OOC: True Rune plot proposal
This proposal is for a minor plot which has the potential to involve a lot of people at random if they want to. It's a piece of Geddoe's canon being brought into the City without having to port in any NPCish characters.
First, the background:
Even though the True Lightning Rune has been, for the sake of the City and its worldbuild, rendered silent, it still exists within Geddoe's body. It has to, there is no way to remove it without causing his death (quickly or slowly). So, he still has it, despite the fact that its lightning magic is now turned into Geddoe's superpower controlling lightning spells, and the eternal life power.
There are two potential problems with True Runes. One, they can go out of control due to some unknown circumstance (possibly connected to the mortal peril of the vessel), and two, they can manifest themselves as a large creature in times of duress. I have yet to really get Geddoe into a position of mortal peril, so maybe we'll save that idea for sometime later, especially since it may not affect a large number of characters. If True Lightning went out of control, it could simply cause a large amount of property damage and that's it. However, manifestation is a potential city-wide plot.
A number of True Runes have manifested in a monster form for one reason or another across the games. The Sun Rune turned into a giant moth. True Wind turned into a monstrous six-winged bird, and True Fire became a large red dragon. The reasons are as varied as the runes themselves - True Fire's manifestation was a trial for the hero to go through in order to win the Rune and force it to accept him as its bearer. True Wind was the boss battle of the game, a giant end-game monster to defeat in order to subdue the Rune before it went out of control and destroyed the continent. Most of the times an incarnation of a True Rune is an end-game boss battle, but True Fire incarnating as a dragon is an example showing that True Runes can manifest at other times. Not to mention, the Night Rune has chosen to either incarnate as or bind itself to a sword, becoming a sentient (and snarky) talking blade. True Runes do weird things sometimes, part and parcel of them being semi-sentient and essentially minor deities in their world.
Geddoe has carried True Lightning, unsealed and part of his daily existence, for nearly eighty years. This is almost unheard-of, very few True Runes stay with their bearers for so long. Most of them die, often prematurely, forcing the Rune to seek a new host. He only lost it briefly during the Second Fire Bringer War, for a few days, when it was ripped off him by unknown sorcery. Thus, he is one of few people in that world to have a rather stable, unchanging relationship with his True Rune, one in which he has managed to learn not to bend to its will and in fact conquer it with his own will. He doesn’t let True Lightning control him.
In the games, it is suggested that True Runes "speak" to their bearers, often giving them precognitive dreams, nightmares, and a general sense of something "alive" within their souls. Since being in the City, where the Rune's presence is silenced and rendered temporarily obsolete, he has noticed that it hasn't been speaking to him and he's not had a single nightmare. It's very strange. Not having to constantly police your own thoughts to make sure the Rune's will isn't creeping in there is actually unsettling. Of course, by extension, it could be said that the Rune isn't happy about this arrangement, either. They rarely like being sealed, which is essentially what has happened to True Lightning. It is sealed within Geddoe's body while a superpower allows him to do the things he expects to be able to do because of his runes. Sooner or later, the Rune could begin reawakening its consciousness, and attempting to break out of the seal.
So, here’s the proposal:
For this plot, the True Lightning Rune will break through the seal on its existence and manifest as a large creature, which needs to be subdued in order to return it to its bearer. This has the potential to affect not just Geddoe and whatever small party unites to attack and defeat the manifestation, but also the entire City at the players' pleasure. I'm still trying to decide what form True Lightning would take; a bird or a dragon would be cliché, I was sort of thinking a giant horse or unicorn. There's canon precedent for this, actually - there are "zombie unicorns" in some of the caves which use lighting attacks. No, it won't be a pretty shiny rainbow unicorn, it would actually be rather hideous and maybe have six legs or something like Sleipnir. It's a physical form but also mystical, so it could move itself around without stomping down buildings like Godzilla. Being the incarnation of a lightning rune and not literal lightning, it wouldn't affect local weather or anything to do with real lightning, but it would utilize lightning-based attacks and give off an aura of power similar to electricity. No City-wide EMPs, not to worry. But it could, in its rampage, conjure lightning bolts that are free to strike any residences or businesses the players choose. So, if someone didn't want to be victim of a surge or blackout, they don't have to be - the lightning just missed their block. For those who opted to play with the effects, they could suggest lightning struck their cell phone towers, electrical transformers, etc, and blacked out certain parts of the City. Such strikes would be random and without purposeful aim anyway, so completely random player choices about what gets hit and what doesn't would make perfect sense.
