aionmods | PLOT & INVESTIGATIONS

PLOT & INVESTIGATIONS

Story Plotting

The catch-all page for plot inquiries, NPC threads, investigations, player plots, plot suggestions, and everything else under that banner. Frequency of replies to NPC thread requests will be subject to mod availability, but we will do our best.

INVESTIGATIONS

This is where you come to seek out conversations with NPCs, have your character investigate the setting, or otherwise declare that your character is doing something we should know about. We are open to doing unsolicited NPC call-out threads but reserve the right to cut them short/handwave if they don't seem to be going anywhere or to limit their scope if we are overburdened. NPCs are not always guaranteed to be up for prolonged conversation, but you can try. To attempt to contact an NPC please put their name in the subject line. For conversations of general plot importance, we may ask you to make an closed log.

For investigations, you can freely use this page to have your character seek out information about the characters, setting, or plot. We do ask that you keep investigations to 1-3 inquiries at most, and to have those inquiries be somewhat related. If you want to investigate things that are completely unrelated, please put them in a separate comment. Additionally, please be specific about the approach your character is taking to find out information; their method will greatly impact how well it goes for them.

PLAYER PLOTS

Aion Teleos is designed to be open to player plots, and would be glad to accomodate them! Let us know in a comment below that you/your character is doing and how you'd like to approach it as a player run event. Please put the words "Player Plot" in the subject line.

PLOT SUGGESTIONS

If you don't specifically want to run a plot yourself but have some vague ideas of an event type you think would scratch an itch for the game, please let us know. We don't guarantee we'll use these ideas, but we will keep them in mind when designing future events.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The airships are public knowledge in that you can find that information if you do a fair amount of asking around to the people involved with it, but it's not about in a highly visible way, since it's in-progress technology that the builders want to keep the edge on. It's possible for Amos to have found out about it, but he'll have to have done some investigative work.

We'll assume that he's speaking to some of the senior members in the entrance hall, just to provide some physical context.

They will cast uncertain glances at each other when he mentions the airship projects, seeming like they are actually considering it. One of them pointedly speaks up, expressing their doubts about getting an Aion involved with their technological feats; after all, they've heard the tales. All throughout history, Aions have meddled in the affairs of Horosians, giving them new technology, new magic, only for what they build to escalate into continent-wide devastation. Why should they invite that upon themselves when they are perfectly capable of creating their own progress?

The other two fall silent, looking to Amos for an answer.

That all makes sense, since Amos would've had to spend a bit of time getting the lay of the land in Godsblood to find out he had to go to the Machining Guild to begin with!

Amos would start off by saying he doesn't know about what other Aions have done to Horosians in the past; this is just him, and he doesn't really care what they do with the information he'll give them. All he'd be doing is giving them a guideline to make a piece of the puzzle themselves: it's still their work, isn't it? It's not like he's introducing something brand new and outlandish; they were already working on building airships anyway, so this is hardly meddling on his part. He'd just be giving them a specific nudge in the right direction, saving them a bit of time, resources, and considering safety features possibly lives along the way.

Though if it makes them feel better, he'll also impart that he's from a world that's progressed far beyond airships, so it's not like airships are about to bring about continent-wide devastation — which he also decidedly does not want, because that's just going to hurt people. Sure, if the airships are going to be built for the purposes of war, then people are going to die. They know that. (Was that a bit pointed? Whoops.) But if they're being built for everyday people, for transit and commerce purposes, then that's a good thing, and it'd be pretty fucked up of him to want to sabotage that in any way. He's all for it.

Though some of his word choices might be a bit questionable, he does speak sincerely (aside from the petty war remark): they may not trust him by virtue of who he is, which he understands, but all he's offering them is the chance to go about things a little quicker and safer than they otherwise might've.

The assembled guildsmen will listen to what he says. Once he's made his case, they will exchange some looks before saying that they need to discuss in private. They'll offer Amos a place to sit and some tea (if he likes) while he leave to another room. On the way, one of them tells the person at the entry desk something, who turns to look at Amos in turn.

