Planetary Rundown: The Tundra

[hadrielmods]

The results of the most recent poll on which planet to move to were... a tie! The votes were perfectly evenly split (after ruling out a vote from a journal not in this game) which means that it's down to our good old friend, RNG, to determine- well, technically the gods decide, but seeing as to how they're fairly split on the matter as well (Sorrow/Tranquility/Confusion for Ice, Hope/Fear/Love for Jungle and Rage abstained), RNG seemed easiest. And the winner is....

The Ice Planet!

THE ARRIVAL

This is the first time we're using the Door for teleportation- and thanks to Sorrow's experiments, most of the kinks are worked out so you won't be ripped through a space/time vortex or split in half or teleported inside of a wall or anything terrible like that. As a matter of fact, the teleportation will feel similar to Fear's own: one second you're surrounded by ocean waves and a soft breeze, and the next it's 20 degrees colder and there's nothing but flat, frosted tundra anywhere you look. The city will arrive intact in the formation (and with the map) that it was before the island split it all up, with all of the characters, all of the buildings, the gardens, and everything- oh, except for the gods.

You read that right, the gods will not be teleported alongside the city and therefore, you guys are on your own for the foreseeable future. Guess Sorrow missed a few decimal points in his experimentation, we're sure that everyone will make fun of him for that later... if you guys are ever reunited.

Without the gods, the city has no incoming food or alcohol supplies, no weapons in the armory (save for what's already there), no protection from monsters, and no power supply for any of your vehicles, electronics, or showers. The phones and network will still work for some mysterious reason, but the rest of the evidence of the gods' support on the city is completely gone.

The city will be teleported on November 21st, so pack your bags and get ready!

THE TUNDRA

The Tundra is not quite the ice planet that many folks may have feared- of course, it's frigid and cold as shit, but you aren't traveling across the arctic shelf or anything. The ground is frozen hard and nearly impenetrable, but there are vague tufts of frosted-over purple grass and icy rocks dotting the landscape. Rather than surrounded by snow, you're instead surrounded by rocky, hard ground. There is a lake visible from the city, within an hours' walk from the eastern side- however, the top layer of it is frozen solid, thick enough to skate on, if you had skates. There are large, dark moving shapes barely visible in the brownish water beneath the ice, so you might want to think twice before cutting a hole to go ice fishing.

In the distance- maybe a week's walk from the city- is a hilly area that could be called mountains, but they're a little short for mountains. Still, they're capped in snow and it would be foolish to try and climb them without support from the gods or some other method of survival. Down in the crevice beneath the mountains is a large, alien mechanical structure- but more on that later.

As far as wildlife goes, there's definitely an ecosystem in the area. Small alien mammals flit between the rocks and into crevices where they've made their homes- one example of such is a mousey creature with thick, shaggy fur and an extremely long, purple-tufted tail. When preying insects come to their tail (thinking its grass, of course), the creature darts forward and eats it. Cute! Batlike creatures with four wings make their nests at the top of larger rocks, out of reach of the more predatory creatures on the tundra floor. And finally, the apex predators of this land are small groups (6-8) of circular mammoth-looking creatures. These guys are also very shaggy and roughly the size of a bear, but far less ergonomic. Their bodies are such that they can pull their limbs back into their mountains of fur for protection and to confuse their prey, before snapping their heads out and biting with several sharklike rows of teeth. These guys in particular will take interest in the city, and one or two herds of them may circle around and look for stragglers or lone explorers to pick off, so be careful!

Feel free to make up your own encounter with alien wildlife as well, just remember that the land isn't teaming with animals, and encounters may be somewhat rare.

The various Door-brought animals who have lingered around the city in search of prey are almost all gone, but those that have been brought in with everyone else will no longer be restricted from the city, so watch out for attacks from them, as well as them conflicting with he local wildlife.

The weather is consistently very cold, with temperatures hitting between 30 and 45 degrees. Hadriel was transported to this planet during the receding 'Summer', and so while there is less snow and ice on the ground for now, there is a permafrost that lingers even on the warmest days. During the next few months, as the biome descends into Winter, snowfalls will begin light and dusting, before gradually growing heavier and heavier until the ground is shrouded in snow and most of the surrounding mammals go into hibernation. Fun!

This is the two moon planet that Hadriel had been underground in the past. The night sky is quite beautiful, with thousands of twinkling stars and one close moon with one moon further away, with the closer moon being visible even during the daytime. The day/night cycles are somewhat normal for the biome, with a long nightfall (roughly 12-14 hour nights) and short days where the sun is visible. Again, as Winter begins, night will last longer and longer until your days are only a few sparse hours long.

THE REMAINS OF WAR

There are alien structures nestled between the mountains which are not immediately visible from the city, save for a small, almost imperceptible metallic gleam peaking out of the valley between two of the hills. This seems to be a small cluster of buildings ('city' would be a large stretch) made of a bluish metallic material. These buildings have exceptionally minimalist architecture and are often just one single room with the relevant structures inside. More on these buildings and their contents will be revealed in the future.

