SEPTEMBER STATE OF THE GAME

[etrayamods]

⏵ September State of the Game and Arrivals ⏴ Hello, Etrayans! Thank you for your patience as we work through our growing pains. We're still figuring out what pacing works best with our player base, and are adjusting as well as we can to ensure the game is fun for everyone involved! We do have our September Feedback Post, which we invite you to use to let us know if you have any questions/concerns/feedback/ideas that can assist in making the game easier to engage with for you. We would like to remind everyone that we are continuing to use one plotting post for each mission. For this mission, this would be our plotting post that went up in early September! As we have new players joining us, we would encourage you to please check it out to see if there are any new comments. We have also edited the FAQ to cover topics that were asked about under the mod queries header, to save players reading through all the individual questions. Additionally, don't forget your Activity! For new players, this is just their comment with their handle and their characters' names. This is due before October 1st. ⏵ OOC INTRO ⏴ Welcome to the game, new arrivals! Please use the below form to introduce yourself, tell us what you’re looking forward to, and CR you want to play. We also have a mod comment HERE that you can use to ask us mods anything about our upcoming plans, add suggestions, or anything of the like. <b>PLAYER:</b> your name/handle, and your preferred pronouns if you want to provide them! <b>CONTACT:</b> your plurk, discord, carrier pigeon's name to call out to the wind to get their attention <b>ABOUT YOU:</b> what fandoms are you in? what cool thing about you do you think would be fun to share? are you more of a texty tagger, a log tagger, quick boomeranger? <b>CHARACTER:</b> who have you apped? what canon are they from? <b>CHARACTER INFO:</b> are they rowdy and loud? an introvert who needs an extrovert to adopt them and take them out into the world? how are they going to settle into game? is there anything in particular you're looking for with them? <b>PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN:</b> this is mostly for us mods: tell us things you're interested in! are you here more for horror elements, the mystery, soft fluffy missions, or the plot behind why echo has called everyone in? do you want to explore the world and figure out what's beyond the bubble etraya resides in? let us know! <b>OTHER:</b> this is for pretty pictures or gifs.

Comments

mod questions.

[etrayamods]

Get ready to praise the loaf?

[definecat]

PLAYER: Bugly (she/her)
CONTACT: Bugly42
ABOUT YOU: I am a voracious reader, a crafter of many kinds although mostly origami and crochet, and not really big on the whole engaging fandoms although I will happily discuss canons with people and writing and such. I tend to mostly do prose tagging for logs, and do my best to pack as much in as I can. Negative CR is just as good as positive to me, as long as we can be friendly as players.

CHARACTER: Sleeper | Marvel Comics Venom lineup

CHARACTER INFO: Sleeper plays at being the quintessential cat. They can be aloof or cuddly, but definitely interested in themself first and foremost. Since symbiotes are asexual, I use they/them pronouns exclusively with this character. Genders are for those who are wired for sexual reproduction. They will happily accept all praise, adoration, and pets as long as things don't go overboard. After all, it's not like they really need anyone else to survive, they can handle things just fine. (Until they can't.)

PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN: Definitely interested in exploring the hows and whys of the Echo and what brought everyone in and how they might be able to return/save their worlds. This character has a lot to explore in the concept of agency and self-determination versus outside influence/control, as well as basically being a descendent of the eldritch horrors of their universe, so they definitely will dive into that. I don't have a particular direction I want to go at this time.

OTHER: source

[revengeisalie]

KITTEH

PRAISE THE LOAF!!

[abit_ofboth]

I have always thought Loki would appreciate cats. He will definitely find Sleeper interesting.

