BurningDaisies

~ ❀ Swept Away, Underneath the Cherry Blossom Trees ❀ ~

I made an OoC, since I ran into a spot of free time. Stop by when you can, Genkai. I know you're busy. <3

Also, if you don't like something, please tell me. I'll change it as soon as I can.

{ ~ Swept away, underneath the cherry blossom trees . . .

~ Premise ~

The sweet scent would fill the lungs of both people who found sanctuary underneath the cherry blossom trees. They would steal glances at one another as everything else around them would slow down and eventually fade away. Their hearts would begin to beat more loudly, much like the taiko drums they heard at the festival, hours ago. In the year 2016, in Kyoto, Japan, two lost souls find themselves swept into another world, so terribly different than their own. This new world is filled with magic and fantasy and these two strangers must form a bond and work together if they wish to save both the world they already love, and the new one they've become rather fond of.

A story of danger and mystical fantasy await both people as they try to find a way to balance one world with the others. While one world suffers, the other prospers. And when their own world might fall into destruction which cannot be undone, it falls upon the two to come together and find a way to balance the lives they've established in both worlds. In their original world, they try to juggle jobs and real life responsibilities but in the other world, they train and traverse a great expansive region, trying to find answers to the problems that threaten both sides of the same coin. Is it possible to give both worlds happiness or must one suffer while the other prevails? Can history be changed? Can the future be changed? Two people swept away, underneath the cherry blossom trees, are determined to find out.

~ The Known ~

Conservation of Souls

Religion had the right idea. There is indeed a life after death, but its not the one the scriptures talk about. The universe likes to conserve souls with fundamental laws just like it conserves energy and matter. Everything is recycled. The same atoms in your morning coffee could be the same atoms that a dinosaur pooped out a millions of years ago. All the water on our planet is all the water that has even been on our planet, simply shuffled around and carried along to different places and in different forms.
Souls are no different. They are never truly destroyed, rather they take on different forms. The soul you have in you today could be the same soul from Julius Augustus Caesar or it could be from a banana slug some six-year-old killed with salt two weeks ago.
When a creature dies on Earth, they are reincarnated into a new body in Rathe, and vice-versa. The soul you have now has cycled through many lifetimes, always alternating between Earth and Rathe.
For those who know this as truth or simply take it as faith, they resign themselves to this fate. Not even the most enlightened know how to truly escape this cycle of suffering, or what other worlds may exist beyond it.

Conservation of Reality

The universe may not be an intelligent entity all on its own, but it does a damn good job at making itself seem like clever. Any time some enterprising traveler from the Rathe's astral wastes decides to tear holes in the fabric of space because they can't be bothered to use roads like the normal folk and just wanted to visit the next village over, reality tends to address these "problems" with extreme prejudice. Extradimensional travel is all fun and games, until someone loses an arm to a closing portal.
The fact is the universe polices reality and enforces its own aspects where appropriate. On Earth, there are no subspecies of humanoids that compete with Homo Sapiens for dominance. On Rathe, this couldn't be further from the truth with several races achieve supremacy at various points in history. But if by some cosmic fluke a warp wolf from Rathe ended up a jungle on Earth, reality will quickly rewrite the vicious, two-headed, teleporting, poisonous beastie into something more appropriate. If somehow an advanced smartphone-like contraption from Earth ended up in Rathe, and reality couldn't figure out what to convert it to, there's very strong possibility it would just blink out of existence entirely.
Reality is a temperamental child. If it doesn't get its way, it'll just remove whatever is annoying it from existence. Rathi sorcerers have sometimes ran afoul of this cosmic enforcer and their reality-defying creations, and sometimes themselves, became little more than a footnote in the history books, if they were written about at all. The souls, matter, and energy are then redistributed wherever they need to go as per "The Rules".

The Impossible

"...The greatest mystery, however, rests in a strange fact: there are beings who exist outside the rules. They have a few names: freaks, Windwalkers, gods. These beings don't have to trouble themselves with death to cross the boundary between our world and the next. When the wind blows in their favor, they get to ignore the rules and travel to wherever they please. As the saying goes, they "sail on a divine wind to distant shores."
How do these beings come to be? How are they able to violate the rules of reality and suffer no consequences? What happens to their soul, when they die? Some believe they are agents of the divine, or aberrant monsters perhaps. There are no answers, only more questions.
They often look and act no different than a normal creature of their kind. You couldn't never pick them out in a crowd. They can appear completely normal. It may even be someone you had lunch with last Tuesday, but they are among us, of that you can be certain."

