EVENT #07: ASPHODEL CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

[vivalamods]

EVENT #07: ASPHODEL CONSTRUCTION PROJECT PLANNING

The Corsairs have been mobilized and preparations are underway. As negotiators are dispatched to Vindess to prepare for the evacuation under Imperial noses, the crafters and suppliers set to work, preparing the new settlement and whatever airships can be spared for the evacuation. Some Corsairs have even taken it upon themselves to build or “liberate” more airships for the effort.

As always, when the goal is certain the Corsairs move as one. Together, they will see Asphodel completed. All hands are needed, the question is, where do you lend yours?

MISSIONS

Prepare Asphodel: Get the new settlement of Asphodel up and running to receive the refugees from Vindess.
Priority: Critical
Challenges: Corsairs will need to keep the settlement hidden while also making suitable housing and preparing farms and other amenities to sustain life. It will require a large amount of excavation to get in order, as well as construction of homes, furniture, and other facilities. The work will be backbreaking and the timetable is extremely aggressive.

Prepare Citizens for Evacuation: As the citizens of Vindess toil under Imperial lockdown, the Corsairs must prepare the entire population for evacuation.
Priority: Critical
Recommended Roles: Negotiators and Infiltrators
Challenges: Corsairs will need to convince the entire population to evacuate. There are a number of methods that can be employed, while many are going to be reluctant the Imperial crackdown has shaken the settlement and unease is high. There is evidence within the Imperial offices that Infiltrators can recover that show mass executions with lists of “dissidents” have been scheduled for April which the Corsairs might make use of if they choose to investigate. Other options include capturing potential dissidents and taking the entire willing population while executing or taking prisoner loyalists, or other methods the Corsairs determine for themselves to make this happen.


Acquire Airships: The Corsairs always need more airships, and moving an entire population will require heavy effort and can use as many ships as can be mustered.
Priority: Optional
Recommended Roles: All
Challenges: The Corsairs don’t have the major Ether Stones that serve as the airship engines and will need to either capture or salvage resources to increase the size of their fleet. While the Corsairs have been investigating airships that don’t require Ether stones, that research is still a distant dream, but some Corsairs may want to spend some time pushing that investigation along to see if they can make it a reality sooner rather than later.

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Comments

[singlemilletgrain]

"Classes?"

A pause.

"I should take classes?"

She repeats this like it is a foreign concept. ...She has never been to school. Also she is too old for school. She would not fit in a desk.

"That is how learning is traditionally conducted, I suppose. And it is a concept I ought to be more familiar with." But still. "...Perhaps I can just read an instructional manual."

[purplexing]

"I mean...if you think it would help?" Donnie actually likes that there have been classes and so much to learn at the Vault, except when it comes to Ether magic.

"There are books on it! I tried reading some of them but the concepts were kind of hard for me to wrap my head around." Not to mention the vocabulary tended to get a lot more flowery than he could parse.

[singlemilletgrain]

Shu and flowery language get along like two peas in a pod. Even if it is not a concept she is familiar with, she will at least appreciate the beauty of the prose.

"I'll consider the options."

Somehow, she doesn't really relish the idea of sitting through classes. Perhaps it is that it would remind her too much of her early youth. Or perhaps it is that she does not want any other teacher besides the only one she ever had.

"...Show me what you do again? Perhaps you can describe what you're feeling as it happens."

[purplexing]

Donnie makes a slight face, but he holds his hands up again.

"I'm not really good at that sort of thing," he admits as he considers what to build. Nothing too complicated probably, he can still feel the twinge of a headache from his earlier use, and 'pain' probably isn't exactly the descriptor Shu's looking for. Feelings are more his little brother's area of expertise. He could ascribe feelings to colors and make amazing pictures, he could tell the subtle shades of Donnie even when Donnie himself didn't think he was particularly acting any different.

"It's just me thinking of what I might need to build, and then envisioning that blueprint and constructing the parts for it." Glowing lines form shapes and trace out wiring that connects key components, enveloped in another outline and another, fitting together to finally complete a fan. The translucent blades begin to spin, producing a gentle gust of wind.

[singlemilletgrain]

Shu has about as much capability to build a fan as she does to build a nuclear bomb, so this is perhaps not the most useful example. This instruction is somewhat similar to the student who was told to draw an owl by 'draw a circle, then draw the rest of the owl.' But she will try to keep some of these points in mind.

"So if I wish to apply this to the ways that Ether is manifested by other people... Think of what I wish to manifest, then envision the components."

She nods.

......................

Either she is thinking deeply about this concept or is she trying to manifest. Either way, nothing particularly interesting happens for a bit.

"The simplest things are the hardest to describe. What would you say if I asked you how you might go about instructing your legs to move?"

[purplexing]

"Essentially. But then I don't know what you mean to try manifesting..."

Donnie looks at her expectantly as he wonders if she's attempting to do just that. He can't really tell.

"Uuh..." The turtlekin frowns at the question, letting his magical construct dissipate. "That's so automatic a process that I wouldn't know where to start. I guess it's not so much directing my legs to move so much as knowing where I want to move to, right?"

[singlemilletgrain]

She nods with a faint smile.

"That is exactly how I make the plants grow. They just do. So you see why purposefully using Ether may feel like an alien concept. However... I believe I am having a brainwave by speaking to you."

Shu places her hands with interlaced fingers and palms pointing up by her abdomen.

"There is a Yanese meditation form called 'qigong.' It is the art of channeling your qi - or breath. If you remember what I told you before about qi... it is the energy latent within your body." With eyes closed, she begins to move her hands slowly through a series of odd and rhythmic motions. Her voice, when she speaks, is slowed. "By opening the qi flow... one might open the mind... to enhance health... and move energy through one's breath..."

With a deep exhalation, a cloud of vapor seems to manifest from her breath.

"...How was that?"

...Since her eyes were closed and all.

[purplexing]

Donnie tilts his head as he watches her. He nods a little, he remembers what qi is.

Through breath though? He looks a little confused at the concept, but as Shu exhales something like steam, the turtlekin blinks.

"It was like...you know, when it's cold and your breath freezes in the air? I saw it right then."

[singlemilletgrain]

"Hmm..."

A lighter exhalation and Shu resumes her normal stance.

"That is something." She smiles lightly. "I do not understand what you do, because it is unique to the way your mind functions. So I must find what is unique to my own. If I envision Ether as qi, I think I can find a way."

[purplexing]

"That's just it, I think," Donnie says, smiling a little. "Figuring out how to make it work for you. You already do amazing things, so I don't doubt you'll be able to work out how to make use of Ether in a way that makes sense to you."

[singlemilletgrain]

"Thank you for your tutelage, Donnie."

Shu nods and bows very slightly in acknowledgment of his help, even if he does not feel like he was directly teaching her.

"I will strive to move forward from here. ...In the meantime, perhaps we ought to adjourn from rock-breaking for lunch."

((I think this is a good place to leave off if that's ok with you!))

[purplexing]

((*thumbs-up!*))