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synodiporia_ooc2020-08-25 02:35 pm
powersthatbe) wrote in synodiporia_ooc2020-08-25 02:35 pm
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Harmonic Resonance: Info Post
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...
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.