polymods: (Default)
polymods ([personal profile] polymods) wrote in [community profile] polylogs2021-07-02 03:00 pm

Something in the air...

POLYMYTHOS: THE ISLE THAT BLOOMS

The Isle That Blooms


Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
This is the first isle you can smell before you see it rising on the island. It starts with the faint hint of growing things that blossoms into a floral scent that teases you with the combination of familiarity and the unknown. The next breeze seems to carry you closer even as it coats everything in a delicate wash of golden pollen that only the Ferryman seems to be able to avoid.

Do you like your lips to taste the gritty sweetness? Or are you already starting to sniffle? Either way, the island starts as a smudge then turns into a riot of color as it reveals itself.

The Isle that Blooms lives up to its name as flowers vie in a silent war of roots and strangling vines to cover every viable surface with sprays of color and vibrant pulsing life. There are signs of human life in the form of a village built on stilts and full of little anachronisms like a glowing neon sign that hint that the island sees a large number of Travelers come through this place.

And who wouldn’t be drawn to the abundant flora, brightly painted houses, and lively locals?

Everyone seems to be glowing with health as the locals gather near the dock to welcome the latest set of tourists. They come with arms full of flower wreaths and friendly smiles, clearly in control of their faculties and interested in trade. Their clothing is as bright as the paintings on their buildings, as the flowers that surround them, and perfect for the warmth of the day.

Do you notice, though, the absence of any babies or prepubescent children? Or that while there are old people, no one shows signs of the infirmities that come with age? It might be easy to miss, especially as the Isle starts to affect you, too.

The ache in your back from that terrible fall, the craving for that next drink, the trauma that’s too close to the surface, all the petty hurts the build up in a lifetime start to fade as you, too, start to bloom.

Notes:
1. NO GUNS are allowed on this island. The Ferryman will keep them safe for you.

2. These residents of the island are normal humans. Killing them is possible and may affect the color of your Scrywatch.

3. Any type of flower could exist on the island, blooming somewhere, regardless of its real world requirements. Rare ones are difficult to find and magical ones need a check in with the mods.

4. There is nothing preadolescent of any animal species on the entire island, including insects.

5. The island’s ability leaves people as the healthiest, most energetic version of their current selves. Examples: A blind person in otherwise good mental and emotional health would notice minimal changes. A person with a disorder would find themselves having a string of good days. A 50 year old probably hasn’t felt this good since their thirties.



Ⅱ. THE TEMPLE
Orchids in shades of yellow and pink so bright they glow have been trained to grow along the walkways and bridges of the elevated village to guide Travelers to this island’s Temple. The building stands alone at the edge of the Village, extending out in the ocean of flowers that fill most of the isle.


The temple is made of simple stout wood that has been carved and painted in patterns ornate and lovely in a way that speaks of hundreds of hours of creation and maintenance. The same orchids that guided you here gild building and act as camouflage the sleeping porches ring the outside. They are kept private and safe from insects by fine netting, and you will find the bedding soft and fine.

This Temple’s Guardians are a pair of lazing cats with strange spots and scaly wings that regard you with affectionate disinterest as you explore the facilities. There are toilets and sinks, but no baths or showers. The pantries are stocked with edible flowers and fresh fish and the space and tools to cook. If you are brave enough, the Guardians will probably give you practical advice on how to use those supplies. There are new clothes and sandals better suited to the heat, and even practical machetes.

Notes:
1. The Main Temple is still open to those who are brand new to PM.

2. There are paints and carving tools if you want to add to the temple decorations. (Maybe mention it during the Oracle Event if you do.)

3. All fabric items are ridiculously bright and vaguely tie dyed.

4. The marker orchids have a distinctly strong smell of vanilla with a hint of lime.



Ⅲ. THE LOTUS BATHS
CW: fantasy setting drugs.
There’s only so long a person can stand to be covered in pollen, and when you ask the locals, they grin. Oh, you want a bath? There’s a path back to the ground and through the tall flowers to a natural spring. Make sure to head out early, they warn.

