Let's Get Down to Business

[voidtreckermods]

---

Let's Get Down to Business

---

On day twenty two of the month of Llama a message comes up on the ICP's.

Voidtreckers have many questions about what happened on system #93426194992 and the entity that was encountered. Analysis shows that the entity on system #93426194992 was also present on systems #86525656412355 and #2207385.

Though it is not known what that entity is, it is clear that it possesses some level of mind influence and complex illusionary magic.

There is a void nexus on system #62138 inhabited by a religious order that, due to their close proximity to the void, employ mental techniques to help with such illusions.

We will be visiting system #62138 for three Days. The Voidtrecker express will remain with the Voidtreckers during this time and due to the nature of the void nexus it is highly advisable to sleep on board.

System #62138 is a wet world. All Voidtreckers will be safe but are advised to keep their SCAs on at all times. This should be the standard on all systems.

THE VOID NEXUS
From the windows of the Voidtrecker Express, passengers see the Void Nexus as a vast island surrounded by darkness, punctuated with rivets of colours running through the sky that casts a glow of blues and violets as they descend closer to the surface. The world faintly blurs the way one’s sight does when sinking into the depths of an ocean, the train manoeuvring around tall rocks that rise like digitates, a sea-green hue deepening over the rocky land outside.

The train doors open from each carriage, and luckily it’s not a flood that welcomes them but clammy air cool to the skin. They come out to a section of land sparse of more than tunicate-like plants under their feet, pools of silvery water otherwise sunk between small pathways that lead like bridges forward.

Which is likely their destination, a vast coral-like structure with a high opening awaiting them - and as they get closer, a being far taller than any of the Voidtrecker themselves.

ARRIVAL

They are met by a tall robed figure. First glance will show them to be a deep purple in colour with a domed head and long tentacles sprouting from their chin that sway slightly when they move. Still they nod deeply and their mouth moves into a shape that could be interpreted as a smile.

"Welcome to those of the VoidTrecker Express. Your arrival was foretold and we have awaited you. Please accept our hospitality."

They lead them onwards, explaining that outsiders are always welcome here but ask them to remain within the public parts of the temple. They further explain that their order is for the most part a silent one. There is no restriction on the voices of guests but they should not be insulted if the members of the order do not answer.

Once a small tour has been conducted the Voidtreckers are left to their own devices to train or explore as they see fit.


IT'S A TRAINING MONTAGE
Going through to the back of the temple will lead them outside once more, the gentle sound of falling water greeting them at what seems to be a distance. But yet - faint as it is to see, glistening in translucent silvers and pinks - the water is quite near and wide, spilling from the high mountain cliff that borders in an otherwise enclosed space. The pool takes up a large portion of this garden, of coral reef and circled stone pathways where every step must be considered, unless you’d like a surprise trip and dip.

Fortunately, the silver water here is light. Submerging yourself in it or sitting under its flow, you won’t find the hard rush of its weight over your heads and shoulders, and the same weightlessness follows you going under. You find that you can breathe and when you come away from the lake, your body and clothes are lightly damp at most.

Still, there is plenty of ground to walk along without going over the pool. However, the first steps of learning mental fortitude against illusionary obstacles will take you into...

[ MEDITATION. ] To combat irrationalities is to iron your own reactions to them. You are instructed to sit where you find it comfortable: those unused to mental training should keep to the shoreline, while the more intermediate may find taking the stone steps out to large limpet-shaped shells - sizeable to fit 3-4 people each - a better challenge. Those more daring should sit under the waterfall or to go into the water’s depths, where you at least don’t need to worry about breathing, or even getting that wet.

To get wet isn’t the purpose, fortunately. The purpose comes the moment you close your eyes - for as soon as you do, you feel. You sense. Some other, some thing, a presence your mind decides must be there. This sensation is lighter by the shore, but sitting above the water or submerging yourself inside it brings it stronger against you. In truth there is nothing there, no one but the other Voidtreckers, but the spell of the water - or is it the void within the water? - makes your brain think otherwise, logic not welcome company.

