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monsterdata2023-07-21 03:40 pm
ryslighelpers) wrote in monsterdata2023-07-21 03:40 pm
PLOT SUGGESTIONS
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If you have a plot, or even just an idea for a plot to suggest to the mods, please feel free to drop it here. You don't have to plan on hosting that plot yourself; if it's something you'd be interested in seeing in Ryslig, it could give us a good idea for a mod-run event in the future. We welcome all your creative thoughts, to help us continue to give the game playful angles!
If you'd like to run a player plot of your own, please don't worry too much about any lore leading up to it. You can just detail the effects of the event to us. From there on, we can work backwards to ensure there's a suitable inciting incident.
You may use a sock account if you wish to remain anonymous. The reason that we ask you to provide a sock is so we can contact you about your plot in private if necessary. This is to maintain a sense of suspense while keeping things unscreened.
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If you have a plot, or even just an idea for a plot to suggest to the mods, please feel free to drop it here. You don't have to plan on hosting that plot yourself; if it's something you'd be interested in seeing in Ryslig, it could give us a good idea for a mod-run event in the future. We welcome all your creative thoughts, to help us continue to give the game playful angles!
If you'd like to run a player plot of your own, please don't worry too much about any lore leading up to it. You can just detail the effects of the event to us. From there on, we can work backwards to ensure there's a suitable inciting incident.
You may use a sock account if you wish to remain anonymous. The reason that we ask you to provide a sock is so we can contact you about your plot in private if necessary. This is to maintain a sense of suspense while keeping things unscreened.
no subject
So what we've already established with Merain in game is that it's still fairly small, not enough to truly compete with Vandare's fishing fleet just yet, and full of women from abusive/exploitative situations and their families. They wear Maya's magatama as a sign of their reverence for her and other monsters, and seek to care for the monsters and reject social ties to human society in favor of their safety. They have begun to incorporate bright, warm, saturated colors into their clothing and their houses as both a way to mimic Maya and a way to be very visible in the fog.
Soon, Komaeda will be working to restore the Fog Church. The Merainite villagers, who are fond of the mers, understand that as a cue to follow in their fog-worshipping monster faves footsteps. After the Fog returns to the peninsula, I'd like to see the Merainite fishers ambush a smaller Vandare vessel under the cover of the returning fog independent of Maya's guidance, and sacrifice some of the crew members as thanks to the fog for their victory. After seeing the villagers choose this independently, Maya is moved to understand that Merain can become a haven for Monsters if they play their cards right. With the human leaders of Merain, Maya moves to create an invitation to all monsters to live freely in Merain, as well as to use that freedom to futher the fog. IN direct retaliation to Aunamee's more monster-violent moves, Maya organizes a repast; the Soul Feast.
The Soul Feast is arranged as a festival in Merain during which the Merainite Acolytes and other Fog-aligned monsters seek to feed newer, less experienced monsters through ritual sacrifice. They capture more Vandarans (and also accept Merainite and Bavanite volunteers) and subdue them for public execution in the name of the fog. A decent number are killed on the spot, though a few are left living to feed monsters that need to drink moisture or consume a soul. The sacrifices are decked out in bright colors and flowering masks.
After the ritual killing of the meat-making sacrifices, Maya and the two human mayors lead the devotees and monsters in prayer, "The Fog sends to us this bounty; From your life comes mine, from your body my blood runs, through your death I may proceed." (or something cooler but along those lines). The bodies are distributed to any monster present with the repeated sentiments; they are allowed to feed and continue living because of the Fog, and all human lives are equal. They seek to push an ideology that feeding on humans is a part of hte circle of life here, and that through that sacrifice the Fog is sustained herself, and is able to sustain them as monsters.
They seek to make eating easier on the newer monsters; cutting slits on a human's body for a mer to drink, slaughtering and preparing the meat for monsters who can consume prepared meat without having to look at a body. The festival is full of music and dancing and fearlessness.
This act helps to establish Maya as one of the more motherly hands of the fog; capable of demonstrating the care and affection that monsters feel comes across cold sometimes from Foggy herself, but in true Orca fashion, willing to hunt to feed "her children".
In the days following the festival, the Merainites operate with even brighter colors, and new monsters welcomed to the fold of fog-enabling by the Merainite monsters are encouraged to deck themselves out as well. They attempt to steal the color aesthetic normally associated with Elias and use it in their own way; to be visible even in the fog, to reject subterfuge, and to go against those who would try to contend with them in full visibility. The Merainite fisherwomen become almost pirate-like, their colorful fishing boats becoming a warning for other boats to stay out of their territory or to become sacrifices to the monsters they serve.
So to summarize:
Pre-act, Merain's population has become and continues to become more fog-leaning and in support of monsters.
