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[comebewe]

So we've learned a few things.

That Tithe we've been hearing about? Didn't always used to basically exile. Actually it was a diplomatic thing. The Tithe would go to the White Tower for this thing called the Concordance, where they meet up with all the other Tithes from the other city-states in the Federation of, uh, Hel. Not Hell Hel, mind you - so don't you bloody start screaming at us, Jules - just an unfortunate resemblance.

It was one of the Tithes that brought the plague.

Jules, that's not an invitation to start screaming either, this was goddamn ages ago. If this thing's still around it's clearly not running rampant.

Anyway. The big symptom of the plague was lesions, but they found that sunlight halted the progress of the disease and made them less painful. So they made the infected keep to the day, and the uninfected to the night. This whole Lightside / Darkside divide? That's their quarantine. And they used supplements in the food to enforce it - they made the infected blind at night, and gave the uninfected better night vision. And I think they're still doing it. There's a guarded facility in Gritta that's making a lot of shipments to grocery stores, but they don't mix the Lightsider and the Darksider shipments.

But what we do not understand is why the quarantine is still in place. Because if there was still a need for it, the Dusklings screw it all up. Apparently there were only a few dozen of them after the plague, but there's a whole district of them now - and they're running around all over the city, interacting with both sides. If the plague was still around, they'd be spreading it. Either they're doing a phenomenally bad job of enforcing their quarantine, or they're keeping this divide up for other reasons.

I think it's unlikely that the plague's still around, but just in case I've written down some details of how they tested for it. It's not my thing, though, so I'd appreciate it if someone who understands this sort of thing better would take a look.

[[ooc: takes place late in the 2nd mingle, after this thread. I think I've managed to have Matthew repeat all the important information, but feel free to poke me if there's something I've forgotten that needs to get mentioned]

Comments

[memoryandtheft]

Or the Dusklings are immune. For all we know, susceptibility to the plague and susceptibility to whatever they're drugging people with are linked.

[leftbehindagain]

...well, hell. I might be able to make sense of the test, and if I can't, I know who can. I'd been considering testing the food to see if something was up, but this kind of makes that a moot point.

The increase in Dusklings might be people building up a tolerance to whatever they're adding. This charade's going to come crashing down sooner or later, and I'd bet the council's hoping for 'later.' Why they've insisted on propagating it this long, I couldn't say.

[private, double protected]

Thank you.

[comebewe]

Maybe. It's possible, though I'm not sure how likely. As far as I know, the drugs don't have any connection to treating the plague - just enforcing the quarantine. It'd be a hell of a coincidence.

[comebewe]

Might be a good idea to test the food anyway. You know, just so we know how it affects us.

[there's a slight pause]

We have noticed that it is...slightly more difficult to see in the light than usual. And I'd really like to make sure that this isn't bloody permanent.

[That thank you is noted. But Matthew doesn't comment on it]

[memoryandtheft]

How many of them died of the plague when it was first active?

If there's a chance someone can develop a vaccine, it won't give these people back everything that was stolen from them, but it might help them move past the divide.

[failgoyle]

What makes you think I'm going to start screaming?

Just because someone is jacking with the food and hell is involved and all...

[comebewe]

I don't know. But it seems to have spread quickly, and infected half the city before they found treatment and set up quarantine. The normal, physical kind, that is. The circadian one came later.

[comebewe]

[Their reply is slow and hesitatnt. This...this was not the reaction he was expecting]

Because you scream at anything and everything?

[leftbehindagain]

Thaaat is a good point.

I'd imagine it's as permanent as anything else we can do on jaunts, but it's still worth pursuing.

[comebewe]

It's not like we haven't been stuck with jaunt leftovers before.

[like, say, the one that got him this information in the first place]

[leftbehindagain]

True. [That would be why he said it's still worth pursuing.]

If you're only having a little trouble, that suggests it takes some time to set in.

[comebewe]

Either that you need to eat a lot of affected...



...Fuck. We need to get Maria away from the sweet shops.

[leftbehindagain]

...oh, Maria-chan.

Alternately, drag her to some Lightside sweet shops to balance it out - you'll probably have more luck with that approach. I mean, stopping her altogether's the better approach for sure, but she's not going to be very happy about it.

[comebewe]

How do we know it balances out? What if eating both just makes you blind in the light and the dark?

[leftbehindagain]

It wouldn't make much sense to give people better night vision with something that'd leave them completely blind if supplies got mixed - you said everything's coming out of the same warehouse, right? You can't tell me they get it all exactly right every time. If nothing else, it'd be a pretty extreme way to find out.

I wonder if any of us other than Mothman has been eating everything in sight.

[fridgeninja]

Hi.

[thezerothlaw]

A quarantine?

I don't doubt it started that way, but I can't believe this is still true. What of Lightsider children born to Darksider parents? I, or rather my overlay, had a romantic liason with a Darksider woman in his youth. The sides do interact on occasion, even if the Dusklings are not viable carriers, and plague does not result.

They must have some other reason for continuing to enforce it. I cannot imagine what.

[comebewe]

We agree with you. I can see how it was useful once, but right now? It doesn't make sense.

Not to mention - if it's the food that makes you what side you are, how do you end up with kids who are different from their parents in the first place?

[comebewe]

It might not make much sense, but let's just test that theory out before we stuff a bunch of Lightsider sweets down Maria's throat, shall we?

And we might all want to stick to liminal food for a while.

[thezerothlaw]

I would also guess it's highly impossible to guarantee no one ever eats food of the other side. I'm certain that I have.

Are we equipped for any sort of chemical analysis of the food? It might suggest something, if we could identify the nature of any additives.

[comebewe]

It'd have to take more than a little to have a significant - it must take prolonged exposure. Can't have people switching sides after eating the wrong biscuit, after all.

I think Naoki's planning to look into that.

[thezerothlaw]

Good. I hope it's instructive.

[mytearsaremine]

In case anybody cares, Sabetha is the one supposed to do the tithe collecting. Everybody avoids her. Her name's Verena here.

Also, I think I'm going to eat all the lightsider food I can and hope it makes me hate sunlight less. I mean, unless it'll like poison me or something.

[memoryandtheft]

If the first Dusklings - or the ones who were recorded as Dusklings - were immune, that might be when they first started to be used as go-betweens. They would have been able to carry supplies into the quarantined districts without getting sick or carrying the plague out again.

[memoryandtheft]

What does happen to Lightsider children born to Darksider parents?