After about fifteen minutes, only one of the guildsmen will return: an older woman who will introduce herself as Jaina Facili. She will ask Amos to come join her in the room she just left so that they can discuss this properly.

Amos is content to sit and wait; he'll decline the tea (out of the sense that he's good and doesn't need anything, not out of distrust on his part) and then be the epitome of patience. No fidgeting, no attempts at small talk with the person at the entry desk, just quietly vibing on his own until Jaina comes back for him, at which point he'll accept and follow her into the room. He's just being very chill and cooperative the entire time, like a good guest.

Also! Regarding earlier stuff — Gen is the only other Aion Amos will be bringing on this trip, so there will officially be two Kenoma Aions with an announced presence in Godsblood. Talking about it with Miru, she said Gen wouldn't be getting up to anything particularly noteworthy when in the city and is more just general support. He would've shown up alongside Amos to the Machining Guild, but it should be pretty clear to them that this is Amos' whole deal, so Gen wouldn't be involved in any of the talks and could probably have been dismissed whenever.

I also had a couple of questions as things progress here, mostly regarding timing. Is it okay to assume this entire journey lasts about two weeks, factoring in travel time and then time in Godsblood (so about a week in the city proper), or does that need to be modified? Also, as to when they're going — I know Candace was thinking about setting the orphan beach trip on around the 21st, so would Amos and Gen departing for Godsblood the day after work? So in theory that would mean this all takes place at the end of Visoseri/start of Soviseri, and they should be back in Achamoth by the end of the first week of Soviseri.

Aaaand one last thing... Once we're further along in plotting things I was hoping to set up an open log in Godsblood for Amos/Gen/Eustace/Childe and any Pleroma who wanted to tag in, since this is the first time we'll have sects meeting on mostly-non-neutral territory. One thing I wanted to make sure of though is, considering how Amos and Gen are there as outed Kenoma, what opportunities would be available for resident Pleroma to interact with them without outing themselves as Aions to the general populace? Would going for a drink/sharing a meal in a public place draw too much attention; would a chance meeting and conversation on a quiet or busy street or somewhere like a public park be too much; or would things have to be kept to out-of-sight locations like deserted alleyways or private residences?

Thank you all so much for all of this!

First the general questions before we get back to NPC stuff:

1) Yes, that timing sounds reasonable!

2) A log like that would be fine. It wouldn't be unreasonable for a visiting Aion to be chatting up people within Godsblood so them sharing a meal with Childe and Eustace wouldn't be a dead give away, but it might tie them to the Aions on the rumor network if they do it in public. Whether they are just strangers Gen and Amos are dining with or whether they are connected to Achamoth won't be clear, but it would definitely have implications, especially since no one from town would recognize Childe or Eustace either. It's definitely a risk, at any rate.

As for meeting in a busy street or a public park the connection is still possible but a lot less likely, since the odds of them chatting up some rando in the park is a lot more likely than sitting down for dinner with them. It'd also be a lot more obvious if someone was spying on them, unlike a closed environment like a pub or eatery, so that'd probably be the safest option without going somewhere deserted or private.

Now, back to NPCs:
Jaina will invite Amos in (Gen will have to sit in the waiting room) to speak in what is basically a private meeting room. There's a big table with a lot of chairs, and implements that look like they could be used to delivery seminars to interested listeners. She'll sit down with him at the head of the table, and say that it is most likely possible for them to fabricate the parts that he needs, but that he will have to supply them with schematics. In exchange, there is a certain part of the airship construction that they do think his insight may be of use for.

Would that be agreeable to him?

Amos will take a minute to consider her proposal. For the most part, he agrees — but.

He can supply them with the schematics, but he'd also like to be present in some way for the fabrication. He gets it if they don't want to let him see everything behind the scenes, so if that's not possible he will settle for the chance to test things and tell them what needs to be refined until he's satisfied with the end result. However, regarding their earlier worry about new Aion-supplied technology escalating into continent-wide devastation, he'll caution that what he's working on is specifically that. This is, essentially, a small-scale personal project for him, so he's curious what they would do with the schematics after.