[illicitly]

PLAYER: Alice (she/her)
CONTACT: You can reach me through plotting comments, PM, or at mimarinrin on Discord! I'm usually invisible but it's the best place to reach me so feel free to add or leave a DM and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
ABOUT YOU: I'm a full-time family caretaker and a mom. My fandoms tend to be on the older side like 90s animanga and other shows and RPGs of the era but I also enjoy visual novels and survival horror games. I've been writing and RPing in some capacity ever since I was a child and have dabbled in a various forms of the hobby. I have interests in psychology, folklore and mythology, history, true crime, creative writing (including original fiction), and honestly a wide range of things. I'm not a really a math, science, or coding type of person.

Specific fandoms I'm into: Jujutsu Kaisen, Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed, Shadows House, The Promised Land, Shin Sekai Yori, Another, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, Shin Megami Tensei/Persona, Zero Escape, Ace Attorney, Fafner in the Azure (though I'm way behind), Saiyuki, Peacemaker Kurogane, The X-Files, Supernatural (up to Season 5 anyway) ,NCIS (particularly Los Angeles),Criminal Minds, and a bunch of other procedurals to name a few. I'm into a lot of different things and my tastes tend to be pretty eclectic. I've been really into farming/simulation and court drama dating sims in mobile games lately. I'm also into watching horror game LPers like CJU Games and Gab Smolders and a few others.

CHARACTER: Nie Huaisang from Mo Dao Zu Shi, specifically the novel version rather the live action adaptation of The Untamed.
CHARACTER INFO: I recommend reading his app here to get a deeper feel for Huaisang's personality because he's Complicated and difficult to sum up in just a few words. But very short version: cunning, clever puppetmaster vigilante from ancient China who manipulates others into carrying out Rube Goldberg schemes against his enemies while masquerading as a crying, wailing good-for-nothing who is overwhelmed by his responsibilities and can keep his hustle going for a decade without ever breaking character in front of people. He also has a hard time trusting anyone though this is mostly directly toward canonmates. He's a little shy, reserved, and awkward with people he doesn't know or feels out of his depth but he can be pulled out of his shell with some coaxing, especially if there's some kind of common ground. This can be a shared interest, a shared culture or heritage, shared code, shared methods, shared misunderstanding of technology, shared lack of ability, etc. He just needs something to be able to relate to characters on to go deep which will probably be a bit slowburn, even with friendship, but he'll work with anyone to accomplish a task, even if he doesn't like or fully trust them. Working with him on tasks, protecting him when he's in trouble, rescuing him from danger, etc, are all good ways to jumpstart CR. I'm down to plot most things so if if you have an idea for something, fire away. I'm willing to give most things a try and if something doesn't work for me, I'll let you know.

PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN: I love horror and survival elements, investigating mysteries, playing out characters fumbling through some sort of crisis, resource managament, or tackling problems through cooperation and strategy. I like some PVP elements. One potential plot that came up with him on the TDM that I'd love to explore more in depth is the concept of conflicts developing in the setting if the number of worlds that can be saved is more limited than the number of representatives from worlds present. I think that could shake up relationships a bit and draw interesting things out of characters, including cooperative alliances, rivalries, etc. I also like events that test characters capacity for forgiveness and encourage bounding. Another plot that I think might be interesting to explore is if it's possible to select refugees from worlds that are listed for deletion I think the existential horror elements could bring spark some fun ideas!

OTHER:

[abit_ofboth]

I am canonblind for your character, but I have played against him in other games and enjoyed it a lot so I would love to try something here if you’re game. I have no specific ideas at this time but I enjoy the possibilities you’ve thrown out so far.

Also, Supernatural definitely ended after season 5. Everyone else is hallucinating. 😉

Enter: One Purple Rose

[bergamotrose]

PLAYER: Basil
CONTACT: woodrift Or, messenger pigeon. Obviously.
ABOUT YOU: Oh Gosh. A bunch of you know me-- and know how I repeatedly find myself falling unbidden into either the Fire Emblem or Fate/ fandoms. Truly, I'm never totally free of either. Otherwise, I'm into fantasy fandoms (delicious in dungeon anyone?) and I'm a foraging/ cooking hobbiest.

