The Curtained Sleep

[adstringendummod]

THE CURTAINED SLEEP
(Like Dreamscape! But renamed...)

It's night (or early morning), you've closed your eyes and gone to sleep. Maybe you were already snugly tucked into bed, or maybe you just meant to give in the the weight of heavy eyelids for a few seconds, it doesn't matter.

You've fallen asleep, it's a new world.

When you wake, everything's as it was. You continue with your day: a walk in the park, an exploration of another part of this world, a conversation with an old friend, a cup of— Wait... That person's no longer around, you've never seen those buildings here before in the city, and this just isn't Adstringendum. Did everything shift again, or have you been returned home? But things aren't the same as when you left them. Wasn't time supposed to stop, and aren't you not supposed to remember Adstringendum when you leave? Why are people you recognize from that other place here? Why is it so hard to remember specifics from yesterday?

Nothing makes sense.

And then you realize you're not awake.

You're dreaming.

Welcome to the Dreamscape.
EVENT OVERVIEW

Angry and confused, Saeclumda Cinis was brought back into being when the cat lost his latest altercation with the orchid and shattered. A conglomeration of many of the gods Teleos had consumed on his rise to power, this newly birthed Animus is mad with hurt pride and the wounds of subjugation that they've nursed for what feels to be an eternity. It's time to take some of their own back from this accursed place. Furious and uncontrolled, Cinis lashes out and tries to engulf everything. Disoriented by the centuries they encompassed and once manipulated, this fledgling Animus has nothing more than a vague desire to destroy the stability of the city.

Ashes to ashes.

Dust to dust.

Still growing and bewildered, Saeclumda has yet to master their powers, but they are strong enough to mess with the already fragile fabric of time, even if they're not fully cognizant of it. Their out of control rampage is what has cast the city into this living death, even managing to pull the other Animus into this world of dreams and wrath and warped truths that floats through the ashes of time. Tangled in each other as they are, the Animus cannot undo time itself, not so quickly at least, and so the citizens of Adstringéndum must save themselves.

Similar to the previous Dreamscape events, every character has their own individual world. Unlike before, they are now trapped in this world— aware of it or not, there's no waking from this internal space. To return to the physical realm, characters must first escape from the dream world.

It's easier said than done.

Like a dream, these worlds have an unnatural reality to them that makes it hard to initially question, and time is even less linear in here than out there. You might be in your own Dreamscape, frozen in a past memory or protecting your deepest, darkest secret, while a later you is traveling through the maze of minds that make up this realm of dreams, helping others (or standing back and watching them flounder). Escaping the unconscious reality of thoughts, fancies and fears takes more than an individual though, and there's an outside limit to how long you have...

Back on the physical side, the city of Adstringendum is full of the comatose bodies of its citizens. Slowly starving, slowly drying out, fallen in heaps over their tables, collapsed mid-step in the middle of their streets.

Around the city, the Great Wall falls.

The Wastes are impatient.

Time and space had long been ruined outside the border of the Safezone, and the presence of Saeclumda Cinis destabilizes everything. The shifting landscape quickens, and creeps forward. Meters of the city are reclaimed by destroyed worlds, by timelines crushed before they had a chance to be born. Its "citizens" are mutations, pathetic amalgamations of a hundred different forms of life. They barely live, and they crawl in, cutting through the helpless bodies in their wake. Out of jealousy, out of despair— they scream.

...But who is left to hear it?

Only those who are still awake.

THE DREAM WORLD

You're not awake. You're dreaming, wandering through the minds of acquaintances and strangers alike. Doors and passages lead to different thoughts and memories, or to another person's mind. Some areas may be barred or concealed, hiding a terrible nightmare or secret that even the owner doesn't know.

The world of dreams... What you see may not be what you know, and what you know may not actually be real. Up may be down, night is now day, and white appears black! The sky could be painted in yellow polka dots, yet everything somehow still seems normal. Because it's your dream, and in your mind, wrong is right. But be careful! In someone else's, right might be wrong.

Or maybe it's the other way around...

No matter, no matter, come right on in! Are you the spider or the fly? Oh, do be careful where you step, wouldn't want you to fall down a rabbit hole now~ You'd end up in an entirely different world, someone else's dream, and its owner might think it rather rude of you to come barreling in like that without so much as a 'by your leave'. Not that you could help it— that door just sucked you in, gobbled you up and spat you back out here! Where in the world is exit? How do you get out of here? Why can't you wake up?

Best to team up in the meantime, you think. After all, there's safety in numbers, and some of these obstacles can't be gotten past alone. Of course, you could always try to go it alone! We wouldn't suggest it.

