Voyage to Terminus [Scifi Opera/Adventure] [Want 3 Players]

[GloomCookie]

The boy stood in the center of the room on a dias, staring out at the vast worlds floating beyond.  The woman in red entered, smiling when she saw him.  "How are you, my son?"

The boy turned and smiled, "I am well, mother.  I wanted to see them again." 

She stepped up until she was on the platform next to him, taking his hand.  "They are beautiful," she said with a while, then held up her hand, a small plant clinging to the soil.  "Each of them was a ball of lifeless rock when we came here six thousand years ago.  Now, they are each a thriving bastion of civilization.  And one day, they will each be yours to rule."

The boy looked at the plant in her hand, "Why are you holding that plant, mother?" he asked, confused.  "Isn't the gardening done by the servants?"

"It is.  But this was a present from Lord Harna," she held it out to him to admire.  It was green, and looked like many of the plants he knew.  "It's a Lo'brek.  It's a flower that is said to hear the whispers of the universe, and share those with anyone deemed worthy."

The boy brushed his fingers along the leaves, and pulled his hand back when he felt a sharp prick.  "OW!  Mother, it hurt me."

She merely smiled, "Quiet your mind, and let the plant talk to you."

The boy closed his eyes, and in his mind he began to hear.  When he opened his eyes, he stared in amazement.

"You heard its whispers, didn't you?  What did it tell you?" she asked gently.

"It only said one word, Mother.  Terminus."

"Raise," the gruff human said as he tossed three pryms into the pile.

The enlongated, bulbous head of the alien across from him hisses, his way of chuckling, and he sets the cards on the table.  "13."

The human man sighed, "Fuck."  He watched the slimy hand gather up the money, and said, "I'm done for tonight."

The creature hissed again, "Tired of losing your money?"  It tossed three pryms his way, "Here.  For teaching me and amusing me."

He caught them and nodded, "No worries."  He headed for the bar and used one of the pryms, setting it on the counter.  "Something intoxicating to humans."  The multi-limbed creature scooped up the prym in one of its tentacles and set a canister of blue liquid shot through with green. He popped the cap and started drinking, not stopping until it was empty, with a fair amount soaked into his clothes.  With that he turned and headed for the door, stopping only long enough to retrieve his weapons.

Outside, it was raining again, with a fierce wind that swept up trash and debris along the way.  Two females, one human and another of a species even he didn't know, were on the corner.  The human wore a low cut outfit and had long leggings on, with long red hair and a warm, enticing smile.  The other creature had four arms and six legs, with coverings over most of its body.  The only way he was certain it was female was the holographic tag she wore, broadcasting her list of services in multiple languages.  He was half tempted to take them up on the offer.

"Watch it," rumbled something big and mean in a deep bass.  He looked up and saw a creature standing over eleven feet tall, growling at him.  It deliberately waited until he moved out of the way before continuing on.

"Fuck you too, bitch," he muttered.  He carried on and eventually made it back to his ship.  It was old, clunky, in need of a new coat of paint, and was probably worth less than its weight in scrap metal on most civilized worlds.  But it was his and the worn leather of the cockpit felt good against him as he settled in, wondering if he'd get lucky any time soon and haul something better than addictives or slaves.  He settled in and drifted off to sleep, his dreams letting him enjoy the warmth of two muscular men who fucked him sillier than he had any right to expect.

He was awoken by the sound of tapping, and opened his eyes to see a Bulber tapping on his window.  The insect was a pet on many worlds, and tapped again with its thin appendage.  He opened the glass and received a note, written in sloppy writing, then scampered off.  It was only after it left that he noticed the red bands indicating it was a delivery Bulber, since the damned things were smart enough to do many things but mostly just feed off table scraps and be content.

The note took three or four reads to decypher before it made sense.  He was being called to take a few passengers to Terminus.  Passengers who would be wearing clothes and not in chains for once.  "Huh," he muttered, settling back in, "Looks like Barva came through after all."  He fell back asleep and just in time, picking up the dream again and enjoying his male companions well into the morning.  Perhaps life wasn't so shitty after all.

Hi everyone.  So I'm looking to lead an adventure in an original scifi setting to the strange worlds of Terminus.  The reasons for going can be anything: To start a new life, to build a family, to find work, religion, trade, anything.  I just want three players who intend to travel to the world and have an adventure along the way.  The universe will grow and expand with the players interacting, and I included a writing sample to give you a rough idea of the weird way this world works.

