Nyxella

OUTLAW SPACE

Happy 2024 RPGers!

@Nyxella Seems like a perfectly functional character, though I'm sure it can develop more. What would have driven her to try and free (?) Crux slaves?

Given the cast at hand, while I work on a CS and an OOC, perhaps you could discuss potential crew roles or an overall mission/specification for the ship?

@Dead Cruiser

I apologise for being late to respond to this, I would like to tag along if this still lifts off. The information you have revealed in previous replies has my interest.

My character was motivated by revelations made about her origins, the main one being that of the "war criminals" and refugees housed on their ships, a selection of those that were too young to work were mind-wiped (or other non-cheat lol form of indoctrination if this doesn't vibe with Crux lore) and entered into military training.

A bit of backstory

"Cleansing" is how she came to join the Erebus Confederacy. She believed her mother was on their home planet of Doreius in the Chaon System (five satellites orbiting a giant, desert-like primary-planet, bathed in light at all times of the year save a cyclical period of eclipse when the satellite planets align), keeping a warm, inviting home. She was proud that her older brother was a model sibling and soldier, and their father, the late Marshal, a noble man who as well as rehabilitating the wretches crossed on their trade routes, rehomed the many refugees left destitute on orphaned worlds. Positions were delegated by hereditary succession and she considered her promotion to Warden an honoured family duty. Breaking the prisoners free and instigating a riot was as much a reaction to the truth as it was a means to wrench the ship free from the flotilla. Combating the guards was a successful joint effort between freed slaves and defectors, but combating reinforcements posed the risk of catastrophic fatalities amongst non-military. She escaped by overpowering and killing a former comrade transporting her from the infirmary, and put her nose down to the grindstone on the merc' circuits, aiming to return and strike during her brother's promotion ceremony.

The ceremony was marked by an ex-Terra style execution of her allies, exposing them to intense heat within a chamber that emulated the heightened rays of radiation during Chaon's perihelion. She reacted in a way most unexpected. She watched, unmoving. Across the sea of weeping witnesses and seated dignitaries representing Chaon and its five moons - and indeed its conquered peoples - stood her brother, a fiendish grin lighting the gaze he was giving her. She left the ship without trouble, on the shuttle she had hijacked a moon-cycle ago, and slunk beyond the known borders of memory - or whatever memories had supplanted her own. The first "native" memory she would rewrite would be her name, no longer the one given, but one chosen in memory of her allies, Aphelia - the most distant point from a star's burning light.

The People and Planets are a bit more fleshed out in my draft. I'd appreciate your feedback on the bits I've posted here, for an idea of whether or not it all fits the tone of the universe, and any ways to make it so. I am not attached to structural details so am more than happy to re-fit her people/story to or around an existing polity.

Some Details

The Chaon System is a placeholder name taken after her home planet. The humans peopling this expanse form a feudal society of planetary-states based around a solid titan of rock and metal, sworn to serving the Crux Tenebrous, fervent and devout, contributing fuel and manpower across the empire (is it?). I imagined their economy to be dependent on natural resources present on their primary-planet and in its surrounding astral bodies. Gaining in prominence is their other form of commerce - trafficking, particularly labour camps.

Edit: My character is your average foot-soldier, knows how to fly but not well or fast, and has some sharpshooter experience manning watch-towers. Fits well into a vanguard party, guard detail or watchmen crew. Morally grey. Will maraud for the right price.

A field of specialty could be the clean-up jobs deemed too dirty or insignificant for most mercenary outfits, given their distance from established outposts. Juice not worth the squeeze, type of deal. Perhaps our ship is specially outfitted for long-haul travel, circumventing the need for jumps between rings?

Mission ideas that I totally didn't lift from the RPG side-mission guidebook:

Cleaning out an abandoned/scuttled ship and returning the vessel or cargo to its owner.

Clearing out aggressive fauna from a work site on a frontier dwarf-planet.

Subduing a rebel force of workers gone rogue in response to horrible conditions and pay, and retrieving the rich fuel reserves in their possession.

Carrying out data-theft for an offshoot Arc collective of researchers working on the development of chips that enable direct interface with sentient beings of any species and level of consciousness (synthetic telepathy).

POKeMON: A Mystery - Always Open

Flash is fitting haha because something literally lit the sky up.