As a general note: I caught the Not!Flu during the TDM, so I'm still slow moving on that front. I'm willing to continue threads if others are.

CHARACTER: Lorenz Hellman Gloucester from Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
CHARACTER INFO: Oh gosh-- Lorenz here has major Mean Girls vibes at first brush, but when people take time to know him they find that he is nothing if not dutiful and a closeted artistic romantic at heart. He'll be the friend serving hot tea while serving other kinds of hot tea, and I have no doubt that he's going to keep a little black book of what his friends special interests are so that he can stay up to date and provide them with appropriate distractions, etc, if necessary.

PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN: Oh gosh, anything really. Lorenz has an ear for gossip of all sorts and is very much a People Person. He's going to be Learning as much as he can, but he would also be quite content running a tea shop down the line. Low-stakes, slice of life is new territory for him but he is game to learn anything. and highly adaptable. His friends, new and old, will take priority no matter the situation and he will do whatever to help them.

OTHER: Wanna try for a perfect tea time?



I'm regularly offended by how pretty he is.

[sleepfan]

a little black book of what his friends special interests are

My desire for Linhardt to steal this and be so disappointed in the contents/consider it useless is SO DAMN HIGH. All that work for information about...people? EW. Also scratching out any observations about himself: Stop perceiving him.

[illicitly]

I'm definitely interested in CR here. I've actually played CR between Huaisang and a Lorenz in the past in a different game and he really liked him a lot so I'm interested in giving a shot here as well! Huaisang also a softer, artistic side and is a bit of a closet romantic and sweetheart himself if you dig deep enough as well.

Also, I'm laughing because the last Lorenz player I threaded with said the same thing almost word for word re: being offended by how pretty Lorenz is.

[leastdramatic]

PLAYER: Pinky (she/her)
CONTACT: angriestbird, PM, or pinkandkhaki at Discord
ABOUT YOU: It's only in the last few years that I've gotten more into comics. Much of my DC and Marvel knowledge comes from adaptations such as the DCAU and MCU and I'm still quite fond of superhero adaptations even though I'm starting to get more context from the source materials.

In RL, I have a full-time white collar job and there'll be times when I'm slow because of that. I’m in EST. However, threads with me never have an expiration date so I'm always open to backtagging! I'm also open to text, bracket style, and prose-style in RP. I have the most experience with bracket and text. I can always use more practice with prose. In terms of tone, I'm open to both silly and more serious ones, especially since this Jason is capable of both.

I also have a feedback post that's always open.

CHARACTER: Jason Todd from the free Webtoon series Batman: Wayne Family Adventures

CHARACTER INFO: Jason is a snarky introvert who gets protective of the people he likes once he warms up to them enough. The WFA version of the DC world is one that's relatively softer and there's way more acknowledgment of one's own feelings and better coping mechanisms. This version of Jason is an example of that but still carries plenty of drama and can still brood like any good Bat. He will definitely want to investigate into the mysteries of Etraya and somehow find a way to leave. He's not too keen on how only a few worlds could be saved. I have no specific goals in mind for Jason and happy to just wing things.

PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN: Lots of types! Horror, drama, mystery, main game plot, exploration. I'm a sucker for angst, drama, and events that have characters reveal things about themselves they wouldn't usual talk about. Events involving memory sharing for example.

OTHER:

Canon dating profile, folks! He's available.

[sleepfan]

So I also have a snarky introvert who wants to forsake humanity for the sake of learning and who is greatly distressed at the idea of not saving all the worlds/ranking any world above others. I don't have any ideas for immediate connection since I'm almost completely canonblind (I know who Batman is...?) and Linhardt here is from a fantasy medieval canon so he's a very confused nerd at the moment, but if we can get over the mutual introversion they might be able to connect?

Lin does have an interest in mental health/coping and is disturbed by his own dissociative tendencies sometimes, so someone who is actually aware of things like feelings and coping with them might be nice - his canon doesn't know shit about mental health. :|

[mostdangerousbird]

Oh my god, do you know what this means?

