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

MOD QUESTIONS

[acatamods]

[mytearsaremine]

Quick question here-- do people with non-human traits get noticed as such or are they mostly overlooked?

roy mustang.

[insubordination]

Roy is a big fan of tearing down corrupt governments but an even bigger fan of taking forever to do so, so he's going to be mostly interested in the lay of the land and what the people are complaining about before he chooses to do much of anything. He also doesn't believe Astoria as far as he can throw her and is generally irritable that he's in this situation again.

THAT BEING SAID: he's down for some exploring and this place sort of??? reminds him of Ishval before Amestris attempted to remove it from existence, so he'll be remarkably at home in a desert, despite being from AU!Germany.

Also who wants to bet on lizard races.

Also x 2 he'll probably bail you out of jail if you get caught stealing because he's team dad.

Re: roy mustang.

[reeliable]

slides noct over

but he would definitely be trying to hear out what all the people have to say before thinking about trying anything - being a king from another nation sort of ties his hands from trying anything immediate, but he would want to try to bridge some kind of gap, if the newer king is sort of a new leaf for the city. it sounds a bit along the lines of what roy would be doing, so if we could somehow get them on the same page and working together, i'd like to hit you up for that?

noctis

[reeliable]

while trying not to melt or burn because deserts are not desserts, Noct will spend a lot of time initially just listening to the residents. the complaints and how the old king was, how the new king is, but his actual concern and motivation will be towards the poorer residents being stuck in that sort of state. he would want to try to help bridge that gap, to somehow convey it to the king without making a ruckus, mostly from the view of a king who would want to hear his people too.

so some investigating, looking for a volunteer type job where it's easier to hear people, just straight up exploring, and probably getting roped into the fighting ring even if he'll be having a little trouble as he can't use any of his phase magic anymore lol. those are my general plans at least, if anyone would like to hit up or join up!

[parttimes]

Please let Kou tag along, he's going to be so out of his element as a rando teenager from Japan. But I think watching Noct at work will help him figure out how to try to tackle this problem too

Jolie

[mytearsaremine]

Welp, Jolie's going to be exploring a lot, and talking to a lot of people, because hey, she's a kid, and people like talking to kids, right? Even kids with creepy shadow tentacles.

Also going to be trying to get in to see the king somehow, since Astoria mentioned him in particular as being "reasonable". She's more likely to trust her judgment about him if she's met him face to face, anyway.

[sunborne]

I'll hit you in the CR meme soon because oh my gosh Odd Thomas aaaaah-

Daylight will like to keep an eye out for Jolie when he runs across her and will also like to accompany her when she's exploring/talking to people. Because young ones gotta stick together, am I right? He isn't sure how he can help in getting an audience with a king but he's willing to do what he can to make it happen for Jolie.

dave strider

[oculusriffs]

Dave will probably be rhyming up enough water that I will need to actually write a rhyme about water, though how much he can make is limited to how much he can carry. If your character is ever in need then he's most likely their dude.

Other than that, he will definitely want to explore and find others to pal around with/get into trouble with.

[insubordination]

i'm honestly waiting in anticipation for this rhyme about water.

Shiro

[spaceforged]

Shiro is going to keep an ear out and see what the locals have to say. He's all about assisting other people...but he doesn't want to act unless he feels he should. He's skeptical of Astoria. Even if he wasn't...this sounds like a situation that could explode if it isn't handled right.

He's going to explore, gather information, and see if he can't land another security kind of job. It worked well for him last time. Can't hurt to do it again. He'll try to avoid the fighting ring but chances are he'll be in it if a lead takes him that way.

Rean

[voidform]

Rean has a bit of a conflict going on. He's pretty used to being in a political background, and being your do-gooder hero kind, he wouldn't be too happy learning about corrupt officials and their takes on ruining other people's lives.

Buuuut he would also feel that it wasn't his place to really get too involved in a city's politics, since he's not a home resident. He doesn't have a say in that regard, but he will be listening to the people, playing a neutral role. And if anything goes wrong there, he'd definitely step in and try to help however he can.

Boiling it down, and to add a little bit a flavor, he's pretty peeved at Astoria, but if he's going to have to be here anyway, he might as well investigate; he'll probably end up learning more about the Syndicate too, and he's not going to be the biggest fan of their crimes, so if nothing else he's definitely going to try and learn more about what exactly they're up to. If they're gonna go that far, then other people in the city could be in danger as well! He's gonna be pretty familiar with how the people feel about the King as well, since from his canon there is a very distinct power-showing from nobility.

Also he's from the cold mountains so he's not gonna be too used to the heat. Help!

Oh, and I'll also take this opportunity to mention that Rean will be keeping a journal that he'll write in occasionally, per Kiseki rules. There's nothing there yet, but I thought I should mention it here!

[flyingsolos]

Take off your shirt, Rean. It'll keep you cool.

-- I mean, I need shenanigans.

