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

[Dorian, dressed as well as ever, spent his time waiting to scout about on his phone for a restaurant that wasn't packed. Apparently, this holiday garnered more attention than he'd anticipated. Ultimately, he found one, a short train ride away, and booked a table just to be safe.

When Cullen emerges from his rooms, clothed and cleaned, Dorian is suddenly glad he hadn't found a table somewhere more sophisticated, but he had to admit, the clothing looked good on him.]

"Dutch"? Picking up on the local parlance, are you?

[Dorian and Cullen are about the same amount of dressed. And since Dorian is the pickier of the two, it behooves him to find a restaurant to his standards.]

Yes, it's showed up in a few books that I've had the chance to read as of late. The concept makes sense, but I think it's something that originates from Earth, not the Quarantine.

I wonder what it meant originally. "Dutch" isn't a word I'm familiar outside of its use here.

[Dorian started off in the direction of the nearest train depot, trusting Cullen will follow.]

What leads you to believe it comes from Earth?

If I understand what I've read in books from Earth [answering both questions at once, he is a master] Dutch refers to a people of a nation called the Netherlands or Holland and objects of that nation. And the use that I've heard around here.

So, is this a date or shall I pay for myself? I have no problem with either one.

[Dorian chuckles teasingly, but shakes his head.] The things you say.

I'll pay, Commander. I was my idea, after all.

I never say anything I won't stand behind, Dorian.

[Besides, they both know where they stand with the other and it's okay for him to not be quite so uptight. Especially not after Dorian has pretty much seen everything the Maker gave him, thanks to his inability to fully realize that Josephine is actually a demon in disguise.]

Ah, good. I can save my meager earnings for my education. Perhaps now I won't embarrass you in public.

[But, who knows. He is a Southerner, after all.]

Edited 2018-06-04 04:36 (UTC)

But a date, Commander? I never knew you were interested. What would Mother Giselle say...?

[The Maker did bestow upon the Commander many great gifts, it's true.

He laughs at Cullen's personal jest.]

Perhaps, Commander. The world does, after all, laugh at us and all the things we think we know. Ready then?

Probably nothing she hasn't said about your unholy Tenviter influence on the rest of the Inquisition. Although, now that you mention it, I was afraid that the poor woman's head might explode when she realized that Mahanon was actually amused by your behavior and encouraged it.

[Well, not only is he a pretty face and lots of muscles, there's a brain with an actual sense of humor. Sometimes.]

Only the world? I was under the impression that you laughed at me more than just a little. But lead the way as I'm sure you've already decided where our meal should be.

She was just as "concerned" about my continued "fraternization" with Iona. With baseless rumors she herself began, no less.

[He smiled.]

You know me too well, Commander. I've already reserved us a table.

She means well, I know, but even the best intentions can be downright obnoxious. Old prejudices run deep, as you're aware.

[At least Cullen has learned to have an open mind. Within reason.

He is fine with following his friend, but something feels heavy in the air, aside from the strange happenings of the town. Cullen clears his throat and looks over at Dorian briefly.]

Is there something I should know about? You are...a little reserved today.

[Had Commander "Never Shall I Rest" Rutherford just called him reserved? He needed to work on his act a bit more than he previously realized.]

What could possibly be wrong, Cullen? It isn't raining, it's pleasantly warm.

[Yes, yes, he has. But that's only because Cullen is starting to look for things to be wrong as of late. He's not resting on his laurels or taking things a day at a time when that could bring up something very big and dangerous with it.

More so than Corypheus and the Venatori.]

Dorian. Please spare me the obfuscating.

Obfuscating? Cullen, I would never-

[He breathes a sigh, though, shaking his head. Perhaps pretending there was nothing wrong was a bad way to go.]

-It is a personal matter and one with which you need not concern yourself.

[Pretending when something is so very obviously wrong that the mage just shows up unannounced to take him out to dinner is a very dumb idea. Cullen is a lot of things, but stupid has never been one of them.

And he's not entirely unobservant either.]

I would like to think that I can keep confidences if they are shared with me. And I'm certain that I'm not absolutely revolting if you can stand to spend an evening's time over food, Dorian.

[He could tell the Commander about his meeting with Magnus, that the man had chosen to leave ~~him~~ and return to his own world to fight some impossible-seeming war.

He could also, and just as easily, decide instead to, as the Commander had so eloquently put it, continue to obfuscate.]

Is it so difficult to believe that even I suffer from errant bouts of loneliness?

[And it wasn't so far from the truth as to be completely unbelievable. He had, after all, since Magnus' departure, felt increasingly lonely.]

I don't think you're devoid of a common emotion, Dorian.

[Cullen sighs and pushes a hand through his deliberately styled hair, letting it get mussed a bit.]

I just know that you're behaving less like yourself than I'm used to. And I thought that I might let you know that you could speak to me, but I won't make that mistake again.

Touching.

[ And while his tone is sarcastic, that sarcasm is more a mask than anything. It's rare Dorian opens up to anyone, let alone someone like Cullen. What would it solve regardless? Magnus was gone, he wouldn't be returning. There was nothing to lament.

It was simply another name on a long list of men he would miss, men who chose something else over him.

Thoroughly unimportant. Besides. That's what wine was for. ]

Though your generosity does know a bound. Something to note. [ But his smile is believable enough. ] Come along them, Commander. You can regale me with tails of your guardsman exploits.

No, the offer is still open, if you ever decide not to be more stubborn than an deshyr in Kirkwall.

[Dorian's met Varric. He's stubborn as fuck, and he's actually not as bad as the rest of the Merchants' Guild.]

And I'm not sure what exploits you are expecting? There haven't been any since the illnesses began. It's mostly been making sure that if we find anyone ill that we can get them to the hospital in time.

[And it's not as if he can go that far, considering he himself is just getting over his own flu-like sickness. Happy Naming Day indeed.]

You wound me, Commander, comparing me to anyone from Kirkwall.

[ That place is a shithole, Cullen. You were there. You know that. He doesn't deny the Commander's words, though, he just...doesn't know how he feels about talking about it. It tends to make things more real when you do that. At the moment he's doing...

...admittedly an abysmal job of avoiding it, but he's trying, damn it. ]

You lead a stunningly exciting life, Cullen.

It wasn't a compliment.

[But, of course, he didn't compare him to some of the more annoying nobles that were left over from the Orlesian occupation.]

I aim to amuse you, Dorian. As always.

Yes, but I have an immunity to underhanded insults. That was just mean-spirited.

[ But if he's taken any sort of actual offense, he doesn't show it. ]

You need no work so hard, Cullen. Your presence is a delight in itself.

[Cullen looks at Dorian with a slightly raised brow.]

The only real deshyr in Kirkwall was Varric Tethras. You could do worse in comparisons.

[Just because Varric is a surface dwarf doesn't mean that Cullen hasn't learned a thing or ten about the man and the inanity of the Merchant's Guild of Kirkwall.]

I will keep it in mind for next time. Do I get to know where you're taking me for our dinner or shall I guess?

True. He does have an endearing personality on top of all that chest hair.

[ He waves a hand dismissively at the question, though, and rambles off the name of the place. ]

It's a slightly casual atmosphere, but the food is delicious and the wine list impressive.

So I've been told.

[He likes Varric, mostly, but he's an acquired taste to be sure.]

Casual and you do not belong in the same sentence, Dorian.

...if you can progress beyond his incessant complaining, that is.

[ And from Dorian "How do you Southerners stand it" Pavus, that's saying something. ]

It's true. What has become of me on this backwater moon?

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