Eclipse Phase: Long Night Sign-Up

[Arhra]

Man is a creature that fears the dark.

He craves his fear, even though he averts his eyes from it. But you cannot see darkness. It is absence and emptiness. What Man fears, what the eye craves, is that which inhabits the dark.

Less than two decades ago, the world ended. A cataclysm of killing machines and broken physics. Humanity became a thin smear spread across the heavens, leaving the Earth below grey with dust and death.

Much of humanity has been resurrected from frozen memories, but ultimately Man has turned away from the past. There is too much darkness there. It is colonised by ghosts and mysteries. Better not to remember, better not to dwell on the past, Man says.

Is it wrong to seek out the things we fear?

Wake up!

Is it a crime to seek the truth? Is it a sin to think?!

The day humanity abandons its curiousity is the day we die! If we give up the past and curl up in our little solar system, hiding away from what frightens us, then the march to our extinction has begun. The TITANs are vanished, not dead. The cause of their murderous uprising is unknown. Their science is beyond us.

You might have tried to blind yourself with light. But no matter how bright a bonfire, how matter how starry a sky, you found yourself looking out into the darkness beyond.

Tear down your little house of rationalisations and disassemble your careful arguments and denials. Bid farewell to peace and rest - it was all a lie anyway.

Go out into the dark.

Fear is vital.

* * *

You are not unique.
You have been here before.
And you already died.

This is Eclipse Phase. It is a cyberpunk RPG setting where over ninety percent of humanity was killed during the Fall, not even twenty years ago. The Fall was caused by the TITANs, artificial self modifying intelligences who rose up against their creators. Some of the monstrous horrors of the Fall suggest it was triggered by a third party, an Exsurgent.

Humankind is now spread across the solar system, in the middle of the arduous process of rebuilding civilisation. Many of those slain during the Fall had copies of their consciousness beamed into space. Most of them are still stored in memory caches. Bodies are precious, for the demand far outstrips the supply.

And, of course, not all of the existential threats left when the TITANs did.

This will be a one shot game. It'll largely be in the style of a freeform RP, but I will be applying skill checks to inject some capricious whims of fate into the process. The core book is available for free on the interwebs, but I would only recommend it for flavour as the rules will be vastly simplified.

For this scenario, you are workers on Cerberus Base, a hypercorp operated research facility located in the outer system. They're researching some, well, three separate very dangerous things involving psychic powers, exotic matter and portals. Your characters have just woken up in the medical bay together because you have been murdered and the base is currently in full security lockdown. Its your job to figure out what exactly is going on. Preferably before the security countermeasures kick in and everything explodes.

The characters will be largely pregenerated by me, however I would like people to present some ideas for what they'd like to play, so I can use that as a starting point.

[Steel Shadow]

I am in. Manny the Travel agent. He knows a guy, totally.

[Overcast]

I am also in. Scott from Medical. Psychosurgeon, therapist, analyst, warrior poet.

[Arhra]

I am in. Manny the Travel agent. He knows a guy, totally.

I should perhaps emphasise that, while perhaps not black ops, this secret research station is grey at best!

One does not publically admit to researching TITAN artifacts!

[Aerozord]

two ideas

Oran: infolife "scientist monk". Finds a physical body a distraction. Scholarly and a master hacker*

"Octi": A some racist name an uplifted octopus took a shine to. Mechanic skilled at multi-tasking.



*If Oran works I'd want him to tend to jump around alot, hanging out in a ecto or ghostrider module, or just jumping from console to console

[PyrosNine]

Red Garm, the Russian bottle fairy SodaPop Drunkenski mail order bride who may or may not be a habitual liar and saboteur.

[PhoenixFlame]

Put me down for a Lost generation computer programmer who utilizes thoughtspeed to program.

And psionics to reverse-engineer things. What's the worst that could happen? :dance:

[Sifright]

Im up for this.

How does John the middle manager with a smattering of science and business skills who got his position due to taking credit for others work?

[Aerozord]

Im up for this.

How does John the middle manager with a smattering of science and business skills who got his position due to taking credit for others work?
wearing a redshirt when
Put me down for a Lost generation computer programmer who utilizes thoughtspeed to program.

And psionics to reverse-engineer things. What's the worst that could happen? :dance:

This person snaps and starts flaying people with her mind

[Arhra]

I am in. Manny the Travel agent. He knows a guy, totally.

