akamachi | CHARACTER DEATHS (Reply)

Character Deaths

Character Deaths in Ukiyo

DYING IN UKIYO

DEATH

Death may not be as final in Ukiyo as it is in real world, but it is not without it's repercussions. To return to the world of the living all characters will discover that they only way they will be able to return is to make a trade. Regardless of what your character chooses to give up, they will be forced to spend at least 72 hours among the spirit realm.

THE TRADE

When a character dies, they will wake to a bleak landscape. Tattered old trees rise all around them, lit only by the dim glow from the lanterns which frame the path that lies before them. It is the only light in this gloomy world, it acts as a sure-fire invitation.

However, characters can choose to walk it, or turn from it and explore the new world around them should they wish.

Should they choose the latter, they will find that the trees that rise on either side eventually peter out into a place that looks all too similar to Ukiyo, except the proud walls which frame the town have fallen and the buildings are battered and dilapidated. The lush gardens of Ten-ji are bare, the earth itself scorched and dry, cracked, as though unwilling to yield further life.

The town is empty; but it's as though things lurk in the shadows nonetheless.

They're free to wander here of course, there might even find food and water when they hunger and thirst, for in this world they will always be hungry and thirsty to some degree. The problem is that no amount of food and water will ever sate these cravings. What is more, the bread and rice is stale, the water unclean.

There is only one way out of this desolate world, and it is to retrace their steps, to find that lantern lit path and walk it until they reach its end. There stands a small temple, undecorated but for the long rope swinging from the bell at its entrance. This bell they must eventually ring.

Once they do, they will be asked what they bring in offering. Occasionally, they will be asked whether another would like to offer on their behalf.

Sometimes it happens, that those who still live can be pulled into this world-between-worlds. When it does, they will find themselves standing on the same path as their dead friend. lover, comrade. Like those who came before they can choose one path or the other, but eventually they must find the temple and in order to return, they must make an offering on behalf of them and their lost friend.

Other times, it is simply the dead who must make the trade, a precious memory, an emotion perhaps, even a limb in order to return to life.

Once the trade has been made, the dead and not-dead return to Ukiyo. They will find themselves standing at the town gates where a guard will have their belongings at the ready.

How it works

When a characters dies, they wake up in the afterlife, which, if they wander far enough from the beaten path, looks pretty much exactly like Ukiyo. Or how Ukiyo might look after an apocalypse! Characters can't return to life until they find the temple and ring the bell. Once they do that, they give up something in order to be revived.

However, players can also choose to have another character give up something on their behalf! They have to get permission from the other player, naturally.

When this happens, the second character will dream they're in the afterlife as well. They'll have to go through what the first character did. Likewise they'll have to find that temple, but once they do, they'll be asked to make the trade on behalf of their friend. Of course they can choose to refuse! But sometimes they might not be allowed to return until they give something up...

Either way once some form of bargain is made, then they'll be allowed back into Ukiyo.

It should be noted that there is no one to be seen at the temple when they ring that bell, and that character's correspondence with the mysterious being who seeks to make a trade is through the voice they can only hear in their minds.

THE PENALTIES

All pre-Ukiyo memories lost. Under this characters will suffer total pre-Ukiyo memory loss for four days, after which there will be a recovery period of three days in which those memories return.

One memory lost permanently. Total loss of a single memory that cannot be regained without mod permission.

Two weeks of debilitating sickness. Players can pick an illness of their choice or even make one up, but it should be rather severe.

Temporary loss of one limb. This doesn't mean that a character will return minus a leg, but that one leg, or arm will be completely numb, dead and useless for a minimum of two weeks.

The loss of one precious item. This is the permanent loss of one possession a characters has. It cannot be recovered unless mod permission is given.

Loss of corporeality. Yep. Ukiyo is a spirit world, sometimes characters who come back to life don't quite come back whole. Players can choose to make their characters ghosts for a minimum of two weeks upon their return. Maximum ghost-time is one month.

*Just as a note: The mods are always open to other bargains players might want their characters to make when they die. If any player has any ideas for something specific they'd like their character to give up and it's not on the list, then just drop us a line either via a comment in this entry or PM, and we'll be happy to help!

Players must leave a comment on this post when their characters dies. For character deaths, please fill in the form below! All comments are screened.

CHARACTER DEATH