WEAPONS TRAINING

Racks of weapons are lined up on the far side of the courtyard. These range from swords to polearms and rather sizable knives to swords and tonfas. Feel free to grab a weapon of your choosing and have a trainer engage you to show you how to use it. Or, if they have experience, other students may also advise you!

The intent is to train on the proper use of several types of weapons and how to wield them effectively. It may also delve into how to most efficiently disable/neutralize/injure someone in a fight, depending on which teacher you wind up with.

II. AGILITY

There is an open part of the field that has been roped off specifically for...tag! Rope bridges, mud pits, chest-high walls of rock, and even a large wall of ice (?!) dot the field to give people plenty of places to hide and run. (If you would like your own obstacle, feel free to comment to ask so we can make sure it’s within reason of what our characters could do.)

Participants will be provided with a waxy paint to put on their hands which will stain whatever person it comes in contact with with a very luminescent purple glitter. (It washes out, of course!) The last person standing will get a prize of…dubious worth.

Now get running!

III. SURVIVAL

There’s two locations for this: the outdoor courtyard closest to the main citadel kitchen, and the kitchen itself.

For the outdoor location, bundles of tree branches and firewood are provided if needed, students are expected to start their own fire and cook wild game with what they foraged.

A - Foraging
Time for a field trip to the mountains and woods outside Achamoth! Students will be taught basic survival skills including: first aid without the use of magic, how to find and create shelter from natural terrain, how to identify and forage for food that is safe to eat, and how to create traps to catch wild game. Yes, you too can experience the joy of floor meat!

All foraged supplies can subsequently be used for Home Ec cooking lessons.

B - Home Ec
For the kitchen, there's a dedicated area where several Aions at once could attempt cooking with utensils and more elaborate ingredients. There are some servants keeping an eye out just in case and could be flagged down for help or assistance if requested/needed, but otherwise, Aions are free to make use of everything available to their own ends. Is this really useful for "training"? Cooking is a science that shapes and nourishes both body and soul, of course, it's important enough to have a part in the curriculum!

IV. STRENGTH

Step up to the starting line with one partner. One person will carry the other across a small section of the course to the finish line at the opposite end. There are a few minor obstacles such as walls and puddles. Nothing that you have to put too much effort into getting around. The person who can see will guide the person carrying them to the finish line using only their voice. Try not to bump into anything.

If you feel *really* ambitious, extra weights will be provided. Or you can forgo the rules and carry two people (or more?). Your choice, really.

V. REFRESHMENTS

For those who are not athletically inclined - or claim not to be athletically inclined - a large chunk of ice with refreshments dotted throughout awaits you on the sidelines. They will take a little effort to free them. Most will be freed with a little pull while others are completely encased in ice and may not be worth the effort.

Feel free to hand out refreshments, gossip about the participants, or scheme to your hearts' content.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Silco nodded. ]

Who can be relied upon, for defense. There's no doubt who that is among the Pleroma, after all.

[ They all knew, thanks to Luo Binghe's communion, after all. ]

I suppose this is one way to construct a front line, isn't it?

[ Making such an assumption of the Pleroma's capabilities? Hm. He doesn't comment on it, however, and resigns to a sip of his drink. ]

It is one way, yes. Although we must set up more than a front line. Support and other non-combatants must be considered.

[ Emet-Selch glances over at him curiously. ]

Speaking of, What role do you expect yourself to take?

[ Silco took a sip of his own, out of a flask, before he answered. ]

Me? [ His eyes looked back to the field, and then back to Emet-Selch. ] Clearly, I am no front liner. Nor am I a caster of any sort, or a physician. I hold little talent when it comes to combat -- unless you're looking for a back alley brawl, or a knife fight.

[ It's said, almost idly. ]

However, when it comes to plans, or direction, that's where my competencies shine. I did run a vast operation before I arrived here.

Tell me of this 'operation'?