But other than that, yeah, he's totally happy to offer the insight they're looking for. That's no problem at all.

(And perfect, thank you!)

Jaina (who was not the one who voiced that concern initially) will say that Tremblane's concerns are not her own. Personally, she explains, she would rather be at the frontier of the new age, not tailing behind. If they are going to be sending this weapon out into the world, she would much rather understand its processes. That can wait until after the airship plans are dealt with, though.

If that is acceptable to him, she will invite him to her workshop for the meeting the next day. It won't be where the large scale construction will be happening, but she does have a prototypes to show him.

With that explanation, Jaina will certainly have Amos' interest — she might notice him looking at her all the more intrigued by who she really is and what her motives are, even if he doesn't provide any verbal commentary on it. Just that while he was generally in good spirits before, and mostly neutral towards her, she might now get the sense that he thinks he likes her as a person.

He's in agreement; this all sounds good to him.

Then it's a deal! She'll have him over the next day, and will bring him into her workshop, and this time she's wearing her work clothes. While she doesn't have all aspects of the airship designs here, she does have the stuff applicable to his advice: seemingly, she is asking for advice in forging metal structures that will be strong but light enough to make it airborne. Ultimately, it's sort of a metallurgy question, but it's also about how to use those metals to create a good enough frame.

They do have what are essentially hot air balloons, but they want to make them more durable against outside attack and also to be able to carry as much weight as possible. The basic designs she shows him are closer to Zeppelins than anything else. As for the rest of the specifics, the mods aren't engineers and have limited ability to get into the nitty gritty, but it's mostly to do with making better, more-lightweight metals.

Despite being from Achamoth there's nothing formal about Amos' clothes, and he remains dressed in the kind of outfit that suggests he could jump in to work at any moment. He'll take a bit of time to look around her workshop, both out of a sense of evaluating where Jaina is at and something that could be recognized as nostalgia before getting to it.

My ability to get into the nitty gritty is also limited, but he's definitely able to produce suggestions for working with sturdy but lightweight materials; that's what much of his living back in his universe was based on, including frequent ship repairs (including by hand) so he's very familiar with what it takes to build one (albeit for space, not atmospheric travel, but... not much of a difference there, is there). But since I went ahead and googled stuff anyway (and remembered that this comes up in canon a lot), he'll point her in the direction of 1. aluminum and 2. advanced ceramics.

Either way, it should be clear that he's enjoying himself being here, content to answer any questions and take his time.

Jaina will make note of all of his suggestions, indicating that she will bring them to the other guilds for analysis. Of course, before they can proceed with his project, they will have to test his theories and see if they provide the solutions they need. In the meantime, if he able to provide her schematics for the gun, she can work on ensuring their machining devices ability to create them.

They'll probably need at least a month to review the material he's provided.

That makes sense, and he was expecting something along those lines. He's in no rush, and perfectly content to wait for their approval.

In the meantime, Amos would have spent the night prior drawing up schematics for what he needs, which he'd produce for her. Each part is drawn separately, without any real indication as to how everything fits together — it's the kind of thing that they should be able to figure out on their own eventually, but it isn't exactly handed over on a silver platter. He needs a way to make the parts, but he'd prefer to do the assembly himself. He's practiced at frequent disassembly and reassembly, after all, and is going to be doing it even after it's completed; might as well be his hands putting it together for the first time, right? Just the nature of you take care of your tools, and they'll take care of you, which he figures she would agree with.

He's cool with coming back in a month (turns out he really likes Godsblood the actual city, too), and would ask about if there's any way for them to send word to him when they're ready, or if he should just show up of his own volition then.

OOCly, just to confirm, because I'm guessing that Amos using Eustace's portal would draw suspicion for how he would get there so fast, it would be best for him to take a boat back up for a return trip, right? Establish good faith and all that. That'd be his first instinct anyway, but just wanted to confirm if portal usage would raise some eyebrows, even if NPCs are unaware of the actual portal itself.

A boat would be the most good faith, yes! Whether or not NPCs would notice the portal use would be essentially RNG but if he wants to make the best impression them seeing him leaving on the same boat he arrived on would be the clearest one.

