Ronin Lotus

The Endeavour Six (Open, read first OOC post and I'll brief you if you're interested)

As promised, a new IC post up.

The Endeavour Six (Open, read first OOC post and I'll brief you if you're interested)

Another day in paradise, hungry and harassed by wolves with weapons, Jin inhaled deeply as he eyed the black smoke smothering the sky. His brown eyes barely pierced the shadows of his hooded, half-masked face, but they told the same undeniable story of fatigue. He was tired and frustrated, wishing for anything but the same daily struggles. Now, staring into dark plumes of death, he dared to fathom what catastrophe had struck. The intensity of the explosion meant no less than a bomb, but its scale in current times was startling. Recalling his life spared with nervous words of a concentration camp, it was believable that a Novus Ordo outpost was the eruption’s source. If so, could somebody have been fighting them? Jin was a moth to flame, longing to evade his pains but drawn to the light of fire. Its mysteries called him, but more importantly, he was tired of running. He set his intentions and nodded internally, forgetting for a moment his growing aches and hungers. Another deep breath, Jin fully embraced his filtered air, readying himself to stand when a woman’s voice interrupted him.

“Are you alright?” she asked him, appearing like a ghost and making him flinch. He had no idea where she had come from, making him question how bad his awareness had become. She then pointed to the thick plumes of black smoke in the distance. “Good news or bad news? Where are you headed?”

Jin stared up at her from the dusty concrete, caught off guard and confused. He hadn’t been spoken to in a non-threatening manner for weeks, now so many people were at each other’s throats. Outlining her mask with his eyes, he tried to deduce her, suspicious of her intentions. Then, noticing her katana, his muscles tightened. Only a skilled swordsperson could wield such a blade effectively, meaning a clash of steel was best avoided.

“You can handle that thing?” he asked her, referring to her katana, before shuffling backwards and returning to his feet. A gentle breeze brushed against his tanned clothes, bringing with it the burning smell of soot. It occurred to him that standing casually in a charging station’s car park seemed particularly awkward given the circumstances. Then again, it wasn’t unusual to become desensitised to danger. Humans always were an adaptable species.

Jin, recognising that he had ignored the woman’s questions, gestured his thumb to the smoke plumes. “I’m going there,” he said with confidence, but more realistically stupidity. He had barely eaten in days, which could make the sanest man do the craziest of things. “I’m stupid like that,” he continued, secretly insecure that he’d be judged negatively for it. “But food doesn’t grow on dead trees, so…”

He shrugged, not entirely keen on conversation but compelled to be polite. He wasn’t content with his former self, awkward and problematic, quick to blame others for his shortcomings. It was a long time ago, but he hadn’t forgotten about it. Instead, clearing his throat through discomfort, he asked the mysterious woman, “And you? Where are you going?”

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The small town of Bravado was generally quiet, aside from the presence of Novus Ordo soldiers and their neighbouring camp. They kept its inner workings concealed from prying eyes, and their aggressiveness to a minimum. The townspeople often benefited them, from importation of clean water to a small plot of land still growing vegetables. The Novus Ordo sought to protect these benefits, though it often meant taking people’s resources as payment.

Rumours of ill-doing had spread of the neighbouring camp, but most people stayed silent. It was believed the Novus Ordo was imprisoning and torturing their opposition, if only innocent people rejecting their oppressive ways. Ignorance was bliss, and most people willingly accepted it, knowing those who stood otherwise often paid the price.

But not everybody was willing to lie down, now devastation had now struck the Novus Ordo. The explosion, erupting from within the private confines of their sandy camp, was no accident. It was the collaborative art of a rebellion, united from broken communities to seek justice and paint their enemies in flames. The Novus Ordo’s camp was their blank canvas, and its assault would begin from the inside-out. Indeed, it was only the beginning, but the N.O.'s hand this day would be challenged, and forced by its end to repay some of its debt.

The Endeavour Six (Open, read first OOC post and I'll brief you if you're interested)

How's everybody doing? It has been 12 days since the first IC post, so I've decided I'll post again this weekend, possibly today.