It’s always better to be in the village before nightfall, and you are clearly going to take a while.

As you walk the winding path to the baths, the everpresent flowers seem to thin out and even disappear as ground warms and rock rises from rich soil. You can smell the mineral richness of the bright blue pools that form waterfalls over a series of rising ledges. There is life, though, even here, in the form of delicate lily pads that float in rafts around vivid lotus flowers.

If you test the water, you’ll find it’s warm enough to melt the knots out of muscles and make it easy to understand why the few bathers seem to be so languid and relaxed. If you sink all the way in, well, not only will you manage to get clean, but you might find yourself mellowing out even more. So mellow you’ll hardly notice when the pleasant hallucinations start.

You’ll find yourself drawn into visions of your most private joys and of the pleasures you keep to yourself. Maybe it’s a matter of shame or maybe it’s because they’re too precious. There’s one small problem, though. If someone else gets in the same pool, not only will they start to share the same vision, but you’ll start to see theirs too.

Will the fantasies become a nightmare or will you manage to navigate them together? Will you ever be able to look at each other the same way again?
Notes:
1. The hallucinations will end when you leave the water, but only once you and your bathing partner are both out.

2. The flowers are magical and will affect everyone, even robots or super powered people.



Ⅳ. NIGHTBLOOMING
CW: abduction, violence.
You are warned to stay in the elevated village at night. The flower fields are safe enough during the day, but things happen at night. It’s hard to imagine during the day when stingless bees that glitter in jewel colors bumble along and hummingbirds the size of chihuahuas feed from the abundant flowers while squeaking their strong opinions at each other.

But as the moon rises, and most of the flowers close, there’s rustling sounds that make it clear that there are big things moving through that growth. Things that make the hair rise up on the back of a person’s neck. It would take a big prize to make it worth finding out what makes those sounds. A big prize or a reason to face your fears.

There’s a scream in the night. You can ignore it, of course. Not everyone is meant to run towards the scream. It might not even change the color of your ScryWatch.

But if you go to the source of the sound you’ll find a mother weeping openly while other locals gather around to comfort her. It seems her teenager decided that the best way to woo their lover was with glowing flowers that only open under a full moon. The teen has been gone for hours, and the grim expressions on the people around you say his chances aren’t good.

You have a choice to make. Will you go into the dark to face the unknown dangers? Will you offer some other form of comfort? Or will you go back to hide in the safety of the Temple?

Notes:
1. The danger in the flowers consists of six foot tall nocturnal orchid mantises who have the teen pinned in a tree. They are currently singing a human language lullaby to the kid to get them to go to sleep and fall out of the tree.

2. The mantises have a hive mind and will retreat if one of their number is killed, but can also be talked to and negotiated with. They will be willing to trade a regular supply of fish for no longer hunting people.



Ⅴ. SPECIAL EVENT: THE FLOWER ORACLE
In the center of the village, there is a giant flower bud that is bigger than a man is tall. The villagers tell you that you are lucky. You will be here when the Flower Oracle blooms. You will have a chance to speak directly to the Ancient One through the Oracle, and She even answers. All it takes is a little sacrifice.

Notes:
1. During the week of July 12-18, there will be a special event post where characters can choose to interact with the Flower Oracle for a chance to be rewarded, get an answer, get silence, or get punished by the Ancient.

2. Any starter posted during this window will be honored, specifics to come.

3. This event is optional!

Bonus: music to watch the flowers bloom to.


Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

howlett: (wiley)

arrival | temple

[personal profile] howlett 2021-07-11 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
Hanging out at the temple doesn't just give him time to work on these intricate carvings. It's also the best place to spot new faces. Not those already living on this island but the ones that come to the temple, worried, or wary or wrathful about having just stumbled into this place without any answers.

