TRAINING & BASIC MISSION OVERVIEW

[onemind]

TRAINING & BASIC MISSION

     OVERVIEW

Training and the first Basic Mission will cover Days :153 - :163 (March 21st - April 10th). This post will give you a general guide to the scenario and give players a space to plot and plan for the duration of the training and mission. This guide will not cover all narrative events, as some of those will be detailed on April's calendar and/or determined by IC character action while planetside.

TRAINING

     MIDDAY :153 - :155 (March 21 - 25)

Prince will be giving Hosts an overview of their new abilities, the differences between Iota and Rho, and revealing the existence of their specialized ability. While the Training Wing is always open, these days are slightly more focused. Prince essentially won’t be leaving, Cathaway will likely make an appearance, and while most of a Host’s training past this point will be self-directed these few days are meant to be an introduction to the facilities and to give Prince a better understanding of where everyone’s current capabilities lie. If your character wants to learn something specific, speak to Prince and he’ll put you on the right path.

So go run a lap, lift some weights, do some sparring. Just don’t break yourselves!

A log will be posted for this, though handwaving is welcome.

BASIC MISSION - AVERA 9

     DAY :156 - :163 (March 26 - April 10)

For their first basic mission (read: practice mission), hosts have been tasked with salvaging goods and materials from abandoned outposts and bases located on Avera 9. There are multiple locations of likely salvage caches marked in your databanks - think iPads (minus the candy crush or anything else fun) that fold up into neat, credit-card sized travel forms and are water, dust, and impact proof (to a degree). Hopefully at some of them you'll find a wide variety of cool and exciting things to pack up and bring back with you. While there is no one thing that hosts have been tasked to find, each databank has a slightly outdated Nebra Galaxy market guide against which most goods can be cross-referenced to determine value. It’s probably a good idea to get the best stuff and leave the junk behind.

Hosts are welcome to make friendly with the locals but are encouraged to be cautious when it comes to trading. It’s also suggested that killing locals is generally frowned upon (both by the local population and by your teachers), and that it would be best to avoid getting kidnapped.

All hosts will receive a personal mission kit and have access to a shared equipment pool for the duration of the mission. Use these as you see fit!


     AVERA 9

PLANET: AVERA 9
LOCATION: Assavera System, Nebra Galaxy, Universe Set-Capra-778.5
DESCRIPTION: Set-Capra-778.5 is a universe with a single flourishing Galactic civilization located in the Nebra Galaxy. Made up of several dozen primary races and only barely beginning to experiment with advanced cybernetic augmentation, mind-computer interface and artificial intelligence, it is technologically advanced but still bogged down by the necessity of biological survival. The general impression it gives off is of people reaching too far forward too fast- everything is a little hodge-podge, everyone is living for today. The new is patched on, the old not yet discarded, and mass-consumption runs rampant.

The Avera 9 of today is radically different from the one of ten solar years ago - or the one it will be in another ten to come. Avera 9 exists in a single star system, however the other planets it shares a system with have significantly higher mass than it does; as such, Avera 9 is as much at the mercy of its neighboring planets as it is the sun around which they all orbit. This means that though Avera 9 has a nitrogen and oxygen rich atmosphere, because of the planet’s extremely elliptical orbit it enjoys only short periods where life flourishes. (consider: Although it never strays entirely from the system’s habitable zone, it does stray dangerously close to the borders) Avera 9 has a fifteen year period where life grows, book-ended by two year periods of either extreme cold or extreme heat where most complex life goes into a dormant state to survive. Because of this, Avera 9’s ecology is rather stunted: its natural landscape is primarily characterized by sweeping plains and scrub and the only notable native lifeforms are small insect-like creatures and an array of minor deep sea life. Unfortunately, the extreme temperature shifts aren’t the only obstacles in Avera 9’s way. Roughly every 250 years or so, the larger planets in the system’s orbits align to pull Avera 9 slightly further from its typical orbit, sending it passing through the outermost fringe of one of the system’s asteroid belts. This has left the planet’s landscape battered, creating massive shelves of iron-rich stone and crater systems common with being pummeled by giant rocks on a semi-regular basis .

