[SUBMITTED] A Dance To The Death

[Kaschovia]

This is my submission for the strangest submission contest. This draft is inspired by the quite terrifying Dancing Plague of 1518, which only gets creepier and stranger the deeper you look into it. I hope you enjoy.

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[title] A Dance To The Death

[description] What started as a small flash mob of around a hundred people has since turned into a thousand crazed, dancing bodies, significantly damaging many areas of the capital. You and several of your ministers have hidden in your office to escape the growing mania.

[option 1] "I warned you about this dancin' fever malarkey!" fumes @@RANDOMNAME@@, your Minister of Atavistic Attitudes, stuck in the corner of the room, terrified. "When blinded by the adrenaline and the primitive nature of madness, humans will stop at nothin' to satisfy their delusions! We need to release a city-wide dose of sleepin' gas. It is the only way to calm this horrible, groovin' storm. A few thousand sleepin' bodies are much safer than a few thousand thrashin' bodies!"

[effect] thousands of @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ wake at dawn confused and disorientated without any recollection of the dance apocalypse

[option 2] "Sleeping gas on humans without their consent? Disgusting!" bellows @@RANDOMNAME@@, your Minister of Underwhelming Results, keeping a watch from the window. "The best way to go about this is simply to let the dancing die down. Using gases on the populace, no matter the situation is completely unnecessary when there much better options out there. Let's crack open a few drinks, I'll put out some snack bowls and we'll wait for the whole thing to blow over... sound good?"

[effect] hundreds die from exhaustion and dehydration after days of manic dancing

[option 3] "Screw your underwhelming friendliness," barks @@RANDOMNAME@@, your five-time voted Worst Employee of the Month, Minister of Dumb Decisions, stumbling around with a bottle of extremely strong alcohol in @@HIS@@ hand. "Get me the pepper spray and the riot squads will ya? At this point, it's either us or them! Make your choice, @@LEADER@@. It's the rise of the dancing zombie apocalypse!" @@HE@@ tumbles, hitting his head on the corner of your desk.

[effect] heavily-armored riot squads are crushed in city square moshpits

[option 4] "Why can't we get in on the fun too?" suggests @@RANDOMNAME@@, the resident janitor, who up until this point, had been unnoticed and hiding in your closet. "What harm would it do, anyway? Everyone likes dancing! Everyone smile! Everyone get in a circle and join hands! We're all having fun, aren't we? Aren't we! Yes, we certainly are!" @@HE@@ gazes blankly at you, the look of insanity burnt into his eyes. "Come on @@LEADER@@, let's have some fun!"

[effect] @@LEADER@@ can be seen breakdancing uncontrollably in the midst of ritualistic dance circles

[USS Monitor]

This is my submission for the strangest submission contest. This draft is inspired by the quite terrifying Dancing Plague of 1518, which only gets creepier and stranger the deeper you look into it. I hope you enjoy.

What a weird thing.

[Ransium]

I thought the real event was just a misinterpretation of the symptoms of ergot poisoning?

[Australian rePublic]

**Googles event**
Holy shit, that's terrifying!

Anyway, on to the issue:
Not a bad little issue you got here, but I'm not sure if it would work. But would something like this even happen today? Considering our modern knowledge on medicine and all things medical?

I thought the real event was just a misinterpretation of the symptoms of ergot poisoning?

That's just one of many theories

[Kaschovia]

I thought the real event was just a misinterpretation of the symptoms of ergot poisoning?

So, I need to include some sort of trigger event for the mass hysteria. Maybe people believed that the tap water had been poisoned or something and the only way to cure it was to dance?

**Googles event**
Holy shit, that's terrifying!

Anyway, on to the issue:
Not a bad little issue you got here, but I'm not sure if it would work. But would something like this even happen today? Considering our modern knowledge on medicine and all things medical?

I thought the real event was just a misinterpretation of the symptoms of ergot poisoning?

That's just one of many theories

That doesn't make mass hysteria impossible.

[Ransium]

I think poisoned tap water might actually not be needed. If you have not listened to this already it might be of interest:

https://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podc ... steria.htm

[Kaschovia]

I think poisoned tap water might actually not be needed. If you have not listened to this already it might be of interest:

https://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podc ... steria.htm

Ah, and so this is what is so strange about this kind of thing. Mass hysteria, to me, is one of the scariest things to happen to humans.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Every day I'm shufflin'!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8

Anyway, while I think this is entertaining, I think this falls into the category of real life being weirder than fiction, and as a result the depiction being one that will be accused of being too "out there" to be "realistic".

For that reason, I'm not convinced it works as currently presented.

Maybe you could put on more psuedo-sciencey stuff to contextualise it, and make it more believable.

[Kaschovia]

Every day I'm shufflin'!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8

Anyway, while I think this is entertaining, I think this falls into the category of real life being weirder than fiction, and as a result the depiction being one that will be accused of being too "out there" to be "realistic".

For that reason, I'm not convinced it works as currently presented.

Maybe you could put on more psuedo-sciencey stuff to contextualise it, and make it more believable.

I've made a few minor changes, but I'd appreciate if you could elaborate just a bit on what exactly you think I should do with the draft.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Yeah, not entirely sure.

I guess there's a few things.

First off, it's pitched as a decision being asked of a police chief, or head of operations. If folk started dancing all over New York, it'd be the police chief or some emergency response coordinator who decided what the immediate response was, not Donald Trump. Though you know, I'm sure Donald Trump would try and take credit afterwards, and claim that he personally saved a huge number of people. A very big number.

Secondly, it just doesn't feel real. Needs to have more expert-type people telling the reader what has caused this, or at least speculating in their options. It shouldn't be left to a reader to know that mass hysteria, ergot poisoning, etc. are potential causes.

[Kaschovia]

Yeah, not entirely sure.

I guess there's a few things.

First off, it's pitched as a decision being asked of a police chief, or head of operations. If folk started dancing all over New York, it'd be the police chief or some emergency response coordinator who decided what the immediate response was, not Donald Trump. Though you know, I'm sure Donald Trump would try and take credit afterwards, and claim that he personally saved a huge number of people. A very big number.

Secondly, it just doesn't feel real. Needs to have more expert-type people telling the reader what has caused this, or at least speculating in their options. It shouldn't be left to a reader to know that mass hysteria, ergot poisoning, etc. are potential causes.

If this happened in New York, the police wouldn't have the slightest idea what was going on, and neither would Donald Trump - that is the point. Mass hysteria like this is not supposed to be addressed by authority because it almost never happens. Strange on a small scale... like, the odd nutter? Okay, I get that - take them to a doctor or something. But thousands of people on the streets of a nation's capital? Do you think anyone would have a solution to it? No, there would be fear, confusion, and panic. That is what I am trying to make the reader feel. I want my draft to mirror the events of what has happened in real life, but in a way that only NationStates can portray.