Being in groups can help ease the effects through the SCAs, but otherwise, true control comes down to yourself. Breaks are recommended, as there’s no point wearing down an already exhausted mind. Your mind is your defence. Strengthen it. Wield it as a weapon.

[ Combat. ]

Though not exactly what they are here for Voidtreckers will notice that this order of void worshipers train in a form of martial arts. They train outside, using the watery air as part of their movement. Training is done in large group sessions and without weapons. It has a strong focus of listening to the world around them and fighting in a way that makes them one with the world, using the environment to their advantage.

Even though that might not seem the most useful to people who won't be fighting in an environment such as this world, it is at least a good form of exercise.

Any voidtrecker who is curious is welcome to join in the training and those that show especial interest can take more specific lessons aimed at beginners.


TRAVELLING THE NEXUS
[ OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE. ] While the lake and surrounding temple will help to strengthen one’s mental defences with perseverance and training, there is more that can be done away from the temple, and the island is free to be explored. The Voidtrecker Express is stationed where it dropped everyone off, and returning to it will offer everyone a mental relief regardless of the levels of their ongoing training.

The marshland continues beyond the train, one route mostly made by the natural stone pillars that rise up from the ground like stalagmites. Higher cliffs can be climbed by those who wish to, if just for a higher view, curiosity, or privacy. From wherever you look, this island gives off the same impression as most of it already has: sea-like.

[ PLANTS. ] Underfoot, there is not earth-like grass or flowers, but seagrass, kelp, algae and more. They grow along the stone, idly waving as if submerged in water and pushed by unseen waves. Strange blue plants with purple-tipped tendrils will wiggle if touched, while at the higher levels, small bulbs of some kind cluster around the size of a fist. Types of plankton make the gnats of this nexus, too tiny most of the time to be noticed as more than dots to the eyes.

[ CREATURES. ] Also, don’t forget the fish. As tiny as a pinky finger, as big as a hand, the size of a human; they swim through the air, not particularly caring for the Voidtreckers, but also not looking to engage with them. The larger of the fish travel higher than the smaller, and those as big as whales farther up than even the taller cliffs can reach. For those that have any ideas of hunting, they will know - mysteriously, as if recalling the thought - that they should go for the larger fish, and not harm the younger, smaller ones. Those are tastier, after all.


[ STONE FOREST. ] Travel low or high, the way will take them to what appears to be a forest that spans across a large portion of the central island. But as the rest of the nexus is, this is no ordinary, woody land. Its trees are stone, coral, rising high and jagged, the water in the atmosphere denser in this jungle of rock. It turns the world a sea-green to move through, with plants and coral everywhere to be seen. The air denser, thicker, leaving small droplets of water on skin and clothes.

There are no real paths than the spaces between the ‘trees’, but there are guides to find your way to somewhere: pink jellyfish, or something of the sort floating around. They are the shiri as the monks call them, and looking upon them will tell you they will help you find where you need to go, that they will aid you if you get lost and think of them. And for those whose thoughts lean such a way, they will know that harming them will bring a greater injury to the individual who does so tenfold, and they will find no guidance at all on this nexus until they have repented.

Read: Enjoy being stuck on the train for the rest of the stay.

[ CONCH LAKE. ] For those less destructive, a short travel through the stone forest will lead them to a lake, with what can only be described as a conch shell gazebo accessible in its centre. Bubbles float up and around, balls of water made to linger by whatever strange force controls this place. They can be made to bounce away and around with a touch, and respond to being thrown as a ball might. Just, watch out: They like to burst at random, no matter the force used, scattering as tiny beads all over the air.

The water here is different from that around the temple, its colour more blue, but closer to aqua than what many are used to. Yet diving into it will have the similar properties that allows one to hold their breath for much longer than usual, and to move with an ease, like floating weightlessly. There’s no worry if they close their eyes here, a peace radiating from the pool; like a refuge from the trickery that lurks no matter where you are in this nexus.

