i was following the pack all swaddled in their coats

[singmod]

MAY 2025 EVENT

PROMPT ONE — THE SHUDDERING EARTH: Quake activity in the area, paired with decaying infrastructure, reveals a way for Interlopers to make their way to the coast.

PROMPT TWO — THE LONG ROAD: Interlopers can now embark on the long and dangerous journey to Silverpoint, and make some grim discoveries on the way.

PROMPT THREE — TRY HONESTY: A dream leads to Interlopers being a little more honest with one another, in different kinds of ways.

THE SHUDDERING EARTH

WHEN: Early May, onwards.
WHERE: Everywhere, Carter Hydrodam.
CONTENT WARNINGS: themes of natural disasters; earthquakes; potential avalanches; themes of exploration/survival; potential injuries, potential cold injuries/hyperthermia risk.


Seismic activity is well known within the Northern Territories. Both last year, and over the last month or so, Interlopers have felt intermittent tremors — the ground quaking beneath their feet, enough to upset some objects around homes but never quite enough to cause some serious damage. Interlopers have been fortunate, but the damage caused by these quakes have long left their scars over the years in this world: railroads and roads buckled and crumbled, bridges destroyed and tunnels and pathways caved in, cutting off access. The quakes can cause some serious damage.

Interlopers will find that out in the late evening of one otherwise calm day in May.

Animals will notice the signs of the impending quake before humans do, growing restless and agitated in the hour or so before the shaking starts.

A low tremor that makes items in homes quiver, the ground vibrating beneath your feet. It quickly grows more violent — items can be sent flying if they’re not secured. Light fixtures sway overhead, furniture will shake and topple over, dust and debris could rain down from above — some places worse than others, depending on the building.

Diving for shelter is the best thing to do, out of the way of windows and objects that can fall over. Finding something sturdy to take cover under. The shaking grows intense, especially in the Lakeside area. There is a strange and terrible churning of metal and stone, a crash, something giving way. Roars and crackles of noise.

In Lakeside, where the quake is far more intense, the sound reverberates around the area, but the sound can even be heard so far as in Milton — distant but noticeable. It comes from the direction of the Hydrodam.

The quake is fortunately short-lived and finally dies down. Interlopers will be able to come out of hiding and assess the damage and check on one another for injuries. Within Milton and Lakeside, some buildings that have never been inhabited by Interlopers and remained empty for a long time (and thus in states of disrepair) will be found severely damaged. Water pipes may burst, causing flooding in some unused buildings — ultimately rendering them now useless and uninhabitable.

Generally, it looks like large swathes of the area have come out unscathed — but there is a risk of avalanches in some of the more remote locations near to the mountains. It might take several days for Interlopers to take stock and assess properly, even check further afield.

Interlopers who choose to investigate the Hydrodam will come to find that sections of the dam itself have given way, the metal burst open and water spilling outwards and down the river towards the coast. The huge gorge which separates Lakeside and The Coast is a raging torrent. In time, these waters will eventually calm but it looks like the previously flooded sections of the dam that had meant it was completely inaccessible might be now free to explore with the fact the water had .

The Hydrodam has been in a state of disrepair for some time. Before The Flare, it barely had a skeleton crew running things. Now, with no one to maintain the dam itself following previous quake activity — it looks like this quake has been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Traversing through the dam will reveal that the lower levels are now accessible and can be entered. But Interlopers should take caution: while the lower dam is now free to explore, this section of the dam still contains freezing cold water that can reach knee deep on the average person. What’s worse is these sections are filled with debris: equipment, furniture and even random junk and industrial supplies that had been once stored there. Some are broken, and can can injury to the unsuspecting traveller.

Travelling through the dam through an Aurora would be incredibly dangerous due to damage in the building, with exposed wiring and partially flooded areas not mixing great companions. The utmost care should be taken when exploring and finding the way through, or it may spell trouble.

But what it will lead to is a way out. On the other side of the dam.

And a way out to the coast.

THE LONG ROAD

WHEN: Early May, onwards.
WHERE: Carter Hydrodam, The Coast
CONTENT WARNINGS: themes of exploration/survival; potential injuries, potential cold injuries/hyperthermia risk; corpses; dead npcs.

