Harmonic Resonance: Info Post

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Questing Country: Harmonic Resonance
the final Jaunt of lucky round 16 of Synodiporia
September 1st - October 10th

In Questing Country, for thousands of years - but not forever - the collective unconsciousnesses of more than half a dozen species have been meeting as friends and allies. Under the guidance of Spirit Companions, young Dreamers are empowered to take up Roles and Archetypes in the long fight against nightmares, keeping the Waking World safe from their worst fears and desires. Of course, the sophisticated adults of all species almost never believe there’s such a thing as a world of dreams - in a universe with space travel, who believes in magic?

For the Chosen Dreamers of Questing Country, it’s been three months since the end of the cross-time meeting called the Ouroboros Retrograde. In the Starquake Era, the quakes have nearly stopped creating dangerous Transformed Lands, and the Transformed Lands have nearly stopped turning Dreamers into Harbingers. One gate, the Opaline Bore, has been left mysteriously open to permit Timewalkers from the past to visit.

The Oracles have been concerned with two problems, these last three months. The first issue: Human and Gorgon nightmares have both been getting stronger. Human nightmares were expected to grow worse; as humans spread out across the cosmos and discover its size, they discover new unknowns to fear. It’s happened to every starfaring race. But the increase is sudden, and stronger than expected - and no one has the least notion why Gorgons are experiencing the same thing.

The other problem is the Arcana. Spirit Companions have been warning that, while the damage the Arcana did on their last visit has been healed, they are afraid what might happen if the Arcana return. And anything a Spirit Companion fears is almost a nightmare in its own right…

But the Oracles have hope to share. Questing Country is always changing, and there are three new changes that promise assistance.

First, the Hecatites have perfected INVLEP, also called “Envelope,” a program which, when installed in Synthetics, allows them to emulate dreaming. New Synthetic Dreamers have already begun entering Questing Country and being Chosen.

Second, there are now Diabolin dreamers. In fact, there have now been Diabolin dreamers for centuries - a tiny minority of Diabolin have both a genetic mutation and a neurological syndrome which lets them fall unconscious. These periods of unconsciousness are more like comas than restful sleep, but they allow these rare few Diabolin to dream. This is a change in the timeline. While Champions may protest that they’ve had Diabolin friends for years, Oracles and Spirit Companions insist that this is a change in the timeline since the Ouroboros - and a good one. Diabolin understand nightmares - they experience waking hallucinations constantly - and so they’re very unfazed by things which terrify other species.

Third, for two months now, some Dreamers, through means unknown, have become Conductors. This is a new Role - possibly what Harbingers were always meant to be, Dreamers empowered by the unknowable Starmovers. Conductors are almost immune to negative emotion, and each possesses a bident, a weapon that can pin nightmares in place before they flee. All of them have healing powers among their magic. What’s more, they form one single Bond group, and within that Bond group, they can send telepathic messages. Their arrival - though so far very few Adversaries, Champions, or Oracles have become Conductors - is maybe the most hopeful change.

They have the calm of the Synthetics, the fearlessness of Diabolin, the telepathy of the Travelers, and the power to defeat the new Human and Gorgon nightmares. As always, Questing Country draws from the dreams and desires of its Dreamers to give the Waking World a fighting chance.

All that could go wrong now, the Oracles say, is if the Arcana returned before they were ready to face that trouble as well...

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

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CONTENT NOTICE

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The Conductors in this Jaunt have an apparent social unity that some characters may find eerie.

While Dreamers are used to Bond Groups, they’re not used to telepathy on the level that Investigators have dealt with casually for years. Part of this Jaunt is meant to explore what a group like the Travelers LOOKS like from the outside - and what it means to people from the INSIDE. So, while Infiltrators are welcome to have doubts and concerns that Conductors are hive-minded Children of the Corn, any Investigators who become Conductors will discover that the Conductor Network is really just a no-frills, no-skills version of their own Psychic Network with added protection against the emotions that make Champions less effective against nightmares.

As for where it comes from - well, that’s one of the mysteries the Jaunt is all about.

THE KNOWN WORLDS

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Spacefaring Worlds
Earth - the human homeworld. Over the last hundred years, Earth has begun to establish colonies on nearby worlds - Zavier in the Ross 128 system, Luyten’s World in the Luyten’s Star system, and Fenris and Freki in the Wolf-1061 system. All Earth’s colonies are still domed arcologies on un-terraformed worlds. There are also generation ships, sent before Earth developed faster-than-light technology, which are still in transit to their destinations.

Khthon - the Gorgon homeworld, on the cold end of what humans would call that solar system’s ‘Goldilocks zone.’ It doesn’t look like much from space, as the surface temperatures combined with Gorgons’ reptilian nature mean their civilization is almost entirely in extensive cave networks below ground, with the exception of spaceports and burial plots. By this point in time, Gorgons have begun setting up subterranean colonies off-planet, although each world tends to be home to its own religious, cultural, and political movements, completely independent of (and often hostile to) their homeworld. Colonies include Sublune & Hypocaia.

Hecate - the Hecatite homeworld, a peaceful but extremely regimented place. All life on Hecate is silicon-based and crystalline, not carbon-based, and the line between being, creature, plant, and object is fuzzy at best. Highly organized with a central government of their most educated and accomplished elder scientists, Hecatites place great value on intellectual achievement and consider academic prowess a greater indicator of maturity than mere age. Practiced spacefarers in their own right, most of their colonies are strictly places of research, not residence, such as Aratta Skyhook, a science station over the silicon quarry world of Snowflake, which specializes in new computer and Synthetic designs.

Junkworlds - radioactive trash heaps used as prison planets by some spacefaring species, and occasionally picked over for scraps by scavengers and other less scrupulous sorts of spacefarers. Gehenna was evacuated before the tachyon storm in the Starquake generation; junkworlds still in use include Megiddo and Potmos. The offenses that can see one exiled to a junkworld vary depending on species, ranging from political dissidence or scientific malfeasance for the Hecatites to prisoners of war for the Gorgons. Diabolin tend to put their criminals into cryofreeze and retrieve them later; enslaved members of other species can be subjected to this treatment if their owner was as well. Dreamers can access Questing Country from a junkworld, but may occasionally find themselves up against some real doozies of nightmares.

Throne Of The Overlords - the massive, dark, volcanic Diabolin homeworld was lost three centuries ago, polluted in some way by Diabolin internecine warfare - the Diabolin have a dozen mutually exclusive stories about what happened and how, and believe all of them. Diabolin names for places tend to be titles, not names, like the English might name a house "the Hollyhocks." The Diabolin white dwarf diamond mine which is their main surviving colony is "The Dead Reach," but most Diabolin live on massive, broken-down, slow-moving warships called Dreadnoughts. These have similar names, like “The Great Worm,” “Gate of the Furies,” “The Scourge of Infamy,” and “Pit of the Titans.”

Uncharted Worlds
Faerie - the elves’ homeworld, only ever visited by the Diabolin (the elves rather wish they wouldn’t). Faerie is a wild & beautiful world with abundant multi-hued flora, graceful & bright-colored fauna, and lush temperate & tropical biomes even at the polar regions, with almost no axial tilt to create seasons. Elves are mostly semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers; they have little metalworking, no cities save Diabolin ruins, no agriculture, no writing. What scavenged stellar technology remains is viewed as evil magic. Since the fall of the Diabolin empire, no one, not even those few space-faring elves, has located Faerie again.

Cadmus - homeworld of the Spartoi, a rocky world with brown, rust-infused oceans, inhospitable badlands full of harsh weather, an unstable magnetic field, and very little ozone, creating a volatile climate and high mutation rates in all its hardy, volatile species. The Spartoi organize themselves in clans, based on either bloodlines or chosen family. Clans, especially those formed by choice, often use similar names (starting with the same letter, for instance, or ending with similar sounds). Family clans are more likely to be stationary, living on hereditary grounds, while chosen clans are more nomadic - unless, of course, they defeat or absorb a family clan and settle on that clan’s hereditary grounds. This is not a fun place to be a pacifist, as most clans can’t fathom why you’d want to, and those that can are isolated and well-hidden for their own safety.

