Forum on the Lost

It is a cool spring evening with only a slight breeze. Several Landers are still out on the streets, although many of them are starting to make their way home for the day. On the steps of the small church of Carmina Gardelica a slight figure in a red dress speaks out to those passing by and the small gathering of individuals who have stopped to listen, someone occasionally asking a question to the figure. Many more simply look over in curiosity as they continue by to wherever their destination lies.

This figure is Seliana, her crimson frilly dress likely helping more to draw attention then the flat monotone voice she uses to speak out with. "Would you not wish to speak to those have lost? Those who have died? There is a way. Come listen." She says as her dull red eyes look out at a few new Landers walk by before she turns back to an Adventurer who seems to have asked a question. "Yes, it seems to be a common belief that the Goddesses and the Laws of Alba are connected. The Laws of Alba seem to be the games normal rules, but there are some who can break or bend them."

There is another question that is inaudible from a distance and Seliana replies to it. "Well, if the Goddesses are in charge of the Laws then it would follow they could allow some to ignore them also, right?" her flat voice making the question sound like a statement.

The girl seems to continue on in this fashion as she calls out to those passing by while also carrying on conversations with those who are listening.

    Merek makes a way into the place and along to listen to Seliana and what people might wish to speak about, watching in thought while he wears the scarf he often does along with the dark attire.

Kauchemar is not directly involved in the conversations as they come and go. She is sitting on the Church steps in the background, playing mood appropriate somber music on her lute and being present for emotional support. Because speaking in public is never pleasant when done alone.

    Miyako isn't really /looking/ for a philosophy debate. She's not actively opposed to one, either, though. At the moment she was just looking for dinner, having stopped in at a local tavern to get some food. She stops when she recognizes Seliana's voice echoing across the square, and settles in to listen, leaving the food in her inventory for now while she sees what's going on.

Kotono was a unique girl in that her interests tended to vary from time to time. While philosophy is pretty much talk on a cereal box for the most part, she's nonetheless interested in hearing what Seliana has to say for the time being. So she's taken the time to check this place out, not entirely noticing Miyako just yet.

One of the human Landers that has stopped to listen calls out "What would you know? The dead are gone. This is silly." He shakes his head and seems to be ready to leave. Seliana looks over in his direction and continues. "Gone, yes. But where to?" She pauses as she looks back and forth. "Both Landers and Monsters seem to break apart into energy, often leaving behind items or specifically tokens. You've seen these tokens, yes?" See looks back and forth as a few people seem to nod.

"It is most commonly observed when monsters die. They shatter and the energy sometimes seems to form a token which can be used. But did you know that there is an ability to coax this energy to ensure more consistent tokens?" She and looks at the gathered individuals. "Also why is it that sometimes when a Lander dies they are transformed into a spirit monster like a ghost and other times not? If the energy leaves, then where does it go?"

"It is commonly thought that spirit monsters are actually different entities that are using or corrupting the Landers energy to act, and that only destroying the monster truly frees the Lander. Frees them to go where? Return to Alba? To the Goddesses? I've met someone who is able to commune with those Landers lost, it is possible. A high priestess Lander nonetheless."

This does doesn't seem to convince the one Lander very much and after a slight huff he walks away.

Kauchemar just shakes her head a little. "Don't let the close-minded sway your curiousity." It's hard to tell if she's trying to bolster Seliana or the interest of others gathering.

It's very likely both.

    Merek seems content to listen to Seliana, he doesn't offer a lot in way of words, perhaps because he was coming by to learn. He does seem to adjust that scarf while nodding in thought.

    Miyako considers the story, initially shrugging at the thought of 'where does it all go'. She knows /something/ brings Adventurers back... but what /does/ happen to Landers, she's never really considered, just assuming that they go /somewhere/. Then she hears the bit about the priestess who can talk to the departed. "Ah, 'scuse me," she calls out. "You said this Priestess can 'commune' with the departed? As in actually speaking with them, or something else?"

Miyako is here too, what a coincidence.

Quietly moving over to where Miyako is, Kotono takes a seat but doesn't say anything. She decides to just let things go as is while listening.

Seliana turns to look over to Miyako. "Yes, that's right. Aya Endo the Undine High Priestess in Mac Anu. Though I am not sure if she verbally speaks. She is physically blind but is able to see, she seems to know things about the future as well and can commune with the dead."