I feel I should clarify, Manny just say's he's a travel agent 'cus it sounds better to chicks. He probably does something menial like monitor trafic flow or cleans shuttles or somethin'

This is acceptable unto me!


I am also in. Scott from Medical. Psychosurgeon, therapist, analyst, warrior poet.

Specialisation is for insects! I approve!


two ideas

Oran: infolife "scientist monk". Finds a physical body a distraction. Scholarly and a master hacker*

"Octi": A some racist name an uplifted octopus took a shine to. Mechanic skilled at multi-tasking.

AGI's are illegal, citizen! Perhaps more pertinently, this isn't a good scenario for infolife. And I would like more to a concept than 'octopus mechanic who does octopus things'.


Red Garm, the Russian bottle fairy SodaPop Drunkenski mail order bride who may or may not be a habitual liar and saboteur.

Yeah, no. I shouldn't need to explain why.


Put me down for a Lost generation computer programmer who utilizes thoughtspeed to program.

And psionics to reverse-engineer things. What's the worst that could happen? :dance:

GOD HIMSELF COULD NOT SINK THIS SHIP!


Im up for this.

How does John the middle manager with a smattering of science and business skills who got his position due to taking credit for others work?

He sounds amazing. Quite possibly, the most amazing.

Welp, that's six expressions of interest and four acceptable concepts, so I guess I'd better get cracking.

Some of my fun here will be different ammounts of missing time due to people having different backup habits. Who feels like dealing with a huge chunk of missing time? :3:

[Sifright]

Im totally up for my middle manager shooting drugs in his lunch breaks and going missing.

Mdma the business mans high. (im sure everything will work out for the best!)

[PhoenixFlame]

Missing time is great. It'd be like that time I woke up in decaying orbit over a moon of some exoplanetary system with somebody's internal organs in my mouth and no idea how I got there.

Or that this wasn't Sol. (Don't smuggle year-old backups in lockers with makeshift egobridges, kids)

[Aerozord]

alrighty

Uplifted octopus skilled in hardware and nanotechnology motivated to research TITAN artifacts in the hopes that it will allow them to retake Earth and to swim in the oceans of his ancestors. This motivation is kept to himself however since many hypercorps frown upon such ideas.

Of course combat wise, well he's a freakin octopus mechanic, he hides like the octo-pussy that he is.

[Arhra]

Profiles should be up in 48 hours!

[Sifright]

Profiles should be up in 48 hours!

I can't wait!

....No really i can't wait :ohdear:

[Arhra]

Agh, I had forgotten how time consuming stats are so here's just the text profiles for the moment:


Name: Manny (Manfred) Kaldevra

Background: Effective immortality meant a complete lack of responsibility for what used to be the heirs of the extremely rich and influential. Bereft of the chance to ever grab the reigns of the family fortunes or even be on equal terms with their elders, these one-time heirs have become rich and bored socialites, free of any real responsibilities. Dubbed glitterati, they live celebrity lifestyles, throwing excessive parties and bathing in media attention.

You're a defector from decadence. You decided to strike out on your own and do an honest job, without any help from your family. They're betting it'll be just a year until you come crawling back. You've ended up on Cerberus Station, working as a traffic controller, shuttle maintainer, cargo handler, quartermaster and occaisonal pilot. You call yourself a travel agent too - sometimes it's even true since you organise transfers for people going in and out of station.

Lack: You are missing the last five days. You follow a weekly backup regime.

Security Clearance: WHITE BRAVO. Sure you work in the shuttle bay, but you don't even get to look at classified cargo.

