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Re/Aligned Mods ([personal profile] re_alignedmods) wrote in [community profile] re_alignment_ooc2013-10-01 10:56 pm
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Upcoming Event: THE PILLAR

This event will run from October 25th through November 8th.

EDIT: Sign-ups extended until end-of-day October 22nd.

Event Text

Tonight there is a storm. Lightning flashes across the sky, and the tang of electromagnetic interference is thick in the new air of Cybertron. The strikes are beautiful, lancing out in every color of the visual spectrum and more than a few colors beyond it, moving through the stars.

There are no clouds, however. There is no weather or rain.
There is only the Lambda, churning violently above the Haven, pulling winds in vast, large circular patterns around its epicenter: The Junk Pile. Dust swirls. Debris flies. The winds grow stronger and stronger through the night, until even the heaviest robots find themselves impeded if they try to approach.

It is only the Firstforged who remain steadfast, appearing one by one from their temples to approach the temptest storm. In the morning, they gather, and as the first light of the distant Cybertronian sun crests the horizon, they each unsheathe their weapons of choice.

The winds calm.

The lightning ceases.

For a moment, all is well.

Then, the Pillar strikes the ground.

It sends up shockwaves, burying the Firstforged in clouds of dust and rubble, making a deep noise like vast plates of metal buckling. To some, the sound seems oddly high-pitched and painful to hear. To others, it is disorienting.

To a select few, it is even
changing.

When the dust clears, the Firstforged are gone and the junk pile has resettled, its peaks and valleys utterly different than they have been before. Buildings outside of the temples may have sustained damages from the heavy winds, and some electronics will still be functioning oddly from the lightning strikes.

However, there is something even stranger to note.

Sitting in the junk, amidst the rubble, is the Pillar.

It is precisely in the center of the Haven, just beneath the lambda and extending up as far as the naked eye can see--appearing even to reach into the lambda itself. Those who approach will find it makes a low-pitched hum, and is eerily warm to the touch. However, even those who do not approach will find it difficult to ignore the quiet unsettling feeling it leaves by just existing.

What’s worse is those who were ill-affected by the initial shock of its landing. They’re different, now, in both appearance and thought. They cannot remember their time here in the Haven any more than they can remember aspects of their lives before. Now, they remember different lives.

Alternate lives.

They act as if their past has utterly changed...and for a time, the Firstforged are not around to explain it.

It is up to the citizens of the Haven to realize what is wrong, and to come up with a solution for the problem--if one is even possible. It is up to the citizens to hold down the fort while its protectors are away. It is up to the denizens of Re-Aligned to
chose their alignment.

How this works
Again, this event will run from October 25th through November 8th...meaning all that text above hasn't happened yet.

On the day leading up to the event there will be the storm, and starting the first day of the event the Firstforged will have ‘vanished’ and the Altered History effect will begin. This effect will last for two weeks, at which point either the players have solved the problem of the pillar or it will resolve itself.

By November 9th, the Firstforged will be back in the Haven and everyone will have returned to normal.

Firstforged Departure
The Pillar event consists of two sub-events...the Firstforged Departure and the Altered History effect.

Up until October 25th it can be assumed that the Firstforged have been going about their usual duties--generally unavailable but still present in the Haven.

After the night the Pillar falls, they will be unreachable. For two weeks, the Firstforged will be absolutely gone, vanished as if they’d not been there in the first place. Acolytes will wander in a daze or will continue tirelessly to do tasks that no one has told them to STOP (leading to many an over-polished floor.) Glyphs will still be present on all Refugees, but will seem dimmer. Those who have previously died or entered the badlands will feel a distinct pull towards the Pillar.

Something is definitely wrong.

Following the event, the Firstforged will return for a brief period (starting on November 9th). The appearance of the Pillar will have alerted them to the fact that Unicron is stepping up his game, and its now time for them to get serious. Some will be departing to watch the Lamda from space, others to keep an optic on the badlands, and others still to speed the work on Cybertron’s interior in hopes that Prima will return sooner if its done.

Before leaving to do all of those things, they will want to talk to their aligned.