You'll be starting on Inizio, a rather shitty little world in the grand scheme of things.  You and your companions have met and pooled your money for a one-way trip, with the intention of going from one end of the galaxy to the other and arriving at Terminus.  Whether you start rich or poor, doesn't matter.  You're going to encounter lots of strange events that maybe will cause mishap, danger, and maybe even a bit of sexiness.  Open to all genders though I please ask that anything other than human please consult with me first.  I'm not going to do first come first serve, it's who I think will fit the game best.

So please, if this intrigues you, let me know!

[MissFire]

I'm intrigued! I've got a sci-fi character that needs to see some use. Jinny Mattix; mechanic, engineer, exploder-of-things-previously-thought-non-explodable. Earnest, out to prove herself, and a real ham on a colossal scale.

[Ace Flyer]

Oooh, sci-fi...I love sci-fi, and I currently have exactly zero games in this genre...

I'm in! Just gotta think of a proper character...

[MrBubbles]

How sci-fi are we talking here? Because I've got character ideas that range from "automated fabrication technician" to "geologist."

[Ontan]

Definitely interested, but it looks like you've got a fair bit of interest already. Should I fill out a character sheet anyway, or is it first come, first serve?

Either way, bookmarked for interest ;)

[GloomCookie]

Definitely interested, but it looks like you've got a fair bit of interest already. Should I fill out a character sheet anyway, or is it first come, first serve?

Either way, bookmarked for interest ;)

I take the most interesting characters for consideration.

How sci-fi are we talking here? Because I've got character ideas that range from "automated fabrication technician" to "geologist."

Humanity wasn't the first on the galactic scene, that honor goes to the Fre'pak, a species of small, six limbed creatures that spend most of their time tending to reactors due to the relative warmth compared to the rest of the ship, though they do have a few ships of their own and are known far and wide as traders.  Humans were second and quickly established a number of interstellar dynasties that had varying degrees of success, from the Grand Empire of Terra to the barely functional Second Grand Empire of Terra (separated by 2500 years).  Currently, the majority of humans are ruled under the Union of Four Kingdoms, which formed around 5,000 years ago when five kingdoms (it's complicated) joined to create this central union to promote trade and technology exchange.

Most humans have never heard of Earth.  It's long been forgotten to the mists of history, and so the capital world is a place called Cantor.  Because the planet was only settled after the Union formed to appease to the founding kingdoms for central authority, it is a beautiful place with rich gardens and beautiful structures built on top of vast archives and catacombs of bureaucracy that, it's rumored, requires every piece of legislation to travel around 10,000 kilometers just to cross the hall to another senator's desk.  It's a system that works for some reason, with some people insisting it's due to a blood pact the original First Senator, Maximus Legani, signed with a minor god to make happen.  It's said if you go down into the catacombs at night, you can still hear the original workers toiling away to build the labyrinth of tunnels, with some getting lost and never finding their way home.

Religion within the Union, by the way, is about as complicated as you can get.  There isn't any central state religion, as each region of the galaxy has their own flavor.  Some prefer peaceful communion with their deities, others prefer sacrificing virgins by cutting out their still beating hearts.  The laws vary so wildly when it comes to this that most laws were simplified in the 61st Codex as simply, "Any consenting creature that has achieved maturity to adult hood in their culture and society has the right to make any decision regarding religious choices they wish, so long as they have the consent of others before performing actions considered harmful."  Naturally, what people consider harmful varies, but people generally turn a blind eye to the bloody priests who scream about killing in the name of salvation. 

The only religion that is generally accepted anywhere without hesitation is that of the Galactic Spirit.  It's said that the Galactic Spirit is a divine energy at the center of the galaxy who guides and shapes the events of history, for good or ill, based on the needs of the galaxy as a whole.  It isn't a benevolent spirit, nor a harmful one.  Just a caretaker who pulls the strands of the galaxy to keep things in check.  Some plants are said to be seeded throughout the galaxy by the Spirit, while some people claim to hear its voice.  No one really believes all of it but enough do to form a few covens on planets, mostly towards the galactic core, where they worship the Spirit in the hopes of joining it forever.  Just don't mention the 132 colony ships full of zealots who flew into the black hole at the heart of the galaxy as sacrifices... every religion has its darker sides.

