INVESTIGATIONS

[gemigod]

Steven has done some team investigations into the history of the castle, and has ended up being at the center of a few big castle events. As such, he has learned some special information, and he is the sort to share the wealth given the opportunity. Instead of just sharing it ICly I've decided to make a list of information that Steven will freely share when asked about it, and then a shorter list of most sensitive info and who he's shared it with. Yuya also has all of this info, because he's Yuya, and Steven tells him pretty much everything.


HELIAN VS CALOR
(SHARED WITH: Anyone who asks or who was in the library when Steven returns from the garden after the Hunt has ended.)

During the Summer Hunt event (AKA the time that Calor turned everyone into animals and forced her servants to hunt them to death) Steven had his fill of unnecessary fae torture and decided to bring the issue to his own fae master, Helian. With Rachel and V's help, he broke back into the garden in an attempt to draw Helian's attention. Instead, Calor followed him into the garden to kill him, her natural fire magic burning some of the local terrain, and Helian intervened. For whatever reason, Helian finally had enough, and left her tower to challenge Calor.

NOTABLE REVEALS:

• Calor has some huge issues with Helian, largely focussed around Helian being so lost in her own mopey little world that she refuses to acknowledge her. This ties into a previous event where Calor was trying to get Helian's attention more playfully at the tea party, but was ignored.
• Helian was apparently moved enough to publically use her wings for the first time in game history.
• Calor struck Helian across the face in a furious reaction to something she said. She acted with regret immediately after, which is also a first.
• Helian took on a bestial form to match Calor's and challenged her to the battle that Calor apparently craved. They proceeded to battle for a few weeks.
• It's pretty unclear how much Helian actually cared about saving Steven's life versus taking out her frustrations on Calor.

WHAT STEVEN WILL SHARE: Steven will tell people pretty much everything about this encounter after he gets back to the library in the aftermath. The only thing he WON'T automatically share is that Calor specifically struck Helian in reaction to the words 'She would hate this.' This is because it may be a reference to a person that Helian has forbidden them from talking about, so he has to play it closer to his chest. EDIT: Steven is now more open to talk about the reason behind the slapping due to the memory event revealing a lot of this.


THE SUNBEAM CAT
(SHARED WITH: Yuya, Peridot, Rita, V, ON REQUEST)

An investigation that first started during the WINTER 1 inventory event. Steven, Yuya, and Peridot all found signs of a particular piece of heraldry: an image of a cat with sunlight shining over it. Peridot and Yuya found it in the form of various old tapestries that had faces torn out of them (?) and Steven found it in the form of a weird puzzle room that ejected him into a random part of the castle afterward. Yuya also found and collected banners from Bramblehob that had the Sun Cat on them, along with some other heraldric symbols.

NOTABLE REVEALS:

• Peridot drew the image of the cat and Yuya showed it to Helian, who stared at it blankly for a long time before claiming not to recognize it, while also insisting that Yuya not show it to anyone or draw it ever again.
• Peridot also attempted to slip the image of the cat onto Calor's dinner table to observe her reaction but she just used it as a napkin. Results inconclusive.
• Helian appears to have an emotional history with whatever being the Sun Cat represents. When Steven broke into Helian's tower to search it, he found a comb and a ring with the Sun Cat imagery on them, stashed away in the back of her drawer along with more colorful clothing that she never wears anymore. He also saw the drawing of the cat she'd confiscated locked in her potion cabinet.
• When Steven was leaving the tower after touching the comb and ring he heard the words "You're really going to stay up here? Isn't that lonely?" in the voice of a woman he'd never heard before.
• Steven actually stole the ring and comb, which caused Helian's big tea party depression in SPRING 1, but he has only told Yuya and Rita about that and will not share it easily.
• During the hunt, there were many old camps and ruins lost in the hedge that had banners with sun heraldry. It's possible that they represent the same being, or maybe a related family of beings. (It seems now that it may be a banner for the castle itself.)
• Right before Calor and Helian started their big battle, Calor struck a tear-stained Helian in the face after Helian said she words "she would hate this." Steven believes the "she" referred to here is the Sun Cat woman.
• Peridot and Steven found a war room in Calor's territory that labeled the castle area as "Village of Bramblehob, Castle of the Brightest Sun, Seat of the Sunbeam Fiefdom". Peridot had no difficulty retaining this information, but Steven (a veteran servant) reacted to it as if it was a lost memory. He could not hold onto the memory after looking away from it, and reminders only proved to confuse and agitate him. Obviously Steven can't really tell you about this part, but Peridot could. Steven has the agitated feeling that he's lost something. (UPDATE: He now can remember the castle name, and was told by Peridot that it had eluded him before, which is interesting information. Why did the veterans forget?)
• In one of the castle memories witnessed by Steven and Shura, there appeared to be a catgirl in armor that matched the voice Steven heard in Helian's tower. He is now pretty convinced that she is the fae that the sunbeam cat represents. It seems she worked alongside Helian and Calor, which also fits.
• Ilde publically spoke on the trinket network about a memory where a mountain-lion looking man spoke about a queen that had gone to the 'Golden City' to push back the Hedge. Steven assumes this queen is the catgirl in question.
• It turns out that the cat girl of relevance was actually the young lady of the kingdom and that the queen fell in battle around the time of the hedge disaster. Tons of info is revealed in the second event of Autumn 1. Most of this investigation information is now redundant, but I'm leaving it here for newer players to see how it all played out.

WHAT STEVEN WILL SHARE: He's not going to tell anyone about him stealing the comb or ring because he considers that knowledge to be a threat to their safety. In general he has treated Sun Cat discussion as potential contraband, considering how weird the Gentry get about it. However! Upon the castle memories event, it seems like images of this sort of thing have been popping up all around the place. As such, Steven will be less cautious about sharing info, since it's already out there - still make sure to check with me before assuming he spills all the beans, though.


THE FALL OF FAERIE
(SHARED WITH: Depends on how things go, but probably just about anybody who asks.)

"These Antique Fables" was an event taking place during Autumn 1, where everyone in the game woke up in the memory of the past of the castle, filling the roles of various gentry of the player's devising. (AKA, faesonas.) They were able to explore the Castle of the Brightest Sun and Bramblehob as they were in the past (ostensibly about 3 years ago, as far as we know on a meta-level) and experience first hand the situation the fae were in before the hedge wiped out everything nearby and left the current Gentry in power. Tons of stuff that was mere speculation up this point is confirmed, and new stuff is learned.

While I'll be centering this on stuff that Steven knows about so that I can guarantee his ability to share it with others, I will also add some stuff in italics that he doesn't know, for context purposes. Steven just won't be able to necessarily provide that information during an explanation.

NOTABLE GENTRY REVEALS:

• The 'cat girl' speculation is all mostly confirmed. The 'cat symbol' found early in the game is the heraldry of the former royal family of the castle, the sun standing for Summer Court and the cat being their personal theme. The cat woman that Helian and Calor seem invested in was their daughter. They grew up together as friends. Her name (and the name of the Lord and Lady) seem to have been erased from memory somehow along with the name of the castle.
• Lady Helian was a Spring fae taken to the Brightest Sun to serve as a friend for the young princess. Children are rare among fae at this point, and ostensibly they had to take her from somewhere else. She doesn't remember life among the Spring fae, having been living among the Summer court for most of her life. She cares for the garden, living in the same tower she does today, though she is less sullen and more simply withdrawn. (SOURCES: Yuya's Investigations)
• Dame Calor was a Summer fae that was also brought to be the princess's playmate as a child. Her, the cat princess, and Helian seem to have a three-way friendship, though Calor left with the cat princess to fight in the army while Helian remained in the castle garden. Calor had a curmudgeonly relationship with the cat princess, and seemed to see her as being too naive and open with others, causing risk to herself and her kingdom. Despite being difficult, it seems they were genuinely good friends, and Calor is rarely seen leaving her side.
• The Whisper on the Wind does not seem to exist in this timeframe, at least not anywhere than people in the castle have heard of. They may be a new sort of fae, since fae taking the form of things like flocks of birds does not actually seem to be a thing that happens, usually. (SOURCES: Rita's investigations)
• The Dread Serpent Gurges was invited to the castle for the Lord's meeting, but apparently didn't arrive at his room in the castle because he was staying in the Drowned Cat bar instead. Gurges did not seem to be as severely affected by his memory problems at this time. (SOURCES: V's Investigations)
• Oriol was the castle seneschal, a low Summer fae (cervitaur) and stand-up dude. RIP Oriol. (SOURCES: Yuya and Moenbryda's Investigations)

