riverviewlogs | monthly mingle: MEMORIA

Entry tags:

monthly mingle: MEMORIA

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: monthly mingle: memoria
when: the month of may
where: anywhere around the city
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

memoria

In the days leading up to May 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Memoria. A more solemn celebration than Sampremi or the Flower Festival, Memoria is a week-long time of remembrance for those lost in the Great War and the epidemic that decimated Riverview Quarantine's population 10 years ago. Memoria traditions include lighting lanterns for the dead, telling stories about lost loved ones or lost homes, eating meals with loved ones, and a special gathering to send floating lanterns down the river in honor of those lost.

a solemn commemoration of those lost

While the main city-wide event associated with Memoria is the floating of lanterns down the river on each Sunday evening of the month, the holiday is generally seen as a time of reflection on and appreciation of things that have been lost - people, homes, cultures, and planets. It is also a celebration of the things that remain. Many locally-owned shops will host displays of culturally-significant food, and will hand out informational flyers sharing the unique customs of their own homeworlds and inviting others to share those customs. There is a heavy emphasis on sharing time with family, friends, and lovers, and anyone who is able to will cook meals or treats for loved ones, or at least purchase them something good to eat.

i. hanging lanterns

Throughout the entire week of Memoria, residents will be hanging lanterns around the city. Lanterns are generally placed in greater number in places of passage - streets, bridges, and all alongside the train lines are particularly well-decorated, as are any trees alongside paths, and most homes and businesses have a profusion of lanterns around their doors and windows. This tradition is twofold; some people believe that the lanterns are hung in these places in order to guide the spirits of the dead back to those who still love them, other people believe that the lanterns are to give light for living loved ones to find their doors in times of darkness...many people believe both.

No matter what your character might believe, you can be sure they will find themselves offered a lantern for free from various businesses or friendly citizens passing by, and invited to hang it before the sun sets, or they may be handed a bundle of lanterns and asked to help share them with others.

ii. sharing life

Throughout the city, characters will find groups of people gathering to share hot drinks and talk about their loved ones lost, their homes and planets, or their experiences during the Great War and the epidemic. Anyone who has lost someone, who has fought to survive, who is feeling cut off and homesick, is welcome to sit and share their story. If your character chooses to sit and to share their story, they will find that people will gather to listen, will generally be respectful of the telling, and may share their own similar experiences in return. This is an excellent time to air grief in an environment where most people understand and respect grief, and a good time to deepen the connections to others around you, to understand them better.

There is also a very large focus on cooking or purchasing meals or treats for loved ones during Memoria, with many people taking meals with everyone they care about during the week of the holiday. Some go the extra mile and will hand out baked goods (usually chocolate or cinnamon), packets of candy, or other little treats to acquaintances, especially if they would like to form a closer bond with them. This is a great time for characters to reach out to someone they would like to get to know better with a surprise treat!

iii. floating of the lanterns

On the evening of May 8th, just before sundown, many of the city's residents will head toward the banks of the river, where they will light lanterns in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, in honor of their dead loved ones. The types of lanterns vary wildly, based on personality (either of the person floating it or the person they are honoring), culture, and many other factors. Some lanterns are very simple, others are incredibly complex, but the one common feature they all have is that people write on the shades of them - they write about their feelings for their loved ones, their wishes for their relationships and friendships, a memory from childhood or home, or even just lines of poetry or lyrics from songs that express something they miss, or something that hurts them.

Once those emotions are written on the lanterns, the lanterns are set free, floating down the river in the darkening evening, in a cathartic gesture shared by most residents of the city. Waves of lantern floating will start around 7 pm and continue until the sun rises on each Sunday evening of May.

iv. down with the sickness

The epidemic that happened 10 years ago was an incredibly traumatic experience for the people living in the Quarantine, on a cultural scale as well as a personal one. While most people who live in the Quarantine are able to leave after 5 years, the trauma lingers in any number of invisible ways in the city. Besides that, there is a small population of people who have chosen to live permanently in the Quarantine, who have made it their home and embraced its melting pot of cultural diversity as their own. Many of these people are survivors of the epidemic, and have a particularly poignant connection to the Memoria celebration.

One of these long-term residents is an engineer specializing in magically-enhanced robotics who lost most of her family in the epidemic, and as each year passes she becomes more and more distraught by how the population turns over and slowly loses track of the importance of Memoria. In her eyes, it's become symbolic, commercialized, a celebration of general grief and not the very specific grief the Quarantine experienced 10 years ago. And she has decided to do something about it, something to make the specific trauma of the epidemic very real and very current to everyone in the city.

On May 1st, she will be releasing a small cloud of self-replicating magically-enhanced nanites near City Hall. The nanites are drawn to warm, living bodies, and once they enter, they find their way to the brain and central nervous system (or equivalent, depending on physiology) and start to take effect on the parts of the brain (or equivalent) that control a person's sensory experiences and psychosomatic responses. In effect, the nanites work as an artificial virus that makes residents horribly ill, and which can be passed from person to person like a contagion.

