WORLD JUMP #1 INFORMATION: EL MINHA

[acatamods]

I ▫ main IV ▫ premise       XI ▫ applications XIV ▫ activity II ▫ logs V ▫ rules VII ▫ bestiary   IX ▫ canon updates XII ▫ taken XV ▫ drop/hiatus III ▫ ooc VI ▫ faq VIII ▫ setting   X ▫ mods XIII ▫ reserves XVI ▫ players el minha -- the red desert. El Minha is a city settled within the Red Desert, an impossibly massive and arid environment. It is a walled city, surrounded by overwhelmingly tall light-stoned walls and ferociously guarded by the Royal Crown Guard, who are stationed at every entrance. They allow in members of the Circle without much fanfare or bullying, used to tourists and the like, but they will be watching you while you are here. Weapons are not to be used within the city limits and the usage of magic, while not uncommon, is frowned upon if used maliciously or to cause trouble. To make a long story short? Mind your manners, and the Crown Guard won’t kick your ass into the Red Desert, because they are watching, and it wouldn’t take much to convince them. The residents within the city of El Minha are a hardy people, and the city is a sprawling metropolis in an otherwise desolated world. It’s a massive city with an equally massive tented marketplace that sells everything. You can find spices, jewelry, weaponry (swords, bows, and the like), armor, fancy board games, exotic fruits -- you can find it all in El Minha. Here, water is gold. El Minha is full of folks willing to make some coin, but everybody needs water. If you have water on your person, you can likely trade it for what you want, if you have enough. Haggling is the name of the game and the shopkeeps within the marketplaces are willing to argue to the last breath for their wares. They’re not here to play nice to the tourists, but they are here to make trades. The city itself is highly populated, stone walls stretching up stories at a time with sandy streets and fabric hanging between the structures and over alleyways. In the center of the city is the large tented marketplace that feels almost like a city in and of itself. There are always people wandering the streets, no matter the time of day, state of affairs, or weather. THE NATIVES As mentioned before, the natives of El Minha are hearty. They are well-acquainted with what it takes to survive, and are - you could say - experts in it. Droughts, plagues, wars, tyrants, and general bad luck have all bared down on these walls and the people have continued on. They are also all well acquainted with living in a bustling metropolis. They are used to seeing all sorts of tourists move through, to the point they could even seem unimpressed with even the most foreign of faces. That isn’t to say they aren’t friendly - they are salespeople, if nothing else. As it is with most cities, they vary greatly and widely in terms of status, personality, size, and demeanor. THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE The Royal Palace: El Minha is ruled by King Kathashun. He, should you ask the residents, seems to be a benevolent ruler. However, there is definitely a clear line between the rich and the poor in the city, and the poorer residents of El Minha hold some amount of bitterness toward their wealthy ruler. King Kathashun is young, no more than twenty-three, and seems to have recently ascended to the throne. His father was a tyrant, and King Kathashun is seen as a “brighter future” for El Minha . . . but he has definitely taken something of a hardline (like calling for the heads of certain criminals) against the Black Market in El Minha, which has garnered him some bitterness from the underbelly. The Syndicate: The Syndicate is the crime network that also maintained a heavy resistance network against the prior King. There are plenty of rumors that the Syndicate is the one who led the prior King to his grave, and King Kathashun has declared a war on the Syndicate. The Syndicate’s mantra seems to be “give to the poor, steal from the rich” type of group, with nothing extraordinarily malicious. However, they do have blood on their hands . . . certain nobles winding up dead from poison in their food, disappearing from their homes with no evidence of a struggle, that type of thing. It is impossible to get any one of the Syndicate to even admit knowledge of plans of such a thing, but the understanding and support is widely spread. They also run the local casino, which is a massive gold earner for the city, and gives them a stronger hold on politics and the economy than the Palace would like to admit. AREAS OF INTEREST The Golden Phoenix: The casino, run by the Syndicate, which is full of slot machines, card games, and weird lizard races! You can bet on any of these things, but the Golden Phoenix only takes coin. No water here! And no Royal Crown Guard either - anything that goes down here is up to the patrons to figure it out, and if it really gets out of hand, you may find a few dark-clothed individuals stepping in and removing anyone and everyone involved. The Royal Palace: King Kathashun has opened the gates to the Circle and the general public to explore the grounds, but not the inside of his home. Anyone who attempts to go inside the palace will be, respectfully, told to fuck off. The Fighting Ring: Citizens of El Minha fight it out to settle the scores! It’s sort of like a spoken fight club -- you can go and pay to watch people fight, or you can enter the ring yourself! Do you dare to challenge the Champion of El Minha? Or would you rather watch? No magic is allowed within the Fighting Ring, but there’s also nothing saying what happens if you cheat. The Grand Market: Step right up, step right up! You can peruse the massive market for anything you like! Spices, jewelry, weapons -- whatever you like, you can find it! There is a large variety, from cobbled together booths to grand, decorated carts, carrying all manner of items - both magical and non. But you’d better have some coin or some water, because these folks aren’t giving away anything for free. Also keep an eye out for pickpockets -- those little kids following you around definitely aren’t tailing you because they’re curious. They want your coin. The Sparkling Sapphire: King Kathashun has provided the members of the Circle with some free lodging that isn’t great, but definitely isn’t too shabby! You also get some free hookah that makes you ridiculously hungry and some weird liquor that makes your mouth numb, if you choose to drink it. The food, though, is spectacularly on point. The rooms in the Sparkling Sapphire are clean but plain, with either one or two beds. Food is served in the tavern on the first floor at breakfast and dinner, included in the room. Alcohol and snacks at any other time come with a small fee. MOD NOTE As this is our first world jump, we wanted to make sure everyone is aware of one things - this is your world to explore. Ask questions, get involved. We as mods are giving you a setting and a political landscape to play with as you'd like! What happens here in El Minha is entirely based on your character's involvement. Will they try and help the crown? The underbelly of the city? The general people out trying to make a buck? There will be NPCs to interact with, little background plots to get mixed up in, and a walled city to explore. Ask questions! Pull one of us aside for some cool plotting! Figure out what you want to do and how you want to do it, and go. Reminder: the log for this first world jump will be posted Friday, May 11th at 12 AM EST. This post is purely for plotting, and there's a place below for questions! Otherwise, feel free to leave a plotting comment below! Find some other Circle Members to explore with! Astoria is very excited for you to enjoy your first World Jump~ ♥

