etrayalogs | MISSION 008

MISSION 008

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: March 14th - April 11th
WHERE: Aphaia
WHAT: Mission 008
NOTES\WARNINGS: Survival horror elements, violence, (mild) body horror, potential death.

⏵ APHAIA ⏴

At the request of those inhabiting Etraya, Aurora has adjusted the mission schedule a little in order to send everyone into a world that is actively dying. Which means that, on the morning of March 14th, everyone will be directed to a glowing, purple portal situated just outside the hospital. Aurora will recommend that those with pets leave them behind; given the mission parameters of survive, she anticipates that it will not be a place for companion animals to accompany their owners to. She will not, however, force this: people are welcome to bring their companions if they'd like!

Once they have stepped through the portal, it will become clear that survival will not come easily. The sky overhead is fractured into a kaleidoscope of neon colors, artificial stars blinking in and out of existence among shards. Towering structures resembling stadiums and coliseums stretch endlessly into the horizon, their surfaces plastered with massive holographic advertisements displaying the face of past "champions" - many of whom appear to be long-since deceased.

From the moment they step through the portal, cameras whir to life around them, zooming in on their expressions while loudly announcing their names, their specialties, and what they are capable of. Applause echoes through unseen speakers when talents worth the excitement are announced: those with fighting capabilities, unique extraordinary powers, or odd talents seem to get the loudest reaction.

And once introductions are complete, a loud, booming voice cuts through the noise:

WELCOME, CONTESTANTS! ARE YOU PREPARED TO SEE WHO AMONG YOU IS THE SMARTEST, THE HOTTEST, THE STRONGEST, AND THE SHINIEST? ONLY THOSE AMONG YOU WHO ARE WORTHY WILL SURVIVE. KALI TYCHI!!

There is no introduction to the voice. No explanation.

Welcome to Aphaia.

⏵ SURVIVAL SPOTLIGHT ⏴

Aphaia is a dying world. Once vibrant, now it is little more than a stage - an arena where survival meets spectacle and death is a form of entertainment. Cameras are everywhere, their mechanical eyes dissecting every action, hesitation, every moment of weakness. To the residents of Aphaia, it's all a game. After all, they know they are living on borrowed time - why not make it fun?

Towering holograms flicker with advertisements for upcoming challenges, massive leaderboards shift constantly, tracking the contestants' popularity in real time. Every move is judged, and every breath is measured.

Participation is not mandatory, but refusal comes with some hefty consequences. Those who refuse to play fade into the background, their scores slowly dropping closer and closer to zero.

And when it does bottom out? They disappear. No body, no remains, just - erased entirely from existence.

Now, survival is not just about brute force (although there is some of that too!), but about entertainment. Contestants are not simply fighters, but performers earning the favor of other contestants.

Each contestant has a score, visible using the HUD of their earpiece. Scores range from 1-100, with 80+ reserved for crowd favorites. The moment scores hit zero, they disappear, presumed (and are) dead.

New contestants start with a randomized score, assigned the moment they step onto Aphaia's surface. From there, their survival depends on strategy, skill, and showmanship.

Nanotechnology laces the very air they breathe, embedding itself into their bodies. It monitors oxygen, tracks food intake, measures every potential need for everyone, including alien species whose needs differ. Supplies are scarce - meaning only those who keep their scores up receive rations, shelter, and medical aid. The lower one's score? The less they get.

And there are no second chances.

⏵ DISTRICTS ⏴

Aphaia is separated into four districts.

The Colosseum is where blood is currency. A high-tech battle arena where combatants are pitted against each other for entertainment, the Colosseum is always prepared for any battle one may wish to take part of. The floors shift, and the environment changes at the whim of the audience. It's built to support any challenge that requires physicality: the floors will break into massive labyrinths meant to confuse individuals, or the walls will raise to create rooms that are difficult to escape to test one's intellect. Within the Colosseum, contestants are invited to battle one another and others for glory. Are you a warrior? Built for combat? Do you have capabilities that shine through with physical action, rather than mental stimulation? This is the place for you.

A place of luxury, the Symposium is where alliances are forged - and broken. Here, the highest-rated contestants (those who rank Luminary or higher) are invited to partake in fine dining and lavish parties. Violence is not permitted within the walls of the Symposium; while this may provide the false illusion of safety, it is anything but. Whispered betrayals are passed between contestants within the walls of the Symposium, with deals struck to ensure that those who rank high enough to enjoy all the benefits it offers continue to be able to visit.

In the heart of Aphaia is the Agora. Pulsing with flashing billboards featuring the faces of many past and current contestants and live polls of the current scores of those who are still alive, the Agora is where contestants are invited to engage with the public to shape their own narrative.