A cloaked Were Fang Adventurer seems to almost interrupt by calling out "Hold on, what was that all about getting around the game laws earlier? How could I get that power? What could I do with it?"

Turning dull eyes to the adventurer Seliana shakes her head slightly "Is it a power? Or just a game permission? I'm not sure. But amongst the Landers there is the idea of the Laws of Alba, as I mentioned before. They seem to be considered the rules of the world. In Mac Anu is the Temple of Law, one that is much grander and more powerful than this tiny representation." Seliana gestures to the small church. "Those with potential for Law are able to tell when these world rules are being broken or followed, and the Temple there actively seeks out those who break the Laws of Alba."

The Were Fang calls out again "Sure, but how would someone break the game in the first place?"

"Apparently the heroes in the other world are more powerful then the Adventurers here, and they have also gained powers that can alter the world in differing ways. One of which is to let them invade here or bring powerful monster to unleash here. It is reported they created a bond with a Goddesses to gain these powers, but I have not seen it been successfully done. I don't have many more details on that." Then looking around she asks. "Does anyone her know any more? Has anyone else learned of the Goddesses and bonding with them?

    "I have not, though I believe that there are a lot of things I've seen that break the Law, though I wouldn't know about it for sure," Merek notes, while he nods a little bit to Seliana in thought.

"The most likely ones are the least obvious. The ones that 'bend' it more than 'break'," Kauchemar does chime in with.

    Miyako nods to Kotono, offering the girl a slight smile while she listens to Seliana. "Yet more evidence, I'd say, that there's more going on than people think." She hmms softly. "More than just game rules to worry about."

    Mizuki's been drawn by the crowd. Chuckling darkly at 'speak to those who have died' since, in a sense, anyone can talk to adventurers who've died. As Seliana explains her theory (a lander who CLAIMS to talk to the dead doesn't mean much), Mizuki thinks about it. ...Wait, what did she say?

    "What do you mean, heroes from another world? WE'RE the heroes from another world. Or do you mean the Hero landers native to this world?"

    "The ones that came with the Waves," Merek notes, while he takes a moment to look to Shadow Eclipse, then thinks about it a little bit in thought.

    "No, she means the enemy leaders in the Waves. 's what they -claim- to be, at least."

With a small nod of acknowledgement Seliana continues "While the Goddesses may be a path to power, are they really good? Many Landers seem to believe that the Undead and Spirit monsters are a kind of corruption, an evil entity that takes and uses the energy of a Lander. It is not clear if this is actually within the Laws of Alba or not. If the Goddesses really do align with the Laws of Alba then do they actually support monsters or is it the Monstrous Ones, the so called Gods of the Monsters, actually work within the Laws of Alba as well, just counter to the Goddesses? Does that then mean the Monstrous Ones could be the a path to other powers?"

"Some forms of resurrection of Landers may be considered to break the Laws of Alba as well, what we might consider good may not align with these Laws of Alba. There is so much we don't understand." Seliana slowly gazes across the individuals in thought for a moment before continuing. "I am hoping to organize individuals who recognize the importance of this research, those who won't shy away from unpleasant questions, to cooperate and help each other. We seek to understand the deathless state of Adventurers and the mysteries around death."

She then looks off to the distance down the street a bit. "There have been many Adventurers hurt or suffering because of our situation, we also try to help them. And those Landers in a similar state. Those who feel like they are a ghost of their former self, those lost, literally or figuratively. If you would be interested in joining us speak to me later.." She trails off to silence for a bit.

Then she turns to respond to Mizuki. "The Calamities, they are an invasion by heroes from another world. There are several worlds, possibly servers, but they have Lander Heroes with the wings icon. They follow a religion the believes they must destroy our world or their world will be destroyed. These heroes so far can be identified by having the Castle, the I, and the Wings icons. They use some kind of powers to travel between the worlds and also grants them other abilities." She calmly states in a monotone voice.

    Mizuki gives Merek and Miyako a blank look. She hasn't heard of this. Seliana fills her in. "If they're actually adventurers, that's a pretty screwed-up event, making them fight us and destroy this world to save us. And if they're Landers..."

