etcircenses: (Default)
Panem Events ([personal profile] etcircenses) wrote in [community profile] thecapitol2015-01-20 10:58 pm

The Crowning Of The Signless

Who| Everyone.
What| The Crowning of The Signless.
Where| An alcove in a nearby mountain.
When| From dusk to dawn, on Thursday.
Warnings/Notes| This event is mandatory for all Tributes to attend. Even if you do not tag in, your character will attend this party. Peacekeepers will be on high alert. There will be no chance to runaway.

Tributes are encouraged to sleep all during the day, before the crowning. The reason for this is revealed when they are roused at sundown and brought to the closest mountain to the city, where they are greeted by an alcove within the moutainside that has been carved into a temple to what may be an illicit faith. The stone alcove is dim-lit by candles arranged along walls and by what appears to be altars set before iron cancer signs, some plain, some inlet with intricate carvings. Bright red drapery hangs about the room, tapestries with the cancer sign and cirles of blending color spectrum. There are also some waist high leggings hung upon one wall. In the center of the room, shackles hang, glowing bright from some sort of internal heat and light. A hole in the ceiling is set on each side of it, to allow the smoke to escape from the great bonfire that roars beneath it. If one takes a seat upon any of large stones and logs aranged around it, they can see both the stars twinkling down and the way the smoke looks as though it is coming off the shackles.

The only windows otherwise are made from stained glass depicting images from the Signless's life, such as his rescue by "Alternia's First Mother" (so described on the metal plate below), "The Recording of His Teachings" depicting The Disciple writing the Signless's words into a book, "A New Follower" showing the Psiioniic joining the Signless, a boat deemed "The First Ship", and "The Execution" which features the death of the Signless before thousands of followers, a fifth troll- resembling Terezi- bearing the shackles as a necklace and another with great brown wings, a single window of Karkat and Kankri Vantas, as well as a sinister depiction of six indistinct shadowy figures of cerulean, blue, indigo, violet, tyrian, and maroon. Cave-style paintings cover the stone walls, styles ranging from simple scribbled etching to circles featuring twelve colors in circle, with bright red at the center, and yet more elaborate shadowy depictions of those in the stained glass, esepcially the Signless himself, both prior and following his execution.

But not all is dedicated to the Signless and his old posse of biblical age trolls. A shrine has been set up for redeemed and then so quickly lost victor, Matthew 'Punchy' O'Conner. Punchy has been painted upon a cave wall like he fits right into the theme. Upon his shrine lay all varieties of bling; Bling-jewelery, a bling goblet, bling boxing gloves, a hoodie, a nun habit, and a stone with a memorial rap engraved atop-- with bling, of course, all shimmering by the spotlights placed before the shrine. Refillable 40 oz bottles are lain out so that sorrowful guests, wishing to pay their respect to the boy so cruelly slain by rebels when he had turned from them, can pour one out in his honor.

Marius is also honored there with a tea light and small framed photograph set upon an empty table with an empty chair, along with souvenir versions of his and Cosette's wedding rings that guests can take home. Beneath all these rings is a photoshopped picture of javert with a single tear running down his manly face.

The only seating besides the stones and logs and Marius's single chair, are those that are sat at a table at the end of the room. Each is draped in a different color, six on each side for each district and each blood hue-- presumably of the Victor's choosing. Between these chairs sits yet one more with a tall back like a flogging jut that got the redesigned at the base to make a throne that some trolls might recognize as belonging to the Empress. The arms of the chair feature open shackles. The throne is decorated in chains of gold and jewels of all colors. The victor is given a crown of gilded flowers and thorns on chain.

Food can be found upon the altars or the victor's table, in surplus. Alternian delicacies are served, featuring insects, flavored or plain, and food made from insects. Guests may find a giant beetle being served upon a spit roast. Even the meats appear to be topped with bugs. The cakes, marshmallows (which can be roasted with stick by the fire!), and orange creamsicles may be the only things truly bug-free. Drink options are water, wine, and soda.

Stylists are encouraged to dress their tributes primarily in black, with a single bit of color put into the design matched according to district (with exception to trolls), or any manner of draping fabrics, cloaks, and costumery reminiscent of religious iconagraphy that one might expect of ancient aliens. Waist high pants and leggings are also in high regard, as well as fake horn, fangs, contacts, and anything to make guests look more trollish. The only rule is for the main colors to match to the blood assignment.

The music playing is the sort one might expect from a church, featuring mournful vocals, soft bells and melodies, and of course, organ music. But for one or two jarring differences. Where this music is coming from remains a mystery but since the space is open and clear, guests have plenty of room for dancing.

Those who don't wish to dance can talk and regale tales around the bonfire, or may instead seek out the book of "scripture" at one of the altars that features nothing more than various parables- with names that Tributes might recognize! Each Tribute has one parable contained within, telling a tale in flourished manner of a part of their life, featuring a pro-capitol moral at the end.