Might get messy.

You could die~

But who knows... You may wake up. Are you that desperate to get out of here? Are you willing to take the risk? Keep in mind, refunds not accepted! No one likes broken goods, too hard to sell again. Not worth the trouble. Besides, you'll miss the show~

And your chance to look inside the Animus.
ANIMUS GATES

Sometimes, you'll stumble across several strange spaces that don't seem to belong to anyone. They're odder, more surreal and otherworldly than anything you've seen so far. Fish swimming in flames that lick at broken, stained glass while flutes and harpsichords play in the background. Hundreds of voices echo through the air, speaking in different tongues, suffocating and welcoming at the same time. You recognize some, others are completely foreign, unknown despite the knowledge you hold. These are timeless worlds balanced upon hours on minutes on seconds, poised on the brink of the eternal and the transient.

Hark!

The

Animus.

Each individual Animus has their own Dreamscape, but you may only pass through them upon joining a group that meets the requirements. And what odd requirements they are... 'Party of six' is easy enough to understand, but 'look through new eyes'? What about this 'find new faces' directive? One thing is clear though— the Animus' obstacles can't be gotten past by yourself, nor is it possible to reach the exit without going through their doors. Whatever the requirements, working together is the only way to escape, and not always with your usual allies. Some of the challenges need conversational skills, others knowledge, or a mix of strength and frailty, idealism and cynicism— combinations are the only way to escape.

Dare you peek at your gods?
THE FINAL DREAM

After wandering around so much, it’s frustrating to find yourself back in Teleos’ Dreamscape, but at least you’re with others from the city. Only this time, you can’t see Adstringendum from the windows. The view from them is empty space, as if you were standing at the edge of the universe, looking out at nothingness.

Absolute nonexistence. Can your mind handle it?

You don’t have time to worry about the fate of the city though, not when all the ground up glass around you is suddenly whirling in the air, glittering and somehow dangerous. Faster and faster they spin, shimmering sand cutting into your skin, slowly growing duller and duller until it is no longer glass that’s surrounding you...

...but rather stifling ash.

And you can’t help but breathe it in, no matter how you try to protect your nose and mouth. It’s like Pompeii, only without the fire and heat, and you’re suffocating, feeling your throat clogging up as you desperately try to draw in air even while knowing you’ll only take in more of that ash. Over the pounding of blood in your ears, you can hear bodies hitting the floor before you too join them in blissful unconsciousness and sink down into the darkness.

Deeper and deeper you fall...

Down a bottomless pit.

Lower and lower you tumble...

Towards an unfathomable emptiness.

Then you jerk awake, drenched in cold sweat, gasping for breath. It all just seems to be a bad dream, yet though your eyes are open, you still haven’t truly woken up. There’s still one more Dreamscape to get through—that of Saeclumda Cinis.

And not everyone is with you.

Welcome to the Final Dream.
NAVIGATION

Character Dreamscape Plotting 1 || Character Dreamscape Plotting 2 || The Animus Gates || The Final Dream
THE LOGISTICS
1. By necessity, this is a city-wide event, but players who don't want to take part in the Dreamscape aspect can have their characters remain conscious in the city. There's a whole lot of bodies in the city at risk of dying sooner rather than later, and if someone is literally pulled apart and scattered among the Wastes, who knows how they'll ever revive? Someone's got to try to watch over them.

a) If someone is "killed" or otherwise ejected from the Dreamscape before the end of the event, they would awaken to the Wastes-invaded city around them. Re-entering the Dreamscape would be impossible at this point— there's only taking care of the unconscious, and hoping it all ends soon.

b) Oh, and trying to fend off the mutated amalgamations.

2. The event will last two weeks. However, since time flows differently between the physical and dream realms, some people might feel that they've been waiting years for their friends to wake up, while others might feel that they were asleep for a matter of hours. Horribly eventful hours, but brief ones. It's up the player's discretion how they want time to treat their characters.

3. Interaction between characters in Dreamscapes will occur in logs as they are all offline and 'in person'. One log will basically equate to one character's Dreamscape (unless otherwise specified). Because this is a very nonlinear event, continuity is thrown even farther out the window than usual. We also encourage muns to branch out their CR as well! This would ICly make sense since memories of 'B' in 'A's Dreamscape would act as a portal for the viewer to go to 'B's Dreamscape. Mods may even come around to logs to encourage log/dream-hopping.