Povodni - a wet world of low, marshy continents with many active springs and wells, and shallow seas full of migratory flora and fauna. The Vodyanoi live in coastal cave systems, using the air-filled sections of their caverns for the kinds of chemical and technical work that are impossible underwater. Most Vodyanoi technology, however, is the result of breeding plants to serve specific purposes, and their air-cavern handicrafts are pre-Industrial. Vodyanoi culture is largely flexible and adaptable; they are natural mimics, inventive, and do not prize continuity or tradition, so their ‘nations’ are all seen as temporary associations, not permanent or rigid institutions. Vodyanoi are not the top of the local food chain - while they are omnivores, they have the reflexes and instincts of prey, not predators, despite hunting small fish.

Deep Dive: Aratta Skyhook

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Snowflake is a low-density, metal-poor superterrestrial world with a semi-irregular orbit around the red giant Revenant Furnace and the white dwarf Ghost Anvil. Once possessions of the Diabolin Empire, they were taken, but not re-named, by the Hecatites two hundred years ago. While the Hecatites initially thought Snowflake would be an ideal colony world - its thin atmosphere, high geothermal energy, and abundant silicon minerals resemble their homeworld - the seismic activity caused by its irregular orbit and its lack of the heavy elements needed for space travel lead to that idea being quickly discarded. However, it was a useful place to quarry many rare silicate compounds used in Hecatite computers and synthetic manufacture, and so they built a space elevator leading up to a station, Aratta Skyhook, where computer parts could be fabricated and research into minerals conducted. However, the computer scientists there made a name for themselves not just in new hardware, but in new and innovative software and cybernetic applications.

Aratta Skyhook is small, for a Hecatite outpost - about 200,000 inhabitants - and being on the edge of Hecatite space, has a significant alien presence, almost unheard of in Hecatite settlements. There are one hundred and ten thousand Hecatites, forty thousand Hecatite Synthetics, and around thirty thousand humans, ten thousand Gorgons, eight thousand non-Hecatite Synthetics, a thousand Diabolin, and a thousand members of miscellaneous other spacefaring species.

Because of the significant alien presence, Aratta is divided into several sub-communities. Each of these sub-committees have multi-stage airlocks separating them, and they are considered separate nations, in a way - the Hecatite Orthopraxis, the societally correct way of life for Hecatites, is enforced in different degrees of strict interpretation. Power, water, computer systems - all of these are separate in each neighborhood, and the approval of the Aratta Orthopraxic Hegemony is required for anyone who travels between them. Anyone with an approved visa can travel across the borders as frequently as they like, but if they wish to move residences into a stricter neighborhood, they will have to pass an Orthotropic Re-certification.

Piraeus Xenodrome: the alien district for visitors and travelers with no visa. Its population is entirely transient, and Hecatites may visit, but not live, in the Xenodrome unless they are crew of a mixed-species ship docked in the Xenodrome port. There is little law enforcement and almost no law. The longer-term residents are dockhands, deep-space travel consultants, or merchants selling off stockpiles of trade goods - but there are no steady jobs for inhabitants of the Xenodrome. Population: 25,000 (thirteen thousand humans, six thousand Gorgons, four thousand alien Synthetics, nine hundred and ninety Diabolin, five hundred and ten Hecatites, five hundred members of miscellaneous species).

Conditioned Diaphoron: A Diaphoron is a cloistered district devoted to a way of life distinctly different from Hecatite Orthopraxy, which is officially permitted to exist in harmony with Orthopraxy. This Diaphoron is dedicated specifically to those who follow the Conditioned philosophy. Supported mainly by donations from Conditioned visitors, the only external source of income for this Diaphoron is a physical therapy clinic and a martial arts instruction school (which is not always permitted to teach Orthopraxic citizens). Population: 500 (one hundred fifty hundred Hecatites, two hundred humans, eighty Gorgons, sixty-two miscellaneous other species, eight Diabolin).

Alliance Diaphoron: the multi-species military consortium which, centuries ago, briefly held political power while other races fought against the Diabolin is still a respected political entity - this one in particular is the oldest Diaphoron in Hecatite Space. The fact that humans have petitioned to join this Diaphoron baffles the Hecatites, since Humans did not belong to the Alliance - they hadn’t yet been encountered - but if they can pass the visa examination, they can get in. The Alliance Diaphoron run the space defenses, ship repair, and local system exploration services of the System, and provide law enforcement personnel for non-Orthopraxic neighborhoods, as well as escort service to defend outgoing trade shipments. Population: 26,000 (Twenty thousand Hecatites, three thousand Gorgons, eleven hundred alien Synthetics, one thousand seven hundred humans, one hundred Hecatite synthetics, ninety-nine miscellaneous others (mostly elves), one Diabolin.

Aratta Adiaphoron: an Adiaphoron is like a Diaphoron, but it is considered a catch-all, a place for all ways of life which, while not officially permitted to Hecatites, are not officially forbidden. The people who live here primarily work by remotely operating and monitoring quarrying machinery deep below the surface of Snowflake, by repairing and refurbishing older equipment, or by working in the Xenodrome as food service workers and entertainers. Population: 23,360 (two thousand Hecatites, one thousand Hecatite Synthetics, one Diabolin, nineteen thousand and fifty humans, three hundred and eighty Gorgons, two thousand alien Synthetics, twenty-nine miscellaneous aliens).

Polyclinic Lattice: this respectable middle-class Lattice is an Orthopraxic neighborhood inhabited by Hecatites and aliens of imperfect Orthopraxy, but who are attempting to achieve adult Orthopraxic citizenship. The center of the neighborhood is the Polyclinic Orthostroma: the cram school for remedial training for the citizenship exam. The people who live here are interns, couriers, secretaries, and assistants to more important Hecatites, or operate Polyclinic Port - the Port which ships quarried and manufactured materials deeper into Hecatite Space and receives shipments from Hecatite Space, off-limits to direct foreign trade. Population: 8,700 (one thousand Hecatites, one thousand Hecatite Synthetics, six thousand Humans, five hundred Gorgons, one hundred Alien Synthetics, one hundred miscellaneous aliens).

Orthorhombic Lattice: this Lattice is an Orthopraxic neighborhood where Orthopraxic Hecatites perform doctrinally approved social experiments in areas of life Orthopraxy does not restrict. While less strict in practice than the Orthodrome, the Orthorhombic Lattice is harder to get into, because individuals must prove themselves trustworthy to deviate from social expectations in only safe, approved ways. The Orthorhombic Lattice is where all the really exciting programming and Synethetic/cybernetics design is done - such as the development of INVLEP. Populations 10,500: (Five thousand Hecatite Synthetics, Five thousand Hecatites, One hundred alien Synthetics, One hundred humans, Forty Gorgons, One hundred sixty miscellaneous aliens).

Synthetic Lattice: this Lattice is for Synthetics who have not sought, or not been permitted to seek, recognition as Hecatite adults by the passage of the Orthotropic Exam. Except for the Hecatites who perform maintenance on the Synthetics, most of the population perform menial labor and station maintenance. Population: 33,000 (300 Hecatites, 32,000 Hecatite Synthetics, 700 Alien Synthetics).

