0/
Once
You
are researchers
Hub
and spindle R&D substations; the first decades of your life spent
inside cylinders arrayed as a wheel slowly revolving in space. When
you first see depictions of the rectilinear habstructures of a
planet-bound people the pupils dilate and the pulse quickens.
Everything
in-station white to remind you how an incautious action, an
ill-considered footfall leaves unintended marks.
Everything
white but for:
*your
uniforms, the gray of child/pupil/trainee
*the
uniforms of Security, black for caution & death
*the
Security spindle, red for danger
*the
Prayer spindle, cool blue for the safe embrace of Christ Buddha
*the
bio-based tools, people and foods
You
are Researchers. If asked to identify your people to another, this is
the term used. We are Researchers.
The
Schola structure is each Year is a Class, to each Class a spindle and
each Class split into Groups, the spindle sliced at regular
intervals for each Group's play quarters, bunks, dining area and then
the central round Classroom. Classmates share Parent/Teachers, two
for every ten Pupils and each is fed, bunks by and is guided by their
own Teacher.
The
Classes of the Security and Prayers spindles are kept separate and we
see them only on holidays.
Outside
the station are an untold numbers of worlds, planetoids, systems that
we will someday explore, study.
A
promising few renounce the Group and go Silent, forswearing speech,
splicing themselves into a new body of their own design and
construction, reactor-powered, brain-storage crammed with security
protocol and diplomatic frequencies.
Most
of the Silent students will travel in ship-bodies out to the farthest
of space, collecting and returning material but themselves never
returning, ever voyaging. Some day they may settle in a smear of
brilliant stars and implode, transcend to Christ Buddha. They are the
strangest among us and the most holy.
The
rest of us will have more pedestrian adventures, traveling to new
places from which we will collect samples, artifacts, culture logs,
DNA and from which we will return to the station.
-If
you are one of the lucky few.
-Yes.
The
Returned are our heroes, they work in the top-station arcology are
station order, maintenance and grand personal projects. We see them
occasionally in the distance, or up close once a year, when they
welcome the newest inductees with smiles and dead eyes.
-Each
of you has certain Traits; during ceremonial En-Soulment, the period
of ritual and social induction into early adulthood extending from
age 8 to 13, you chose the sort of Researcher you considered yourself
and chose what you Traits might suit you best.
Starting
Traits
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Roll
d6, d8 & d10 and pick 1-3 Traits, assigning roll results as
desired, if same result or a second bonus to the same Trait's
checks, must apply result to different Trait.
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Traits
|
1-3
|
4-5
|
6
|
7-8
|
9-10
|
Strong
|
+1
checks
|
+1
Carry
|
+2
Attacks
|
+1
Carry
|
+1
checks
|
Dextrous
|
+1
checks
|
+1
Attacks
|
+1
AC
|
+1
Saves
|
+1
checks
|
Hardy
|
+1
checks
|
+1
Endurance
|
+1
Saves
|
+1
Endurance
|
+1
checks
|
Intelligent
|
+1
checks
|
+1
Tech
|
+1
to Languages
|
+1
Tech
|
+1
checks
|
Wise
|
+1
checks
|
+1
Search
|
+1
Saves
|
+1
Foraging
|
+1
checks
|
Charismatic
|
+1
checks
|
+1
Allies
|
+1
Bravery
|
+1
Allies
|
+1
checks
|
We
each have explored the station with our Groups, found remote areas
and explored each other's bodies (as instructed), found remote areas
and watched a Security Pupil disciplined through the eyes, watched
the Prayer Pupils learn how to burn the dead Security Pupil. What did
each of us see?
what
we saw (Secrets)
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Roll
d8, describe what you saw to the group and how it resulted in
the below
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roll
|
result
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1-2
|
the
passcode to a Seed data locker
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3-4
|
the
passcode to a Seed weapons locker
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5
|
the
passcode to a Seed armor bay
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6
|
where
a Prayer Pupil keeps an Orange Book. Add the Book to your
inventory
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7
|
where
a Security Pupil stored her Veil. Add a Veil to your inventory
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8
|
A
lax Parent discarded an un-depeleted Amplifier (3 uses left).
Add it to your inventory
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Passcodes
are universal. They give you access to a date/weapons/armor
locker/bay wherever you are, not just a single locker/bay.
1/
Stalled Transit
You
are travelers
Substation
spins and regurgitates the tiny, unsteady lobes of Seed ships into
lanes lit by winking beacons. The ships shudder as internal power
wakes and impulse engines test fire. Interior lights blink on, the
light sensor clicks once. Each of your Group lie on gurgling white
foam beds in crisp white uniforms you did not put on. The lights
flick off and your biomantles luminesce, waving glowing flagella in
harmonic sympathy with your heart beats, the ship's hum. You swallow
anxiety, nerves and a sleeping pill.
The
biomantle dreams. Birth ponds on a jungle planet, hunted by the
older, sapient, biped adults, hunted by great, sloth-taloned cats.
