[ text ] @shadow; information compilation [ OPEN ]

[itsaname]

hello. i'm shadow moon.

[ He includes a picture of himself so that people can make the connection between name and face. It shows a serious man with gray eyes who clearly has no idea how to take selfies. It's something like this, only darker. He Tried. ]

i'm no one special. i spent most of my life not doing much. then i got sucked into a war i didn't fully understand. i lost everyone i cared about, and then i died.

i don't know if knowing more would've made a difference for me or not. there were a lot of things outside of my control. but knowledge can make a difference here.

i've seen discussion about sharing information, but i haven't seen anything compiled and distributed yet. so that's what i've tried to do. this isn't something i've got experience doing. i've probably missed things. there are probably things that haven't been shared at all. if you can add to this and help make it more accurate, please do.

DEATH
- we're dead, but we can die again. it's common enough that there's a permanent obituary section in the paper. resurrection isn't guaranteed: "life is finite."

- the dead return faster is the body is left alone.

- "an entity" revives the dead. it will only work in privacy; how it revives them is unknown.

- if you die more than once, you will come back wrong.

- the recently revived reappear in the church.

- your lantern is a part of you, and your life is tied to it. take care of it.

LIGHT & MAGIC
- the only sources of light are our lanterns, the bonfire, the lighthouse, the stars, and the moon.

- you can take torches from the bonfire. these can be used to light other things (candles, lamps, etc.).

- magic that should illuminate doesn't work right; other spells are unaffected.
- trying to create a fire only creates smoke.

OTHER BEINGS
- there aren't any animals here. aside from us, it looks like the only inhabitants are forest spirits.
- general policy with spirits: "respect them, and they shall respect you."
- some forest spirits will kill you with their hands.
- some forest spirits are friendly.

- known friendly ones: postmaster, ice cream guy, being beneath church.

- if you see food laying beside the trapdoor in the church, leave it. it's an offering.

- librarian's friendliness is 50-50.

- give it food. it's hungry. its presence is unnerving, but it didn't attack when it had opportunity.

- there were other people here before. they disappeared when the town was "reset." the only ones left are winters, dr. ingram, rastus, and the lighthouse keeper.

THE RIVER
- the river is dangerous for two reasons: its strong, unpredictable current, and something that lives in the water.

- the thing in the water will try to drag down those who cross. throw something in and it'll throw it back.

- it looks sort of like a person, and it'll try to eat you.

- there's a village on the other side of the river. people are working on building a bridge so we can access it (and whatever else might be over there) safely.

- there are remnants of a bridge upriver, but it needs repairs.

THE VILLAGE
- it has 20 houses, a park, a rec center, and a library.
- the library has all sorts of books.

THE LIGHTHOUSE
- approaching the lighthouse without "a large group that knows what they're doing" is suicide.
- the lighthouse keeper uses morse code to communicate. if you get too close, she'll tell you, "GO BACK".

- she communicates like this because she's not currently connected to the network.

MISCELLANEOUS
- there are sand dunes and cliffs past the river in the opposite direction from the lighthouse

- no signs of civilization so far

- the town hall holds no records.

[ AND WITH ALL THAT SAID, he adds: ]

some people consider information and knowledge to be currencies. they want to keep it and peddle it out at their own convenience. i think that in a place like this, that's a good way to get people killed. we all have our own unique strengths, weaknesses, experiences, and observations. if you know something that can help others, please speak up.

thanks.


(( ooc: SUP Y'ALL. this info is from public network posts/comments. shadow isn't the type to read through every single person's conversation, so there's stuff he's missed! please shove info his way and he'll add it in, or suggest other ways for him to format things, or whatever else you'd like to do. shadow is icly not the greatest at this, but He Cares and He's Trying. o9 ))

Comments

@dysmas :// text;

[chardismastic]

[ Not a bad idea, this post. Someone getting their shit in a row is something Rafe can appreciate. ]

the torches can be used to light up other things, candle/lamps/etc

and as for friendlies i suppose you can count the ice cream guy on the other side for one there
the thing in the library i'd say it's 50-50

[itsaname]

thanks. i'll make a note of that.

you mean in the village, right? [ Then: ] do they actually have ice cream?

@silent

[callada]

Thanks for this. There's part of a bridge farther upriver too, maybe an hour or so west-southwest of town, past the fork. I didn't have the supplies to do anything about it but if anyone feels up to making a second bridge it's already started, just needs some work. I marked about where it is on the map in the tablets and the trees on the way there are blazed red. Should be easy to find.

