Player Plot: The Salvation of Geardagas, Part 1

[faileas]

Event Log: January, The Salvation of Geardagas: Part 1

The Evergreen Circle Something is happening in Aefenglom. A rash of disappearances has finally caught the attention of the authorities, but only thanks to a strange twist: a handful of the missing individuals are starting to turn up again, and not as they should be. It began with a harpy. After a week of nothing she returned, fully transformed into a Shade and too far gone to save. The same happened with a trader the next day. And the next with a witch. All three were infected, albeit to varying degrees, and only one of them was able to be brought back from the brink. Naturally, this is a huge cause for concern. There's little sign that the Bright Wall is damaged and none of the victims were known to have left the city. Questioning the survivor, Owain, doesn't produce any leads either as he can't remember anything before his disappearance. It's only after he's had some time to recover that he notices something off. As the blackening of the Cwyld fades, a small tattoo on his palm that wasn't there before becomes visible. To the concern of the Coven, it's a symbol that's familiar to them as the emblem of a rising spiritual movement favoured by the wealthy called the Evergreen Circle, led by a witch called Cillian Alder. Their purpose, he claims, is to provide hope through interrogating the Cwyld from a scholarly and philosophical perspective. In spite of this, Alder has developed more of a cult-like following than anything. Mirrorbound of standing (business owners, members of parliament, public figures, etc) might have already received one of their pamphlets. Naturally, it's an incredibly sensitive subject. The Evergreen Circle has been entirely peaceful up until now, and with such influential and powerful figures among its numbers, the Coven is reluctant to make any outright accusations. Instead, the task of investigating them has been covertly passed to the Mirrorbound. As outsiders, they stand less of a chance of causing political unrest. However, they explicitly warn against taking any hostile actions for the time being: this is an information-gathering request, nothing more. They can provide basic information about the Evergreen Circle meetings but that's about it. a. Preaching to the Choir (Every Friday Evening, Mid-Ieneuer to Early Feoveuer) Cillian Alder Art by Rachel The hall is buzzing. Though there aren't even enough people here to fill the place, everyone seems to be bubbling with excitement, exchanging loud greetings and introductions. They're particularly friendly to newcomers and are quick to offer up their experiences with the group: "Cillian is a truly free thinker!" "I haven't felt so positive about our future for a long time." "There’s a real sense of hope and community here in the Circle." The meeting convenes at 8 o’clock sharp and silence descends upon the room as a figure takes the stage. With his commanding presence and charismatic smile there's no doubt about who this is: Cillian Alder. A man in his late fifties with greying hair, he speaks with an accent crisp as cut glass and a strong voice, no doubt amplified by some kind of spell to reach around the room. He's hypnotising, those cool blue eyes of his impossible to look away from and piercing in their intensity. "How wonderful to see you all tonight, both familiar and unfamiliar faces alike! You are all welcome. I have only one request." He brings his hands together with a smile. "That you keep your hearts open. How else might our minds grow Evergreen?" Alder's speech is nothing if not passionate. He paces and proselytises, responding to the audience's interruptions and cheers with enormous enthusiasm. Throughout, his message is clear. "Who are we to immediately decry the Cwyld as a curse? Fear of the unknown, of what we have yet to control, can only hold us back! We must instead seek to understand it and be at peace with its presence! This is a test of our conviction! Our will to survive!" It goes on for the better part of an hour and, afterwards, he descends into the audience to receive their praise and questions with the gracious smile of a beloved king. He might even turn that magnanimous presence on you, affording you a few crucial moments of conversation (limited to 2 RNG characters). Will you stick around to find out more or try and slip backstage while everyone is distracted? For such a warm, welcoming atmosphere, there seems to be a lot of security around the doors leading back there so it might take some quick thinking to get through without conflict. Those who are caught will have to face the consequences, but the results might be… unfavorable. b. Spirited Away (late-Ieneuer to mid Feoveuer) Those less inclined to subterfuge won't have any problems finding trouble to get into either. As the month goes on, more and more people disappear, and that might even include Mirrorbound. Whether you're intercepting a kidnapping or fighting off your own, you're more likely to get caught up in it the longer the month goes on. It's easy enough to fight off the attackers but nigh impossible to actually catch or identify one: each is dressed in black and smells of the tell-tale decay of the Cwyld. But even assuming you do manage to apprehend one, they will refuse to talk in anything but vague, confusing comments about salvation and new beginnings. c. Cast Out (mid-Ieneuer to early Feoveuer) Likewise, the number of locals who have been abducted and released continues to rise. The victims, anywhere from badly infected to fully transformed into Shades, require subduing, healing and, in the most dire of circumstances, permanently dealt with before they can hurt anyone. Without exception, they're aggressive, reacting violently to attempts to heal as well as harm them and there are no discernable patterns when it comes to victims. However, the eagle-eyed might spot the Evergreen Circle's symbol on some of their palms if they're not too heavily corrupted.