Sorry for not writing after my IC post that there were a couple of liberties taken with characters in the stadium:

- taking and reading Jimmy's card, then passing it to Sugar
- placing Teddy as the waiter dispatching Haze's order prior to her DJing gig

Let me know if you need me to change something. Totally fine if anyone needs to similarly assume a response or action with Haze to progress the scene.

POKeMON: A Mystery - Always Open

Haze Kanoa

"This Machamp looks roughed up, is he hurt?” … "Are you alright?” Haze pressed again with her most earnest attempt at being patient. The Machamp suddenly grew embarrassed and and Haze looked at him sympathetically. She didn't mean to seismic toss all consideration out the window. This was her first meeting with a third-tier evolution, and one of the first to be documented at that. Haze should have known better than to bruise the fabled pride a Machamp takes in its physical condition.

Sugar pieced together the situation. To be sure, Haze didn't have much to offer in the ways of reasoning out what had happened, but she knew what she wanted to do next.

“Oh, Garscon recognises you!”

The colour suddenly drained from her face. She tried to imagine a tall figure or hulking mass of muscle at one of the parties she hosted. A few Coordinators and guests fit that build, including one with striking patterns on his face. No, this was a silly thought trail, Haze thought, as he was surely meaning The Lucky Catch.

"That's right," she recovered. "I... Uh, my boss is a big fan of your cooking” The response from Sugar reassured her. It was hard to know these days, who was a rabid netizen wanting a million pictures and videos and exclusives, and who was a normal, decent person. Seeing how well this Machamp behaved and was cared for, Sugar seemed like the latter.

[color=pink]“Aw, I’m so gl… Wait a second, I can’t help but think this sure ain’t the time for chatter. I reckon, we ought to find out what’s going on.”[/colour]

"Yo... wazzup..."

Before she could suggest anything, a greeting straight out of a high-school movie entered the space. Without turning her head, she flicked her eyes to a side to observe the newcomer. He was tall, dark and spectacled, backed by a very brave looking hound. Although she knew nothing of this man, she knew the breed of mon at his side, and how picky they were with whom they entrusted their loyalty to. Greeting aside, that alone bode well for him, and based on this detail she tilted her head, and her attention towards him.

"Are you two doing alright? You look awful...

Oh...

"Ah, not in that way! Just physically! I mean mentally! Both are actually looking pretty bad."

...No, he didn't.

"But I mean, no one looks good in situations like this anyways."

The moment the newcomer's chocolate-brown tresses tossed with a chuckle, Haze rounded on him with a hand on her hip and head cocked to a side, ready to relay a response. A glimmer distracted her in a familiar way, and at once she noticed the one she had glimpsed before, with the suit of legendary birds on his shoulders. He made his way through the awakening crowd, waving, and offered comments that diffused Haze's reaction. A giggle tumbled forward quicker than she could repress it, and a rise of bashfulness quickly followed.

"Speaking of which..." He presented a business card, his details in crimson. Haze took it in two fingers, memorised his name and title, and flicked it towards Sugar with a flourish of her wrist. As he offered an introduction and quizzed about the collective nightmare they just shared, she gave him a once-over. It was now understood why his clothes fit just right and shone as brilliantly as they did. He was a tailor. Hopefully his eye was just as sharp for this situation.

"Time has moved and those masked people are likely behind it. We need to find the captain," Haze stated in a flat tone. Her eyes flicked to the Stoutland standing loyally at his trainer's heel. "You, Specks, could your Pokemon pick up the scent of those who were in the judge's booth?"

She looked at the young man a little longer, noticing his grey eyes behind the spectacles, and realised he, too, was from The Lucky Catch. Quite the coincidence. He and Sugar should know where the Captain's Quarters were, or the types of staff who might know where to find them. Again, a thought of food pulled her closer to that maelstrom of hunger. It was him who dispatched her order right before this calamity happened. An order Checkers chewed through in record time. "Darn that rascal"

POKeMON: A Mystery - Always Open

Merry Christmas Everyone! Hoping the festive season treats you to as much cheer as you can eat, drink and handle ^_^

Jun as Exploder Baracle singing Christmas carols as heavy metal and then launching himself off the boat as part of his contest performance haha. I would pay to see that, actually.

Q: Who would be the first character voted off in Survivor SS Lugia?

