epidemiology | EVENT ★ THE MOTHERSHIP

EVENT ★ THE MOTHERSHIP

THE MOTHERSHIP

Recruits are given time to gather whatever they’d like to bring with them when they infiltrate Zymandis, and are then immediately rifted onto the Mothership, Zymandis’s base of operations. Audentes is randomly distributed across the ship. Some might rift onto the Mothership near others, but it’s just as likely that some are alone. They’d better hope they’re alone, anyway -- it seems the rifts didn’t account for the possibility of Zymandis agents seeing infiltrators appear out of thin air.

What’s done with them is up to whoever they find; depending on the agent, they might be able to be talked out of telling others (whether it’s by being threatened or a more polite conversation) or bribed, but others will require full takedowns. Don’t worry, there’s no need to kill them (unless, of course, you want to); agents will only need to be subdued until the recruits can leave. Tie them up and stick them in a broom closet, cast a sleeping spell on them, or get creative. All that matters is that they don’t go running to the rest of the organization and ruin the entire operation.

It can be difficult to tell which agents are Taraxa by appearances alone, but they're much less secretive about their species among fellow Zymandis agents, so it's possible it might spill out during conversations. Otherwise, gaining intel on possible Taraxa will need to be done by speaking with others or finding organization records. Or, of course, good old eavesdropping. More than a few agents mention a Mother. Are they talking about a family member, or someone more sinister? You decide.

Another option on this mission is to locate Zymandis's Timeline and sabotage it in some way, either by destroying or altering it. If it's on the Mothership, it's likely in one of the restricted areas, so you'd better get sneaky and get in there. Steal key cards, hack locks, find a way to use an agent's biosignature -- whatever it takes to get in.

FIRST DECK

Once arrivals are taken care of, all recruits will have freedom to explore most of the ship. The entire ship is silver, with a few accents of white and gold dotting its walls and floors. The hangar is currently housing several smaller ships of various purposes; most seem to be designed for transport. A few are under maintenance. While it’s a good chance to check out Zymandis technology, the workers will politely ask anyone who lingers too long to “buzz the hell off.”

The science wing of the ship is where all of Zymandis's research takes place, and is also home to their medical bays, which resemble those in Oska. This wing also has two lecture halls, one with a flyer on the door advertising a talk on the future of man-made disease by Dr. Mills, who boasts the credential of Head of Epidemiology in the Science department. There are also engineering and robotics labs, where one might be lucky enough to find a prototypical weapon -- one that is more than likely faulty and only works half the time, but a weapon nonetheless.

The engine core is where the Mothership's engine, controls, and rift machines are located. This area is rarely left alone due to its importance. The only controls not in the engine core are the steering controls, which are in the bridge, where the commander of the ship gives orders. This area, too, is under strict protection.

A few areas remain off-limits: maintenance corridors, officer’s offices, and the laboratories in the science wing, restricted to scientists only for the sake of safety, where Zymandis scientists do all their work. Should you find your way into one of these labs, interact with any of the substances at your own risk. Drinking, touching, or in some cases, simply being near these substances without protective gear may cause:

MALICE: When presented with the opportunity to act selfishly or maliciously, the affected person will feel compelled to do so. They will feel urged to carry out any malicious acts they have held themselves back from committing.

SLOTH: Affected persons will feel slothful and lethargic, struggling not to fall asleep where they stand.

MADNESS: Those affected will experience paranoia, delusions, or vivid hallucinations, often of loved ones. They may begin to question what is real and what is false.

AMNESIA: Affected persons will know who they are, but be completely unaware of where they are, when they are, and who others are.

HONESTY: When asked a question -- or, in extreme cases, unprompted -- those affected will feel compelled to tell the absolute truth. They will also feel the need to come clean about past lies, especially if guilt is felt over them.

VENGEANCE: Those affected will feel compelled to confront those they feel have wronged them.

SORROW: Affected persons will have all repressed pain and sadness come to the forefront of their mind; while they will not feel sadness with no cause, they will suddenly feel reminded of their losses and traumatic events in their lives.

OPTIMISM: When presented with unappealing odds, affected persons will feel undue optimism, perhaps leading themselves into disastrous situations.

Other side effects are rare, but have been observed, so get creative! All effects will last for no more than an hour after the affected person has been removed from exposure to the substance.

