GOOD MORNING NEW ARRIVALS

This time for real!

WAKEY WAKEY.

As the storm finally peters out and characters can once again move above ground it becomes abundantly clear that the landscape has changed. Where vast expanses of sand dunes once laid is now the half-buried remnants of what looks like some sort of...city? Full of structures. It stretches so far it's really hard to tell. But there is one thing characters will notice:

There are more stasis pods.

Revealed by the sandstorm, a whole new flurry of pods can be found scattered on the way to the city (curiously though, not in it. Hurry and wake those guys up!

SPREAD THE LOVE. OR ACID.

With the departure of the storm there's even more new arrivals to be found besides those fellow travelers of yours! The "Seedlings" and "Cactus" are now both available, the former blown in by the storm and the former uncovered.

The Seedlings are generally pretty harmless. They like to burrow into the sand so only their "Leaves" plant-like leaves remain above ground, and they're quite happy to stay that way until surprised. Then they pop up and trip over themselves a little, before slowing down and wandering aimlessly. When they find a patch of sand that looks comfy they begin burrowing back down.

Pull or yank on their leaves though and you'll find yourself with a face full of pollen that makes you want to just tell everyone how super-cool they are. It lasts a while, and then you get a fever and vomit for two hours. Good times.

The Cacti are much less harmless and just...why would you eat them? Everything about this plant is poisonous, and cracking it open causes a corrosive acid-like substance to spill out. It'll eat through everything but...dirt, oddly. Metals and flesh are like hot oil on plastic.

DON'T GET LOST

And last but not least: The Forgotten City. Maybe you want to check out the Hull first for some loot, but maybe that's not such a cool idea anymore? Although it looks like the ship's definitely more powered after draining the suits of whoever went in, now it's started to spread and fill the sinkhole the ship's in. Suits can go from 100% to 0% in just ten minutes--not good!

Lucky for everyone else, it looks like finally there's some sort of civilization up ahead. Go on and check it out!

OR DO. THAT'S OKAY TOO.

Go nuts, have fun, and enjoy! (This is the wildcard option)

OOC

The Flora, Fauna & Resources page has been updated with information on the seedlings, cacti, and crystals! These items are now all available for Discovery, and The Forgotten City will be available indefinitely from now on! Characters can take this time to settle & build up a foundation for themselves, explore the area, and of course, harass those poor little seedlings.

We encourage players to make their own open posts for this setting--you don't need to stick to just this intro log! But make sure to make our newbies feel welcome!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Correct decision though, Max. Who knows what strange intoxicants these plants can be. ]

Try asking someone else, they might have something.

[ That shift in topic is... well, it's rather depressing. ]

Altea was destroyed ten thousand years ago. I'm not sure where it was, relative to this planet - no one is sure where we are, in fact.

[ It could have been right around the corner. ]

[That's a bit curious, and Max tilts her head, going over what Allura said about the country? planet? probably planet and trying to put the pieces together.]

You look good for someone going on ten thousand, you'll have to tell me your secret.

[She could touch on the whole planet being destroyed thing, but she figures Allura won't want sympathy from a stranger.]

[ That's generally not the reaction such a disclosure gets, but it works. Better than awkward sympathy. ]

I was asleep for most for most of it. Some humans stumbled into my castle and woke me up, and the last thing I remembered before that was the destruction of my planet.

[ And death of her father, but that's even more depressing. And if her story is a bit of a cliche, well, she doesn't know that. ]

Where are you from?

[It sounds like a fairy tale, and Max wonders if that makes Allura royalty, a queen or a princess, but although she may have gotten struck with wonder by that as a child, there's no room for it now.

And she still won't give a useless platitude about what Allura must have lost; Max can't even begin to imagine what that would feel like. Saying I'm sorry for your loss would be cheap.]

Earth, New York to be specific. [She isn't sure if Allura will know it, but it doesn't matter otherwise.] I'm afraid we're quite behind on matters of interstellar travel, we've barely left our own solar system.

[ Technically a princess, though is it possible to be princess of a dead planet? ]

You're human, then? I've only recently heard of Earth, though no one has mentioned New York. [ They haven't discussed specific places, either. ] How did you end up here?

[ There had been a complication when Allura and her friends had been fleeing a fight, and she assumes that is what led to her landing here. Someone who hasn't even left their solar system leads to some interesting questions. ]

[Max nods in answer to Allura's question; yes, she's human.]

I have to admit it's a mystery to me. The last thing I remember, I was dining with a lovely gentleman who's probably quite confused about my disappearance.

[That's not entirely true, but the point of it is. She has no clue how she ended up here, it shouldn't even be possible.]

[ Allura's face goes from bafflement to surprise to contemplation fairly quickly, as she considers Max's answer. ] So you were just eating and ended up here? Puzzling. I ended up here after a wormhole malfunctioned, just before a possible explosion, and I thought disaster was what brought people here.

[ But this is an interesting development. Maybe figuring out what brought them all here is key to getting out of here. ]

I was, yes.

[Just there and now here, and whoever had the power to do that is someone to be wary of.]

How did you explain the escape pods and suits?

[It's a genuine question; there's value in hearing other people's reasoning.]

I assumed they were similar to the lions of Voltron, powered by quintessence, but that was disproved when some of them exploded. Now....

[ She shrugs, though her face still looks contemplative. ] There are many mysteries in the universe, this is just one of those to figure out.

I'm not familiar with quintessence.

[Well, she is in the literal sense, but she doesn't understand it in the context of powering something. Still, her tone is simply explanatory, not questioning; she doesn't need an explanation when there are more important things to worry about, like:]

The pods exploded?

It's life force, surely everyone has it. [ Maybe it's called something else? Allura's encountered that before with humans, giving everything weird names.

As for the pods: ]

I'm not sure about what triggered the explosion, someone attempting to pull one apart, I believe. Caused a landslide. I'd recommend leaving your pod intact.

Like chi?

[It's the first thing that Max thinks of when "life force" is said, though she doesn't actually... believe in chi.

Considering everything else that's happened, the idea of an actual real life force that can power things isn't the strangest thing to come across.]

Ah, thank you for the warning. I had been tempted to see what I could find within the pods.

[She's going to leave them alone now, though.]

What's chi?

[ Allura can recognize some human concepts, thanks to language abilities and help from her friends, but she's also mystified by some. ] If it's life force, maybe? I can't actually seem to summon any quintessence to demonstrate.

[ On her ship, she might have been able to. ]

Take your rations, and you can explore the others. Just don't try to pry them apart.

Intro Log: The Forgotten City

GOOD MORNING NEW ARRIVALS

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