lifeaftr_mods | Search Requests

Search Requests

And no one knows how far it goes

As a central element to the game, Search Requests may seem very daunting at first. Never fear! Below is a table of contents for this page that may help answer your questions, giving you the confidence to venture forth into the great unknown.

[ ♆ ] What Are Search Requests?
[ ♆ ] What Impacts a Search Request?
[ ♆ ] How Many Search Requests Can I Make?
[ ♆ ] Why are Searches Limited?
[ ♆ ] Islands Available
[ ♆ ] Search Request Form

What Are Search Requests?

The contents of many islands that make up the archipelago of LifeAftr require player exploration and participation to uncover and chart, as everything from the potential dangers, obstructions, and resources are randomized. Alongside adding weight to the potential dangers characters may face, it also gives you the potential to influence the game as much as possible.

Upon arrival to a new island, a blank map of the island's general shape will be provided with a grid, parsing the island into square sections for the purposes of exploration. Each of these squares are a base size of one mile by one mile in terms of width and breadth, unless otherwise noted. Each square is also labeled for player convenience. Characters who have access to boats or another means of traversing the ocean waters can perform search requests on surrounding waters.

Search Requests are intended to be used as a prompt for IC interactions. While not all search results will hold something of particular interest, such as finding new seeds or fruit, but in circumstances where enemies or information has been located, we encourage ICly threading out these results, or using them to foster new CR.

What Impacts a Search Request?
As of July 2018, there are new factors to take into account when submitting a Search Request:

[ ♆ ] GROUP SIZE limits the timeframe in which a search request can be completed. While a single mile may not seem so far to walk, thoroughly investigating a square mile is a different matter altogether. Depending on the size of a group, characters may choose to push on into an additional square at the cost of spending the night in the wilderness, potentially exposing themselves to other dangers - or in groups of four or more, split the group to cover the additional ground. Search Requests are currently limited to two squares maximum at a time, regardless of group size.

[ ♆ ] DIFFICULT TERRAIN such as mountainous regions, thickly wooded areas, or those under the sway of severe weather conditions may severely hamper a group in covering new ground. Due to this, search requests may be limited on occasion to one square per search, regardless of the group size. This restriction will be announced when relevant.

[ ♆ ] POTENTIAL RISKS can and will hinder characters set on searching more than one square. If searching an area thoroughly, it is assumed that your character is both taking their time, and covering as much of the ground in that square as possible. Obstructions, predators and catastrophes should be predominantly unavoidable due to this.

How Many Search Requests Can I Make?
Each character is limited to submitting one search per week, of up to two squares. When searching in a group of three people or fewer, a second square may only be searched if characters intend to spend the night camping out, which puts them at risk for additional dangers.

Beyond submitting a search, characters may also band together with others for an additional two search requests, but these requests must be submitted by another character.

Additionally, Search Requests may only be forward-dated up to two days ahead of the current date. As LifeAftr may sometimes see events suddenly beginning, forward-dating is limited to avoid the need to retcon.

Why are Searches Limited?
The introduction of limitations to the number of search requests characters can conduct is to ensure moderation of the game's pacing, in addition to ensuring all players have a chance to affect the plot, regardless of their tagging speed or RL obligations. Previously, search requests have been unlimited due to an agreeably slow pacing as LifeAftr established itself. The beginning of July saw the game expanding and going through a new teething stage that required a few new aspects to our search requests system, in addition to discarding mechanics that simply weren't being used.

In some circumstances, such as when an island is due to disappear - potentially for good! - we may lift these restrictions to allow those who'd like to further explore islands to go wild.

Maps Available:
The current islands, their descriptions, and how much area has already been unveiled can be found on the Locations Page. A key describing the area, resources, and dangers can also be found.

The following island(s) are currently available for exploration:

ENSŌ
NASTRANDIR
The following island(s) are not currently available, but have individual locations pages for player perusal:

AI'TUOH
CAHYPDO
CHOL
IO
MAATI
MONSUN
NUIDAN
UMUI
ZIZIPHUS

Search Request Form
To submit a search request, please post the below form in a new comment. Before submitting your request, keep in mind that map updates may lag depending on mod work schedules. Checking the last few posted searches may avoid doubling up accidentally.

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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL, COMISSIONED ART BY RUKA )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Search Begins...
The progression northward probably isn't familiar to either explorer, on this venture...but whether they were aware of it or not, A1 was where the temple of the Avatar of Balance was found, the last time explorers had to uncover Monsun's map.

The region has been distorted by Ziziphus's displacement, and then again warped subtly by the restoration of the land. While Monsun is no longer patchworked with fuzzes of murky dark and inconsistent sprouts of grassy meadowland where there shouldn't be any, the ground is nonetheless different from the way it once was.

The lake at Monsun's northernmost tip, however, remains as it was. Its waters are clear and vast, and swarming with schools of koi fish. And at the center, a circular spit of sandy land supports what should be recognizable, even from a distance, as a temple, comprised of stone.

There's something not quite right about this one. The Avatar of Balance's temple was always smaller than the Storyteller's, less grandiose than most, but the shriveled husks of dead vines that spill out from its corners, that crumble into dust at its edges and contours, certainly aren't normal.

Perhaps this is why Balance was found outside of their temple, instead of residing within as they usually do.

♆ A1 has been unlocked on the map of the area! ♆

Hello Again
Should Mira and Lance find a way across the lake and into the Avatar's temple, they'll discover that the psychological effects inherent to Monsun's western region will fade with an abruptness they may all find quite noticeable; it seems that the island's peculiar nature cannot penetrate the temple's confines. No longer are they their best or worst selves - here, they are simply who they are. Crossing the temple threshold will also greet the approacher with a flashing series of images, inexplicable sensations: a set of scales, a pair of koi fish, a monarch butterfly, and a pale flower that some may recognize as pink larkspur.

The temple's interior will smell dank and musty, and faintly sweet, like something here grew and rotted and died. Here and there, the empty, dried-out shucks of dead vines lay scattered across the worn stones, like long-dead snakes.

But the altar at the temple's center remains, even as it has remained presumably untouched. Those who attempt to describe it will find that it somehow defies description: it is both smooth to the touch and roughly hewn, both sun-warmed and as cold as frost. Both extremes exist in seeming simultaneity.

If you wish to contact the Avatar of Balance in person, you may do so here.

Search Requests

MONSUN - A1 | ♥ AVATAR ALTAR