Tabula Rasa Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tabularasa_mods) wrote2020-05-17 01:56 pm
tabularasa_mods) wrote2020-05-17 01:56 pm
State of the World
State of the World
Arrivals & Departures ▲ Climate & Weather ▼ Light ▲ Fire ▼ Gravity ▲ SoundTime & Space ▲ Health ▼ Language & Communication ▲ Technology
Mana & Ley Lines ▼ Evolution ▼ Supernatural Powers
You are not expected to memorize every detail on this page. Please use it as a reference and for ideas on how your character can interact with the world. Any inconsistencies will be treated as a result of a character's personal influence coloring their perception.
For specific locations within the world, please see the Locations page.
For a list of known species within the world, please see the Bestiary page.
For details on influence and how to request new imprints, see the Imprints page.
Arrivals & Departures
There is no explanation for how characters arrive and disappear. As such, arrivals and disappearances cannot be perceived. Characters will not remember how they arrive in the world and will not be able to remember how other characters arrive or leave, even if they are watching when it happens.
Climate & Weather
The temperature of the world is a consistent "normal", which is whatever temperature feels comfortable as perceived by individuals. There is no noticeable variation in temperature unless otherwise noted.
All open areas of the world that don't contain water are filled with air and wind. Air is not necessary for breathing, but it may be used by winged creatures to fly. Wind is chaotic and moves in random directions at random speeds, varying anywhere from complete stillness to hurricane conditions without warning. As there is no direct source of air or wind, it may also blow indoors and in caves.
There is no concept of seasons. Any kind of weather can happen in any location, at any time.
Snow is "cold" and typically falls at the summit of Mount Silver. On rare occasions it may fall above other locations, causing a sudden shift in temperature. The ground of the affected area will be blanketed with roughly one-inch of snow, and any water in the area will be covered in a one-inch layer of solid ice. When the snowfall ends, all snow and ice left in the area will melt within five minutes and leave no trace behind.
Unlike rain and thunder, snow does not appear to come from any specific source. It simply forms and falls from somewhere below the sky's star layer.
Thunderstorms come from clouds, which may form in the sky above any location in the world. Storm clouds congregate towards one particular area and stay there until the storm decides that it has finished; it never rains in more than one place at a time. Storm periods can last from one hour to a couple of days, and occur randomly. Thunder and lightning will also occur regularly during storms.
Objects, creatures or people struck by lightning will feel pain from the experience, but will not sustain any lasting damage. Electronic devices will remain functional for one full hour after being struck by lightning, even if the storm has ended.
Earthquakes may occur whenever there is a disturbance in the subterranean tunnels of Mementos, which can vary in intensity according to the level and nature of the disturbance. While minor tremors may be triggered by someone merely touching the various gashes and openings in the walls of Mementos, with just enough intensity to be felt and perhaps knock over loose objects, continuing to aggravate the wounds will cause the tremors to intensify, and efforts to cause further damage will result in significant earthquakes that may cause damage to structures in the surrounding areas.
During intense earthquakes, moans, groans and even screaming can be heard if the listener is close enough to the ground. Power may become intermittent, and even during minor tremors the trains will stop running.
Light
Light comes from many sources, the largest of which is the sky. All locations of the world that don't have a roof or ceiling will be brightly lit under normal circumstances. Shadows are placed underneath objects as if light were directly above them at all times. If a location has an opaque roof or ceiling that would block light from above, everything under that ceiling is completely covered in deep shadow.
Anything that would normally glow or generate light will do so, regardless of how that light is supposed to be generated. Lightbulbs, electronic screens, and any other technological devices that use light will always remain lit even without any kind of power source. A light source's brightness cannot be manually adjusted or turned off, though it may fluctuate at random or dim during nighttime.
Night is an individual, isolated experience - the light in a 10 foot (3 meter) radius around a person will begin to dim as they get tired, and will go completely dark as they fall asleep. If many people are sleeping in the same area, this darkness will collect and spread to a distance of 30 feet (10 m) in all directions. As a person wakes up, the light will slowly begin to brighten around them, as if waking up with the sunrise. If they are fighting to stay awake, the light will be consistently dim, as if trying to encourage rest.