4. Think of your character being inside the Dreamscape as if he or she were in an RPG game. You start in one map/area (Dreamscape) and different portals (memories/doors) on that map take you to even more maps/areas to explore. Along the way, you need to fight monsters/solve puzzles/do quests with a party in order to continue on.

a) The contents of each Dreamscape are determined by the player. The setting, the dangers, the obstacles, what memories or experiences are available is entirely up to what you want to do with it!

FAQ

You've given us all this information about the event, but when is it, exactly?
January 9th, 2013 - January 23rd, 2013

What is the purpose of this event?
To promote branching of CR, cohesive gameplay through necessity of IC teamwork and interactions with the Animus. In other words, Adstring's been a bit quiet these past couple of months, so it's time to shake things up!

Can I opt out?
Of course! Keep in mind that if you do choose to opt out, your character will not be able to enter the Dreamscapes at any point in time afterwards.

Do character deaths in the Dreamscapes come with a death price?
Nope! Their only penalty is that they wake up in Adstringendum and are unable to access the dream world again.

Will characters remember everything that happened in the dream world?
That is entirely up to you! Your character can remember every single detail and know the event to have happened, think it was all just a really, really lucid dream, or only remember vague details. Think about your own dreams! Some stick with us forever while others just... fade.

When you're in someone's Dreamscape, are they aware of it?
Again, that is up to player discretion. The only obvious case is if the dreamer and the person whose Dreamscape they're in stumble upon each other in that Dreamscape.

Comments

FAQ

[adstringendummod]

If you have questions, ask here! We'll toss them up into the FAQ section as well.

Re: FAQ

[fuckuimametalbender]

So...what exactly is a Dreamscape? Maybe I'm just missing it due to this cold, but I'm terribly confused about what they are and how people get into them/out of them, aside from dying

Re: FAQ

[reconciledtwins]

Since this is an entirely mental plane, how does it affect characters like Rubedo and Albedo, who share a body but are distinct entities inside their mental worlds? As it's been canonly established that characters like that can interact in a mental landscape, would they be independent (essentially resulting in two part comments whenever they're together) or would they still be stuck with what they're used to their situation in the waking world being and thus still have to play musical chairs or resort to telepathy to hold a three way conversation?

Re: FAQ

[dicey]

Question about this line!

"The event will last two weeks. However, since time flows differently between the physical and dream realms, some people might feel that they've been waiting years for their friends to wake up, while others might feel that they were asleep for a matter of hours. Horribly eventful hours, but brief ones. It's up the player's discretion how they want time to treat their characters."

Can that be reversed, with people in the dreams experiencing it as feeling like it's taking years?

[leggierissimo]

So, with someone like Joshua who is dead and has no actual canon age but looks 15 in one plane of existence and older/taller in another, how would the second nightmare work for him? Aging as per his age-form here? :|a And would his 15 year old body classify him as being one of the "young"? sob I have no idea what the age cutoff is for that

Re: FAQ

[hand_of_courage]

In the case of characters with an affinity for Time Travel and/or Time based powers, would they be able to tell the actual passage of time both inside and outside the dreamscape - and inside the dreamscape, would they possibly have the ability to sense the twisting of time that Cinis has done more easily than others?

Also, because of the time distortion, would those with time powers be able to use them temporarily for the duration of the event?

I'm thinking of Link here for outside the dreamscape (use of the Sun's Song and Song of Time potentially), but there may be others with similar powers and affinities related to time and it's manipulation in the game that I'm not aware of personally that this could apply to.

Re: FAQ

[dicey]

Another question! Can the memories in the dreams include Adstring memories?

Re: FAQ

[genkireaper]

For skill types:

Shizuo is really a normal person. He's just been conditioned to the point that he can do seemingly unnatural things (though this is because he's likely brain damaged/malformed.) Because of what he's been through, and that brain thing, he's strong, durable, and with an incredibly high threshold.

Would he still count under 'normal,' or another category?

Re: FAQ

[akito]

Since my characters already have a mindscape that can be wandered around in but actually doesn't contain any dreams.... How would that work?

I have put up info here, but idk...

They have their own minds all within one mindscape so

it's

weird.......

Re: FAQ

[ofthursday]

Another categorization question~

For the purposes of groups and such, would Castiel count as normal or an angel or both? Since he's powerless at the moment and all. I'm assuming normal (more or less) since he has no powers and is essentially human at the moment more than an angel, but I wasn't sure.

Re: FAQ

[death_scythe]

This was probably addressed somewhere and I missed it, but...

Is this a case of "You die in the dream, you die for real?"