Consort Jing

[tranquilforest]

Jing has spent like the last thirty years in the palace of a difficult-to-appease monarch, so she won't be interested in that to start with, but she is also very experienced in the soft power element of gaining influence and the political entanglements that are sure to be a part of that kind of structure, so if anyone is interested in looking for a back way of sorts, she might be useful from a consulting standpoint. She will also likely get involved if the word on the street from her semi-investigations (below) start to hint at significant systemic injustices.

She will initially spend some time browsing the market and looking for useful items, particularly books or local medicines and spices (things she can learn about and bring back with her to the Temple for future use). She does have food/water supplies with her, but not a lot, though she's good at improvising. She will be drawn to the plight of the sick, poor, or criminal and try to provide some measure of medical care or relief where possible.

[insubordination]

oh man i'm not sure how but roy would love to talk to jing just for perspective-sake??? i can see some amazing CR coming out of this journey with them and i'm honestly really looking forward to her interactions in the city, especially with the npcs.

[zaptime]

Tweek is going to be entirely suspicious of everything upon first glance, because someone claiming to be a goddess sicing people on a city that's apparently 'corrupt' is really really sketchy. Super sketchy. He's not entirely sold on anything that Astoria has told them yet.

That being said, he'll probably make his way through the city in due time when he can convince himself that he's not going to be brutally murdered. And probably going to get caught up with some of the street urchins at some point, because hey! They're his own age! But really he's going to be looking for coffee beans at the market because coffee is love, coffee is life.

Kou Tokisaka

[parttimes]

Kou's going to be so, so out of his depth here, it's going to be hilarious, honestly. He's a teenager from Japan, he doesn't understand politics that well and he certainly doesn't understand the nuances of the politics of a foreign world SO...

He will probably want to try to get a good look at everything for himself, but in practice, he's actually going to have a really hard time with it and I hope he gets his things stolen because he's not paying attention.

SO THINGS, in no particular order, to start up some brainstorming: he won't be fighting in the ring, but he might poke his head in to see what's going on. (He's not going to be into it.) He'll give the palace a wide berth too because he's a lame straightedge and will follow the rules, god Kou stop being boring. But he'll probably spend a lot of time around the market, because dealing with magical items is more familiar to him and also because it's cool.

Catch him running 5000 errands for the people in the market probably for free because he's dumb that way.

THAT SAID if anyone wants to totally recklessly stick their nose into things with the casino and the crime syndicate, hit me up so we can fling people at that. It wouldn't be the first time he did something like that IT'LL BE FUN.

[reeliable]

kou pls...... (lets get in trouble at the casino)

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!

[flyingsolos]

You know, I think all shopping people need buddies.

For safety reasons.

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.

[foundafamily]

Did somebody say trouble? Firo's going to be sticking almost entirely to the seedy stuff, so that might be a good way to have these two meet! He used to be a pickpocket himself, so maybe he can give her a hand with that element?

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

[parttimes]

Is she interested in a totally lost shopping buddy, since he'll be way out of his depth-- he'll carry her bags for her

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.

[acatastoria]

you know what akira that's rude and she'll be taking notes of ur totally reasonable and normal skepticism in her pink journal that she keeps under her pillow

Keith

[lonered]

Well. The desert reminds him of home so there's that.

That said, Keith has actually learned to sort of actually figure out what's going on before he jumps into things. Kind of. Mostly because he got told to do things by someone he doesn't know or know how to take, which makes him contrary and less likely to leap in. Because he's nothing if not difficult.

There's also a near zero percent chance he doesn't get into a fight at some point with someone though. So if anyone would like to save him from himself, that would be appreciated.

[flyingsolos]

If by "save him", you mean "grab him by the collar and drag", Rion can certainly try her best.

Firo

[foundafamily]

Firo's going to be going into the crime side of things and... probably not coming out any time soon. He'll be in his element with the casino (just like home!) and will be looking to steal a bit and gamble it into something bigger to get by.

He's not going to be paying too much attention to politics if at all, so if someone wants to call him out for being a lazy leech, please do so; he 100% deserves it. He'll be keeping an eye out for other members of the circle, so if anyone needs help weathering the seedier parts of town, he's happy to jump in.

[tranquilforest]

I'm reasonably sure Jing's going to need an escort at some point, if Firo doesn't mind...? :D

Daylight

[sunborne]

Day is used to travelling to other worlds and meeting new faces so he's kind of taking this all in stride, not asking too many questions since he sticks out like a sore thumb as is gosh. The heat of the desert and the residents of this world being chill with all sorts of forms means he'll be ditching his 'disguise' for now so he doesn't overheat.

And you'd think this is Day's time to shine because of the political background of his family but no. He'll be pretty unsure of how to handle the political situation too so he'll go with whoever seems to know what they're going and throw his lot in. He does, however, have a fondness for the working crowd thanks to how he was raised so he'll like to do something for them.

HE'S ALSO GOING TO DEFINITELY GET INVOLVED IN THE FIGHTING RING WHEN HE LEARNS ABOUT IT AND WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO DO. He's going to look at that nonsense and go, 'Yeah this is where I'm going to shine.' and run over to knock some heads over. Anyone have a problem with somebody let him know and he'll duke it out for you.

