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

Frowning, Cloud nodded, but couldn't help the desire to go look himself. He should probably get a better idea of the situation at first; if he found anyone he knew, it'd be better if he could give them the information instead of just being as confused as he was right now, after all.

"Okay." A few more steps and well, depending on the force of the explosion, it probably wouldn't be too far away anyway, but it was hot, and despite being able to breathe freely now, Cloud felt exhausted. At least they weren't on any sort of vehicle.

Considering the supplies in his hands (a few days at the most?), Cloud's attention was caught by the suit itself again, and he looked up at Elma with another frown, gesturing a bit clumsily since his hands were full, at himself; "... what is this anyway?"

Where were his clothes? The uniform might not be the most comfortable, and in this heat maybe this thing was better, but waking up in something else entirely from what he'd gone to bed with didn't make anything easier.

"These suits are integral to our survival. Without them..." She shrugged, allowing his imagination to run wild. That's all anyone had ever done, considering no one had dared test them. "So long as they have power, so will you, and they'll keep you alive despite the hostile environment. So keep an eye on that, and don't take unnecessary risks."

"They're..." Shivering a little at the thought of something that seemed so thin and, um, close to his body being responsible for his survival, Cloud grimaced, staring down at his hands and arms. Shaking his head, Cloud looked back up again.

"How do they get power..?" pausing and taking a breath, Cloud realised there was probably at least one more question he should ask right now; "Anything else I need to know?"

... Which, admittedly, was a pretty wide-spanning question, but it seemed the simplest way to get answers when he didn't even know yet (his brain wasn't catching up fast enough) what questions he even needed to ask.

"We have a limited source of natural resources that recharge them. What exactly the mechanism of that is, we don't know yet, but I imagine it's a chemical or physical reaction of some sorts. With luck, we'll find a way to replenish them routinely."

Couldn't he have stuck with the specific questions? That wide one took some thought on her behalf.

"The people brought here have incompatible histories. We may have been transported through time and space, but something even more fundamentally different appears to be at play here. Keep an open mind, and try not to make any assumptions."

Okay, that was.. vaguely scary, that they didn't apparently have a guaranteed way to keep these... whatever these outfits were, powered reliably. But Cloud just nodded, squaring his his shoulders. Knowing was better than not knowing about it, after all.

"... what?" Eyes wide, Cloud stared for a moment, slowly shaking his head. "How's something like that... even possible? Couldn't it just be... um, different planets?"

Though, she seemed so certain, so surely there was a reason she was assuming this instead of something vaguely more logical such as different planets. Which Cloud was only ranking as 'vaguely more logical' given that for him, they hadn't even gone to the moon yet.

"What are the odds that a different planet, with the same dominant species, would appear in so many different histories?" She glanced at him sidelong, the extra rings around her irises more apparent in the contrast. "Because plenty of people here are from Earth, or were. And my history is advanced enough that intergalactic travel is possible, for some alien species. That isn't a name that repeated."

She might be giving a fraction too much away there, but Elma doubted he'd notice anything strange or repeat her statements in a form that could alarm others.

"Um..." he sort of wanted to protest, but on the other hand this situation was so completely out of what he knew, it was... better to try and take it as it came, wasn't it? And... catching sight of those extra rings around her irises, despite how human she looked... Cloud shook his head slowly.

"I... guess not. There's actually people here... from different versions of the same planet?" Cloud said slowly, head spinning a little even as the knowledge, real or not, settled. He could... deal with this, he supposed. As well as, literal aliens, too? Well, they were all aliens on this planet, probably.

"That's what it sound like, unless you have a different explanation of how a world could be destroyed, but fine one hundred years later." Because Elma couldn't reconcile that any other way. Planets couldn't be reassembled, and even if they could, their destruction wouldn't just be forgotten.

"... I don't." Shaking his head, Cloud really can't think of anything else, unless there really would be several planets of the same name--- "Unless they're in different locations in space, I guess. But they aren't, are they?"

Looking up at Elma, Cloud's rather sure the answer will be no, and if there's several planets where humans can be on, why not... this too? Even if the thought is dizzying and completely impossible.

Elma shook her head. "That certainly doesn't seem likely. Anything is possible, but some things are much less possible than others."

Nodding, Cloud closed his eyes for a brief moment, trying to just... take all that in. But it was hot, there was two moons above him, he was nowhere near where he should be, and Elma had said the pods might blow up. And if they can do that...

"... Thank you, for getting me out," Cloud said as he opened his eyes again, nodding to Elma. He couldn't quite summon a smile, but he was sincere enough, "I think... would it be okay if I check the other ones?"

He really needed to check them. To see if there was anyone else among them that he knew.

Elma gave the question one moment of thought before deciding that it was probably safe. There'd been quite a delay, relatively speaking, between their awakening and the explosions.

She nodded, and added, "I'll come with you. Safety in numbers."

Shaking his head, Cloud didn't protest, though. Maybe she was right, especially when he'd just woken up. Even if the area where the pods were spread out wasn't too large, and there seemed to be people wandering around.

"Okay. Thanks." Was it wrong to hope to find Zack? Or should he really hope he didn't, so that he might be where he should be? Glancing to his pod again, Cloud felt his stomach turn a little at the sight of the wear on it.

Maybe it didn't mean anything. He hoped it didn't.

Intro Log: The Forgotten City

GOOD MORNING NEW ARRIVALS

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