[EVENT] March Memory Madness

[khuimods]

Characters: Everyone!
Date: March 5-9
Location: All around Aifaran
Situation: The Dreaming is a bit enthusiastic about the research at the Aisling Tower. Memories ensue.
Warnings/Rating: Shouldn't need any, but add to subject lines as needed!


Outside the Aisling Tower, the first clue anyone will have that something is wrong is small. Little things: trinkets lost, but fondly remembered, appearing in your hand when you reach for something else. A snatch of song that tugs your heartstrings.

That alone might have been nice. Unfortunately, things escalate quickly.

How did memories get loose on Aifaran?

Science Fair

Well that all went a bit wrong. Researchers at the Aisling Tower sent out a request for volunteers, hoping to get to the root causes of just why Dreamfolk frequently wind up with memory loss. The tests are reasonably painless beyond the occasional blood samples taken and rather tedious questionnaire volunteers must fill out.

And then there’s the machine.

It’s not big or scary looking - just a small, strangely organic looking earpiece linked up to a console used to measure neural oscillations. All very new, high-tech stuff that the researchers just barely control their enthusiasm about. Again, the tests are mostly tedious. Just a lot of sitting around while researchers display pictures, ask questions, have you smell a variety of scents, and other things to spark various mental associations. Though side-effects may include dizziness and nausea afterwards. It’s still a little bit too ‘mad science’ for some, even if the researchers involved don’t even cackle maniacally even once.

But as all things of this nature must go, something takes a turn for the weird.

Memories On Display

The Dreaming takes an interest, insofar as much as an omnipresent force of nature can be assumed to take an interest - maybe it just reacted strangely to the mental probing of the Dreamfolk. The how, for now, is not important.

The immediate problem is that memories are running rampant in the city - and not just from volunteers for the little research project, but also any Dreamfolk who come in contact with them. It starts off small - little things appearing in and out of your peripheral vision such as an old toy or a beloved pet. Maybe the echo of friendly laughter, or the incomplete form of a first love’s smile. These flashes of memory only grow more potent, however, as entire scenarios begin to play out for you and those in your proximity - just as vividly as you remember them. And just as accurately as you perceive them.

---

OOC Notes: Your characters will have the option of seeing memories play out, and/or being drawn into a mind-share memory experience-- basically, however you want to play it, the Dreaming will accommodate! It's also more than possible that the Dreaming will oblige if someone really wants to show someone else something specific-- but there may always be a little more than bargained for.

There is a specific starter for shenanigans at the Aisling Tower but the rest of the post is open!

Please address questions regarding the event to the monthly agenda post.

Comments

[necrocabbage]

Trahearne admittedly hasn't been spending much time in here since that brush-up with Devin, preferring to avoid the vampire as much as possible. With the problem of errant memories sprouting up, though, he had thought that spending some time in a quiet room might prevent some of the ensuing awkwardness from wandering into someone's memory. It seemed that he wasn't the only one with a similar idea.

He stepped into the room, stopping short when he saw Padparadscha's memory fade. "Excuse me," he said to them, "I didn't mean to interrupt your... personal events. Should I-"

Before Trahearne could finish talking, one of his own memories flickers into being.

They're now near the docks of a metal fortress, amid the chaos of battle. There are rotting, cadaverous undead climbing up out of the water to attack the soldiers trying to make a stand against them. Their uniforms are in three different colors, but there's a couple of fighters in the crowd that aren't wearing a uniform, and Trahearne is one of them. He's fighting with a greatsword that looks like it was grown instead of made, wreathed as it is in a cloud of butterflies even while he's swinging it around and flinging lightning at the undead.

Then the sky darkens as a half-skeletal dragon swoops in low over the docks, explosions sounding in its wake. Shouts ring out, "The cannons are gone! Totally destroyed! We're defenseless!"

"Commander, fall back!" The memory of Trahearne turns to grab the arm of the other fighter without a uniform. "The docks are lost. If we don't secure the center, we can't stand against them!"

The real Trahearne is frowning as he watches the scene, but the look he shoots Padparadscha is an apologetic one. "I truly didn't mean to disturb you like this."

[corundrum]

Padparadscha doesn't get time to remark that of the options, the memory Trahearne walked in on was much less personal than some others that have come up already, before Trahearne's memory fades in to replace their own. The fortress building is fascinating in its bizarre architecture, and Padparadscha's attention turns to that first before tuning in to the memory at large.

It's a larger and seemingly more drawn-out conflict than the ones they're used to, but the image of a war being fought behind all this is an obvious one. Padparadscha observes without comment until the memory ends, then turns their gaze to Trahearne with a faint, thin smile.

"I'd say I've been disturbing myself just as much already, huH? Besides, there's no shame in having an enemy."

The Lunarians haven't really come up in Padparadscha's memories yet, but they figure it's a matter of time.

[necrocabbage]

Trahearne nods to them, taking a few steps further into the room. "It is all rather disruptive, isn't it? I don't know if there's a rhyme or reason to how these flashes of memory work, but wishing it would stop certainly isn't working." While not all of his displayed memories so far had been personal, he still wasn't very happy about it. None of it were things that he necessarily wanted to share.

Remaining standing for the moment, Trahearne looks back over his shoulder at one of the walls that his memory had obscured. "That battle... there were a lot of good soldiers, good people that died fighting the Risen. I knew that it would be impossible to avoid any lives being lost, but it never got any easier. The best I can say is that they died so that others may live."

[corundrum]

"No, I don't think anything on our part is going to stop it," Padparadscha says, sitting up slightly more. Their tone isn't resigned, exactly, but more just stating a fact they're taking as clear for the moment, however unfortunate it is.

