The Return Journey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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returnjourneyooc2022-03-22 06:25 pm
returnjourney) wrote in returnjourneyooc2022-03-22 06:25 pm
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SIMULATION: ANOTHER BORDER
SIMULATION: ANOTHER BORDER
"I am walking forever on the path from the border to base camp. It is taking a long time, and I know it will take even longer to get back. There is no one with me. I am all by myself. The trees are not trees the birds are not birds and I am not me but just something that has been walking for a very long time..."― Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation
Introduction
Welcome to our first simulation.
Simulations are large events where the Peregrine transforms into another location completely. All passengers live out new lives, intended to give inmates a look at other walks of life and wardens new experiences through which to examine their own. Functionally, these take the form of complete AUs and players can form whatever backgrounds and CR as they see fit. A backstory log will go up tomorrow, set before a simulation begins, so players can voicetest this version of the character, thread out important background events, and so on. During this time, Peregrine life will continue as normal; it hasn't entered the simulation yet! But it'll give players a head start on ironing out the specifics of their AUs.
Unlike ports and squalls, a simulation affects every character aboard the ship. Players can arrange a mission, seminar, furlough, etc that conveniently falls during the event, if they do not wish to participate for any reason. Characters will have advance warning of what they are going into.
After the simulation, characters will remember big moments of their AU lives, like an intense, felt-so-real dream that lingers with you for a few days. Skills or knowledge/expertise specific to the setting do not carry over.
You can use this post for any OOC plotting! If you have any questions about the event, please ask here. You can familiarize yourself with simulation basics on our events page.
Premise
Twenty years ago, a strange phenomena overtook an undisclosed area of Florida coastline. It manifested as a metaphysical border, visible only as a shimmering halo. Animals, humans, vehicles, radio signals, internet, waves — anything that crosses the border is lost. Nothing has ever returned, but year by year, the border creeps forward, engulfing more and more of the land. It could be decades before it reaches the nearest city, but considering it has eluded all understanding thus far, it feels like time is running tight.
Every few years, the government sends new recon parties into "Area X", hoping this team will find the source of the phenomena, return, or simply establish communication from within. And it's time to send in another crew.
Knowing there is likely no return, all crew have a reason for venturing into the Area. Some people long for escape from their everyday lives, while others are so desperate to fight their circumstances that they would risk whatever lies on the other side. Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. The will to survive is a fickle thing.
Every person will find something different within Area X. On the surface, it's a wild zone. Any subsumed human structures are overgrown with hybrid plants; the underbrush, swamps and woods infested with strange animals. Deeper inside, experiences may vary. Time passes erratically. The nature within the halo is aberrant, but maybe you are, too: most of the natural world doesn't carry baggage. Alligators don't have emotional wounds. Key deer don't contemplate their mortality. Manatees don't ruminate on history.
Human feelings and turmoils are what's unnatural here, and with everything else being stripped away, what do you do with what's left?
What will it be? Change, or self-destruction?
The OOC Stuff
Oh shit, an unknown organism has taken over the wetlands and is breaking down the lifeforms within it to their base parts. Your character, once they enter its domain, are subject to this, too. This goes all the way down to their atoms; Area X is like a prism, where DNA and matter bounce and interact with each other to create new things. Characters might even experience blending with each other.
So what are they when the rote parts of their lives are stripped away, and all that's left are the base elements of their being? Do they fight it or do they accept it? Do they confront their grief? Their traumas?
Characters who confront some part of themselves and change (even in small ways!) survive to escape Area X, and in turn wake up on the Peregrine. They can also remain in the Area to help others.
Characters who refuse to change choose self-annihilation. They "die" of exposure to the Area, whether by losing their minds and becoming part of nature or physically perishing. When they wake up on the Peregrine, they'll experience side effects associated with dying aboard the ship, aka dizziness, confusion, nausea, and impaired motor skills.
Researcher — Sent in to study Area X. Perhaps it's as an accomplishment or prestige; perhaps it's for money.
Military — Security, to protect the researchers. Perhaps it's about the money, perhaps it's about proving something, perhaps it's a too-pervasive sense of duty.
Explorer — Unaffiliated with the government crew, you've sought entry to the Area all the same. Perhaps it's the unknown, perhaps it's the forbidden, perhaps it's a really bad livestream choice.
Lost — Part of a previous research mission or ill-advised venture, you went mad inside the field. Somehow you survived; perhaps you melded with the local flora and fauna, perhaps you're a shell of your former self.
Wildcard — Whatever you'd like, whatever you imagine. That goes for everything!
Florida — The terrain is black pine forests, reedy swamps, marsh flats, natural canals, and ocean coast.
Area X — All organisms within this zone are mutated, DNA melded into a primordial soup. It's produced animals that share genetic material with flora, other fauna, and even humans. Plants may grow in the shape of human effigies. Humans may take on these traits, too, over time.
Animals — Strange hybrids of species native to Florida, including but not limited to: alligators, panthers, manatees, sea turtles, snakes, burrowing owls, key deer, owls, lizards, black bears and bob cats.
Ruins — There are frequent signs that the area used to be perfectly ordinary. There are ruins of a small town and all its trappings, but it looks like it has been derelict and abandoned for much longer than the Area has existed, perhaps by hundreds of years.
Corpses — The remains of previous researchers and explorers may be found scattered within, sometimes in unexpected states.
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