Climbing out of the pool will have you damp, more appropriately soaked than the temple’s lake. There’s nothing like towels or a great way to dry off, but you can sit and hang around under the conch gazebo if you like.

Or perhaps messing around isn’t what brought you here, but the four iridescent slabs of stone that stand at intercardinal points at the edges of the lake, that speak of the Trials to the mind when you look upon them.


THE FOUR CAVERN TRIALS

There are four caverns, four trials, with each slab suggesting their test. Upon deciding where you will go, a shiri will come to guide your character through the forest to where the stone trees part, and a half an hour walk will lead Voidtreckers to a vesicular cavern.

You know as you approach the cave’s mouth that the shiri will guide you out if you need it, but they stay outside, leaving those searching for advanced training to journey on in themselves. Passengers descend, dots of light coming through the multiple holes above to illuminate the way as you go deeper into the cave.

And you won’t have to go far to find the crystals in any of the caverns, though there’s many pathways to go deeper in. Attacking the stones to break them won’t do much, but when you put your hand on one…

The illusions start, pulling in anyone nearby.

[ CAVE OF PERCEIVING. ]    Bend deceiving labyrinths into your own path.

What is real? What is not? This cave holds a large underground river flowing through it. The water is not too fast flowing or deep but it is cold enough to be a shock if anyone falls in.

Fall in they might for their task is to cross the river. The river is filled with stones large enough to hold a person as they cross. However not all of those stones are real, some are just illusions and if they step on the illusionary rocks they will fall through to the river below.

It is possible to get by on trial and error but the task will not be considered complete until they force their minds to see through the illusions are perceive the one true path.

[ CAVE OF ENDURANCE. ]    Wounds bleed and skin burns only to bodies that believe it.

This cave may differ between Voidtreckers. Sometimes it is a monster they must face or an environmental challenge to battle through.Perhaps the searing heat of a fire or the low altitude and freezing temperature of a mountain top. Perhaps a lizard with claws and teeth. The important part is not defeating the threat but to neutralise the damage. It's not real and the mind can overcome it.

All the caves are probably best faced in groups but this was especially so. They are unlikely to be able to make the damage unreal to start with and so there is likely to be a fight or struggle before they succeed.

[ CAVE OF HEART. ]    To accept crafted desires is to invite everlasting grief.

Here they are in a beautiful place. A meadow, a forest, a rocky beach. The weather is beautiful, not too hot not too cold. A little further in is something they want, something their heart yearns for.

They can't see it yet but they are sure they will, if only they go deeper into the grass, the trees, the water. It is there, just out of reach.

To pass this test they must walk away. Turn around and leave despite their heart calling to them to go deeper.

[ CAVE OF MIND. ]    Craft a weapon from your own vulnerabilities.

Fear does not have to be a weakness. The cave is filled with a lake and in the centre there is a bubble of water, it contains something they fear. They can't see it but they know it is there. Perhaps a person, a place, an object.

Facing a fear is one thing but this task asks for more than that. To accept the fear as part of them, to turn it into a strength to protect others.

This trial is the most personal and perhaps the most difficult. They must step into that space, knowing that they will face what they fear whilst also knowing that it won't be real and use that knowledge and acceptance to bring down the entire illusion, bubble, lake and all.




art sources: alien / landscapes / waterfall / caverns

OOC Information

Comments

[stillnewatthis]

Perceive With Your Mind

[The trial of perception seems innocent enough for exactly three seconds, after which Orisa emerges from the river, water pouring off of her in gallons.]

How strange. Not all these stones have a physical existence, but they appear identical in all respects. Visual and auditory scans cannot discern a difference!

[Turning, Orisa considers the stones again, attempting to judge which ones are fake and which are real on some sort of intuition or luck rather than based on her sensory input. Then she leaps forward, all four legs arched to land perfectly on a stone.]