Comments

[tranquilforest]

OMG yes I need this. I'm sure we can finagle some kind of meet-up for them. It all depends on what kind of places they'll frequent? They could also bond a little over being the Adults orz

She's going to be doing a LOT of exploring overall, so there's plenty of opportunity for running into people. I'm really excited that this is the first "type" of world they're visiting, it'll be good for her :)

[teratias]

please teach him to destroy corrupt institutions he's only ever dreamed of it

also his magic needs constant fire....

Waver Velvet

[teratias]

Waver's gonna be very heavy on exploring and getting to understand the place in general! He's going to be a little wary of how the Syndicate operates even though he'll largely agree with you know, maybe let's not have a stratified society, but moral debates sound like fun.

If you want a buddy to start to dig your paws into this place, Waver's your guy. He'll also be working with his weirdly specific magic which he can't figure out of he likes yet or not.

gladio

[protettore]

Gladio has a lot of experience with royalty so he's going to be as respectful as possible while in Minha. Though he'll be understanding of conflicts and problems from the higher ranked people he's very much sympathetic to the public. He'll prob be willing to visit the royal palace then visit the Grand Market, def willing to enjoy the drinks accommodations in Sparkling Sapphire.

He's also gonna want to hit up that fighting ring because that's his specialty, and considering circumstances he figures it'll be a great way to blow off some steam. You can watch him, catch him after a fight or even try to take him on if you'd like. He's 6'6" and has been trained at an early age for combat, his family a line of guardians for royalty, so he's not going to be an easy match. o9

[reeliable]

PLEASE CAN WE SPAR IN THE FIGHTING ARENA noct can't even cheat with phase dodging

[bowtiedbones]

Eliza needs to jockey a weird lizard, NEW BUCKET LIST GOAL.

She's not a politically savvy person by any measure and, for the first world at least, will keep her nose out of it unless she's following someone else's lead. It seems like the kind of situation that's easy to accidentally explode! She'll be all into the local fauna (and in extension, the people that work with or keep said animals) and the market instead, falling back on her usual habits of research and shopping. Time to try and buy some weird dead things!

