Pre-Moebius Sharing [A couple days into the racetrack liminal]

[itsananimalthing]

So a lot of you know I've been tryin' to rebuild memories from before Moebius. For you new people, Moebius was a Jaunt before most of you got here, were we died a lot and lost our memories every morning. A lot of that stuck.

[Look, he's being helpful, filling things in for people who don't know the story. Isn't that nice of him?]

Managed to put together somethin' kinda big out of them.

[Enjoy a brief lifestream of Riddick's strange vision: everything is tinted slightly purple, sources of light are doubly bright, and everything seems much more focused on heat and motion. It's an image of his hands, held apart in front of him, and after a second, an arc of electricity jumps between them, from one hand to the other. He holds it only briefly, then lets it dissipate.]

We can make energy out of liminal stuff. Claudia don't need to shoot me with her electricity gun to power lightcycles no more, we can just make that shit.

Came with somethin' else interesting while I was tryin' to put that trick back together. I was on at least four Jaunts before Moebius happened, might be more-- but there were people back then from the last round of this. The one Fortune won. We called 'em the Unlucky Dead. I don't got much about 'em yet, just a couple names and faces, but I'm workin' on it.

Figured that might be important to know.

[The last bit is said dryly. He knows that's an understatement.]

Comments

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

They are remote, easily controlled and mapped and, to the Western writer, exotic. A fine excuse for all manner of venoms and parasites, all manner of excuses for odd behavior.

...I wonder, then, what you would make of my first game. Death against the Hanged Man? Against the Devil? Against the Tower?

[itsananimalthing]

Moebius wasn't anybody against anything, like the rest of these Jaunts. It was a punishment. We fucked up and did somethin' they didn't like, tried to stop playing the game. So Death came up with the idea that it had to be cyclical, so we couldn't just decide to stop-- and Devil decided there had to be dying and pain.

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

I was musing about my own circumstances. Which makes it vital that they are never repeated a third time, as they were in Moebius. Despite what some may think, my Ruling Arcana shares a sense of proportion with me, and that is indisputably the point where Justice becomes unacceptable Cruelty.

...Mark my words. If I had the power to swear in red that I would depose the Devil, then I would. Death...

...Death I will have words with first.

[itsananimalthing]

Pretty sure you're not alone in wantin' to get rid of Devil. He's the only one of 'em who doesn't really have an up-side.

For what it's worth, think Death's told various people he regrets what happened. They ain't human, so they didn't realize what dying over and over would do to us.

[Not that he's defending them. But he is being fair. Sort of.]

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

I am not surprised. The Principle of Endings is the Arcana most likely to express regret for his mistakes - and the most likely to understand that he has made mistakes.

...Dying over and over in a time loop is ritually powerful. I would not exist as I am if I did not.

[itsananimalthing]

Don't think any of us vets would exist as we are without it. You'll notice most people don't wanna talk about it.

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

Nor can I blame them. But you have my sincere thanks for bringing a game that I find so cruel to my attention.

(If he's been paying attention to other conversations on the network, Riddick will realize how rare it is for Bernkastel to find something too cruel for her to contemplate.)

...I know that I am repeating myself but it bears repetition: if there is the smallest chance that Devil can be made to pay for this, I will find it, and I will use it.

[itsananimalthing]

And I'll warn you you'll have to stand in line. There's a lot of us who take issue with that guy.

[He's a bit amused by her vehemence, for someone who's never actually experienced Devil's machinations herself, but he most certainly doesn't blame her.]