WEEK THREE MINGLE 2.0

[grigori]

ahnkeen: week 3 mingle in the sands of time

32 Remain

Waking up this morning will reveal some unfamiliar surroundings. The soft ripples of the canals and dulcet tones of otamatone fade from your ears, replaced by a steady, dry breeze and the ambient noise of the local populace filtering in through open windows. Another thing you'll notice is that it's warm - very warm. Light dress is recommended here.

You all awaken in your beds—although they aren't the beds that you found yourself falling asleep in previously, and you might not even see the same face as you had the previous night. But one by one, as you filter out, you find yourselves in a house, a bit on the older side but still comfortable. The decor is neutral and inoffensive, much like you'd expect of a place that sees many visitors.

Unlike the previous worlds you've visited, Ahnkeen is a bustling, busy place, full of people of all sorts - and not all are human, so please check your biases at the door. Though the world around them is dry and scarce of resources, the market town itself is alive and well, business booming, and the merchants here keep a close eye on their wares in case of any thieves.



Traversing down the streets of the housing district are the Temporals. For the most part they seem ready to receive everyone. Throwing their hands into the air and meandering down Rameel will be spearhead the introductions this time—their puma daemon trailing behind them. As an extra treat, they'll even seem to have their “black box” from previous with them this fine morning on full blast.

"Hello, hello everyone! WELCOME TO AHNKEEN!! The home to the great markets...probably. I hope more of you are used to these scenery changes by now, and by popular demand are your favorite Temporals. We've changed the set for the hat trick, but we won't stop there."

Satariel is standing close to Yomiel, their undercloak absent and their daemon raven-formed on their shoulder - it squawks after Rameel yells the welcome, but they offer everyone a warm smile. They do reach over to... turn down the "black box" of Rameel's, without looking, smile still intact. "For those of you that kept your things from previous worlds, especially the treasure from our adventures underwater, you might find that they come in handy here. We are in a market, after all."

The last Watcher has also shed their undercloak, staring at Rameel while their polecat daemon chitters. "Anyway," they turn to the rest with a vague gesture at Satariel. "Try not to steal too much this time. The last few worlds were pretty quiet, but you might run into trouble with the locals here if you keep that up."


With the new week, travelers will find that they are no longer connected physically and emotionally to another participant. As opposed to being drawn to one person in particular, they'll find themselves with the need to be physically close to any other participant they speak to. Go on, hold their hand, get your snuggle on - it'll make you feel better. This effect lasts all week.

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Comments

[lefthandpath]

I don't know all the specifics. I might've been an Exorcist but not... in the traditional sense. And I wasn't much of a church-goer...

But from what I know of the story, God created man and from man, created woman. They lived in a garden--Eden, and were without Sin. God told them that they could name and have whatever they wanted in the garden except for a particular fruit from a particular tree--most people call it an "apple". It's said that Eve, the First Woman, was lured into curiosity by Serpent in the Garden to eat that fruit from the tree--the Tree of Knowledge?

And from there, Eve had Adam, the First Man eat the fruit. And then they became, er, knowledgeable of the the world around them and of Sin.

God then became angry and cast them out of Eden and that's how humans came to wander the Earth.

But the story of the War in Heaven happened... before then? Or... maybe it was during. I don't know. I just know that Lucifer, God's favorite, began a rebellion in Heaven but was thrown down from Heaven into Hell and became Satan, who may have been the Serpent in the Garden of Eden story.

[senjinrouha]

What was the War about? That's kind of intense for a minor dispute.

[lefthandpath]

... I think...

[frowns because he really is not a church-goer and Victorian England sure is A Place.]

There's stories about how Lucifer didn't like that God put humans before angels? Or... something about how humans were gifted with Free Will, while angels remained the servants of God.

Something like that.

Lucifer spoke out against God's preference, either way, I think. That's why people say that Satan is the one who will lure people into Evil and anyone who listens to things against a certain order or look a certain way apart from "normal" are "devils" who worship Satan.

[guess how many times Allen got that one because of his arm. GUESS.]