Skills:
Melee (Proficient): You've been taught self defence.
- Swords (Skilled): You also took up fencing.
Ranged (Proficient): And put in some time at the firing range too.
- Rifles (Advanced): You may or may not have been a clay pigeon shooting afficiando.
Movement (Advanced): Sportslord.
- Freefall (Expert): No-one must ever know you were captain of the zero-g football team at college.
Search (Proficient): You're a little better at finding things than the average bear.
- Scrounging (Mediocre): How does this inventory system even work?!
Awareness (Proficient): You're not bad at noticing things.
Reflexes (Proficient): You've got decent reflexes.
Willpower (Proficient): Your current lifestyle shows your determined-ish nature!
Social (Advanced): You used to get invited to all the best parties.
- Persuasion (Expert): You've got the gift of the gab!
Skullduggery (Basic): You're no master thief but you're not terrible at being light on your feet.
Interface (Skilled): You've mucked around a lot with various machines.
- Teleoperation (Advanced): By 'cargo handler' I mean you actually use robots to handle it for you.
Software (Basic): You could program a VCR with a little help, maybe.
- Infosec (Advanced): A life as a socialite involves a lot of backstabbing, scandal and treachery. You're learnt the importance of good data integrity.
Hardware (Proficient): Turns out modding vehicles was a transferable skill!
- Aerospace (Advanced): You marvelous man and your flying machine... maintenance.
Medicine (Mediocre): If someone's bleeding you should try to stop that, you guess?
Psychotherapy (Mediocre): You're more into applied psychology.
Academics
- Economics (Proficient): Once upon a time it seemed you might actually reach a position of real authority in the family business.
- Old Earth History (Skilled): Your family is old money. They insisted.
Art
- Speech (Skilled): Fellow spacefarers, lend me your ears!
Profession
- XP Production (Proficient): You've put together the occaisonal well edited experiential video.

Ego Traits:
Charm: You smooth operator. Everyone just likes you.
Gossip: You know a guy and he says... [How do you know this? You shouldn't know this.] You have a small chance of knowing some relevant info on any topic.

Morph traits:
The bouncer is designed for zero gee and, being the one with the most EVA experience, Manny ended up with it. It's limber, agile and has creepy hand-feet. Due to various adaptations, it's possible for you to survive in a vacuum unassisted for up to ten minutes. I wouldn't recommend it. You're also better than the average bear at telling when the environment is killing you. Brown hair, dark eyes and pale skin, with an athletic build.


Name: Scott Manning
Background: You like big brains and you cannot lie. Your medical expertise put you on a fast track for ressurrection following the Fall and your presumably horrific death. You were indentured with very agreeable terms and shortly found yourself a free man again. You've kept up with the cutting edge of psychosurgical and neural research and so you were tapped to act in a senior medical position on Cerberus Base.

They have quite a disproportionate number of asyncs working here, due to the need to provide test subjects for Project TRAVELLER so you've been kept very busy.

Security Clearance: WHITE NOVEMBER & RED SIERRA. Providing effective medical analysis requires you have a grounding in all three research programs and the potential failure modes of involved research personnel. The infection vectors and resultant mental imbalances of Project TRAVELLER are of particular importance.

Lack: You are missing the past thirteen hours of your life and it irks you immeasurably. You follow a daily backup regime.

Skills
Melee (Basic): Brawling is so uncouth.
- Unarmed(Advanced): You've got a black belt in ju-jitsu. Woah.
Ranged (Skilled): You like the concentration shooting needs.
Movement (Proficient): You're limberish.
Search (Advanced): You're very good at ferreting things out.
Awareness (Basic): You can be a little inattentive when you're focusing on something.
- Listening (Skilled): But you're a good listener.
Reflexes (Proficient): You react OK to surprises.
Willpower (Skilled): Your line of work needs a lot of inner strength.
Social (Skilled): You've worked on your bedside manner.
- Kinesics (Expert): You pay attention to what they aren't telling you.
Skullduggery (Proficient): With catlike tread...
- Palming (Skilled): You've picked up a few coin tricks to keep the kiddies entertained.
Interface (Proficient): Medical equipment sure has some weird interfaces, huh?
Software (Basic): You don't really computers.
Hardware (Mediocre): Or machines.
- Implants (Skilled): Unless it's going to go inside someone.
- Medical Equipment (Skilled): Or possibly someone's going to go inside it.
Medicine (Advanced): Doctorrrrrrr!
Psychotherapy (Expert): Shrinks heads and doesn't afraid of anything.
Academics
- Biology (Advanced): People are full of blood, organs and other substances. You can name all of them.
- Genetics (Skilled): You've modded a germline or two in your time.
- Nanotechnology (Proficient): You've studied the medical applications of tiny robots.
- Old Earth History (Skilled): those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
- Psychology (Expert): Freud was wrong!
- Sociology (Advanced): Society is what happens when two or more people fail to immediately kill each other.

Ego Traits:
Calm: You can keep your head above the mayhem.
Deep Analysis: All the world is a puzzle, and some of the pieces don't fit.