Coming out and down from the other side of the Hydrodam will bring Interlopers to the destroyed Connector Bridge and onto Coastal Highway — the main road that leads to Silverpoint. There are a few extra outbuildings on this side of the dam which are dry but not particularly comfortable — but it’ll make do in the face of recovering from getting through the dam itself.

But after that? The world is far more open compared to Lakeside and certainly less sheltered than Milton, meaning winds are incredibly biting and difficult to contend with whilst travelling. There is little in terms of cover, and thus Interlopers may need to really plan well in order to keep themselves alive. Hopefully Interlopers have come well prepared for the journey ahead of them.

A great deal of the landscape has been damaged by quakes, making the terrain difficult to navigate: with huge, icy ridges and gorges in the earth and roads — providing ample danger to travellers. But sticking roughly to the road means a straight-forward way down but it will take several days to walk down, given the difficulty.

There is nowhere indoors to shelter on this journey save for a single garage and gas station about half-way through the trek south. Interlopers will need to brave the outdoors, even sleeping out doors or in the shallow, sheltered caves that may be seen just off the road. Interlopers will need to huddle for warmth, keeping an eye on one another to make sure they make it through the night. The gas station will provide decent shelter and warmth, however, and even boasts a few supplies left of food, water and fuel. Some one has definitely been here, but with it being so remote, it’s no wonder it’s generally been left alone.

The reasons why will soon come to light.

On the road down, Interlopers will make grim discoveries: frozen, partially mummified remains of people, half-hidden in the snow and ice. Many of them appear poorly dressed for the journey, and look to have died from hypothermia or some other kind of cold-induced injury. Some may be found as if they had simply collapsed in the snow and died. Others may be found in small groups, huddled and slumped together — having succumbed to the cold. Suitcases and bags will be littered around with them — sometimes luggage will be left abandoned alone, as if someone just gave up carrying it.

Some Interlopers will realise: these are the remains of Milton’s original residents. The ones that made it out of Milton and Lakeside, only to die on the way to the coast. Dozens upon dozens of bodies, making you wonder if anyone ever made it out alive at all.

One long road, a graveyard.


And then, in the distance, where the ocean stretches out before your eyes: the outline of a village can be seen before the land meets the water. Civilisation? People?

As twilight falls, more curiously, a light blinks slowly on the landscape. It may be easier or hard to spot, depending on the time of day. What… is that?

Silverpoint.

TRY HONESTY

WHEN: May and into June.
WHERE: Everywhere.
CONTENT WARNINGS: themes of honesty/forced honesty; potential body horror.

It begins with a dream. You stand in the atrium of a large cave, lit by a large campfire — the smoke drifting out an opening in the cave’s roof above. Someone sits by the fire with their hands covering their face and as you draw closer and closer to the flames, you realise it is a woman who sits on the opposite side of the flames. For some, they will not know who this woman is but some will recognise her: Enola.

She does not speak, does not look at you. She keeps her face hidden behind her hands, almost-childlike as she sits. The light is low but it’s a pleasant, peaceful kind of ambiance — even if Enola’s actions are a little strange, almost troubling. If you listen carefully, you’re almost sure you can quietly hear crying.

Across the campfire, on your own side of it, there are three stones laid out on the floor, each of them carved with a rune of sorts. It’s hard to tell what the runes mean, exactly. They don’t appear to be in any symbolic or runic language you’ve seen before. Even if you don’t understand them, you find yourself drawn to one of these runes.

You move to kneel on the cave floor and you reach forwards. Your hand hovers over it — a strange thrum in the air, like you can feel some kind of energy of vibration coming from it. You reach for the stone, Enola doesn’t move. As you move to pick up the stone, you feel the sharp burning sting of pain—

The dream ends.

You awaken. Not the sharp snapping of sleep to waking. Just the simple, natural waking that comes when one wakes up. But you feel… different somehow.

Honest. But honest, how exactly?

It all depends which rune you picked in your dream.

HEART RUNE: Interlopers who chose this rune will find themselves more emotionally honest. How this manifests is an aura of colour that surrounds the Interloper which will reflect their current emotional state — ie. golden for happy, shades of grey for exhaustion/tiredness, pinks for romantic feelings. The aura is dynamic and can shift with colours and even have multiple colours in play, depending on the complexities of the emotions.

