Questing Country: The Next Jaunt.

[powersthatbe]

QUESTING COUNTRY
July 22nd - August 26th

Nobody knows quite how Questing Country works. Any species who are capable of lucid dreams can enter it. Six Known Worlds are connected to it - planets which may or may not remember one another in the waking world, but whose Chosen have formed alliances through Questing Country for thousands of years. The landscape changes, but the place is real - anyone who dreams of Questing Country vanishes from their bed, and wakes up with the wounds, marks, or treasures they earned there. But a few things are clear: it taps into the most powerful beliefs in the minds of sentient beings. When those beliefs are too dangerous, Questing Country births strange talking beasts who lend abilities to the young, the only people hopeful and naive enough to believe one person really can change the world - and so, they’re the only people who ever have the chance to change it.

But there’s more to Questing Country than the Champions it anoints and their dangerous lives and uncertain fates. These troublesome beliefs - they take shape, too. The Fire Mushrooms range out from the place called Nuclear Winter. Hordes of Men in Black come from Conspiracy Country. If they’re not stopped here, they gain power in the dreams of the Known Worlds… and those are only a few of the more obvious ones.

Sometimes, though, the untapped powers of Questing Country find other shapes, as well. There are unstable nodes of energy called Valences that appear only a few times a generation… and when they do, Champions and Oracles and Adversaries all fling themselves into Questing Country with wild abandon. Because every Champion has some belief they’re fighting for, some hope they want to come true… and deep in their hearts, every Champion believes that one day, if they’re strong enough and pure enough, it will. The Valence is that belief, taken shape, the hope of hopes, the power to make dreams come true in an instant… but because Champions believe they have to prove themselves worthy, well, they’re right about that, too. To gain the Valence, they first have to succeed in a series of tests, tests that will send them against their friends and allies from across the worlds...

Age & Gender Swaps | Roles | Species | Casting Call | Bonds & Bonded | Skills | Calendar | World Info | Player Resources | Questions | Plotting

Comments

[tothefly]

First Jaunt excitement!

Natasha will be Infiltrating this round, as a human in her early 30s. In her younger years, she was Champion of Shadows, with the ability to spin shadows into constructs, drawing her power from the shadows cast by living things. Her faith/hope was crushed when her mentor turned out to be one of the bad guys in her waking life, using her to his advantage. She temporarily turned Adversary, her constructs becoming illusions, battled her own doubts and insecurities, and eventually faced her doppelganger and accepted it, becoming the Oracle of Spiders. As Oracle of Spiders, Nat can see lines of influence and repercussions, not quite precognition, more like foresight--seeing the bigger picture with unbiased clarity. She can still spin shadows, but for little things only--suggestions, cobwebs to influence or distract. Her familiar is a fist-sized black widow spider.

Currently, she's attempting to mentor Mello, the current Adversary of Shadows and her successor as Champion of Shadows, trying to steer him back to his hope. I would welcome other Oracles for friends/adversaries, Champions or Adversaries who are faced with indecision and need insight, whatever else you can throw at me. Bring me all the things.

[someonetocarry]

Obviously she needs to spend some time with the very steady Oracle of Arrows to keep her grounded amidst all those threads :3 Maybe they were Champions together?

[tothefly]

It would be a good balance! Nat with all of her possibilities, and Zoe with directness and fact. They could have been Champions together--what was Zoe like as a Champion?

[someonetocarry]

Not really all that different :: laughs :: Very forthright and straight-forward, not afraid of anything, maybe a little more reckless than she is now that she's learned better... :B She's learned a little fear since, but doesn't let it rule her, and helps others now not let it rule THEM.

/rambles

[tothefly]

They could have been great reckless buddies. I imagine Nat having been the kind of person to throw herself headlong into being a Champion (shadows softening and protecting instead of just hiding scary things), sort of blind to things in her real world. Now she's learned caution and consequences.

[someonetocarry]

Obviously they worked well together XD And got into all sorts of scrapes together...

[tothefly]

Absolutely. Nat's pretty good at support roles, she would have been a good person to have at your back. I imagine her turning briefly Adversary would have caused some tension though? Obvs rectified since, but yeah

[someonetocarry]

Obviously :: chinscratches :: How close to you want them to be? Like, formerly bonded, or just friends who occasionally fought together? If the former, I'd suggest maybe Zoe helped her in the dopple-facedown and they both gained wisdom and went Oracle through the same experience... if the latter, then there could have been a pleasant reunion once she went Oracle later than Zoe did, and they kind of mellowed into a more adult friendship.