The act itself is a ritual sacrifice disguised as a feast, both in the name of the Fog and "spiritually provided by" the Fog's power. Monsters are encouraged to accept the Fog as their way to a more affirming life where they can live fully as themselves, or the selves they were meant to be, and allyships to the Fog may be facilitated.
This allows for the act to be public enough to cause a reaction from the other monsters and potentially alienate some while also keeping it something I can handle, as I don't see myself capable of running a full event. It gives an opportunity for other, lower-tier fogs to participate in the hunting and redistribution, potentially gaining a tier-1 act or otherwise having a minor act to add to a cumulative sum later on. It also inspires a full change in those that participate, as they will be expected to show Fearlessness in monsterhood and no longer hunt in a hidden way. Maya is established as a motherly hand of the fog, both in willingness to care for the monsters and willingness to hunt on behalf of them and the Fog herself. The themes for the community become regarding humans all as equal parts of the food chain to reduce the guilt of deciding which humans deserve to be eaten, accepting monsterhood as a path to self-adoration, and venerating the Fog as the giver of balance and an opportunity for self-love.
Following the act, Merain's human population would remain devoted to the monsters and claim to other humans that they are protected by the fog (whether or not it is actually true) in attempt to strike fear into their competitors. They act ruthlessly against comparatively-sized boats that come close to their areas and may capture other humans for the sake of feeding younger monsters. Monsters are encouraged to be fed by the human population or to hunt themselves while retaining the idea that through the Fog, from Death comes Life.
no subject
We appreciate your enthusiasm, and are excited to see how Maya and Merain develop further. However, as currently described, this plot would not qualify Maya for promotion to tier 3.
The Fog primarily wants Her children to live freely at the expense of human lives, and especially wants Her followers to strike back against Elias. She will recognize neither the creation of a safe haven for monsters, nor the start of yet another fog-aligned human cult, as furthering Her cause.
On a tone level, this tier-up does not reflect the sort of horror and violence that we would expect to see from an offering at this level. Vandare is an easy target due to their overwhelmingly anti-monster sentiment, and this mini-event is too similar to the currently-established Ryslig norms to turn heads among the wider monster community.
Finally, Maya's role in this plot is not active enough; we would like to see your character taking initiative. As currently written, the humans of Merain are much more active participants. To qualify for tier 3, the Fog would like to see Her followers get their hands dirty.
If you would like to submit a revised version of this plot in the future, you are welcome to do so.
no subject
The intent of the human cultists is not really to serve the fog itself as much as it is to serve monsters who are aligned with the fog. They bring in human sacrifices to keep the monsters fed, the monsters feed and rejoice in the fog. It is the monster side of the equation that aims to win more monsters to the side of the Fog, not through creating a safe space for the monsters in generally but for Fog Followers. The intent of Maya's act for the fog is to draw more monsters to her side by teaching monsters to accept the violence as a necessary step, not to minimize damage done to humans themselves. Simultaneously Maya would try and facilitate conversion of newbies to allyship with the fog, with one or more fog conversions planned to happen at the time of the feast, in imitation of her having already converted Adrian and assisted in Komaeda's conversion. That's where the service to the fog comes in, though I understand if The Fog still wouldn't recognize the conversions as being radical enough.
Before getting into the next bit, I'd like to link Madoka Kaname's previous tier ups, as they are what I have mostly been referencing since Madoka and Maya are similar in personality. In Madoka's tier 3, she specifically becomes a zealot by offering Fiddleford (I believe at the time he was a fourthie) as a sacrifice. My assumption in referencing it was that multiple human sacrifices would be as useful as a single monster sacrifice.
Maya was intended be working as the direct facilitator of those sacrifices especially in instances by which other monsters would need to feed off a living body, either through causing the injury they need to feed on or by using her voice to prevent them from escaping their monster attacker; I apologize that it was apparently unclear that this was the intent. The only thing she wouldn't have been an active participant in was the initial attack against the Vandaran fishermen. The idea of sacrificing the captured men in the Fog's name and the actual act of committing the sacrifice was meant to come from her. I assumed that active human sacrifice and use of the Merain cultists as an avenue to facilitate human sacrifice and other service to monsters would count as living at the expense of humans.
I'm not sure I understand the idea that it is too close established norms regardless of whether it counts as a tier up or not. As far as I previously understood, there was not a plot or service by which monsters would be capturing live sacrifices for others or for the Fog despite the existence of the soup kitchen, and from speaking with others I was under the impression many characters would indeed see the sacrificial feast as a radical move and judge Maya according to their own senses of justice. Similarly, Vandare was not chosen because of their hatred of monsters but because they are the only known population of fishermen, and thus the only humans causing direct rivalry to something that Maya herself benefits from. I would gladly choose other fishermen if that's another option, but again, I'm not sure that current IC sentiment reflects the idea that it is an easy target, as the newer crowd is much more sympathetic to humans due to a lack of recent acts of violence from humans against monsters. Even as far back as Atem's broadcast, the human targets were even scammers, and it still caused a ripple in the opinions of monsters. I chose the avenue of using the fishermen as an opportunity because it makes narrative sense rather than forcing a human sacrifice out of nowhere.