Neotropic Lattice: this Lattice is for Hecatites who are still too young to take the Orthotropic Exam, as well as their teachers and caregivers (often but not necessarily their parents). Population: 1100 Hecatites. No non-Hecatites, not even Synthetics, are considered for admission to this Lattice under any circumstances whatsoever

Hegemony Orthodrome: the strict, formal upper-class neighborhood for the majority of Hecatite adults and those few aliens who have become citizens. The citizens of the Orthodrome hold all the administrative jobs on the station and oversee the operation of the surface quarries, as well as monitoring traffic and communication and other ‘office jobs’ relating to the fuction of station business, trade, and government. Population: 80,000 (Seventy-nine thousand Hecatites, nine hundred Hecatite synthetics, fifty humans, fifty miscellaneous aliens (mostly elves)).

Deep Dive: Orthopraxy.

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FIRST PREMISE:
1. The wisdom of all beings is tested by experience.
2. Each being possesses limited time and exposure to novel conditions.
3. These limits prevent individuals from accruing a statistically significant sample size of wisdom.

SECOND PREMISE:
1. All planetary civilizations are prosocial and collaborative.
2. All collaborative civilizations operate by means of shared axioms delimiting optimal practices for maintaining harmonious collaboration.
3. All collaborative civilizations maintain a record compiling individual experience into cultural narrative.

FIRST RESOLUTION:
1. The records of a civilization constitute a statistically significant sample size of axioms to constitute wisdom.
2. These axioms promote prosocial behavior.
3. Individuals are empirically more prone to flourish within a prosocial matrix such as a collaborative civilization.
4. The empirical means providing for the flourishing of a prosocial matrix is the meaning of wisdom.
5. Therefore, correct practice for individual prosperity is to promote a prosocial matrix governed by empirically tested axioms shown to promote the maintenance of a collaborative civilization.

SECOND RESOLUTION
1. The totality of civilization-maintaining prosocial axioms governing wise and desirable behavior for this collaborative culture shall be known as Orthopraxis.
2. Orthopraxic axioms shall be plainly comprehensible guidelines delimiting acceptable behaviors between entities, except:
3. Where some forms of individual expression, belief, or thought pattern undermine acceptance of those axioms, guidelines will be provided for acceptable expressions, beliefs, and thoughts as well.
4. Those behaviors not forbidden by Orthopraxis shall not be considered permitted without the oversight or regulation of Orthopraxic authority. The label for any such behavior is Adiaphoric: non-differentiable.
5. Those expressions, beliefs, and thought patterns not forbidden by Orthopraxis shall be considered differentiable, Diaphoric, but permitted so long as the nuances of these expressions, beliefs, and thought patterns are known to Orthopraxic authorities.

THIRD RESOLUTION
1. All Hecatites will be inoculated with axiomatic wisdom before being considered rational decision-makers.
2. New potential Orthopraxic principles will be tested in significant but isolated sample populations whose rigorous adherence to axiom is beyond question.
3. Those prosocial matrices with alternative axioms which meet the criterion of Second Resolution 2, but whose adherence to Second Resolution 3 is uncertain will be considered Diaphoric, but will be permitted to continue under conditions necessary to insulate the irrational and to test their continued adherence.
4. Those prosocial matrices with alternative axioms whose adherence to Second Resolutions 2 & 3 is imperfect or uncertain, but which do not violate major axioms or constitute a proven detriment to Orthopraxy, will be considered Adiaphoric, and permitted to continue only under strict supervision and such special conditions as are deemed wise for the maintenance of social order.
5. Those collaborative axiomatic structures which are determined to violate Second Resolution 2 or otherwise to constitute a proven detriment to Orthopraxy will be labeled Heteropraxic (if Hecatite) or Xenopraxic (if alien) and will be subject to such corrective action as is deemed necessary for the maintenance of Orthopraxic wisdom.

THIRD PREMISE
1. Understanding of prosocial axioms is measurable through formal examination.
2. Social stratification along the axis of correct understanding creates a regulatory class of exam proctors best suited to administer future exams and test potential axioms.
3. Sequential exams creating increasingly refined strata permits high degrees of confidence in competent governance, where those who have qualified the highest levels of examination form a central regulatory and administrative council which will see to urgent, critical, large-scale, or time-sensitive social maintenance, delegating tasks affecting smaller regions or less critical optimizations of social maintenance to decentralized councils of exam-qualified proctors of lower strata.

FOURTH RESOLUTION
1. As the Council of the highest existing strata refine the Orthopraxic axioms and the administrative, regulatory, and exam process, they will further define such qualifications, regulations, exams, and axioms as Orthopraxic analysis determines to be beneficial to the prosocial matrix of Orthopraxy.
2. The success of the Orthopraxic axioms in maintaining a prosocial matrix for a collaborative civilization shall be the purpose of the axioms and the metric of the Council's Orthopraxy.
3. These basic points constitute the principles upon which further refined and amended Orthopraxic regulation, administration, and examination shall be based.

SPECIES

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Humans - What it says on the tin. By the Starquake generation, humans are looked at as overly enthusiastic, reckless, fast-paced bruisers. Some see them as a second coming of the Diabolin, self-centered and expansionist, with their nuclear-powered rockets and unstable warp drives. Still, their ingenuity and quick reaction time make them valued as the new kid in class, the willing lab rat testing the frontier. Many hire onto Gorgon ships as communications officers, or on Hecatite vessels as Marines.

Elves - Elves come from a low-tech world of vast, sweeping forests and intense natural beauty and wildness. Given to music, woodcraft, art, and philosophy, elves are nimble and keen-eyed, but fragile & weak-willed, and have none of the benefits of technology, living rustic, simple lives. These are NOT the same elves as those from January/the Federation of Hel. Except for a few who were kidnapped by Diabolin, Elves are not a space-faring race.

Gorgons - Gorgons have brightly tinted skin; prehensile tentacles for hair with sensitive eyespots (average 3 cm, anything from 5 mm to 5 cm is possible) that pick up on electromagnetic pulses, fine tactile sensations and air pressure changes; and the ability to slowly calcify what they touch or breathe on, based on mineral emissions from glands (females have more of these glands than males, and all Gorgons can take a suppressant to stop the calcification effect). They have chromatophores and structural iridescence in their skin, but only enough to lighten, darken, or shimmer, not enough to entirely change color. An individualistic people who prefer to dwell underground, Gorgons are very practical, often cranky and withdrawn, with poor long-range vision & light sensitivity. Gorgons are accomplished biochemists, architects, and engineers, making organic ceramics and mineral compounds. Gorgons tend to live to about 200 years old.

Hecatites - Humanoids who can grow crystalline structures from within their bodies. Hectatites have a great deal of scientific advancement, but they tend not to use tools except what they grow, instead focusing on the disciplined acquisition of knowledge & yogi-like control of themselves. Hecatites tire easily and are vulnerable to loud noises and bludgeoning, but have much keener intellects than other species. Hecatites typically live two to three centuries, and determine adulthood not by age but by exam results, with most ‘teens’ passing these critical tests somewhere between 20 and 50 years old.

Spartoi - Warlike, with bone spurs, a scattering of scales, and a wide range of mutations (they do not fly or glide, but can be amphibious or arboreal: think half-dragons or new-Trek Klingons more than orcs), Spartoi are an authoritarian, impatient, and militaristic people. Passionate and loyal, they are not intellectual by nature and scavenge most of their tools and technology. Spartoi Champions have a shorter life expectancy and a greater chance of going Adversary or Pillar than they do Oracle, but Spartoi Oracles are remarkable for their psychological knowledge of how to bring peace and calm to any situation. Spartoi are not a space-faring race.

Vodyanoi - Aquatic, with finned ears, shining, smooth scales, & mild hydrokinetic abilities, the Vodyanoi are a naturally timid race of observers, slight in stature, with quick maturation and shorter lifespans. As such, Vodyanoi advance from Champion to Oracle very quickly, so Vodyanoi Champions tend to be overworked, yet inexperienced, burdened with far too much advice and inclined to indecision & paralysis. Vodyanoi are not a space-faring race.

