⇨ New Location: POLARIS

[ringleaders]

PREPARATION↴ With the Ringmaster defeated and claimed by the Huntsman, the ownership of everyone she has contracts with will have defaulted to the Huntsman himself - which means he is capable of forbidding everyone the use of their magic and powers. He does, of course, but it turns out he has little interest in keeping any of the Ringmaster's left over belongings. Soon after taking her egg, he passes off ownership of everyone else to an assembly of Winter fae that have been patiently lying in wait. The leader of the fae in question? The Mother of Invention, a notoriously unorthodox magical scientist and researcher. While the Ringmaster is carted off to places unknown, the rest of the carnival is being whisked away to a place called Polaris for the indefinite future. NOTE: If your character contracted with Ignatius, special rules will imply regarding their ability to use their powers. Right at the start, they will still mostly lose their ability to use powers, but as time goes on, their contract will conflict with the Mother's ownership of them, allowing minor uses of their abilities on a case by case basis. SETTING↴ Polaris is a magical laboratory complex in Arcadia, floating just above cloud level. It belongs to the Mother of Invention, and is used by her and her technicians to study and develop magical theory. While stealing away mortals to this complex is a common practice, those taken from the Ringmaster's care are here under special circumstances. All items, pets, and clothing will be confiscated on entry and locked away, followed by everyone having to go through a 'decontamination' process that mostly involves all the things you'd expect it to. You get scanned by various things and then sprayed with magical water vapor that feels very cold but apparently cleanses. Then, you are given new clothes - that are applied magically rather than being something you physically put on - and taken away to be individually interviewed. Please fill out this form as each of your characters, following the rules as explained. This interview will determine some things about how your character is treated during the event. The new 'clothes' are actually just weird bodysuits in a shade of charcoal grey, with a texture somewhere between leather and silicon. It's flush to the skin and flexible enough to stay that way, but thankfully the material is thick enough that it isn't unduly revealing. You will mysterious find yourself not needing to eat or produce waste while wearing it. It's also basically impossible to take off on your own. If you are weirdly shaped, or have a lot of fur, feathers, or foliage that would get in the way of this, then the suits are custom applied and can be modded to accommodate such things. The design will endeavor to cover as much as possible while not being completely impractical. They generally won't cover things like tails or wings. Characters will be locked up in compact cells during the night, either alone or in pairs. If your character is big they will be put in a somewhat bigger cell to accommodate their size, but there will still not be much leg room. The layouts are approximately like this, so if you have a roommate, things will be pretty intimate for your stay with them. Housing is functionally random and may change daily, irregularly, or not at all. Who you room with is your OOC choice, but in game characters are being assigned by the technicians. PATRONS↴ ► TECHNICIANS: There are large number of 'technicians' working in Polaris, who are essentially just the Mother's collection of changelings. Most of them look pretty similar, with common themes of white hair and visors or goggles that cover their eyes, obscuring unique facial features. There are men and women, but none of them act very different from each other. All of them use classification numbers to describe themselves and each other, and don't sound very upset about it. Most of the time, anyway. The general vibe from them is either neutral ambivalence or deep, deep repression. They are more intelligent than average, and some of them seem to be genuinely interested in the science of what the Mother does. They are not cruel, but they often come off as unfeeling and detached from the lives of test subjects. Internally, for some, there is more conflict - but nothing they will admit to at prompting. Technicians are the ones that will take care of day to day affairs, like escorting prisoners from place to place, or doing tests. Some of them are suited up to act as guards. DANGERS↴ ► THE MOTHER OF INVENTION: The threat is pretty straight forward. You're trapped here, you don't want to be here, and while you are here, by the laws of magic, you are technically the Mother's property. This means that she can theoretically control you in all the same ways that the Ringmaster could, but largely never did. This new role as a lab rat is not a flattering one, and everyone from the carnival will have to consider their priorities in the face of a potential lifetime of captivity. This time the Ringmaster isn't around to bail anyone out. REWARDS↴ It's possible to earn 'rewards' from the Mother of Invention for 'good behaviour', but do you really want to try? The choice is yours. CHANGES↴ This location presents the unique opportunity to end up with magitek implants, additions, or limb replacements. This isn't something that will happen to everyone, and receiving one will probably be unpleasant - however, you have the automatic option to wind up with the equivalent of a Common or Uncommon change in the form of robot parts. If you take one, though, you'll have to tell me what kind of change you'd like while I fill in the details. You can specify a general area, but the specifics will be mod chosen. Rare changes made of Polaris magitek may also occur, but only if it comes up for plot reasons. These magitek additions may also not be as cooperative or comfortable as regular magical changes. Rare magitek alterations may also come up later on, for various reasons, but at not an guaranteed assumption. These will only occur through gameplay cues. Beyond that, this is a PLOTTING POST, which means you can use it to make plans! The game chat is also a great place to discuss plots, so we welcome you to pop on in if you haven't already! The calendar should be up to date.