[itsaname]

it's no problem.

[ Shadow's had plenty of time with little to do. ]

a second bridge is a good idea. we should have more than one way to get across that kind of hazard.

@fuckthis

[evocation]

the lanterns are a part of us, not just tied to us
but they aren't magic, and they aren't created by magic
or if they are, not any magic i've seen
and i found all sorts of books in the library
no stories i recognized, but one was written in elvish

[itsaname]

can you elaborate on them being "part of us" for people who aren't familiar with that kind of thing?

[ Implying that Shadow might be??? He's seen some Weird Shit. Which makes "Elvish" very tame in comparison. ]

thanks. i'll add that in. [ Then: ] did you recognize any other languages?

@dr

[donttalktome]

[Guess who feels called tf out by this post???]

Some corrections.
The lighthouse and the stars and moon all create light.
If you die more than once, you're definitely coming back wrong.
The lighthouse does not communicate in morse code, the lighthouse keeper does, because she isn't currently connected to the network.
And for your information, knowledge is a currency.

[itsaname]

[ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ !!! ]

thank you. i appreciate the help.

[ Shadow means it, too.

It's a strange question to ask, but considering the circumstances: ]

do you know what the upper limit is on how many times someone can die?

and yeah, someone told me that once. he said there'd only ever been the information age. he said that information and knowledge were currencies that had never gone out of style.

@witch

[hext]

the town hall is completely empty. no records.
only statues.

i broke one.

[itsaname]

did anything happen?

[ Which might seem like a bizarre question, but he's seen some really weird statues. ]

@replica

[replicates]

[ hi dad. ]

if you get farther past the river in the opposite direction of the lighthouse
it turns to sand dunes and cliffs

[itsaname]

[ hi son. staying out of trouble? ]

thank you. any signs of civilization?

@darkness

[evulsed]

a group isn't going to help you against what's out there

[itsaname]

what do you mean?

@parker

[webshoots]

We have ice cream?

[ after a moment, he adds: ]

Resurrections (or whatever they are) are completed by what Doc Ingram describes as 'an entity' and it only operates if it has privacy, so bodies have to be left alone if the deceased are to be brought back.

We don't know if it's magic or technology or a combination of the two.

@priestess ⟪ text ⟫

[voktys]

The ice cream's vendor is a friendly crab spirit. They can be found by the village, close to the park.

I have been told the flavours are unusual, but frankly, I have no experience with these matters. If one should be unsure, the crab has freely offered a sample spoon before.

@priestess ⟪ text ⟫

[voktys]

The spirit guarding the library is not unfriendly, but they were ravenous with hunger. Perhaps visitors would do good in making it an offering of food when they come for their treasured books? They move in ways some might find unnerving, and it is hard to tell if them breathing down one's neck is a habit or something brought on by our surprise visit. They are entirely clad in white, so at least, they are easily recognisable when one does spot them. I will say they had a fair chance to attack us and did not so do.

The being residing beneath the church, the one who seems to be responsible for the resurrections, is kindly as well. Only one caught a glimpse of them so far, describing the part they saw as 'shadowy' and 'dark', but one with a name such as yours would hardly mind a shadow?

⟪ harrharr, she has attempted a jest! ⟫

They seem to prefer their privacy –– this reminds me, when one spots unattended food in the church closeby the trapdoor, it is meant for this spirit, who takes it only when there are no witnesses.

On the subject of beings in general... So far, they seem to keep to what Winters has told me: respect them, and they shall respect you. ⟪ that's a rephrasing, but the gist is the same. ⟫

[itsaname]

[ Shadow reads this all carefully — harrharr, what a jest she made! — and finds himself as reassured as he can be. He's not unfamiliar with gods and spirits, and he's not afraid of them. Anything that's malevolent — spirits, humans, or otherwise — can be a problem, but these beings just sound … different.

It's good to know that not everything's out to kill them. ]

that's a good policy. thank you for all of this.

@daylit

[sunborne]

I can definitely vouch for the Postmaster General being friendly! I talked to them a bit - kind of, they drew something and I'm not sure what it is they asked me to do but they were nice! - and it seems like they're just trying to do their job.