As for what Trahearne says next, Padparadscha offers a somewhat solemn nod. The loss of allies, partners and friends is something they're familiar with, though perhaps not quite in the same way as he is.

"Do they find peace, the people who die in your world? All I know about death is what I've learnt since I came here."

[necrocabbage]

Trahearne nods thoughtfully. "Perhaps. There may be a solution to this, though I can't say I'd know where to start." He'd blame both the illusions and the access to a person's mind on mesmer magic back home, but here? He hadn't heard anything about a tradition of such magic existing on this world.

"I can say with confidence that most do." Trahearne finally moves to sit down, now that it seemed that his memories were going to remain quiet. "There's a place between the worlds called the Mists where the souls of the dead travel after they die. It's possible for the living to visit the Mists and return, which is how we know that there are certain... realms inside of it that exist as an afterlife for these souls."

He briefly pauses before adding, in a softer tone, "Where sylvari end up is more of a mystery. We don't create ghosts, and we don't exist in the Mists after death. But while we're alive, everything an individual sylvari experiences is captured by the Dream, which is much like a mental plane of existence. In that way, we pass our experiences and knowledge on to the next generation. It's possible to meet very accurate representations of dead sylvari in the Dream, but I hesitate to call those apparitions proper ghosts."

[corundrum]

Padparadscha listens to the explanation with some interest. Since they still don't have a proper conceptualisation of death, not all of it makes full sense to them, but the more they hear about it, the more things click into place, so it can't hurt.

"So even if not everyone can see them, they're still in existence somewhere." Does that mean the living things of his world are immortal? They'd consider it that way themselves, but Trahearne doesn't seem to be taking that stance. "Is a 'ghost' something like an image of a dead person, then?"

An odd thing, to have a different name for it than just a person, but Padparadscha figures there's some kind of reason behind it, whether it be due to myth or the living encountering them.

[necrocabbage]

"Yes, that's right. That's why also say that someone 'passes on' when they die. The dead aren't completely gone, they're simply... elsewhere."

Trahearne gave them a bit of an odd look as he tried to figure out just what they meant by that question. "It's not merely an image, it's the- ah, wait. Do you not know what a soul is? This might prove difficult to explain..."

Frowning to himself, Trahearne spends a moment tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair before he elaborates. "A person is more than the body that houses them. The soul is a sort of vital essence that gives a person life. When a person's body dies, it's their soul that moves on to the afterlife. That makes a ghost, or spirit, a soul that has not properly moved on. Sometimes they remain because of important unfinished business, and other times they are trapped thanks to powerful magic."

[corundrum]

People being 'elsewhere' but not gone is a very familiar idea to Padparadscha, and though they don't betray a reaction on their face, their tone gets a little more understanding. "So it's not all that different to things I'm familiar with, then. People seem to like complicating it."

As for souls, Padparadscha considers that a little. They've certainly heard of souls, and heard the myth of what happened to the human soul when they were divided, but it's a little interesting to hear it from the point of view of someone else. Especially since...well, that makes the Lunarians ghosts, in some sense.

"Ah, I don't think my people have anything like that ourselves, but I know the idea. That makes more sense now. Do all kinds of people on your world have a soul?"

[necrocabbage]

Trahearne pauses for a moment when he hears that question, then gives them a small, strained smile. "That is... a very good question. We know that most do. Any intelligent race can be found in the Mists or as a ghost, and at times so are animals. But the evidence being what it is... well, I can't be so sure that sylvari have souls. If we do, it's not a soul in the traditional sense."

At one time, the theory didn't bother him. Circumstances being what they were now, after everything he had experienced before he died... well, now it bothered Trahearne quite a bit. It was much harder to see the uniqueness of sylvari as a strength when he knew just where it came from.

"Ah, I do hope I'm not making these concepts sound too complicated. It's simply difficult to summarize when some of them are so large in scope."

[corundrum]

That would be strange knowledge to live with in a world where souls carrying on is well-known, and Padparadscha offers a somewhat sympathetic smile. "So I suppose you'd have a lot to think about once you become old enough for it to be a concern to you. Or if you fall in battle."

It's not exactly easily that they bring up the subjects, but it's with a tone that suggests they're very adjusted to them being an unfortunate truth. As for making them sound too complicated, Padparadscha laughs a little at that.

"A lot of things here are new to me, but I'm an old one. I've seen a lot, and had a lot of time to think about things before having to put it to all this."

[necrocabbage]

"Fair enough," Trahearne told Padparadscha with an expression that really should've been a little less serious, considering his next words. "Just remember that you called yourself old, not me." Or perhaps that wasn't such a sore point for gems? One of the first thing that young sylvari learned was that many of the other races very, very much disliked attention being brought to their age, no matter if the sylvari talking to them had only just emerged from their pod.

"That does explain why I've been dwelling on it quite so much lately. I did die before my arrival here - not in battle, but in the clutches of an enemy. It was..." Trahearne briefly hesitates before continuing, "quite startling to arrive here afterward."

[corundrum]

That makes Padparadscha laugh more, this time more of a short, but sharp one. "The younger gems like pointing out who's old and who isn't. And I'm one of the oldest, so I'm very used to it by now."

Besides, 3700 years is old by anyone's measure, even that of Gems. By that time, most Gems are either broken or taken, or both - there's only a scarce few of that kind of age remaining.

Once he mentions that point, though, Padparadscha hums a little in interest. "You know, you're not the first living thing I've heard that from here. Maybe the Dreaming likes to save the dead."