Main Plot Pitch: The Paradox Engines

Athara is a dying world, it's people suffocated under the ravages of violence, starvation and natural disaster. Everything you've ever known is about to be undone. 'Philemon' is winning, and your home is paying the ultimate price. Is that really fair? To have your own home sacrificed for the greater good? All you see outside is a world being torn at the seams. The collapse is imminent. Do you wish to see it through? Or is there something about this world which is worth saving? Can something even be done?

Thrust into a world with a seemingly endless list of problems. Tensions between the people, the Magistrate and the Porcelain Guard are on the rise, the wildlife is getting increasingly violent, and as if that wasn't enough, the planet is slowly being bled to death. Amongst all this turmoil, Rianara  finds herself wanting change. She hates watching the world around her burn, and so she seeks a way to correct the mistakes of her fellow men... By walking back in time. The end is still far away, but it doesn't take a genius to see that there's no way to steer fate away from its current course. Aether is running dry, and the Magistrate, in an effort to preserve what little they have left, cuts off Aether access to the public... This is the world you are about to walk into. Will you be its savior, or will you ensure its inevitable end?


The Paradox Engine. A means to walk back in time. To explore the infinite realities, invented by Davriel Arvas long ago. With this device, even one small change could save Athara... or forever doom it. Explore Athara's past, and find the cause of the calamity, and stop it before the world burns to ash. But first... one gotta ask... is it really right to mess with time? Is it really something that should be done? There's a reason why one of the two Paradox Engines has been left to rust out in the Atharan wilderness, For its use has never lead to anything good. How could this time be any different? The other rests in the hands of the Magistrate, locked inside a vault to prevent anyone from meddling with time. What you choose to do with one, is all up to you. Be selfish, or act with the world's best interest in mind. Time itself is your tapestry to work with.

As you'll walk through time, you'll meet a cast of characters throughout the centuries, partake in historical events which would come to shape Athara forever, for the better or worse... The choice is yours to make. But you won't be unopposed. Messing with the flow of time has consequences you'll have to deal with, sooner or later, unless you'd rather just let the consequences have their way.

New Mechanic: Timestamps and Aether

In any given Non-Combat thread, you may place down ONE Timestamp to which you can revisit, and potentially change the outcome of that thread by using the Paradox Engine. Doing so will cost you a little bit of Aether, a rescource which you can earn from various places, like story events, Aether Rig Raids, Quests, and within the Atharan Wilderness. This fuel source has a very high value attached to it in the present day, and many would do whatever they can to get their hands on some, morals being set aside for the chance to awaken. Aether is the lifeblood of the planet, and is even sacred to some, seeking to preserve what there's left, and hopefully restore Athara to its former glory. Each time you make use of a Timestamp, the cost of your next one will increase. To make a timestamp, put [brackets] around the event which you'd like to timestamp. The timestamp system works only in Social Link threads.


Most of the Atharan Populace has the potential, but very few actually ignites their powers and awakens proper. Personas used to be much more commonplace in the past, as its the presence of Aether which awakens the mind to the hidden potential lying within. From there, their potential warps into something greater. The powers of an Awoken have yet to properly mature, and are very weak to start with, but grow with time and their nature is greatly impacted by choice, mentality and personal experience of its wielder. As such, their personas usually lack a palpable form, but they do possess some basic abilities. As the Awoken finds their place on Athara, and what they want, the potential shapes itself into something stronger to aid them in fulfilling their apparent role. This Sub-class is only temporary, and is only available in this plot, as its tied to how a person from Athara would normally awaken. Think of it as a Tutorial Class, if you will. Players who have partaken in previous plots may skip this step, if they so choose.

Outside of the capital walls lies the ever expansive Wilderness, an ongoing, long dungeon which you can visit at any time you so well please. You pick a starting point, and delve deeper into the wilds, uncovering secrets, and fighting off the ravaged Atharan Wildlife as you explore, a means to grow in strength, preparing you for your next journey through time... and walking through time is far from safe. The flow of time is a physical place you visit as you go back in time known as The Timestream. Think of it like a river, flowing one way, and you can go back and change its course. But time doesn't like being meddled with. Evaded timelines create shadows in their wake, making your next time walk more perilous than the last, but nobody knows exactly why this happens, or even how. The origin of these Shadows are unknown, but maybe, with enough digging, you can solve this mystery too.


