kenoscomm | kenotebook post | ota

[ Yep, this is going to everyone–Matt couldn't think of a way to filter to "only folks who might be interested." Written out in full, it takes up multiple pages of the notebook, so he'll parcel it as needed. ]

Apologies for the long message.

This is twofold: I wanted to share the results of surveying native Kenosians re: which Faction's goal they support, and also share some less organized notes on issues that affect all of us.

[ First up, a section entitled SURVEY, with "special thanks to Gavial, Dimitri, and Ryouma for their contributions." The main points are:

Purpose of the survey, which is to see if residents of Kenos express a clear preference for one Faction's goal or the other.

Limitations, which include timespan (a week), number of respondents, and possible biases due to lack of cultural familiarity with Kenos and lack of trust.

A summary of the survey questions, which include things like I enjoy change in my life, the bigger the better and I often think about regrets I have or things/people I've lost.

Results: Answers track perfectly, with city of origin being the determining factor for alignment with Meridian or Zenith. This held true across Alenroux as well, in contrast to Matt's hypothesis that there might be more variance due to geographic dispersal from centers of Faction power. In a direct vote, Meridian would sweep through population of Springstar alone.

Final notes include the following: The divide in answers is so clean that it represents either serious methodological error or an unusually homogeneous population. On earth we referred to a phenomenon of "political polarization" to indicate deep divides. In this case, I would call the polarization more like that of protons and elections–two forces that repel each other on the level of cells and molecules. ]

SHADOWS/OBLIVION
The groundwork for my understanding is: 1) Our worlds were destroyed or eaten by a vast darkness. Forever? I don't know. 2) When Shards are destroyed, that's for good. My world has a concept of matter and energy converting back and forth, with nothing able to be created or permanently destroyed. But the type of death that comes from Shard destruction is fundamentally subtractive. For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to refer to this concept of subtractive death as oblivion (credit for this term to Set).

Portents:

Shard-Bearers have received at least one vision from the Tree of Life about being forcibly ejected from their bodies while something else walks around inside.

I had a dream recently about being hunted.

Maybe less a portent and more a rumor, but a longtime resident of Kenos has stated that these types of shadows (see below, "Phenomena") are a new occurrence.

Phenomena:

Disappearances across Kenos (not all necessarily attributable to shadows or oblivion)

Shadows (and star/moonlight) of unusual properties that include weird size, burning or slashing, mood changes

I was informed about an oracle trial in which dissipated Shard-Bearers were mimicked by shadow beings who utilized their Shards to do so

My own experience/thoughts:

I have memories of running or fleeing from things made out of darkness before Yima brought me here.

Was almost dragged by shadows into Yima's reflecting pool; subsequent conversation revealed people had died that way and the bodies were never recovered (see above, "Phenomena," bullet point 1).

I saw a facsimile of my older sister at the market in Highstorm. She looked, behaved, and sounded exactly like her. I am not the only one.

I've tried some preliminary attempts to scry into the shadows in Springstar, and wasn't able to find out anything before one of them got me pretty good in the chest. (I'm okay.) I'll update if a future attempt is successful.

There are creatures from my own world that mimic familiar voices/faces to lure prey. There are also creatures that require consent before they can pass certain thresholds, such as those of a home.

Tentative conclusions: Something unique and hungry is coming for all of us. I understand things have been set into motion that can't be taken back, but I would urge anyone reading, if at all possible, to put fighting on hold until we figure out what the hell this stuff is and how to combat it. Or else there won't be a winner left at the end of all this.

Failing that, stay safe. Use the buddy system. Bring a durable light when you go out. Please send any of your own experiences, bad dreams, hunches, clarifications, or corrections. I'll update my own notes as needed.

[ ooc: BLESS YOU IF YOU READ THIS WHOLE THING. Feel free to comment with questions, brainstorming, dragging Matt, whatever. Or equally, feel free to just have your character know the things in here, if you want them to! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Do you know any more about the previous peace treaties? I'm quite new here and I don't know very much about the history of this world as a whole just yet.

As you said, looking to what went wrong before and trying to rectify that could help. It would also help to know what went wrong now.

[That said, she also shares in his hope and enthusiasm. It threads through everything she is as always.]

You have my help should you need it. I am not adept with magic or the like but I do have some experience with politics and war.

I don't know how formal it all was, [ Matt admits. ] The way I heard it, Zenith so far has not been willing to negotiate, operate in good faith, or really work with Meridian at all. I only got Meridian's side of that one, but when you look at recent events ...

A political assassination, attacking civilians. I'm inclined to believe them. Though destroying Shards has happened on both sides, from what I understand.