POKeMON: A Mystery - Always Open

Wow, you guys are really good at titles, haha!

@Nyxella We should definitely plan a masquerade scene... how could we incorporate that, hmmm...

@Lord Orgasmo I love the word gilded. I'm probably gonna use it in my next post, haha.

@anothered

Gilded Prison - liking the sound of that one. If we are in fact outnumbered or overpowered by an enemy, and being held against our will, it makes sense. I agree that more story will add to the naming option board.

Oh, a masquerade ball would be wild! Hmm, could do a villainous spin where the masks were devices that wiped or impaired the wearers memory, where they cast an overlay of augmented reality, or affected a transfer of one's consciousness into another person's body. An old fashioned ball doubling as a cluedo type scenario, where The Hand offer guests an opportunity to work out and escape, or just mess with them because why not?

Or, yeah, a massive gala in the midst of a crisis to party the issues away, the way they were intended, haha.

POKeMON: A Mystery - Always Open

@NyxellaYay, it's me-ee! I'm gonna private message you later so we can do Haze/Sugar dialogue.

E V E R Y O N E: I have a request of you all... This thread's name is boring. Can we all think of a new name together?

@anothered

Yayyyy!! ^_^

"Mystery" is a pretty name. Some ideas off the top of my head:

Hijinks on the High Seas
Out of Time
Chrono-triggered lol
Masquerade - since a lot of us have performing aliases, masks and fronts of some sort
A Bird in the Hand - SS Lugia + The Hand
Garscon and the Match-Champs.

Ok I'm having too much fun lol. I don't mind if none of these are used.

Prefixed with "Pokémon" of course.

POKeMON: A Mystery - Always Open

Posted - I promise they will get shorter, lol. A few names in there and one solid interaction at the end. If it helps I will tag in future.

Thanks @anothered for taking the baton and getting us over the line ^^
That bit about being hungry is more an afterthought because her Pokemon ate the snacks held onto from The Lucky Catch. Not a subliminal request to pull Leftovers from a dustbin. Although...

POKeMON: A Mystery - Always Open

Haze Kanoa

Haze appreciated a good show and the Opening Ceremony was in itself a production marvel boasting the most gorgeous accompaniment of strings, wind and percussion instruments she had ever heard. The state-of-the-art Main Stadium, custom built for such a time-stopping occasion, featured a glass stage that broke light into every perceptible colour and reflected them across the walls. In person, the experience was otherworldly. Although she would miss much of the actual Contests, that opener alone kept her hopes aloft for what the Cruise had to offer. It was unfortunate, then, that this pleasant memory was marred by its current replay, which turned the length of the ship into a house of horrors and the music into sonic torture. All she wanted now was a stable point in the ship that a behemoth was not going to reach through, like the lobby earlier, and the hallway and stairwell after that. Thoughts of that angry, red blaze erupting behind her struck cold fear into her bones. Had there not been a distracting sparkle further beyond it, she might not have recovered her lost step when taking to the stairwell.

As the Main Stadium opened itself around her, so too did the sound, echoing around the circular chamber at an almost disorienting volume. What distracted her more were the skies that teemed with creatures terrible and awe-inspiring, writhing a path around each other. Some came threateningly close to swooping into the open-air stadium. Feeling overwhelmed, Haze looked around for a sign of order, some authority figures or staff to explain this.

"Oh," she exclaimed, at the familiar sight of stars glinting from the midnight void between two birds in flight. The striking design was what took her eyes from the image of her nightmare incarnate erupting from the ground, and wearing it was a man with hair just as fiery red as the beast's hide, and was possibly between two worlds himself. "He looks like he needs a hand," she thought instinctively with a grimace and scanned the crowd of arrivals behind him for anyone that could assist. No use extending herself when they were all in the same boat.

"Here's an eye in the storm," Haze mused, as one came through the entryway visibly different from the others, and not just for the bright crop of fresh snow atop his head. Performing at venues prone to disruptions and rowing rabbles gave her a learned sense for common crowd behaviours and the collected cool he was sailing in with was not one. It instead fit the demeanour of someone who knew more about the disarray than others and the pretty Espeon at his side further fuelled her intrigue. His attire of solid white suggested wealth in the way it was understated and yet classy, a day suit well-tailored to his build featuring what she guessed was high-end material. An interesting parallel to the red-haired parade of cosmic splendor who sauntered in ahead of him.