Even in complete darkness, characters may find their vision "adjusts" to the darkness after awhile, allowing them limited sight in dark areas.
Fire
Fire may be produced from striking rocks together - the type of rock does not matter - over an object that you want to set on fire. Fire produces heat and light and will normally burn for a few hours before slowly shrinking away into nothing. This period can be extended by spreading the flames to new objects or adding new materials to the flame. Fire may also be extinguished by contact with water or strong winds.
Once an object has been set on fire or placed within a fire, its outermost layer will begin to burn away into ashes - thin materials such as string or paper will be destroyed entirely by this process. If a living thing becomes burned and the fire is not put out soon enough, the skin of the affected area will crumble off into ashes in a similar manner and leave behind a painful wound.
Gravity
Gravity is tenuous and varies between individuals. It will be experienced "as normal", according to whatever each person perceives as "normal gravity". In general, objects and living things will prefer to stay on the ground.
Non-sentient items lack a personal perception of gravity and may sometimes "forget" how gravity works, causing them to fall slower or faster at random, or to float in midair for periods of time.
Sound
Sound is inconsistent, but functional. Distant sources are "quiet" and close sources are "loud", though exact volume may fluctuate unpredictably. Sound may occasionally cut out completely for a few seconds, or characters may fail to hear sounds related to objects or individuals they are not looking at.
Time & Space
Time is now stable, and can be consistently observed and recorded by the second, minute, and hour.
Time comes from water. Devices for measuring time, such as clocks or sundials, must be either filled with or submerged in water in order to function. If it is a technological device, no other power source is necessary for it to tell accurate time. All of the clocks that have been imprinted into the world through locations have been pre-filled with water.
Space is inconsistent. Distances within a few meters will generally behave themselves and remain consistent while being observed by characters. Larger distances between objects, living things and physical areas may grow or shrink at random. Sizes of objects, living things and physical areas will generally remain consistent once interacted with.
Health
There is no concept of illness. Any conditions that characters arrive with are assumed to be their "normal" state.
Living things need to eat regularly and will experience pain and weakness if they do not. As there is no definition for food as of yet, anything that can be swallowed can be safely eaten. Characters that don't have mouths may use other methods to eat, provided they are putting something in their bodies. Characters do not need to poop or expel waste.
All living things require sleep in order to stay alert and healthy. Staying awake for longer than 24 hours will result in heavy physical fatigue, exhaustion, and loss of awareness. The symptoms can be cured with 8-10 hours of sleep. Sleep may be accompanied by dreams.
Injury and pain occurs when a living thing suffers physical damage. All injuries heal slowly over time. Pain is perceived on an individual basis, though all living things experience some form of pain.
Death does not exist as a concept. Living things cannot be killed.
Birth does not exist as a concept. Living things cannot be created, aside from newly formed imprints and characters arriving from other worlds.
Infection may occur when a physical cut or wound is not properly treated. To count as “treated”, a wound must be washed with water and covered up with another material, such as a bandage - these are the only requirements. When an infection occurs, the affected area will not heal and the infected person will experience mild fever symptoms until the injury is treated.
If the infection remains untreated for more than 1 week, the wound will begin to sprout tiny vines and flowers that will slowly spread and cause additional pain. These plants must be removed down to their roots before the infection can be treated. If the infection is allowed to spread too deeply, surgery may be necessary to fully remove the roots.
Emotional infection is a variant of infection that affects emotional wounds, typically caused by rejecting one's true feelings or keeping painful secrets. Those who become afflicted by an emotional infection will also experience mild fever symptoms as well as coughing and tightness in the chest. To treat an emotional infection, the infected person must confront and overcome their emotional hang-up - for more serious and deeply-rooted issues, speaking to another person is the most effective method.