The Asleep

[adstringendummod]

Is your character going to be affected by this event? If so, come and give a brief description of what you imagine your characters' minds to be like (setting, what might be seen where, etc.)! Or, you could go into more detail on your character's journal and link us to it.

If you're interested in exploring the mind of a character, plot with them here! Simple right?

Re: The Asleep

[doestheickyjobs]

Methos will be asleep in a dreamscape made up of fragments of scenes from the last five thousand years. Dreamscape details!

Axel will also be asleep! This will be his dreamscape.

[fuckuimametalbender]

I have nfc about most of this event, but Toph for sure, will be asleep. Her dream'll seem normal to people when they first get in, but if they take one step everything will change to Toph's personal brand of vision (seismic sense, where everything is in vibrations and shapes and no color). Sighted people will eventually realize that the dreamscape is a mesh of Toph's school and her home with Lin here, and they'll run into a lot of walls. Physical walls. Of stone and metal.

Sorry.

Re: The Asleep

[dicey]

Vriska's going to be asleep, and her dreamscape will mostly be her memories from Alternia! I'll write up an entry in her journal about them sometime closer to the actual start of the event, but most of them will likely involve unpleasant stuff in some way, because Alternia was a pretty craptastic place. There will also be a couple from her planet in the Medium (but not many, because due to her canon point she wasn't there for very long), and I'll put more info up on that, too. Aaaand there will also be plenty of Adstring memories! The actual place will be a weird mash-up of the House on the Rock (where she lives with Hanna & co.), Athel Heim (where she lived with Jo Harvelle & co.), and her castle on Alternia.

Asleep: Toby

[dammitmother]

Toby's Dreamscape is a twilit garden, branching gravel paths, strange flowers (though an abundance of roses), and a pale sliver of a moon hanging above--a Cheshire Cat moon, like a smile without a cat. It's the sort of golden twilight fairy stories are made of and--as in all the oldest tales--there are things in here that bite, claw, or smile as they draw the knife, hidden among the roses; lighted piksies, wild and incomprehensible, rose goblins, memories, always the blood-red roses, and more. In the center of the garden is a tower, locked unless you're given permission, and surrounding the garden, a low wall made from the same stone as the tower. Both wall and tower seem to glow dimly, a steady illumination in the half light.

Lily's Dreamscape

[toxickiss]

So, Lily's dreamscape is going to going to be more like a mansion. Except the walls are indescript darkly-shaped people that are looking down at you.

Judging.

Forever judging.

Which is why the fixtures for wall lamps, pictures and other things are pinned into their crotches and gullets. Also, you won't want to look at the ground, and there's always some sort of strong scent in the air. There will also be another woman that's similar-looking but definitely not Lily wandering around in it.

But then she's going to wake up in a couple of days and watch over all your not!corpses. >:|


You can view the details and mechanics of Lily's dreamscape here!

[kingshizuchan]

Shizuo's dreamscape is a great place to go if you want to see what the streets of Tokyo are like. At least in Ikebukuro.

Because it's a square city-mile looped in all directions. Closer looks will show that it's a series of people in multiples, taking various roles. Some the same person at different ages doing various things that are similar to Shizuo's memories. Occasionally there's also this bright flash and the sound similar to one of those older cameras (always when there's kids around, too...) Watch your step, though! Some streets have falling vending machines, soccer goals, and refrigerators.

Watch who you step into too, or what you say/do. Some triggers lead to this red tide that floods through, ready to take everything with it.

Wait- Why are there knives, bats and chains in the tide?

Luckily the park is safe.

Re: The Asleep

[xroyal_bratx]

Ishtar will be dreaming. Her dream will bring her back to a mesh of Pheliosta, her home and Rezenia, another place along the borderline along the Pheliostan country. At first, it will be like walking in a fairy tale like world, streets filled with cheerful children, singing and dancing and meadows filled with the fragrance of blooming flowers. However, the closer they get to the Pheliostan castle,the more dangerous it would appear to be. Shadows lurking behind the vegetation that surrounds the castle, and glowing eyes of nightly creatures. These creatures will either be zombie like vampires who are mindless and only seek to fulfill their mission, or low level vampires who float around with wings on their back. They're non friendly and they're out to kill for a meal. The castle's charms keeps it out, so once you're inside the Pheliostan castle, you're safe.

However, the castle will be distorted into cellars that contain monsters of every kind trapped behind cages and screaming and clawing for their release. They're not harmless and they do not know human language. Amongst other things, the castle will have plenty of safe zones, but they twist and turn into images of blood and death. It will have a cold and unhappy feeling. In short, this will be a mix up of what Ishtar's last memories in her world was like. The castle of Rezenia and her cousin's death, followed by the vampires that originally haunt the hallways of the Mill Seii castle. Though this will all only take place in the specific location of Pheliosta itself, just mixed into it because of Ishtar's memories.