He dusts the shavings off a swath of Wagara pattern and then off his lap as well. Stopping to watch a big blond fellow size himself up for robes.

"Kukri holds an edge better if you ask me," he says. Who's he to comment on anyone's fashion choices anyhow?
Edited 2021-07-11 03:51 (UTC)
wwrench: <lj user=proverbially> (pic#13651254)

[personal profile] wwrench 2021-07-11 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
If the wide-eyed travelers he's arrived with are any indication, none of these blades will be seeing much willful action outside a rogue steak knife. And if he takes fair stock at his surroundings, Wrench might come to admit that may do the majority of them well enough. But from the moment he's awoken to find every last one of his possessions stripped from him, he's been in search of something to arm himself with.

Something about this place makes it difficult to stand in his usual hostile guard. His mind wants to feel soothed, despite every rational thought in his head telling him there's something terribly wrong. Wrench doesn't understand his own compulsion to reach back for the people that reach out to him, except that he's never had a means of communication this easy. When his ScryWatch vibrates, he turns a half-circle until he spots the man from whom the words must've come.

Wrench's expression remains pinched as he tucks both of the blades around the waistband of his flowing, tie-dyed pants. The weight of the weapons compared to the fabric certainly make them tough to conceal.

Kukri's a heavier carry, too, he signs back to the man. Wrench frowns thoughtfully at the carvings on the wall behind him. You decorated this place?
howlett: (disney princess)

[personal profile] howlett 2021-07-11 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
There's a guardedness about the man, Logan thinks. It makes him smile. He'd probably come off the same way if not for the unavoidable tranquility of this place.

The voice in that Scrywatch is not the voice he was anticipating either but nevertheless, after a pensive moment, he seems to put together what's going on with this one.

"No," he shakes his head as he says it. "Just this bit..." Of course, this bit refers to a significantly long section of the wood frame of the structure. "The florals were here when I got here. You been here long?"
wwrench: <lj user=roximonoxide> (pic#13397457)

[personal profile] wwrench 2021-07-11 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
The man before him reminds Wrench of other men he's known in his life. Some by name and others by brutal reputation alone. Maybe for that reason, it shouldn't relax him as much as it does to find himself addressed by this one. Still in a place where nothing seems particularly as it should be, the idea of familiarity strikes a chord. He finds himself shaking his head without stopping to question whether that information might be better kept to his chest.

Just arrived. The back of his hand makes a soft slap when it connects with his palm. He holds both out for a moment, like he's subconsciously waiting to be given something. An explanation, an answer, a task that won't have him feeling so pitched to the wind.

What do they mean? Wrench ventures, abandoning his pursuit of supplies to step a little closer to the carved-up wall.
howlett: (adventurous)

[personal profile] howlett 2021-07-12 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
Even for having just laid eyes on him mere moments, Logan could say the same. It takes a certain kind of person to wake up somewhere and start weighing the tactical potential of different kinds of blades. Logan has spent several life times in the company of this kind of person.

It's impossible not to watch his hands when he speaks, even if the Scrywatch does the translating for him. He could maybe string a clumsy sentence together out of ASL if he really wracked his brain, he thinks, but if he pays enough attention he might learn something.

"Different things," he shrugs and drags his fingers over the nearest collection of repeating shapes. "Sayagata. This one means eternity. Time. Wisdom. The fletching pattern is yagasuri. Supposed to inspire good fortune." he shrugs like he's not exactly committed to that belief. "I think the trick is they're all about the same thing really."
wwrench: <lj user=proverbially> (pic#13703945)

[personal profile] wwrench 2021-07-12 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
Wrench has no choice but to turn his focus to the ScryWatch as the words begin to appear on its screen. In the short time he's been ashore, he's already come to regard the little accessory as a mixed blessing. Never in his life has he experienced something so convenient. Yet the same fact means it's more difficult for him to pretend he doesn't understand. There's a power in being inaccessible that's been ripped from him by the device. Maybe in time he can reclaim it, but now it's novelty enough that every little buzz has him turning back to his wrist to tune into what's being said.