As if she was unconsciously scanning the wide clock-face arena for suits, her storm-grey eyes spotted Garscon from The Lucky Catch. They widened in shock, the poor mon's normally pristine attire had been tarnished but as a heartening comfort he did not appear to be in pain and his mustache was impeccably sharp. Whatever the challenge was to have overwhelmed a Pokemon renowned for its superpower strength, hopefully it entailed rescue efforts and not self-defence. Next to him was the dependable sight of his Trainer, the very essence of sweetness, whom Haze had spotted through a kitchen port window on the few visits she made incognito as DJ Halo's assistant. It was an impressive sight the times she came to pick up her take-out orders, seeing the Chef bedecked in white fatigues and whirling around the kitchen in a cooking blitz. The bronze-haired chef was determinably intent on communicating with Garscon and Haze leaned in absentmindedly as if the ten-or-so-feet between them were mere inches. Was she giving directions or a means to escape? She was as close to ship staff as Haze could identify from this crowd.

Pressure blasted from the speakers and Haze crouched, covering her ears and tucking her backpack between her knees and chest, protectively. Looking upwards, the sky-beasts were obliterated and fell in a mass of tiny sparks. They were jade and serpentine, black-cloaked and skull-faced, furious and formless, bearing hoops and multiple limbs, and featureless save for eyes devoid of life, all vanishing in a death-knoll of an orchestra's mind-piercing offense. The moment was terrifying, not soon to be forgotten.

“Hello, darlings, this is your captain speaking again, yoo-hoo. For once, can you all just be quiet? My goodness, every time we do this…’

Haze peered upwards, still close to the floor, and spotted three figures where the judges were usually stationed. It was easy to reason that they were not here for a contest.

"What the captain means to say is, you are safe, remain calm."

Haze doubted this claim as strongly as she doubted the captain's legitimacy. It was a preposterous idea that her agent was fooled, that all these guests and Coordinators, too, were similarly duped and overpowered by unknown forces, and so her mind raced through questions and paranoia. Was this an elaborate stick-up, and were the staff and crew in on the ruse? Looking up at the panicked faces still standing, and around at those who like her had crouched down, some holding each other, some being shielded by their Pokemon... All were united in their confusion and worry. No, this was real.

Haze watched the gears beneath her feet begin to spin and she fell, unable to keep balance as the machinery . The air held a tinge to it that raised the hairs on her neck, then its shape bent around all that she could see until everything began to shake violently. She clutched the Pokeball around her neck, the other arm wrapped firmly over the backpack slung across her chest. Suddenly a flash of light forced her wide eyes shut, which was the only mercy her senses were afforded.

THUD!

Sunshine warmed her face. Blinking, she beheld the Stadium, now awash with the full force of a summer's midday glare. Confusion reached its peak and the strong urge to want to resolve it settled in. She helped herself up and looked around for any other signs of change. The judge's booth had emptied but otherwise she could not make out major damage to the ship. Dusting off her jeans, she set a course for the Chef and her Machamp.

"Excuse me," Haze called out as she approached, "What happened to your partner?" She nodded her head towards Garscon, eyes full of concern, searching for some sense in this madness. Speaking to a chef also made her realise she was starving.

POKeMON: A Mystery - Always Open

<Snipped quote by Nyxella>

If you want, you could create it. I haven't imagined it yet - I guess it would need to be open air since it's the evacuation point, with space for helicopters. It's the main stadium so it would have to be pretty flashy, maybe it transforms or something. Anyway, you should definitely design it! Plant your stamp on the rp.

@anothered

Wow, thank you! I'll do my best to get a post up on Sunday. This weekend is busy.

OUTLAW SPACE

Pledging interest. The details revealed so far have me excited but I would like to see what shape this takes before committing fully.

I'm also drafting a character lol

<insert name> is a former Crux warden turned long-range specialist and bounty hunter who attempted mutiny from within a large flotilla of prison ships bound for the slave markets. A series of defeats sent her allies into hiding, ending the campaign and leading her to take up a simpler, more transactional life. Age range I'd say not yet in the middle, but not a fresh faced young adult either. A flesh and bone, red blooded human who distrusts anything remotely SINTH.

This is a flexible concept, any commentary and suggestions are welcome.

Looking forward to seeing what might come next.