Diabolin - A horned, grey and black-skinned psionic species who generally do not sleep or dream, but process their mental energies in an unstable mood and perception cycle while awake. Considered volatile, untrustworthy, and dangerous. The oldest and most scattered civilization, the Diabolin ruled an interstellar empire with many colonies five to six centuries ago, and were the first species to visit Earth, Faerie, & Hecate in their respective dark ages, starting legends of demons and goblins.The Diabolin Imperial golden age is centuries past, and they now suffer from many congenital psychic diseases and instabilities. With their homeworld lost and forgotten, Diabolin live on many colony worlds or on massive ships, and have little organized central authority. Much of their ancient technology is now beyond their power to use. Since they do not sleep, most Diabolin are not directly present in Questing Country the same way members of other species are, but their imperialistic, volatile nature can make them a common feature in many species’ nightmares. In the last few years, a mutant strain of Diabolin genome and a syndrome causing recurring comatose states have allowed a very, very few Diabolin into Questing Country.

Synthetics - Artificial intelligences taking on humanoid form to experience the world, most synthetics achieve consciousness by the melding of two or more intelligent programs uploaded onto a utilitarian platform that bears at least a passing resemblance to a sentient species. Common among humans and Hecatites, less respected and with shorter lifespans among the latter-day Diabolin, and entirely illegal (but not unheard of) among the Gorgons, synthetics are universally second-class citizens, as they can download their consciousness into other bodies and are often considered a disposable labor caste. Only among humans is there a recognized, organized robotic rights movement. Some synthetics have platforms which are indistinguishable on initial examination from their species of choice, except by the psionic senses of the Diabolin. They are very new to Questing Country - only within the last decade have any had “subliminal software,” which permits them to dream, installed, and since only a small fraction of dreamers ever enter Questing Country, they’re especially rare.

Other - Players may feel free to devise other species that play with fantasy and magical tropes and have about this mixture of strengths and weaknesses. Non-human Investigators are welcome to use their base form, so long as that form is capable of dreaming.

DREAM FORMS

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In Questing Country, hope and perception are powerful tools. If you, or people where you’re from, believe that only the young have this kind of hope and power, or only girls do… well, you might end up a thirteen-year-old girl if you’re hopeful enough to be a Champion. If you only ever read adventure stories about boys in fantasy kingdoms, you might become a boy. If you don’t see how gender should matter at all, you might have a genderless Dream Body. If you think the ideal form for this kind of adventure is short and round, tall and skinny, or anything in between, your Dream Body will adapt to suit. If you have the potential for one of these roles, but for any reason your body doesn’t suit the kind of person you think plays that role… then as long as you’re in Questing Country, you’ll have the body you need to be what you need to be. Investigators in Questing Country may find their form naturally taking on another species’ shape, at player option.

ROLES

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When Questing Country’s Spirit Companions first began recruiting and empowering Dreamers, there were only Champions and Oracles. Even now, Spirit Companions express the hope that their chosen will only experience those two Roles, and while “Dreamer” is the proper name for the empowered chosen, whatever their role, people speaking casually may say “Champions” and mean Dreamers of all Roles.

Champion: adolescent “magical girls” of any gender, anointed by Spirit Animals, come from any world on which sentient beings dream. Because they have great hope and great selflessness, they are empowered to defend their worlds from the powers of negative thought and nightmare, healing the psyches of their species by literally combating metaphorical threats. Young enough to not know what is impossible, they can do the impossible with ease. Champions’ fearlessness and innocence is the root of their power. Champion Magic tends to be showy, grandiose, and direct, unless their Archetype is not. Their keywords are HOPE and POWER.

But all innocents eventually lose their innocence. What matters is how.

Oracle/Dark Oracle: a Champion or Adversary who grows up and begins to understand their limitations becomes an Oracle. Like growing up, this transformation is irreversible, and like growing up, it can happen quite young, or it can happen long years after reaching physical adulthood. Oracles are much diminished in their power - they can tell the possible from the impossible. But they gain powers of insight, divination, and wisdom, especially into their chosen Archetype. Oracles’ Spirit Companions become Familiars, perfectly comprehensible to them at last, but unable to communicate with anyone else. Some Adversaries become Dark Oracles, rather than Oracles, and these lose their Spirit Companions entirely; they become full-time Dopplegangers. An Oracle who loses faith in their Spirit Companion can become a Dark Oracle directly, and a Dark Oracle who learns to trust can become an Oracle once more. Most Oracles are mentors and resources for Champions and Adversaries, still devoted to their cause but less able to take action on their own. Their keyword is KNOWLEDGE.

Adversary: Adversaries are Champions who haven’t lost their innocence or belief, but have lost their faith or trust in outside authorities. An Adversary isn’t content to obey Oracles and Spirit Companions - they want to go their own way, fight their own fight. When the first Adversaries appeared in Questing Country, many centuries ago, Spirit Companions thought of them as “Fallen” Champions, but by modern standards this attitude is considered distasteful and outdated. Adversarihood may only be a “phase” a Champion goes through on their way to being an Oracle, a Pillar, or even a Champion again. Still, the friction between a Chosen Dreamer and their Spirit Companion, the source of their power, means an Adversary’s Spirit Animal sometimes temporarily becomes a Doppleganger, an insubstantial image of the Adversary that tries to make trouble for them, as they reject its guidance. An Adversary’s magic is usually more subtle, indirect and manipulative than a Champion’s, sacrificing a little punch for more deliberate effect. An Adversary’s key word is AGENCY.

Pillar: a Pillar is a very different way a Champion or Oracle can go off the course their guides wish them to follow. A Pillar has Power, Knowledge, and Agency. But a Pillar has lost Hope. Pillars are burned out, jaded by their experiences, and while they still find themselves drawn into supernatural crises and situations, they wish merely to be left alone and rest, not to fight. A Pillar cannot use their magic, doesn’t care about their knowledge, has no use for their agency. But all these qualities symbolically and supernaturally give them a great reservoir that they can, on the rare occasion they begin to care, lend to others. or which they can use to endure or avoid the supernatural. Nonsentient monsters do not attack Pillars. Spells wash off them without effect. Strange phenomena are repelled by them, if only for a few feet. A Pillar no longer has a Spirit Companion of any kind. A Pillar who rekindles their hope (this is rare, but not impossible) has access to all the energies they have absorbed while they were jaded - though only momentarily, before they become an Oracle or Dark Oracle, they’re more powerful than any Champion in that moment. A Pillar’s keyword is RESISTANCE.

Harbinger: A Harbinger is a Champion, Oracle, or Adversary (never a Pillar) who, after the recent Starquakes started, used a Dreamcatcher on Transformed Lands for too long and became changed themselves. Most of the time, a Harbinger remains a Champion, Oracle, or Adversary. Periodically, especially when surprised or disoriented, the dreamer will transform into a glowing winged figure and be able to work vast changes on the landscape, but will possess an alien outlook and priorities and be unable to distinguish friend from foe. Harbingers think in such big-picture, long-term ways that individual people and their needs, desires, or agendas become almost literally invisible. Harbinger transformations last for irregular periods of time - sometimes seconds, and sometimes days. A Harbinger’s Spirit Companion fuses with a dreamcatcher and becomes a small, speechless Guiding Star that illuminates patterns.

After the events of Ouroboros Retrograde, Oracles understood what caused Harbingers - the contact of Starmovers, a recently revived ancient species of strange, massive aliens with liminal consciousness. Starmovers have trouble with other species’ concepts of individuality - a Starmover, Guiding Star, and Harbinger are, between them, both Dreamer and Companion for both others in the link. A Harbinger transformation appears to be irreversible, but does not affect the ability of a Champion or Adversary to become an Oracle. As of yet, no Harbinger has become a Pillar or a Dark Oracle. Since that revelation, almost no new Harbingers have appeared. A Harbinger’s keyword is SCOPE.