[protettore]

i was actually considering this!!

mom's not around, they can beat each other up all they want

[reeliable]

i mean, does mom really stop the early morning training rituals?? no, he wants noct awake at a reasonable hour too, he doesn't assist 8(((

[protettore]

goddamn can you think about how much noct is going to sleep in now

is gladio just going to be carrying him around everywhere while he naps???

[reeliable]

yes

[protettore]

carrying around this giant ass tub that noct sleeps in now cuz he never even wants to get out of the water




is this free!

[protettore]

I HAD TO REREAD MY RESPONSE CUZ I SWORE I TYPED HARU

[reeliable]

MAKE US FREE NA SPLASH KASANETA

[protettore]

sTOP

Rion

[flyingsolos]

Much like Kou, Rion is a teenager from modern-day Japan and thus will be completely out of her element and not want to be involved in politics at all! Not that she's going to let this thwart her for long, so she'll likely be trying to pick up as much information as she can just by being a friendly face and observing.

... By which I mean, because she's an idol, she's probably going to try and get a performance going in the marketplace every so often to keep morale up/score some dough. And she's probably going to have to deal with pickpockets and seedy underbelly people when she gets a little too curious, so someone please either keep her out of trouble (or get into it with her).

Also also, she'll be testing out this whole flying thing with her wings! So if your character needs a lift/higher vantage point, she might lend a hand if you bat your eyes at her nicely enough. NOTE: she's going to need to get a lot of practice in so use her to your heart's content-- I mean.

[reeliable]

you're lucky i don't know the rest of the song for typing out and i don't feel like googling. im also very sorry for shitting up your plotting post

but u love me anyway ;3

[protettore]

who are you

[reeliable]

~*~its a mystery~*~

[flyingsolos]

Hey, if he keeps her hydrated, Rion will go anywhere he wants.

[flyingsolos]

You know, I think all shopping people need buddies.

For safety reasons.

ryoko asakura

[byherself]

Ryoko's going to be out to explore! She wants to steer clear from the seedier looking places, but is also going to wind up being tied to the Grand Market. It's been so long since she could do so much shopping, and not maybe feel like death is breathing down her neck? Maybe??

She's also planning to keep her ear open for any word about the King since it was mentioned, though she's currently not sure of how wise it'd be to get involved. After all, as an outsider from this world, getting mixed into local politics and acting as a freedom fighter might only cause more problems.

That is of course until she sees some kinda tyrannical nonsense and winds up getting in over her head.

also don't steal y'all, you have been warned

[oculusriffs]

lmao roy can be the first one to hear it if you want

he wasn't actually lying about his ill rhymes!

[oculusriffs]

honestly Dave definitely likes this power a lot better than his normal nonsense.

i am all for them getting into shenanigans though! maybe breaking & entering to get a selfie with the king, or accidentally knocking over displays in the market and having to cheese it — he's game for pretty much whatever

[oculusriffs]

rion is brave then, because dave is pretty much nothing but shenanigans

also, one of his hobbies is remixing music, often with his friends, so if she needs backup tunes for her idol performances dave has got her covered

Akira

[purrtagonist]

So Akira is all about FIGHTING AGAINST CORRUPT POLITICAL SYSTEMS. . . . . but at the same time his skepticism of Astoria's motives/purpose/e v e r y t h i n g means he isn't about to meddle in another world's affairs just because Astoria told them to, oops. That said, he won't be indifferent-- if he does catch wind of some way he can legitimately help people, he'll absolutely take it! Just. You know. He's going to be wary about being used as a puppet by someone else he barely knows to interfere in the politics of a society in which he doesn't belong, so any help he offers he'll want to do on his own terms.

That aside, he's absolutely going to be drawn more towards the Syndicate and the seedy underbelly of El Minha than anything else because that's his #aesthetic SO LIKE. . . YOU KNOW. Which means lots of time spent at the casino and otherwise getting accidentally swept up in shady dealings and all sorts of other shenanigans, and very little time schmoozing with royalty. Please come bet on lizard races with him!!

He may also be quite the formidable opponent for the pickpockets of the Grand Market because how the heck else does a teenager who has no clue what he's doing make money, and also because Akira gets into some kind of trouble wherever he goes, I swear.