    She scratches her head. "What's the point of a story like this? Just to make us sad for killing them? Mm, no, it's gotta be more complicated than that. There's probably some third option to save both worlds. Just as the laws of Alba don't necessarily align with what's good, the laws of THEIR god no doubt don't align with good, either."

    "...What do we know about these other worlds?"

    Merek looks then to Seliana in thought, while he crosses both of his arms, "I have information on the Undead. I watched of their creation, and been to the war of the Queen who's King this blade was," the man notes the Shadow Eclipse, "Which, I think perhaps might not be within the Law of Alba. If I can tell you about these two? I don't want to draw away from your whole speaking if you would like to know when you are finished."

"One thing to remember," Kauchemar states as she pauses in her idly strumming and looks up, "Is that Landers don't actually leave physical bodies when they die typically. So there is no corpse to actually raise. 'Undead' refers to the kind of monster they are, thematically, that spawn as monsters do. Graveyards are for mourning memories, and serve as 'environments' for such monsters to generate in."

The Nightmare holds up a hand. "However, it is possible there are ways to turn Landers -into- Undead, that's not by killing and resurrecting them, that we do not fully know yet." She shrugs a bare shoulder. "Like vampire bites in old horror stories."

"One of the Heroes for another world mentioned that they bonded the Burning One, so it is likely they have some of the same deities. Their religion around the Church may not be associated with the Goddesses though. They say there is a prophecy." She shakes her head slightly, her expression remaining neutral. "I've only known one Adventurer who has been able to visit one of the other worlds for a short time, and she was killed almost immediately by them. From what she said they had a somewhat European style of clothing, and in the few words exchanged before they killed her they said that races like Were Fang or Imps were from the distant past and didn't exist anymore there. They are only humans. I have no information about the other worlds other than one has a Shield Hero who the invader heroes believe to be powerful."

Seliana quickly turns to Merek. "You have seen the undead be created? What happened? How did it work?" Her voice remains flat and her expression steady, but she gazes intently at Merek with her ashen red eyes that indicate interest.

With a glance backwards she does give a comment to Kauchemar. "I believe when a ghost is created the Lander does break apart into energy and then the energy is warped to form the ghost monster. It may be possible to create an undead monster from the energy after a Lander dies and before it goes to wherever it does?" She considers out loud. "Something like a curse before they die would likely be easier to transmit though."

    "That is one method probably," Merek notes then to Kauchemar along to Seliana as well. Then he nods a little bit, while he takes a moment, seeming like he's speaking into his chimlink. "Anyway, there is a special ritual performed by specific Landers, the named ones of personality, at least Auther of the Undead army would know the method. You must nearly kill a Lander, then you begin a ritual to transform them. A thing of note, only certain Landers can 'qualify' to be changed into Undead, I don't know what that qualification is, but others are only sent to feed vampires."
    The man then notes Shadow Eclipse, "This weapon ate the data from me, from the PC, it felt like something was being taken from me, then I felt like... I was losing something when it began to repair my own data. I'm not sure what it was which repaired me but it was almost the same feeling that was from when I was... Well, broken."

"I did say 'typically'," Kauchemar points out, but the way she's fainly smiling behind her face-shading bangs indicates she's quite happy to see people actually speaking up to debate the point. Then strokes her chin with a hand. "Mayhaps higher rank Undead have abilities than can bypass the 'no body' effect to create more of their kind? The lines between the game mechanics and what is now reality are so twisted and blurred by this point.... Or a ritual. Special rituals that have requirements that only certain types of Lander can meet." She nods to Merek. "That does make sense... as much as the paranatural ever makes sense."

And the rest that he has to say about the sword is quite interesting. "That is.. unusual, even for a rare and Unique weapon drop..."

    Someone's actually BEEN to another world? And it doesn't sound like an Elder Tale Online server if it doesn't have the same races playable... and yet, why would it have them in the lore if it's not ETO? Perhaps it's CyberConnect's next game in development? Did the same thing happen there? Is THAT where all the devs are, trapped in their NEXT game? Mizuki doesn't have any insights for other worlds, but...

    "I don't know about 'energy' being released that's more than a visual effect, but... I can see how speaking to dead landers would work. It's like in Kid Radd. When you kill an NPC, they're no longer active, but they're not erased from disk. After all, when you start a new save, the game has to have all the data needed to instantiate them again."