Conductor: Since the Ouroboros Incident, very few new Harbingers have appeared. Instead, another new Role has emerged - the Conductors. Oracles theorize - but don’t know - that the greater understanding between Starmovers and Dreamers has resulted in a new expression of power as the Starmovers try to understand what it’s like to be “people.” Conductors may be an evolution of Questing Country to incorporate these new powers and perspectives - or, Conductors may be Dreamers powered entirely by Starmovers, rather than by Spirit Companions. If that isn’t what’s going on, the cause of a Conductor transformation isn’t currently understood.

Conductors, like Harbingers, come from the ranks of Champions, Oracles, and Adversaries - but never Pillars, and never Harbingers. Like Harbingers, it appears to be an end-state transformation - like Champion to Oracle, and unlike Champion to Adversary, there’s no going back from this change - but it’s only been two months since the first Conductor appeared, so maybe not; maybe it just hasn’t happened yet. Unlike Harbingers, a Conductor is a Conductor full-time. They and their Companions find themselves in glittering white and silver, decorated with silver crowns and extensive jewelry (the jewels, while set in silver, can be gems of any cut or color; in the case of a Companion, these are biological changes, not outfits they wear).

All Conductors gain the ability to summon a Bident, a two-pronged spear that can pin nightmares in place - and, like Harbingers, lose the ability to summon a dreamcatcher. All Conductors have at least one minor ability which heals and calms. All Conductors can communicate clearly with the Spirit Companion of any Conductor - but those Spirit Companions, now called Tesserae, can no longer communicate with non-Tessera Companions, or vice versa. Tesserae no longer become Dopplegangers. All Conductors can also communicate on their own telepathic network, and effectively share a single True Bond between them - but when someone becomes a Conductor, their Bonds to non-Conductors become dormant. Despite this easy communication, Conductors are still individuals; they’re no more a hive mind than your average Traveler.

Magically, a single Conductor, working alone or out of sight of other Conductors, has magic comparable to an Adversary’s. Two or more Conductors working within line of sight each have the magic of a Champion. Conductors no longer experience Fear, Sadness, or Doubt - not even a little. Their key words are CONFIDENCE and HARMONY.

A quick visual aid is available here.

CHANGING ROLES

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Characters who took one form of Questing Country magic, in the previous jaunts or the time since, may now be finding their original magic doesn’t fit quite the same as it used to. There are two ways this can be handled, skill-wise: Either you may take the new magic as an additional skill, or you may report your character’s shift in status here, and lose the old QC magic in place of the new one. The latter option does not take up a skill AC slot.

Characters shifting to or from Pillar status may only use the second option, as Pillar Resistance is fundamentally incompatible with the other types, and not drawing magical attention while also wielding QC-grade magic is ridiculously overpowered.

For folks who have a Spirit Companion and two types of QC magic: A companion who is part familiar and part animal can speak clearly to its owner, and cryptically to others. A companion whose owner has Adversary magic is occasionally oppositional. Basically: whatever limitations exist for any component of the companion still apply, but so do any new abilities they’re granted.

TIMELINES AND SUMMARIES

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This Jaunt has a lot of backstory. We’re trying to keep it from being overwhelming for people who missed some of it. The 8-point summary here should contain everything you need to know about Questing Country. The links below will take you to recaps and explanations of past Questing Country jaunts & walkabouts.

Timeline:
OUROBOROS RETROGRADE, Rise of the Adversaries Era: 600 years before current Jaunt
plotting info summary, final jaunt summary
QUESTING COUNTRY, Double Valence Era: 100 years before current Jaunt
plotting post, final jaunt summary
OUROBOROS RETROGRADE, Double Valence Era: 99.5 years before current Jaunt
plotting info summary, final jaunt summary
A LOOMING SENSE OF DREAD: just before Starquake Era, 2 years before current Jaunt
plotting post
ESCAPE FROM JUNKWORLD: beginning of Starquake Era, 21 months before current Jaunt
plotting post, final summary
SHOPPING TRIP: Starquake Era, 6 months before current Jaunt
plotting post
OUROBOROS RETROGRADE, Starquake Era: 3 months before current Jaunt
plotting info summary, final jaunt summary

QUESTING COUNTRY LOCATIONS

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In Questing Country, as in Liminal Space, almost everything moves and changes. What follows are a few significant locations that remain recognizable despite their changes. The floating islands In The Sky of Questing Country are where almost all Chosen Dreamers spend almost all their time - locations On The Ground tend to be more primal, only visited in moments of deep significance to the dreamer. It is now known that the “Backstage” structures where the rules of Questing Country are shaped are Under The Ground, but Backstage is not meant to be accessed and there are presently no known paths leading there.

IN THE SKY:
The Road of Trials: The chains of floating islands in the sky of Questing Country that knit far-flung portions of dream together are known as the Road of Trials. Every single island contains at least two links to other islands, and every single island contains some kind of obstacle to travel. While they rarely house nightmares, they’re easy to get lost upon, and they contain many challenging, mysterious, or hostile dream-creatures and scenarios which seem to be meant to help Champions practice, or to teach lessons about looking past appearances and using power carefully.

The Gauntlet of Hearts: A section of the Road of Trials that only appears when a Valence Quest is underway, the Gauntlet cannot presently be found.

Hushabye Meadow: Adjoining the Road of Trials, hovering above the Forest Pools, Hushabye Meadow is a place of sweet dreams, for Dreamers to rest, relax, and heal. It is always mild and pleasant and pastel, though the specific details change. Hushabye Meadow is also a favorite spot for the oldest and wisest Oracles to exchange information.

Unbreakable Island: An island of squashy, flexible spheres of colorful plastic-like material, one bridge away from Hushabye Meadow. The spheres can be reshaped, and are always soft, but cannot be broken by any known force. When, on rare occasions, Adversaries or Dark Oracles have been so out of control that they need to be restrained, Unbreakable Island is where the restraints are made.

The Psychano: A flying mountain where raw dreamstuff erupts from deeper in dreams, and can be easily harvested and shaped into tools, buildings, portals, pocket dimensions, or a hundred impossible things. Unfocused minds may produce nightmares and curses from even small thoughts and emotions in the presence of this much amorphous dream energy.

Transformed Lands: Places where Starmover dreams have rendered the landscape either invisible or burning with turquoise flame. These landscapes do not alter as often as the rest of Questing Country, and even when they change, they keep the “glitched” features of burning or invisible terrain. There are Transformed Lands on the Ground as well, but they’re much less common.

ON THE GROUND:
The Forest Pools: A thick, magical forest containing many small fountains, springs, geysers, pools, ponds, and lakes, the Pools are the natural home of unbonded Spirit Companions, and where Chosen Dreamers are drawn to find their Companion before they become Champions. The Pools give off less raw dreamstuff than the Psychano, but more than any other location - dreamcatchers can be filled very quickly here. Nightmares tend to avoid this region, and it is very easy to travel away from, but difficult to travel to. The Opaline Bore sits in a dry lakebed in the Pools, within sight of Hushabye Meadow from above.

Opaline Bore: The site of the Backstage confrontation between Dreamers and the Arcana has become a gateway blocking the way Backstage - a half-buried opal, its top eight feet off the ground, with a hole drilled through it, making it into an arch. The dreaming island it is on changes appearance, but the Opaline Bore itself never does, and serves as a link for Dreamers travelling from the Rise of the Adversaries or Double Valence auras. Visitors from or to past eras are rare but not unheard of over the last three months since the Ouroboros Retrograde jaunt, and they report what Oracles are calling “quasimnesia” - they can remember time spent with Dreamers in the era they visit, but no knowledge of their home or their trip which would constitute “spoilers.” They also report that the amount of time which has passed since the Ouroboros Retrograde is constant - i.e., if two months after the end of the Jaunt, a Dreamer left the Rise of the Adversaries Era, picked up a friend in the Valence Era, and they both went to the Starquake Era, it would be two months post-Ouroboros in both the Valence and Starquake Eras. If they spent a month in the Starquake Era and went home, they’d return to a point three months post-Ouroboros in their home era.

