@clarke.griffin

[strove]

I think it's best to get this out here as soon as I can. Last month before I disappeared, four of us held a meeting with a mysterious man named Ball. He was able to serve us coffee and good baked goods, and he told us a little about ourselves. He believes that we've either been touched by gods, or that gods are why we're here. That likely sounds ridiculous. But he said there's a way to test it. To prove it to ourselves.

The way to do that? Gates. I don't entirely know how, but I was given one of four locations to seek out. Mine is in New Oslo, and I'd like to be headed there soon. Markus, Loki, and Ojiro have the other three. I haven't been back long enough to find out what those are.

But here's a few things to think about before you dismiss this out of hand. It may be tempting to do so. If I hadn't been here for a while, I would have done so.

First, when many of us dreamed? We changed things. We changed reality. I covered some of those changes here, and Johnny asked for some more here. I'm willing to go over that later. We can't deny that reality isn't what it was before, and that we're the only ones who remember it. And think about it. I just went home and came back six years older.

Second, as Rey and Loki pointed out here, there are people making art of us. I know that some of those people think of us as proof of god. That may be ridiculous, but look back at the reality bending. Think about it.

So that brings me to my main point. As much as I've personally fought against it, we've been put into a position where we have a unique power and ability to enact change on this world. Right now, we're in a position where we're trying to hide. I think—no matter who you back, no matter what you believe—we're being foolish if we don't use that to our advantage.

This world is dying. Cassius made that obvious to all of us, though I think he also made it worse. But what we've learned is that we can do something about that. I can't even begin to suggest how we tap into that power, but it's possible that someone in this world will know how.

This is my plan, then, in no specific order:

1. We need to seek out those gates. It might tell us more about ourselves.
2. We need to find a way to separate ourselves from Morningstar and protect the people who are making art about us. We need to protect the structure of Morningstar because what it means to this world, and we need to protect these people. Not just because they have answers about us.
3. We find a way to harness our powers to help this world. To keep it from dying. Some people don't want to leave. And I'll add this: I want to bring my people here. I have a feeling that I'm not the only one. I know that's selfish, but I have my reasons for it. You can ask.

I don't know how to execute on every part of this. If you want me to come up with a plan, I will. But I'd prefer if we worked together. I know Damian has a plan on a different level, but perhaps this can dovetail with what he's doing. Maybe we can work in tandem with Morningstar while not endangering them. We'll have to see.

Obviously, we start with New Oslo, unless one of the other three locations is more ideal. I think that's the logical place to begin.

Comments

@daisy.johnson

[evite]

i'm part alien. god isn't that much of a stretch, honestly.

[ cut to the chase? sure, why not. ]

i plan on staying, if i have any say in it. tell me what you need, and i'm there.

[strove]

First, we need a way to facilitate travel and exploration. The first location has us going to the center of a city, but I doubt it's going to be that easy. Otherwise, it would be more exact. That seems more like where a map defaults when you're measuring between locations in GPS.

As in, it's exactly what a map defaults to when you do that.

@jack.miller

[personalwar]

Part alien?

[ Excuse me, what. ]

@jyn.erso

[realists]

[ gods. really, clarke? ]

It's not selfish.

Daisy stole the rest of what I was going to say.

[strove]

It won't be easy to bring people here, but I don't think it's impossible.

Let's make this world somewhere we all want to stay.

@kira.solo

[forcevisions]

I think they know we're separate from Morningstar now. But I won't be surprised if the UNA is interested in us for what we are, even without being seen as one in the same.

[strove]

I agree.

It might not hurt to declare that openly, and say that Morningstar helped us survive as long as we have. I know we've talked about it before, but I genuinely believe that by hiding, we've made it so that figures like Cassius can use us.

There are also people out there who have helped us. The artists. Who knows who else?

I'm not saying it comes without complications. It does. But I think we need to take this step.

@xuanyu.mo

[laozu]

My countrymen and I ( @ wangji.lan, @ wanyin.jiang ) are from cultivation sects; we were raised to understand that we all sought an end goal of becoming immortal. The thought of being considered unto god(s) here isn't so foreign.

I spoke with Mister Johnny a little bit about the idea of dreams. They're something that interests me about the world greatly. I don't have much information, but I wanted to voice where my personal interests and strengths might lie. I don't want to be Morningstar, but I don't mind offering my knowledge to them and their agents. And I like the people here a lot, they deserve good lives, so I'm with everyone who thinks fondly of them.

