Fourth Wall Plotting Post: Part One

[powersthatbe]

Synodiporia’s final Fourth Wall event will run November 7-25. All players are welcome to join us for a dig into the game’s metaplot as we approach endgame! During this time, we will also be running our final app round open to new characters; old players are welcome to re-app now, or dust off idled characters via re-app or the dungeon process at any time after November.

New posts will go up November 7, 14, and 21, with elements addressing the inner workings of Liminal Space and ways in which the Travelers might be able to manipulate those inner workings for themselves now. Fresh plotting posts will be made available November 12 and 19.

The first fourth-wall post will cover some side effects of Fortune breaking the device that brings new Travelers into Liminal Space, as follows:

1. Hold hands, send a text - players working in concert with strangers can send and receive brief text messages with people on their homeworlds, or worlds previously visited. You can NPC responses yourselves, receive no responses, or send messages to someone who hasn’t yet been brought in on the fourth wall - see point two!

2. Summoning - it won't always work, but telling secrets to strangers will provide an opportunity to summon someone from your world, or from a dungeon/"out of ambit." This can be deliberate or not, but should definitely be a castmate who plans to test drive or reclaim! The "doesn't always work" component is to explain why everyone doesn't just summon their ENTIRE cast to kick butt.

3. Scrying - Travelers will be able to look at the current state of affairs on past Jaunt worlds, and the current state of their homeworlds and current balance of power between the Arcana. The ability to scry on Jaunt worlds so will be unlocked by a special, fourth-wall only AC turn-in, and players CAN pool their forces. Every 100 comments turned in will unlock a brief glimpse of a previous world. NB: multiple players may pool comments for this, but no one turn-in may have comments by multiple characters played by one person. So Matt could turn in Joscelin threads on one glimpse, and Remy threads on another glimpse; but could not spend Joscelin & Remy comments on the SAME glimpse. Comments tallied this way can still be used at the end of the month for regular AC & skill gain.

EDIT: Scrying on the balance of power is delayed a week as we try to make this first week's prompts more accessible to new people!

Feel free to plot in the comments below, talk about who you'll be tossing our way, and otherwise ready Shenanigans!

Comments

[foolishjustice]

I'm looking at bringing over a CRAU Goro Akechi from prismatica. He's from between realizing Ren tricked him and figuring out the Thieves are targeting Shido, but has learned what his future holds and adopted a solid intent to go 'screw that'. Part of this has been actually getting professional help for his mental health, so he's a bit more stable and lot more upfront than he was in canon.

Also, if anyone brings up pancakes around him, he might just smack them.

[razorblade_empress]

I have three different flavors of Megaten I could potentially toss in his direction. None of them are likely to bring up pancakes; all of them have experience with AUs (technically all of them are canonically AUs).

[foolishjustice]

Having AUs explained to him will be very helpful, since he's met several members of the IT and will be confused by the AU versions here.

[razorblade_empress]

Is he familiar with P3 characters at all? I've got Minako, who knows she's from an AU because the first castmate she ever met in Syn was from Minato's route.

Also, Yukki is capable of sensing other Persona users, because that was a thing Persona users in the earlier games could do. Did you want her to pick up on his, or should I just skip that if they end up interacting?

(Also, there's Raidou, but I don't know if he's even known as a fictional character in P5 the way he is in the localization of P4.)

[foolishjustice]

He is! He's met Minako and several other members of SEES, though he hasn't heard about Minato yet.

Sensing his Personas is fine unless he's actively trying to hide them, since he's able to fool and sneak up on the party in canon, despite them having a Navi with them. He's not likely to, though, since he's already found out the Thieves know his secrets anyway.

(I haven't seen any references to Raidou in P5, but there's references to P4 characters that make it clear they're in the same setting.)

[tookashirototheknee]

Hi! So. I used to play Naoto Shirogane here (and I still play Matt), and I've been tempted to bring her back as a canon-update into an AU where she's helping the Phantom Thieves.

This could get interesting.

[foolishjustice]

That'd be interesting. He's met Naoto a couple of times in Prisma, but he's still really excited about the fact that he can talk to detective senpai. (And maybe still wants to impress her.)

[fingersandteeth]

Yo, this is bii and I'm bringing in two, maybe three characters for the fourth wall.