In the streets, many contestants can be found putting on quirky performances, participating in challenges, or conducting interviews with other contestants. Charisma can be just as valuable as brute strength, and this is the place for those who rely on their ability to sweet-talk others to make sure their points remain high. This is where the facilities for the non-physical challenges resides, such as Echoes of the Past and Tychaios.

The Agora contains the housing district in which contestants reside. There are a few massive apartment towers stacked to the sky. The high-ranking live in luxury, enjoying rooms up to two bedrooms with plenty of space - the lower ranking individuals reside in smaller apartments, with significantly less amenities.

On the edges of Aphaia are the Backalleys, where rules are meant to be broken. A maze of shadowed corridors and hidden tunnels, there are multiple "convenient" corners where camera blind spots can be found. Here is where people come to converse between one another outside the eyes of the audience or to find temporary sanctuary from their lives being consistently narrated. However, it is also well-known that while they may be able to find areas where the cameras cannot reach, the Gamerunner is also aware of these blind spots.

⏵ RATED & REVIEWED ⏴

While the highest rated contestants get to go to The Symposium, those middling or in danger of falling off get invited to only the finest of trashy talk shows.

Anyone can see how this daily, midday TV show plays out. Stand in front of a television long enough and you’ll see reruns of bruised competitors hashing it out in front of an audience over failed plans, ruined alliances, and broken friendships. If you want to see the worst in others Kathiki Pidón is the show to watch.

Though one might wonder why anyone would ever go on this thing, it is a nearly universal guilty pleasure. There is a chance to raise one’s own rating without risking one’s life. But say the wrong things, and you may become more unpopular than ever. It is a desperate place to go- but they do always give a hot meal to anyone who agrees to come on. It might be your only chance to recuperate.

This is also a great opportunity to try to lower someone else’s ranking by airing out private grievances very publicly. Was the only reason you lost because you were tricked or betrayed? Is there a secret alliance you want people to know about? Or perhaps you need a platform to earn a little sympathy.

Kathiki will be more than happy to host you, donning his usual black and gold suit and holding his slim microphone for you to speak into.

For those who are a little shier, Kathiki has a private booth in the back of the studio where you can pour your heart out in front of a camera. This can have the same benefits, but it may be edited in very unfortunate ways before the public sees it.

⏵ NOTES ⏴
Please use our NPC Threads toplevel on this post for any NPC interactions you'd like! This includes Kathiki.

For all questions relating to this mission, please refer to the plotting post. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"And? Family is family regardless of if you're blood related as far as I'm concerned," he said. He was discovering that many places didn't entirely understand the sentiment. High mortality rates and a societal necessity to group for survival was how it worked.

He nodded. "Even if you don't, I expect you still mostly support each other or at least rib each other."

Jason grins. It seems Vander understands the adoptive family dynamic quite well. Not everyone can.

"Not a week goes by without one of us ribbing the other at least twice. And I'm proud of my noogie privileges," he says. "You got siblings too?"

Well, he suspected that being second oldest provided extra privileges when it came to ribbing the others. He had never been trapped in the middle of siblings, but he had seen others that did exactly that.

"Only once or twice? I suppose you're old enough to not see them every day." He inclined his head. "Yeah, I used to."

The use of past tense sticks out for Jason. Perhaps things were starting to get too personal.

"Sorry. Something happened?" he asks, not expecting Vander to give much detail, if at all.

"She was killed," he said simply, keeping his tone carefully neutral. "It was partially my fault." He had given up the rhetoric that it was all his fault as they had all been adults at the time and had made decisions understanding the potential risk. Still, if he hadn't turned at that moment...

"And my brother is that interesting guy you've talking to a couple of times. We had a falling out." And that was being incredibly generous and tactful.

Ah. At that response, Jason's expression becomes more solemn. That was not the response he expected but maybe part of him should have. He knows painfully well how a family fallout can happen. Given how different Vander and Silco's worldviews seem to be, Jason can hazard a guess what might've happened with them.

"Sorry. That's never easy to deal with." he says.

He made a point of shrugging his shoulders. He and Silco had had enough public confrontations on the network that it would be easy to see their animosity towards each other and put two-and-two together. He would save Jason the trouble of digging. Investigators liked to investigate after all.

"That was some time ago. We're just maneuvering around each other here." He wouldn't tell Jason to avoid Silco; he wouldn't tell that to anyone. They could decide for themselves.

"I can see why," Jason says. Given the way Vander's reacting at the mention of Silco and the assessing look he gave to Jason, Jason's feeling more comfortable in showing he doesn't agree with the crime lord.

"I've heard of his kind of talk before."

"Have you? It stirs people's emotions for better or worse." That had always been the way Silco was, and it had been useful and even amusing before their fall out. Now, he understood far more how dangerous it was, and the train only provided more evidence of that.

"I take it you weren't particularly impressed?"

"Once upon a time, I would've agreed with a lot of it," Jason admits. He won't make excuses for his own sins. The best he can do is acknowledge them and then try to move forward and away from that thinking.

"The problem is I've seen how it doesn't work."

"I don't disagree with that sentiment," he said softly. There was a reason that he had once considered himself family with Silco, and they had both wanted the same things back then.

"The problem is that is does work, if you're willing to make enough sacrifices and see only the goal."

"That's why I had to stop," Jason says. "The sacrifices stopped being worth it. At some point, you're just lashing out because you're angry and just want to share the pain. It stops being about making change."

How many did Jason kill when he didn't need to? He doesn't know the number but he knows it was too many. He used to make all the excuses he could to explain away the blood he shed. But eventually, it was only because he just wanted to let out his temper.

Vander finally turned his head to look directly at Jason, and it was clear to him that there was wisdom in those statements. Someone who had been there and seen the ugly side of pushing for change that went too far.

"I can see why he talks to you," he remarked softly. "You reached the end of your rope. I reached the end of mine. I don't think he's reached the end of his." Because at a certain point, the pile of corpses meant the a successful revolution left no one in its wake to benefit from it.

“Don’t get me wrong. He probably thinks I’m some soft-hearted idiot who’s too much of coward,” Jason calmly says. “Don’t think we’re gonna be sharing a pint anytime soon.”

It doesn’t bother him at all that Silco probably doesn’t like him. If anything, if he and Silco got along, it would mean Jason slid back to his old darker behaviors.

Vander shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose we're in the same boat then. He's been calling me a coward for years I expect," he said just as calmly. "You'll get used to it."

It had stopped bothering him. He wasn't willing to sacrifice everything they were to a fight against Piltover knowing what he did about it now. They couldn't win, and fear would only make them crack down harder. People would suffer.

"Yeah, I figured," Jason says. "No loss for me."

Then Jason remembers Vander's mention that Silco was like a brother to him.

"Sorry to hear what happened to you two though."

A divided family is never easy to be in.

"He may wish to court you further. He's tenacious."

He grunted softly, taking the apology at face value. It had stopped bothering him until he was face-to-face with Silco, then the ache returned.

"It's complicated. No apologies necessary though."

"I get it. It was complicated for me too," Jason says, sympathetically. He still doesn't agree with Silco and is wary of the man but if he and Vander really werre like brothers, then Jason can understand what a loss it might've been.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Would you like to talk about it?" Vander opened the door as it did seem that they were sharing bits of information that told a similar tale. Had Jason also betrayed everything in a boil of emotion, vision red, grief swallowing him, and the unreasonable need to just shut him up for a few damn minutes.

He sighed, closing his eyes momentarily as he remembered that day. The wound that never healed, the one he had caused, and back into the cycle they went.

"Not much to say," Jason replies with a shrug. "We're all a lot better now. That stuff I used to believe in? It was a big reason why I was estranged from my family for a while."

Jason has picked up how similar his story is to Vander's but isn't willing to share the specific Bat details for now. No need to give away so much. The general similarities cover enough ground as it is.

"There were other things going on too. I butted heads with my dad the most but got into some pretty bad fights with my brothers too. It took a long time for us to reconcile with everything."

"Success through any means and any sacrifices, you mean," he replied, expecting he had his answer to that already based on previous comments. As someone who had lost much of their family for such extreme views, he could relate.

People sometimes became the person that they disliked or the people that happened to be oppressing them in their younger days. Some recognized it and made change and others embraced who they had become.

"So you were the outlier of the family, were you?"

"Yeah," Jason confirms. "I was easily the black sheep of the family."

Though not willing go into specifics, Jason would rather own up than to pretend his family was entirely in the wrong.

"Being ruthless all the time makes for awkward dinner conversations."

It's a dry joke trying to bring a little levity while talking about a darker time in Jason's life.

"There's always one of those just as there is always the golden child."

It was a common enough family dynamic that even he recognized it in his own family. Not when he was a kid, of course because there hadn't been one particular adult that had taken to them but a loose network of them that taught certain skills.

"You could have just talked about the weather instead."

Jason snorts.

"Nah. Wouldn't have worked," he says, still dry. "Conversation in general is hard when you keep wanting to throw punches at each other."

And shooting bullets for Jason's end.

"Sounds like a normal family dinner at my house," he remarked simply. Wrangling that crew had always required a certain level of patience. "It seems your family had come together, which is good, differences or no. I expect dinner are less on the verge of war now?"

He was intrigued enough that he almost wanted to see this whole gaggle of people together just to watch their dynamic with each other.

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