[ ooc: More information about the event can be found on the plotting post along with comments for questions, and RNG sign-ups for directly interacting with Alder! ]

Comments

[worldcleansing]

That's a narrow worldview that we lose when while we're still children. By that logic, the Shinigami would have been fictional before we knew about them. Magic would have been fictional before we came here. They didn't suddenly come into existence because we discovered that they existed. Even before we were able to observe them, the Shinigami were still killing people. Even now, we're in a world where we can create fire and manipulate energy in ways science can't explain, and you're questioning that something higher than that exists?

[ Light takes a sip of his coffee. ]

I hope this isn't going to be the argument you use to them, or I'll have a lot of explaining to do considering that only two of us should know someone named Kira exists.

[ 'I know what you're doing'. ]

We agree Kira's human, but I think we both agreed on it before we knew the Death Gods existed. That doesn't change my theory, but I wouldn't base it on the assumption that they would never use the Note to play with humans. We haven't met enough Death Gods to profile all of them.

[hearthebell]

Learning of the existence of Shinigami was one more confirmed step in the sequence of events where many of our conclusions were still sound. That was the only point I wished to illustrate, by mentioning them.

[Untrue, but Light knows that already.]

Concerning theoretical fiction... I qualified with "functionally" for a reason. Consider that if I want to prove that something does exist, all I have to do is find one example to present, and my job is finished. However, for me to say that something does not exist, unless I can show you every corner of the universe to infinitely large and small degrees, it's impossible to prove. The faithful tend to take advantage of this, in their arguments. The unscrupulous, in turn, take advantage of the faithful, because they recognize where the breakdown in logic has occurred. They recognize that there is an empty, open place that will respond to the declaration "here I am". It will complete some kind of a picture, and feel like an answer. It doesn't actually matter whether the piece completes the picture, mind you... just that it fits, and our own confirmation bias and backwards rationalization will finish the job from there, smoothing the edges and repainting an entire section, if necessary, to form something cohesive.

Have you ever listened to multiple eyewitness accounts, each of them telling something slightly different, and then understanding what's going on when you see video footage of the incident for yourself? So much can influence a human's understanding and perception of an event, or an idea... but the truth is objective. It's above pretension and ego. It's no coincidence that, to many, "the truth" and "God" are synonymous. Both of those things might be beyond our understanding, but only one of them is something we can observe directly, to any degree at all. By the way...

[Segue, right back to where Light might expect it to go]

I don't view the Shinigami as proof that God exists. An intelligent, extra-dimensional apex predator fits just as well. Those categories can be applied, once something is observable, and that's also something the faithful take advantage of in their arguments.

[worldcleansing]

I agree with your logic, but not entirely with the conclusions. It's much easier to prove something exists than to prove it doesn't. Religions aren't the only group that relies on this. Urban legends and ghost hunters use the same logic. It's why it's so difficult to argue with them. Even if you can disprove some of their evidence, it's not enough.

I also agree that confirmation bias is a big problem when listening to eyewitness accounts. Instead of looking at the evidence and arriving at a conclusion, we decide what conclusion we want to reach and then twist the events to fit. I'd also argue that it can work both ways. We can want to assume something doesn't exist and thus ignore the possibility.

You say 'God'. Unless it's the translation, that seems more specific than the existence of a god in general. The Christian God is the most famous example, but we know a lot of religions worship different gods. Which is a contradiction in itself. I'll give you that we both know we're not talking about a Death God so I won't say their existence automatically means a god does exist and therefore they're right.

One common trait of a god is that he can see all. We practice Divination on a near-daily basis. He has the power to control the weather. He can heal the sick. Evocation. Storms on that level might be outside of our skill level, but like you've pointed out with the Shinigami being the apex predator, it doesn't mean there isn't someone more powerful above what we can do. Enchantment takes away free will, Abjuration could allow someone to walk through fire, Levitation could allow them to walk on water, and Necromancy can bring back the dead. I'm not an expert on religion but considering what I see here, it's become a lot harder to say the usual traits of a god can't exist.