[strove]

I'm not Morningstar, but I can see where we need to preserve a power like that if it's survived this far. I think we need to trust El. That is also something I have my reasons for. I don't think anything we do can really redo the structures of this world. That's where Morningstar's needed.

[It's important to draw that line in the sand.]

Someone asked me once what I wanted to do, or how I thought I could help this world. This is where I think we can change it. Help the literal world. And help what's in this world succeed. I don't think we can decide what the people of this world want, but I'm willing to bet they don't want their planet to die.

@caroline.forbes

[gasping]

you're not going to new oslo alone, are you?

[ caroline is Concerned. you need a buddy, clarke!!! ]

[strove]

I thought it was pretty obvious that it should be all of us.

@cassian.andor

[evasives]

I am not sure I believe in gods, but there is no reason these Gates cannot be something scientific as well, even if it is not a science we understand.

I find it curious that I have been looking into a power outage in September of last year - in possible connection to us as the Displaced - that hit New Oslo, among other places, and now you bring this up. It could very well be happenstance, but I have been wanting to try and get there already.

We have already endangered Morningstar. I think people forget this organization exists for the population here and not us - and in turn the association has also endangered the Displaced who are not involved, like yourself. I agree that this effort to discover more about us needs to be taken by us most of all.

[strove]

I believe in what I've seen and experienced. A friend back home had a near-death incident where he thought he saw his fate in hell. I didn't believe him there. I believe there are also people who'll play as gods, or people who'll be worshipped as gods because it's what they understand. I also know that we've tried to find a reasonable explanation for some of what we can do and have always come up short. [Clarke doesn't mean it as an argument. It took her a long, long road to come to believing this. If she had that conversation with Ball mere days after coming here, would it have been the same? Even Loki's existence, with his increased density and presence, wasn't enough. She only came to believe that when Fitz told her differently—and everything else started to line up.] That's not to say that it's impossible that this is just beyond our understanding, but it has to be become this world's understanding, too.

[That may be a narrow way of seeing it, but for all the religious undertones of the Traveler's Blessing, there was always a strong faith in the strength and resilience of people on the Ark. She had struggled with the Grounders' faith in the Flame, in the conclave itself. She still struggles with it, perhaps even more so now.]

What you've pointed out about New Oslo is interesting, and may be a place where science can help us. If we look into where that started—if there's a where at all—we may be able to narrow it down.

People do forget that about Morningstar. But if we stop asking for their backing, we may need another. Hence why I think we can step forward, and perhaps protect some of those who may otherwise be associated with us. It's a bold move, but done correctly, it could make it very hard to scrub us away. We've had enough time here to assimilate with society. We can use that, too.

@eugenides.attolis

[kleptocratic]

We aren't gods.

But maybe they're why we're here.

[ Not that his god would do this, but there could be others. ]

[strove]

No, I think that's still just Loki.

But if we were touched or favored, as Ball suggested? If we have the power to do some of what they can do?

@takeshi.kovacs

[resleeves]

well, someone's taking charge.

[ he...actually approves. better it be someone that he's actually pretty confident knows what the fuck she's doing. ]

look, it's about time someone suggested taking the fight to them. hiding and undermining from the inside can only go so far. if we're here for a reason and we've been given this shit for some reason, best to finally accept that and go.

someone once told me to face the facts and then act on them. think this is the start of what she was talking about here.

[strove]

That someone was pretty smart.

We've spent a lot of time trying to find the why to everything. And trying to make that why make sense. We can't do that anymore.

I'd even argue that we hid behind that because we didn't like the other terrain.

@ojiro.juniper

[deicider]

Welcome back. Mine's outside of New Cairo.

[Sniper thinks the shrine assholes can take care of themselves, but they're not gonna say it.]

[strove]

[Add that to the list of things they may never agree upon, especially when it's Do Better Clarke (though don't worry, Sniper: she still won't apologize for saving her people in Mount Weather when pressed a lot by the wrong people).]

New Cairo. A little farther, but not impossible to reach. Interesting as a location, too, for a number of reasons.

I'm curious about your take on the rest of what I've had to say, but I wonder if my curiosity may make me regret that.

@wanyin.jiang

[sandu]

[ brought here by the ping ]

The people of this world will decide their own fate, I have nothing to do with it nor do I wish to have any say on the matter.

But it is clear that they do need some sort of assistance - if not necessarily by Morningstar, than by some other separate power.

Has this individual said anything more specific regarding these 'gates'? What will you find there?

[strove]

First off, I don't think you're disagreeing with me, but I want to make a point here. It's one that I may need to make a lot, so consider this me ... workshopping it a little.