The main method of interstellar travel involves a device known as a slipstream drive.  Flying through it, you travel not through every meter of space between you and your destination, but only every other space, depending on how sophisticated the drive is.  By skipping space like a rock across water, the ship never technically goes faster than light, it just goes through space at close to light speed and skips along space every so often.  This does lead to the nasty habit of time dilation, hence why it's only useful for short trips.  For crossing the galaxy, a network of gates have been built that fling ships through time and space.  It's expensive but worth it for interstellar trade, and security is top notch.  It's said that for every day a gate is down, a star system goes bankrupt, hence why security is tight to keep people from damaging the gates.

Aliens within the Union are not uncommon.  Numerous species inhabit human space and vice versa, with too many to count here.  What is a common theme, however, is that most sentient species have a taste for meat at some point.  While some worlds are strictly vegetarian, all species that have taken to space devour meat, and so farming and ranching are still important businesses.  On a few worlds it's said you can find meat from more sentient creatures, but these are hopefully just rumors meant to scare travelers.  The price of meat is generally low (thanks largely to entire worlds converted to meat production), so most ports will have stockpiles of food ready to buy.  A good steak still costs money, but at least you can get your choice of beef, pork, chicken, grebak, pena, or gumgum (the author recommends the gumgum, it tastes like a mix of pork and chicken and is often served in honey).

Sex with aliens is either considered normal or a taboo worthy of death, depending on the world.  Most aliens and humans are adventurous enough to try, but prefer their own species for families since cross-species reproduction is impossible.  Some of the best prostitutes in the galaxy are the Denao, whose anatomy makes them suitable to pleasure any kind of creature in most cases.  They're also very open and often suggest new things to try in the bedroom, meaning Denao sex shops are a great place to visit to spice things up with your mate(s).  Marriage isn't very common in the Union, but it does happen.  Some cultures only accept monogamous relations while others insist that a household without six adults is cruel.  It varies by world and culture, but it's generally agreed that so long as you don't ask, they don't have to tell you.

If you're hunting for robots, androids, or anything of the like, forget it.  No one knows why, but in the 1st Codex it simply states, "No machine in the form of man may ever be constructed.  To do so is to require instantly being put to death.  Machines to do the work of man, to replace him in function, is likewise prohibited."  While there are many arguments over why this law is there, it's one law that will never be changed.  To date, there have been over a million people put to death for violating this law, and some of the long-lived species know why, but refuse to talk.  If they give you an answer, it's usually in the vain of "Sometimes curiosity is a good thing, and sometimes it can lead to great suffering."

And lastly, a word to the wise.  Always pack clothes that can be layered and can cover everything from head to toe if needed.  Some worlds are extremely conservative and insist no skin show, while others go completely nude all the time.  If you find yourself on a world and don't know the customs, a guide can be downloaded for free from most spaceport terminals.  Spaceports are considered safe territory, but beyond it's enforced by local authorities and thus, ignorance is no excuse.  While most security forces are ok with a minor detail overlooked, going naked in a community covered head to toe can lead to a very painful session in a confessional, or simply disappearing.  On nudist worlds, for creatures whose appendages can reveal their arousal, most clinics offer medication to help prevent inflammation of these regions... unless it's open season on sex, in which case they just wink and tell you to let things take care of themselves.

[Ontan]

I take the most interesting characters for consideration.

Great! I'll get a character sheet up in the next day or two ;)

Edit: Speaking of which... is there any set format for the CS, or should we just wing it?

[GloomCookie]

Great! I'll get a character sheet up in the next day or two ;)

Edit: Speaking of which... is there any set format for the CS, or should we just wing it?

Wing it.  Tell me what you consider important about the character, since that's what I'm interested in.

[Ontan]

At long last, here's my character sheet! I wanted to try a different take on the smooth-talking, lock picking 'rogue' type: rather than the usual street urchin backstory, he's akin to an evil corporation's lackey. Let me know what you think!

Name: Ansko Nixate
Age: 30
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Home Planet: Solstice, Novogelsk System. A cold but exceptionally rich planet, Solstice is a place of dark winters, gleaming cities, and big business. Given the short days, the predominantly-human population usually take melatonin regulators to help normalise sleep patterns.

Employer: Baeus. Ruthless and militant, Baeus is an intergalactic mega-corporation that bears close parallels to the long-forgotten East India Company of ancient Earth. Though technically answerable to its home government, it has the autonomy to exercise its own sovereignty, maintain armies, and even subjugate vassal-states as it sees fit. Its culture is corporate free-for-all mingled with militaristic discipline: dereliction of duty, for instance, is a criminal (not civil) offence for employees.
Profession: Prosecutor. Part lawyer and part private detective, Ansko has made a living by uncovering, planting, or falsifying evidence in order to bring Baeus’s detractors to heel. He’s a smooth talker, a skilled forger, and is handy when it comes to circumventing tricky little things like locks or passwords.