--An excerpt from the conspiracy theorist blog Behind the Curtains
by Astronomer Henry L. Singh

~ A Brief History of Time ~

The history of Rathe reflects the history Earth went through. When the Dark Ages hit Earth, Rathe was developing and without much death or disease and conflict. When various wars hit Earth, Rathe had peace and comfort. But when Earth began to push into the mid 19th century*, Rathe began to struggle and weaken.
Magic is a mystifying force: it reacts and behaves like a living thing and is as fluid in its patterns as wind and water. Regardless of what it is, both Rathe and Earth need magic flourish--nourishment for the planet and for all living things.
Powerful streams of magic bind Rathe and Earth together in a shared fate. But like a river, their courses may change, split, form or disappear over time.
And for a long time, Travelers would use these streams to pass through each realm. In ancient times, Travelers weren't an uncommon existence. Ancient cultures on both Earth and Rathe make mention of otherworldly visitors.
For some reason, these streams slowly disappeared over time. The steady procession of technology seemed to edge out the existence of magic, accelerating the the rate of disappearances in just the past few hundreds years. Other streams were intentional cut off by enigmatic organizations and esoteric cults. Travelers who used the streams finding it increasingly difficult to travel between worlds, if at all. Many of them were trapped in one world or the other; their physical body would begin to deteriorate. Strange deformations or a painful fading claimed the lives of many of these refugees. With the risks apparent, few Travelers are able to pass through the streams. Such dangerous ventures are now the providence of the foolish and the insane.
Magic began to saturate Rathe's land, infecting it with life. On Rathe, crop fields grew into vast, unconquerable forests and plains; hunted beasts became the hunters or monstrosities unfit for sport or eating; diseases became more vicious and tragic, claiming lives by the millions. However, people began to live longer and longer despite it. Under the strain of myriad threats, a stagnant populace of nigh immortals, civilized societies became impossible to maintain. Wars would break out between kingdoms which were once friendly, others withered from ennui and neglect, but many were reclaimed by the steadily encroaching wilds. Few oases of civilization remain in Rathe--a place now where magic runs rampant and fuels a chaotic primal landscape full of untamed wonders.

Earth on the other hand slowly began to wither in health. It was commonplace for ancient humans to live for two or three hundred years in the time of magic, but even with all technology that exists, no one can make such claims since magic's decline. Earth's civilizations have prospered at the cost of losing thousands of species to extinction and the slow suffering of the planet.

Now, in the modern era, two people have found a way to slip from Earth to Rathe without harm or incident.

(*19th century: the widespread manufacture and use of steam engines really marked the beginning of the modern industrial era; technological advancement since then has been near exponential)

~ The Factions ~

Earth's Faction: They have been in the shadows for centuries and have gone by many names: The Order of the Green Dragon, the Illuminati, the Thule Society, Freemasons, Gnosis, etc. They have made continued efforts throughout the centuries to hinder or destroy the existing passageways to Rathe, seeing magic as a destabilizing force which threatened humanity. They knew without the flow of magic, Earth would be free to function without unpredictable chaos. Their group has been able to keep magic at bay and has sent in a few of its own to Rathe, in order to ensure its eventual collapse. They truly believe once Rathe is no more, that Earth will be able to continue to progress without the threat of war or turmoil. In order to keep the lines of communication and travel closed or hindered, their group has had to spread itself throughout the world, guarding and sometimes even destroying things/places.

Rathe's Unnamed Faction: Their numbers are far fewer than Earth's faction. Since they are kept in the dark, they have had to fend for themselves. They have had to struggle for survival as their world tips further down a slippery slope. Their members are limited so they have not been able to try sending someone through a stream. The dire risk involved pits them against overwhelming odds. With so few agents on Earth, many of them stranded, they cannot push their goals very effectively. This faction believes that both worlds need to carry the burden of magic. While the energy can be used for amazing feats, in high concentration, it is deadly and volatile. The faction is more passive than aggressive, unlike their counterparts. If the thought ever crossed their mind that destroying Earth would solve their problems, they would surely decline and consider another means to finding peace and stability. This faction's goal is endure and reopen the blocked channels.

~ The Cast ~

Ian Baird Chancellor, "Chance" ~ Aspiring law student with a morally ambiguous character.

Swept away, underneath the cherry blossom trees ~

Go ahead and create an OoC thread, we can compile the info from there.
And don't worry about delays or feeling lazy. I have those days too, so don't sweat it.

- Instead of the seasons moving more quickly, I think it'd be more interesting to just have them be very erratic and strange. You could even have magic-infused storms like.... Rusting snow, razor sleet, skin-flaying sandstorms, healing fog, or hallucination-inducing rain. You could have dust devils in an arid plateau that last for centuries because their stabilized by a nearby wellspring of magic (or something). Magic = endless possibilities.