Unfortunately for you, your argument is harder because I'm not going into the cult claiming to fully believe in their mission. I'm going after having seen enough to be open to the possibility. While it's hard enough to argue with the people who do believe, it's even harder to argue with the people who are just curious enough to listen.

[hearthebell]

When I say "God," Light, what it means to me is the truth.

[Ironic, maybe, for such a liar, but L has always been paradoxically self-deprecating in spite of his arrogance. The truth is perhaps a pure ideal that a mere imperfect mortal like him can't approach to look upon directly, but he certainly wishes for it and admire it for the ideal it represents.

He just doesn't tell it, more often than not.]

Evidence is my Torah, and my prayer is a criminal's sentence spoken by a judge, at the end of it all. But I'm sure you realize as much, as my friend, colleague, and Bonded. But you're wrong, to call my difficult argument "unfortunate"... I want you to know that, truly, I enjoy it, and this has helped.

[worldcleansing]

You recognize that Truth might be a personal God, but it's not what they'll be trying to sell us at the meeting. If you want to get more personal, outside of the investigation, I don't mind.

[ There's no reason to keep up pretenses. None of this is something that can be replicated when they're playing their roles in front of the congregation. ]

You say you don't believe in God, but the truth is something you chase with every case. In most cases, you find it. I don't know all of your past cases so I don't know if Kira is the first time you questioned your religion, or if it's just one of few. Instead of seeking the truth, you decided on the truth early on and was disappointed when there were contradictions to your truth. Even if someone is an expert in their religion, it doesn't mean religion is infalliable.

[hearthebell]

I always want to get more personal.

[As playful as it is incredibly true. It could be taken multiple different ways, as well, though L's absentminded front can make it difficult to tell what his precise intentions are with his phrasing.]

To a child, a parent is God. By the time I met Watari, I'd say that I'd questioned... and received no answer that satisfied me. But however one tries to mask or pervert the truth, it remains, even when all other things have departed, and so... to me, the truth is God.

[He brushes a strand of hair back from his eyes, taking a deeper sip of much cooler coffee.]

Because the truth remains, it can be difficult, to know if seeking it is actually carrying you further away from it, or turning you away from your proper north. A shame, that I may never know how the case turned out, or whether I was walking toward or away from God.

[He knows.]

[worldcleansing]

You seemed sure of it, even when your gospel was saying otherwise. I'll be grateful for any doubts considering my innocent, but I'm surprised.

[ Light also doesn't think L has considered his innocence any more than he had before. When he was able to 'prove' he wasn't Kira, L's mood notably suffered. It's true that many things have happened here that result in things that surprise Light, but he doesn't think this will be one of them. ]

Since our roleplay is over, I don't believe in a god, either. If I did, even a little, I'd be willing to offer up prayers, but I can't imagine that any god who'd let so many things happen would listen. That's why Kira was able to find such a following. Even things like truth and evidence sometimes fail. It's on us to try and fix it, to make truth and innocence matters, but we haven't. You've gotten closer with the ability to work somewhat outside of the law, and even if I don't always agree with it, it's telling that it's been most efficient.

[hearthebell]

We're Bonded; very little about my attitudes should surprise you.

[Still, L is pleased. This means that he's continuing to live up to what he needs to, so that he remains relevant.]

I agree. I don't feel that any god remotely invested in our world would allow it to fall into such a state. There were many people, crying out for some kind of presence, and so... Kira gained a following all too easily.

[Really, too easily. L doesn't say as much, not quite, but he thinks it loudly.]

Light? How far do you believe your personal obligation extends, to that effect?

[worldcleansing]

To the world? Pretty far.

[ Which is something Kira would think. He can almost hear the words spoken. ]

I do know I'm good at investigation, and that I can make a real difference when I can join law enforcement for real. Intelligence is important, but it's not almighty. It's frustrating to know that even at my best, I won't be able to help everyone, but Kira's way of thinking is wrong, too.

[ No, it's not. But Light has a role to play. ]

You can't fix the law by breaking it. If there's something about the system that's not working, we need to work together to fix it. Otherwise, it's in place for a reason. It makes sure no one person has too much power and that everyone is accountable.