MIND RUNE: Interlopers who chose this rune will find themselves with an honest mind, and will feel compelled to speak it. They are honest with their words: blunt and to the point, avoiding lies or bending truths. They may even feel compelled to reveal things that have been playing on their mind for some time — choosing to clear the air, and potential dirty laundry.

FORM RUNE: Interlopers who chose this rune will find themselves physically honest. Their previous hurts and injuries will become visible on their skin. This can be previous injuries or sicknesses the Interloper has sustained over the course of their life — even if they are now long since healed. It could be a physical manifestation of emotional or mental pain in some way. Your body no longer holds it secrets, they’re now plain and open for the world to see.

FAQs

THE SHUDDERING EARTH

1. Players are free to destroy their own homes/make them uninhabitable if they wish. Please amend the Housing Spreadsheet to reflect this. Commercial/Public buildings are off limits for destruction but players can handwave any other random buildings/empty homes in Milton that have been destroyed in the quake.

2. THE HOT SPRINGS ARE OKAY. Just a little snowed in.

3. The Hydrodam (and it's hot showers) will have seen damage done to it and will require repairs/maintenance.


THE LONG ROAD

1. The Coast is now accessible to all players. Please see this page for further information.

2. Beach.....................

3. As a reminder. It takes about 24 hours to get from Milton to the Carter Hydrodam. Once out of the Dam, travel down to Silverpoint will take a number of days.

4. Three minor NPCs have been introduced! Molly, the owner of The Frozen Angler; her teenage son Jace; and Father Thomas of St Christopher's Church. There will be an opportunity to ask them questions, a top level of which can be found below!

5. Marra will not be open for interactions just yet.

TRY HONESTY

1. The durations of the effects are down to player choice, but will last at a minimum of three days or can last up to a full month or so and even continue into June.

2. The Form Rune's effects are purely cosmetic and will not actively harm the Interloper.

3. The Heart Rune's effects will only be visible to Interlopers.

4. Players can only play with one rune, they cannot choose to go with more than one.

PLOTTING POST

Comments

[astrogator]

'Maybe,' says Tayrey, willing to consider the idea but not to commit to it. 'We are all so different; if there is something beyond blind improbabilities that brings us here, I can't see it.'

She glances down again, at the smallest of them, a little girl with a blonde braid frozen solid. Her instinct is to look away, quickly, but she fights it. They deserved so much more than this. The least she can do is stand witness.

'It's terrible, to be forgotten. In our line of work, we can't be too precious about death, yes? There are risks, out in the black, always, and spacers have to take them.' Her brow creases. 'I don't believe there's anything after. Some people do, but my father never had any time for those superstitions.' And so neither did Arilanna Tayrey, loyal Company daughter that she had been. 'For me, that makes the remembrance more meaningful. Not less. Still, we used to joke-'

Spacers' humor got dark, sometimes. Don't die unless there's a senior captain to see you off, that's what Lowell had said before Tayrey's first expedition.

Her gaze flickers back up to meet Konstantin's, and she speaks in earnest. 'What would you want done for you, if you died here?' There's no euphemism, no hiding the stark nature of the question. She has to know.

[sputnik]

The question draws a pause. The concept of his own death isn't foreign to his thoughts; it would be foolish to assume he could escape death in this place. Perhaps especially given what's wrong with him, it's a wonder he hasn't died already. But as to what, specifically, he would want done for him... he hasn't entertained that.

Being who and what he is, his death would be an enormous deal, back home. He would be honoured like a beloved lost celebrity; at the heart of it all would be glory, and that's what he'd always yearned for. But now.... Now he knows that back home, he dies, and no one knows the truth around those circumstances. He doesn't know if he'll be regarded a hero or a monster. But he did what it took to save the others, to save his son, and now... it doesn't matter anymore, how he'll be remembered or even how his body will be treated. He realises that now, and it startles him a bit.

"...You know, I think... however my close ones here — or hell, whomever were to find me dead — wants to handle it, then that's what I want. Whatever makes them feel at peace. Whether it's burial or burning or anything at all. I can't believe I'm saying this, but they can even pray to their gods for me if they like." He chuckles softly, looking up at Tayrey before he continues, clarifying—

"I don't believe there's anything after, either. There's no... higher power, no afterlife to step into once we take our last breath. But it's as you said — it makes the remembrance more meaningful, not less. The people who are still living... I'd like it if they handled my body in the ways that matter to them."