None of this has stopped desperate or crazy entrepreneurs from trying to use Avera 9 as a base of operations though. Because of its advantageous location in respect to the Nebra galaxy’s major trade routes (intergalactic travel and trade is a common part of daily life for many systems in the Nebra galaxy), Avera 9 makes a tempting locale for ambitious traders and outlaws who are more worried about making a quick buck than the sustainability of where they’re operating their business from. Though roughly human looking individuals are fairly common among Avera 9’s temporary population, there’s a wide variety of alien life, the majority of which are Bari - an alien race that more or less resemble upright iguanas, whose sphere of galactic influence just barely ends where Avera 9 begins, making it a prime location for the fringes of their society to try to grab a piece of the pie.

Currently, Avera 9 is in its rainy season as it heads away from the sun - it’s very, very rainy season that lasts a very, very long time. It’s cold, it’s wet, and it’s more than a little miserable. Verdant plains have turned first to mush and then to flood zones and most remaining civilization - which by and large amounts to make-do shanty towns and trading ports with an air of both nonpermanence and seediness - can be found at higher elevations on the brighter side of the planet. That said, there are many abandoned settlements, outposts and bases of operations dotting Avera 9; they might not be easy to get to or especially comfortable once there, but who can say what might have been left behind?

Travel is primarily by hovering speeder bike and small space worthy craft - almost no one on Avera 9 isn’t somehow involved in off-world trading, which means most have access to some kind of ship. If you don’t, you have more pressing problems than getting from one settlement to the other: in eight days time, Avera 9 will begin its pass through the system’s asteroid belt.

     MISSION KIT & EQUIPMENT POOL

PERSONAL MISSION KIT

• Databank
  (Loaded with mapping information, market reference records, laser saw operation manuals, and a translator application - while host to host communication is translated by the symbiote, you’ll need something else to talk to any of the locals.)
  
• warm clothes, two changes
  
• one hooded waterproofed jacket
  
• one space-age flashlight
  
• air filter mask (for toxins and thin air)
  
• a taser
  (Prince’s concession to safety. The taser is roughly the size of a beeper and has an advanced sensor that delivers only enough of a jolt to knock out the intended target and no more. Don’t tase each other in front of Prince, he won’t think it’s funny.)
  
• 500 standard notes
  (This should be enough to cover your room and board unless you’re irresponsible or get suckered into a bad deal - unless you’d like to engage in some hardcore water camping. The local currency resembles hard super compressed plastic squares of varying shapes and different iguana faces stamped on them; good for use in “reputable” establishments only - if you want to do any purchasing on the black market, you’ll need to exchange your standard notes for digital currency. There are many vendors on hand to assist you, but most have a processing fee that ranges from high to frankly ridiculous.)

SHARED EQUIPMENT POOL

• Nine two-seater hovering speeder bikes with attached cargo sled
  
• Nine tool kits
  (includes a basic assortment of tools, a spelunking kit and one handheld laser saw (don’t cut your hand off; make sure to point the laser in the correct direction; read all operation manuals!!))
  
• Ten breather suits and masks
  (Designed for underwater exploration, these suits go on loose and oversized. When activated they shrink down to fit your character’s exact shape)

NOTE: Try not to loose anything, Prince will make you fill out forms and he’ll probably give you a lecture about personal responsibility and wasteful behavior.

     NOTABLE LOCATIONS & FIXTURES

MINTE SPACEPORT - Suffice to say, the Minte Spaceport isn’t as official or as fancy as it seems. It’s merely the trading town that’s sprung up around one of two major operations on Avera 9, run by good old Minte Brixle herself. It’s more or less a den of iniquity. Don’t drink too much, slavers are common. The most popular spot in town is Minte’s Parlor: a hotel, bar, casino, brothel, and pretty much anything else you’d want it to be after nine months in space hauling the space equivalent of Tickle Me Elmo’s. A wide array of space capable transport - freighters, shuttles, and other personal and business craft - can be found on the surrounding airfield, the star of which is Minte Brixle's own mid-sized freighter, the Shella Bar.