Lastly, all attempts to enter Backstage through the Opaline Bore result in time travel, instead.

The Spirit Oasis: One of the Forest Pools, but one unlike the others. Here, around the mist-breathing mirrored pool in a thick and trackless wood, Spirit Companions and Familiars grow, drawing in power and knowledge alike, but also grow wilder and more willful, more demanding. Dopplegangers are a serious threat. Unbonded Companions may outright attack Adversaries, Pillars, or even Oracles and Champions whose goals they do not approve of. None of the dreamstuff here seems usable for any other purpose, but wildness and animal cunning can still be used to a clever Champion’s gain, to be sure...

The Cave of Idols: The Cave is full of illusions and restraints, and seems to serve much the same purpose to Oracles that the Road of Trials serves to Champions - a practice zone where greater discipline and self-knowledge can be acquired.

Kingfisher Castle: An elegant castle of white, pink, and silver with bird-embroidered banners and an ever-shifting interior lavished with art. Magic, Bonds, Psychic and Liminal Skills do not function as intended here, or only at a small fraction of their power. The Castle is always a stop on the way to the Valence when there is a Valence Quest, but unlike the Gauntlet of Hearts, it can be found at other times as well. The Castle is one of the rare locations that moves between the floating islands and the “ground level” as it pleases.

The Young Sea: A boundary between Questing Country and other dreams, the Sea is mobile and changeable, and contains all the secrets we don’t know we know: things forgotten, repressed, or misunderstood. But in these deeps swim all manner of unknown nightmares as well.

The Lighthouse: Built on a spit of land projecting into the Young Sea, those directing the beam of the Lighthouse can search the sea for their own memories and insights, for forgotten secrets, and even glimpses of the Waking World. But using the Lighthouse quickly draws shadowy monsters out of the waves, and it’s hard to see only what you want - you may also glimpse truths about yourself that you find uncomfortable, or rumors and gossip told about you.

BONDS/BONDED GROUPS

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Bonded are a supernaturally connected group of Champions & Oracles, which may rarely include an Adversary or a Pillar. Bonded fight and work together and are stronger for it, but any gain they make is also divided between them, and a Bond that is large or unwieldy is unlikely to get much of anywhere in Questing Country. A small Bond can face down bigger challenges, but the power of a Valence can only go to ONE of them, possibly at random, so a Bond is commonly only made of people who love and trust one another with near-absolute devotion. Bonded can share physical health, mental resilience, magical power, & supernatural insight. Their familiars & spirit animals may combine into a larger creature called a volksgeist, often used as a mount or battle companion. (After the jaunt, players who kept both their spirit companions and True Bond with each other can still have their companions form volksgeists.)

For purposes of game balance and CR generation, Bonds will usually be from 4 to 6 people in size, although you may ask to form a larger or smaller Bond. Single-canon Bonds are permissible but discouraged. A Bond may be a long-standing team, or it may be a group of people who are thrown together during the events of the plot forming new connections.

If you want to be a part of a Bond, but do not have a group in mind, comment here and we will randomize Bonded companions for you. If you have a small Bond and would be open to random individuals joining it, let us know, and we’ll set that up for you as well.

CASTING CALL

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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 28th.

FIRST CONDUCTOR: The Champion or Adversary who was the first known dreamer to become a Conductor. An awkward memelord who became a confident, inspiring hero overnight. If this character appeared in a previous Jaunt, you can have whatever Archetype you like. If this is your character’s first appearance, we recommend being the Conductor of Rings (formerly the Champion or Adversary of Rings). A Homestuck Reference Is Fine Too.

EMPOWERED ORACLE: A well-respected senpai among the Starquake-Era Oracles who’s become a Conductor. An Scientist. If this character appeared in a previous Jaunt, you can have whatever Archetype you like. If this is your character’s first appearance, we recommend being the Conductor of Currents (formerly the Oracle of Currents).

CONSPIRACY THEORIST ADVERSARY: A paranoid, desperate, and disrespected Adversary who has a Wild Theory about Spirit Companions. This character cannot have appeared in a previous QC Jaunt - it has to be a new role. We recommend being the Adversary of Pressure, but you’re welcome to choose a different Archetype if you prefer.

HECATITE DREAMER: A Conditioned Hecatite who has a Lot Going On in their Waking World Life at the Aratta Skyhook. Can have any Dreaming Role except Conductor or Oracle, and any Archetype.

Additional Conductors will have semi-plot status (i.e. permission to read the plot role post, but no comment count responsibilities, etc.).

PLOT ROLE ANNOUNCEMENTS

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Once casting is complete, we'll ask plot role players to come over here and announce their roles!

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Extremely belatedly, Raidou is the Hecatite Dreamer, who is Very Tired.

GLOSSARY

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Archetype - The grand symbolic idea which lends its power to a Dreamer. Roses, Romance, Lions, Apples, Swords, Fire, Ice, Darkness, Light, Lightning - a theme or leitmotif to their magical powers. Not ALL of a Dreamer’s powers will rely directly on their Archetype, but it forms the core of their identity & speciality, and probably has something to do with the cause they serve.

Aspect - Any constant trait of Questing Country. The Aspect of Communication between species is called Fintan, and the Aspect of Time is called Ouroboros, due to its infinite and recursive nature. Though they’re called “constant” traits, time travel such as the Ouroboros Retrograde jaunt can change how an Aspect works. Harbingers, Guiding Stars, Conductors, and Tesserae all challenge the understanding of Fintan as understood by Oracles and their Familiars.

Backstage - A slang term used by Spirit Companions to refer to the interior workings of Questing Country itself - the cavern beneath the Dream.

Bident - The two-pronged spear of a Conductor, which can pin nightmares in place.

Collective Unconscious - Not of one species, but of at least six. Most Champions & Oracles come from the listed species, but other thinking races do exist, and can be devised by players. The Collective Unconscious is at the root of Questing Country, and of the power & knowledge of Champions and their ilk.

Conductor - A Dreamer who has gained a psychic and Bond link to all other Conductors and all Conductors’ Spirit Companions. Conductors wield bidents in addition to any other weapons they possess, wear white and silver outfits with silver crowns and extensive jewelry (the jewels, while set in silver, can be gems of any cut or color), and no longer experience Fear, Sadness, or Doubt. All Conductors have at least one minor ability which heals and calms.

Dreamcatchers - Devices made to siphon energy from Questing Country. Champions & Adversaries use them to replenish spent power, Oracles for knowledge. Pillars neither have nor need them, as their own abilities are built up but inaccessible. Note: Dreamcatchers can be used by Travelers outside of Questing Country to remove bad dreams from one individual and to siphon the material of liminal space itself.

Envelope - INVLEP, Instantiated Nested Virtual Layer Emulation Protocol, a Hecatite technology available as an installable chip or a firmware upgrade which allows any Synthetic to emulate an unconscious and subconscious mind, and so to access intuition, creativity, and dreaming in ways that were previously impossible. One side effect is, apparently, that the emulated dreams are sufficient to allow Synthetics access to Questing Country.

Exoliminality - All of Questing Country is a Liminal Space, and so most Liminal powers work in Questing Country, but with reduced effect. The amount of space or material that can be manipulated is reduced by roughly half, the time it takes to do so multiplied (but not by one specific number), and it takes much more tangible effort. Likewise, because Travelers are attuned to something very like Questing Country, an Investigator can still become a Champion, Oracle, Adversary, or Pillar with the appropriate abilities and Archetypes if it suits their essential character.

Genius Loci - The protective spirit of a place.