[senjinrouha]

…

That’s pretty extreme for a bit of jealousy. Sometimes you need to smack someone around, but a lot of the time you can talk some sense into someone.

But this could be an extension of that? The angels… I don’t know, exerting some of their control over humans because they feel it’s their right to do so?

[lefthandpath]

I don't think it's that?

Angels are Messengers of God. They carry out God's will. So if angels are acting, it's because God has Willed it.

However... if these aren't actually angels we're dealing with, but rather... "demons"--or the ones who fought on Lucifer's side of the war, then that might be the case.

That's assuming this is at all in line with what I know of things which... I don't necessarily believe that's the actual story of things, either. My experience always says there's another side to the story that's left out. Like... maybe the "Devil" isn't actually a "devil" at all? But that would be heresy for sure where I'm from.

[yueshen]

[ he was on this mini cyoa but this story is Something ]

... Why in the world would you ever simply trap humans as if they were newborn children with no... nevermind.

[ why do they only have one god too?? hello????? why is your god so angry ]

So, I suppose the large serpent's skull might be related to that? And, if a garden is supposed to be some sort of paradise, then it would make sense for an oasis in a desert to be something similar.

[lefthandpath]

[idk but so many people want to fight God, so i mean Worst Dad]

Mm, it might be all metaphorical.

There's other stories in that particular religion that involve God, er, destroying entire civilizations for a variety of reasons? But the Garden of Eden is Genesis--that is, the start.

[yueshen]

The note Miss Sheba found said something along those lines - "the snake will protect us still?" Or - that seems to be the way we're interpreting it.

... Interesting, either way. This is very helpful, Allen - it would be nice if we could get our hands on the scrolls or texts that people read relevant to those stories in your world...

[lefthandpath]

Others here might be familiar with the story, also. Probably even moreso than me, maybe.

... but this is sort of why, at the start of all of this, I said that angels are Messengers of God. That doesn't make them inherently Good. It just means they carry out the Will of God--be it benevolent or...

[Catastrophic]

[yueshen]

Mercilessly cruel.

[ hey! xie lian hates this! san lang has not stopped bristling angrily on xie lian's shoulders. ]

Either way, it seems they are among this town, at the moment - perhaps we can prevent a calamity before it starts.

[lefthandpath]

"Who are we to question the Almighty God?" is what the priests would say.

[very clearly doesn't agree with that, a little bitter.]

Either way... we'd need to know what to look for in order to prevent it.

[burnstrike]

[ just kind of an "ugh" over here at that priest line, she gets you ]

[lefthandpath]

[it's such a mood.]

[reflash]

If it's a Garden of Eden story, that's interesting. In Christianity, the serpent in the garden is opposed to humanity, he convinced the first humans to turn against God.

[yueshen]

[ ! ]

Then, that makes sense - Miss Sheba's note said the snake was protecting them, so... perhaps this society was against the interference of the Angels, if they are working for a single god.

[ ... oh. ]

...but, if that is the case, then... perhaps that was some time ago.

[powerplay]

Maybe the fruit they ate was technology.

Krankaz sank 'cause they made weapons.

[lefthandpath]

... is that right?

Do we know much about why the others were targeted?

[powerplay]

I dunno about anywhere else, 'cause I didn't go on those. But from what the merchant guy said, they were all getting punished because that community turned their backs on God, and raised up arms against Him... or something like that?

[ Her memory isn't stellar so she doesn't remember exact words, but it was roughly that. ]

[lefthandpath]

And this city thinks it's protected by the Serpent.

[he's...

this feels bad.]

[powerplay]

Krankaz was aiming its guns at us, too. We were being chased by this giant sea dragon thing?

And it had its big bubble. Doesn't look like that helped them though. [ Rip. ]

Plus, either the ship people or the city's people turned into weird gross fish zombies.

[lefthandpath]

Ah, right. I remember that part...

[the zombie fish head...]

[powerplay]

Yeah! It was very strange. They were all half-mutated but they weren't dead.

[ In a terrible stasis between mankind and not, changing while livig. You know. ]

Did the other groups see anything that looked like they might've been former people?