synodiporia_ooc | OUROBOROS RETROGRADE

Ouroboros Retrograde
A timey-wimey return to Questing Country
January 15-February 24

Questing Country is a dreamspace shared by the young people of many species. In Questing Country, lucid dreamers are empowered by magic and guided by spirit companions to fight their own nightmares, slay the collective nightmares of their people, change the world by learning how to be heroes in waking and dreaming worlds, and literally change the dreams of all people for the better. The landscape of Questing Country 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. Only young and innocent people are 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. The nightmares have their own magic. 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. The most famous are Valences - collective wishes that can be sought and achieved so that one young dreamer can make their hope into reality - but there are others. A year after the last Valence was achieved, the constant Aspect of Questing Country that allows clear communication between Spirit Companions and Dreamers has passed into retrograde, which happens every so often, rendering messages unclear. More unusually, the constant Aspect of Questing Country that accounts for linear time is also in retrograde, causing those boundaries we take for granted between past and future to grow hazy, bridging times of crisis, and allowing the Powers of the past and the Wisdom of the future to collaborate on their dreams.

-Several centuries in the past, the Champions that fight the nightmares caused by the Diabolin Empire, who are themselves seen as Waking Nightmares more monster than being - these brave, outmatched Champions seeking to free the elves and the Hecatites from slavery - are dealing with something terrifying to them beyond even the Diabolin or the mystery of an Ouroboros Retrograde: the Rise of the Adversaries. These Champions and Oracles know that a Champion who gives in to despair becomes a Pillar, but they have never heard of a Dreamer who fights on their own behalf and defies the wisdom of Spirit Companions, and they may not trust corrupt futures in which these threatening new Adversaries are common. Surely, this is a future to be averted.

-In the first year after an unexpected Double Valence, in addition to both Communication and Time being out of their usual alignments, the Dreamers know to expect the return of the Travelers - a people pulled from their worlds by mysterious dream-beings like and unlike their companions, but infinitely more powerful. The Oracles noticed when so many Champions vanished after the Valence was achieved, discovered why, and predicted the Travelers’ return.

-And a generation later, in the first year of the Starquakes, the Dreaming people have been troubled by the vast and powerful dreams of alien minds. Portions of Questing Country have vanished in dreams of light and fire, or of cold and aurora and static, the march of mountains, storms of dust, seas of lava - and yet none of them harmful, simply overwhelming. But harmful or not, the Quests of Champions are interrupted when whole dream-continents vanish, and their ability to shape the Known Worlds is disrupted. Worse, their faith in that ability may be shaken; if a generation of Champions learns and believes that they are helpless to defy larger forces, it may become the truth - permanently...

As the three timelines temporarily converge, can the generations of the past and future make sense of each other’s dreams, worldviews, and agendas, and rediscover the power, wisdom, agency, and resistance to change the Known Worlds?

We can only hope.

The Known Worlds | Species | Dream Forms | Roles | Changing Roles | Timelines & Summaries | Bonds & Bonded Groups | Casting Call/Plot Role Announcements | Glossary | Skills | Calendar | Who’s the What of Which | Player Resources | Questions/FAQ | Plotting

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If you’re interested in one of these plot roles, pop over here to let us know which one. Casting will be done during the day on the 10th.

The Adversary/Oracle of Resonance - an Adversary in the Double Valence generation, but an Oracle in the Starquake generation, this Gorgon or Hecatite feels betrayed by their past & future self’s different priorities. This role may be played by one or two Travelers - if one, they’ll have to thread actively as both ‘selves’; if two, they’ll have to coordinate closely with their opposite number.

The Misplaced Champion - this Champion of the Double Valence generation either feels that, in Questing Country and their Waking World alike, the values of the ‘good old days’ were superior, OR that their current generation is too slow to embrace change (player’s option); either way, they desperately want to belong in another timeline than the one they were born to.

The Freedom Fighter - this elf from the Adversary generation is desperate to save their people from the Diabolin, and will make any deal, take any chance for an advantage that might help the elves.

The Eidolon of Shadows - this amnesiac, mysterious being from the Adversary generation does not understand Questing Country or their role, and has powers of illusion alone that do not seem to match any known archetype.

The Council of Senpai - these three Oracles, one from each generation, are considered the most knowledgeable and informed about their own times, and have been selected as guides & dispensers of exposition to help keep everyone oriented. If you apply for this role, please be ready to talk to many confused folks & explain large blocks of infodump the mods give you. The burden of the Senpai is not to be taken up lightly.
One veteran Traveler may be invited to join the Council & explain what they can about the Traveler ‘generation’, but this fourth Senpai will be democratically appointed during the Jaunt, not in advance of it.

The Arch-Adversary - this Adversary, among the first to ‘Fall’ in the Adversary generation, is an outspoken rebel against the agendas and rules imposed by Spirit Companions. While Adversaries are not Evil, this one embraces their dark and uncertain reputation and pushes it as far as they can. The edgiest of teenagers.

The Harbinger of Storms - this Champion was the first of the Starquake generation to Merge too long with the Transformed Land, and as they spend more and more time looking at the world from an alien perspective, they’re beginning to lose hope in their ability to control themselves and change the world.