Appearance: With wavy auburn hair and a pale complexion, it’s hard to mistake Ansko’s privileged heritage… not that he’s inclined to hide it, anyway. Tailored suits and expensive accessories are the order of the day, though a sharp observer might also notice the sturdy boots on his feet. Coupled with his swaggering stride, he looks every part the corporate raider, and his distinctive accent all but confirms his proximity to old-world wealth. Standing at 78kg and 186cm ( 171lbs / 6’1”), he also boasts a lean and toned physique, albeit one that speaks of time spent in expensive metropolitan gyms rather than a lifestyle of hard labour.

Surprisingly, there are a few tattoos adorning his body. The first covers his right arm from shoulder to wrist, depicting a heavily stylised star map around a grenade: the heavens of his home world, and the ancestral weapon of his people, respectively. The other tattoos are less sentimental, and evidentially much more recent. The palms and backs of both hands all bear the symbol of a broken book: the Baeus brand of cowardice and disgrace.

Personality: Armed with the self-assured conceit of a barrister or surgeon, Ansko certainly doesn’t lack for confidence. Eloquent, mannered, and calm, it would be easy to think that his familiarity to wealth had sheltered him from many of life’s evils… but that would be a very wrong, very dangerous assumption to make. On the contrary, Ansko has both survived and committed a substantial share of the galaxy’s cruelties. There’s a daring glint to Ansko’s cerulean eyes, and a sly humour to his voice that gives a few teasing hints of the things he’s done. He mightn’t be a soldier, but Ansko proves the old human adage that a fox’s cunning is just as dangerous as a wolf’s savagery.

Residents of Solstice and employees of the Baeus mega-corporation both have a reputation for being resourceful, hard-working, and exceptionally devious: heralding from both societies, Ansko delivers on all accounts. A consummate professional, Ansko doesn’t exactly shy away from the evils he's committed, but the amoral nature of his job troubles him a lot more than he cares to admit. Invariably, there’s always some uneasy justification for the awful things he’s done, but his battered conscience is hounding him more and more throughout the long years of his career, especially since his recent fall from grace. There’s also a measure of benevolence to his character, though you’d have to really squint to see it: all too aware of his privileged upbringing, Ansko feels a strong obligation towards aiding those more financially vulnerable than himself.

Character History:

Solstice and Baeus
It starts, of course, on his home world of Solstice – a place where nobody ever gets mugged on the street, but the odds of having one’s brakes sabotages by rivals are alarmingly high. Home to all manner of ultra-rich, ultra-aggressive billionaires, Solstice’s society has a treacherous current beneath its calm surface. The snowy footpaths are completely free of rubbish, but they’re also watched by a thousand unseen cameras. The people are beautiful and exquisitely dressed, but there’s a measure of malice behind every perfect smile.

Born to one of the more prosperous families, Ansko was taught from a young age that his birthright came with onerous responsibilities – inviolable duties, in fact, that prevailed over whimsical notions like ethics or personal relationships. It’s hard to say whether these life lessons had a net positive or negative effect on Ansko’s formative years. The central commandments were hard work, sacrifice, and self-improvement; the end goals were garnering prestige, amassing wealth, and mercilessly crushing opposition. In short, Ansko’s early years were something of a mixed bag, but at the very least they equipped him with a respectable résumé, and an uncanny knack for knowing when a figurative knife was aimed at his back. Or knowing when the literal screws on the balcony’s guardrails had been loosened, for that matter. 

For the most part, it was more of the same when Ansko came of age, and he managed to join the ruthless Baeus mega-corporation as a prosecutor – in essence, an attack dog for Baeus’s legal department. Charged with amassing and presenting evidence against Baeus’s detractors, his initial duties fell somewhere between that of a private detective and a lawyer. Granted, the vitriol-fuelled litigation wasn’t the most uplifting work, but it was, at the very least, within the realms of local laws… even if it was Baeus making said laws in the first place.

