April Announcements

[godsoffortune]

April Announcements

Here we are again, bringing you the news of Near and Far Shore events for the month of April!



Happenings

The Near Shore

As October comes to an end, fallen leaves litter the streets and pile up in gutters around towns.

• An American hamburger chain, "In'n'Out Burger," has just opened its first Tokyo location! There's a ton of buzz about the special burgers-- and a rumored "Secret Menu" everyone's trying to figure out. Lines stretch around the block before it opens every day. Can you score one of the special burgers? Or will you help someone praying for a taste?


• All of the gods are busy catching up in the Heavens, which means ayakashi are unusually active on the Near Shore without anyone keeping them in check. Gods and shinki who do wander on the Near Shore during this time should be extra-careful.


• The beginning of November brings the beginning of winter lights displays all over Tokyo! It's the perfect time to wrap up in a warm coat and take someone to look at the lights. How romantic....

The Far Shore

The weather on the Far Shore is still perfect, with a mild early-fall bite at night, but no frost.

• The streets in all five Districts are unusually packed with shinki and gods. Everyone has come back to the Heavens for the big meeting, even the gods who spend most of their time living in their shrines in the human world. The shinki seem to all be dressed in some variety of uniform, but because each of the old gods has their own design, the effects are anything but uniform.


• The room behind the closed door at the back of the library is no longer silent; indistinct grumbling, the scratching of an ink stone and shuffling of papers can be clearly heard again. The door still won't open, but if someone knocks, an old man's voice shouts from the other side, "Go away! I'm busy!"


• Fireflies light the ponds and streams in the garden around the Meeting Hall, and they're spreading out from there into all of the canals and natural waterways around the Heavens. They're brighter than mortal fireflies, and their green light has a soothing effect. Anyone who falls asleep in the fireflies' light will have good dreams.

Noteworthy Ayakashi

This month, with almost all of Japan's local gods busy in the Heavens, there are an unusual number of ayakashi, small and large, roaming all over the Near Shore.
• Tick ayakashi are clustering along thoroughfares and latching on to humans as they pass. They drain energy and motivation from their victims as they swell up to beach-ball size or bigger, finally dropping off to find a new host when their first one has no strength left at all.


• Dinosaur ayakashi haunt a traveling exhibit at the local natural history museum, stalking the children whose fears gave them form.


• The coast echoes with the lonely cries of seagull ayakashi, tempting solitary swimmers out too far into the cold water.

Weather

Here you can see the weather starting on November 1.

Event

The Gods' Meeting

With the help of the new gods and shinki, everything is finally ready for the big meeting! Old gods and their shinki are everywhere, and everyone's invited to the meeting itself. Time to brush off those formal party outfits once more and go see what the Heavens have to say. But be cautious -- old and new gods alike are all in the same place for the first time all year. Is this really safe?
• IC Date: Oct 30
• If you have any questions, feel free to reply to the comment marked 'Event' on this post.
• To participate in the event, you will just need to comment to the event log after it goes up on April 1 at 7PM EST.

Past Happenings in the Heavens

Major Events

July Announcements	August Announcements	September Announcements
October Announcements	November Announcements	December Announcements
January Announcements	February Announcements	March Annoucements

• Last month on October 20th, new gods and shinki helped the Heavens prepare for the big meeting.
• On October 25th, new arrivals were brought to the Meeting Hall for orientation and training.

Player Plots

If your characters have been up to anything this month that other characters may have noticed -- parties, ayakashi attacks, violent rampages through the Far Shore -- leave a comment on this post to let your fellow players know what's going on!

Game Announcements

Thank you all for your responses to our poll regarding the game time ratio!

Since a majority of our players were in favor of shifting the time ratio and 2:1 was the overwhelming preference, we will be shifting the game time ratio from 3 OOC days:1 IC day to 2 OOC days: 1 IC day. This change will happen as of the April event log, so IC October 31st will be the first day lasting only 2 OOC days.

Our event and intro logs will still be posted at on the same OOC schedule as previously.

We also have an overhaul of the Game FAQs, incorporating all the current answers on the FAQ page, and a new, more structured method for shinki spell learning that will go up at the beginning of April.

