The Overlay
Starting October 22nd and moving on until the end of Volume 1 in early 2019, we will be running a multi-dimensional event known as "The Overlay." All living characters in every timeline are permitted to participate in the Overlay and experience visions of another life and time where they made different choices. Details are included below detailing how you can experience the overlay and what it might mean for your character and the world at large.
What is the Overlay?
The Overlay is a cosmic phenomenon precipitated by the ongoing events in the Garden of Forking Paths storyline , whereby the boundary between parallel timelines grows thin, resulting in people experiencing vivid waking and sleeping hallucinations of what is happening in another timeline from their alternate's perspective.
The Overlay is a global event happening across the entire world to less than 1% of the total population. Because our focus on String Theory is our characters, many of them will be affected by these events, but that doesn't necessarily represent an overall density of occurrances worldwide.
Events of the Overlay occur across all timelines, meaning that characters you played in the Bright Timeline may see visions of themselves that are alive at the same time in the Wasteland or even the Prime timeline.
What is an Overlay Event Like?
An Overlay event is a full-sensory hallucination lasting anywhere between 30 seconds to several minutes. During this time the individual experiencing the overlay loses all motor function control and blacks out, experiencing a passive vision of events happening to an alternate version of themselves in another timeline; specifically, the alternate timelines visited in the Garden of Forking Paths storyline.
As an Overlay event is a hallucination/vision it is not an active event that can be controlled by the person experiencing it. So they may witness themselves doing something or engaged in conversation in scenarios they would never otherwise be a part of.
The other side of an Overlay event — the alternate whose events are being experienced — does not know anything unusual is happening. Even telepaths of characters otherwise normally sensitive to psychic phenomenon are not "tuned in" enough to realize that someone is witnessing their actions.
Communication is not possible through an Overlay event, except in unusual circumstances as defined by staff. If you are able to communicate across dimensional boundaries, staff will let you know where and when.
What's Causing the Overlay?
Even characters deeply in the know of events transpiring in the Garden of Forking Paths storyline will not be able to pinpoint exactly what is causing the event. The Earth is entering a period of heightened solar activity with coronal mass ejections happening more and more frequently as we move into 2019, and this could well be a part of the strange cosmic phenomenon that is facilitating these experiences. Any further information will be discovered in-character as the event goes on.
How Do I Run An Overlay Event?
You can run an Overlay event for yourself! They can be a part of any scene, provided you have followed the criteria listed below. When inserting an Overlay vision into a log, please use the following color formatting:
Manhattan just came out to have a good time, but he's totally writing a post about the Overlay event!
In a parallel timeline, String Theory never came back and Manhattan is drinking coffee. His life has less meaning.
Manhattan sucks in a sharp breath, from the floor, because he fell out of his chair. His coffee has spilled. His life has less meaning.
This color code is FFD559
Requirements
Have an Approved Character
In order to run an overlay event you need to have an approved, living character for the timeline you would like to experience events from. If you already apped a character for the Garden of Forking Paths storyline, you're good to go! If you would like to experience another character's perspective, you will need to write an application for a Forking Paths alternate character (Virus App, how-to-app, how-to-app, flood to come). Don't worry too much, as we only ask for a couple paragraphs.
Have Permission
If you're featuring other PCs or other major NPCs in your vision, please reach out to the players or staff members who are responsible for them so that they can help tailor the vision. You may also only run visions for timelines that have been in play. The Flood timeline will become available when the travelers arrive there. We'll make a BBPost and a reply to this forum thread to let you know when that happens!
Check the Timeline Epilogues
Each timeline visited in the Garden of Forking Paths now has an epilogue entry listed in their respective index pages (example: wasteland:epilogue-forking). This describes what has happened in that timeline between when the Travelers left during the storyline and 2018. Not every timeline has an epilogue page, as Wasteland has caught up to the present day and Flood has yet to be seen.
BUT I'M DEAD!
That's rough.
That said: We have a plan to allow people who may have died in other timelines to experience visions of those events. The how and why of that happening will be made available later. For now, keep those deceased alternate-timeline characters in mind, but on a shelf for later! Staff have plans to allow for those characters to learn about what happened to them, so keep your eyes peeled for bbposts regarding those possibilities!
Staff-run Overlay Events
Staff may choose to run Overlay-related events. Be on the lookout for BBPosts announcing new +events!