His own answer surprises him, and he has to take a moment to process it. He keeps being made aware of the ways he's lost who he used to be, but it's not always a bad thing. Just... strange; loss always is, no matter what form.

"...But as I stand here still alive, maybe a bit selfishly, I would like it if someone told me that I wouldn't be forgotten," he adds with a little smile. "What about you, lieutenant? What would you want done for you?"

[astrogator]

His answer, given as it is with care and thought, leaves Tayrey's mind reeling at how profoundly foreign it seems. The rites for the dead are to honor the individual, to see their wishes done for the last time. Had she heard Konstantin's answer back on the Prosperity, she might have been repelled by it. Since then, however, she's had the benefit of encountering cultures and ideas dramatically different from her own. What is this, compared to eating the flesh of animals? Her tolerance has grown beyond what she could have imagined. She sees his intent, the feeling behind it, even if she can't agree.

'If that's what you wish for, then word by contract I'll see it done,' she says solemnly, binding herself to it. There were standard spacers' rites back home, but they always made room for the individual. It had been her duty to know the wishes of everyone in astrogation who followed her, their poetry and prayers and the superstitions of distant worlds. As their section lieutenant, it was the last thing she could ever do for them, no matter her personal opinions.

'When I... lost someone,' she says softly, 'it helped me to do things that I knew they wanted, even when that meant arranging for prayers I didn't believe in. I never forgot any of them, and I won't forget anyone here, although I hope we all live, and not-' she gestures down at the bodies, not feeling the need to say more.

'As for me? The critical part of the rite is for my body to be sent for a final voyage to the stars, but I can't put that on you; I don't think it can be done with what we have here.' She bites her lip, trying to hide her distress at the thought. 'Put me in a frozen place. That's closest.' It's less disturbing to think about than being buried in the actual ground, at least. 'And if you want to give an account of me as an officer, I'd welcome it, but I won't require it. It's tradition to have a Tradeliner of higher rank say something...' and as the sole Tradeliner, she has no chance of that, but she feels kinship enough with him that it feels right to trust him with it.

[sputnik]

His own answer, in truth, goes against everything that he should believe in. Everything he once aspired for. It would be a lie to say that he's at full peace about it, or that some part of him isn't slightly repelled by his own response, feeling strangely out of place about it. But Konstantin's no longer a young man; his hair is greying, he's the age of a father, and many things about his reality have... changed.

He gives a solemn little nod of his own, a small smile at Tayrey's words. She's quite a serious young woman, very grounded. He thinks he can trust her in a particular way; she'll get a job done, that much is very clear.

Then he's listening as she continues, speaking quietly of a loss and her resilience to follow, and he's staring somberly over at her. It must be a particular horror to know that the burial rites her culture is used to can't be fulfilled here. That this place limits everything she is used to. Konstantin can relate to that, in his ways, but for Tayrey, it must be ten times as difficult, considering her proximity to the stars is far closer than his own ever was.

Still... he feels a swell of comradery towards the young officer for it, and a deep empathy that makes him draw in a slow breath. When he speaks again, it's very seriously, wanting her to know that he takes her request just as earnestly.

"I would be honoured to fulfill your request, lieutenant, and I will make sure that it happens." Hopefully it won't ever be necessary, but... Konstantin commits it to heart. And then, with a fluttering awareness, feels something else naggling around in his heart. His own request was still... a bit detached, a bit impersonal, a bit safe. In the face of Tayrey's honesty, he feels a soft compulsion to open up more, and so..

"...There is someone in particular here. His name is Vasiliy Ardankin. If something happens to me... he's the one I'd want to decide what to do with my body. Whatever he likes."

Giving a specific name is... big for Konstantin Veshnyakov, who never belonged to anybody. It actually makes him mildly nervous, and he runs his hand over his jaw, eyes soft, heart exposed with those simple words.