Morph Traits:
Neotenics are humans modified to retain a childlike form. This is so they eat, breathe and poop less, allowing humanity to keep them in smaller spacecraft and delaying the advent of cannibalism when things go terribly wrong. This particular neotenic is of the 'Innocence' brand, a variant advertised for its enhanced intuition and wide-eyed appreciation of the world around it. It might even be true. You're blonde, slight, child sized, big headed and blue eyed.


Name: Narela Freeman
Background: You're one of the rare people born after the Fall. In fact, you're one of the even rarer people who are infamous for it. The Futura Project was an attempt to create a new generation of humanity in the aftermath of the Fall, raising them in an accelerated virtual reality. It has gone down in history as one of humanity's greatest bungles, leaving behind a generation of pale, psychic, mentally disturbed adult children. It's been ten years since the project was suspended and six years since your ego was pulled out of storage and allowed to experience reality for the first time.

After a few years going through bad places, you decided to get into computers! They're so much more reliable than human beings. Your unique mix of skills led to you being approach for the projects on Cerberus Base. The work on Project BLIND TINKERER has been good, really forced you to innovate and think in new ways. Hephaestus is coming along nicely. You are about to discover that your participation in Project TRAVELLER has not been nearly as satisfactory.

Lack: You are missing the past nine weeks of your life due to following a monthly backup cycle and participating in BLIND TINKERER but being deemed mentally unfit and not responding to therapy in the assessment period following exposure.

Security Clearance: BLUE SIERRA & RED BRAVO. You are intimately involved with software design for Project BLIND TINKERER's control interface. You were a test subject for Project TRAVELLER and so are aware of its basic capabilities.

Skills:
Melee (Proficient): You've been in more than your fair of scuffles.
- Knives (Advanced): During your childhood they were one of the easier weapons to get a hold of.
Ranged (Mediocre): You're not allowed guns.
Movement (Skilled): The best thing about living in not-a-sim is running around like a maniac.
Search (Basic): You're not great at finding things.
- Research (Skilled): Unless it's on the meshtubes.
Awareness (Basic): Sometimes you pay attention.
- Sixth Sense (Skilled): Sometimes you just get a feeling, you know?
Reflexes (Skilled): You've learned to avoid sudden, painful death.
Willpower (Advanced): It's why you're still sane.
- Lucidity (Basic): You have deep seated mental problems.
- Focus (Expert): Pain is an illusion of the senses.
Social (Basic): Neeeeeeeeeeeerd.
- Deception (Expert): We don't talk about the Futura Project.
Skullduggery (Mediocre): You don't sneak.
Interface (Advanced): You know all the GUIs. All of them.
- Teleoperation (Basic): You don't do robots.
Software (Advanced): Computers~
- Programming (Expert): It's your breadwinnner and you're damn good at it.
Hardware (Basic): The files are in the computer, so sometimes you have to fix stuff.
Medicine (Mediocre): Why I die?
Psi-Use (Advanced): You are psychic.
Academics
- Computer Science (Expert): You know computers.
- Mathematics (Proficient): Computers are powered by maths.
- Physics (Basic): You've learned it doesn't explain anything.
Art
- Painting (Proficient): You enjoyed art therapy.
Profession
- Lab Technician (Skilled): All the really interesting software projects seem to involve experimenting with something dangerous.

Ego Traits:
Pull the Thread: When you seize on something, you follow through.
Psi-Gamma: You're pretty psychic.
Claustrophobia: Small spaces give you trouble. Sometimes a lot of trouble.
Borderline Personality Disorder: You're one of the tomatoes.

Psionics:
Grok: You can try to intuitively understand how any unfamiliar object is used.
High Pain Threshold: Ow.
Instinct: Your snap decisions are better than most people's well considered decisions.
Ego Sense: Sense life. Know things about them.
Surface Scan: Impressions of a nearby person's surface thoughts. Can check for particular details instead.

Morph Traits:
Tall, lanky, red and purple haired, this ruster variant is a frontier model with superior mesh inserts due to the lack of cloud computing in the Martian outback, enhanced endurance and improved psychological stability. Being a morph designed for Mars, it's cold and low oxygen tolerant. An oxygen rich environment can make you a little giddy.


Name: John Bowen
Background: You were on Earth during the Fall, and managed to get uploaded as well as physically loaded onto an evacuation shuttle. However, the shuttle never made it to orbit. This was the crystallisation of something you'd always known: Life is fundamentally unfair. The universe doesn't care if you get your just deserts. It's every man for himself.