Altered History
The second half of the Pillar event is the Altered History effect.

Participation on the Altered History effect is up to you! Should you wish to take part, you will need to complete the sign-up form below and submit it to this post before October 20th.

All characters hit by the Altered History ‘waves’ that the Pillar emits will find themselves changed. One significant moment in their past will have been altered, disrupting their personality and even potentially their appearance. Their new history will feel (and will BE) the real history for them. They will not remember changing, they will not remember any parts of their previous past, and they will not remember any time spent in Re-Aligned.
For all intents and purposes, it will seem to them like they just landed on this Cybertron for the first time.

However, the Altered History effect will only have an influence on THEM. While they may look and act very differently, their glyph will not have changed, their room will still have the same contents, and all their previous messages will still be on their communications device (or in their logs, for those with built-in Link connections.) Additionally, anyone not affected by the Pillar's AH waves will still remember them as they are supposed to be.

Example!
War for Cybertron!Megatron’s past has been changed. Instead of flying into a rage on the council floor and deciding to form the Decepticons and kill everyone ever, he distinctly remembers accepting Optimus’s offer to join with him to fix the corruption inherent in Cybertron’s bureaucracy. Together, they began building a system of significant reform, aiming to eventually abolish the Senate and start their political system anew. However, when the Senate received wind of this they reacted badly, naming Optimus, Megatron, and their followers outlaws. Megatron spent the next several million years with Optimus at the head of the Rebellion, championing equal rights for robots, campaigning peacefully sometimes to get help from alien races and to convince the Council of the error of their ways (Optimus’s idea), and conducting deadly battles other times against the vast armies of drones sent to annihilate them. They called themselves the Autocons.
In R/A Megatron’s brand is now different, a blue symbol with square eyes and sharp points. It matches his eerily blue optics.
He remembers his last conversation with Optimus on his homeworld, the red truck arguing with him about whether the coming battle could be avoided, both of them throwing angry words at each other as he staunchly refused to back down. He remembers turning to leave, disgusted, before hearing Optimus sigh and say ‘be careful, and don’t die.’
This makes Megatron thoroughly perplexed at the actual death threats he clearly has been exchanging with Optimus on his Link device in the Haven a week before.
He’s even more perplexed by the purple Decepticon motif that is emblazoned on everything he owns, and has no idea how these items came to be in a room which only opens for him.


Sign-ups
Anyone who wants to notice the bizzare happenings surrounding this event are welcome to do so at any point during it! Catch an Acolyte walking in circles, find yourself hugging the pillar every day before work, clean up all the debris that mysteriously flew into your room during the storm.

If you’d like to be additionally be changed by the Altered History, all you’ll have to do is fill out this form:



We do ask that you really think about your answers, and provide three or more large paragraphs for the history and personality sections. We’ll look each submission over and give it an okay so long as its solid and not game-breaky(so basically so long as it follows the rules of a normal app). If there’s something we’re unsure about we’ll ask before approving it. However, its better to be thorough than to be vague (especially since we will be reviewing these, and we’re already notorious for our slowness in pinging back and forth.)

Beyond that, feel free to use your creativity and come up with something you'll really enjoy~

~
megaton: (uncertain-staring skyward)

[personal profile] megaton 2013-10-20 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Character name: Megatron
Character journal: [personal profile] megaton
Altered History:
Megatron's history alters at a tiny, key moment in a jail cell.

After captured by the Rodion Police force for a disturbance in MacCadams's Bar (wherin Impactor proceeded to beat up a few cops for harassing a familiar psychiatrist), Megaton spent an uncomfortable night in a cell. Already agast by the way prisoners were treated, his terror culminated in an appearance by Whirl--ready to pay him back for the injuries inflicted on his 'friends.' However, instead of remaining silent at this junture, Megatron spoke out...questioning if those cops were really Whirl's friends. Angered by what hit too close to home, Whirl punched Megatron...