While I think its an overly simple way of doing it (more accurately, my inner storyboard artist is loathe to accept it), we'll tentatively codename the fantasy world "Rathe" or something--your choice. I'd prefer to keep this creative momentum going than for me to start nitpicking names, so I'm discarding my apprehension for now. Who knows? Maybe I'll end up liking it later!

- As for weather, I completely agree with your assessment. While it may be nice to get the technical stuff out of the way first, its likely better to leave a good majority of it open to interpretation. Just like in real life, there often isn't one true answer. Unless you want to wax philosophical for awhile, it's probably best just to do a rough outline of known traits and leave the rest to roleplaying or future discussions. Otherwise there won't be much of a mystery left to explore!

- So we've settled for automatic translation of bodies, common knowledge, and basic language then. Cool. That makes thing mega-convenient.

- Since D&D has a fairly elegant way of explaining these sorts of shenanigans, I'll offer the following for further discussion:
Coterminality
Both worlds exist within the same space and only a thin existential boundary sits between them. In some places this boundary is thin and weak, enough that the reality from one world bleeds over into the other, creating a "coterminus" point of contact between them. These windows or gates to another world can be permanent or temporary, or have specific conditions for passing through them; some may only allow travel in one destination, so you could from Earth to Rathe, but not return.

In context, it would simply mean that our heroes and others like them, have the ability to travel across this boundary because of their special trait. There may also be a prerequisite that the boundary must have been weak in the first place, so the real ability being put to use is one where our heroes can tear holes in the thinner spots. Then conflicting realities on either side correct the anomaly and patch the holes, like a wall or veil that can self-repair.

Thus, getting swept away by cherry blossoms is really an instance of our heroes being in the right place at the right time when Rathe(?) bleeds over into Earth. They fall through to the other side because the rule dictating they must die first doesn't apply.
A cosmic accident you might say, but one that enlightens our heroes to how much grander (and ostensibly stranger) their worlds really are.

The world our heroes occupy will correct/rewrite their existence (so body, clothes, knowledge, language, etc) enough to fit the reality of that world.

And that's all the technical bits you'd have to cover without getting into technobabble and hair-splitting.

- As for the singularity event, the consequence of reaching it in either world could be very catastrophic. But it's only dangerous because the rapid advancements in magic and technology outpace a human's understanding of what's going on. So humans (or some fantasy species) may rise to the challenge while others are consumed by the inexorable tides of change. It's very Darwinian.

The question becomes "will civilization, as our heroes know it, survive the transition"? Probably not, but answering this question, and a lot of the moral baggage that comes with it, will probably be the driving force behind characters' actions and agendas.

So... things like:
Is allowing the singularity to happen worth the risk is poses to both worlds?
Would it be better to undermine it until <insert dominant race> can more easily handle the transition? If so, when is the right time?
How would it be possible to even assess the risk or, for that matter, develop any kind of expectations of the resulting environment?
How different will the Earth and Rathe(?) be?
Do I want this to happen?
Will I forestall or hasten its arrival?

The difference in beliefs and the ambiguity of the outcome would cause the enlightened souls who realize what's happening to separate into different cults of belief. Some these groups may be at odds. So instead of good and evil, its more shades of grey. How the agents of these groups conduct their activities casts them in a more righteous or malevolent light.
Do the ends justify the means? Who is goal is more noble or more right, when no one knows what the inevitable outcome? The bickering is over speculation of a perceived threat. But is that the right way to think about it? May their is no "right" answer.

So for example, maybe an agent does endanger our heroes loved ones because, to the agent, his/her own loved ones would be at risk, if s/he didn't. Maybe the agent is a fanatic knuckle-dragger incapable of thinking for himself. That makes the agent more pitiable than irredeemable, doesn't it? What if all options suck, but one of them must still be chosen?

Clearly distinguishing good and evil can make things easy, but doing so often denies the rich and intriguing human aspect its due time in the spotlight. There will always be extremists, but I'd be hard-pressed to say these groups, despite their alien beliefs, wouldn't have at least a few down-to-earth(/down-to-rathe?) average joes along for the ride.

- I like your factions idea. Though in following my earlier premise, you could also categorize them as heroes, singularity supporters, and singularity opposition. Or... to give them a little more flare "Awakened", "Singularity Seekers", and "Samsaran Collective"... I guess... *shrugs*

- We're definitely in agreement there. Once we determine the basics, we're ready for play. Everything else is left a mystery on purpose, so there's a story to unravel along the way.