Scattered across the landscape, amid and around Hadriel are the remains of war. Scorch marks dot the landscape, with shattered rocks and massive indentations in the earth. Fragments of machines are strewn about, abandoned where they fell and now home to small mammals and plants growing in the nooks and crannies that their broken husks provide. Be careful with some of these, as they may still be operational- and almost all of them are dangerous. Those of you familiar with the Null may recognize some of their more rudimentary weapons in various conditions of operation, however, there are no god killers just lying around at this time.

Some of these husks may still even contain sleeping or deactivated Null, able to reawaken and contact their bretheren at the slightest disturbance, provocation, or people just figuring out where the On button is... so be extremely careful when salvaging these remains.

So have fun! Be careful when exploring, and do try not to freeze to death before the gods find you again- if they find this place again.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[hadrielmods]

As a note, if you are concerned about your character's ability to survive in this particular climate, please let us know and we can work something out. Our intention is for this to be a test of survival to open up venues for plotting and CR, but we don't want to force anyone into a corner with regards to their character's survival and would be happy to try to work around any potential playability issues that may arise.

i apologize for my entire existence

[hardwearing]

1. I take it the city housing will not be heated at all, and I don't think they have fireplaces or anything, correct? But is there material around to burn?

2. Is there any winter gear in the shops?

3. Is all the water on the planet frozen, since the city water and power won't be working?

4. On a scale of 1-10 how edible is the wildlife raw, if there's no power or firewood to cook with?

no worries!

[hadrielmods]

1. The city will not be heated, characters are free to burn wood from uninhabited buildings (though dwellings do not have fireplaces, so burn with caution).

2. Shops have gear suited to the island planet, so expect raincoats, some sweaters, wading boots, things like that.

3. All water is frozen, both lakes (the one inside of the city and the new one outside of the city) have about 8-12 inches of ice until you can reach the water. Note that all creatures in the lake within Hadriel are no longer there, as the lake became part of the ocean during the Island planet, so the animals mostly swam away. Also, note that water and power is not working because the gods aren't there- they are the ones who provide that sort of thing (since the pipes in the houses lead to nowhere).

4. As edible as most mammals on earth. There's always a risk with eating things raw of course, but nothing is overtly poisonous.

[theweakhavepurpose]

Will the residents be alerted before the move? So we can bring anything inside we need to?

[hadrielmods]

Yes, they will be- you can assume that a handwaved notification post went out to all residents, so there won't be any sort of surprise and you'll have some time to prepare.

[sciencelizard]

dabs my way in here, so regarding survival, Alphys is kinda cold blooded and had talked to Hope about getting a heat lamp or something if we ended up on Ice Planet, at least in the Lab? She has the generator in there to power the computer that runs aside from God Magic, so she'll have a certain level of electricity for it. or just get her with like, 2700 blankets, it's what's up.

[hadrielmods]

It is okay for Alphys to have a heat lamp that will work with her generator!

If the generator runs out then Name will power the heat lamp for her

[puzzlingly]

Are there Northern Lights?

[hadrielmods]

There are lights in the sky similar to the Northern Lights (same sort of thing) but not as we would know them from earth.

[tongueamok]

Wrong journal, but since the Guard and the Clinic buildings were built together before the island split, only to be split mostly by accident in the move, and things will be returning to the formation they were pre-islands... does that mean the Guard and Clinic buildings are suddenly back together again?

[hadrielmods]

Yes! That was an OOC mistake on our part, so once the city moves the buildings will be together.

[dedikated]

Soooo...

if they arrive in summer, how much colder are temperatures in the winter months?

what about winds, rain / humidity on the planet? are we looking at dry colds or wet ones, basically?

if someone was to, say, drill a hole in the lake, how deep does the water go?

[hadrielmods]

As the planet moves closer to winter, the temperatures will dip further and further downward. Much like Earth's tundra, the temperature in the winter goes easily below freezing, averaging around -30 degrees Fahrenheit (about -34 Celcius). Of course, this won't be immediate, and as the city is arriving at the end of summer it'll be some time before the world reaches those temperatures.

It doesn't rain much. There will be a light sprinkling of snow sometimes, particularly during the night, but overall the weather leans more towards 'dry'.

The lake is pretty deep, but you'd have to explore it to find out, and the creatures living in it might not like that!

[glacius]

I'm planning on having Glacius put up a network post at some point offering to provide for those who might have a hard time doing it on their own since he is literally in his element on a wintery planet. This will involve a lot of exploring, hunting, and foraging, so:

1. Assuming the apex mammoths you mentioned will be his biggest threat creature-wise? I'm guessing monsters from the door post-jump will still lurk around the outskirts as well?
2. Are there any sort of edible plants to be found or will most of those still be in the gardens and orchards?
3. Assuming he hunts rigorously every few days, about how much will he reasonably come up with? He is the best of the best at what he does, but I don't want to end up with a situation similar to the old forest where he's providing more than is feasible within the world.

