INTRO LOG + SKADI CURSE.

[asgardmods]

FEBRUARY INTRO LOG( FEB 16TH & 17TH ) february 16 ↴ INTRO: NEW WANDERERS' ARRIVAL! Our batch of new Wanderers wake this morning, as all new Wanderers have before, on a plush bed with a mild but lingering sense of recent disorientation. Frigg greets them as per normal, though rather than outright escorting Wanderers to the front doors this time, she and Sigyn allow the Wanderers time and space to leave their bed, meet the pantheon, and even depart the palace at their own pace - but not without a warning. All Wanderers must choose a deity to tether to before dawn the next day, or else one of the gods will choose them. This is of grave importance, as that's precisely how long the magic giving them form is able to last untethered before the Mother's own magic overwhelms it. (Though the gods are more than willing to allow Wanderers to leave, it's worth noting that many a castle servant - natives, born in this land - might see fit to intercede and insist on the choosing of a god before Wanderers step off the Gladsheim Palace grounds.) Stepping outside, you're greeted by an almost bright and sunny day... Undermined thoroughly by a sharp, biting wind that permeates any small gap in your clothing. I bet the gods might give you a sweater, if you ask. It probably won't even look that absurd, depending on which one you ask. A trail of what seems like stringless balloons float at eye level from just outside the palace door, guiding Wanderers down the path to a notice board just outside the palace grounds. On this notice board, Wanderers find a brief handwritten guide to accessing the city map on their cuffs, specifically denoting the little colored house icons ( ⌂ ) to help Wanderers make their way to each god's housing. Also on this board appear to be a variety of job listings, for those who want to get more involved in Asgard as a whole. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? There's more than enough time for that once you've chosen a god to tether to in the first place. february 17 ↴ GOD CURSE: CHARACTER-BUILDING WITH SKADI. The storm brewing within Skadi is hardly a secret. She was impatient during the gods' supposedly unanimous address, and in the days to follow, Sigyn (with all her desperately good intentions) tried to balm the irritation but only abraded the goddess further still. She attended the Wanderers' arrival purely by the letter of her duty and swept back out the doors as soon as that duty released her, and since then she's been holed up in her temple, her pointy-faced statues positioned just outside as sentinels meant to intimidate mortals away. They dared to tell her that she does nothing. Nothing for the Wanderers, that is. Nothing to help them grow and self-actualize, as if these 'Wanderers' are so much more important than Asgard itself, which weakens by the day as her fellow gods fling their magic about to overprotect the Wanderers, or even to satisfy their whims. The consensus to draw back some of that wasteful protection would have pleased her, if she weren't so thoroughly fixated on the slight that preceded it. They want her to help the Wanderers self-actualize? So be it. There's no better way, truly, than to confront and overcome the ways in which you're flawed. So the morning after arrival day, many Wanderers wake up with a stinging, itching spot somewhere on their body. Maybe their arm, maybe their back, maybe their throat. In that spot, as it turns out, is a set of words in a deep ruddy brown (almost like old blood) under their skin as if tattooed in place. But these aren't just any words - they prey directly into the Wanderer's fears, their regrets, their insecurities, and their mistakes. They're facing down some of the worst things they've ever thought or feared about themselves. The other gods, of course, are eager and willing to try to relieve the poor Wanderers of these cursed marks... but they find that it's not quite so easy. Wanderers who seek a god's removal of the words find that not only do the words remain, but a new set appears: Flees the truth. But that's fine = For most Wanderers, these words disappear on their own in a day or two. A handful of unlucky souls find that their marks linger indefinitely, or seem to disappear but return at truly inopportune occasions down the line. MOD NOTES This is the February intro log and Skadi's curse, our mini-event for this month! Skadi's curse is is entirely opt-in - not all Wanderers are affected - and is detailed more fully in the 'This Month's Events' section of the February Bulletin, and you're welcome to direct any follow-up questions to the Bulletin's mod questions top-level. You've also likely noticed that god jobs are now live! The listings themselves can be found here (same link as within the 'arrival' prompt), with a brief FAQ featured over here.

Comments

[hei_pao_shi]

Shen Wei smiles slightly and pulls his glasses from his breast pocket, sliding them back onto his nose. He doesn't need them anymore here than he had at home, but they comfort him all the same. "You are being kind, I think," he says, eyes darting briefly to the butcher's block he's made of the practice dummy.

"You are also new?"

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm's eyes also turn the other man's dummy. It's... in decidedly worse shape than his own.

"You took your anger out on it," he says with a slight shrug. Apparently he's not very happy to be here, though Malcolm really can't blame him for that. He doesn't imagine that anyone likes waking up in a strange place with no way to go home.

"Yeah, I am. Malcolm Bright." Malcolm holds out his hand to shake.

[hei_pao_shi]

Shen Wei regards the offered hand a moment before taking it, bowing slightly at the waist before he lets it go. "Shen Wei," he answers. It is strange to speak his name and know that there is all there is. He's been two people for so long, and though it would have been a comfort to retreat back into his life as the Black Cloak Envoy, masked and alone, the gods have already seen right to the heart of him. Even if he's accepted it, it's still frightening to be so bare.

Shaking himself, Shen Wei directs his thoughts back to the simplicity of combat. "I see you have some skill with a sword."

[prodigalmess]

"Nice to meet you." Malcolm looks down at his arm and realizes that the 'N' at the end of his cursed tattoo is showing just slightly beyond his sleeve. He pulls his hand back as soon as is polite and tugs the sleeve back down.

"Yeah, thanks," he continues. "I fenced in high school and college and I collect ancient blades - swords, axes, knives. That kind of stuff."

[hei_pao_shi]

Ever observant, Shen Wei's dark eyes catch on the mark, but if the boy is anything like him, he doesn't want to speak of it anymore than Shen Wei does of the words on his own chest. "A collector," he says, hefting the

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] ?glaive</a>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

Ever observant, Shen Wei's dark eyes catch on the mark, but if the boy is anything like him, he doesn't want to speak of it anymore than Shen Wei does of the words on his own chest. "A collector," he says, hefting the <a href="http://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/04/po-dao.html"?glaive</a> in his hand.

"What do you make of this blade?" he asks, offering it up. "It is more than ten thousand years old."

[prodigalmess]

"That's amazing," Malcolm says, graciously and carefully taking it in his own hands. "Chinese, right? I've done a lot of study on Asian weapons in particular, as they're some of my favorites."

He examines some of the ornate decorations on it. "What did they call this? Ah... horse chopper? Originally a farm tool."

Malcolm can already tell that he'll be visiting the arena often, even if it's just to look at the weapons and not actually get any training done.