World Refugees Final Mix

An announcement, if you would be so kind.

As I said in my last post, although I haven't been particularly active of late, I have kept a watchful eye on the game, and I have been keeping many former players up to date on the events. I've asked their opinions on things, and they've gladly given them. With their help, I have made a decision regarding World Refugees' final ending. And to put it simply, we've all chosen to make the trolling from Rakath's end not so trolly.

Yes, this means Lavos is now canon. Everyone died in a grand battle, and a young Xehanort was watching up until the moment the last Refugee and Keyblade Master from our timeline fell to the ground, and then he reset everything to the way it should be. We meddled, and now we've been taken out of the picture, spread throughout the worlds so that we may never meet and find another chance to ruin Xehanort's plans. There will be no arguing this. As a mod, with the support of the players, I have chosen this to be the official ending for World Refugees: Final Mix.

And before you say something like, "They're not in the game anymore; their opinions don't matter," I just want to say - they are still friends. They are still veterans of the game. They do matter, active in this game or not. And if two of the remaining four have the right to decide how this game closes in lieu of a mod-run plot, so do they.

Finish whatever you're doing. I won't stop you. But you have the right to know what has been chosen as the game's official end, and the thing going on now, run by Mabry and Robin, is not it.

And before you ask, no, I am not trolling again.

It's true that this game deserves an epic ending. And to be honest with you all, your mods had plans for a good, epic endgame, and it wasn't Jagannatha. We were planning it for months and months, and we had everything outlined and set in a schedule and everything. I'll tell you the details as well as I can now, just so you will all know that we didn't plan to leave you hanging like that. So let me weave you a story of what could have been, but was not...

The things with Jagannatha and his plans to lock away the Denizens of Light were part of the plan. Master Xehanort was working with him to do this, but he was never truly working for him. As one would expect, Xehanort had some plans of his own in the works. Members of the Academy of Shadows may recall that Xehanort helped Maleficent out in a time of need? When she asked what he would like in compensation, at first, he didn't ask for anything. Later on, he came back to request her assistance in creating a certain tool - a phylactery. With this, he would no longer require a younger vessel, like he had during the events of Birth by Sleep. With this, he could live as long as he needed in order to accomplish his plans.

During the fight against Jagannatha and his Keybearers, Xehanort was among the enemies for our young Keybearers to face. Though he gave a good fight, he was defeated and thought to be gone for good. While the Refugees were winding down from that, Yen Sid and Mickey held a Mark of Mastery exam for Riku, Sora, Kairi, Terra, and Ventus. Soon after, unbeknownst to our protagonists, Xehanort returned thanks to his foresight in creating a phylactery, and immediately launched his plans.

Not all of it could be accomplished on his own, however; wherever he went, he would immediately be suspect. And so, he presented Rakath with a paid contract, and Hex another offering a Keyblade, in which they were to steal the Cornerstones of Light and Darkness respectively from their safekeepers - the King and Queen of Disney Castle, and Maleficent and her Academy. Once those were delivered, they were taken with the Cornerstone of Twilight to the empty world that was Alexandria after the battles against Chernabog and Jagannatha.

The next step was to forge a link between the Cornerstones. So Xehanort, using himself as a starting point, dove into his heart and used his power of Light and Darkness together to reach out to the Cornerstone of Twilight. When the connection was made, he reached for the Cornerstone of Light with the Light in his heart, repeating the process a third time for the Cornerstone of Darkness with his own Darkness. The power of the Cornerstones was vast, and it took time to gain full control over each one, and all three at once. Alexandria was the next target, being a world with no heart, and Xehanort filled that emptiness with the combined power of the Cornerstones. At that point, Alexandria was used as a sort of radio tower, used to transmit the Cornerstones' power directly into the hearts of the worlds, and thereafter into the hearts of those on those worlds. That power took the Light and Darkness in their hearts and forcefully made them equal, removing or adding Light or Darkness as needed. This way, the worlds would be welcomed into an era of peace, achieved through complete balance, wherein Denizens of Light, Darkness, and Twilight (or Nothingness) could all live together without war. It was a form a mind control, executed through the heart. Only Keybearers, travelers by Gummi ship or Corridor, or those protected by a Reflect or Barrier charm were unaffected. For travelers, this could change the instant they stepped on-world.