He takes another step forward and touches the pattern that reminds him of a tidy row of feathers stuck from a quiver. It's less intricate, but no less impressive. He could use a little good fortune he thinks to himself as he runs a finger over the notches in the wood.

Do you work here? It's a clumsy way of asking the man's affiliation with the temple, and an even clumsier means of seeking out some kind of purpose for their being. Even after all these years, maybe Wrench is still searching for someone to give him direction.
howlett: (wiley)

[personal profile] howlett 2021-07-12 06:53 am (UTC)(link)
If there's a frustration with this intercepted form of communicating for the big fellow, Logan hasn't recognized it. He chuckles at the question and shakes his head again. With no tools about him to set down he merely dusts his hands and a collection of little wood chips from his knees.

"I don't think anybody's doin' much work on this island. Not like the last one. These folks might not know the meaning of the word." The more relaxed he is the more his mind is allowed to wander uninhibited. Unfortunately for everyone else that means it's that less likely to get a straight answer out of him.
wwrench: <lj user=manual> (pic#13696540)

[personal profile] wwrench 2021-07-12 04:51 pm (UTC)(link)
At the mention of other islands, Wrench nods his head in segments. The jerky motion seems to confirm that it's not the first he's hearing of this nomadic journey, but he's still no closer to understanding the purpose of it all. The words of the ferryman may have been clear, but his present reality holds no room for traveling from world to world on a redemption quest. He lets his hand drop to his side when the ScryWatch reaches the end of its translation and looks around again.

So then what are we supposed to do? Decorate? He splays his hands to gesture around the temple walls, but the expression manages to look half-futile in its uncertainty. We're rats in a cage being observed? Wrench jiggles his ScryWatch demonstratively. The face of it has shown no sign of relenting its persistent orange glow.
howlett: (pensive1)

[personal profile] howlett 2021-07-26 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
He can't blame the man with being dissatisfied with the only answers they've got so far, but neither does this island leave him in the mood to butt heads with their keepers— whoever they are.

Even if the idea of being watched does stick in then back of his mind unpleasantly.

"Whatever tickles you I guess," he says. It's one part the calm of this place and one part a deliberate effort on his part of be patient with all this. "You spend too much energy tryin' figure out what they want you give'em more power than they probably deserve."
wwrench: <lj user=proverbially> (pic#13651261)

[personal profile] wwrench 2021-07-27 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
So you're just hanging out? Wrench scoffs incredulously. The breath of hot air that leaves his nose in a rush is unintended evidence of his own frustration. Isn't doing what they want our way out of here? And back into what is a question he hasn't yet grappled with. Given space and time Wrench may come to realize he's in no great hurry to get back to the life he was living before his place, but right now the very idea of being trapped by someone else's whims is enough to make him wish he were anywhere else.
howlett: (wiley)

[personal profile] howlett 2021-07-27 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"Might be," the thoughtful way he bobs his head with his eyebrows raised looks like he really does give some credence to that idea.

"I ain't seen a whole lotta evidence of that yet though. And I got a policy of not bein' too cooperative with captors," he smiles a little too innocently to be honest.
wwrench: <lj user=proverbially> (pic#13703906)

[personal profile] wwrench 2021-07-27 05:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh yeah? The tall man makes a face not interpreted by the ScryWatch, though the expression might carry some universal understanding. The curious lip curl paints him as interested, though he doesn't go as far as to comment directly on what such a statement may have just illuminated for him. Wrench does pay more than a passing glance to the man's wrist, though, in an effort to catch a longer glimpse at what the color might reveal. So far he's seen plenty of yellows, but far fewer have trended into the deeper sour-sunset that his own displays like a warning.

Must explain why everyone's acting like this is just another average Tuesday.