OOC: The Labyrinth FAQ
The Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, kind of like a second skin. It's been growing for thousands of years, lacing its way under [the world], connecting everything together underground. You can get anywhere through the Labyrinth. [...]But the labyrinth can lead you almost anywhere. It reads your thoughts. It was designed to fool you, to trick you and kill you; but if you can make the Labyrinth work for you...
--Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
Originally designed by Daedlus himself, the Labyrinth has become much more than it was in the two thousand-some years between. It is a living, breathing, growing, malicious thing; it is full of something called the Mist which hides the reality of things from people, usually to their doom. It is full with ageless monsters, those who have wandered in human and otherwise, and traps aplenty to trip up anyone who thinks to use it to find what they want or need.
And now it's connected to Milliways.
Just as the Labyrinth was in it's original world, so will it be with everywhere connected to Milliways; there will be entrances and exits to everywhere and everywhen and the dangers from a million million worlds have become a part of the challenges of the Labyrinth.
Why would my character want to go into the Labyrinth?
The Labyrinth holds many dangers, but also many prizes to be won. And with the Labyrinth connected to so many worlds, it might provide a unique opportunity that the front door won't allow for. Further, because of the nature of the Labyrinth, any of the dead patrons of Milliways can enter the Labyrinth for any length of time without fading; should they leave the confines of the Labyrinth, this changes, but the Labyrinth protects the dead from fading.
Connected as it is, someone who is Bound might consider the Labyrinth as an alternative to get home. If a friend is stuck in a world and not at the Bar to open the door to their world, characters might attempt to get there through the Labyrinth. Bar tabs coming up? There's gold to be found in the Labyrinth. Bored? There's adventure in the Labyrinth. The list goes on.
Why would I, OOC, want to send my pup into the Labyrinth?
For one, it's a way to go places that would be traditionally out of bounds. For another, it's something to do with characters who might be in a rut or really just need to hit something. Going further, it can be a way to teach a character lessons, put a character in a different situation than they'd ever been in, mentally unbalance a character... you name it, you can probably use the Labyrinth to do it.
How's it work?
Your pup enters the Labyrinth, either on purpose or by accident (the entrance is not particularly blatant), and you detail the adventure in OOMs. You can go by yourself, in groups; your adventure can be pre-threaded or threaded as you go. As long as you follow the guidelines listed, it's all your show.
What're the guidelines?
If there are any questions or concerns, please comment here and I'll update the FAQ with the answer ASAP. There's also AIM, where I'm on pretty often.
--Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
Originally designed by Daedlus himself, the Labyrinth has become much more than it was in the two thousand-some years between. It is a living, breathing, growing, malicious thing; it is full of something called the Mist which hides the reality of things from people, usually to their doom. It is full with ageless monsters, those who have wandered in human and otherwise, and traps aplenty to trip up anyone who thinks to use it to find what they want or need.
And now it's connected to Milliways.
Just as the Labyrinth was in it's original world, so will it be with everywhere connected to Milliways; there will be entrances and exits to everywhere and everywhen and the dangers from a million million worlds have become a part of the challenges of the Labyrinth.
Why would my character want to go into the Labyrinth?
The Labyrinth holds many dangers, but also many prizes to be won. And with the Labyrinth connected to so many worlds, it might provide a unique opportunity that the front door won't allow for. Further, because of the nature of the Labyrinth, any of the dead patrons of Milliways can enter the Labyrinth for any length of time without fading; should they leave the confines of the Labyrinth, this changes, but the Labyrinth protects the dead from fading.
Connected as it is, someone who is Bound might consider the Labyrinth as an alternative to get home. If a friend is stuck in a world and not at the Bar to open the door to their world, characters might attempt to get there through the Labyrinth. Bar tabs coming up? There's gold to be found in the Labyrinth. Bored? There's adventure in the Labyrinth. The list goes on.
Why would I, OOC, want to send my pup into the Labyrinth?
For one, it's a way to go places that would be traditionally out of bounds. For another, it's something to do with characters who might be in a rut or really just need to hit something. Going further, it can be a way to teach a character lessons, put a character in a different situation than they'd ever been in, mentally unbalance a character... you name it, you can probably use the Labyrinth to do it.
How's it work?
Your pup enters the Labyrinth, either on purpose or by accident (the entrance is not particularly blatant), and you detail the adventure in OOMs. You can go by yourself, in groups; your adventure can be pre-threaded or threaded as you go. As long as you follow the guidelines listed, it's all your show.
What're the guidelines?
- Your character cannot find their way straight through the Labyrinth. There are two ways through the Labyrinth according to the original canon: an item known as Ariadne's String and certain mortals found in Percy's world who can see through the illusions of the Labyrinth. No one else is going to be able to go through the Labyrinth. Your character might have precognitive gifts and/or a perfect sense of direction and/or psychic abilities that might help them during their trip, but the Labyrinth is still going to trick them most of the time.
- Do not use something from someone else's world/go to someone else's world if you don't have OOC permission. If you want to go to another of your own character's worlds, cool. If you want to go to an AU of your own world, go ahead. If you want to go to a world that isn't represented in Milliways by someone, sounds great! If you want to use the Labyrinth to get to someone else's world? ...please make sure it's cool with the other mun. If your pup, IC, wants to go help someone in their own world but the mun would really like to let the character solve it themselves, feel free to let the character get lost. But don't go to or use items or locations from another player's worlds without their okay.
- If your character is going to find a specific item WITHIN the Labyrinth, please check with me first. If they use the Labyrinth to get to another world to find something, that has nothing to do with the Labyrinth, that's fine! But if, say, someone sends their character into the Labyrinth looking for Hephaestos's hammer, that would have to be cleared. If that item is from someone else's world, that would also have to be cleared with the other player as well as me. Think of it like this: if you could get it from the Bar, feel free to say it's in there. If you couldn't, check.
- People can die within the Labyrinth. That said, the traditional OOC considerations should be taken when it comes to death.
- If your pup is dead, and they exit the Labyrinth, the immunity from fading is gone. The traditional three day counter starts up as soon as they leave the Labyrinth.
- Don't forget; there are WONDERS in there too! Don't feel like you have to make the whole experience absolutely horrible. There are beautiful caverns, amazing gardens, even waterfalls and such to be found. And the look of the tunnels changes throughout; there's everything from high-tech look-like-they-should-be-on-a-starship hallways to rustic, ancient Greek passages and they'll change without making any sense.
- The doorways to the Labyrinth are always marked with the Δ of Daedalus. There is no other qualification for how they look. They can be a copse of trees, a crack in some rocks, a basement door... you name it, you can come out of it or slip in through it in other worlds. In Milliways, the entrance is through a cave in one of Belar's mountains.
- Feel free to be as evil as you like with the Labyrinth. It literally drove at least three characters INSANE in the book, and that's even with the consideration of it being YA lit. Like it says up top: it reads your mind so the kind of trials you use can be just as psychological as they can be physical.
If there are any questions or concerns, please comment here and I'll update the FAQ with the answer ASAP. There's also AIM, where I'm on pretty often.