Thanks to Lavvy and Rynn, our new List Mods, for volunteering to help us keep game lists up to date!

Comments

re: library

[kokuyoyo]

and if someone does not, in fact, go away?

[godsoffortune]

You beat me to posting the question header!

If someone doesn't go away, the occasional irate "Go away!" shouts will keep happening every so often, but mostly they will just continue to hear rustling of paper and thumping noises as though someone's moving around or moving items around inside the room.

[kokuyoyo]

I'm really excited, and got home early. That's my excuse.

Fine, you mysterious old fuck. Chikusa will win this one day, he swears. What about papers being shoved underneath the door crack?

[godsoffortune]

Papers shoved underneath the door crack will be picked up off the floor inside and never seen again.

Thank you for the additional scratch paper, annoying child.

[kokuyoyo]

what if paper written with rude phrases

And if the paper is only halfway through, and held on Chikusa's end of things?

I'm only a little sorry that he's being such a little pest.

[godsoffortune]

Slight tug, then nothing. If he left it under the door and eventually let go, it'd eventually be pulled through.

If he pinned or glued it outside, it'd be torn off.

[letteropener]

MATURE ADULT HERE -- what if someone teleports a plate of cookies inside with a kind note offering the assistance of a fellow book-lover should it ever be asked for?

And by "what if" I mean it's happening. :D

[godsoffortune]

The cookies will never be seen again.

The plate, however, will reappear a few days later on the main circulation desk, empty and sans note.

More library

[kuroi_taiyo]

I'm sorry that the amount of shitty teens has grown...

What if the paper that's pushed underneath is some kind of magic thing and the person threatens to teleport inside? Also related, what would happen with attempts to use teleportation magic to get on the other side of the door?

Man, if this is the thing that gets Chikusa and Judar to work together...

[godsoffortune]

Attempts to teleport a person into the room will fail completely. Threats to do so will be ignored.

What kind of magic paper would Judar be trying to use, exactly?

[kuroi_taiyo]

The paper itself is just nice sketch paper, but there's a magic 'circle' type of thing drawn and written onto it. The language used is best described as a corrupted version of ancient Arabic, but if able to be translated it's a lot of things using light and bending to link locations.

Really, it's useless as it is as it's just the written formula for a spell that only works when actually applied with magic. To be accurate, it's the teleportation spell he's 'threatening' with. Because he's a brat.

But the paper itself is normal.

[godsoffortune]

So long as the paper and the diagram are not inherently magical, he'll be able to slip it under the door just the same way that any other notes would be able to be slipped under the door.

[kuroi_taiyo]

Oh yeah, he's just being a brat and showing off information that he has no place showing off.

Get ready to be disturbed regularly, old man. He's gonna kick the door (as his way of knocking) and bugging you on all of his regular visits. Being all 'still busy, huh?' Because no. You're not getting more peace than that.



I'm so sorry.

EVENT QUESTIONS

[godsoffortune]

Please feel free to ask any questions about the Event here.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENT QUESTIONS

[godsoffortune]

[revolutionfalcon]

This is kind of more about last event, but since meeting prep is still happening I'll leave it here: what kind of answer(s) would Shun get if he asked one or more of the white-robed shinki how the protective wards on the meeting hall worked?

[godsoffortune]

He won't be able to get any specific details about the exact spells or how they function, but the shinki will refer him to a stubborn white-robed man, who looks to be in his late 20s but talks in a slightly antique manner, who will tell Shun that the protections on the meeting hall maintain the sanctity of the meeting room and alert them the moment anyone enters with malicious intent. He'll also say that they've been expanded and strengthened since the Susano'o... incident.

[revolutionfalcon]

shun remains unconvinced this is enough

Also, I was going to ask this but I forgot until now gj me: with more mods around to handle listy and background stuff, is there a possibility of getting a regular ad on the monthly EMP post again? I know a lot of people go there to seek canonmates on their own, but it's nice to have an ad to refer people to as well (or for people who don't necessarily go on EMP themselves to request through).