You work as a middle manager on Cerberus Station, working in HR to oversee personnel assignments. It's a position you obtained through moderate competence and effective management of your underlings and giving the credit to yourself. It seems unglamourous but you're smart. You have more sway than people might realise, given you're partially responsible for staff rosters, allocation of sleeping quarters and maintenance priorities for non-critical quality of life functions.

Lack: You are missing the last three days. You follow a weekly backup schedule.

Security Clearance: WHITE NOVEMBER. Fingers in all the pies.

Security Clearance: WHITE NOVEMBER. Fingers in all the pies.

Skills
Melee (Skilled): Sometimes you are an angry, angry man.
Ranged (Skilled): Used to be a hobby of yours.
- Pistols (Advanced): You still frequent the VR pistol range.
Movement (Basic): You're a bit uncoordinated.
- Running (Skilled): You know how to get the hell out of dodge.
Search (Basic): It's not your job to find stuff!
- Investigation (Advanced): Finding stuff on other people makes your job easier.
Awareness (Advanced): You notice the little things.
Reflexes (Advanced): You can really think on your feet.
Willpower (Proficient): A little stubborn.
- Lucidity (Advanced): You're not going to let this crap get to you.
Social (Skilled): It's all about knowing how to approach someone.
Skullduggery (Basic): You've got a semi-light step.
Interface (Basic): Computers occaisonally confuse and enrage you.
Software (Basic): You don't need to understand why a spreadsheet works.
Hardware (Mediocre): It's magic as far as you're concerned.
Medicine (Basic): You flunked out of medical school.
- First Aid (Skilled): You remembered enough to ace your first aid training.
Psychosurgery (Skilled): It's given you a keen appreciation of catharsis.
Academics
- Biochemistry (Skilled): You may or may not take a lot of drugs.
- Botany (Skilled): You were an avid gardener before the Fall
- Forensics (Advanced): You know how to cover your trail.
Profession
- Accounting (Skilled): It's a part of your job
- Project Management (Skilled): Time schedules and contracts and paperwork, oh my!

Ego Traits:
Skeletons in the closet: You've got a real talent for finding out where the bodies are buried and using it effectively.
Rage: You angry, angry man.

Morph Traits:
Splicers are the bread and butter of post-Fall humanity. They have the advantage of being extremely customisable. This particular model's unusually strong and tough. You're tanned, black haired, heavyset and brown eyed.


Name: Hugo Takdorf
Background: You are an octopus. You were born in space. You've never set tentacle on Earth, nor seen the oceans of your ancestors. You were quite young during the Fall, still working off your contract to the hypercorp that created you. You dream of someday travelling there, once Earth is reclaimed.

You're emancipated now but options aren't great for an octopus. They're often second class citizens in the inner system and as far as you can tell the outer system isn't really a civilisation at all. You just need to keep your head down, work hard and slowly position yourself somewhere you can do something about it. You're a little over-qualified for your current position, acting as a senior maintainer for the habitat module of Cerberus Station.

Lack: You are missing six days. You follow a fortnightly backup schedule, as you don't like the ammount of time it takes.

Security Clearance: WHITE BRAVO. Sure there's some secret projects going on, but you're just here to make sure the habitat module keeps working.

Skills:
Melee (Mediocre): You have no bones, and thus never learned how to throw a punch.
- Wrestling (Proficient): Your natural advantages give you a leg up here.
Ranged (Basic): Point at enemy and hope for the best.
Movement (Proficient): You're decently agile.
- Swimming (Skilled): Duh.
Search (Skilled): You know the tao of finding stuff.
- Scrounging (Expert): Could make something useful by sorting through scrap, boxes and a cave.
Awareness (Proficient): You're aware of your surroundings
Reflexes (Advanced): In times of danger, you are not there.
Willpower (Basic): You're spineless.
- Tenacity (Advanced): It's hard to drive tentacle beasts mad, I suppose?
Social (Proficient): An amiable sort.
Skullduggery (Skilled): Naturally sneaky.
Interface (Advanced): It's your life.
Software (Skilled): Nothing's just mechnaical in this day and age.
Hardware (Advanced): You are a technician. This is your job. You are a very good technician.
- Electronics (Expert): Electron wizard.
- Nanotech (Expert): It was your specialty for quite a few years.
Medicine (Proficient): A lot of medical applications for nanotech.
Academics
- Engineering (Expert): You have degrees!
- Nanotechnology (Expert): If it's measured in billionths of a meter, you know all about it.
- Old Earth History (Proficient): It's a history of tragedy.
- Physics (Skilled): You could explain nuclear fusion to someone.
Profession
- Mining (Skilled): It's what you were originally bred for.