[hadrielmods]

1. Because Hope is no longer here to keep the monsters out, everything that the Door brings in will push into the city in search of food (which is usually player characters, so watch out!). In the natural tundra however, the apex mammoths are indeed the largest creature.

2. Most edible things will be in gardens and orchards still. Plants are very sparse and hardy (not extremely nutritious and definitely not fun to eat but not overtly poisonous)- think of lichens, small patches of rough grass, and snarls of spiked moss. Nothing screams 'eat me!' but you can try if you like. As the months grow on and the winter front approaches, plants will become more and more sparse until they are entirely buried in snow.

3. Considering that Glacius is a capable hunter, he would likely be able to fully feed 10-15 people per day, but not for very long. Animals- particularly large and meaty animals- are already rather sparse and overhunting to feed the population of Hadriel is a danger that he (and other hunters) would likely be aware of.

[standformyself]

Hello! The Dog is fairly good at digging. Will she be able to make a dent in to the ground/through ice? (aka, I am fine with her taking longer to be able to do these things), or not at all, which will just be her trying to dig then and getting frustrated.

[hadrielmods]

If she is very dedicated, then she would be able to break through the ground, yes! It's frozen over, but not impenetrable. Maybe consider getting mitts for those cold paws though!

[circumitus]

Just wondering, would it be okay for you guys to include the local wildlife somewhere in the bestiary page or something? I feel like that would be an obvious place to check for that kinda thing. Plus it'd be neat to have a quick source to reference for things like: 1. Animal behavioral patterns (how do they interact with their habitat and where are they most likely to be found), 2. threat level (is the creature carnivorous and a danger to characters, will they attack either unprovoked or in self-defense and/or poison you?), 3. what nutritional value the meat might have and, on that note... 4. what do they taste like.

I'm also curious about edible plants and such as well, if there are any palpable arctic flowers, shrubs (for berries), herbs, grasses, mosses, and lichens that can survive freezing weather that would be of note for those needing to forge for their own food in the gods' absence.

Oh, and last: Rey and Kaiba had been working on repairing the power grid to include wind/solar energy since ages ago, and it was something of an ongoing project (they would probably have actually recycled parts from the ruined dam since their hydro option went the way of the dodo after the setting shift onto the ocean planet, anyway). Would they be able to make that grid functional to provide a (very limited) power supply to the city?

[hadrielmods]

Thanks for the suggestion! We will be linking this world rundown on various info pages, as we have done in the past (and are currently working on). We'll be sure to link it from the bestiary as well. We believe many of your questions are answered in the rundown, and we also like to leave wildlife encounters up to player creativity.

Your question about edible plants is answered here.

It would take them some time to make the grid functional - a good estimate would be a week and a half to get it to a state where they can power a few dwellings, and another two weeks to be able to supply limited power to a larger portion of the city. It would, of course, always depend on the amount of wind and sun available and be subject to equipment failures that will be difficult to repair due to the lack of replacement parts!

[deviledlegs]

I'm planning on having Sanji and as many people as possible help out with digging an ice cellar. With his devil fruit powers, however, Law basically has the ability to transport a giant cube of earth out of the way rather than have to dig it out. Would this affect mod plans, and if so, can we play around with it in ways such as Law only being able to remove small amounts of earth each time or make it so that he mysteriously can't get his power to work within the permafrost and is delegated to removing the earth that the others have dug out, etc?

[hadrielmods]

Thank you for asking! While we are trying to lean more on the survival aspect, we understand that some character abilities will make certain tasks easier and this particular thing wouldn't affect our plans. If it's more fun to play out Law being only able to move smaller amounts of earth due to the frost then we would be happy with that! Essentially, feel free to limit character abilities in a way that enables you to have the most fun with threads and plotting and be mindful of other players' desires to play out a survival setting. If nothing else, we can always blame the Door!

[missiondeterminant]

Is there anything noteworthy about the lake water? Connor's sample analysis/crime lab thing tells him the chemical makeup of liquids and such, but I'm not looking for like... Exactly what might be in the water, just if there's anything very noteworthy (high amounts of lead or other elements that would be dangerous, any unusual amount of biological material, etc) since he's trying to be helpful to all the sad people who have to drink water by making sure it's actually drinkable.

[hadrielmods]

The water is drinkable! There would not be anything terribly noteworthy, and certainly nothing dangerous - just traces of chemicals that are less common on Earth and more common here, and that sort of thing.

[traitory]

So Starscream can fly all way to the mountains and such is there anything beyond them worth noting?

Also was wondering if he could possibly accidentally awaken one of those sleeping Null?

[hadrielmods]

It would take him some time to fly all that way (weeks on foot), but beyond the mountain there is more tundra, then an ice sheet leading to an icy and inhospitable ocean. On the ice sheet can be found strange sea slug-like creatures about the size of a golden retriever.

For now, we would prefer the Null remain asleep, but we'll keep Starscream in mind for the future if/when we need a Null awakened.