As is so often the case, though, Ansko was drawn into darkness by degrees, and the line between investigation and corporate espionage became increasingly blurred with each promotion.  Sometimes crucial evidence couldn’t be obtained by legitimate channels; Ansko was taught how to break into offices to acquire it firsthand. Sometimes Baeus knew it was being screwed, but couldn’t find concrete proof; Ansko was charged with falsifying incriminating documents to get the job done. Sometimes the other party was completely innocent, but Baeus really, really hated them; Ansko had to choose between ruining a stranger’s career, or ruining his own. Many of these sordid duties troubled Ansko, perhaps a great deal more than he cared to admit, but the heady combination of pressure and ambition propelled him ever onwards. He was always just one step away from the next promotion; there was always some urgent predicament that justified his behaviour.

And then, after a decade of these morally flexible but extremely lucrative exploits, karma finally caught up with Ansko on the planet of Ingris V.

Ingris V, and the Fall from Favour:

It started as a fairly typically Baeus affair: the mega-corporation wanted to build an enormous core-mining project that would generate thousands of jobs, improve local infrastructure, and, oh yes, admittedly cause catastrophic environmental damage that would last for the next millennia or so. Some of Baeus’s detractors sent activists to block the project and, in turn, Ansko was sent to deal with said activists. Unfortunately, nobody thought to spare a thought for the planet’s native race, who'd been dismissed as technologically-stunted barbarians. This turned out to be something of an oversight when the formerly peace-loving locals finally rose up in open revolt.

The ensuing battle is generally viewed as either a heroic tale of prevailing against impossible odds, or the ultimate proof that the Galactic Spirit can breathtakingly unjust. Heavily armed but hopelessly outnumbered, Baeus’s local authority conscripted all available personal in a desperate last-ditch attempt to stall the uprising long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Accountants, chefs, and yes, even prosecutors had assault rifles thrust into their hands, and Baeus’s highest ranking CEO issued firm instructions for them to join the wafer-thin line of guards who were holding a perimeter against several million native insurgents. The miraculous victory is well documented and frequently broadcast by both Baeus PR and military enthusiasts alike… but somewhere in this dubious tale of corporate triumph, there is a sour addendum buried in the footnotes. Gun-shy and stranded, Ansko fled the battle, which then put him in an excruciatingly awkward position when his Baeus peers went on to somehow win the day. Ansko subsequently surrendered to Baeus for judgement: flush with the magnanimity that comes with victory, they did, at least, spare him imprisonment or death. Instead, his punishment would be an indelible mark of shame tattooed on both hands, marking him as a coward for all to see. That, and the rather more concrete punishment of a crippling demotion, obviously.

Disgraced and borderline exiled, Ansko has very few contacts left to speak of. Following the cordial-but-clinical divorce of his parents, his mother and siblings moved away and eventually ceased to have any meaningful contact beyond the occasional postcard. His father died in a hunting accident that, to everyone’s unending amazement, turned out to be an actual accident rather than a thinly-veiled murder. Similarly, Ansko's friends in Baeus have distanced themselves now that he’s become something of a pariah. The sole exception is Mannak, Ansko’s long standing frenemy and newly appointed boss. It’s not necessarily a welcome concession, but it keeps a trickle of work coming in. The most recent of these trivial, demeaning tasks comprises of a trip to Terminus: Ansko is currently looking to split the fare with anyone else headed that way. 

Talents:
-(Counter) Security Expert: Investigation is often synonymous with intrusion. He mightn’t be a professional burglar, but Ansko has an alarming amount of experience when it comes to hacking personal messages, circumventing security systems, and bypassing locks.
-Advocate: Be it meticulous questioning in an oak-panelled courtroom or petty haggling in a frontier scrapyard, Ansko has a knack for coming out ahead whenever money, small-print, or politics are involved.
-Forger: When genuine evidence was unavailable (or inconvenient), Ansko often had to… synthesize… his own. He’s proficient at making falsified replicas and, as a practitioner of the art, also adept at spotting the forgeries of others.

Weaknesses:
-Branded: Cowards are despised in many parts of the galaxy, as are Baeus employees in general; having tattoos that declare him to be both doesn’t exactly endear Ansko to those around him. Unfortunately, certain cultures prohibit the use of opaque gloves, due to suspicion that they could be used to cover telltale brands. In Ansko’s case, they probably have a point.
-Gun shy: It’s always sensible to be cautious around guns, but Ansko’s aversion to firearms strays into the realms of irrationality. His marksmanship is non-existent, and the arcane complexities of a safety will remain forever beyond his reach. It’s a seemingly bizarre exception to his unwavering confidence and techno-literacy in other fields.

Extraneous Information:
-Please see my profile Ons and Offs for general preferences. As always, feel free to PM if you're unsure about something.