It means Tim is older than Jason. They've flight of the navigatored.

[ambitiousblond]

PLAYER: Hebe (she/her)
CONTACT: illuminations or PM! 
ABOUT YOU: Hello! I currently reside in the Pacific Northwest and work in IT. I tend to tag in the evenings and especially on the weekends. I will match brackets/prose and don't have any preferences either way. I can be slow during the week if work is kicking my ass but I will happily backtag forever. 
CHARACTER: Rufus Shinra from Final Fantasy VII

He's OG flavor but I'm just lazy and use Remake icons because pretty
CHARACTER INFO: Rufus is pretty much the spoiled rich kid who got a real dose of the real world but he's still a manipulative asshole still at heart, even when he's trying the whole trying to do better to make up for the past.

He's coming in after the end of the events of the game where things get real weird, real quick including but not limited to nearly being blown up, falling down/off buildings, getting kidnapped 1 1/2 times, nearly dying several times, bullying his younger half brother, etc but now he has a second chance at life.

He's trying the whole trying to do better/be a better person after all the shit he and his family did to the planet it's harder than it looks, but he's trying, ok.

PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN: All sorts of things- I want Rufus to be challenged by not having the protection of his Turks, pretty much having to learn to do things for himself. He's had a second (third, probably fourth) chance at life so he also wants to enjoy having a greater degree of freedom so I'm excited to throw him into all sorts of things.
OTHER:

 

[sleepfan]

I'm not sure how it'd go, but Linhardt is also a spoiled brat who is missing the protections he usually has and is greatly enjoying the freedom of not being Anybody. On the one hand, Linhardt actually has a really strong moral compass (a lot of his 'spoiledness' is that he's allowed to keep his hands relatively clean because everybody around him will do the nasty/violent things [which I love to see called out]), but on the other, he gets being raised in a terrible culture to be a terrible, selfish person and is pretty understanding.

Also, secret IT handshake. >.>

[anciently]

welcome!!! SO happy to see that you apped, and so excited for this CR! /o

absolutely pumped for rufus to be from OG canon - as you might be able to glean from the TDM thread, rufus and aerith had kinda...an unsteady alliance before he left, and i'm really looking forward to seeing how the CR develops.

i'm kai, playing our favorite ill-fated flower girl here, and it's nice to meet you!

[nimbuster]

Late to the party but YAY!! I'm juli and I'm so hype to continue this CR, I love their dynamic in general and I think it'll be really interesting to see how the AC/Rebirth continuity gap between them plays out. Can't wait to see how hilarious Cloud being Rufus' bodyguard gets ^_^ but also I think there's an opportunity for some real character growth for both of them in it!

[godkaru]

PLAYER: Space, they/them
CONTACT: spacemoth, I'll probably be in the discord but don't rely on that to contact me please.
ABOUT YOU: Fandom-wise, I'll give just about anything a fair shake! But I do have a big soft spot for horror, magical girls, and fantasy. And with MKR's new anime announcement, I got the urge to go back down to my roots of one of the first characters I played back in Ye Olden LJRP days. But favorites right now include Magnus Archives/Protocol, Dungeon Meshi, various dnd liveplay shows, the Silent Hill games franchise entirely, JJK, whatever looks interesting that crosses my line of sight.

Outside of fandom, I work a full time night job so my tagging varies from boomeranging a lot to work blowing up in my face and not being able to check my inbox for a few days. But usually my tags are early evenings and throughout the night to early mornings as I sleep during the day. As such I'll backtag as long as folks need or want and I'll match playstyles.

However, because of my schedule, the most reliable way to ever reach me for something is via plurk! Discord pings get lost too easily so if you ever need anything, shoot me a plurk ping or a private plurk please!