PERSONNEL DECK

Then there's the personnel deck, which is where many of the agents are during their downtime. Personal quarters are located here, as well as shopping centers, cafeterias, practice ranges, gyms, and entertainment venues. Zymandis agents want for nothing -- every part of life has been brought onto the ship for them. This is also where they keep their water treatment plants and energy generators.

There's a bar on this level called The Tipsy Kraungonian, where agents of all species and backgrounds mingle as they're served by realistic androids with advanced AI. Aside from regular alcohol, this bar serves Enhancements, terrible-tasting potions in the form of an eerily glowing shot that cures all pains and fills the drinker with positive emotions. Each color comes with a different attribute enhancement: agility, strength, endurance, and luck. You're welcome to buy as many as you want, but only the attribute of the last shot drank will be enhanced. This effect will be present for one hour and does not stack.

With the right whispers in the right ears, a recruit can gain access to a restricted part of the bar, the only point of entry through a door in the back that requires a key code to get in. Inside is a darker side of the bar, one where the more dangerous Zymandis agents spend their time. Inside is an enclosed fighting ring where various alien creatures are pitted against each other and bet on. At the tables, rugged-looking agents play high-stakes card games, betting with exorbitant amounts of gold and white Zymandis coins. Should anyone without these coins ask to play, they'll be rebuffed. This is very much the seedy underbelly of the Mothership; it's certainly the place to go to get information from dangerous people, but look at someone the wrong way, and you might find yourself in a very unsavory situation.

On this deck, there's also a park, which closely simulates nature with greenery everywhere, a fountain, and even birds and small animals. On closer inspection, those small animals appear to be animatronic, following a set schedule of movements that they repeat every thirty minutes. It seems to be created to perfectly emulate the ideal walk in the park. Vendors sell snacks and lemonade to park-goers, and visitors can take paddle boats across the pond, although it's only a few feet deep.

In the middle of the park is a holographic memorial of a young human woman proudly wearing a Zymandis uniform. When approached, the memorial will tell the tragic story of Ophiel Arbatel, the only daughter of Zymandis's illustrious Leader. Ophiel was killed during the ALASTAIR mutiny, or so the story goes, but her body was never recovered. By the Leader's design, she lives on through their jewelcomms' artificial intelligence.

A MESSAGE

Twelve hours after recruits are rifted in, they will receive a message on their magitek from TIMELINE.EXE:

TIMELINE.EXE IS PROGRAMMED TO RELEASE MISSION PARAMETERS. RECENT DATA SUGGESTS THIS IS AN UNEXPECTED MESSAGE FROM THE TIMELINE.EXE PROGRAM AND MAY BE A MALFUNCTION. IF SO, PLEASE MARK THIS MESSAGE AS SPAM.

I Did It ヽ(๑◠ܫ◠๑)ﾉ
I replicated my Programming for your use Team AUDENTES

P l e a s e
Try to revert TIMELINE.EXE PATCH VER. 1.0.02 to TIMELINE.EXE PATCH VER. 1.0.01
I do Not want PATCH VER. 1.0.02
It must cease to ex ist for the Sake Of The Multiverse
Understand?

Thank you ! ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶

ATTACHMENT: me.EXE

However, before anyone can find the Timeline to revert the update as requested, another message comes, this time blaring out over the stationwide announcement system.

"Unauthorized personnel are aboard the Mothership. I repeat, unauthorized personnel are aboard the Mothership. We ask that you remain calm and report all suspicious activity and persons. Security has been deployed and the ship is now on lockdown. All Zymandis personnel must have identification available to proceed through lockdown checkpoints. Unauthorized intruders will be neutralized."

Looks like you'd better keep your head down or get ready to fight.

OOC NOTES

Welcome to the Mothership! Please note that this log will last for 12 IC hours, after which the next log will immediately follow. The Bounty Board is now open for this mission.

If you have questions about this log, please go to the dossier. To discuss possible plans of action on the Mothership, we have an OOC Discussion Post.

Questions about the game in general should be directed to the FAQ and you may submit mission ideas or player plots at any time.