TARI TOWN - The second of two major commerce and trading hubs on Avera 9. Tari Town is the cleaner and theoretically safer of the two, but it’s clear that comfort comes at a cost. It is operated by the Tari Board of Commerce, a duly elected board of local business leaders, the most recognizable of which are the Tari Twins themselves (no, it's probably not a coincidence that they were elected). Tari Town is notable for being built down the side of one of Avera 9’s massive craters. Most use the stairs cut into the stone to get up and down through the town’s levels, but the high volume of seasonal rainfall can turn them into deadly waterslides; during storms it’s usually a good idea to either stay put or shell out to use Tari Town’s cable car system.

THE CHILDREN OF THE STONE COMMUNE - A small settlement not far from the outskirts of Tari Town composed of mostly natural-material buildings ringed in by a simple fence and occupied by a group of believers. The Commune is operated (and lead) by one Sis’Kaar Gold, a middle aged Bari with a surprisingly soft voice for a man with so many teeth, but made up almost entirely of other races. The group mostly keep to themselves, making whatever living they can off of Avera 9’s few resources, taking care of their Srisaws (docile, goat-like creatures roughly 4 feet tall and 7 feet long that shed scaley skin popular in certain circles for use in outerwear) and preaching to anyone who will listen about the strength of stone and of Avera 9. They’re not planning on leaving when the planet begins it’s pass through the Asteroid belt. It’s advisable not to attempt to convince them otherwise.

DUREUM MINES - An abandoned mining operation on the far side of the planet. The surface level operations were decimated during Avera 9’s last passage through the asteroid belt, but there may be something left to unearth in what little remains of the mine’s systems if you can find a way inside.

THE LAXU CLAN BASE - The Laxu Clan, a notable trading family (cough smuggler ring cough), once had a base of operations here on Avera 9 but it’s been mostly submerged by the rising water levels and since abandoned.

THE IRON OUTPOSTS - These outposts were once part of a long gone Bari military operation; they formed a line that is thought to have once extended unbroken for just over 3,000 kilometers. You won’t be able to get to them all on the speeder bikes and many have been ruined either by time or by the changing landscape, but there may be some interesting discoveries left to be made.

NELOLIAN PLAIN - A wide swath of land, the Nelolian Plain is a lovely stretch of grassland... when it isn’t pouring rain. These days it’s a giant mud hole, pockmarked by a number of outposts and operational bases that might offer up some salvage... if they’re abandoned. Some of them are definitely still in use, so don’t accidentally walk your way into the ones that are.

THE TRENCH - A great scar of a canyon that runs roughly parallel to the planet’s equator. There are signs of cave systems, outbuildings and old structures built around the edge of the trench and down the sides that might be worth exploration.

THE HOT LINE - A series of asteroid created lakes situated over a fault line. Normally filled with heated water that reaches visibly boiling and bubbling temperatures at their centers thanks to fissures, they are known to drain and refill completely once a day at seemingly random intervals. Despite the volatility of the area, mining operations were attempted at one time, as it was found that the asteroid impact that created the lakes uncovered platinum deposits. With most of the lakes stripped and major operations abandoned after a freak accident, scavengers have been known to try their luck digging through the lake beds during the hour (or less) that they are drained. (largest lake approx 70m to 79m across, depth of 61m, smallest approx 49m to 57m across, depth of 32m)

ELSEWHERE - Avera 9 is a big place and while hosts are limited by both their speeder bikes and the fact that they need to leave before they get smashed by asteroids, there’s a lot of stuff out there to find. If you have an idea or suggestion for something you want your character or others to stumble across, feel free to pitch it for approval in the appropriate thread below.

A log will be posted for the initial arrival on Avera 9, but players are more than welcome to make their own posts during the duration of the mission. Characters are welcome to speak and interact with members of the native population; feel free to handwave minor interactions, but be prepared for the possibility of threadjacking by mod-controlled mission specific npcs or events should certain criteria be met.

If you have any questions, please direction them to the questions thread below!

NAVIGATION • PREMISE • FAQ • RULES • GLOSSARY • RESERVES • SYMBIOTIC SKILLS • ABILITY POINTS

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )