MONARCHY IN CHAINS;

WAKE UP FROM THE WORLD STAGE.

With Fafnir defeated, citizens rise from their beds. No one remembers the incident...unless they have a BCE. While there's a great deal of confusion about certain circumstances—like those who fell asleep in crashed cars—most people move on and go forward with their day. Maybe a bit of déjà vu persists, but that's the extent of it for the average citizen. Even the accidents are chalked up to, more than anything else, a string of freak accidents. Reports are filed and investigations launched, but they're one event of many.

For you? Those memories are yours. Forever. What will you do with them?


WE BUILT THIS CITY ON CHAOS.

If a revolt isn't revolting, it isn't working. There's violence in the streets—everywhere. The chaos isn't confined to just the lower districts, to the horror of the rich. Crowds with molotovs, stolen weapons, anything they can find, rampage through every district. Some seek to find corrupt politicians and bring them to swift, gruesome justice. Some hold the rich ransom for better pay, better access to food. Some just rob everything that isn't nailed down.

A contingent of rioters break into the Pyramid District and kill entire swaths of the royal family.

Be careful you don't get caught on the wrong side of these mobs...or try to help out! Some of the rioters certainly bill the violence as fun, after all.

On top of chaos, something strange happens. Someone hacked the main grid of the city and every government-sanctioned telescreen and soundcaster is playing a bevy of classical and operatic music...with some twists. As fire and blood overtake the city, music swells in the night.

A revolution without dancing isn't a revolution worth having.


BEAUTIFUL AND TERRIBLE AS THE DAWN.

Meanwhile, fuel is added to the fire. Someone by the handle @WARSONG leaks an important file to the wider net. It details how several prominent politicians are funding experimentation on cloning and genetic "improvement" facilities to make people more susceptible to brainwashing, suggestion, and propaganda. The people are outraged and demand an answer.

But no answer comes. Politicians scramble for a scapegoat, so they call for the king, but the king isn't...right. His mind seems scrambled, completely out of bounds, and he's deemed unfit to rule. The next in line is a cousin, but she dies in a riot, and then her recently deceased brother. The list goes on and on, until the crown is placed upon the head of a young girl, traditionally far from the throne. She never would have been a contender for the throne, if not for this chaos. Luckily, she was born five seconds earlier than her twin.

Ueli Ansath Sherel takes the imperial name Ansath Ueli Tal-Xol, first of her name, Queen of Lemuria and Empress of the Tranquil Empire. She promises stability, but few hear her over the roar of the riot. She immediately declares martial law anyway, so at least her voice is felt. The streets are flooded with the military, who rapidly pull back from the Crosslands.

Just, if you're in Lemuria, watch out. You might get shot by something very expensive.


THE CITY OF PEACE.

With the military gone to handle rioting Lemurians, the people of the Crosslands set up camp, hunkering down for when, they think, the military will return. They have some serious weaponry on their side; most notably, two dragons have joined their cause. One is Fafnir, who understands the damage he's done and wants to make amends; the other is Jörmungandr, persuaded by Fafnir to join the cause and that the Crosslands are their better allies, after a narrow scrape with what he believes were Lemurian warriors.

So while the Crosslands aren't exactly peaceful, they're not the riotous mass of neighboring Lemuria. It won't take long to escape to them, should you so choose. This is especially true for the magical and mythological; once tolerated in Lemuria, they are now outright loathed. Survivors flee to the Crosslands, where the hulking masses of two dragons flank the sky. And the Crosslanders know an advantage when they see one, welcoming refugees—myths especially—with the understanding they'll stand and fight when the Lemurian army returns.

If you don't agree, they'll try to chase you out however they can. The magic now on their side is nothing short of stunning.

Among the escaping masses is...Viero. His recent brush with death and failure at political up-jumping has made him denounce his ties with the military of Lemuria. He flees to the Crosslands, where he claims he's reformed and helps the people build up their defenses. He's quickly becoming an influential political entity, with his well-made speeches and genuine military knowledge aiding his base. He rallies people to the cause, and promises to defend the Crosslands from the corruption of Lemurian politics, which he now denounces.

It looks like the future of the Tranquil Empire won't be in time travel or in conquest, but in war with the Crosslands, led by the disgraced Viero. He doesn't have the resources to become a monster, but neither does Lemuria's new empress. Not yet, anyway. Not like the Regency.

And, more importantly, your time here is drawing to a close.


BUT YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN.

Just as the chaos and violence reaches a fever pitch, you receive a ping on your BCE.

@CMDR | @ALL

Soldiers, you've resurrected me. I appreciate the gesture, but my time is at an end. You have destroyed what will one day be the Regency, and so I shall never be born. Every moment you have given me of life is a gift for which I cannot repay. Thank you.

Onto other matters.

You have also stopped the invention of the BCEs. This is good; it means time travel will not come to be abused as it shall be in the future. But it also means your BCEs will soon start malfunctioning. Promises we may have made you about returning home or escaping are beginning to fade. We have limited time. You have limited time.

There are only so many time-jumps we can make. Not everyone can return home. Some will have to stay. It will be easier on our weakening technology to transport people in groups, as well; if you have a friend with a homeworld you would rather return to than your own, I will allow it. While it is against COST policy, soon, COST will never have existed. We will break protocol for now.

Please make your decisions quickly. I do not know how much time we have. As such, please relate all inquiries to @ASHOLE and @STARBOY; I have unfinished business that must be completed before the end of things.

Goodbye, my fellow soldiers.

Any messages sent to Grothia will bounce back.

As for you? It's time to go. But where will you go, and with who? An app opens on your BCE that shows how many slots there are to leave and how many there are to stay. Every extra journey takes resources, but sending two at once takes far fewer and is encouraged.

Whatever you choose, it's a one-way trip.

[OOCly, we're handwaving this, so we're not going to make you calculate it out. There just aren't enough slots for everyone, so it's up to your character to make one last jump or stay to fight in this war between Lemuria and the Crosslands. Basically, choose whatever you think is most IC or poignant or the best ending for your character in this game.]

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC MEMES PLURK