    Mizuki continues, "I don't know if MMOs are necessarily always the same... especially one like this with so many, seemingly procedurally-generated, NPCs... but it'd make sense if NPC data, at least for their 'original state', is stored /somewhere/. They'd need to be able to install the server software on new hardware as they rotate in new backup machines, right?"

As Merek indicates Shadow Eclipse she looks intently at the weapon. She then steps down the stairs to get closer, her long white hair that is tied into a long ponytail swaying as she walks over. As she nears the dull red color in her eyes seems to evaporate until they are a blank white while she looks at Shadow Eclipse intently. After a few moments she looks back up at Merek, the color returning to her eyes. "You may wish to take this to the Temple in Mac Anu to have it examined. They also mentioned that relics related to the Monstrous Ones could be taken there to investigate their link further."

As she returns to her position on the steps she comments further. "Researching what could be the link the undead require could lead to a breakthrough in understanding them. I will have to bring this to my associates." Then finally facing outwards again she calls in a flat voice to a few more Landers that happen to be passing by, trying to draw them in.

"My associates and I that work together on research belong to no set guild or alliance, but actively help those without any support network. So much could be done, so much to still learn." She seems to regularly come back around to try recruit for a somewhat ambiguous group that researches death, perhaps this is the reason she is here in the first place sharing information.

As Mizuki continues she looks over again "Yes, that is it exactly. The information does not disappear forever, probably. Adventurers die and are in a death state for 24 hours, but where do they go? When Landers die, if it is possible to resurrect them then they must have still existed. If a Lander can communicate with them then they are somewhere. Some now wonder if we Adventurers are only data as well, simply ghosts in the machine." She says with a steady voice.

    Miyako sighs and shakes her head. "Can we really continue treating this like a game?" she asks. "Seems to me that investigating this will be easier if we take it on its own terms. The gamer perspective isn't getting us anywhere, especially when we're dealing with the Waves and 'heroes' who act as if they really believe their 'world' is in danger. Can we afford to ignore the likelyhood that they're correct?"

When Miyako asks if they can continue treating it like a game, Kotono seems to genuinely take notice. "That's... a good question?" She has been listening but not saying much until now.

"Counterpoint -- Not every one investigating a matter must hold the same views. We do not need to believe the same things to search for a common answer, and may well one see details the other does not."

And with that Muse-ly wisdom nugget made, Kauchemar simply sits back and resumes playing her background mood music.

    When Seliana approaches to look at the blade, Merek permits that. When she finishes up with that, he notes, "Well, it's linked to me, it can't be put into inventory or unequiped, I will see what I am able to do in Mac Anu." Then a look to Miyako, "I don't think we can afford to think of this as only a game. Remember we're on neural net gear, even if this is not real, the implications of the mind being put into a place like this are not great. I don't want to get into it. If we do escape though, be prepared for a lot of counseling, recovery, and all of that."
    "I would like to assist with your associates if that's possible, I like looking into the world, I also think that looking into the undead will be important." A little nod to Kotono and Kauchemar.

    "Kauchemar has a point," Miyako concedes. "We have to look at this from both points of view and keep both possibilities in mind. Just don't fall into the trap of focusing too much on one or the other."

    Mizuki sighs. "Is 'where do we go' even a sensible question? Our avatars don't have to BE in a physical place." She looks to Miyako. "It's not just a 'gamer perspective'... Besides. If the waves WEREN'T designed as part of some story for us... if this is all some other world, despite us inexplicably retaining our menus and inventory mechanics... well, then we still don't have enough information to go on. 'Their religion says it' is hardly a reason to take anything as true. If these gods are real entities, can we talk to them?"

"Subjective experience, does it matter? Perspective?" Seliana raises her hands in a gesture close to a shrug. "There is more going on then we can see and experience, that I'm sure of. That is partly what this is about. Understand what is going on behind the veil. Help our subjective experience now. This is what we are about. To create support for those who have lost everything."

Seliana gives Kauchemar a small nod. Her express showing her constant frown, but the gesture indicating gratitude. She then turns back to Merek "All with a willingness to help and understand are welcome. I will soon be done here and I can introduce you and the others interested to my associates." She seems to respond to this before some others, as if it holds significance for her.

She then returns to calling out to those passing by, both Adventurer and Lander and continues to share what little she knows about death and those powers linked to it.