The build-up to where the Rune would be aware enough to actually attempt to burst the seal would take time, so scheduling it later (September or later) is fine. The actual event would play out over two days at most - once the Rune is manifest, Geddoe is under a desperate time limit to defeat it and return it to him or else he would die (True Wind killed its host, but that was because the Rune was a part of his makeup and not just attached to him). True Lightning would damage Geddoe's right hand and arm as part of its eruption, but leave him alive for the time being. But in canon, when he lost the Rune to sorcery, it was said that his soul was essentially leaking out of a metaphysical hole where the Rune used to be - if he doesn't get it back, he dies within days. And I actually don't want to kill him. So, after it happens, while the manifestation is on a rampage, he would plead for assistance from the heroes to subdue it. Once defeated, it would return to its natural form, and since he is the current host, it would just go back onto his hand and remain dormant again.
I would like to suggest that other heroes can make their attempts at attacking the incarnation all they want, but recruit a party of no more than six to be in the actual end battle. The Rune can rampage for about a day, but then somebody's got to corner it and defeat it. The incarnations in boss battles tend to use a mix of physical and magical attacks, and likewise, can be hit by both physical and magical attacks. So, it would be a first-come first-served call for six people to handle the takedown, and then possibly an open log to allow others to have unsuccessful attempts at the giant electrical beast. It would probably be best NPC'd in the manner of the Polymorph, letting people write around it as they see fit instead of creating some kind of NPC to interact in the logs. I suppose I would have to specifically outline the nature and power level of its attacks, then, but I can do that. In the end, no NPCs would be killed, and I'm not aiming to kill any PCs either, but the extent of the damage to property and injury to anyone struck by lightning would be open to determination. I don't think lightning bolts, even thrown by a giant monster, would crush buildings or anything, but starting fires and frying electrical systems are not out of the question. People getting stuck in elevators, that sort of thing. Once the Rune is re-sealed into his hand, Geddoe would have to recover and deal with the thought that his Rune is not as stable as he thought, so a little existential angst is in order. It's a small plot, with a chance for the fighters to get out and fight something, and a way to play around with something dangerous from Geddoe's world for a short time.
Additional links for background/details on the behavior of True Runes and their incarnations:
http://gensopedia.duefiumi.com/index.php?title=27_True_Runes
http://gensopedia.duefiumi.com/index.php?title=True_Fire_Rune
True Lightning Incarnation image: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/CapsuleCorp/trueltrnuni_150.jpg
First, the background:
Even though the True Lightning Rune has been, for the sake of the City and its worldbuild, rendered silent, it still exists within Geddoe's body. It has to, there is no way to remove it without causing his death (quickly or slowly). So, he still has it, despite the fact that its lightning magic is now turned into Geddoe's superpower controlling lightning spells, and the eternal life power.
There are two potential problems with True Runes. One, they can go out of control due to some unknown circumstance (possibly connected to the mortal peril of the vessel), and two, they can manifest themselves as a large creature in times of duress. I have yet to really get Geddoe into a position of mortal peril, so maybe we'll save that idea for sometime later, especially since it may not affect a large number of characters. If True Lightning went out of control, it could simply cause a large amount of property damage and that's it. However, manifestation is a potential city-wide plot.
A number of True Runes have manifested in a monster form for one reason or another across the games. The Sun Rune turned into a giant moth. True Wind turned into a monstrous six-winged bird, and True Fire became a large red dragon. The reasons are as varied as the runes themselves - True Fire's manifestation was a trial for the hero to go through in order to win the Rune and force it to accept him as its bearer. True Wind was the boss battle of the game, a giant end-game monster to defeat in order to subdue the Rune before it went out of control and destroyed the continent. Most of the times an incarnation of a True Rune is an end-game boss battle, but True Fire incarnating as a dragon is an example showing that True Runes can manifest at other times. Not to mention, the Night Rune has chosen to either incarnate as or bind itself to a sword, becoming a sentient (and snarky) talking blade. True Runes do weird things sometimes, part and parcel of them being semi-sentient and essentially minor deities in their world.
Geddoe has carried True Lightning, unsealed and part of his daily existence, for nearly eighty years. This is almost unheard-of, very few True Runes stay with their bearers for so long. Most of them die, often prematurely, forcing the Rune to seek a new host. He only lost it briefly during the Second Fire Bringer War, for a few days, when it was ripped off him by unknown sorcery. Thus, he is one of few people in that world to have a rather stable, unchanging relationship with his True Rune, one in which he has managed to learn not to bend to its will and in fact conquer it with his own will. He doesn’t let True Lightning control him.