CHARACTER: Hikaru Shidou
CHARACTER INFO: Hikaru's a 14-to-15 year old middle schooler who got summoned to an alternate world to help save that world via magic and giant robots and I swear I'm not just saying that about Etraya itself.

Have you ever met the physical embodiment of sunshine because that's Hikaru in a 4'9" package of energy, love, and determination. She's one of the sweetest characters out there and WILL befriend anyone she can. She's headstrong and always willing to hear anyone out before she starts fighting them after the worst field trip ever leaving her and her two best friends a little (a lot) scarred from things they had to do. Also this is such a tiny thing but she's from 1993 Tokyo so she'll be amazed by any and all new tech.

For anyone familiar with the manga, she's from the end of volume 5 so she won't be entirely unconvinced this isn't just part of what she's already been doing in Cefiro.

PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN: Despite appearances, Hikaru's a pretty versatile character! Her main genre is action/fantasy but she's good for horror, she's good for fluff, she can do it all. I'm pretty excited to be joining during a horror event to warm her up to everyone from the start so I'll be definitely looking into that going on. Other than that, I'm down for her to get involved with anything that's available!

OTHER: The anime doesn't really have great gifs for me to use but please know. She is a head empty high emotion angel.

[banworthy]

Handshake-handshake. Glad that you got in! MKR was like one of the first manga I read by CLAMP. I HAVE SO MUCH LOVE FOR IT and Hikaru is wonderful. May only good things happen to her... unfortunately she already knows Vincent.

Hello, I'm Ruri. Nice to meet you. \o

[tinflower]

hello and welcome to the game!! i'm happy to keep our tdm thread canon if you like, though gorgug is currently in the middle of being infected in the current mission event, so i'll check on how you want to engage with things once you're ready to jump in if you would like another thread! B)

i will also add you on plurk if that is ok!

[banworthy]

PLAYER: Ruri (she/her)
CONTACT: marvelouscheers [ discord ], pm
ABOUT YOU: Howdy, howdy. I exist in the CST timezone and work for my county's public defender office. Depending on the week, I'm pretty tired and do tags in the evening or night. (Sometimes during the day if there's a lull.)

Got a lot of favorite fandoms right now... the Silent Hill franchise, all of Remedyverse (Alan Wake, Control, etc), Drakenier games, lots of webtoons (Player Hides His Past, Extra's Academdy Survival Guide, Eternally Regressing Knight, Greatest Estate Developer, Villainess Flips the Script, Death is the Only Ending for the Villainess, and many more!).

CHARACTER: Vincent Smith of the Silent Hill 3.
CHARACTER INFO: Let me just say that I like Vincent so much. (laughs)

He's a late twenties/early thirties priest in a cult. I don't know how to put it other than he sucks but in a very compelling way. He doesn't have any supernatural powers yet he's actively working against those that do; he's not as smart as he thinks he is, but he do be scheming. There's something very oddly trusting in how untrusting and awful his vibes are, 'cause the thing is, he's still a human.

Which is to say, he works kind of transactionally. So long as he's getting something out of the interaction, he'll help as much as he can. A lot of the time he's helpful because the end goal is going to benefit him in some way; so yeah, he has no reason to actively work against anyone right now...

Think also the thing to know is that he's a guy from Silent Hill. Like one of the OG residents. That place is fucked, so it's very hard to startle or upset him. Horrific stuff happens so often that he's just like, "Okay." (While writing my application, I was like, "Is being unflappable an ability?")

I could talk forever about him 'cause I think he's neat.

PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN: He's pretty good for horror given that he's from a horror game. He's good with figuring out stuff since he does love researching and gathering information that he can later use against others (who said that). But he's also up to just getting involved with as many people as he can; his goal is to have as many moving pieces as he can acquire just to feel like he has some control over what is going on. So, people can become pawns, work with him, call him out on his nonsense (he will gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss about it, though), and figure out what Aurora wants. Not sure if people would ever want to have a religious talk with him, but I'll throw that out there. (Bitch will say he's a priest to get brownie points then set his route to talk about that at a high tier to unlock.) He's here to figure out who is the most useful and who to convince to do his dirty work whilst he tries to uncover what's needed to save his world (or destroy it).