And then left, instead of continuing the beating. This led Megatron to really think about what was going on in the Rodion police department, considering the levels of corruption and how they were affecting EVERYONE--not just the lower class. More convicted than ever that a change needed to happen, and ALSO more convinced than ever at the power of words (since those had been what saved him from Whirl), Megatron decided that his writing needed to continue. Once released from prison, it was what he threw himself into--seeking out Cybertronians to interview when he isn't working the mines, researching senate contact protocols, and coming up with a NEW system, entirely.

Because not every Cybertronian had access to the periodicals he wrote, he also began recording speeches. His words were broadcast from several underground radio stations, spreading his ideals like wildfire. Always, he advocated a peaceful solution: gentle, gradual reforms that took place legally.

Nevertheless, this generated conflict. It drew lines within government institutions, and it drew lines between functionists and non-functionists. There were several attempts on Megatron's life, and several attempts to remove him from Cybertron. At one point, he was even outcast--banished from the capital for 'disturbing the peace' during one of his rallies. He found his way back, however--and each setback only made him more sure. This change NEEDED to happen. The voices of others like him needed to be heard.

In this manner, he rose to be a great political figure himself--mediating disputes, finding ways through bureacratic loopholes, advocating changes in the system one law at a time. No longer was the war for Cybertron 'Decepticons VS Autobots,' -- it became 'Reformists vs Conventionists', robots who wanted an upheaval vs robots who wanted things to stay the same. There were champions on all sides--Orion Pax, who spoke for Senator Shockwave and gave a voice against the corruption. Starscream, who infiltrated various levels of government and exposed the crimes of officials. Senator Ratbat, who explained the cost-breakdown of expenditures and detailed why Megatron's plan would not work. Pro and Con.

The Wreckers were, notably, still formed by Impactor. However, instead of being a crack team of Autobot warriors, they were bodyguards and construction workers...accompanying Megatron to political rallies and performing both set up, tear down, and protection services. Impactor's crowd and the would-have-been-Constructicons both worked to keep things civil (or to bash a few heads in when it was not.)

It is from the early days of this political struggle that Megatron remembers being torn from his reality, and deposited here in Re-Aligned. He's just accomplished his first major victory--getting the council to agree to a vote for new representatives of Kaon based off of living zones instead of class.

Altered Personality:
To sum it up in one word, Megatron is passionate. He believes very strongly in the cause he's championing, and wants to gain support for it with mechs of all types and backgrounds. When speaking with him, its unlikely that the Reformist's agenda WOULDN'T come up at least once...though he's hesitant to push anyone into something they are not comfortable with. The idea of his movement is, after all, for Cybertronians to have a CHOICE.

He's spent a lot of time researching tactics to combat the political movements of the Senate, as well, which makes him incredibly well-read for a mining-class tank. His vocabulary was always large, but as time has gone on he's become increasingly focused on chosing the exact right word to make an impact with his audience. It's extremely effective, although that might be helped by his own natural charisma. He's not afraid to speak in front of an audience, and it helps that he's gone through a lot of the same travesties that his listeners have gone through. In other words--he's incredibly sympathetic to the plight of his fellow Cybertronians, and it shows.

He's still a bit rough around the edges, however. He's been doing work with his hands for his whole life, and has always socialized with fellow miners and heavy laborers. He can be prone to an aggressive streak--it is part of his nature--but he's been trying to tone it down. This leaves the impression of a mech with a lot of volatile emotions that are carefully bottled away, sealed and ready to use only as a weapon when in an intense debate.

Most notably, he is NON-VIOLENT. Despite his roughness and his passion, he believes firmly in finding a PEACEFUL solution to the problems on Cybertron. The thing that wounds him the most is when mechs get hurt fighting for his cause, and he would sooner take on damage himself than ask anyone else to risk it for him. His job as an advocate IS dangerous--he's had to fend off more than one assassination attempt--but this just confirms to him he's on the right track. Words will be what wins the battle for him. He hates it, utterly, when anyone fights in any other way.

Altered Appearance: Notably, Megatron does not contain any of the Arena modifications that were made on him. He still has heavy armor by nature (since he is a tank), but otherwise he is wearing his mining stripes and has no weapons integrated. He does have a small symbol--a pickaxe--on his right shoulder, which is the label he's chosen to mark him as a Reformist.