The connection was to be broken by the Keybearers, using their keys to unlock everyone's true hearts, but they could have been helped by some of the others. Those closer to Twilight/Nothing would be easiest to break out of the spell, as well as those on a world close to the Realm of Nothingness, such as Twilight Town or The World That Never Was. As the connections began to weaken and break, it became easier to gain access to the hearts of the worlds, and they were released one by one until together, they surged up against the controlling power and shattered its influence. As one, they brought the Keybearers and their allies to face Xehanort, world spirits standing beside them to help in the fight. Xehanort, still connected to the Cornerstones, started to spout things about the balance of Light and Darkness, and the final battle began.

A few of the world spirits, though useless in a direct fight, still found a way to help: they could sense Xehanort's phylactery. They caught the attention of some Refugees, taking them to the location and helping them find it. Once found, it was destroyed, and at that moment, Xehanort felt something change. His control over the Cornerstones wavered, but he poured more of his will into them, and the power warped and twisted his body into something unrecognizable. This was the final leg, and the entirety of the Realms of Light, Darkness, and Nothingness alike rose against him, all disdainful of having their natures forcibly changed. Their power backed that of the Keybearers, who worked together in harmony to destroy him once and for all.

But when Xehanort was gone, something unexpected happened. The magic from the Cornerstones, now unrestrained, went wild, raging through the gathered hearts before the world spirits could get it back under control. Few were harmed or injured, but many were changed in that instant, and then the Light, Darkness, and Twilight was forced back into the Cornerstones. The spirits of worlds send a genuine thank you to everyone who helped, and then everything fades away.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi all wake up on their beach in Destiny Islands. Aqua, Ven, and Terra open their eyes to see the stars from the courtyard of the Land of Departure. Roxas and Namine awake to white walls and sketches in Twilight Town. King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy find themselves in the gardens of Disney Castle.

And the Refugees wake up somewhere that is unfamiliar, but feels like they've known the place for years. The landscape shifts slightly in every moment, and nothing is ever in the same place twice. There are Fae running wild, living in harmony with humans. There are dragons living in solitude among icy glaciers. There is a familiar sound as a train rolls into a more shady locale. There are festivals dedicated to proving that no one is all good or evil, to knowing that balance is good but not always perfect. There are mountains that sing, holes in the ground that breathe chaos, schools of magic, crystals that hide the truth from no one, caves of dreams, waters that dance, fogs that obscure the obvious but reveal the hidden, and gardens built for inspiration and memories, but never mourning.

They awake on a new world, built from the rampant magic of the Cornerstones and the hearts of the Refugees themselves. It is called Wanderer's Refuge, and it will always be a sanctuary for the lost.

There you have it, Refugees. I won't give excuses. But I will give you the only explanation we have for dropping off at the conclusion of Jagannatha's storyline: as mods, we were discouraged. Activity was abysmal, and it wasn't entirely the fault of the players or the mods. Sometimes, it just happens, and no one in particular is to blame. So, despite our efforts to get things going again, we decided by the end of things with Jagannatha, our baby, the plot we'd been excited about, wasn't worth pursuing if so few were interested anymore. Still, I wanted to let you guys see what we had planned.

But as I said, that plotline was abandoned, and Lavos is now canon. If you'd like to see the contributions for this ending, here are some: from Rakath, Ari, me, Chase, and Rakath again. None of these are necessarily canon, but each are a different take on it.

There's just one more thing before I bring this post to a close. I just want to say that, even though we don't all keep in contact, even though some of us have long since moved on, I want you all to know that I'll remember you. We've spent five years together. That's nothing to sneeze at. Maybe we weren't all particularly close, but everyone in this game has had an impact on someone else's life, and that's not a bad thing. We've made good friends, and hopefully those bonds will continue to thrive, even now. Our destinies may branch out from here, and we may never speak or see each other again, but we'll always share the same sky, and we'll always see the same stars. Because of that, and because of our time here, we will always be connected. I hope all of you remember that, because for many of us, it all started here, with pictures of mysterious shadow men cropping up in tabloids.

Happy New Year, World Refugees, and good luck to you, wherever you go. Goodbye.

Ray is now a mod.

Okay, guys, I'm gonna get right down to business. Should we move the game to Dreamwidth?

Yes, I know the game is slow right now and kind of at a standstill as Real Life and other things take up all of our time and attention, but LJ's issues don't seem to be getting fixed. I'm constantly hearing about LJ going down, and at least one of the players here has mentioned it getting in the way of posting. And I know there is still a plot in the works, though I think it has been derailed for the moment by the aforementioned Real Life.

Community importing works fine over there, or we could just leave it all here for archives or something and start anew - that is, if we move. So I ask again: do you think we should move?