Ego Traits
Jury-Rig: You're still a legend on Station 013 for your valour during the Fall.
Multi-tasking: You've trained in independently operating all them arms of yours.

Morph Traits:
You are an octopus.


Finally, since even if you shouldn't know it's hard to keep secrets in a place like this:

Project TRAVELLER: (Permanent) psi-amplifier.
Project REAR WINDOW: Pandora Gate prototype (no successful activations).
Project BLIND TINKERER: A small fabber for creating exotic forms of matter, salvaged from a TITAN weapon's repair system. Useful for various kinds of screwing with the laws of physics.

Lastly, I have decided to reuse the old pad I set up for this (http://edupad.ch/ewAVlovUjh). Go there to ask questions, work out how well you know each other and make any last minute character requests before I finalise 'em.

[Arhra]

SHOWTIME.

The completed profiles have been edited into the previous post and the main thread is up.

I'm intending to use the edupad to help draft conversations since it allows a more rapid back-and-forth than posts, so you might want to take a look at it if you haven't already.

[PhoenixFlame]

Hurrah, now to see what horrible things we can get into.

[Arhra]

I have loaded the listing of the gear I have currently decided to give you all into the edupad (http://edupad.ch/ewAVlovUjh), and it would be a good idea for you bold heroes to start working out who gets what and placing demands for other gear you might be reasonably expected to find in an emergency cache.

Bonus points for doing it in-character.

[Arhra]

Hmm, the info I've given to various people about the station arrangements is a bit piecemeal and not everyone has seen it, so time to explain some of the complexities of the situation.

Cerberus Station is actually an obsolete pre-Fall tumbling-pigeon style spacecraft (it spins end over end to provide gravity). It was purchased and refurbished to act as a research base, replacing the cargo modules with living quarters and the three classified labs.

The general habitat module is run by BaSIL. He needs human oversight to perform certain functions (like venting the atmosphere in a section) and has no knowledge of the conditions in the restricted labs. In a lockdown state, the bridges to the labs are actually withdrawn and communications to the labs are restricted to very low bandwidth links to prevent viral spread. Security personnel are supposed to get in their spacesuits and travel over to give the all clear before they can be reconnected.

The restricted labs each have their own AI and mesh. They can also be ejected from the base entirely should something go horribly wrong. Perhaps a third of the station personnel are trapped in them right now.

In an emergency, personnel on the general habitat module are supposed to evacuate to the escape pods. They aren't actually launched until someone hits the button, which is supposed to be when the general order is given, but they can't get out either unless the all-clear is given by the security people. The catastrophic breakdown of the emergency response procedure means this has all gone to hell. Up to one quarter of the station population might be trapped in them.

The firebomb in the cafeteria killed a a third of the station personnel. Due to legal issues with forking, BaSIL can't reinstantiate anyone unless it's the most up to date copy. He's picked youse guys because of the confirmed brain and stack destruction, meaning he can use the backups in the med bay.

Things get more complicated because, as I said, Cerberus Base uses centrifugal spin to get gravity. The counterweight, connected to Cerberus Base by 2km of super-strong cable, is Catapult Base. The fusion reactors providing power generation for both bases are located there. Power is beamed over to Cerberus Base with a microwave emitter. It shuts off in an emergency. This is a deliberate safety feature - TITAN nasties struggle to get a foothold when there's no readily available power to fuel, say, all the cornocopia machines making killer robots.

Catapult Base is also the last line of defence. They have a remote trigger for the Cerberus Base self destruct and enough weapons to destroy anything that leaves Cerberus Base. You'll need to call in fairly often if you don't want them to get itchy trigger fingers.

For added complication, Catapult Base is run by Direct Action while the Cerberus Base security is outsourced to a smaller outfit called Crimson Guard and since they're private contractors, BaSIL can't give you some of the security codes they have.

And oh yeah, the entire station mesh is compromised. The medical bay is running independently so it's safe. Ask questions! Trust no-one! Have fun!

[Aerozord]

What is the base's population? Rough estimate I mean

[Arhra]

One hundred and twelve. Would you like to know their names?

[Overcast]

Already know them, read everyone's psychological profile while high on unreasonable amounts of Neem. Can never be too careful.