- I don't expect Earth to be forgotten so easily. When you experience something new for the first time, isn't it typical to compare it a previous experience? That's usually how people develop an understanding of feelings, events, etc. right? Well... If our characters only real memories are those of earth, even with newly granted knowledge of magical beings and forces via translation, the comparison will still be to previous experience had on earth.
So I'd expect memories of earth and their lives their to constantly be hanging in their minds throughout the whole adventure. How can one forget their past so effortlessly?

Swept away, underneath the cherry blossom trees ~

Time for some good ole wall-posting!

Here we go:

- More vast, hunh? You could say the fantasy planet is roughly earth-like, but simply larger?
As for a different seasonal pattern, with me being very familiar with geophysics and meteorology, it'd be a lot easier to simply say the seasons are influenced by magic and completely abandon any kind of scientific explanation. Cuts down on headaches.

That being said, perhaps the seasons change more rapidly where magic pools together or areas through which is courses more strongly. Or maybe the weather is simply more turbulent? Or the season is attuned to the nature of the magic present?

- Well... What if our "heroes" exist outside the reincarnation cycle and--tying in to an idea later--can freely pass between our world and the fantasy world? That would be easy and fits nicely.

Also, what if the whirlwind of blossoms could just in fact be a torrent of magical energies swirling around our heroes. The scene simply gives the illusion of cherry blossoms. Perhaps due to fortuitous circumstances, our heroes actually experienced it while being in a grove of sakura trees?

I really want to push further this idea of weather being linked symbolically to magical events, at the very least in the fantasy world. Perhaps storms in our world are where magic leaks in from the fantasy world, and their path follows something like ley lines in the fantasy world world? Perhaps there's some subtle overlapping.

- While I do enjoy a certain amount of complexity, overcoming the hurdles of adjusting to a new body, new languages, and new cultures can be very daunting to roleplay through, so I'd agree on some sort of way to magically acclimate to the surroundings.
As an idea, it could just be part of the transition process for special humans like our heroes.
Perhaps, there are rules to the transition, such that the person must assume a form native to that world, or at the very least compatible with it. Moreover, basic knowledge (like "common sense") and native languages automatically translate through. Then the only roleplay difficulty would be dealing with the cognitive dissonance of having memories and maybe a body you didn't have before.
Our heroes may have the latent ability to change their appearance and form when they transition. It could be limited, so changing the form of one's original body is impossible.

- Continuing from an earlier concept: So... what if by magical happenstance, our heroes are swept away to this other fantasy world. And what makes them special is their ability to transition between the two without dying first.
However, what if they aren't the only ones who can do it? Perhaps they are swept up into a much grander scheme of secret societies or rival organizations of people like them? These groups would be something like secret agents with opposing agendas, but both working towards some flavor of "THE GREATER GOOD".

As a separate idea, what if technology and magic are competing forces? As the advancement of one continues, the other wanes. So in our world, technology prevails, and in the fantasy world magic prevails. Extending the idea further. If for example technology would begin to advance in both worlds, a backlash or surge of magic would hit both worlds as each distinct reality tries to reconcile the two forces into equilibrium. In that sense, the balance is very precarious and difficult to maintain.
This could tie into a more generalized singularity event, where civilization expands so quickly that the powers of industry outpaces the imagination and control of humans (or other dominating species). What if this trend is occurring in both worlds? The technologically-driven singularity being approached in our world, and a magically-driven singularity event on the horizon in the fantasy world?

You could divide up factions of the aforementioned secret agents according to what beliefs they hold?
Would their be singularity seekers? People who wish to see the pinnacle of civilization in both worlds at the risk of destroying them both?
Perhaps their are passionate zealots vying for an absolute balance, so magic and technology exists evenly across both worlds?
Is their even a correct way to the maintain the balance? What sort of alternative options might their be?

- Visual aids? Madame, I am bonified visual thinker, so please, dump as many images as you like. ;D

- As for the cast, we could just tackle the story from multiple angles using different groups of characters? Each group would have their own agenda and feelings. That way different facets of the story could be viewed through the lenses of a diverse cast.
Then you could just focus on the plot track that seems the most fun to work with at the time. If we get stuck on one, we can hop to another and try to unclog the story (if necessary) from a different angle.

- Post length I don't expect to be much of a problem for me. I'm happy with the "Less is More" style. Compactifying content can be difficult at times, but its pretty fun for me. Anything to reduce headaches down the road, I'm fine with.

- Hmm... I like the narrative your pushing with trying to juggle two lives in two different worlds. However, I'm not concerned that such a story would be too daunting to write for, but rather it would be too daunting for our heroes to realistically handle. I suspect that after a series of adventures and hardships, they'd have to make a choice to prioritize their life in one over the other. They can't be in two places at once with the ideas we've come up with so far. If that's the kind of consequences you're seeking, I suppose it fits. Though, bitter resignation to one's fate isn't really my cup of tea.

