✨Overview of the
Events of Summer 517 ✨
Events of Summer 517 ✨
✨The Story So Far…
Ancient things infuse the lands around Syka. Most are relics from a time long ago when the jungle was tamed and the hills and valleys were populated with industrious dedicated scientists. Great work was done in that ancient city that was never intended to be a Seaside Paradise. When it thrived there was indeed no inland sea. There were no gentle ocean breezes, only dense interior jungle that sheltered the research facility and allowed it to grow into a thriving but young city in its own right.
The people who lived in this ancient place were hunters and gatherers of a sort. They were collectors and some of the things in their collection were from times long past. They particularly liked things marked or of the Gods. Gathering such things together were risky. Sometimes they didn't interact with one another well. And sometimes the Gods grew jealous when they found out they had things that were in many ways private to them. Once such group of things were tears.
Sometimes The Divine was so moved they shed tears. And when they did, such power poured off them that those tears became tangible things. Sometimes dark, sometimes bright, one such God in his early years wept often for one of his domains was Emotional Upheaval. One of his tears ended up in The Pavena Collection. It was not one, but a multitude of scholars who thought that fateful day some 517 years ago that Ivak had finally discovered they held one of his tears and that was why his wrath was upon the world. They died almost instantly, before indeed, anyone living in that time would know the truth of his betrayal. And though the tears he undoubtably shed in his rage and pain fell through Mizahar, this tear was not one of those. This tear was one of his older ones, full of promise, and formed of an earlier grief.
Its very unshielded presence caused fire to dance with a multitude of colors and sustain itself without fuel providing heat and warmth to whomever partook of it. Ivak's Fire. That's what it was known as to anyone who could remember the days of Pavena's being alive and vibrant. To younger people, people born when Pavena had a new name and rested by the Sea, it was just something unusual. Fires that were lit with the relic around and active would glow with the colors of Ivak's delight - red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple and violet. And just as in the old days before the Pavena residents understood what they had, those same people lighting fires developed the ability to do so with just a thought. And then, even stranger still, the fire would require less and less fuel until none was required. It would burn on normal fuel, of course, but it would also burn without being sustained causing the principles of firecraft to be completely ignored. Long term, the people exposed never lost the ability to light fires. But after the tear was carefully shielded, no new firestarters cropped up.
But like the rest of The Collection, when the Valterrian destroyed Pavena, the Tear was lost.... or so it was thought.
✨What Is This Seasons Theme In Syka?
The Heat Is On!
This season is all about heat, fire, and flame! Everyone who lights a fire in Syka is going to develop the ability to light fires with their mind. All fires burning will burn strangely, flickering with rainbow hues.
We are still building Syka, bringing in new people, and establishing the very infancy of long term plotlines, so I thought I would start out with something very simple and very magical. Fire. Who doesn't like fire?
✨What Does This Mean For Players?
It means you write. You write all about fire! The first time your character physically lights a fire, they are going to gain the ability to light a fire with just willing it into existence. This can be a gentle gleeful thing or a huge traumatic event. The decision is yours! At first the fires will need everything a normal fire needs to burn... heat (provided by your mind), fuel, and air. But as time passes, the fires will need less and less fuel and no air at all. They will just burn, and always with a rainbow of flickering flames that will provide warmth and act in all ways as a normal fire would.
Once lit, players will have no ability to control them with their minds. They must be controlled as normal fire is controlled. If they build them in a very sensible fire pit or ring, they will stay contained. If they light them where there is a lot of fuel, wind, etc... the same danger exists that exists with all fire. These fires must be put out like traditional fires.. meaning you need to bury them, snuff them, or drown them.
If you write 50K words for the season on your character (that's three months or ninety one days folks, far more time than a NaNo situation) then your PC will be able to keep this ability full time and not loose it like everyone else at the end of the season.
You will need to track your word count at the bottom of your posts if you are interested in retaining your firestarter ability after the season is over. I trust you all on the honor system as long as the word count is tracked in every post.