[Arhra]

Bluuuuh, I'm going off on a work trip, so update's going to be a few more days.

[Arhra]

I'm afraid my timing is as terrible as it's always been with deciding to kick things off immediately before I get swamped with something.

So I thought what I'd do, see, is try to get the ball rolling again with many hundreds of words and the possibility of a gun fight with a numerically superior force of robot hookers. Oh cyborg super-future, why do you do this to people?

Anyway, since I have just dumped a whole pile of info and an as of yet incomplete picture of the scenario onto you (BaSIL didn't mention the medical alert from the lead IT guy in his quarters saying that he won't wake up, since his life's not in immediate danger and BaSIL hasn't quite finished his analysis of the mesh hacks so he can't tell you some interesting info there until next post), if you have any questions you need answered before you act, ask 'em here or in the pad.

Now, onto the inventory!

----------------------
WEAPONS CASE
----------------------
2x Arc throwers: Space-tasers. Short ranged things that zap people with lightning to stun them.

1x Lasmagnum: Revolver style heavy laser pistol. Has a six shot cylinder-style magazine. The 'bullets' are combined supercapacitors and contain one shot's worth of coolant. Few shots but ridiculously powerful compared to a regular laspistol.

1x Pepperbox Style Laspistol: Substantially heavier than a regular laser pistol due to having five duplicate lens and cooling assemblies (think tiny minigun). No improvement in shot power, but substantially improved firing rate. Has the option of firing off all five shots near instantly, but this overheats all barrels.

There's also a number of normal laser pistols. Option of integrated battery or using a strap on hip pack (part of hip holster). Trade off of more shots before reload for possible vulnerability of wire running between pistol and battery pack. They can fire in pulse mode, which is essentially equivalent to shooting a bullet as the entire shot is a fraction of a second long, or in continuous beam mode, which is weaker but you can wave it around to improve your aim (doesn't work so well on hardened targets). That gets a second or two of beam.

1x Machine pistol: Full autofire! DADADADADADADA!

1x Heavy Rail Pistol: For putting big holes in things and taking no prisoners.

Rest are normal chemical propellant semi-auto pistols.

Ammo: Armour piercing, regular and rubber bullets available.

1x shock cetus: For punching. The metal plates can become electrified to help stun the enemy.

1x wasp knives: It's a knife, it's a syringe, it's full of tranquilisers.

An Arbitrary Number of Regular Knives: They're knives.

1x Space Axe: For removing obstructions.

Tacnet software: For tactics. Infowar on your enemies, countering enemy infowar, squad cooridnation, tactical evaluation, synchronisation, it's very useful.

Laser comm links: there's several built into on the armoured suits, you'll have to attach a few to the jumpsuit and octo-camo and there's about two dozen spares after that. You might want to form your own impromptu mesh by using 'em as breadcrumbs.

---------------------------------
NANITE COUNTERMEASURES CASE
---------------------------------
2x UV lasers: They're not as good at killing people but they're great at killing nanites. They have a flashlight mode that is good at affecting areas. Shine them on things to see if you're getting nanite sparkles if afraid of faraway maybe-nanites and all of your drones have mysteriously been destroyed!

2x Anti-Nanite Googles: Has a visual enhancement mode designed to help pick up said nanite sparkles, track particulates and can also use microscopic vision.

5x Nanodetectors: Clip on units that will start shouting at you if they detect anything tiny and robotic that they don't like the look of.

2x Nanodetector Drones: Tennis ball sized hovering units carrying a nanodetector with a mesh link that can follow simple instructions. Send them in to take a look at anything you find suspicious. Camera and audio is pretty crappy on them.

5x Nanophage Autoinjectors: It's an epipen-style device that injects you with rather violent tiny machines configured to kill anything that looks at them funny. Not good for your health, worse for the health of any foreign bodies. Make sure you used the one tagged with your blood sample, unless you want to give yourself a necrotising puncture wound.

3x Thermobaric Grenades: Fire is the universal answer to rogue nanoswarms.

1x Guardian Nanoswarm: Millions of tiny friends who eat the bad nanites. Launched out of a pistol-styled hive unit. I should emphasise that dust clouds are not sprinters so if you're planning to run you'll leave 'em behind.

----------------------
MISCELLANEOUS
----------------------
2x Tranquiliser guns: You're testing deranged psychics on this base. Of course the medbay has tranquilliser guns.