I hesitate to submit a revision even with the clarifications given because I am not certain that I understand the clarifications. And while I do have an idea for a priest tier up (a self-sacrificing move committed with the help of another Foggie in attempts to restore power to the fog or perhaps even to disable something of Elias's), this and previous answers suggest to me that it would not be a suitable replacement act for tier 3;
This answer, along with the Fog's IC answers to Maya when asking what she can do for the Fog, make me completely uncertain as to whether or not you are saying that direct involvement against Elias and his followers is required for tier 3, as even the answer you have given me here suggests that there is the alternative of human sacrifice available. The tier description itself states Tier three rewards are for truly devout followers, and it takes a great act to appease the gods enough to get here. Such acts might include a mass sacrifice of people...
While I am eager to accept that the standards may have changed since that excerpt was written, the only problem I have with Maya confronting Elias is that Maya is no where near as skilled or as powerful as anyone she could contend with on the side of the fourth, even with the boons given her by the Fog— and as demonstrated by this and previous tier up requests, if Maya collaborates with others she may be seen as not contributing enough. For instance, despite Maya dealing with significant, months-long fallout from the broadcast she recorded on Atem's behalf, it was deemed that her involvement was not considered strong enough initiative. With these considerations, I'm left uncertain of how to draft a tier up revision that works, as I was under the impression that my plans already met the stated standards.
To be clear, I am in no way rejecting the idea of revising this same plot to again clarify Maya's active participation, what I am trying to say is that your answer combined with the tier descriptions leaves me uncertain as to whether or not that would do anything to change the ruling, or if Elias absolutely must be a target in a tier 3 move-up, no exceptions. If that is the case as a result of the newest developments in Ryslig, I totally accept that, but I've been constructing these ideas as though that is not the case. Without such a clarification I have to be honest that this just kind of discourages me from trying at a third-ish-fourth-ish attempt at a tier 3 upgrade.
no subject
To clarify: tier three requires either direct involvement against Elias and his followers, or direct involvement towards the Fog's aims.
Sacrifice alone, regardless of numbers, is not sufficient to meet this criteria. As you mentioned, Madoka tiered up with a sacrifice - but it was a sacrifice of a Fourth follower, which tied it directly into the war. Also, this was a long time ago, and took place under a different mod team: there is no defined rubric for god tier-ups, which are decided on a case-by-case basis, and the understanding of what is required has shifted along with the mod teams. We would caution players against leaning too heavily on older examples for this reason, and advise referencing more recent plots where possible.
The action does not have to be against Elias, but it does have to be in service of the Fog's aims. Despite what she may say to her followers, the Fog's priorities have always been less with the comfort and wellbeing of monsters, and more with their use as a weapon against the humans of Ryslig.
This kind of action in the Fog's favour might mean providing her with power, or increasing the overall fear of monsters among the human population. (Since in your plot, the main danger is the human cultists, this does not apply - it would rather increase the fear of other humans!) At Tier 3, we will not accept conversion from neutrality alone as an argument for the Fog's benefit.
We would also like to remind you of how the Tagevalgten plot ended. The Fog has made her position clear on human cults - she doesn't much care for them. She will not accept friendship with humans, no matter how murderous, as an act in service of the Fog. Humans are the enemy, perhaps even more than Elias, in her eyes.
TL;DR - no, not all Tier 3 plots have to be direct confrontations with Elias and his followers, but they do have to be in direct service of the Fog's greater aims, which include the terrorising of humans, garnering of power for the Fog, and defeating Elias.
We hope this helps!
no subject
Would it be okay to move forward with this miniplot as not being a tier up attempt, and just like, a thing she does independently? Or is it that this move would actively UPSET the fog god re: reminding her of the Tage?
I think that Maya could be more easily convinced to make bigger moves for the fog with the presence of more fog followers on her personal side, and am VERY okay with this tier up not working if she can still Do the Monster-Community Thing
and if it IS okay to just do it not as a tier-up, am I misinterpreting by thinking I should make the I fishermen maybe not be from Vandare, or is that part alright too?
no subject
This would not actively upset the Fog, and we would be happy for it to go ahead as a plot on its own, with or without the involvement of the Vandare fishermen! It just wouldn't please her enough for a tier-up.
no subject
If you'd like to use it for flavor in a coming log i'm game to wait but if not, am I cool to go ahead and do this in the coming month in a smaller log, then?
no subject
no subject