[thirdarrow]

I play someone with a similar ability - Oracle of Maps, so they could know each other through working together! Or he could be working on passing his stuff to her since he's uh. Technically dying in the waking world due to illness.

[tothefly]

They are complementary! While his are more directional, her abilities are more motivational, but I can definitely see some overlap :] Working together at points would make sense! He gives the whats and wheres, she brings the hows and whys.

[thirdarrow]

They could both be mentors who work together, yeah! o/

[tothefly]

Also if he's dying/fading she could possibly be using what she has left of her shadow powers to help tether him to Questing Country?

[thirdarrow]

that is actually a FANTASTIC IDEA it fits in with his imagery of fading into the background as a mentor o9

he'll be in your debt forever, natasha

[tothefly]

Woop! We can totally work out the details, but it sounds like a plan to me.

[thirdarrow]

yep! plurk would be good, or we could wait until the occasion actually happens!

[creativefool]

Hmm! Pending plot stuff, it looks like Kanji might have some overlap/common ground with Nat. His threads of fate bit versus her webs of influence - I suspect he could use some advice from someone like her...

[tothefly]

I would absolutely be down for stuff with Kanji and Nat! Definitely some common ground between them--she could help him learn to use the less physical parts of his abilities maybe?

[creativefool]

Yes, I like it! He's a very physical guy (probably a raging speedy glass cannon type here) overall, so help with the other stuff would be great.

[tothefly]

Awesome, I'm looking forward to it!

[shesearches]

So Jane and Natasha would probably have been Champions around the same time, and Jane's now the Oracle of Constellations. On the one hand, I could see them having been friends; on the other, they're both pretty strong personalities, and it's always possible they found things to clash about? Either way, it could be an interesting combo.

[tothefly]

So far, we've decided that Zoe and Natasha were Bonded when they were Champions. I could definitely see Jane as having been close with them, though I think I like the idea of her and Nat being the kind of friends who argue pretty much constantly. xD You're right, they are both very strong personalities. Probably also fought when Natasha went briefly Adversary, too.

Did you have anything in particular in mind? I'm always open to suggestion!

[shesearches]

I'm pretty open myself, so! I really like the idea of them being old friends who are constantly bickering, though? That sort of -- weirdly fond of each other and would probably jump in in each other's defense if anyone else was coming after them, but can't so much as agree on which direction to go in without arguing for ten minutes about it? XD

Also, Jane is pretty emotional and not always the best at handling it -- I could see Natasha having been the first person Jane knew to go from Champion to Adversary, and her maybe not having the greatest reaction? Basically trying to argue her back onto a straighter path instead of really sitting down and helping, all coming from a place of nervousness/fear/worry about her but probably causing them to still not be as comfortable with each other as before? I'm not sure they'd have been part of the same bond ever -- although it could be an interesting way to go if you want to spin it -- but had definitely been closer as Champions than they are now?

... I'm just spitballing and this is basically my bedtime, so I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense and feel free to discard any of it you're not up for. XD

[tothefly]

No, you absolutely make sense! And I like it, definitely. They could have been Those Friends, fell out after Nat turned Adversary, then just never really reconciled after. Now they're sort of...trying to relearn who they are, especially in regards to who they used to be?

I'd be down for her also having been a part of that childhood Bond if Zoe's mun is! I'm not sure if Nat's in a Bond of any sort now--think she still might shy away from those kinds of connections, partially because of her Oracle abilities. She sees the potential futures/connections better without any complications, she claims, but it could be because she's still not over what happened between she, Jane, and Zoe when they were young?

[shesearches]

I an about to head to a nap but oh, I really like all of this. I poked Zoe Mun briefly but I'll poke her again when I wake up. if they're up for it though, this sounds like fun to me.

(also, Jane's Bond is with two champions: one she's mentoring, and one she's trying to keep from turning into an adversary. definitely shades of "what she couldn't keep Natasha from" in that I think. XD)

[tothefly]

Yes, excellent. Natasha is mentoring the current Adversary of Shadows (formerly, recently, Champion of Shadows) in an effort to keep him from making the same mistakes she did, but I think the lack of Bond between them is thanks to her not wanting to influence him the wrong way. Since she wasn't exactly the best example, herself. XD

Looking forward to this--have a good nap!