On the other hand, you could portray this rather simply with homesickness in increasing severity over time, even to the point that it becomes psychologically traumatizing.

To take it a step further, what if because of our heroes newfound status as "horizon walkers" (or something like that) puts them and the people they love in danger? What if they cant return to their old lives normally without putting their loved ones in great peril? Is it the rival organizations that drives them into a corner, or maybe their own powers?

Using the weather ideas again, maybe our heroes can only transition under certain conditions. Not quite something so difficult as "the stars must align in X fashion in the night sky during Y season", but you get the idea. Some routine cosmic or magical weather phenomena has to occur for travel to be possible.

Swept away, underneath the cherry blossom trees ~

Well.... Since I doubt we're going to be able to meet at a convenient time when both of us are online, I have series of questions I'll just leave here for the brainstorming effort:

You mentioned two worlds. Is one of them current=day Earth, or is it simply a place with is Earth-like? Is the other world earth-like or does its structure and style adhere to something more fantastical, like the mythological imagery of Elysium, Hell, the Feywilds, and Asgard?

As far as the balancing mechanism between these two worlds are concerned, what ties them together?
Reincarnation cycle perhaps? Those who die in one reincarnate to the other, so their is only ever a finite amount of souls. One world being well-populated and the other a near-apocalyptic wasteland? Are they tied by magic? Is there predetermined amount of magical power available, which is split between these worlds?
To take this idea further, maybe while the original world enjoys a significant technological renaissance since the decline of magic in more ancient times, the remaining magic retreats to the other world where the scales are tipped in magic's favor. Perhaps there too they experience a potent evolution of fantastic magical advancements.
Maybe this scale of shared magic is occasionally shaken. Magic retreats and returns in waves, like a pendulum, marking the beginning and end of long eras in each world.

When the primary character traverse into this other world, do they maintain their form? Are their bodies "translated" into something more appropriate to the setting? Would such a translation confer to our(?) characters the ability to overcome language and cultural barriers? Is this the universe's way of maintaining balance?
Put another way, if our character left to fend for themselves in a foreign land with no knowledge of this other world, no inkling of the language and norms, is this great obstacle something they are to overcome? Is there a a middle-ground which can be achieved, where only partial changes are made when traveling to the other fantasy world?

How does the protagonists meeting their end goals affect everyone else? Who stands to gain from it? And, who might expect great losses from their accomplishment? Is there a clear distinction of moral agendas such as "good" and "evil", or are their simply multiple actors trying to carve out their own space in the story?

You mentioned an emphasis on cuteness, adventure, and sense of wonder. How did you envision those aspects taking shape within this story?

I'd assume these protagonists much be cosmically important to have been swept up into such a grand plot. Is their a sense of Fate working behind the scenes? Or, instead of the protagonists, would anyone have been fine? Why and how important are these characters in the cosmic scale? Are they important at all? Is it simply their ideals that propel them forward? Love? Revenge? Is this kind of motivation something you wish to have unfold as the story progresses?

(I really could go on, but I've run out of time. >.<' TTYL ;3)

Swept away, underneath the cherry blossom trees ~

I'm free most of tomorrow. So I should be able to contribute then.

Swept away, underneath the cherry blossom trees ~

I somehow still manage to find time to GM a pathfinder game once per week, volunteer, and read my newsites, novels, and manga on a regular basis, so it's not that bad.

Swept away, underneath the cherry blossom trees ~

Yes. I'd agree. just jotting down ideas when we have time would be much more effective. Between three classes and a full-time work schedule, i doubt we'd be able to match off days, anyway. xD

Swept away, underneath the cherry blossom trees ~

Awesome!

I've got some online classes to deal with tonight, so I wouldn't really be available 'til almost midnight. However, tomorrow evening is free and clear. Would it possible to discuss some of those nascent ideas you've got then? Brainstorming is usually half the fun of an RP.

Swept away, underneath the cherry blossom trees ~

I'd be interested as well, if you haven't already filled the position. It being springtime, I've been in the mood for something adventurous. =3

As far as the world-building goes, how much of that have you done so far? (If any) I'm intensely curious about the setting.

[FxF] Benzin

I have a nominal interest in this.

However, my work schedule is very unforgiving. I can scarcely post once a week, but I strive for at least that much. As long as you don't mind a molasses-slow posting rate, I'm willing to invest the time.

Plot #1 seems especially fun, btw. I like the idea of standing tall among the glitterati.