The first, who this account belongs to, is an OC of mine named Steven who I'd be handwaving as a pre-Moebius veteran, who was there from the Jaunt after Red Dirt to Moebius itself, but is only going to remember the tail end of Moebius because of trauma induced amnesia. If the journal looks familiar, it's because he's the brother of my other OC, Thorne, and served as a dreamgeon guide/bouncer for her once. I've been doing some PSL stuff with Steven and he's very much been in my head lately so even though he and Thorne can't actually tag with each other, I still wanted to bring him in. (However, I won't try to app him after.)

Because his family has shitty luck with supernatural creatures, Steven ended up getting kidnapped by fairies some years ago and finally escaped two months before getting pulled into Synodiporia. If people with pre-Moebius vets want to handwave CR with him, I'd be cool with that! He's a bit neurotic and much too conscious of how things look to other people.

The other person I'm definitely bringing and hopefully will be re-apping back is the AU Chie Satonaka that I'd previously been playing here. She's from Naoki and Kanji's timeline i.e. the one with the rescue team and I'm looking forward to seeing her reconnect with old CR and her AU-mates.

The third person that I might bring, time permitting, is Luke Skywalker, who I've also played here before. He was a pre-Moebius vet who was there from the beginning of the round to Belljar and then also around for the Pogemon and Olympus Upended jaunts--though I don't think I'll be canon updating him since TLJ broke my heart. Like with Steven, I'd be happy to handwave some previous CR with other vets.

[gutsandmorningglories]

Kurama is coming back for this. He's a pre-Moebius vet who fell out of ambit directly after Moebius but briefly came back for the Red Dirt re-do. He isn't necessarily likely to seek out other Moebius vets (because guilt - Youko Kurama and Moebius were a spectacularly bad combination) but could probably stand to talk to some.

There are also a couple of other characters I'm considering, but he's the only definite so far.

[thisisnice]

Hey, ah, this is Megan (Shiro-mun), and I thought it might be good to voicetest Caduceus from Critical Role Campaign Two.

He's a cleric of the Wildmother, a generally sweet and gentle guy, and is a pretty tall cowman Firbolg. He makes tea, really good tea, out of the plants that he grows from the graves of the dead. And he's a pretty good untrained therapist.

He'll be coming from Episode 70, or just after the Laughing Hand's introduction has been completed.

I haven't played him before, so this will be very much a voice testing situation, but hopefully we'll all have fun with it.

[hotshot_momma]

Heyo, this is Bliss, and I'm bringing a few people back as well as having fun with one or two more of Sara's castmates!

First and more importantly: I'm going to try to bring back Bernkastel and Madoka Mawaru, both characters very interested in hijacking the Journey! I'm not going to be able to brain Ringabel, unfortunately, and I'm doubtful I can do Nabiki again, but I will try for the latter.

Meanwhile, I'll also be bringing this character to Fourthwall - Sara's long-suffering wing commander Anna Lin (if I can't swing custom icons, as played by Revy Two-Hands). Give her a moment to warm up to y'all, she's had it worse than most, and that's saying something given the pile of Bravo Sierra she's from. She's interested in one thing and one thing only - making sure her child has a future that isn't alien occupation to look forward to.

[runawaystory]

Hello~ It's Cheshire, formerly player of Rosalie (this chick), Dr. Shuu the murder partridge, a few others, and (most recently) Dru the party elf.

I have no plans to reprise anyone for 4th wall or the finale at the moment, so I'm planning to test drive one or maybe two new characters instead.

First up is Hua Cheng from Heavenly Official's Blessing. He's a flashy and charming ghost king with negative self-esteem, and post-canon has just wrapped up 800 years of devotion to a disgraced rubbish-collecting god, with whom he fell in love after many trials and tribulations.

If the test drive goes well and I app, he'll be a pre-Moebius vet and vERY ANNOYED that he's getting sucked into this again. He has a husband to kiss and that's way more important ok. He'd be down for screwing with the Arcana in whatever way makes that likelier to happen sooner. (I'm very out of the metaplot atm so I hope that's what's going on.)

I'm definitely up for hand-waving pre-Moebius CR too! From his perspective that all happened like 200 years ago, so frankly he will be surprised that anyone he knew back then is even still alive.

Second and more dubiously possible is Jin Guangyao from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. He's an Extremely Pleasant and Polite scheming antagonist who, post-canon, has seen everything he worked for go up in flames. I'm not sure he'd have enough time in game to unpack all of his things, TBH, which is why he's a very dubious second possibility right now. If I do app him instead of Hua Cheng he'd also be a pre-Moebius vet.