[ A sigh across the connection. Weary with weight. ]

Honestly, magic may be part of an answer here, but it's a mechanical answer in some ways. Not the people part. I heard Shard-Bearers with political experience were able to reduce tensions before ... so maybe you're exactly who we needed to show up now. I know I'd appreciate all the political wisdom I can get.

[Mmm. It's a rough, weary topic. Alice gives Matt something of a psychic pat on the shoulder? A feeling like she's trying to be comforting anyhow.]

You've done very well to try to understand so much in such a short time.

[That said she falls silent a moment as she thinks.]

Reducing so many fraught tensions is ... difficult to say the least. I've certainly not mastered the art of it in my own world. I've found that learning both sides, their histories and how they intertwined has given me chances to understand the people I talk to.

[Her mental tone softens there.]

I haven't always gotten it right of course. There are times when you can know everything about a situation and still there is no ready answer. It might sound trite but the first approach is always to try to understand.

[ In answer, Alice gets a huff of laughter. Rueful, but warm. Matt appreciates the kindness, even though he feels personally like he's bumbling in the dark.

A very hostile dark.

He always finds it a little easier to feel embodied over Communion when someone else does it first. He pats the back of Alice's hand in turn, for some value of the gesture. ]

... Honestly, I think you've outlined a pretty decent first step. [ Rueful again, verging on embarrassed. ] I haven't wanted to poke too much at things that might be painful for people, but that means there's a lot I still don't know about how things went before I got here.

Both factions went on vacation together at one point, that sticks out to me. Yima and Cyrus arranged it. So call that the high point, maybe. But between there and now ... there's a lot I could stand to ask people about.

I can understand. I hadn't wished to pry myself until I Harmonized. Now I'm coming to the conclusion that if we hope to solve anything we must pry at some point. The sooner the better too if we have these shadows and such to contend with as well.

[She pauses a moment, considering. By now she's learned the difference between how her own faction feels and how Zenith feels so there's no question for her which side he's on. However --]

If you wish to explore and pry then allow me to assist you. Perhaps we can find someone willing to teach us about the history of this world or barring that find more documentation ourselves. I am also willing to lend you my blade should you need the assistance of a body guard.

Oh--thank you, [ he says, for the offer. He's genuinely touched by it. It reminds him of how immediately Gavial and Ryouma and Dimitri had offered him the same. They're a good bunch, here at the end of the world. ] That actually reminds me of something else important. History around here about past Zenith-Meridian conflict, the origins of the Oracles and all that, even ecological events--it's pretty thin on the ground. The libraries don't have anything.

What I've been told basically boils down to--

[ A pause to gather his thoughts. ]

Yima was the first person to arrive in Kenos.

There've been five other generations of Shard-Bearer before us, and all of those conflicts had a victor. That is, the split between Oracles wasn't a tie. It also wasn't a clean sweep for any one side, so as far as I understand, some of the local Meridian and Zenith boosters have argued that's why the restoration of worlds or creation of a new one hasn't happened yet.

[ There's more to say for sure--about Aetos, about hands tugging strings from behind the scenes. But Matt doesn't want to overload her. Especially not with things that may be closer to rumor than not. ]

The likeliest place in Springstar to have more information is the Church in Heliopolis. That's where they keep a lot of the records, apparently. But ah, only high-ranking Meridians get to go there.

Edited (i remembered another deet that felt relevant) 2024-03-05 21:02 (UTC)

... No wonder then she thinks that everything must be gone.

[Not that she sympathizes with Yima but she can well imagine how going through five generations of Shard-Bearers must have soured her views in some way. Or perhaps she had no views of her world still existing to begin with.

That said, one thing seems odd to her.]

There is never a clean sweep in any war. It seems strange this conflict wouldn't be settled then by simply having one side 'win'. Perhaps it isn't the lack of clean sweep as much as the lack of cooperation to bring about a 'tie'?

[Ah but that would need an even number of Oracles, wouldn't it.]

[ There's a ripple of complex emotion as Matt considers Yima's (potential) perspective. He's so angry at her for what he perceives she's done to Amos, using love and devotion as levers to turn him into an assassin. He's so angry about Springstar. But he also can't help identifying with her. The sense of unconditional love, of rootedness in the cosmos--those things carry weight for him. He feels them in his bones. ]

I can't presume to know exactly why Yima's done what she's done, [ is what he settles on. ] And I don't know what might happen if we produced some kind of cooperative tie, but I do think a potential obstacle there would be that if nothing happened--no power was unlocked, or, I don't know, the Oracles didn't spit out an instruction manual for restoring all the lost worlds--people would go back to fighting for a majority.

Edited 2024-03-10 15:12 (UTC)

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