NOTABLE SETTING REVEALS:

• The Castle of the Brightest Sun was a 'backwater' (according to Calor) kingdom led by a family of feline fae. They had one child, which is apparently a rare feat at this point in fae history. The name of the castle was seemingly erased in veteran servant's minds, but during the event, that block was removed and they were able to retain it.
• The Spring Court was the first court to completely fall to the hedge, and a bunch of them were seeking refuge in the Sunbeam Fiefdom (the location of the castle), which was allowed by the Lord. It's unknown what caused them to fall, but they are seen as weak, deceptive, troublemakers by the other courts, and the tensions between the local natives and the Spring refugees are high.
• The Lord called all four courts together to discuss and execute some kind of 'plan' for dealing with the hedge.
• The Golden City, ostensibly the Summer Court's capital, is struggling to repel the hedge. This is probably where the feline queen perished. This is where the cat princess and Calor were fighting before the events in the memory.
• Past versions of Steven and the other veteran servants existed in the castle at this time, all working for the Summer Court. They had no faerie changes, and neither did any of the other mortal servants. This was quite a shock, as the veteran servant barely have any memory of the time.
• An Autumn fae called 'The Alchemist' was at the castle doing some kind of work that was deemed important with regards to defeating the hedge. It is unclear what that work was, though it may involve experimenting on mortals. (?)

WHAT STEVEN WILL SHARE: As much as he can. He's also willing to direct people to others that may have more expertise. This currently seems like relatively safe information.


HEDGE THEORIES
(SHARED WITH: On request.)

A bunch of this information is being drawn from the 'These Antique Fables' event in Autumn 1, but there is info from other stuff as well, so I'm just grouping it into 'hedge stuff' in general.

NOTABLE REVEALS:

• The hedge ostensibly has some kind of consciousness, and latches onto and sucks away magic that is fed into it. Steven had first person experience with that when he tries to control the hedge with his magic to attack Soldier. It latched onto his malicious feelings and fed off of his magical energy to grow.

WHAT STEVEN WILL SHARE: Steven will talk about this with people he collaborates with. Check with me if you aren't sure!

Comments

QUESTIONS

[gemigod]

If you want to ask details about the context of your character knowing any of this info, or if you want Steven to share more private details with them, ask about that here! We may or may not have to thread it.

[quillandaxe]

It's a little outdated now bc of more recent info, but information shared on the memshare log is something Steven could know as well.

Is it fair to assume that he's discussed with Moen what's under the Sunbeam Cat (minus the stealing part) by the time they launch into the second Autumn log (Brand New Fae)?

Moenbryda's own investigation thread is still ongoing, but she'll likely share what she finds out from that with Steven since she knows he's actively looking into it etc., though there won't be an opportunity to pursue it further before the meeting happens.

[gemigod]

Yes, absolutely! Moen can know all those things. I kind of futzed out on tagging into that log but I think I will tag it noting that Steven shared this info there.

Steven would love to know about her weird ghost cat vision. He's going to so overwhelmed.