[astrogator]

When Konstantin agrees to do for her what can be done, Tayrey feels a sense of security, as if the path ahead of her has grown clearer. Living planetside is hard for her, but it's harder to feel alone. She copes with the challenges by looking to her values, asking herself what a Proper Spacer Lieutenant would do, how she can represent her people well in a place where they're utterly unknown, keep to her customs. It's not entirely uncharted territory, not if one counts the old stories about spacers lost and stranded out-of-sector, on wild planets or derelict stations or ships beyond repair. Most of those stories end in tragedy, as she recalls it, but she's blaming that on spacer apprentices' taste for morbid literature.

Probability might be in her favor, still. She might not die incomprehensibly far from home - but if she does, she'll have something as close to Tradeline rites as possible. She trusts Konstantin with that, utterly. She trusts that he won't break contract.

She's about to thank him when he speaks again. Vasiliy Ardankin. Tayrey commits the name to memory. 'If it comes to it, I'll find him,' she assures Konstantin quietly, 'and I'll declare his right to decide in front of anyone who questions it. Anything he likes. So long as it's respectful.'

While it's shiningly clear to her that this Ardankin is someone who matters to Konstantin, she doesn't make any assumptions about the nature of the relationship. Most people she knew shipside would have chosen a good friend, or someone from the same colony or religious group who would know what to do. This feels no different.

'I know it's awful,' she goes on, 'but it's right to talk about this, even if it's all unnecessary and the pair of us have a full century ahead. We can stand for each other, that way. You know, Commander, I should be very pleased to call you my friend and comrade.' This last is said with weight, with intensity, but with a certain care, too, her phrasing delicately leaving room for it to be turned down gently.

[sputnik]

Konstantin's nature and demeanour may be more openly boisterous, and often playful, but he's also immensely severe when it comes to his role, his responsibilities in leadership, and— he'd done everything it took to secure that, to rise up, to become what he had. Nothing else mattered to him as much as his role did. He became it, gave everything from the time he was very young, and in the end...

In the end, it didn't matter. He lost all of it, stripped in an instant because he was no longer useful in the same way. Like a work horse with a broken leg, to be put out of its misery. That loss and sense of betrayal, of immeasurable hurt, is something he's still reeling from. (Who is he, if not the esteemed Commander Veshnyakov, Hero of the Soviet Union? What is he?)

There's something about Tayrey that presses against that certain bruised place. Perhaps it's too easy, unfairly easy, to draw comparisons to the young lieutenant when she's the closest thing he has to a particular sort of familiarity. It's the simple familiarity of someone who has been to space, but it's an important one for him. Very important. It means something significant in a place where one can feel so very alone, and it does, admittedly, soften his heart towards her so very quickly. There's something like that for the young boys in this place, too. Konstantin can't help seeing the ghost of his son in them, can't help feeling protective in ways he likely has no right to feel.

But Tayrey's nature towards these tasks at hand — the resilient certainty, the assurance... the reliability. It might remind him of a younger version of himself: someone who believed in everything he was doing, every rule, every procedure, and therefore was someone others could believe in, as well. It's a realisation and a protectiveness that will no doubt only deepen the more he gets to know the spacer, as her people are known.

For now— he's touched by her serious assurance, and then pleasantly surprised to hear what she says next, expression immediately lifting. 'Comrade' has a very specific association in his particular culture and time, and of course she couldn't know that, of course he knows from his first meeting with the girl that her world seemingly doesn't include Russia at all, but it's simply another small, meaningful thing that feels familiar.

The cosmonaut's smile grows, and the delight is unhidden in his eyes, something that warms them right up.

"That would make me very happy. I would like that very much. And I would like to be an ear to anything else, at any time. Please come to me whenever you need." Whether it's such unpleasant business as this, or something less so. It's important to have people, to stand for each other, as she says.

"Let's watch out for each other, as friends and comrades."

[astrogator]

Tayrey's serious outlook is, in part, cultivated. It's entirely necessary, when you pass for lieutenant at sixteen standard years and you need to convince people more than twice your age who still have planetary dirt on their boots that you know exactly what you're doing and their lives may depend on following your direction. That's the contract. She accepts that they might be experts in their narrow fields, doesn't micromanage - and they accept that she has lived shipside for years, she braves L-space while they sink into the comfort of sedation. They trust that nobody becomes a Tradeline officer who is not already exceptionally competent. She maintains the necessary professionalism.