[ He's gotten hints so far, nothing solid. It is a practical question to learn more about his skillset while being a question to learn more of who he is dealing with. ]

[ Silco paused, for a moment, to consider what he would say. He'd mentioned Zaun vaguely before, but never his daughter, never the extreme poverty they lived in, the disparity between them, and Piltover. ]

They called me an industrialist, you know. [ He said, simply. ] I brought prosperity, of a sort, to Zaun. My operation was centered in a bar, but spread to the factories and mines from below the Lanes to nearly in the Sump. [ which...really gave it away, what kind of place Zaun was. ]

Our product was...a special liquid, that allowed us to become more powerful, stronger. [ A beat. ] Our operation was fighting for independence for our city, in a way. We've been occupied since... [ He ran a finger down his face, considering the length of time. ] Since before anyone can remember, and likely longer than even that.

[ Silco holds back from explaining that shimmer was a drug, that it was highly addictive, or that the plan was to make them so terrifying that the Pilties had no choice but to either capitulate or go to war -- something neither could afford. ]

[ Ah, a "reputable" business centered in a bar, no doubt. Though with the scant description he was provided of Silco's 'home' before he finds it none too surprising. ]

And you used this "business" to finance your independence?

[ There's a smirk, in response. ]

Of a sort. It was never about the funds themselves. Do you know what oppressors truly fear?

[ It's asked with that sort of tone that isn't quite a lesson, but as someone who knows something. A secret. ]

Their targets becoming bigger, and stronger than they are. That their ill-begotten profits are no longer worth the effort of keeping us in line.

[ Emet-Selch can't help but have a corner of his mouth tug upward into a faint smile. Oh, yes. Tell him what oppressors fear. Surely he can not grasp the concept. ]

An admirable, if indirect, strategy. Greed can certainly be a pillar of dependability for any plan.

Mm, well, direct strategies proved... untenable.

[ There's a shrug. ]

Factors made it impossible, so one must...change tactics, and making them choose between greed and... safety -- and force choice is... astoundingly efficient.

[ He thinks at least. He doesn't know if Piltover will capitulate, but...if they are too scary, and too expensive to keep under their boots...

It's only a matter of time, right? ]

[ Emet-Selch squints as he tries to construct a mental web of the organization and its opposition. And the product, of course. ]

I find it difficult to believe that one such as yourself would keep so appraised of your underworld and be idle here in Horos. What are your intentions for this place?

[ It can't hurt to ask, even if he never gets a truthful answer. ]

Hmm.

[ He said, and it's half a grunt, half an acknowledgement. It's a reasonable question, all things considered. Silco was a powerful man in Zaun -- just like he suspected Emet-Selch was of a similar disposition.

Someone who did grand or great things.

Mind, Silco had little talent for combat, and had only risen to prominence through a combination of his history starting a smuggling ring -- the Black Lanes -- coupled with stabbing Vander in the back, there was nobody else who was willing to stand up to the Pilties. He'd been one of them, and could rise on their backs because they were all those children in the mines at one point together. ]

Your assumption is correct, of course. My intentions, I would think, are that of everyone who's aligned with the regent. [ He shrugged, then, almost disarming. ] I want to burn the entirety of reality down to the ground, and help make something new from the ashes.

[ After all? If their homes were obliterated?

What good was any of the rest of it, if Zaun -- and more importantly: Jinx -- were gone? The rest of it could burn, for all he cared. ]

Tell me, what would your new world look like?

[ Genuine interest is in that question. Something he wanted to know from all the Kenoma is what they desired to get in the end - it shows what is important most to them. Where their heart lies. ]

[ Immediately to mind, comes a world like Zaun -- explosive light, throbbing music from the establishments, shimmer and chemicals combined to create a swirling array of powerful denizens. Perhaps there's the light of the sun, but that doesn't matter to Silco. His perfect world was Zaun -- ensconced with colorful explosions and graffiti that littered every surface. Barons who were so wealthy they could afford to breathe oxygen, and where cars cluttered down the streets only allowed by the powerful.

In Silco's mind, Zaun had been grand. The only thing it had been missing is that they weren't their own. Zaun didn't exist, outside of the history books. It was Piltover's Undercity, and they were still toiling and breaking their backs for Piltie coin, instead of their own. ]

A place where... power comes to those who can take it. [ He said, finally. ] Where it's not merely if you're smart, or fast, or Strong, although we all know those virtues mean something.

It's a place where what pays more than anything else, would be that one has the resolution to take what they deserve, rather than merely watch it fall into their laps.

