![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
modormenace) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
f20202020-09-15 12:53 am
- allison hargreeves ⧓ krakoa,
- anders ⧒ the white tower,
- beckett mariner ⧓ twin cities,
- cecelia ardenbury ⧓ olin vale,
- count dooku ⧓ the white tower,
- david alleyne ⧓ krakoa,
- declan lynch ⧓ sanctum aurorae,
- finn onaru ⧒ the white tower,
- fuu hououji ⧓ eden,
- jin bubaigawara ⧒ twin cities,
- jonathan walsh ⧓ northwestern imperium,
- kang ⧓ seekers of the new dawn,
- kylo ren ⧓ sanctum aurorae,
- lucina ⋈ ␣,
- luther hargreeves ⧓ krakoa,
- midnighter ⧒ the white tower,
- number five hargreeves ⧓ krakoa,
- padmé amidala ⧓ luminary,
- pepper potts ⋈ the white tower,
- rey ⧓ the white tower,
- ronan lynch ⧓ sanctum aurorae,
- rude ⧒ olin vale,
- stephen strange ⧓ the white tower,
- tony stark ⧓ the white tower,
- wei wuxian ⧓ house of m,
- wen ning ⋈ house of m,
- xue yang ⧓ sanctum aurorae
SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2020: THE SYNOD IS CONVENING.
THE SYNOD
While the Gates are the simplest form of transportation, those making the journey to the Synod from the White Tower have the option of travelling by train, if they wish. Despite the playfully grim moniker, there haven't been any recorded fatalities on board the Death Train in many years. Or ever, really. Raw, untamed entropy doesn't do anything as simple as kill.
For that delightful reason, passengers will be reminded at frequent intervals not to attempt to leave the train once it enters the active zone of the Porter's defenses, or to do anything that could jeopardise the integrity of its shielding.
The journey is relatively comfortable and takes approximately two and a half hours. A limited menu of pastries and alcohol is available from the buffet car. The smallest tables seat two.
As the train passes through the entropy-saturated wasteland of the Deathdome, the view from the heavily tinted windows of each of the train's four-person cars is impossible to comprehend: every atom of the landscape is in a constant state of flux, scattered in endless possibilities across the multiverse.
WELCOME CARPET
Inside, you get the impression of three towers; no view from outside is possible. You're totally sealed inside for the week, by the same Fate-built tech that shields this place from the ravages of cosmic radiation— the train station is built into the structure, entrance tunnel hermetically sealed.
You're greeted by welcome robots, primitive little things full endless enthusiasm and covered in dents. What they lack in intelligence they make up for in persistence and durability. Each and every ImPort is assigned their own personal robutler.
Though they tend to hinder more than help.
Boop boop boop boop. They provide you with a complimentary swag bag. Inside is one (1) t-shirt, one (1) top of the line tablet (pre-loaded with this year's Agenda and a simple game app that looks suspiciously like 2048), a stress ball, personalised souvenir pen and eraser (but no pencil), and of course, a lanyard keycard for accessing the comfortably adequate accommodations provided for all attendees.
Given the week-long Synod, your room itself is a decent suite, furnished with dark colors, redolent with a smell you can't quite place. You may find yourself assigned an unexpected roommate, which may feel awkward considering you'll find arrayed on the beds, a half-dozen complimentary tickets to the spa, restaurants and the power gym, with its preternaturally durable equipment.
Robutlers constantly remind: do not attempt to leave the Porter facility or do anything to jeopardise the integrity of its shielding.
Talks and panels take place in the convention area, which feels like a miniature city within the Porter's defenses, a hive with padded audience seats, wide stages, and complete with holographic audiovisual equipment that's curiously compatible with presentation software from every city.
Here, ImPorts will present and debate various topics regarded as major concerns for all. [OOCly, players are invited to suggest topics! Scroll down; they will be added below.]
This is also something of an expo, where cities practically demonstrate— or show off their good works. From the latest hovertechnology models to demonstrations of healing powers, playful duels in the forcefield-enclosed stages to magical books that temporarily transfer skills on touch, this is the place to pretend you're showing off your cards... while playing the most important ones close to your chest.
PANELS AND DEBATES
Every night of the Synod, ImPorts gather to dine in a grand hall with a ballroom party. Each dinner is hosted by one ImPort city, gruntwork complete with robutlers-- which guarantees food safety, and complete with multiple cuisine options, cultural decor, and entertainment.
Given the range of cities represented, food options vary from greasy burgers to six courses of seafood and blue venison, and rarefied vegan fare.
When ImPorts aren't here eating, they're most often talking. Ergo, it's not uncommon for low-key drama to break out, but this year, the majority of Synod days seem to be passing uneventfully.