As you mess with time, a few new types of enemies will also emerge, and require a bit more co-ordination and teamwork to take down than the average shadow. Each one of these three types will have a mechanic surrounding them, and a way to exploit it. The three types are as follows

RELENTLESS

These are quite formidable foes who will do anything in their power to stop you, and won't back down. If given a chance, they will wreck you. They get to act twice per turn, and cannot be knocked down. In order to stop their rampage, you have to either strike them with a critical hit, or strike one of their weaknesses. Doing this will stagger their momentum for a while, making them unable to act more than once each turn. While staggered, they also take more damage, so use this opportunity to deal the killing blow. If you take too long, they will get their act together and return to acting twice.

BERSERKER

Berserkers act like any other normal enemy, except that their damage output steadily increases the longer they are kept alive. You can halt this steady increase in strength by dealing a large amount of damage in a single turn, such as by using an All Out attack, or by using one of the various Charge-skills first to ensure that big burst of damage. Each time you stagger their steady gain of strength, it'll take more damage to halt it again. Kill them quickly before they can overwhelm you.

STALWART

These Stalwarts are much more on the defensive side, as when they feel threatened, they'll create an elemental barrier around them to shield them from harm, which if not broken fast enough, will start to heal the shadow inside, until the barrier either breaks, or until the Shadow's health is full, at which point the barrier is lowered. Each barrier created will have an elemental weakness applied to them, which makes them easier to break, although it's not impossible to break it without the weakness. You just gotta make sure you do a lot of damage quickly. If you break the shield, you'll stun the shadow for a turn, making it unable to retaliate, and you also shut down its ability to create new ones for a few turns. Use this time to take them out.

If any of these three enemy types show up in a mission, Aether Rig Raid, timewalk or dungeon, you'll be notified beforehand which types will be present, so you can plan accordingly. Lets talk modifiers. Some missions will have one or two modifiers attached to them which will alter how you approach combat or otherwise. There will be a post in the future with a full, extensive list of each modifier, and what they do within the dungeon guide for Athara.

Finally, lets go over the Lore, and how it works, as well as Plotscore.


In Athara, there will be a new subforum called Lore, where any significant pieces of info regarding Athara, its past, wildlife etc will be cataloged upon discovery, for everyone to read should they want to. Gathering pieces of lore is entirely optional, and has no real bearing on the story, aside from giving more insight in regards to the context of a particular historical event you'll partake in while walking through time. All in all, there will be a total of 11 Lorebooks scattered throughout history and the Wilderness for you to discover. Most of them are hidden collectibles, while others are given out upon accomplishing something. Every page within the same lorebook is aquired in roughly the same way, with some minor differences here and there. At the bottom of each lore page, you'll find links to the post where that paticular page was discovered.

Plotscore hasn't really changed all that much. At the end of a plot, there's usually a set of achievements to be completed which grant score. The only difference is that in Athara, the Achievement Board will be available from the very start, so you can start chasing achievements with a bit more purpose, so they don't feel quite as arbitrary, to give everyone, plot relevant or not, something to do, aside from just partaking in story events or social linking. The more you learn about Athara, and its people, the happier I'll be.




The former Porcelain Guard Captain, Rianara, is quite concerned with the way things are developing back home since she went into self-exile. Having come back from the Wilderness, she seeks change... a way to steer Athara's fate back on course, before everything she holds dear burns with the rest of Athara.


Andal is currently the leader of the Atharan Rebellion against the reigning Magistrate since the Aether Preservation Act was put in motion. As an Awoken, Andal believes its every Atharan's fundamental right to have access to Aether, and thus the ability to awaken the inner potential, and sees this new law as an act of tyranny, and does everything he can to redistribute Aether to the people, where he thinks it rightfully belongs.


Alesha Yang is one of the current acting Regent Magisters of the Atharan Magistrate, currently in charge of the Lotus District of Athara. While still quite young, Alesha does her job as a Regent Magister fairly well, making sure that order is kept in her district. Despite her high status as a Magister, Alesha likes walking amongst her people, being one of them rather than hanging with her peers, something which the other Regent Magisters look at with disgust. They don't like her, mingling with the commoners as much as she does, but she views her position as less of a privilige, and more as her duty.