It's quite a dangerous world so I'd say be prepared to fight off some monsters from her dreams D|

[akito]

Akito, Agito, and Lind will be asleep and.

Well. Their mind looks like this. Lots of water and cages.

So uh. I guess their dreams/memories would be reflected in the water's surface or something. It would include memories of Kaito beating the ever-loving shit out of them, memories of flying with Kogarasumaru, stealing kisses from Ikki, lots of stuff about Air Trecks, etc. etc.

Lind's memories would be of Gazelle's life and ... involves like. Doing Kaito's hair. Training a lot while preggo. Being with Kaito. Kissing Kaito. Having lots of sex with Kaito. And killing herself to save Kaito.

They'll be waking up early and helping out the unconscious. o7

[snaketrap]

Loki will be asleep and his mind will be a crossover between three worlds: Jotunheim, Asgard, and Titan.

It's basic landscape will be like what we see of Asgard with the exception that it's fragmented like the place we see in Avengers (which I say is something like Titan). Pieces of it are shattered and spread through a space of nothingness. There's no light save for the stars. To make it worse, it's all frozen. Extremely cold.

[timaeus_testified]

Dirk Strider's dreamscape will be a seemingly cold and barren place at first, where subtle effects start to take their toll upon anyone that intrudes within his dreaming mind. It doesn't matter if they are friend or foe, his mind will be hostile to all. This is because it is the outer layer, where the defenses are the thickest and everything is contrasted by the sheer white of the snow and thick blue ice.

If you manage to get through the frozen wasteland, you must fight the gate keepers who inflict their own effects to you and beyond that is a fragmented world where every Dirk you encounter has something to say and portrays a different splinter of his experiences here and back home. To give you a hint of the fragments one will encounter, I'll list them by event and their purpose.

TEN YEARS LATER = Dirk 'Bro' Strider
AGE DOWN = Seven year old Dirk
WE ALL FALL DOWN = The red death plague! dirk
HOME AGAIN = Dirk leading up to the instant he was taken from canon.
ADSTRING YOU SAY? = Adstring Dirk, all that he is and experienced.
AI = Auto-responder
BROBOTICS = Brobot naturally will be an opposing force within the dream, and if you stay too long...

OTHER PLAYERS = these will be people he knows are no longer around. There's not many of these but within his mind they too will be things to overcome or talk down.

TYL!DAVE STRIDER
and the rest I'll keep to myself.

Jane's Dreamscape.

[overbiterestart]

Jane's dreamscape will be made up of the things she has gone through in life. It might seem pretty tame at first? I mean she was raised in a loving home with a loving father, with items being given to her by the company she is heiress to.

If someone else's character decides to perhaps pick up an item? Well. They will see what Jane has gone through her ENTIRE life. It's a lot of subliminal messaging. Specifically "Obey, Submit, and Consume".

I will have a LOT more details on her dreamscape once I get around to imagining it up. But this event will let out a lot of secrets about Jane that she may not be willing to face as soon as she comes out of it.

The Asleep

[imagesmaydisturbyou]

George will be sleeping, and her dreamscape will look like a highway with various exits branching off the main road. The problem? They want a bit of blood as an entrance fee.

Once you've stuck your hand into the small device at the beginning of the off-ramp and the lights on it have all turned green, you'll find yourself in a place she remembers: her home, in the San Francisco Bay Area. A political convention in the Midwest. A rally in a small town in Oklahoma. A futuristic, sterile, somehow off-putting hospital in Memphis.

You may want to take some of the guns and ammunition that happen to be littering the sides of the highway, because there will be zombies in each of these places.

(OOC: I'll write up a brief summary of each of these places and post it to her journal closer to event time.)

The Awake

[adstringendummod]

Are you going to leave your character conscious in a comatose city? If so, this is the thread for you guys to plot how to survive and take care of the empty bodies!

Or just leave everyone to the monsters. Serves them right for being so inconsiderate and falling asleep on you like that. B|

[hisbutler_bound]

Sebastian is going to remain awake mostly because he has no irrational fears or any deep secret that is hidden in the back of his mind without headcannoning anything and I'm not one to make something up when Sebastian is as complicated as he is. Besides, being in a situation where he can fight can make things a lot less boring for him.

As for your bodies.... Most of you should be fine.