Fortunately, speeches are reserved for daytime. After dinner, it's time to dance.
The last song of the night is always obscure music no one can quite remember the words or melody to afterward. It's a slow dance song meant for two or more partners; the ballroom grows dark and the world seems to fade away. Or rather, it just fades back into one's hotel room.
On Monday, September 21st, shortly before the Gates are due to resume ordinary function and allow attendees to leave, the Porter building suffers a power cut.
Abruptly, all the lights cut out. Music stops. Your faithful robutler freezes in place, unresponsive— though its internal systems appear to be running, the centralised command hub that it relies on has fallen silent.
Though the robutlers are out of comission, technology-minded ImPorts and their tech drones hasten to reassure that systems analyses are underway. Within a few hours, repairs begin, the estimated time being two days.
In the meantime, thanks to the diversity of powers on hand, there is enough food and water. Candles start to circulate. It might even be a little romantic, if it weren't for the chaos outside. Characters might find themselves trapped in an elevator for a few hours, or compelled to seek comfort from one another.
no subject
"The light is different. The quality of it. It's difficult to describe to someone who hasn't experienced it."
As the elevator reaches Kylo's floor, his valet slips out ahead and takes a fairly obvious watch position at the door to his suite. Clearly, he won't be joining the discussion.
"You'll have to come visit," Kylo suggests, unlocking the door not with his keycard but a brief curl of his fingers— for reasons that soon become apparent. Kylo wasn't exaggerating about having brought a piece of home: while the door matches all the others of the hallway from the outside, the interior (quite mind-bendingly) appears to have been replaced with a slice of the Sanctum itself. Cool without being cold, the antechamber is all smooth, reflective stone and sharp edges— but it has at least been furnished for receiving guests. Kylo strides inside without pause.
no subject
"Mind if I check for bugs? I'll be able to pick up on any electronics in the room, no matter their purpose. And even tell if another technopath is currently watching through one."
no subject
no subject
“I’m here to discuss the possibility of an alliance. Krakoa wants to be recognized as our own nation, no longer a protectorate of the White Tower.”
A dangerous move. It makes them vulnerable to people that aren’t the Tower. Which of course means something has happened if Krakoa wants to sunder themselves.
no subject
In many ways, Kylo Ren might be exactly what Krakoa is looking for. Certainly, of all the faction leaders here, he understands the value and the price of autonomy. He has the experience, as the only one among them to have physically seized control of a Gate rather than negotiating for one. And, of course, he did it all in brazen defiance of the White Tower and the machinations of its leadership— and survived. Five years later, the Sanctum is stronger than ever.
Kylo is also, at his heart, an idealist. While the Sanctum is undoubtedly a cult, its core principle is empowerment of the self— and quite genuinely so. If Krakoa wants its independence, Kylo believes it should have it... and not just because it will infuriate the establishment. But...
"Why now?" he asks, gaze unwavering. "After all this time."
i'm hoping there is chairs, you did say furnished for receiving guests
"White Tower is a very dominating and intense society. As you well know, Krakoa's purpose is very different. We are a shelter. The struggle for power and control is never one we wish to be involved in. But our independence from them, as it stands now, is conditional. Never will we raise arms against the White Tower. That isn't what we seek now. But we do seek the freedom to not fear that they will take our open arms as a gesture of defiance or combat against them. And there have been hints lately that they might well choose such a thing."
Hints like kidnapping Josh. Yes, Krakoa overstepped their bounds JUST a touch, but not enough to warrant the treatment they got. Especially since the young were encouraged, as they grew older, to consider life outside of Krakoa.
"Perhaps we're tired of living in fear that the Tower might well decide that we're not living up to their arbitrary definitions of 'defensive only'. Stark was once a good friend of mine, Kylo, we worked together and I trusted him deeply. These days I fear what might happen to an island that is mostly children and teens given shelter and a place to grow and heal from any wrongs done to them. They come to us expecting that, and I fear Krakoa's leadership has not done enough to ensure their survival."
there are indeed chairs!
It's a fine speech. Carefully crafted, too, and possibly even tailored to suit Kylo's preferences and his lack of patience for lies and deception, where it skirts the truth rather than attempting to conceal it.
"Your open arms seem to have extended their reach lately," Kylo points out mildly. "Or so I have heard."
Happy!
"Krakoa," he says, voice careful because he hadn't expected Kylo to be THIS informed, "has an open Gate policy. Anyone under a certain age that asks for residence is welcome on our shores. That's always been our way."
It's their open policy. It's not David's fault that some places don't let the teens go where they want to be. They have not kidnapped a single person. They merely open themselves when people have regrets.