Harbinger - A Champion, Oracle, or Adversary (never a Pillar) who used a Dreamcatcher on Transformed Lands for too long and became changed themselves. Periodically, especially when surprised or disoriented, the dreamer will transform into a glowing winged figure and be able to work vast changes on the landscape, but will possess an alien outlook and priorities and be unable to distinguish friend from foe. Harbingers think in such big-picture, long-term ways that individual people and their needs, desires, or agendas become almost literally invisible.

Opaline Bore - The site of the Backstage confrontation between Dreamers and the Arcana has become a gateway blocking the way Backstage, and now serves as a link for Dreamers travelling from the Rise of the Adversaries or Double Valence auras. Visitors from or to past eras are rare but not unheard of over the last three months since the Ouroboros Retrograde jaunt, and they report what Oracles are calling “quasimnesia” - they can remember time spent with Dreamers in the era they visit, but no knowledge of their home or their trip which would constitute “spoilers.” They also report that the amount of time which has passed since the Ouroboros Retrograde is constant. Lastly, all attempts to enter Backstage through the Opaline Bore result in time travel, instead.

Questing Country - The shared dream-space of all thinking species, metaphor made real, the place where the power of Champions comes from, and a physical space which they travel to train, learn, and do battle.

Retrograde - A period in which an Aspect of Questing Country is not functioning as it usually does. Some Aspects pass into retrograde more frequently than others, and what retrograde means depends on which Aspect is in retrograde. Multiple retrogrades can occur at one time. These are understood to be natural effects within Questing Country.

Spirit Companions - Guides, embodiments of the collective unconscious, and as such, incredibly cryptic and mysterious, incapable of clear or straightforward communication, are responsible for selecting & anointing Champions. Spirit Companions seek Champions who believe in some great and selfless cause with great hope and idealism, and that cause can often somehow be represented by their Archetype. A Champion’s Spirit Companion can communicate with all others, but their advice is often cryptic. An Adversary’s Spirit Companion sometimes temporarily becomes a Doppelganger, an insubstantial image of the Adversary that tries to make trouble for them, as they reject its guidance. Oracles’ Spirit Companions become Familiars, perfectly comprehensible to them at last, but unable to communicate with anyone else. Adversaries who become Dark Oracles devoted to themselves lose their Spirit Companions entirely; they become full-time Doppelgangers. A Harbinger’s Spirit Companion fuses with a dreamcatcher and becomes a small, speechless Guiding Star that illuminates patterns. Pillars no longer have a Spirit Companion of any kind. As for Conductors, see Tesserae.

Starquakes - Vast and powerful dreams of alien minds which have the ability to change entire continents of the Dream at a whim. These had never happened before and are considered the defining trait of the Starquake Era of Questing Country, one generation after the Double Valence period (which was the setting of the first Questing Country jaunt).

Tesserae - the Spirit Companions of Conductors, universally glittery white and silver in color, with crowns and jewelry as part of their bodies (though the jewels may appear to be on collars or torcs, they cannot be taken off). All Conductors can communicate clearly with any Tessera, but Tesserae can no longer communicate with non-Tessera Companions, or vice versa. Tesserae no longer become Dopplegangers.

Transformed Lands - Areas of Questing Country changed irrevocably by the Starquakes.

Twilight Time - Like Liminal Space, Questing Country can undergo vast and sweeping changes. These are preceded by Twilight Time, where things go dim and blurry around the edges, signalling a “change in the weather” which will remake the world around them.

Valence - The power of the collective unconscious sometimes forms a node of energy which can grant one wish. When a Valence is hidden somewhere in Questing Country, Oracles (or investigators with Questing Sense) can vaguely feel its presence and direction. A Valence will bestow itself on one worthy being to help them achieve their cause.

Volksgeist - A large creature made from the combined forms of a Bonded group’s Spirit Companions. Volksgeists may enter battle alongside their bonded, the only time Spirit Companions typically enter the fray; if a volksgeist is killed, it separates into its component Spirit Companions. Volksgeists who are completely comprised of familiars may only speak to the Oracles who they belong to, but they are as clear as any familiar speaking. Volksgeists with any portion of spirit animal in them may talk to everyone, but they are as cryptic as a standard spirit animal. If an Adversary places their spirit animal in a volksgeist, the volksgeist will occasionally turn on their masters and act outside of their combined best interests. It is inadvisable for multiple Adversaries to create a volksgeist.

SKILLS

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Merge: A dreamer can, in essence, interface with a portion of the landscape, learning the history and magic of an area. When used on Transformed Lands, a Merged dreamer takes on wild elemental power to reshape the environment, but also gains a distant and alien mindset and priorities that are unclear. A dreamer whose Merge with Transformed Land is prolonged too long periodically transforms into a new kind of dreamer altogether - a Harbinger, whose Companion fuses with a dreamcatcher and becomes a small, speechless star that illuminates patterns. Requires Dreamcatching. [T]

Dream Body: In Questing Country, everyone has the body they feel they need to have for their role. This allows an age, gender, and/or species swap to one idealized form. [T]

Spirit Companion/Familiar: An advice-dispensing animal companion that accompanies champions and oracles. Adversaries who take this skill will still find that their companion occasionally becomes a duplicate of them and stirs up trouble. [U]

True Bond: Bonded can share physical health (healing one another’s wounds), mental resilience (breaking, resisting, or transferring enchantments and status effects), magical power (mana pool), & supernatural insight (visionary or magical senses of any kind). Their familiars & spirit animals (if they take this skill) may combine into a larger creature called a volksgeist, often used as a mount or battle companion. When you take this skill, you must indicate who you are Bonded with, and they must take this skill as well to have any lasting effect after the jaunt. [In the first jaunt, everyone in a True Bond had to take the skill together. Bonds between infiltrators must still be entirely mutual, but for Investigators actively taking the skill (rather than Infiltrators working with a Bond group), it is not necessary to link to everyone in a Bond group.] [T]

Pillar Resistance: A Pillar is about 95% resistant to all magical effects. Anyone with this skill may not take Archetypal Magic or Spirit Animal. [S]

Archetypal Champion Magic: Champions know roughly half a dozen powerful, flashy, splashy effects that they can use to attack enemies, deflect attacks, or which aid them outside of combat. Champion magic is always accompanied by some visual or audio effect. The majority of these effects must tie into a Champion’s archetype. Champion magic is powerful, but often sloppy and obvious, not likely to allow for gentle or indirect handling of a situation unless very carefully employed. [S]

Archetypal Conductor Magic: Conductors working together display power like a Champion. When no other Conductors are in line of sight, they have power like an Adversary. All Conductors share a single true bond, and have a psychic network shared with all Conductors and all Tesserae. All Conductors have a bident, but no dreamcatcher. Conductor outfits are always glittering white and silver, with silver crowns and extensive jewelry (the jewels, while set in silver, can be gems of any cut or color). Conductors do not feel Fear, Sadness, or Doubt. [S]

Archetypal Oracular Knowledge: Supernatural visionary knowledge of an archetype. An Oracle is an expert on all lore connected to their archetype, whether its literal embodiment or its metaphorical resonance. They can sense its presence, absence, power, or direction. If they are shown or come in direct contact with something that matches their archetype, they can rapidly educate themselves on all relevant details about it, even if there is no source for that information. Finally, Oracles have visions about any events which involve their archetype, and may also have dreams or visions (but no other expertise) about any Bonded partners they have. [S]

Archetypal Adversary Magic: Adversary magic is low-key and precise, often unseen. It can never directly counter or overpower Champion magic, but can evade notice, slip through loopholes, and exploit vulnerabilities. Like Champions, Adversaries should select roughly half a dozen such effects, focused on stealth, manipulation, and escape. [S]