[ Emet-Selch narrows his eyes ever so slightly. A city where taking is paramount. Such a world reeks inevitable conflict and vyes for power; it is one of the facets of man that disgusted Emet-Selch most. ]

Then I trust you will have the "resolution" to help us succeed, if those are indeed your wishes.

[ Silco smiled up at him, a single eye closed in a mockery of serenity. ]

I can assure you, I don't lack resolution.

[ That ever-opened eye stared up at Emet-Selch, forever burning with intensity. ]

In fact, I've been known to be somewhat...relentless, when it comes to my...aspirations, you could say.

Oh, good.

[ It's said breezily, even though the depth of that statement is quite clear. ]

We've no need for wishy-washy.

I agree.

[ It's said with a self-confident smile. ]

And you? I assume you have some sort of grand design for our new world, don't you? I can't see someone like you... showing deference to any cause, unless you've already devoted yourself to it.

[ Being a mob boss often meant you must read someone, and understand how they tick, what they wanted. He didn't have all the pieces of Emet-Selch appraised, but that was more because he was like Silco, a proverbial shark in the water. ]

Are you worried any vision I have would cause problems for yours?

[ Might as well ask directly, given that is what he seems to be getting at. ]

Why would I be worried?

[ Silco lied, a smile on his face. ] I can't ask a reciprocal question? It seems although we've spoken a few times, we hardly know each other.

[ Emet-Selch gives him the faintest of shrugs. He makes no effort to try and hide what he wants. If the information was not given through him, it would not be difficult to ask someone else to find it.

He looks out toward the field and his tone turns sincere. ]

I want to see a world where we value learning, creating, and improving; A place where sickness, and ignorance are not paramount; and where we have more in common between us than we have differences.

[ It sounds like Piltover. That high-minded ideal, of creativity and learning. The kind of place tat had ground the undercity into a fine paste underneath their boots. ]

And hopefully your... perfect world will have no... undesired in your society, yes?

[ If he sounded a touch arch, well. He had turned to a life of crime so that he wouldn't keep making money for people in a society like that. ]

Such a concept does not exist in a world where everyone is desired.

[ He looks at Silco with a piteous look on his face. Pity for someone who has never seen such a world and lived under the heel of oppression and discontent. ]

I gather that your experiences make such a notion seem impossible?

[ Silco hated that. He hated it, he wanted it gone. There's a moment, where the sneer almost touched his face. He was not to be pitied, Zaun was not to be pitied, because their struggle made them strong, it made them work harder, think faster, and lack the fat, lazy gluttony that Piltover washed itself down with. It allowed them to take chances, do things, experiment, all the things that Piltover decried. Singed was only one of a number of brilliant thinkers and scientists that found refuge in the freedom that lay in Zaun, and Silco had made sure that they found their due.

He ran a hand through his hair, and breathed in, and out. ]

I've never seen a society that did so. When such places proclaim it, one only has to look underneath the closest rock, to find evidence to the contrary.

[ Oh, is that an expression of frustration? Plain, visible, not surprising. Many could not see a world past the vices of men and there are those who would know nothing more than how to embrace them. Poor pathetic husks who did not know better. ]

Many have promised such a thing and have offered but veneer. It can not be achieved with mere promises, that is true, and I do not expect it to be easy.

[ He looks out at the group before them. Some standing on the sidelines while others give their utmost on the field. This is the lot he's been given to achieve that and all he can hope is that they are up to doing their part. ]

If I did not believe it wholeheartedly possible then I would not waste the effort.

Of course.

[ It's much more neutral, guarded. Silco knows better than to give too much away, and although he dislikes the show of "pity", he can hold back. He disagrees, fundamentally, because he's seen what such things garner. He's seen a world where progress is promised -- and what lies underneath.

Silco is, after all, a product of his history. A product of scrambling up from the mines and into prominence, and it's closer to grasping and taking with every step. ]

I think we'll find that many of us believe wholeheartedly in our goals. I spent a lifetime fighting for a place like Zaun to thrive, after all. Perhaps in your "perfect world" [ Complete with airquotes, ] those who...challenge the limits on what we can find will be accepted, instead of kicked into the Sump.

[ He didn't believe it, of course. How could he, when all he knew was the Sump itself? ]

(no subject)

lachtara - 2022-07-09 00:48 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only