As you may remember, the preference is that we post at least once every two weeks. There may be exceptions from time to time but if somebody cannot make the two weeks, the main story will continue regardless. I hope you're all still with us as the OOC has been especially quiet. I find that listening to the right music, reading back over some posts, and thinking about my character is sometimes a helpful way to get back in the rhythm.

Moving forward, you don't need to wait for everybody to post before you post again, as long as it's not spamming with lots of frequent posts. That way, we can hopefully keep activity in the IC flowing. I know how this works and that sometimes there's a rush to get posting in the beginning, enough that slower activity can sometimes kill the interest. Hopefully that's not the case here.

The Endeavour Six (Open, read first OOC post and I'll brief you if you're interested)

Good point, @Flynn. The rest of you are more than welcome to post again.

The Endeavour Six (Open, read first OOC post and I'll brief you if you're interested)

That's just as well about Fly. If the E-6 has an AI system, we'd probably have an artificial affair on our hands.

The Endeavour Six (Open, read first OOC post and I'll brief you if you're interested)

Regarding town B, I'd like to call it Bravado. Although it has a Novus Ordo presence, they're not aggressive because the town benefits them with imported water and a small area that continues to grow vegetables. The N.O. instead takes its share of the resources as payment to protect the town. Meanwhile, they keep the workings of their neighbouring camp concealed, though rumours have spread of people being imprisoned there. I'll follow up with these details when it's my turn to post again. Hopefully this doesn't interfere with anybody's posts. Let me know if it does.

The Endeavour Six (Open, read first OOC post and I'll brief you if you're interested)

Map

I'm by no means a master of maps, so don't take this too literally. I'm sure you can imagine a much more diverse and interesting landscape with more roads and points of interest, so please do, but perhaps this could give us a rough idea of a few locations. The circle with the star is the location of the E-6. The white circles with letters are primary towns. The red circles are camps or areas of particular influence of the Novus Ordo. The yellow circles are smaller communities. Finally, that little blue square is the motor charging station where I envision my character, Jin, being located at present time.

Town 'A' is the one I called Redworth, which is closest to the E-6 as you can see. Town 'B' is a small town nearest to the Novus Ordo camp, and also has a bit more of their presence and influence. I'm thinking town 'C' is the one with the bazaar, which as you can see is still very much on top of the action zones. Towns may well spill over the lines because of course this is just a rough idea. Oh, and there's a town 'D' near the bottom, which I put there just to fill a space.

If anybody would like anything changed on this map, let me know, but hopefully it's enough to give us a rough idea of where we might be located in relation to each other.

So, @Virani, you were wondering about where Octavia might be located. The choice is yours. I assume the majority of us will initially be in towns B and C. B doesn't mean that the Novus Ordo attack everybody all the time, just that they have some presence there and try to force protection on people. The fact there has been an explosion in the neighbouring camp also means there will be casualties to keep Octavia busy in the meantime if need be. Alternatively, you could add and position yourself in a small community in between towns if you'd like.

The Endeavour Six (Open, read first OOC post and I'll brief you if you're interested)

Right. I'm making a map, folks.
It'll be a rough one but hopefully it'll give us some clarity.

The Endeavour Six (Open, read first OOC post and I'll brief you if you're interested)

@YungTweak

In that case, maybe the town you're in could be quite large and border and connect into the smaller, less protected corner of the town, which itself is bordered by the camp. Well, we needn't worry too much. At the very least, we can safely assume we're relatively close-by.

The Endeavour Six (Open, read first OOC post and I'll brief you if you're interested)

I'm not certain whereabouts we're each located at the moment, but I imagine there's numerous towns in the greater area. Close to Jin's location is the camp, bordering a small town oppressed and protected by the Novus Ordo. @YungTweak Where do you envision the bazaar town is located? I got the sense it's got some distance on the camp, but it works either way. What do you think?

Another town, which we'll call Redworth, is based northwest and is backed by the mountains housing the E-6. I have a plan to eventually draw our characters' attentions to it. For now, however, it's not necessary for us to be there.