The people of this world may decide their fate, but they aren't in a position to do that now. They face environmental catastrophes. These catastrophes and the government itself have put them under pretty strict control. That doesn't even include anything to do with capitalism, which I'm not really equipped to talk about. I don't think they have the tools to decide their fate. But if we can help this world, we should.

Morningstar can't do the sweeping protective changes that we have. We have to recognize that now about this world.

As for the gates: he was vague. I want to make another correction. It's not what I'll find there. It's what we'll find there. I can't do this alone. None of us can.

@simon.jarrett

[theseuschip]

Gods, really? Does that really cover anything that "dimension-hopping alien time travelers" doesn't?

[ then, after a significant pause: ]

You were gone for six years??

[ yeah he read the rest but like... clarke you write so fucking much now he has to digest all that, and probably not very well ]

[strove]

I don't know that it covers everything, but it definitely covers the part where we all slept and rewrote reality. I don't think it's possible to find a satisfactory explanation for that.

[She'll stand by that point. It just makes sense. It shows the power of what they changed, too.]

And look at it this way: in the dreams, someone did a painting with a message to the people making the shrines. I added a message on, asking for a source of where we are. Once we get back from New Tokyo, the answer appears? Our invites to the Ball mean something?

[It doesn't feel like a coincidence.]

And yes, six years. But only two here, I guess. I think there may be a scientific explanation for that one, which is mostly that worlds don't line up? Or maybe I needed to be able to understand someone who is from my world? Hard to say.

@jack.miller

[personalwar]

[ Well. There's a lot to chew on here, but there's one thing 76 feels almost obligated to point out. He and Gabriel have talked about it, but with X'rhun gone, the number of people who have this information is diminishing. ]

I spent two years before arriving on this version of Earth on a planet called El Nysa. The beings that brought us there told us that our worlds had been destroyed and they had saved us. Some considered them gods, and the planet itself also had "gods" native to it.

Honestly, I'm skeptical of the term, but I'd wondered if they might have been responsible for sending me here. Kind of noticing a pattern at this point.

[strove]

That's not the first time I've heard of that world. X'rhun mentioned it to me once.

[Now that someone else is saying names, she will, too. She hadn't before—not on Johnny's post, anyway.]

I think being skeptical is fair.

How much did you know about the El Nysa gods?

@wangji.lan

[wangxian]

To become as Gods is no strange concept. Whether it is truth or falsity, these people had information offer. Careful investigation may be helpful.

As you suggest, understanding our origins may give further clues to aid your last point. As our abilities and our control is not uniform, we should be conservative in our approach until then. However, I also wish to help the people of this world.

Like [Bad username or site: xuanyu @ mo], these dreams hold interest to me, as do those who create these shrines. Should my own knowledge and studies be needed, I will provide it.

[strove]

The dreams are a means to an end to me. I don't want to lie about my intentions when it comes to them. But if you can find a way to help us access that more freely, I think it'd be good. And by that, I mean ... this world. Not our own dreams.

[Though Clarke does know that one might lead to another.]

Regardless, I do want it to be clear that I'm less inclined for us to figure out our origins and more interested in what we can do with our abilities. By seeking out what's happened to us, we've been unable to find a whole lot of answers. This might be why. And getting them—there will be skeptics among us who won't believe or care for that explanation. Won't like it.

I'm not in the business of convincing people toward that. I don't come from a particularly spiritual society.

What I believe in is human action and desire. What we can manage in the long run.

[selfimage]

Mine's in Rio, though I haven't yet checked the terrain.
I heard it's a wonderful vacation spot this time of year.

[strove]

Does that include 2511 or are you working on dated information? Climate change and all.

@jonathan.sims

[end_recording]

Do we have any information on the nature of this god?

[strove]

No.

Just that it's one of seven. Everything else is conjecture at this point.

[batricide]

I feel like 'I told you so' is appropriate, but I'll refrain from saying it.

[ haha ha ha ha look at me being so funny. ]

I'm open to collaboration.
My only condition with anything done is I expect there to be a level of common sense when it comes to what should and shouldn't be kept a secret.

[strove]

You already said it, but I maintain that emphasizing our survival was a bad tact.

[She doesn't mean it harshly now. It's just that she's seen so many people approach life that way, with the Primes being the most extreme of them all.]

I agree with the notion that secrecy doesn't help. I do think we may need to devise a tactic to help handle difficult discussions regarding sensitive topics. But that's neither here nor there.

Are you going to take your group public?