OTHER: (Say the line, Vincent.)

[100more]

I must say, I also love Vincent, and you have excellent taste.

[illicitly]

Vincent's such an awesome character. Excellent taste.

I'd love more CR with these two if you're interested. Also, apologies for how slow I've been, some more health issues popped up this week. I'm still really psyched for Vincent!

Since I wound up shifting canon points a bit during the course of the TDM, I'm opting to start fresh on the arrival log. If you're down to give kicking off CR with these two another shot, I'd love to thread more with these two and see where it leads.

[anciently]

omg vincent yES

welcome!! i'm kai, playing aerith from ffvii: rebirth, and i don't know what CR with these two looks like (hopefully he doesn't remind her too much of hojo...), but i'm interested in finding out!

[redheadedstepdad]

PLAYER: diana, she/they
CONTACT: fullofmystery, xolpup on discord, or journal PM
ABOUT YOU: I also play Junior from Chucky here. That aside I'm actively into OPLA, IWTV, and various other older fandoms. If I'm around I'll try to boomerang, and I tend to favor shorter quicker-paced tags for the most part.

I tend to be around CST nights (after 9) and sometimes, if I'm lucky, I'll be around all day on saturdays.

CHARACTER: Shanks!! From live-action One Piece.
CHARACTER INFO: Shanks has been a pirate his whole life, he's a party guy, very social. He'll be eager to make friends, maybe adopt some kids, and try to game the system.
PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN: He's gonna want to build a ship. It's maybe the second thing he'll try to do once he has an idea of what the deal here is.
OTHER:

[illicitly]

Huaisang can be overly serious but deep down, he likes fun and wants to live a carefree life. He's also the type who games the system though there's moral lines he won't cross. He's 35 but pretty wounded and would benefit from some found family CR. He used to be a more social and into parties in his youth and then Life Happened to kind of put a stop to that for him. Huaisang misses it, though.

I don't know how they'd get along but I'm open to tossing them together for a thread and finding out!

Problematic ghost lord who isn't a ghost~

[ghostlord]

PLAYER: Riddle (She/Her)
CONTACT: tiger_eyes or through PMs.
ABOUT YOU: Welp I think it's safe to say I am deep into Chinese fantasy dramas, but I also love Star Wars, Lord of the Rings/anything Tolkien, a fair few mangas/animes and probably other fandoms that I can't remember atm. Other than that, I am disabled, a violinist (I will play again one day), a recreational writer and I have my degree in English Literature. I also adore animals. If you add me on Plurk, expect cute pictures/videos as well as random health updates.

CHARACTER: Wen Kexing from Word of Honor.
CHARACTER INFO: At his canon point, he is less insane, but he will never be completely stable. There might be scenarios in game that push him back over the edge, but we will see. He is deeply, hopelessly in love with Zhou Zishu (soulmates~) and he will do anything for the man. But he's not so callous that he can stand by and watch someone innocent suffer. However if you have earned a punishment in his eyes, he will find a nice bottle of wine and drink it while listening to your screams. He is the infamous Ghost Lord and torture doesn't faze him.

As for tagging speeds, I vary depending on how I feel. If I'm slow, I'm probably in pain and trying to sleep as much as possible. Covid has taken a toll on me.
PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN: I want the horror and the fluff, Mods. Interchange them now and then and I'll be happy! Most of all, for the sake of Padmé and Kexing, they will want to know more about Echo and why they were chosen/what they can do to save their worlds/other worlds.
OTHER:

[mostdangerousbird]

"He is less insane". Oh dear. This bodes well?

Hi I'm Marie. Really I just commented so that I could make a joke about why is the second gif more Lestat than Anne Rice could ever manage?