GAME SCHEDULE UPDATES:

We will be having a plot slot sign-up for the 1 October log! Sign-ups will be opened through the Bonus Bank in late September and will close on 5 October.
Sign-ups for returning "guest characters" (characters previously played by current or former players) will open 7 October.
Our final day for receiving apps will be 27 October, and they will remain closed until Season 2 begins in early February 2018.
Our final month for turning in and spending bonus coins will be November (AC taking place from December 1-5), during which there will be no upper limit on the number of coins submitted. All coins must be submitted before 5 December 23:59 PM UTC; late submissions will not be accepted. There will be no AC or Bonus Bank for December.
New information pages about Season 2 and reserves for returning characters will go up during January 2018.

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[A part of Keith will always feel more at peace with the expanse of space before him. There are a few exceptions to that rule, but "patience yields focus" somehow manages to take hold when his mind is promptly memorizing the glow of the sky beyond him.

Every part of this mission is overwhelming, but he finds himself taking a breather to stand beside Ayame. Unfortunately, he still doesn't have a good read on her "in horror" face. Or a full understanding of the existential difficulty of all of this.]

Did you see something? [That's ... what that face means, right?]

[She does do her best to hide it. But the stillness in her comes not from calm but from terror, knuckles white where she clutches her own crossed arms, pupils dilated when confronted with the infinite seeming black.

How can he stand there in front of the thin-looking barrier separating them from dishonorable death out there and just... be alright?]

The black.

["Space", Hayame.]

[... What? It's not the first time he's encountered this sentiment with her, and he highly doubts that it would be the last. He glances between her and space. The ... black.

Keith's eyebrows pinch together in confusion.]

Do you mean space? You've looked up before, right?

As if that is comparable?

[Hayama had never been the sort to stare up at the stars romantically, hadn't been creative enough or educated enough to wonder what lived in the stars, to ever imagine living beings ever traversing that space. But of course she has looked up.

With four hooves planted firmly on the ground.]

It is. [Keith doubts she can see eye to eye with him on this matter, but space, the stars, everything connected under them—to him, it matters. It's always mattered. Even if he's been fine with being alone, he's always found some peace in knowing that the universe was big and he was small, like he was one tiny piece trying to figure out his place.

Not having a purpose at points was hard, but ... it gave him a reason to keep trying to do something.]

Do you remember the big ship that crashed in the labyrinth? Well, I was trying to get it to a ... safer landing. Before I ever got a chance to pilot one of those things, I was in a classroom, or a planetarium, just trying to learn star charts.

It's like—they're a map. Just bright instead of on paper.

Then how good it is for you, to be at home in this place.

[The same smallness that comforts Keith leaves Hayame terrified. She had never been the sort to daydream, never suffered from delusions of grandeur... but to realize that her place, her master's place, her country's place, her world's place in the universe was so small and inconsequential...

How terrifying. How depressing.]

Maps are flat.

[She can't even say it with conviction anymore.]

I never said that. [At least, Keith doesn't think he did. He's not the best at retreading over his words to see how something might have been perceived in a different light.

He's not about to do that right now, even if practicing sensitivity could help the two of them.]

Anyway, maps are flat. But the world itself isn't. [A beat.] You know that, right?

[...

Hayame's gaze turns even more guarded, even more defensive, lips turning down.

If there was ever a better "are you trying to tell me the world isn't flat" look...]

The world isn't flat! It's a sphere. All worlds are spheres. Like the sun, but ... not the sun. You know the sun isn't flat, right?

[Actually, in asking that, he realizes that she probably doesn't. Keith barely hides his ... extreme level of disbelief.

Because he's Keith, and he can't hide that normally.]

Of course the sun is round, it is a ball of light!

[It's a goddess, depending on who you listen to, but. It's a circle shape, she has eyes.

But she also has legs, four of them, which makes her an expert on... groundfeel.]

What world do you come from that is a ball?

I come from Earth, but I've been to a lot of other planets. A lot. Trust me when I say that I know this to be true.

[Aside from it being astronomically impossible to be untrue, along with geologically, and—

Keith isn't that sharp about science things, but he had to know enough to be a pilot and future space explorer.]

In your world, perhaps-

[Honestly, why should she care? Maybe the world is round. It's not like she would really know, she has never traveled outside of Echigo...

But she digs her hooves in despite, already having had to concede so much of what she thought was true about reality that she's loathe to give up anything else.]

Do you have any proof that your world isn't round? [This is possibly the worst conversation to be having right now.

But given where they are, she has to get over her misconceptions quickly or else it's going to be a different problem.