In the games, it is suggested that True Runes "speak" to their bearers, often giving them precognitive dreams, nightmares, and a general sense of something "alive" within their souls. Since being in the City, where the Rune's presence is silenced and rendered temporarily obsolete, he has noticed that it hasn't been speaking to him and he's not had a single nightmare. It's very strange. Not having to constantly police your own thoughts to make sure the Rune's will isn't creeping in there is actually unsettling. Of course, by extension, it could be said that the Rune isn't happy about this arrangement, either. They rarely like being sealed, which is essentially what has happened to True Lightning. It is sealed within Geddoe's body while a superpower allows him to do the things he expects to be able to do because of his runes. Sooner or later, the Rune could begin reawakening its consciousness, and attempting to break out of the seal.
So, here’s the proposal:
For this plot, the True Lightning Rune will break through the seal on its existence and manifest as a large creature, which needs to be subdued in order to return it to its bearer. This has the potential to affect not just Geddoe and whatever small party unites to attack and defeat the manifestation, but also the entire City at the players' pleasure. I'm still trying to decide what form True Lightning would take; a bird or a dragon would be cliché, I was sort of thinking a giant horse or unicorn. There's canon precedent for this, actually - there are "zombie unicorns" in some of the caves which use lighting attacks. No, it won't be a pretty shiny rainbow unicorn, it would actually be rather hideous and maybe have six legs or something like Sleipnir. It's a physical form but also mystical, so it could move itself around without stomping down buildings like Godzilla. Being the incarnation of a lightning rune and not literal lightning, it wouldn't affect local weather or anything to do with real lightning, but it would utilize lightning-based attacks and give off an aura of power similar to electricity. No City-wide EMPs, not to worry. But it could, in its rampage, conjure lightning bolts that are free to strike any residences or businesses the players choose. So, if someone didn't want to be victim of a surge or blackout, they don't have to be - the lightning just missed their block. For those who opted to play with the effects, they could suggest lightning struck their cell phone towers, electrical transformers, etc, and blacked out certain parts of the City. Such strikes would be random and without purposeful aim anyway, so completely random player choices about what gets hit and what doesn't would make perfect sense.
The build-up to where the Rune would be aware enough to actually attempt to burst the seal would take time, so scheduling it later (September or later) is fine. The actual event would play out over two days at most - once the Rune is manifest, Geddoe is under a desperate time limit to defeat it and return it to him or else he would die (True Wind killed its host, but that was because the Rune was a part of his makeup and not just attached to him). True Lightning would damage Geddoe's right hand and arm as part of its eruption, but leave him alive for the time being. But in canon, when he lost the Rune to sorcery, it was said that his soul was essentially leaking out of a metaphysical hole where the Rune used to be - if he doesn't get it back, he dies within days. And I actually don't want to kill him. So, after it happens, while the manifestation is on a rampage, he would plead for assistance from the heroes to subdue it. Once defeated, it would return to its natural form, and since he is the current host, it would just go back onto his hand and remain dormant again.
I would like to suggest that other heroes can make their attempts at attacking the incarnation all they want, but recruit a party of no more than six to be in the actual end battle. The Rune can rampage for about a day, but then somebody's got to corner it and defeat it. The incarnations in boss battles tend to use a mix of physical and magical attacks, and likewise, can be hit by both physical and magical attacks. So, it would be a first-come first-served call for six people to handle the takedown, and then possibly an open log to allow others to have unsuccessful attempts at the giant electrical beast. It would probably be best NPC'd in the manner of the Polymorph, letting people write around it as they see fit instead of creating some kind of NPC to interact in the logs. I suppose I would have to specifically outline the nature and power level of its attacks, then, but I can do that. In the end, no NPCs would be killed, and I'm not aiming to kill any PCs either, but the extent of the damage to property and injury to anyone struck by lightning would be open to determination. I don't think lightning bolts, even thrown by a giant monster, would crush buildings or anything, but starting fires and frying electrical systems are not out of the question. People getting stuck in elevators, that sort of thing. Once the Rune is re-sealed into his hand, Geddoe would have to recover and deal with the thought that his Rune is not as stable as he thought, so a little existential angst is in order. It's a small plot, with a chance for the fighters to get out and fight something, and a way to play around with something dangerous from Geddoe's world for a short time.
Additional links for background/details on the behavior of True Runes and their incarnations:
http://gensopedia.duefiumi.com/index.php?title=27_True_Runes
http://gensopedia.duefiumi.com/index.php?title=True_Fire_Rune
True Lightning Incarnation image: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/CapsuleCorp/trueltrnuni_150.jpg