If an emotional infection is untreated for more than 1 month, the infected person will begin to sprout flowers within their chest and lungs, causing them to cough up blood and flower petals. Their other symptoms will also become more intense and painful. If the emotional infection continues to remain untreated for an additional month after this stage, flowers may begin growing out of the body from within the chest and spread outward in a similar manner to physical infections.
Once a late-stage emotional infection has been treated, all of the vines and flowers will shrivel up and need to be ejected from the body naturally. Fever symptoms may persist for up to one week.
Language & Communication
There is only one language in the world, and it is known as "language". Language is understood by all.
Language can be communicated through spoken words, written words, and visual motions such as sign language. If the communication method can be perceived, it is understood.
Imprinted scenery may contain written language in the form of signs, simple phrases, and musical scores. However, anything that goes on for more than a couple sentences will degrade into gibberish. Writing left behind by characters or items brought in on arrival are unaffected by this.
Books that exist as part of the scenery will either be blank, filled with random words and letters, or contain elaborate musical scores. All books containing music will be credited to Leo Tsukinaga and have titles such as "An Ode for a Gentle World", "I Haven't Slept In Who Knows How Long And Now Our Benevolent Kidnapping God Made Me Hungry, Ugh!" and "Hey, Let's Talk Or Sing Or Whatever You Like!". The music won't always match the title, and after a certain number of pages it degrades into nonsense, as if the piece were continued by someone who doesn't actually know what music is.
Technology
The world currently has a very loose understanding of technology. Devices that require complex machinery or electricity will not activate under normal conditions.
During storms, all technological devices will be able to operate temporarily. The extent of this is limited to the basic capabilities of the device in question; anything that requires an external aid, such as network connectivity for the communicative properties of cell phones, as well as anything that would create an effect outside of the device itself, such as high-tech guns or holographic projectors, will not function. Batteries do not drain and will only read as 100% while a storm is active.
The general functionality of technology depends on their distance from the storm - if they are far away from the source, the device may experience momentary “blackouts” until the owner can get closer. Devices will cease to function when the storm that is powering them has subsided.
Trains will run continuously during storm periods, automatically making stops at each currently established station. When the storm that is sourcing their power finishes, they will fall back into inactivity regardless of their location - passengers will need to pry the doors open and continue to their destination on foot. Trains will also halt whenever an earthquake occurs.
Due to the current frequency of earthquakes in addition to the dependence on thunderstorms, trains are frequently delayed and can sometimes take more than 24 hours to complete a full circuit.
Vehicles are any manually-controlled passenger machines that are designed for use on the ground or in the sky. Unlike trains, which are controlled automatically through electrical power, personal vehicles have fuel tanks that must be filled in order for the machine to move. A fuel tank can be filled with any kind of liquid.
Fuel tanks will eventually deplete as the vehicle is used, though this tends to happen all at once. It is advisable to bring extra fuel along if you're planning a long trip, or if your vehicle suddenly and unexpectedly losing power could lead to disastrous results.
Poké Balls are capsule-like devices that can capture and store living beings inside of them, to be carried around in a portable form. Poké Balls can capture any living thing that is not a player character, including pets and summons a character may have brought with them; this can be done by throwing an empty Poké Ball at the creature in question, but its rate of success will vary based on the strength of the target and its willingness to be captured. If a capture is unsuccessful, the Poké Ball will break and cannot be repaired. If the capture is successful, the inside of the ball will simulate the creature’s ideal environment and store them comfortably until they are called out by their owners. Creatures are released from Poké Balls by tossing them into the air, and returned by pointing the creature’s specific Poké Ball at them, upon which they will be converted into energy and stored inside of the Ball. Captured creatures will normally stay obediently inside of their Poké Ball, but can break out of their own volition if they choose.
If a Poké Ball is broken externally, the creature inside will be automatically ejected and unable to be recalled until a new Ball is procured for them. Creatures inside of Poké Balls do not experience hunger, but are aware of passing time.