Elsewhere, are models of the flogging just, where guests can put their hands through the oversized cuffs and pretend to writhe in agony, an Alternian bioware helm where guests too can pretend to have their lifeforce and power used a battery for the sake of the Alternian empire, a dress-up station where guests can customize their appearance to match trolls sold into gruelling slavery to seadwellwers, and an area designed to look like a cave with extensive "Alternian" (gibberish) writings of the Signless's words, where guests too can pretend they've lost everyone they love and are carrying on their legacy by writing upon the walls and leaving their own messages of love and mourning. Not to mention, a life-sized drone with realistic piercing claws, for all your picture posing needs.

A sandpit lies just around a corner for children to make castles, dig trenches, and act out games of pretending they've trekked thousands of miles through zombie infested desert just to speak to a couple of people! Guests can also meet a "mutantblood lusus" a four-eyed crab creature with lizardlike structure-- only sized no bigger than the average dog and perhaps about as intelligent. Guests are warned not to put their hand too close, lest the claw pincers manage to pinch them.

Late into the crowning, everyone is brought out to the dark mountainside, well monitored by peacekeepers, and divided into teams. Everyone is given belts with velcro flags attached, colored according to the "blood" they were matched with by district. Those in the eighth, ninth, twelfth, third, tenth, and eleventh districts are deemed the "lowbloods. Those in the first, fourth, second, fifth, sixth, and seventh districts, are deemed the "highbloods". Each team is given a velcro board to attach the flags to. The first team to lose all their flags loses, winners getting tiny necklace copies of the shackles. The last one standing with a flag wins a larger necklace copy and the option to get it redesigned into a symbol of their choosing.

If you failed not to be "culled", fear not! All tributes receive a participation sticker at the end. This sticker features a number. It is not indicative of districts or of age, as will be announced shortly, but of the new scoring. These will be announced for everyone to hear- and pick out targets from.

The crowning officially ends with the coming dawn. And so begins, to everyone's surprise, preparation for the arena. Tributes will be going right from the crowning off to the Tribute launch tubes. Happy Hunger Games!

[Note: This is ICly on Thursday! Just before the arena on Friday!]
actually112: (But I believe Aang can save the world.)

[personal profile] actually112 2015-04-17 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
"It sounds beautiful." He means that. He'd love to be able to see it one day. (He wonders what a world with only colored light would look like. And he wonders if Signless ever gets sick of seeing the world bleached out with white.)

"Where I come from, there's a spirit of the moon and a spirit of the ocean. They decided to stay in the mortal world when time began, so they have mortal forms. Without the moon spirit, there's no moon, and without the ocean spirit, there's no ocean." Aang grimaces. "Literally."

He's seen the world when it's missing one of those spirits.
69problems: <user name="roachpatrol" site="tumblr.com"> (xtra | Spilling over the idol)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-04-27 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
He picks up on that grimace and, curious, decides to follow after it.

"And I suppose that's happened before, at least once, the death of one of your spirits?"

He can imagine a sky without a moon in it, but he can't fathom (ha) the idea of a world without an ocean. For trolls, the ocean is so ingrained in their culture that even growing up in the desert as he did it was an ever-present thing.
actually112: (Gimme a sec I need angst time.)

[personal profile] actually112 2015-05-05 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
"...Yeah. Yeah, an admiral got it in his head that he could be famous if he killed the moon spirit. It was horrible."

The grimace carves itself deeper into Aang's face. It was a horrible time. The sky was suddenly completely black, waterbending ceased, and it felt like the world itself was beginning to die all around him while the ocean screamed.

"Someone had to sacrifice their life to bring the moon back."
69problems: reduviid @ tegaki (xtra | As any)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-05-14 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
"I imagine that would have made him famous, but not quite in the way he intended."

Not that he's a stranger to the idea of glory through murder; that's a very trollish concept. But killing a spirit that the world needs to live? Who could possibly expect a positive reception to that?

"I'm so sorry. That sounds horrible. Was it someone you knew?"

It may be just a hunch, but with the way Aang is speaking about it, he has his suspicions.
actually112: (I'm sad because I have no shirt.)

[personal profile] actually112 2015-05-27 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm not sure if people remember him. I haven't heard anyone talk about him in his country. I'm not sure how many people even knew his name in the Northern Water Tribe."

Aang shrugs with a frown. He always has mixed feelings about Princess Yue.

"Sort of. I met her. My friend was closer with her." He shrugs again. "I've sort of talked to her more since she's become a spirit."
69problems: <user name="robokatar"> | <user name="everking" site="tumblr.com"> (10 | Hold tight!)

[personal profile] 69problems 2015-06-02 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Luckily, that last thing Aang said has neatly derailed any questions Signless might have had about Yue. Instead his ears perk forward (his jewelry jingles).

"You can speak with spirits?"

He shouldn't be surprised, really: from what he's gathered of the Avatar of Aang's world, he knows they're possessed with magical powers to some degree. It's not even that strange of a thing to learn about someone: plenty of trolls could speak to ghosts. It's just that a ghost and a spirit are two different things.