Mer

Mer is a default-avatared simulation on Verdana ~~based on~~ essentially identical with Hanna Barbara's Pirates of Dark Water (with some differences).

Description

Mer is a moon of a ringed gas giant in the habitable zone of its star.

It is a warm world consisting of considerably more water than land; about 90% of its surface consists of ocean. It has no polar ice caps, but it does have bands of weather, where the equatorial temperatures are higher than those of the poles (where it can get very cold, just not to the point of developing lasting ice).

Due to its erring on the side of warm, it is quite prone to thunderstorms, and completely cloudless days are essentially unheard of.

Treasures

"This world is cursed with the Black Tide. Each year, it strikes us harder, and more lives are lost. The Treasures of Rule can cure our planet of the Dark Water. The Compass exists to guide the way. The one who was initially destined to take the quest... died a few years ago. In his place, Azur has chosen this quest for himself - and I have no cause to deny him it."
- Firfrey in Log #237

#1 Dragon's Maw

Log #224

"Maybe if we're lucky this will be the hardest one to find, and the others will all be in a nice neat pile somewhere." (Israel)

One of the spires amongst the Dragon's Maw holds the Treasure aloft - or rather, used to. Storms have since whittled at the tower and the Treasure was knocked into the frothing depths below, catching itself against the side of the spire and requiring a search.

#2 Andorus

Log #231

"Man, the tree ate it. First the water eats you, now the trees eat Treasures. This place is fucking grand." (Mandalore)

Originally protected by a spell to reveal it only to the bloodline of Primus, the Treasure became the ecomancer island's last hope as the Black Tide rolled in to consume it; last ditch attempts guided a root of the Hometree to pull it off its pedestal and leech the energies in an effort to preserve. It was not enough; the Hometree is a mere stump (however grand a stump that may be), with the Treasure in firm grasp of its roots.

#3 Nado

Log #242

"...right. Done with this now. Kill them." (Ezadir)

The third Treasure has found its way into the clutches of Ezadir, the head 'priest' (for lack of a better word) of a cult of Dark Water that Azur has a history with. While the faith is one in the truest sense of the word, Ezadir believing the Treasures worthless to fight the Dark Water, he is loathe to part with it entirely for free.

#4 Setadi Ocean

Log #246

"Ah, shit, I bet Azur fell overboard or something." (Mandalore)

The fourth Treasure simply sunk to the bottom of the ocean after attempts to get it to a guarded place ended in proverbial tears. That's where it still is now, patiently waiting for the wielder of the Compass.

#5 Myragon

Log #258

"You never know, this thing could secretly be, say, the only thing holding together the economy of Pixies in Shanghai and thus we've doomed ourselves or something malicious like that." (Sirena)

Guarded by the legendary Galquin, a massive tusked wyrm, the fifth Treasure lies at the outskirts of an abandoned settlement within the swamps and surreal landscapes of Myragon.

#6 Natai Ocean

Another Treasure entombed by the sheer endless volume of water native to Mer, this one is slumbers on the seabed immediately next to Dark Water vents.

This Treasure was fairly trivially retrieved with Adrethyrian's help, though despite his immunity, he still had to battle with the Dark Water slightly, initially freeing himself and then returning to retrieve the Treasure armed with another to ward off the substance more effectively. After all, it may not digest him... but it could easily trap him forever.

#7 Azacea

Unwittingly protected both by swaths of acidic stecca fog and by a cursed creature called Pharyx, the Treasure hides in its lair atop the pinnacle of the sole mountain of Azacea, an island inhabited by a people called Mobo, a tribe of Pandawans who left Pandawa itself many generations ago. As the Pharyx plagues them with death and destruction on a regular basis, feeding off their weak, they are allies waiting to happen.

Sawdust retrieved the Treasure with little difficulty once the Mobo instructed him how to best get it, and it turned out to be the trigger of the Pharyx's frightful mutation - it returned to its original form, a small mammalian predator no threat to the Mobo, and the stecca fog dissipated.