[protect_and_serve]

This is modMatt!

I am for sure bringing back Joscelin Verreuil from Kushiel's Dart and Remy LeBeau from X-Men/Marvel-616, both very experienced Travelers.

Characters I have been thinking about include:

-Shinji Ikari from Evangelion, who was very briefly a Traveler

-A Star War but IDK if that would be my Old Republic Sith Lord, or if I would try Poe Dameron, Finn, or maybe Wedge Antilles. I know new & old canon very well & could be enabled in many directions.

-A castmate for basically any friend who enables me that I can bring a canonmate for!

[failgoyle]

Airdra here, and I've got two I'm bringing! Jules here will very likely be returning, albeit with a bit of a canon update to update his meme references adding new dimensions of disaster to his overall existence.

The second is Gentoku Himuro/Kamen Rider Rogue from Kamen Rider Build. Since he's a castmate of Sento's, I obviously can't app him, but I still want to play around with him. Someone please teach him Wardrobe Manip, because in canon, he likes to communicate via T-shirt.

tl;dr I'm bringing disasters

[helborn]

Nonmod Matt here with a few characters, one definitely and a few maybes.

Caleb Widogast the disaster wizard hobo from Critical Role is coming - but it's the one from 15strangers, so he's from episode 2x58 and also heavily traumatized. He also comes with a spoiler warning for both Fallen London (specifically the Seeking sidequest) and Mystic Messenger (to a lesser degree), so let me know if you're not okay with spoilers for that.

Other possibilites include Casper's future adopted kid (again) and my Changeling character who popped out of Arcadia a hundred years after she was taken.

[miirai]

HELLO SYN.... I'm Len, a fresh meat coming into your fourth walls with Rika Furude from the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni visual novels in which people die a lot a la Groundhog Day and Rika feels like an old woman because that's what happens when you loop through different variations of your world for over a hundred years to the point where you're calling yourself a witch and are just Tired.

She also looks similar and sounds like a particular witch from Umineko, but shhh.

Anyway, I got zero plans outside of that, but /o/

[awitchdidit]

Beatrice is uncomfortable and I am ecstatic.

[miirai]

it's okay beato!!! just nipa with her and it'll be ok

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

Ahaha.wav

Just as I’m bringing back Bernkastel, too!

[miirai]

she wants nothing to do with bern tyvm, she says, as if she has a choice

[comebewe]

Hello again everyone! It's Blue here, and I'm planning to bring Matthew Swift to the Fourth Wall and back to the game.

I'm also considering bringing Istas back for just the fourth wall, although I haven't decided yet. So she's still a bit of a maybe. Either way, if anyone has anything in particular they'd like to do with either of them, let me know!

[tookashirototheknee]

So, I have a few options I'm considering.

Naoto Shirogane is almost certainly returning, updated to an AU-ish where she's helping the Phantom Thieves.

Either Sam Holt or Colleen Holt might show up to be very confused at things.

Also, Adam Young from Good Omens will probably come by, in a college-aged version.

Anyone else that you know I play or have played is, in theory fair game!

[senpaidol]

We should probably talk.

[shiroganeheir]

Riseeeeeeeee.

*grabby hands*

If you'd like Rise to be part of the AU, I'd love to bring her in. (I have Ideas, one of which is that Rise's the Japanese voice of Elsa.)

[senpaidol]

I'm definitely excited to hear your ideas and I definitely like the idea of these two sticking together, timeline-wise (and Rise doing stealth Phantom Thieves shoutouts if nothing else). You know my plurk.

[shiroganeheir]

Will do. I'll plurk you when I get home. (Can't do plurk at work)

[amadine]

Hey, this is PG. I am for sure bringing back Sabetha Belacoros from the Gentleman Bastard Sequence for the Fourth Wall - whether she'll be sticking around after of just get brought back for the final Jaunt is up in the air, but she'll be around for a bit to catch up with old acquaintances.

I'm also planning to bring in Rey from the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, because I've been wanting an excuse to voice test. Please be gentle. She'll be coming in as though she was a veteran of the Grid/Purgatory/Questing Country Jaunt trio, if anyone wants to handwave some prior CR.

I may, time permitting, bring in X'rhun Tia, who's catboy Zorro the Red Mage job trainer for Final Fantasy XIV.

And I could probably be persuaded to bring out any of the characters I've brought through Syn over the years, if there's any of them anyone particularly wants to see for a last hurrah.