Throughout the month, reports of this mysterious illness will sweep through the Quarantine, with residents uncertain of how to cure it. Symptoms vary widely depending on the person, with each affected person facing a uniquely personal set of symptoms - but each case has the same thing in common: it ends with the victim losing consciousness and lapsing into a coma.

How It Works

● Participation is opt-in, and while the "epidemic" can't be ignored in the city, characters are not required to get ill even if they are exposed.
● The "disease" can be spread from person to person by skin-to-skin contact or exchange of fluids (kissing, coughing, spitting, etc.) There is no set symptoms for the "disease," and how much or little a character is affected or in what ways is up to player discretion. Incubation period (time between exposure and first symptoms appearing) is also up to player discretion.
● Since the nanites are based in both tech and mgaic, they are much harder to defeat than they would be otherwise. However, they can be deactivated and destroyed through a combination of electromagnetic pulses and magical nullification or spell-dispersing abilities. Players are also welcome to come up with other ways to deactivate the nanites, keeping in mind that it should not be too easy.
● Affected characters can be sick for as long or short a time as the player decides, and once they lapse into a coma it can last as long as the player decides. Once the character wakes from the coma, they will no longer be sick and the nanites will no longer be present in their system.
● Once a character has been infected, they will be immune and cannot be reinfected.
● All sick characters will be well again by May 31st and there will be no long-term effects.

● If any players wish to pursue or bring to justice the perpetrator, please send the mod a PM and we can discuss your ideas!

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to meet new roommates, for the purpose of getting to know each other, or hit up the mod-posted prompt to create a Communal Housing floor mingle. Or, if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during Memoria, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: image i: RAW Visual, image ii: by trenchmaker, image iv: Bianca Draghici; image iii: found uncredited on Pinterest - please let the mod know if you find credit!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Taako has no idea what a Nature is, but he's pretty used to hearing new terms. Based on what the Tetherer has said so far, it sounds like it might be something like a meta or mutant power.]

Uh, thanks, I guess.

[Look, he's gotten better at being seen having a single emotion, but he doesn't want to get too into it. So he's going to focus on less emotional things.]

I dunno if I've heard of a Nature, how's that work?

Most other worlds haven't, but they exist on every world. For every person.

[At least, in their universe, they do.]

A Nature is something that you are born with, that follows you throughout your life. A Nature of Disorder, for example, may predispose you toward disorganization. A Nature of Protection leads you to shield others from harm, physical and emotional. A Nature of Failure may follow a life of hardship.

The more powerful ones can manifest in ways that alter the world around us. Mine, Tethering, is a unique example, given that there is only one with this Nature at a time throughout all the worlds.

[If the mood wasn't so somber, he might have been tempted to make a dick joke here, but he decides to be a bit more sensible than that.]

So you're like - super special for your world?

[This isn't a snarky question or anything, he's just noticed a pattern.]

For all the worlds.

[They see no need to be excessively humble. They're used to their position, being born into it.]

I'm one of the three gods, an incarnation of the original three that Separated the one world into many, Tethered them together, and Destroyed the more dangerous remains.

Neat.

[Kind of deadpan but like - gods have stopped being so impressive ever since he had sex with one.]

Must be kinda fun stuck in this shithole, huh? Unless you've figured a way out, in which case sign me the fuck up.

[His taking the whole thing in stride is pretty refreshing. It's exactly the sort of thing they prefer, that led them to the Quarantine in the first place. No people prostrating themselves at the Tetherer's feet, which is incredibly awkward, even after the first few times.]

I think it's very fun. Unfortunately, I can't seem to make Tethers that lead anywhere outside of this world, so I don't have a way out for you anymore. But I'm a barista now and it's great. I didn't even know what a barista was a few days ago.

Oh, pumpkin, you're gonna get real sick of that real fast.

[He's working on the assumption this is a "I'm not used to normal boring life and there's novelty in it!" just based on what the Tetherer is saying.]

Wait till some dipshit screams at you cause you forgot the whipped cream on his frappucino.

[Taako isn't That Person but he frequents coffee shops enough to have witnessed That Person.]

[That time will be Soon. They are completely unused to being in this sort of job. They barely know what coffee is.]

I'm not sure what a frappuccino is -- why are they all -ccinos? -- but I will do my very best to remember the whipped cream. I don't know why anyone would scream about that, though, whipped cream can be added at any time. I can even give him extra whipped cream.

[At least then, though, they'll know what it's like to be someone not treated as the most important person in the room.]

I mean you've also got lattes and ristrettos and doopios, there's all kinds of shit.

[Taako had taken very quickly to all the different types of coffee he could get, but he's especially fond of anything with a lot of sugar.]

And uh, people will get riled up about anything if they're that kinda asshole. There's a reason I'm self-employed, I don't gotta worry about anyone giving me shit if I tell a customer to fuck off.

[He knows he's not great about thinking about other people, but at least he doesn't treat service staff like they don't have feelings.]

I have plenty of experience with assholes, don't worry. I can handle someone who throws a baby fit over a... ristretto?

[What in the world is a doopio, dear god, this is way harder than they thought it would be.]

Does everyone here know so much about coffee drinks?