[Kerplunk. Straight through it she goes, and a moment later emerges again.]

That was incorrect.

Sensations That You Thought Was Dead

[In the middle of no less than a lava field, with baking heat that feels more like a physical wall than a true sensation filling the air, stands an omnic. Orisa appears completely motionless, not even displaying the usual click and whirr of her eyeshields swiveling. One might be forgiven for thinking she has completely shut down, although she is standing rather than collapsed, at least. What the heck is going on?]

My Future is Coming On

Quickly! We must hurry!

[Hurrying isn't difficult, with Orisa in the lead. Her four legs and large body stomp a clean path through the tall grass, a long straight cut that might as well be a road for how easy it is to follow her.]

[What is she heading towards? Truth be told, she doesn't know for sure, but something tells her she needs to find it. Orisa hasn't thought to question that impulse -- sometimes, one's lower-level processes can inject surprising or inexplicable thoughts into consciousness. Humans would call it a subconscious, and hadn't they evolved to gain valuable insight from it?]

It cannot be much farther!

perceive

[happyends]

[ Madoka is just so stunned watching this display.

So stunned that she doesn't even know what to say. She should probably stop Orisa the second time the other attempts it, but she can't do a thing. All she can do is stare, unable to even force out a single word, as she watches the other fall into the river all over again.

It's only then that she can slowly take her hands off her shocked-looking mouth, softly speaking up. ]

Um, I.. Excuse me, but I don't think we're supposed to do it like that.. [ Look, she's just trying really hard to not be rude here! ]

[stillnewatthis]

I am uncertain how to proceed. [Orisa seems not at all bothered by her statement, so it must not have been rude, right? Instead, the omnic works on coaxing water out of her joints with a few broad movements.]

[happyends]

Ah, well..!

[ Even though the girl feels a little awkward about explaining it, since it's not like she perfectly knows all of the details here either, she figures that someone has got to give Orisa some direction.

Even if it's not much. ]

Rather than doing it over and over again like that.. I think this is supposed to teach us how to tell whether something is real or not before we test it out..

[stillnewatthis]

I have attempted to do so repeatedly, but I cannot detect any differences. I believed an experiment might reveal one, but... [Orisa shrugs, which is both very human and surprisingly different all at once thanks to her construction.]

[happyends]

[ Madoka doesn't blame her. She thinks it's really hard to see too. If she just looks at the rocks from where she's standing right now, she can't really tell a difference either..

But there's got to be a solution, she just knows it. Otherwise they wouldn't have been brought here. ]

Maybe it has to do with that thing they were teaching us earlier? Um, I mean.. the meditating? Maybe we should try that..

Percieve with your mind

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin is in the cave too, and he watches Orisa leaping onto one of the stones and going right through it. ]

I did the same thing! These stones are tricky. Not easy to tell the difference between the real ones and the illusory ones, like you say.

[stillnewatthis]

I am unclear as to how we should proceed. [Orisa lifts her arms, then swivels them, letting water pour out of the joints. Her limbs aren't actually physically connected, as it happens.] I believe it would be easy to identify them based on experimentation, but that does not seem correct.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin watches the water pouring out of Orisa's arm joints, but he doesn't ask how that can be. He does see that she is constructed differently than any organic beings he knows. That's okay, since Voidtreckers come in all sorts. ]

I guess we don't get to experiment, at least not in any scientific sense. We just have to employ the resources of our minds and imaginations and try to find our own significant mental identifyers of reality or illusion. I'm still working on it, myself.

[stillnewatthis]

I cannot observe any differences. [That's how Orisa thinks of this -- that some difference must exist between the real and fake ones, which is how they're meant to determine the path forward.] I have attempted to, but so far without success. I am not certain what I should be looking for now.

[so_dark_a_road]

I don't see any differences when I'm just looking with my eyes. The real rocks and the fake rocks look identical. For me, it only works if I'm using my mind to see past the illusion, which normally I'd be able to do easily, being a vision-caster myself. But for some reason, my mind seems rather distractable now. [ And Curufin knows why. ] I keep losing my focus.