And if anyone needs a piggyback ride on him, let Day know and he's your personal carrier for the entire trip.

[flyingsolos]

Please piggyback Rion, her back's going to be hurting from flying practice.

prompto

[punshots]

YEAH LET'S PLOT

Prompto is no fan of any extreme weather so there is a 100% chance of him: (1) complaining about the heat, (2) getting pick-pocketed by some children and (3) getting swindled into some kind of criminal enterprise by the Syndicate because he is extremely gullible. Watch him assist smuggling some illegal contraband because someone told him it was, like, medicine for their dying grandma. He could also rope some others into this!

Aside from getting mixed up into trouble, Prompto will generally be trying to help out the poor in the city in smaller and simpler ways. He's no diplomat (he's probably that guy who's getting yelled at for accidentally going into the palace when he's not supposed to) BUT he's helpful to a fault and he won't take seeing people down on their luck well unless he's trying to do something. Especially those poor kids!!! Who can say no to them? It's entirely possible that he'll get taken advantage of in this regard too and could probably use someone a little more pessimistic to balance him out so he doesn't go (too) overboard.

Otherwise he'll be taking pictures of all the shit, or watch him somehow get mixed up in a trading in the market and wind up with like, a basket of snakes or something.

[foundafamily]

I have a cynical guy right here who could maybe help hold him back (or at least sigh and act annoyed while Prompto goes and does nice things)! He'll be hanging a lot around the poorer areas and will be looking for other Circle members, so maybe they can run into each other?

[spellweave]

Alphinaud is 100% down to help if he can and as an Actual Diplomat he's pretty suited to try and work something out on the political side. He will want to organize a direct meeting with the king if possible! That will be his main goal. Before that he plans to gather as much information from the people and from any reading material that might exist to prep for that.

But he wants to negotiate something with the king to help improve lives and prevent the war he declared on the Syndicate. He always tries for peaceful resolutions so he's going to try that here too...!

The political climate in this world is Basically Ul'dah from his home so he's a liiittllee concerned. The difference being that the king isn't an adorable Lalafell with pink pigtails. As far as we know, anyway.........

[poisonparadise]

Valerius is going to have himself a good look around before he dares to dip his toes into anything. He's still a little grouchy about losing his healing magic, his pride and joy, but I'm sure watching people kick the crap out of each other will cheer him up.

...So that fighting ring is definitely going to get itself a fancy-pants spectator.

Narsus

[courtpainter]

Narsus will be right at home in this place! If anyone wants help getting around a bustling marketplace in a desert city, he's definitely the person to ask about fitting in.

For himself, aside from shopping and enjoying the city, he's going to be gossiping with the locals and getting all the information he can about the old king, the new king, how the nobles are reacting to the change, and the activities of the Syndicate once he learns of them. He won't be judging anyone to start with - it's entirely probable that some nobles deserve to be poisoned and/or disappeared - but he would like to know why it's happening. He's certainly not trusting of Astoria by any means, but the entire situation hits close enough to home that he is going to be drawn in by curiosity whether he means to or not. Think of it as practice for putting Prince Arslan on the throne.

[poisonparadise]

Thank you for reminding me that Val likes shiny things. They can easily be shopping buddies.

Julius

[bulletbiter]

So Julius was on the receiving end of political manipulation back home and he. will be having some serious flashbacks

He adjusts well to the climate as he is well-traveled and has the benefit of cellular coordination to cool down. He will probably be looking into scientific ways to generate more water for the Circle's use, if it's needed.

He wants to help people, but he's more likely to sympathize with the poor than the rich (despite being kind of from a rich background himself). However he's not sure what to do regarding the situation so I'm looking to have discussions regarding it. And also doing some jrpg side fetch quests for the natives, if appropriate!

I'm p much a person who follows other people's plans so just hmu with your ideas. ♥

[sunborne]

I'M SLOW FORGIVE ME /CRAHSES IN HERE

SO!! Daylight is going to do some Fight Club stuff and check the market and probably crash into some folks because everyone is so small and Daylight is not going to be able to avoid everyone aaaaah.

If Julius wants to hang out with him during these events, I would so be down with it. Day can also help him out trying to figure out how to create more water so Julius has an assistant in that aspect. o /

Also if he can be the bestest friend ever can he please help Daylight from becoming a toasty boi. Living metal is still metal and that's going to be hot to the touch.

Sam

[buff_for_a_nerd]

So aside from general exploration shenanigans and delving into whatever myths/monsters/lore that this place has, did somebody mention murder? Somebody definitely mentioned murder, which means Sam's going to habitually ask questions about that and try to find out if it's definitely the Syndicate calling the shots and whether or not there's anything else going on with that aside from cut-throat political rivalry. Subterfuge may or may not be involved, since it's probably kind of hard to pretend to be a local. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Whatever gets a foot in the door.

I'm also totally game for socializing/drinking/helping people with their own stuff, so hmu if you want Sam somewhere in particular.