The other part is natural, or as close to it as she can tell. Her idealism, her understanding that breaking contract is unforgivable, and so her word, once given, must be upheld regardless of the cost. She is devoted. She is as devoted an officer as she ever was a Company daughter. No half-measures. Tradeline ships take disparate travellers from two dozen worlds and swiftly unite them under common purpose and custom, without requiring them to abandon who they once were. Upholding the individual, standing together as a crew. So Captain Kavarai said. Captain Kavarai is fond of speeches that sound like they came out of a Cardalek debating-hall; it's one of the things Tayrey likes about him.

Here she has no captain and no crew. By turn, Tayrey wishes for the company of even a single Tradeliner, and then tells herself it's a terrible thing to wish for someone else to be trapped so dramatically out-of-sector.

Commander Konstantin Veshnyakov seems to her to be another spacer without a crew. It's why she dared to make the offer. To be comrades carries a meaning for her too. It's one of shared purpose, and of shared skills and resources without the need to always balance the contract. Friend and comrade extends further, implies a more personal connection, one that she dared to think that she had found with him. Spacers take their platonic ties seriously.

When he agrees, Tayrey practically beams at him, and reaches out, her gloved hand to his upper arm. 'Yes, and I am here for you too, word by contract,' she says. She even bounces on her toes a little. The professionalism can crack, with a friend. 'We'll stand for each other, and support each other, no matter what we face here.' It renews her sense of purpose, much as having another Tradeliner arrive would. She even feels safer. Her rational mind knows it shouldn't carry, that people die just as easy here whether they're alone or not. They've seen the obvious proof of that - but right now, it doesn't seem to matter.

'Thank you, Commander,' she says, still grinning. 'Spacers should stick together!'

possibly a good wrap point for this one!

[sputnik]

Konstantin, too, has a wish for connection — and he has been lucky to find it in the form of people like Svetlana and especially Vasiliy, even if their respective timeline differences are often times glaringly apparent. Still, Vasya knows things that only someone from their culture would understand, recognised exactly what Konstantin was and what that meant from a simple picture alone. The cosmonaut knows he would be particularly lonely without someone from his world.

But there's still a lingering loneliness beneath, because he is here without his companions, and anyone else brought to this place who might have understood what it is to be free the way only being up there in space can possibly offer... has come and gone. Even when missions involved one simple capsule and a slow orbit collecting data, he had his co-pilot. A second, someone to pass the quiet time with, someone trained to operate alongside him. And back on Earth, he was part of a certain community, quite a literal one — Star City was where he trained and lived afterwards, being an unmarried man. There, he was surrounded by his fellow cosmonauts and the trainees, all of them part of a unit designated for a specific purpose. He could consider them his crew. His people.

The young Lieutenant Tayrey's world may be very different from his own in many ways, but the language she uses, the knowledge she has, the crisp uniform she wears— it all makes him feel more connected to where he used to be, who he was before this place. It makes him feel a particular boldness, something revitalised. Over time here, he felt it fading, but lately... lately, perhaps it's sparking again.

Konstantin's a tactile man, not shy with physical affection, craving it almost constantly — and when she smiles like that, reaching out to place a hand to his arm, his heart warms by the gesture. He smiles brightly again, lifting his other hand to touch the back of Tayrey's, palm resting over her knuckles for a brief but affectionate gesture of his own, some little way to not only accept but return the physical connection. That she refers to him as "spacer" is a pleasant feeling that sweeps in through the previous melancholy, being a part of something with someone again.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Spacers sticking together — that's something I'd be proud to be a part of with you."

Not just glad by, but proud. (Pride, too, is a concept that had faded in him over time here, but... he misses that feeling. With the return of his strength as of late, and the fortification of a team with this young woman from the stars, he can feel it bubbling again, and his spirit welcomes it wholeheartedly.)

He lets his hand move away, but keeps close. There's still a somber weight to the air around them, and his smile softens. "If you'd like company while paying respect to more of these poor souls, I'd be happy to join you." The dead are so great in number that it may be impossible to visit them all, but... if there are other families along the way, young ones there in the snow — people she feel compelled to stop and speak those words of her people to, assurance that the fallen won't be forgotten — then Konstantin would be glad to stand beside her.