thatrainbowcity | We Are All Just Prisoners Here of Our Own Device...

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings."

Dear POLYchromatic:

It is time for us to talk about what is going to be happening as the game draws to a close. We know that reading this post is going to be bittersweet, at best, but please read the entire post to understand what will be happening from February 22 to February 28. This is a long post, but it explains, day by day, how the final plot of

poly_chromatic will work.

February 22: The Anonymous Movement has opened the Door! It glows with a supernatural light from within. But anyone who comes near the Door is repulsed or pushed away by an unseen force. What's going on? The Clock is still ticking alarmingly fast. More and worse: the sky is filled with purple stormclouds and the wind is growing stronger, there are tremors felt throughout the City, and...the protective barriers have vanished. The City itself feels fragile, as though it might crumble at any moment. This is not what was expected...

-=-

February 23: The Door begins to glow with more intensity. The Carousel and the Clock suddenly both slow, and the Clock now only ticks once per hour!

The Door then opens from the wrong side--or, rather, a red classic convertible bursts through the Door and into the City. And in it are a few familiar faces: the Deities have come back into the City--!

The Deities and the members of the Anonymous Movement meet in Misery Square and a battle for the City begins.

-=-

February 24 - 25: A battle of supernatural proportions rages. It is on an apocalyptic scale. The moon is as blood and the sun is black as sackcloth; the water turns to blood, fire rains from the sky, the City trembles with earthquakes. Animals from the forest rampage through the City streets--wolves, wild dogs, wildcats, bears, snakes. Storms pelt the City with rain and wind and hail.

The Anonymous Movement and the Deities battle--both with weapons that may be familiar to people in the City and with their own particular powers. The battle rages for two days. But the City is not destroyed--please do note this. There is some damage, but the City is not destroyed. Though both sides want control of the City, destroying the City will win them nothing.

In the course of the fight, the Anonymous Movement's Door is destroyed in a flash of light and an explosion.

Characters can join either side in the fight, if they want to join a side at all. They can fight for the Anonymous Movement, for the Deities, for neither, for one and then the other, for both, or just to defend themselves.

No matter what, the battle will end in a stalemate in Misery Square by dawn on February 26th.

-=-

February 26: At dawn on February 26th, there is an unexpected arrival in the City:

The storms cease, the waters are cleared, the sun rises, and from the heavens descend a host of figures robed in black (but glowing luminously), an entourage of sphinxes, and...

... ... ... Well, you'll have to wait and see who has come back. (We're not spoiling everything!) They will post to the Network on the 26th.

"They who have returned" have returned to the City to restore such order as should be found in the City. And they have knowledge that needs must be shared with all those in the City. Hear them. Above all else, the City must be preserved and they will set to such preservations.

Declarations and resolutions are made:

→ First, "those who have returned" (you'll see who!) will be installed as guardians and caretakers of the City.
→ Second, the Deities will be restored as administrators of the City's well-being to oversee the utilities and basic functions of the City.
→ Third, all those who are not native-born to the City will no longer be kept in the City. Those who are not native-born to the City will not be able to stay in the City.

The host of hooded figures raise their arms and 144 doorways appear in a ring around Misery Square. Glimpses of other times, places, and worlds can be seen through the doors. These are the ways back to all worlds. The views change and shift. The doorways understand the will of those who pass through them and will send them where they please. Anyone can go anywhere. This is one's own choice. If anyone asks how it works, it's just magic + science creating something fantastical.

The Anonymous Movement members (all NPCs) come forward to volunteer to stay and to repair the damage to the City. In truth, most of the members of the Anonymous Movement are the same kind of beings as the Deities. The Deities had governmental power behind their actions and this is the only difference between the two groups. But the City needs people to survive and endure. The Anonymous Movement will see to establishing self-governance in the City for the native-born citizens. (Please remember that there are several thousand and perhaps several hundred thousand NPCs in the City, and many of these NPCs are native-born citizens of the City.)

The old Deity office building, ruined during the first battle between the Deities and the Anonymous Movement when the Deities were sent out of the City, is transformed into a kind of ersatz temple. Ruined concrete and shattered glass take on new shapes, almost like a temple of ancient times on Earth. "Those who have returned" will sit here in judgment and rule and will hear trades and requests of those who will remain in the City. They will be guarded by Sphinxes. They enter their temple and the City begins to mend. Even the Barriers are restored again--to protect the City, not to trap those in it.

The Carousel begins to turn at its normal speed, though the Clock still ticks slowly--perhaps more slowly than ever.

-=-

February 27 - 28: All those who are not native-born citizens will be asked to leave before March 1. Anyone who refuses by force will be guided back to the doors by the hooded figures and the sphinxes.

We are going to ask for your cooperation in this part of the plot. Even if you think your character would refuse to leave, we are asking you to find an IC reason for your character to leave. No player characters will be left in the City. That's final. So please find a reason for your character to leave the City. If you can't think of a reason for your character to leave, "those who have returned" or their entourage or the Deities or the Anonymous Movement may offer your character incentives to leave. (We're also not putting too many limits on what or how much characters can take with them. They can't take an entire building, brick by brick, but if you want your character to cart all their furniture and possessions out of the City with them, feel free!)

The choice is up to each person where he or she wishes to go after leaving the City. Remember the Happy Ending Clause that we set up.

One can go home, one can go to another world entirely, one can accompany someone else to his or her world, one can find a world not so unlike the City. Perhaps there are more and other doors elsewhere even after the City. But know that the ways into the City will be shut hereafter. The City will no longer draw in unwilling captives. Those whom it tries to draw in will be turned in their path by the new guardians of the City and sent elsewhere.

But choose a world--perhaps a place to start anew, perhaps a place to live the life that was shown by the City's own curse, perhaps home. The possibilities now are endless.

There will be a log posted on tampered on February 27 for everyone who wishes to play out departures and decisions.

As the citizens begin to depart, all the names in the City Cemetery and in the Hall of the Missing burn across the sky in fiery and glittering letters. These are others who have been here and who are gone.

There is a sense of sadness but also of joy among the native-born citizens, the Anonymous Movement, and the Deities. This is their City now, their World, and they will live in the relative peace that it affords. And they wish all those who are leaving it well--and they truly do. There is a sense of a ship leaving port, of a long journey just beginning.

This is the beginning of something new for the City. And for those who live here now, it is home.

After the last person has departed from the City, the Carousel will play a sweet and haunting song, a remembrance of all who had been here.

-=-

As of March 1, poly_chromatic will be locked to new posts, but backdating in existing posts and logs is more than fine.

As of March 1,

poly_chromatic will close.

Thank you for everything, Poly. For all the plots, all the laughter, all the inside jokes, all the schemes, all the ideas, even all the challenges. It has been an honor and a privilege playing with you all these years. And we hope that this final story, with its potential for happy endings, will be a fitting end to the game.

The City will stand forever, as a world for those people who were born and raised in the City, for those whose families have lived for generations in the City. The City will never disappear, the Carousel will always turn, and the Clock will always tick.

If you have any questions about how this final plot will work, please feel free to ask them here.

Thank you, POLYchromatic

We Are All Just Prisoners Here of Our Own Device...

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