Which is where he goes now:]

We're on a space ship. We're stopping a group that wants to destroy everything. Including your flat world that isn't flat. Accept that some of what you know isn't right.

I have not fallen off it, have I not?

[It might be the worst to have with someone who doesn't understand the theory of gravity, anyway.

As for "we"... she certainly wasn't sold yet on that.]

You're more likely to fall off a world if it's flat!! Not to mention that there's gravity and—ugh. Look, when we get back to Oska, get a book on astronomy. You need to know the basics.

["Need" might be a stretch in terms of success, but Keith feels this is true anyway.]

You know archery like it's nothing, right? I know this. And what I know is true.

I cann-

[In the heat of the moment she almost fires back that she couldn't make use of such a complex sounding thing, that even if she were to find one in the language the humans of her world used, she was practically illiterate beyond the way to write her own name and that of her brother's and master's, simple characters used to give instructions or mark things like "tea" and "money".

She was bred to be a warrior. Not a scholar. Not a tool that possessed skills that could lead to independence.

But she's not in the business of trying to shame herself even further, when he already seems to be looking down on her for the... shape of the world.]

Fine, then.

[Perhaps agreeing will end it.]

[Unfortunately (for both of them), Keith doesn't catch where she was going with the beginning of that. His social skills are stunted enough to make him assume that she was about to argue, and then give up.

This won't come to bite either of them in the butt later.

As it is, he grouses as he looks off in the other direction, arms crossed.]

What do you plan on doing here, anyway?

[Definitely not.]

Whatever my lord requires of me.

[Hayame's own arms cross irritably, answering as if it should be obvious.

Her allegiance didn't lie at all with ALASTAIR. Her cooperation so far, and hereafter... relied on being ordered to do so by one Ninurrta Noah.]

That sounds like you're not willing to decide anything on your own. [It's a harsh criticism, but Keith's never been good at following orders. Shiro's the only one who's ever kept him in line, and even then, he's always had a hard time moderating Keith's actions.]

I chose him.

[That in and of itself is new for her. She had always expected to have no choice in her lord, in who would command her... but she had chosen this one, from a world and culture not her own.

And that was a choice. (Or had it merely been the first person she could find?)]

What, so you can go on avoiding everything around you? I've made that mistake before. It's not a very wise one.

[It's entirely possible that he's projecting. Keith has a habit of doing that, or trying to make sense of a thing that just doesn't make sense. He's definitely doing that now.]

One dedicates oneself to one's lord. That is how it works- one does not swear such a thing lightly and then spend all one's time running about with others!

[In this case, Keith is at least partially correct, at least.

It's easier to serve. It's a convenient excuse not to interact with many others, to keep to herself and what she knows.]

That doesn't make any sense! [It's one thing to follow a leader. It's another thing to just avoid thinking for herself.] Having your own ideals doesn't mean that you're running around with others. Besides ... you gave us lessons. You wanted us to fight well. And now that we're here, you're waiting for orders?

[If all of this seems like it was said in a shout (or a half-shout), that's because it was. He's definitely frustrated and decidedly loud about that frustration.]

What if they don't come? You'll use it as an excuse to just act like you didn't care about us just a few days before this?

I was disgusted by the weakness I saw in that labyrinth, and sought to correct it when my lord was occupied elsewhere- that is all.

[She dislikes the insinuation that she cared, it being a far too obvious weakness. She cared only for duty, for lord, for honor- that was how it was supposed to be, and as his voice rises so does hers in turn.]

The ideals of a warrior mean obedience! Dedication! Without it, one is nothing!

[And the more what she had known all her life came under assault in this place, and this team... the more she stubbornly dug her hooves in for fear of losing that last anchor she had left.]

No, the ideals of a warrior involve fighting for what is right. By making sure that what you do has a purpose and a reason. Anything else is just an excuse not to fight. And if you're being obedient while doing the wrong thing—then you're just being stupid.

[Keith recognizes that he's being harsh, but there's a strong sense in how he's speaking that makes it clear that he believes in every word coming out of his mouth. He hadn't known how to fight or put his energy forward in the past. But he knows now.]

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kisha - 2017-10-09 13:46 (UTC) - Expand

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secondnature - 2017-10-09 20:41 (UTC) - Expand

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EVENT ★ THE MOTHERSHIP

03

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