You haven't had any sucess at all? Try looking past the illusion. To do that, you change the focus from your eyes to your mind or spirit.

Future

[namethattune]

[Keeping pace with Orisa takes a bit more doing than Siebren would normally have thought; whatever it is she thinks she is in pursuit of, it has quite the allure.]

[Of course, that is the point of the tests, is it not?]

Orisa, wait. A moment, please.

[He doesn't want to take her off her feet entirely, but the option is on the table if he cannot get her to stop and think.]

[stillnewatthis]

[Silly Siebren! Orisa is specifically built to no-sell things like that! But luckily his words are half-enough -- she slows down, turning her torso and head to face him curiously.] Is something wrong?

[namethattune]

[Pfff it's all a matter of who makes the first move]

[Luckily, such measures are not necessary - at least, not yet.]

Yes. Take a moment to consider the circumstances - you do remember that this is a test, correct?

[stillnewatthis]

That is correct! I believe what I seek is ahead. I learned previously that we should listen to our intuition. Since my belief has no conscious source, it must be my intuition guiding me!

[At least her incredibly wrong conclusion is logical and internally consistent.]

[namethattune]

[...oh boy.]

Or that is the test itself. What exactly is it that you seek? Can you name it, or describe it, or quantify it in any capacity?

Future

[firewalled]

[Rich is quite shocked to see Orisa again. It's been quite a while for him, and well... who knows if she'll even recognize him with how different he was from his younger self? So he's eager to check in with her when he realizes she's starting to run somewhere. Towards... that nice, warm feeling that has seemed just out of reach since Rich entered the cave.

Huh. He has a feeling something here is wrong.]

Orisa! Hey, wait! I don't think you should go there!

[stillnewatthis]

[Orisa slows, but does not stop.]

I believe something valuable is ahead!

[firewalled]

Do you know what it is? Or is it just a feeling?

[Because a vague feeling isn't something they should trust, as far as Rich has learned.]

[stillnewatthis]

I believe it is intuition! I worked on developing that skill earlier.

[She is very proud she got this far! Those illusory stepping stones were difficult to figure out.]

[firewalled]

I'm proud of you for that, but I don't know if this is real intuition. I think the cave might be tricking you.

[Every other cave has been a trick, so surely something's up with this one too, right?]

[emerald_mirror]

[Air is the opposing element of Earth. For all that Xander's got wings and knows how to fly, he also knows that if ever he runs into angry elementals--well. If these things are throwing tests at them, something like that is his. He doesn't see the oppressive heat that hammers down on Orisa--he has winds that scream and batter and try to keep him from even entering the cave.]

What the--Orisa, are you even awake in there??

[He's not sure why the wind would bother her, but here we are. Even as he swoops at the entrance and gets knocked back, he calls to her to see if he can get an answer. He hopes...]

[stillnewatthis]

Oh, hello!

[Her hand goes up, then swivels left and right for a cheerful wave. Orisa doesn't open her eyes, nor does she move in any respect otherwise.]

I am engaged in overcoming this challenge!

[emerald_mirror]

[Okay well yeah that is a thing, isn't it? He considers a moment, wings beating mightily--but if he's not in the air, the wind can only do so much to a standing person. So Xander stops trying entirely, furling his wings to drop to a landing.

Yes. That does help. The winds still tear at clothes and hair, but his wings, not so much.]

Uh. I can kind of see that, but doing that how?

[He does try to make his way closer in--it's still slow thanks to the wind, but it seems easier now.]

[stillnewatthis]

The sensory data from the surroundings is false. I am manually flagging it! I suppose you would consider it as repeating "this isn't real" over and over in my mind.

[It really isn't too different for her, either. Maybe slightly more mechanistic, but omnic programming is nowhere near cut-and-dry.]