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modormenace ([personal profile] modormenace) wrote in [community profile] f20202020-09-07 12:14 am
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THE FRACTURED WORLD: ARRIVAL

 

A
rrival for some goes all but unnoticed. It's a sudden shiver, the sensation of being watched... and then nothing at all. Life continues serenely as it always has. The only indication of any change comes with sleep, wrapped in dreams: vague and distant echo imagery of another life, melting away in the morning.

 

F
or others, arrival is a sharp jolt. In the space of a single blink, they find themselves in an unfamiliar world, surrounded by the trappings of a life they have not lived. They are replacements, spirits taking possession of bodies belonging to people very much like themselves...

 

A
nd for the rest, arrival is a procedure. Routine. Those ported in to the Fractured World wake hazily in the comfortably dim light of the Porter room, laid out on an exam table. Their wounds, if they remember having any, have been healed— and even those who remember their own deaths find themselves miraculously restored. As they regain consciousness, an automatic audio-visual presentation is triggered. Regardless of their backgrounds or physiology, all imPorts 'see' and 'hear' this message as if in their own language:

"Greetings, imPort."
The voice is calm and gently authoritative, almost certainly selected by committee.
"On behalf of the Synod and all imPorts it represents, we welcome you to the planet Earth."

A decidedly non-humanoid robotic arm holds out a palm-sized device and rather insistently demands the new arrival take it. This is the imPort's comm, used for accessing the Porter's database of information, as well as the communications Network— though it won't receive communications from outside the Porter building until carried through one of the many Gates set up in a long, crescent-shaped array on the far side of the room.

As each Gate is approached, information about the faction it leads to flashes up on the comm device's screen. Which will you choose?

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[personal profile] iceheart_imperial 2020-09-09 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[Naturally, she didn't feel that 'anyone' included her. Moreover, whatever was happening was definitely not good. She'd never seen this before from him. His public manner and reliability was usually such that you could bounce a tank shell off of it.]

[She stepped up to the attendant, issuing swift instructions. The Minister for Communications would be summoned, to give the standard speech at such moments. She then turned to the assembled.]


His Majesty has urgent business. Despite this, he still wished to give at least a brief welcome. All matters will return to normal promptly.

[With that, she was after him, hand nervously fingering the pocket-watch chain on her vest. Yes, this behavior was unusual. And 'unusual' behavior from an Emperor was never good, nor did it ever bode well unless rumors were stamped out quickly. There'd be a lot of work for her - if it proved to be temporary. If it were something else, something worse...]

Sire, is everything alright? Shall I summon the physicians?

[Not that he'd ever seemed to need them before.]