Archetypal Harbinger Magic: Any other Archetype who has Merged with transformed lands for too long may periodically become a Harbinger - a glowing winged figure similar to their archetypal transformed self - and gain access to Harbinger magic, sweeping and elemental powers that can reshape entire dreamscapes, recognize and duplicate patterns, but cannot target individuals, nor distinguish friend from foe, and the being using it can only create changes which satisfy their own, alien aesthetic needs and desired patterns. Harbinger transformations are most likely when a character is surprised or disoriented, and last for irregular periods of time - sometimes seconds, and sometimes days. [S]

Dreamcatching: Breaking down inert Liminal substance to become usable energy, powering devices or refilling mana. Outside of Liminal Spaces, this may be done to less effect by siphoning the dreams of sleeping individuals. Up to one Room Creation 1's worth of material can be created for one 24-hour period with a "full" dreamcatcher. [T]

Gorgon Racial Traits: prehensile tentacle hair, brightly colored skin, darkvision, vibration and electromagnetic field sensing, calcifying touch/breath; light sensitivity, poor long-range vision, antisocial tendencies. [U]

Elven Racial Traits: keen sight and hearing, agility, lack of stamina, health, and willpower. [U]

Hecatite Racial Traits: mineral composition, easily overwhelmed by sound, metabolic control, crystal growing, bludgeoning vulnerability, high intellect, low stamina. [U]

Vodyanoi Racial Traits: hydrokinesis (up to the amount of water they could reasonably carry), finned ears, shining, smooth scales, amphibious, water-breathing, natural timidity, low physical strength. [U]

Spartoi Racial Traits: quick temper, berserker tendencies, bone spurs and scales, high strength and durability, more militant than intellectual. [U]

Genre Savvy: The knowledge of narrative structure and tendencies needed to predict the typical paths and variations of stories, dreams, plots, and character types. [T]

Stellar Education: Basic generalist knowledge about other planets and their species and politics, or about a specific specialty area, such as cybernetic or alien medicine, the history of other cultures, or any imaginable sort of space-aged collegiate-level education. This skill may be taken multiple times for multiple specialties, or for doctorate-level knowledge in a specialty. [T]

Conditioned Hypnosis: The ability to use eye contact, tone of voice, conscious manipulation of pheromones, and careful word choice to implant simple suggestions in others. Nonsensical or obviously harmful suggestions will not work, and thoroughly changing an opinion is unlikely, but it’s enough to hold or deflect attention, soothe or increase suspicion, startle and intimidate someone for a moment, or convince them to let a secret slip. Because it relies on knowledge of physical and psychological characteristics, it may not work on other species, non-neurotypical individuals, or those in an altered state of consciousness, unless the user has sufficient familiarity with the group or individual to know what cues to use instead. During the jaunt, this may be used by Oracles or Adversaries only. [T]

Synthetic Form: The ability to assume the form of a synthetic being, with the physical and cognitive capacities and vulnerabilities that implies. As a general rule, synthetics possess enhanced strength and durability, rapid thinking, and the ability to physically interface with some computer systems, hardware permitting. However, they also do not heal naturally, may appear or behave obviously artificial, and tend to be deferential towards organic life-forms. Specifics will vary, and that’s fine. [U]

Due to the combination of Star’s exuberance at being alive again and long-term exposure to the energies of Questing Country, from now until the Liminal Return mingle, players will be able to pick up a skill for the first thirty comments they turn in and every fifteen comments after that, without cap.

CALENDAR

[powersthatbe]

Canticles in the Wood (September 1): Strange Happenings in the Forest Pools call a large number of Dreamers down to the Opaline Bore, where an Unwelcome Discovery awaits them.
The Fray, the Fraying, the Afraid (September 9): A resurgence of Gorgon and Human nightmares interrupts the questions of ‘who’ and ‘why’ with a struggle where all Travelers and Dreamers must come together or risk something precious.
The Fall of Mount Widdershins (September 1719): When a flying island drops out of the sky, suspicions reach a fever pitch almost unheard-of in Questing Country’s history.
Fixing All the Broken Pieces (September 27): In the mounting tension and confusion, the Chosen Dreamers make a plan to make everything right once and for all - the problem is, they’ve made three* different plans for three different problems.
*footnote: “three” is a placeholder number for however many different ideas Dreamers & Travelers decide to throw at the wall.
The Last Stand of the Unbreakable, Final Jaunt Mingle (October 4): With secrets revealed and trust broken, a showdown takes an unexpected form and hope must be found in the unlikeliest places.
Liminal Space - The Crowning of the World (October 11): Until we know who wins, it’s a little hard to predict this one.
Liminal Space - The Fifth Wall (October 19): All the dungeons give up their trapped Travelers, and there’s one last chance for Travelers to say what the Mystic Journey has meant to them.
Liminal Space - Putting Up the Chairs and Turning Out the Lights/Exit Mingle (October 27): The Travelers are released from the Journey, given their reward, and Travelers and Arcana alike prepare to say goodbye and move on.

WHO’S THE WHAT OF WHICH

[powersthatbe]

Rather than filling in an Infiltrator Directory, we’ll be putting together a list of what archetypes are spoken for, and what the character putting them to use is in terms of role. Any given archetype can have a Champion, Adversary, Oracle and Pillar; doubling up archetypes and roles may be considerably trickier.

When you’ve settled on your character’s role and archetype, please comment here so people know what’s already been taken.

PLAYER RESOURCES

[powersthatbe]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SoYouWantTo/WriteAMagicalGirlSeries
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TrueCompanions
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalGirl
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuBIBljQOrHbYTujyO9sS42enaJgG7qOH
Tropes:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceOpera
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TropesInSpace
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceWestern
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WagonTrainToTheStars

Player plotting:
http://www.plurk.com/p/ldwh69 - Hecatite mineral possibilities
Gorgon cultural info
Gorgon anatomy info (includes marked NSFW material)
additional Gorgon anatomy info
Hecatite cultural info
Hecatite minerals and fashion inspiration
Random name generator - has A LOT of things which could be useful!

QUESTIONS/FAQ

[powersthatare]

We’ve got an FAQ from the questions asked during our first visits to QC and Junkworld, which can be viewed here as well as the questions from the last QC jaunt here. If you have new questions, drop them here in the comments.

The setting is Matt’s brainchild, but bii and Jill are also well-versed in it.

[helborn]

Just so I'm clear on things -

Casper's overlay in the Ouroboros Retrograde Jaunt had a Harbinger transformation. Does this mean that his role can no longer change? (Aka Champion to Oracle, for example.)

Re: QUESTIONS/FAQ

[lightnovelexperiences]

Will the Conductor Psychic Network have a separate community?

Re: QUESTIONS/FAQ

[truerevelation]

So. Spiritbuddies.
Last round in QC, Kanji's bird pal Piyo doubled up as his spirit companion while he investigated. Would it be possible for a full time spirit critter to take the position off Piyo's wings?

Re: QUESTIONS/FAQ

[letsgetdowntobismuth]

Discussing Gem fusion made us realise that Mystic Topaz (Bismuth and Yukino's fusion) is technically her own person. If she was to form in QC for the first time, would she have her own spirit animal/title/etc or would she just piggyback off of her components (the Oracles of the Forge and Perspective, respectively)?

[insidegalra]

1: Thace is hoping to use the ID copying trick to make credential profiles as copies (you know; sign in and have access to this and this, but not necessarily that.) and I figure synths just have theirs as part of their systems (I am using 'chip' as a vague catchall). So!! Could control panel scans give Minako enough access to do the thing?

2: Thace wants to use a combination of his and Thetan's various Choice abilities to empower the choices Travelers and others are making. Reasonable to say it would act like a buff and make the choice in question much more likely to be successful?

3: If there are two souls in a body (one naturally there, one not), would/could Shacklebreaker simply cut the binding of the not-naturally there soul to let it free?

[fridgeninja]

1. Yes.

2. It could guide someone to the optimum choice for their intentions, but not make their choice optimized, if that distinction makes sense?

3. Yes. Might sting a little.