#8 Delpha

Log #287

"Mebbe if we do sometin' about vhy ve'z locked op in de first place, dey lets uz go fer goot behavin, jah?" (Gunther)

Used by the Delpha warriors in a network set up deliberately in defence of their entire island from Dark Water, the eighth Treasure is under guard of Queen Malu and her xenophobic people, who would rather enslave the questers than send them on their way, much less give up their only line of defence against the predatory substance.

#9 Octopon

Log #292

"Guess the animators couldn't get everything right." (Vector)

Stowed away in the walls of the lighthouse for the son of Primus to receive as first aid of his quest, the ninth Treasure was grafted into the hilt of a broken sword, hiding its true nature from anyone who would go as far as find the item unaided.

#10 Mnadira

Log #303

"We get this Treasure, get back to the ship and no one dies... what's the actual plan after that?" - "Hoy, dot's eazy. We t'ink of a betta plan!" (MekkaByte and Gunther)

In the middle of the ocean of water, a moat of air surrounds an island of solid rock. The Compass indicates the Treasure within, but the only means to enter the island is from below, within the depths beneath the water's surface, where the edges of the island's base lie riddled with cavern entrances. But one might wonder is the moat and thus the way in and out of the island a product of the Treasure's power like the stecca fog on Azacea or not - and would thus its removal trap those questing within?

Banjamar

Log #314

"Mebbe iffen ve find some verr big sponge..." (Gunther)

With all Treasures but two stolen by Rhea, the Citizens hole up in Banjamar for protection, plotting radically different approaches while the local culture proves itself hospitable.

Atanon

"You would help me greatly if you took a moment to consider my position in earnest, even if you do not share it." (Ezadir)

With their island marking an entrance into the underworld of Mer called the 'Second Gate', the Atani demanded interactions of the two groups be non-violent - ultimately resulting in the Treasure being found by the one with Compass: The Nado cultists.

NPCs

Because there's quite a lot to say about them, they have their own articles.

The benevolent forces are mostly the guides travelling with the Citizens, Azur (a Dark Water ecomancer), Firfrey (a bat-like creature) and Sawdust (an albino monkey-bird).

Antagonists come in the form of the Nado Dark Water cultists, lead by Ezadir' and consisting of a sizeable group of opposition, including Enit, Gon, Kane, Nerene and Rhea.

People

Samantha Collins // Samanya was trapped in this sim on ????-??-?? - before the main group even hit the sim.
Hakumele appeared here quite suddenly on the 2054-04-30
Paul DeSanto // Vector, victim of hardware sabotage, linked into Mer on the 2054-05-20
Alex Forester // Gunther, either victim of a prank gone wrong or DNS routing accident, linked into Mer on the 2054-06-04

Name knowledge

Israel knows the sim name, but has yet to share it with anyone; chiefly because no one's asked.

Everyone knows the world is called 'Mer', but that the sim is simply named after the world does obviously not follow. Still, it should be trivial to refer to this place simply as 'Mer' and assume as much, even in-character.

Node

Rapture links into this sim, though probably not naturally. Where Mer links to when completed is similarly not known, since it was quite clearly interfered on when everything went awry (everyone was dumped into Closed Circle).

Activity

Newsletters and recaps

Interludes

Sessions

main group's first visit category: #217, #218, #219, #220, #223, #224, #228, #231, #232, #234, #235, #236, #237, #238, #239, #240, #241, #242, #244, #245, #246, #254, #258, #263, #265, #266, #267, #268, #270, #271, #272, #274, #275, #276, #277, #278, #280, #281, #282, #283, #287, #290, #291, #292, #297, #298, #300, #302, #303, #304, #306, #307, #308, #309, #310, #312, #313, #314, #315, #316, #317, #318, #319, #320, #321, #322, #323, #324, #325, #326, #327, #328, #329, #330, #331, #332 and #345

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