This is a comprehensive travel guide for our world-weary travelers (and company)! One of the first things you should do is take a look at our itinerary tag-list. Itineraries have monthly details regarding the city's state, and may show more accurate specific information (ie, whether the PCs are in the locals' good graces or in the doghouse this month, local events happening around the city, etc) than the general setting pages do. Otherwise, during their first day each new arrival will experience the events and discover the setting as follows:
So, you've arrived in Keeliai. What next?
Upon their initial arrival to the city, characters will awaken anywhere on the turtle's back. This could include anywhere in the streets, in a ditch, in a farmyard. It might mean they'll have to walk across the turtle's back to reach civilization. They will wake up with any injuries they had prior to arriving, so bear that in mind when you choose your location! They will also wake up with a piece of jewelry they didn't have before -- a ring, a necklace, a brooch, whatever. This jewelry will always be set with a stone the colour of your choice -- though it will lean toward darker shades. Don't take it off. It's important. (More on this below!)
Characters who have supernatural, magical or otherwise extrasensory abilities will find that they are completely drained and/or barely functioning. This magical grogginess will wear off within 24 hours and any missing abilities will return around that time. This is common knowledge and easy to divine just by asking the locals, though your character might be met with cautious mutterings of 'another powerful Foreigner?'
The locals, known as kedan, are roughly equal parts friendly and antagonistic. The friendly kedan have embraced Foreigners, though many seem to regard them as curiosities or a means to reputation. The antagonistic kedan consider Foreigners to be nuisances at best and downright threats at worst. Those who are inclined to answer questions will explain that there was a war, a war which the kedan were brainwashed by all sides into fighting. It was this war the Foreigners were brought into Keeliai to fight, and which they bungled in ways too numerous to mention. Those same Foreigners are now trying to put things right, but their degree of success depends on who you speak to - especially since the number of Foreigners still appears to be growing and no one is quite sure how.
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There are two main points of Foreigner contact in Keeliai at the moment: the Welcome Center in Central Keeliai, or the Midnight Hotel, which opens into all five sectors and is run by demons (so the kedan say).
The Foreigner Welcome Center is staffed by PC characters, and they will explain everything Foreigners need to know about the city. The Welcome Center helps provide new arrivals with vital information on living here, such as maps and informational brochures, some language translation, and console access. It is also somewhere to check for initial job placements, as Foreigners living in Keeliai are expected to earn their own keep and pay for their needs. Although the Center is no longer funded by any government, those working there will do their best to ensure there is room and board available for newcomers, and have ensured there is an emergency stipend of juulan (currency) for newcomers to use until they can get on their feet.
The Midnight Hotel is currently the safest place for Foreigners looking for lodging. With twenty-three available rooms, including dormitories, it also has the space to double-up on rooms or re-purpose some common areas as temporary sleeping areas. The Midnight Hotel is highly warded and defended by its owner (a PC) and the staff (a mixture of kedan and PCs), who have a great enough reputation that even the most belligerent kedan think twice about making trouble there. While a paying service, the Midnight Hotel accepts barter or exchanges of service in lieu of currency, but the proprietor will encourage Foreigners to make their own way using the Hotel's resources as a jumpstart.
NOTE: If you are planning to have your character stay at the Welcome Hotel, you must "check in" on its OOC post HERE, as there are limited rooms available; lodging at the Hotel cannot be handwaved.
The basic information provided to the Foreigners will explain the kedans' behaviour. There was a war, recently -- very recently -- against a being known as Malicant. This name is obviously a thing of fear; although it's safe to say these days, people are obviously not used to doing so and many avoid it out of habit and the fear it might summon Malicant back. The kedan had lived on the turtle's back for hundreds of years, supporting the heroes brought in to fight Malicant -- the Foreigners. But the war dragged on for a long time, and by the time it was over the kedan felt the Foreigners had been ineffectual in their fight, and allowed things to happen which should not have. At the end of the war, the Foreigners went beneath the shell to fight Malicant in the Dreaming and became stuck there after Malicant's defeat. By the time they emerged a year had passed, the kedan had begun to rebuild without their aid or presence.
One vital piece of information all newcomers will be told almost immediately is that the piece of magical jewelry that appeared with them is vitally important to the stability of their soul while in Keeliai. Where did it come from, exactly? No one is sure. But the crystal itself should not be left behind; if a Foreigner is parted from the crystal for three days, they will die. In the time leading up to those three days, they will suffer progressively more severe symptoms of dizziness, fever and lethargy. The gems have become colloquially termed "soul jewelry" by most people.
Your character will be also given a crash course in computer technology for the sake of network access if they appear to be unfamiliar with comparable technology. The consoles are bio-mechanical, in that they are literally grown into their housings and tampering with or trying to dismantle them will result in them melting into actual gloop and they'll have to be replaced. Currently the consoles are widespread both in public areas (such as cafes) and individual apartments, though some are of obviously superior design. There is only one available in the Hotel's lobby, and one just recently grown for the Welcome Center. Posts made on the consoles can be encrypted, and they support video, audio and text broadcasts, including anonymous text.
Portable communicators based off of the radio handsets established by previous Foreigners are available by request at the Welcome Center and the Midnight Hotel. These portable communicators integrate with the public console network and are available to Foreigners and kedan. They currently support video, audio and text broadcasts, as well as support encryption functions, and they can be privately locked to specific individuals. Both networks can be used in the network comm, but please mark whether you're using the public or the private network.
We don't oversee encryption, but please use reasonable discretion based on your character's skill set. You may assume that characters are reasonably technologically competent within a few days of arriving.
New arrivals will also have the hatchling turtles explained to them: that there were ten Tel Vishani 'children', rescued from Malicant and raised by the Foreigners. Each hatchling telepathically bonded to those Foreigners it chose as its adopted parents. In the past there were fifteen of the hatchlings, but five of them were murdered by Malicant and were thus casualties of the war. For many this is still a sore point, particularly regarding relations between the kedan and the Foreigners. In the year since the Foreigners initially disappeared the Tel Vishani left the turtle's back to form a pod and explore the same current in which Tu Vishan still swims. They didn't tell anyone they were leaving -- they simply left. While the telepathic links are still open, they are strained by distance and proper communication is not currently possible. Foreigners and kedan alike hope they will return someday.
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• a rundown of the city's current state of affairs with the kedan
• an explanation of the soul jewelry, including its effects
• a network crash course if needed, plus console and radio access
• a small stipend of juulan for necessities, enough to get them through their first month
• simple map with major landmarks indicated on it, including the Welcome Center and the Midnight Hotel
( OOC )
While there are PC characters filling the role of guides to the new arrivals, this does not have to be threaded out if the player prefers. Feel free to handwave the entirety of this arrival process as having already happened for your character if that better suits, however no characters can gain access to either network without being assigned as a new user with an access code, which will need to be entered every time. Therefore they must visit the Welcome Center and retrieve their login credentials, where they'll receive instruction on how to use the network if needed. No accidental posts or "omg tiny people in a glass box WHAT SORCERY??" posts should be made from new characters. From there, any actions they choose are up to them.
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