I was thinking they could join us on the network or something. Easier to talk to them and stuff now that we have the drawing app thanks to Dr. Ingram. Try to build interrelations between the spirits and the folks here and stuff.

[itsaname]

that's good to hear. do you still have the drawing? maybe someone else can make sense of it.

if we're going to be their neighbors, it couldn't hurt. we'd have to find a spare tablet for them.

@riku; text

[equinoctials]

thanks for pulling this together. it might help to have something in here about how there were people before us and what happened to them.
when I learn anything new, you'll hear from me.

[itsaname]

it's no problem. i had time.

i'll add something about the resets, but i don't know much. just what winters told us on the beach. [ And unlike many, Shadow didn't demand more information. ] do you know anything else?

thank you. i appreciate it.

@d.grayson

[identifier]

[ he reads through everything carefully. ]

I'm working on the bridge problem. and several other ways to cross the river. swimming's not safe.

[itsaname]

thank you for doing that.

[ He doesn't ask why swimming isn't safe. Between the current and whatever lives below the surface, he doesn't think he needs to. ]

what other ways are you working on?

@oracle | Voice

[spitefullight]

[ Now, this is what he wanted to see. People putting info together and not bickering.]

Oh this is great! I'll write this down in my journal.
I've got some log books Rastus is going to get for me and I was thinking we could also use those to catalog information.

Never really did think to use this thing though.

[Oh right maybe he should contribute]

It's not much but the tablets are magical.

[itsaname]

[ Taking the other's lead, Shadow switches to audio as well. His voice is calm with a non-specific American accent. ]

That's a good idea. We should probably keep multiple copies of the information.

[ Especially after what Wanda said about the town hall holding no records. And who knows if the town's network will always be accessible? ]

Thanks. I'll add that in.

@five

[fogey]

We can expect to hear from the Lighthouse Keeper in a matter of months, according to Winter. Once she's reconnected to the network, I suppose.

When she resets the town, she only spares a handful of people, including a chosen guide. Winters, in our case. But he can't give us direction; we have to figure things out on our own. Ingram thinks she wants us to fix this world.

The trapdoor is also protected by some kind of a force field, by the way.

[itsaname]

thank you. i'll add this in.

i wonder why winters isn't allowed to give us direction. it seems like a strange restriction for a guide.

[ He also wonders how the lighthouse keeper chose Winters, and how Winters feels about being chosen. But he keeps those thoughts to himself. ]

you mean the trapdoor in the church, right?

@kingofwei

[pure_havoc]

[he's had a few exchanges with Dick so he knows some of this, but also...]

it isn't just a thing in the water. the water itself may bar your way.

I have yet to corroborate with anyone else who experienced what I did, but when I touched the water at the broken bridge, I had a vision of a wave sweeping me off the rocks. only a vision, nothing more.

[itsaname]

[ Another person might dismiss that as a hallucination. Shadow has learned not to write things off so quickly. ]

that sounds like a warning.

@username

[dualikey]

oh i think something got confused but the lighthouse keeper didn't talk to us when we got close, she talked to us when we got too far away

[itsaname]

sorry about that. i'll fix it.

what did you get too far away from? the bonfire? the lighthouse?

@Nightshade

[primordialerebus]

[ Oh god is she going to do this? The again, it's already on the public network, might as well say it again. ]

There's a keypad on the other side of the trapdoor.

[ And that's all she's saying unless truly necessary. ]

[itsaname]

[ It takes Shadow a moment, but he recalls the many mentions of a trapdoor in the paper. ]

you mean the one in the church, right?

[ Just to be sure. ]

@malaka; text

[taintedone]

Information is power.
You assume you help by sharing all of this but you can't know that.
Most can't handle the fucking pressure of having the truth thrust in their faces.
Compile it, yes.
Give it to the public, no.

[itsaname]

are you one of the ones who can't handle the truth?

[ Is he making a reference to something? Yes. Yes, he is. ]

@cuttingedge; text

[knifecollecting]

Thanks for collecting this.

It's a good idea to work together.

[itsaname]

it's no problem. and yes, i agree. i think that's the best way to keep people [ alive? ] from getting hurt.

@ax400

[chores]

Thank you for this.

Also the Postmaster likes rocks. They were pretty excited by the one I brought them one.

[itsaname]

it's no problem.

[ Rocks. Of all things, rocks. At least there's plenty of those around. ]

any particular kind of rocks?