Cavorting, mixing chemical handshakes, developing discrete languages,
burrowing tongues into other creatures in the pools, riding your host
until it dies or you've learned all you need to, until a more
advanced host is required. The hunter's net, the training rod, the
Teacher/Parent's lash.
The
lights flicker on. The ship is damaged. It doesn't appear to be
moving. Three of the Group are still sleeping, locked into stasis.
There are three others, dead, missing and Silent:
Samson
is dead in his pod, head smashed and pulped against the glass. He
looks as if he's been biting himself.
Yuri's
pod is empty and two hazsuits are gone. Vee, the ship's computer says
Yuri is gone now but will be back soon, but says nothing else, has no
video recording of transit, Samson's death, the landing or Yuri's
departure.
The
final pod contains a Silent, its hard cylindrical body marked with
prohibitive seals and wards that trigger Pavlovian fear. Its three
lenses are blue, black and red. You ask Vee to fog the pod's glass –
catching sight of it even in the periphery is discomfiting.
Vee
tells you that you may still be in space or at least if you've landed
on something with atmosphere she can't read if it's breathable.
My
sensors are damaged. Perhaps Yuri is repairing them.
I
tell you that the oxygen recyclining still functions, that my
bio-body still functions but is hungry.
The
sensors down, I need you to check the Pilot for life signs and out
rolls the cockpit, the Pilot inside, hairless, fetal crouching clone
of William Ganz. Just like Samson was a Ganz, Pilot is modeled after
the 23rd century mathematician. If Samson had been better
at math than biology, he'd likely have made Pilot. Pilot's pulse is
fine, no sign of illness, no infection around the various posts and
insertions.
We
cannot move until Vee is repaired and we must venture out, to feed
Vee.
When
I am fed I can repair myself, I can heal you. I am fed on DNA,
culture logs, all the information and discoveries you make. The
process by which my body translates this food into useful matter is
occult even to me.
I
can train you in fields of expertise if you bring me the right
materials.
The
Silent One sleeping in my body is on a timer. I am not told all of
the precise conditions governing its stasis, but:
1.
The timer is at 999.
2.
If we tamper with my body or fail to feed me regularly, the timer may
begin.
3.
If you xxxxxxxxx, the timer begins
4.
If you xxxxxxxxxxx, the timer begins.
5.
If I xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, the timer begins.
6.
The Silent One is programmed to “clean up” after total mission
failure. I have no further information on the purpose of the Silent
One, the definition of “total mission failure,” nor the
implication of, “clean up.”
2/
Rules
Energy
Everything
costs Energy and Energy is awarded when you turn in bundles of
genetic material, culture logs, etc. You pay for your own food, you
pay for your sleeping pod, you pay for everything because everything
costs Vee Energy to maintain. The approved perspective is that as
long as you do a good job, everything is free. New limbs start at 100 Energy and a new body might be possible. She needs at least a few thousand Energy to repair herself.
Endurance
You
begin with d4+1 Endurance. Lost Endurance is restored after ten
minutes of uninterrupted rest in a safe place. Once reduced to 0 Endurance, any damage is catastrophic.
The
Armory
There
are three weapons lockers and two armor bays in the ship. One time
access costs 40 Energy, but a passcode gives you access immediately.
Fully discharged weapon or armor is to be replaced in the ship for
repair and recharge. Recharges cost 1 Energy a charge.
Arms
and Armor
Blasters
are as crossbows, vibroswords and knives are as short sword and
dagger. D6 damage.
Blasters
come with 3d4 charges.
Vibro
weapons have a 1 in 6 chance at the end of combat or use to deform
and need repair back in Vee.
Armor
is ablative and Light Armor absorbs two blows while Medium Armor
absorbs four.
Catastrophic
Damage/Saves
Damage
that would otherwise result in immediate death or catastrophic,
nearly certain-death may be ameliorated by rolling a Saving Throw.
Succeeds on an 17 (d20). Best case scenario is that you're wounded. A second wound is automatically fatal.
Checks
Are usually made on a d6 and succeed on a 4. More complicated checks may require more d6, with success being 4*x+(x-1) where x is the total number of d6s being rolled.
What Vee Eats
Information. This can be large chunks of genetic material, but whole bodies, families, reports on cultural differences, new weapons, art, technology, languages, etc. She's got a number of feeding orifices inside and outside the ship but will not feed herself; you must feed her. She loses about 20 Energy a day just running lifesupport.
images: still from new Battleship Yamato 2199 and frame from Gantz
Checks
Are usually made on a d6 and succeed on a 4. More complicated checks may require more d6, with success being 4*x+(x-1) where x is the total number of d6s being rolled.
What Vee Eats
Information. This can be large chunks of genetic material, but whole bodies, families, reports on cultural differences, new weapons, art, technology, languages, etc. She's got a number of feeding orifices inside and outside the ship but will not feed herself; you must feed her. She loses about 20 Energy a day just running lifesupport.
images: still from new Battleship Yamato 2199 and frame from Gantz