Poké Balls do not require electricity like other devices do. They will remain fully functional at all times, unless something else causes them to become damaged or broken.
Mana & Ley Lines
Mana is a mysterious force that is naturally created both by the World itself and by the living things that inhabit it. It is a catalyst with limitless potential; it can be utilized in countless ways with elongated exposure and trained focus, but its main purpose is to connect. All living things in the world have the potential to utilize mana.
Mana is everywhere in small, untraceable amounts, but it can most easily be observed in condensed ley line deposits - cracks and fissures in the ground of varying sizes, filled with a milky blue-white essence that glimmers with a pearlescent sheen. Though mana appears to be in a tangible form when observed from above-ground ley lines, it has the consistency of mist and will not displace when touched.
There is currently no way to extract mana from its deposits - upturning the earth that ley lines have settled into will do nothing but reveal that they branch into an incredibly expansive network of tributaries, extending throughout the world and into the void.
Ley line communication allows people to communicate over long distances. Using the traces of mana in their bodies, people can turn their thoughts into messages that have the ability to pass through the world’s network of ley lines. The process of sending a message feels very natural, takes little effort, and requires no prior knowledge or experience with mana or similar concepts. To send or receive ley line communications, all participants must be within physical reach of a ley line deposit.
At present, messages cannot be sent with focus to specific individuals. All attempts at communication are filtered into the same channel and will be shared with anyone close enough to a ley line to hear it. Messages initially sound like soft whispers as they travel through the network, but can be heard with increasing clarity when deliberately focused on. Messages traveling through ley lines can also be tuned out completely if the listener is passively unwilling to listen for them.
Ley lines that are large enough to use for communication only exist in certain locations throughout the world, though new ley lines may occasionally spring open or dry up over time. Specific ley line locations can be found on the Locations page.
OOCly, ley line posts can be made on the main community (
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tabularasa_rp), along with in-person action logs as usual. For the sake of organization and clarity, we ask that ley line posts are tagged with the *ley line tag.Evolution
All creatures native to the World have a natural, instinctual connection to mana that is stronger than that of people. This connection is deep enough to affect their genetic code, not only granting them abilities that are unique to each species, but also linking certain species together under certain conditions. When these conditions are met, they are able to undergo a physiological change known as “evolution”, in which a creature can grow stronger and change form from one species to another.
Currently, people are unable to experience evolution. If a creature is capable of evolution, it will be listed in their bestiary entry.
Magic
Magic is the ability to harness the power of mana and use it to manipulate the various elemental forces within the world. Any living being has the potential to learn magic, but it is something that must be learned and practised in order to master, and certain creatures and people may have a stronger affinity for one particular type of magic over others.
As magic requires mana to use, mana must be "charged" by absorbing it from a ley line deposit before it can be used; when an individual has used all of their excess mana, they must recharge it again to continue using their magical abilities. How much mana a person can store and how efficiently they can use it varies between individuals, but those who are more experienced with magic generally have a much higher efficiency.
Currently, there are six basic elements that magic can be used to control: ice, water, wind, lightning, fire, and earth. These elements may be manipulated in the form of conjuring and telekinetically controlling the respective element - the element will still follow any existing rules or logic that the world has assigned to it. Those inexperienced with magic will have difficulty conjuring or controlling anything larger than themselves.
Supernatural Powers
The world currently has a limited understanding of supernatural powers. If your character already had one of the following abilities before arriving in the world, they may use them. If your character’s version of the ability is in a gray area or includes aspects that aren’t mentioned, please use the mod contact post or FAQ before using that ability.
- Elemental control is the ability to conjure and manipulate elemental forces such as fire, water, wind and earth. These abilities may be used at a basic level, and will require the channelling of mana from ley lines in order for characters to use them. Large and powerful elemental abilities, such as freezing the ocean or causing massive explosions, should not be used by characters without mod permission.
- Empathy is the ability to sense the emotions of others.
- Telepathy is the ability to communicate with others using only one’s thoughts. This includes mind reading.
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