Perfect! He's definitely taking the boat back to Achamoth, and will aim to be back in Godsblood by the start of Firaseri... depending on what else happens between now and then, of course.

As of now his plans are to take a boat back up and keep everything public and formal, as a sign of continuing good faith (and keeping that portal knowledge in his back pocket in case he needs to use it, but for now, why bother if there's no immediate need).

This could of course be subject to change depending on how things go the rest of the month, but if there isn't anything too major that would disrupt this, that would be his next course of action in ~a month's time.

Sounds good! Feel free to check in after this month's event.

Hello again, mods! Hopefully this isn't too soon to start this back up...

A couple of days after the execution-that-wasn't, Amos will show up at the Machining Guild again. He's visibly injured (bruises, cuts, etc) and in various states of healing from all the fighting, but the most obvious injuries will be that his throat got cut and he's missing the ring and little fingers on his right hand.

Despite both that and the vibe around Godsblood the past week or so, he's carrying on with the exact same demeanour he had when he left at the start of the month — generally friendly, curious, just plain content to be in the vicinity of workshops again — albeit a bit sheepish because he knows he's back early but he was in the area, so, you know, might as well stop by. As far as he's concerned everything to do with Vaeka is a separate matter entirely, so he genuinely doesn't see why that should have any effect on their business.

He'll ask about how progress is going, both with the advice he gave and with the manufacturing of the parts he needs, and if he can by chance get access to a workshop to start building some prosthetics, since it seems like he's gonna need those now.

The people are the reception area of the machining guild will tell him to leave. It's not in an aggressive way, but in a way that is somewhat emotionally charged. They clearly don't want him there, especially right now.

This is the first time it's occurring to him that maybe the events of the past week might have had an impact here. That said, that dawning of understanding doesn't translate to compliance; his amiability shifts into something purely superficial, but he makes it clear he's not going anywhere. He's content to wait as long as he needs to.

He's most likely going to end up waiting there for few hours at the very least, with the people there doing their level best to ignore him. Will he do anything in the meantime?

If there's anything interesting to look at in the reception area he might wander around in the general vicinity doing just that, and giving the people there the occasional glance as if to confirm for them that he's not going anywhere. Other than that, he's not gonna do a lot — he's remarkably patient (thanks, decades of mundane space travel) and there won't be any change in his demeanour no matter how long they have him wait. A few hours isn't all that much to him.

With this approach, they just really aren't going to engage with him. The longer he stays with no incidents, the more comfortable they seem that he isn't actually going to do anything. It'll extend to the a matter of days if he pushes it (without a place to sleep or food available to him), at which point he really should be returning to Achamoth to report to the Regent.

He'll take that approach right up until they make it clear they're closing up for the day, at which point he'll heave a weary, put-upon sigh, and ask if they want to do this now or the next day (he's willing to rough it another night; worst case scenario, he knows there's shelter where Eustace's portal is). His tone should indicate he's open to either time they choose, but that's the only choice they have in the matter; if they continue to refuse him, he's going to make an attempt to force his way further into the building (since he knows where Jaina's workshop is, that's where he'd try to go first, but if he's able to make his way further in he isn't going to discriminate on where he goes).

As far as he's concerned, he provided them with advice and schematics; a deal's a deal, and he isn't the one reneging here.

To clarify, Jaina's workshop is not actually in the main guild building, it's a separate building nearby! She'd basically invited him over to her private property for that discussion, which we realize wasn't made clear. The people in the machining building itself do not actually seem to know any of the details of what he's talking about when he finally brings up the idea of them having a deal. He spoke to Jaina exclusively about that project, outside of the comparatively brief conversation he had in the reception room.

Ah, gotcha! That makes sense.

He'd suggest they find some way to get ahold of her and bring her to the guild in that case; that, or he's just going to head over to her workshop on his own.

He'll have to wait another hour or so after making that request, and which point whoever they sent to find her will return. She's been in her private workshop all day, apparently, and has relayed the message that if he wants to talk about the project he should go there.

PLOT & INVESTIGATIONS

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