[They feel completely out of their league.]

[Taako needs to find someone else who's met the Tetherer so he can make a bet on how long they last at this job of theirs. He'd put his money on about a week.]

Coffee is pretty common so like, most people are gonna know what they do and don't like, I guess? Same as any kinda food or beverage.

At least we also sell tea. I know my way around tea. Or, well, I know of my way around tea.

[THEY BOILED WATER FOR THE FIRST TIME THE OTHER DAY. ON THE JOB. They've come so far already.]

[hONEY]

They uh, really threw you in the deep end here, huh? What's ya name, bubbale?

The Tetherer is my title. I have no other name.

[Their birth name's been stricken off every record in the Nexus so hard that it never existed in the first place.]

To be honest, it was at my request. Though I didn't specify barista. I just wanted something... different. I'm certain I'll learn with more training.

Cool, I'm Taako.

[That sounds not particularly fun, but who is he to judge.]

You know what, I can respect that. I was pretty over the whole mercenary-slash-saving the world thing when I got here.

[just a tiny lil brag]

[Taako, the master of the #humblebrag. The Tetherer is easily impressed, he'll find.]

You saved your world? We've found that monsters have been invading worlds they're not native to, lately, and I'd been keeping an eye on that -- they're using my Tethers, somehow -- was it related to that? Or something more localized?

[TELL THEM ALL ABOUT IT. They are eager to hear stories of other worlds, especially ones with happy endings. It distracts from the somber occasion.]

Uh, it's not exactly that but I'm getting some similarities.

[Weird! He's more than happy to talk about the watered down version of this, at least, ignoring all the shitty parts.]

There was this asshole using a creation of the gods to... consume other realities, kinda took them into himself until he was this fucked up entity that chased us for a century before we kicked its ass.

[The Tetherer frowns at the mention of other gods. They're... aware they must exist, in some fashion, but everything they've been taught since an early age was that they were one of the only three. And the three don't Create anything. They simply monitor and curate the worlds.

The cycle of Separation, Tethering, and Destruction. That was all there was.]

This is the first I've heard of it. Your world must be... outside of my purview.

[Since that's fairly large scale, and if someone was consuming realities, they'd be aware of it almost instantly.

Could there be worlds other than those that were Separated from the original world, where everything existed?]

Or perhaps there are worlds that were never Tethered. They are countless, after all. Well, it sounds like an incredible story, either way. You'll have to tell me the whole thing sometime.

The way I've been looking at it is like worlds within worlds. Your whole thing is a bunch of worlds in one reality, but when you come through that portal it turns out there's actually a shitload of other realities that you never could've got to before.

[He's not exactly a scientist and he's certainly no wordsmith when it comes to explanations, but there are reasons he was picked for the IPRE mission.]

I've been to a hundred worlds that all worked pretty much the same, and then I showed up here and all of it's different. They're just new realities with their own weird rules. Your reality probably doesn't even touch mine, in like - a metaphysical sense.

Other... realities.

[They consider this. It does merit... deeper thought. To think that the countless worlds they have access to aren't the whole of things. Other realities, other gods, something... other than Natures. Something completely different.]

That must be why I can't Tether other worlds from here. I'm in a different reality. Different rules. No Natures.

[They pause for a moment, and then break out into a huge grin.]

That's incredible. Wonderful, actually.

[Taako isn't quite apprehensive as he waits to see how they take this, but he knows that some people tend to get a little like... existentially overwhelmed and he doesn't wanna deal with that.

But the Tetherer takes it pretty well, he's impressed.]

You know what, I think you might be the first person to actually get excited about this shit.

I imagine, but just... think about it. There's so much more than one Universe. So much more than Natures. So much more than what I was responsible for.

[They speak of it dreamily, like imagining a wild fantasy, only this is their new reality.]

Worlds free to grow by their own rules, free from the tethers of the cycle of the three. And I could have never touched this world, but I have, and there are so many more that I'll never touch.

I mean, it's kinda neat, for sure but a lotta people get kinda freaked out when you started talking about too many realities.

[And magic, and gods, and all these things that Taako takes for granted.]

It's cool though, that you're chill about it. I'm over the whole "but it can't work like" shit that some assholes go on about.

Maybe I'm better equipped to handle things on such a scale. The worlds in my purview are countless as it is, and new ones are still being Separated and Tethered occasionally. It's impossible to be familiar with them all.

[And none of them have to be Destroyed. Well, not necessarily, and not according to the Tetherer's choices.

It may be riskier to let worlds grow unmonitored like that... But surely there's ways in place to handle such things. And they may not even involve the loss of so much life.]

Does your reality have its own gods?

[That's a valid point, he'll concede that. It's probably the reason he and the IPRE had an easier time with it, why Loki was never super overwhelmed. They already knew the world was larger than their universe.]

We sure as shit do. [Almost as a demonstration, he holds out his wrist, where there's a braid of multicolored thread. It's hella divine. Thanks, Istus.] I dunno how many, religion isn't really my jam, but I'm technically an uh... emissary? That's the word, right? I'm an emissary of Istus, her whole thing is fate.

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