2x Field Medic Kits: Bandages, sterilisers, painkillers, scalpels, strange future-tools, etc.

3x Armoured Skinsuits: Skintight and they don't have pockets. They do have optional harnesses though. Hooray for harnesses.

1x Regular Space Clothes: Think jumpsuits. It's a technican's suit so it's actually half decent protection.

Octo-camo: An environmental suit designed for octopi. It's more or less a pair of lenses, one or two pieces of electronics and a lot of paint made out of tiny robots.

All space clothes deploy an emergency helmet in the case of depressurisation, but it's flimsy and oxygen supply is very limited.

It's deliberate that there's few tools - you can pick some up if you need them - Hugo and, to a lesser extent, Manny know where the stuff's kept. You could also just call an automech to your location and have IT carry the tools. The mesh is kinda compromised though! The robots might be too.

Long story short, drop by maintenance for all your welding torches, rope, repair spray, stickyfoam grenades, caulk guns, hot-swappable integrated circuits and other needs. There may also be some obvious thing you decide you need that would be in the medical bay, so ask if you think of anything.

Also, just keep in mind you can't carry much and move fast.

Probably best to use the pad to work out gear allocation!

[Aerozord]

If I may, can we get an attendance on those still active? Hate to stale because someone is waiting on a response from an absentee

[Overcast]

Definitely still here.

[Steel Shadow]

Still about, 'course.

[Sifright]

Still here although i've had issues with time thanks to work and sleeping problems.

[Aerozord]

question for our GM, should I take it anytime you mention equipment that there is an octomorph equivalent, cause you said human suits in the last post.

[Arhra]

question for our GM, should I take it anytime you mention equipment that there is an octomorph equivalent, cause you said human suits in the last post.

Behold my power!

A spidery assemblage of arms on the ceiling started moving, its turret traversing the track set in the ceiling for it and lowering in front of the locker, pulling them out and laying them on an extended arm, imitating a coat rack. It traversed to the next locker, opening it, and pulled out a technician's jumpsuit and a bag that seemed to be full of something the consistency of jelly, holding the last item primly in one manipulator like a purse.

...

The ceiling-bot turned, the rubbery limbs of the combat suits flopping like empty skins. The limb holding the bag telescoped, offering the octomorph the cephalopod specific protective suit, and fanning its other arms to offer the humaniform newly reinstantiated a choice of clothes. It made a satisfied sounding musical sequence of tones.

Octo-camo: An environmental suit designed for octopi. It's more or less a pair of lenses, one or two pieces of electronics and a lot of paint made out of tiny robots.

Making a full-body suit out of fabric that could accomodate an octopus's full range of movement caused me too much mental trouble, so Hugo gets the suit made out of some sort of smart gel. Its default mode is transparent, so he can show off all those lovely chromatophores. There's an optional partial frame assist to help his spineless nature overcome gravity. Basically something for his tentacles to brace off.

[Arhra]

Anywho, I'm going to be off on a work trip for the rest of this week, so I won't be able to internet until I get back.

[Steel Shadow]

Quickly! We must do all the things now!

[Arhra]

Since Overcast's mentions of people might have confused other players and he might want to share that info on the past thirteen hours around, here we go:

Scott tends to back up in the afternoon and worked a bit late since a maintenance technician (Kurt Merring) got a nasty laceration trying to capture a creepy that was acting erratically.

The big events that would influence several people were:

Big birthday party for Security Chief Red Harkner last night. Entire security staff who weren't on duty attended and a few of the other station personnel. Security's a bit insular. No-one's really how it's possible to get a tricked out Fury falling down drunk, but she manages it.

Today is a contact experiment on the psi-amp. It shouldn't happen for several hours, they're currently doing the work-up.

Otto von Weisscroft, token octopus, has organised a party in the recreation section this morning again. He throws them pretty reuglarly. Invites pretty much everyone who's got a day off. He books all the pods, gets up at a ridiculous hour (about 4am), goes to the rec-section and potters about overseeing the party room getting set up to his exact specifications, getting extremely drunk and slash or drugged up in the process. He declares the doors open at nine then presides over the party like an eight legged mad hatter for the rest of the day.

He works in HR.

It's nothing hugely out of the ordinary. Station life is pretty dull, so there's a lot of parties.

[Arhra]

I know quite a few of you are pretty busy and then having things like Anima, Exalted and Dresden Files taking up a lot of your limited free time, but this is getting silly!