Free Trader - Freeform story based Sci-fi SLGBTQI - still looking for a few folk

[Chrystal]

FREE TRADER]

It is the late 2340s. The Company War has been going on officially for almost half a century, but the fighting started well before then, unofficially! The Earth Company has failed to re-establish control over the Far Beyond, the Beyonder Rebellion has escalated and now Union, with it's capital on the world of Cyteen, has a fleet far greater in numbers than the surviving Earth Company Ships, due largely to the efforts of the Reseune Laboratories in creating Azi - human clones classified as Alpha through Zulu according to intelligence and (inversely) stability.

Vast numbers of soldiers, all with the same face, all taught by deep-teach, all of sufficient intelligence to simply follow orders, man the Union carriers and riders, and wear the Union Marines battle armour. By contrast, the Earth Company Fleet under the command of Conrad Mazian has been cut off and disowned by the world and the company it is fighting for. No new ships are built, no supplies are forthcoming, no replacements for casualties, no spare parts.

And so the Maziani resort to commerce raiding, acts of piracy - except it is a time of war - against civilian ships, taking the supplies they need, conscripting the young people into their crew. The Earth Company Ships justify this by saying that the Earth Company has never rescinded it's ownership of these ships and their cargoes, and as the Fleet represents the Company, they have a right to take what they want.

Of course most of the merchant ships raided do not feel this way. Most of them, however, are sensible enough to realise that to resist is going to get them no-where, but occasionally, for whatever reason, a ship's crew will attempt to fight back. Sometimes this results in the ship simply being destroyed, but if the ship's cargo is something the raiders want, they will take it by force. Again, sometimes the ship will be taken as a prize, crewed by a Maziani crew and used as a supply ship, a scout or a decoy. But more often, the ship will be left drifting, an empty hulk, a navigation hazard and a warning to others that The Maziani do not like to be crossed....

But what happens if there are a handful of survivors?



Welcome, interested player. I hope that the above background has piqued your imagination and whetted your appetite. If not, then thank you for looking and I bide you bon voyage. If so, however, please read on.

Acknowledgements:

First of all, I wish to acknowledge the work of a great Science Fiction Author named C.J. Cherryh. This story is set in the "Allience/Union" universe that she has created and is inspired to an extent by the book "Merchanter's Luck".

Please note that knowledge of Cherryh's works, while helpful, is not required to play the game.

Secondly, I wish to acknowledge Nowherewoman, who posted a thread with an idea seed in it which was so similar to an idea I already had that I could not resist talking to her about it, and she agreed that her seed and my detail would combine very well.

As Ms Cherryh is not particularly into specifying technical details, especially of weapons, but they are sort of required for the purposes of RP, and NW is a self-confessed weapons geek, she has agreed to design that side of things.

Nowherewoman's group game interest thread can be found here.

A thread giving details of the Alliance Union universe can be found here.



Moraline's Group Game Checklist

Game:

• The game will be in N/C Human Freeform Small Groups
• The game is open to all players regardless of gender, sexuality or preference. It will be SLGBTQI friendly
• Players will be young adults who were hidden during a Maziani raid on their ship. The story will be how they learn, survival at any cost, as they are themselves reduced to being only a step away from piracy.
• The story will be set in an adaptation of C.J. Cherry's Alliance/Union universe.
• The Union Merchant Ship Free Trader is a small jump-capable ship, carrying medium haul cargo between two Union star systems (TBD, possibly Viking and Wyatts) when it is attacked at a null-point by ECS2 Australia commanded by Tom Edgar. Riders from the carrier dock with the freighter and marines pour into the ship. They want the cargo and the younger people. But someone is stupid and pulls a gun. The resulting firefight has only one possible outcome and the bulk of the adult crew lie dead or dying on the deck. The loft, haven for the ship's old and young, has been vented, deliberately killing all those inside, to prevent the children being given over to a fate worse than death. Some of the adults attempted to surrender, and the younger, fitter ones were taken back to the carrier.
  
  But in the heat of the raid, the marines searching the ship for survivors were not as thorough as they should have been. A handful of younger folk have survived, hidden in closets, cupboards, behind access panels, in dark corners. As the Maziani leave, they wait to see if they will simply die in a bright flash, or asphixiate as the air rushes out of the ship, but it doesn't happen. They emerge from their hiding places to see the horror of their family and friends massacred.
  
  And then they clean the ship up, dispose of the corpses, and get on with the job of staying alive, by any means they can.
• Character sheets and guidlines will be posted in a post below this one.
• Please bookmark the World-building thread entitled C.J. Cherryh Fandom Universe - Closed, as this thread will contain all necessary data relating to the universe, it's technology, society and history.
• Please endevor to post at least once a week.
• This is a story driven game. There will be room for sexual activity, but it will be secondary to the plot
• Post tagging will be used for all IC posts to indicate where a character is, whom they are with and what they are doing

Game Master Info / GM(s) Participation Level (If/where applicable)

• Nowherewoman is pro-tem Co-GM, although she has expressed a desire not to have the position permanently. The player taking on the role of Ship's Captain will effectively be Co-GM.
• Play will be guided by myself throwing situations at the players and the Captain deciding how best to respond to them.
• The universe is largely pre-created by C.J. Cherryh. Local details will be fleshed out by myself. Individual players will be allowed to "decorate" their cabins on the ship, and possibly create places of interest when the ship is docked at station, but such places should be cleared with myself first.
• On board ship the only NPCs will be PCs of players who have dropped out. These will be made available to any player who wants to take them over. On station, players are welcome to create on-the-fly NPCs to fill in the environment. NPCs that introduce or facilitate sub-plots will be GM controlled.
• As GM, I will have one character on the ship who will be the Engineer. This gives me effective control of all the technical aspects of the vessel. Other than that my primary role will be to create situations that the crew can find themselves in, in order to move the story forward.
• There will be an OOC thread, which will be available for discussion of sub-plots, character relationships, GM announcements, player absence notifications and the like. General chat will also be allowed, however this should not take precidence over game-related discussions
• Please contact me either by posting here (for now) or in the OOC thread when it is open, for public discussion, or via PM for private discussions.
• OOC decisions will be resolved according to my standard Rules of Play - I like to think I'm a firm but fair GM. I'm willing to listen to all sides of an argument, but once I make a decision I expect it to be abided by.
• PVP will be allowed, in the event of IC conflict happening between characters. Please note that mutiny is punishable by death! It probably won't come to that, but you never know.

Additional:

• Players are advised to at least read The Oath of The Drake for Group RPs. Much of this is common sense, but it still is worth reading it over (again if you have not done so recently). Please also be sure to at least glance over the source material and familiarise yourself with what is there even if you don't read it all word for word. Finally, be sure to read my Rules of Play, as submitting a character for the game is taken by me as a declaration that you have read, understood and accepted them.
• This should go without saying, but it is against Eliquiy's rules not to respect other players. Please be sure to at least look at the O/O pages or Prefs matrices of the other players and if you intend to have your character closely involved with another, please ensure you READ that players O/Os-prefs and take them into account.
• Players are asked to try and post at least once per week, or (as I saw someone else put) at most seven days from when it became your turn to post. Real life happens, and things get on top of us, and our muses desert us. If anything like this happens please let us know. Players who drop out will have their characters taken over and offered to any other player who wishes to take them on, or they will be played as NPCs until such time as they can be removed from the game.
• New players wishing to join may do so by one of three methods: If the game has not been running long they may simply appear as having been there all along but as yet unnoticed; If a player wishes they may take over a character of a player who has dropped out; Finally when the ship is docked at a space station new players may "sign on" as crew.
• Players may use whatever tense and point of view they feel most comfortable with.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

As this is a group game with limited appeal and a sealed environment with a small number of players, it is more than possible that a single player dropping out could kill the game, spoiling it for everyone else. As the average drop-out rate on games on Elliquiy is 50% within the first month, it is a condition of play that, if you submit a character, that character becomes the property of the game, and if you drop out or decide not to play after all, the character may be taken over by the GM and/or offered to any other player wishing to take it over.

If this is unacceptable to you, please do not submit a character, or do not drop out! Thank you.

[Chrystal]

RULES OF PLAY

These are my standard OOC rules of play for group games. I put them in every group game I run, usually with minor variations to suit the specific setting. I like to think there is nothing draconian or unacceptable here, and I ask all players to read them. Submitting a character sheet to me implies that you have read and are in agreement with these rules.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH SOMETHING HERE, PLEASE TELL ME!

All rules except two are negotiable!

Story Astrogation!

This is a GM-led Story guided game. What that means is that I as GM have designed a detailed environment that I will slowly reveal to you the players. I will throw a steady stream of events at you and it is down to you to react to them however you see fit.

Please note that if you are confronted (say) with another vessel that appears to be in difficulties, your choice of whether to offer assistance, board it, or blow it out of the sky with your (limited) armaments, will have consequences, which I will NOT allow you to change!

The one exception to this is if your character's actions cut across another player's offs, in which case editing your post becomes mandatory!

Regardless, this is a story-based game so I will be guiding it and offering hints, but players are more than welcome to take the story in a totally different direction should they so choose. Be warned though: I am quite evil!

RULES:

• The GM's word is law. This does not mean I'm not open to discussion, but if it comes to an impasse, if a decision needs to be made, or a discussion is getting out of bounds, I will render a decision that I expect to be abided by. I will do this based upon context.
• Respect other players ons and more importantly, their offs! This is NOT negotiable. Ons and offs are there for a reason. If you feel someone has broken this rule, please PM them first to talk about it. If they will not change their post, then contact me via PM and I will deal with it. Please note that persistently ignoring another players O/Os is grounds for reporting to staff!
• Try to post at least once a week. If you know you will be unable to post for a while please let us know in advance in the OOC. it is a good idea to create an Apologies/Absences (A/A) thread so everyone you are RPing with knows where you've gone.
• If you know you are going to be away for a considerable time (more than a week) please bring any story-arcs you are involved in to a conclusion , or extract your character from them.
• If you find your character is sitting around doing nothing, post something to the OOC, or PM me. If you wait for someone to interact with you, you will wait a long time. Let me know and I will create an event to bring your character into the game.
• If you have any questions about anything in the game, ASK! The only stupid questions are "how many beans make five" and ones that aren't asked!
• The OOC thread will be for people to chat. I have no problems with you guys discussing the latest football results if you wish, (although I'd rather you didn't because I dislike football), because it means you are getting on as a group. However please give priority to game related discussions
• Please tag all IC posts using the code that will be supplied, editing the details as appropriate. This will enable other players and myself to track where everyone is.
• There is no rule 9.
• Players who drop out of the game will have their characters confiscated by the GM(s) and manipulated as NPCs in order to allow the story to continue. The GMs may, at their discretion, offer such characters to another player to continue playing with.
• Please try to post a minimum of 200 words per post. If you post short once in a while, that isn't going to be a problem, but doing so consistently will draw my attention and I will ask you to expand your posts. If the player you are responding to has not given you enough material to write a decent length post from, PM them and ask them to expand their post.
• God-Moding is a big no-no, but in a n/c game a certain amount of "moving the story on" needs to be expected. Use common sense! If you feel you have been god-moded, talk it over by PM, and if you cannot reach a satisfactory solution, bring it to me or the other GMs.
• HAVE FUN! This too is non-negotiable. If you aren't having fun, I would like to know why, so I can change whatever it is that is stopping you having fun!

[Chrystal]

Character Creation

All player characters will be the young adult survivors of the crew of the Free Trader, who's relatives and friends have all been massacred by the Maziani pirates. No player character can be under 16, and if you wish to create one under 18 you will need to PM me to tell me why.

Also, no player character is to be over the age of 24.

As GM, I reserve the right to decline any character for any reason, or even for no reason. I reserve the right not to explain why the character is not acceptable. However I will usually give a reason, and try to give hints as to how the character may be made acceptable. Possible reasons for the character being declined are:

• Mary-Sue/Marty-Stu characters, characters who are too perfect and will always end up saving the day.
• Over-powerful or over-stereotyped characters, the guy with the strength of ten men and the stamina of an ox, even though he may have character flaws coming out his ears. Equally the girl with the 42G-28-36 figure, long blonde hair and the IQ of a plank
• Characters who simply do not fit the setting for whatever reason
• Non-human characters
• Characters who are excessively evil or excessively good - nothing is that black and white
• Canon characters, from this or any other fandom
• Characters submitted on character sheets that have been modified, not filled in correctly, or incomplete. There is no reason for anyone to modify the character sheet or change any of the formatting. The sheet is the way it is for a reason. All information is required unless specified otherwise.
• Characters using poor quality or anime artwork as a pic-base. Photos of people in decent sci-fi settings are few and far between, so I will accept artwork, but I am going to be picky about it Art work must look three-dimensional with proper perspective. No flat, cartoon-like characters and no unrealistic proportions please.
• Characters where the pic-base is inappropriate to the setting - Yes, I'm picky...  A photo of a woman on a beach in a bikini might look nice but there are no beaches in deep space! Just for example. Note that pictures of individuals against a blank background (a wall for example) are acceptable regardless of their clothing

Please be aware of the following when creating your character:

• All player characters were born in the Beyond. They have never been to earth. In fact none of them have ever set foot on a planet! They were all born either on the ship or on a space station.
• Merchant ships are family crewed. That means that most of the characters will be related in some way, however distantly. This is not a hard and fast rule, and there can be characters who are the kids of crew who only joined the ship recently.
• All characters are "unseated crew". They are not qualified to run the ship, they have little to no experience of actually running the ship and at the time the story starts would have been learning one or more specialisations.
• The characters have just been subject to probably the most traumatic event of their lives. How you chose to have your character deal with this is up to you, but be prepared to justify it!
• The universe is a dangerous place!

To use the character sheet, click the "select" link, and press <Ctrl> + c to copy the code. creae a new PM and address it to me, with the subject "Free Trader Character", then use <Ctrl> + v to paste the code into it. Fill in the form, replacing the "sample text" with your answers, and send it to me.

Code Select Expand


[float=right][img height=300 padding=5]Paste image URL here[/img][/float]
[b]Player ID:[/b] Your login ID

[b]First Name:[/b] The name the character is known by

[b]Surname:[/b] If different from the ship's family name which is Fiori

[b]Gender:[/b] Preferably Male or female, but I will accept other genders if you can give me a valid reason!

[b]Age:[/b] Between 18 and 24 Subjective years. I will accept characters between 16 and 18 if you can give me a valid reason.

[b]Height:[/b] In CM. Inches never made it of planet Earth.

[b]Mass:[/b] In KG. Lbs never made it into space either.

[b]Hair Colour:[/b] If not obvious from the pic, or put "As picture"

[b]Eye Colour:[/b] If not obvious from the pic, or put "As picture"

[b]Skin Colour:[/b] If not obvious from the pic, or put "As picture"

[b]Build:[/b] If not obvious from the pic, or put "As picture"

[b]Distinguishing marks:[/b] Scars, tattoos, piercings, especially those not visible in the picture.

[b]Sexual preference / Orientation:[/b] This is the character's preference, not necessarily yours.

[b]Assigned Department:[/b] This is the ship's department within which the character is studying. See list below.

[b]Stated specialisation preferences:[/b] Again, this is the character's stated intent, and is not necessarily where they will end up. See list below.

[b]Likes:[/b] Please list at least five things they enjoy

[b]Dislikes:[/b] Please list at least five things they don't enjoy

[b]Personality prior to the attack:[/b] What was the character like before. How did they relate to people. What pushed their buttons. Please type at least 150 words, and preferably around 200.

[b]How has the attack affected them:[/b] What effect has the trauma of having their ship attacked and almost everyone they know killed had on their personality. Please type at least 75 words and preferably around 100. NOTE: "None", no matter how it is padded, is not acceptable!

[b]Player O/Os:[/b] Please insert a link to your ons/offs page and/or your prefs matrix.

[b]Any Other Info:[/b] Anything else you think might be relevant


NOTES:

Surname: As stated, most people aboard a merchant ship are in some way related, if only by marriage, The ship will have a family surname that most of the crew will have. Not all, however. The family surname is Fiori.

Gender: If you can give me a plausible enough reason for why your girl has a cock or your guy has tits, I will allow it.

Physical characteristics: if something isn't obvious from the picture, please specify - for example if the character is wearing a hat that hides the hair, or glasses, or the image is monochrome, or is a head/torso shot.

Sexuality: You are quite welcome to have your character's sexual orientation the same as your own, however this is not a requirement. However, please note that it is YOUR preference not your characters that will influence the relationships he or she has. So if you are gay, but your character is straight, you should expect him/her to be seduced and/or raped, but ONLY by members of the same sex.

Department & Specialisation: There is a list of departments and specialisations below. Each character has been assigned to a department, for ease of organisation within the crew, so they know who their "boss" is. However, they may be studying for as many as three different specialisations, only one of which must fall within their assigned department. Characters can have one, two or three specialisations, and they may all be from the same department or all from different departments, or two from one and one from another.

Likes & Dislikes: these are character preferences, NOT player prefs. If you put pizza as a dislike, that doesn't mean (s)he cannot be forced to eat pizza in game, with player permission!

Personality & Trauma: Characters will all have been affected in some way by the attack on the ship. This can be whatever you like. They could become aggressive, withdrawn, prone to panic attacks, the only real requirement is that they do not go totally insane because that would really leave the character unplayable.

Ons/Offs: I know some players prefer to discuss RP content on a case by case basis, however in a group game having published ons and offs helps people to know whether to interact with your character and in what ways. Especially in a N/C game, player ons and offs are essential, in my opinion.

List Of Departments And Specialisations:

Operations:
Helm
Navigation
Scan
Comms
Cargo Management

Sciences:
Comp
Economics
Medical
Life support
Cookery

Engineering:
Jump Drive Technology
Main Engine Maintenance
Fabrication
Damage Control

[Chrystal]

Characters we have so far:

Player	Character Name	Department	Main Specialisation
Chrystal	Lena Fiori	Engineering	Main Engine/Jump Drive Maintenance
Blinkin	Samantha Fiori	Operations	Cargo Handling
Riveda	Mark Fiori	Operations	Navigation (Nightwalker)
Cass Yuri	Olivia Fiori	Sciences	Economics/Scan
NowhereWoman	Jayna Fiori	Engineering	Fabrication
OrderNChaos	Cami Denton	Operations	Helm

Posts still available:

Comms tech (Operations)
Medic (Science)
Comp operator (Science)
Life Support (Science)
Cookery (Science)

I'm not really expecting anyone to want to be a life support tech, because that is probably the least attractive job on a space-going vessel, but it is easily one of the most important: Basically you are in charge of turning people's waste products into breathable oxygen and drinkable water!

Cookery is probably the least vital role, and if one of the players with a single specialisation wants to add it as a subsidiary, please do...

[Chrystal]

Threads

This thread is the recruitment thread. This is where people can discuss character concepts and submit character sheets for approval.

The OOC Thread is for discussion of the game, setting up character interactions, working out issues with the plot and the story, and also random non-game-related discussion.

The Character Thread is for approved character sheets only. Please do not post your own character sheets here

The IC Thread(s):

Onboard The Free Trader is the first IC thread. This is where all on-ship action will take place. Other threads may be introduced to represent different locations as and when we get there.

[Chrystal]

reserved

[RedEve]

This is quite interesting, is it a dormant concept or are you still going to recruit for this?

[Chrystal]

I am recruiting for it, but I seem to have zero interest so far...

Mind you, I'm aware that setting up such a specialised game can take time, so if you would like to play, then I would be more than happy to include you, however please note that it could be several weeks before I have enough players to consider starting...

The world-building thread containing the background info is still a work-in-progress, but there should be enough detail there to let people know what sort of thing they are getting into...

[CassYuri]

I still am interested in it.  I've spent quite a bit of time looking for a genre appropriate pic that I could connect with for a character but nothing is jumping out at me. 

I'm confused by this part of your setup:

...
Sexuality: You are quite welcome to have your character's sexual orientation the same as your own, however this is not a requirement. However, please note that it is YOUR preference not your characters that will influence the relationships he or she has. So if you are gay, but your character is straight, you should expect him/her to be seduced and or raped.
...

I assume in the above you mean that if you are gay and your character is straight, then you should expect him/her to only be seduced and/or raped by members of the same sex.

I have a suggestion.  I feel like there are too many departments that are dead-ends in a narrative sense.    I'd suggest combing the basics of several into a base class and then allowing for specializations into advanced classes.  For example you could have a ship tactical base that would cover the basics of helm, navigation, and gunnery (if we were ever to get ship guns).  Any of three specialties could do the basic work of any of the roles, but the specialists would be better.  Sciences could be a base class for Scan, Comp (this could also go in Engineering), Comms (which would also have more Linguistics in it), and Life Sciences.  Engineering could have Jump Drive, Fabrication, and Damage Control Specialities for example.  I think this would also help keep the story flowing as you will be less likely hampered but a key position having a player with real world intrusions.

[Chrystal]

I still am interested in it.  I've spent quite a bit of time looking for a genre appropriate pic that I could connect with for a character but nothing is jumping out at me. 

I am okay with artwork as well as photos, and in all honesty, if we assume that clothing doesn't change that much in the next 200 years, you could just go with a picture you like, it doesn't need to be genre specific.

I'm confused by this part of your setup:I assume in the above you mean that if you are gay and your character is straight, then you should expect him/her to only be seduced and/or raped by members of the same sex.

OOPS! Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Sorry, that was a mega typo. I will fix it now.

I have a suggestion.  I feel like there are too many departments that are dead-ends in a narrative sense.    I'd suggest combing the basics of several into a base class and then allowing for specializations into advanced classes.  For example you could have a ship tactical base that would cover the basics of helm, navigation, and gunnery (if we were ever to get ship guns).  Any of three specialties could do the basic work of any of the roles, but the specialists would be better.  Sciences could be a base class for Scan, Comp (this could also go in Engineering), Comms (which would also have more Linguistics in it), and Life Sciences.  Engineering could have Jump Drive, Fabrication, and Damage Control Specialities for example.  I think this would also help keep the story flowing as you will be less likely hampered but a key position having a player with real world intrusions.

That is an excellent idea, thank you. I will see how best to go about implementing it.

[thymoit]

Hmm, interesting...  I had a plot bunny running around in my head for a similar story, except I was going to place it in the Traveller universe instead of  a C.J. Cherryh.  That plot bunny never got out to play.  I like the idea of young adults pushed into adult responsibilities.  As well as the confined environment of a ship in space.  Players would be forced to interact and work with each other.  They'd be too short-handed to have any slackers. 
I might sign up for a position, but not interested in the responsibility of being Captain/co-GM.  I would suggest you do a google search for Traveller+Deck+Plans.  The Traveller game system has excessively detailed rules for ship construction, but they also produced a lot of deck plans that are floating around on the internet.  Even if you're not using the system, stealing one of their ships would probably be easier than designing your own.  Something like this perhaps?

http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/map_images/1010009/Free_Trader_Deckplan.jpg

[Chrystal]

Hmm, interesting...  I had a plot bunny running around in my head for a similar story, except I was going to place it in the Traveller universe instead of  a C.J. Cherryh.  That plot bunny never got out to play.  I like the idea of young adults pushed into adult responsibilities.  As well as the confined environment of a ship in space.  Players would be forced to interact and work with each other.  They'd be too short-handed to have any slackers. 
I might sign up for a position, but not interested in the responsibility of being Captain/co-GM.  I would suggest you do a google search for Traveller+Deck+Plans.  The Traveller game system has excessively detailed rules for ship construction, but they also produced a lot of deck plans that are floating around on the internet.  Even if you're not using the system, stealing one of their ships would probably be easier than designing your own.  Something like this perhaps?

http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/map_images/1010009/Free_Trader_Deckplan.jpg

Hi Thymoit.

Well there's two problems with your suggestion, firstly I don't do system games. I cannot get to grips with them, and I cannot afford the time nor the money required to do so.

Your idea of using the ship plans would have had merit, except that in Cherryh's universe artificial gravity is provided the real way, by spinning a cylinder about a central axis, rather than the Trek-Trope way of just assuming that something is holding everyone to the deck and it is still working even when the ship has been derelict for centuries, there is no air and no power to anything else.... (Seriously, the least they could have done was have them on wires!)

However what this means is that the deck of a ship in Cherryh's universe is usually one or two long corridors which if you start from the control room and keep walking, you end up back at the control room!

So that deck plan is totally the wrong shape...

Thanks for the suggestion, but sorry...

If you could have a squint at the "world building" thread it should give you sufficient information to come up with an acceptable character

[Blinkin]

Character submitted, but I'm just posting to make it easier to keep up wth the thread.

[Chrystal]

Blinkin, dear, your character is approved subject to the requested change regarding looking at the stars on the vid screens.

[Blinkin]

That has been changed in the bio that I returned to you. So, I guess Sam is ready to go whenever this starts up.

As a little question... the ships are usually crewed by families, are people sent off to other ships, or brought in for marriages or relationships, or is the bloodlines broad enough that becoming involved with someone on the ship acceptible? IE, how prevelent is incestous relationships. Not talking about parents or siblings, but if nearly everyone is related, it brings up the question.

[Chrystal]

Ah... that was the next post I had planned to do in the World Building thread, but hadn't, because it seemed no-one was interested...

I will see about putting that info up.

[Blinkin]

It may take a few days. I've watched threads sit for nearly a week, then suddenly explode, so it's still early.

[Chrystal]

I know... I've been doing this long enough to have learned by now that impatience gets you nowhere...

And yet I am still impatient!

LOL

[Blinkin]

One of my favorite lines in The Mummy...

Evy, kneeling before the rosetta stone,*In a sing song voice* Patience is a virtue"
Rick,*Looking down at the hordes of mindless servants of the Mummy, "Not right now it isn't!"

Patience has never been one of my top virtues... but then, I can't think of any virtue that is. ;)

[thymoit]

Well there's two problems with your suggestion, firstly I don't do system games. I cannot get to grips with them, and I cannot afford the time nor the money required to do so.

Your idea of using the ship plans would have had merit, except that in Cherryh's universe artificial gravity is provided the real way, by spinning a cylinder about a central axis, rather than the Trek-Trope way of just assuming that something is holding everyone to the deck and it is still working even when the ship has been derelict for centuries, there is no air and no power to anything else.... (Seriously, the least they could have done was have them on wires!)

However what this means is that the deck of a ship in Cherryh's universe is usually one or two long corridors which if you start from the control room and keep walking, you end up back at the control room!

So that deck plan is totally the wrong shape...

I wasn't reccomending the Traveller system.  Yuck.   :P  I like the Traveller universe, but I would never use the Traveller system.  It's garbage.  I was just suggesting the deck plans and not the system.  However, I didn't know about the no artificial gravity.  Which I have to agree makes sense.  There is one Traveller ship that uses rotation for artificial gravity:
http://classictraveller.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/labshipfull.jpg

But it is probably not at all accurate for a cargo ship.  I would expect a cargo ship to be more a pencil and ring design, with the cargo and drives in the pencil and the crew quarters in the ring.  And I've seen the rules and I'm contemplating a character concept.

[Chrystal]

Ah, sorry, I misread your post. I think Traveller's "Jump drive" and Cherryh's version are significantly different...

That deck plan is close, but to be honest, it's not that hard to create a deck plan in paint, just using straight lines. I did one for a one-on-one game set in a variant of this universe - actually closer to Elizabeth Moon's version. It's not suitable for this ship for a number of reasons, but it will give you the idea, until I can do the proper one.

https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/78/Ship%2C_Rotation_Cylinder_deck_1.png

Oh and the render of the ECS-5 (Later, Alliance Warship) Norway that I found and put in the opener of the World Builder is as near as dang-it to the sketch Cherryh herself did in the front pages of "Downbelow Station", so even though that is a a warship, a Country-Class jump-carrier, it gives you the general idea of what a jump-ship looks like from the outside.

[CassYuri]

I'll put together a character this week.  I might even be willing to play the co-GM captain role.   I'll look over the background material some more, I think I remember playing a board game called "Company War" or something like that, that was based on the books.  Haven't read the books though :(

[Chrystal]

I'll put together a character this week.  I might even be willing to play the co-GM captain role.   I'll look over the background material some more, I think I remember playing a board game called "Company War" or something like that, that was based on the books.  Haven't read the books though :(

Love to have you, Cass.

There's a board game? OH hey, COOL! http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3376/company-war *drools* Not sure if this will hot-link, but I have the map clicksaved anyway... It's just what we need for this so I'm yoinking it!

[Chrystal]

Interestingly, I never read the book "Tripoint". I wish I had.

Two things. That map is wrong! Tripoint is a jump point between Pell and mariner AND Pell and Viking (and thus between Mariner and Viking)!

Secondly I found a wikipedia entry for Jump Drive... It actually includes something I only knew peripherally, and that is that very rare humans can be what is known as a night-walker - someone active during jump.

If anyone wishes to be a nightwalker, I will accept ONE (and only one) such character, and you need to justify it! Probably the best way is by having read Tripoint!

[ElvenKitten]

Can't believe I missed this! While not familiar with this series I have been reading the Foreigner series by the same author.

[CassYuri]

I saw that Downbelow station is available on Kindle so I'll read that then make a character.

[Chrystal]

Can't believe I missed this! While not familiar with this series I have been reading the Foreigner series by the same author.

I've not read the Foreigner stories, I am sad to admit. I have had little money to spend on books for a long time and what I read tends to be free crap downloaded from Amazon to my phone's kindle app.

There is actually a quite extensive wiki for the A/U universe, which CJ herself contributes to - in fact this has me slightly worried! If anyone spots anything I've got wrong, please let me know and I'll fix it!

I saw that Downbelow station is available on Kindle so I'll read that then make a character.

Cool... Uh, you might also want to read Merchanter's Luck, because it gives the idea that this scenario is based off.

[Blinkin]

I have the books on order, but it may be a week before the NLS gets them to me, then I have to read them; the narriator is not a great one, so it takes longer to read.

But, at some point, I'll be up on the story... it may be time to read Ready Player One again... even if there's no game. *chuckles*

[CassYuri]

Cool... Uh, you might also want to read Merchanter's Luck, because it gives the idea that this scenario is based off.

I haven't room for the physical books I have presently so quite awhile ago I resigned myself to just getting ebooks.  If you know where I can buy an ebook of Merchanter's Luck, I'll totally buy and read it.  Otherwise I'll have to wait.  On the plus side it wasn't that long ago that I looked for the Downbelow station book to get started on the series but it wasn't out at the time so I think they are finally getting around to making ebooks of them.  Yay!

[Chrystal]

I haven't room for the physical books I have presently so quite awhile ago I resigned myself to just getting ebooks.  If you know where I can buy an ebook of Merchanter's Luck, I'll totally buy and read it.  Otherwise I'll have to wait.  On the plus side it wasn't that long ago that I looked for the Downbelow station book to get started on the series but it wasn't out at the time so I think they are finally getting around to making ebooks of them.  Yay!

http://www.download-genius.com/download-k:Merchanter%27s%20Luck%20%28Alliance-Union%20Universe%29.html?aff.id=5218

Not sure if that works, but a google search turned it up.

It's not yet available for kindle.

[Rook Seidhr]

As a long-time fan of Cherryh's work, especially the Alliance/Union and Compact series, I am very interested in this game…but I haven't been at my most reliable lately, and I have some issues with the way group games on Elliquiy seem to proceed.

What is the expectation for minimum post length?

What is the maximum number of posts per player per week you're willing to deal with?

[Chrystal]

As a long-time fan of Cherryh's work, especially the Alliance/Union and Compact series, I am very interested in this game…but I haven't been at my most reliable lately, and I have some issues with the way group games on Elliquiy seem to proceed.

What is the expectation for minimum post length?

What is the maximum number of posts per player per week you're willing to deal with?

Hi, Wow! Another Cherryh fan! *HUGS*

Hmmm.... Didn't we speak at one point about a story based on Morgaine?

Minimum post length, I have set at around 200 words. I'm generally not a "word counter" though. What I would like is two decent length paragraphs per post. and by decent length I mean occupying a minimum of three and a bit lines within the text box that we type our posts into. So if I type a bit more and waffle some, this paragraph will eventually become what I consider to be a decent length. So yeas, basically two paragraphs of about this size, minimum.

There is no maximum post length, but if you go over 1,000 words, consider that you may want to split the post to allow others to react! (I need to add that sentence to my RoP!)

That said, if a post is short, once in a while, I'm not going to say anything. If someone short-posts repeatedly, I will.

The maximum number of posts per week? Uh... That has never been a problem! I find that getting every player to post a minimum of once a week is the challenge. However, if two players are posting back and forth and running away with the thread without waiting on anyone else - unless they are in a private sex scene - I will step in and ask them to wait for people to catch up. And a private scene like that would probably get moved to it's own thread to allow the story to continue.

Please feel free to get back to me with any comments or suggestions or concerns...

[Blinkin]

Chrys, did you see my question about relationships on the previous page?

[Chrystal]

I did. I replied to it here... https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=213048.msg10496230#msg10496230

and I have put the info relating to society and sex, which should answer the question, here: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=212989.msg10504420#msg10504420

[Blinkin]

Ah, thanks. I wasn't sure if the response was to me, or an earlier post, but question answered. :)

[Rook Seidhr]

in Cherryh's universe artificial gravity is provided the real way, by spinning a cylinder about a central axis, rather than the Trek-Trope way of just assuming that something is holding everyone to the deck and it is still working even when the ship has been derelict for centuries, there is no air and no power to anything else.... (Seriously, the least they could have done was have them on wires!)

But possibly the worst goof in the Roddenburyverse was the life support system. "Divert all power to shields...." Says Kirk, standing with his feet firmly planted on the deck.... Um, sorry but if you are diverting ALL power to the shields, wouldn't the gravity go off?

If I recall correctly from the TNG "tech manual" I once laughed my way through in a bookstore, artificial gravity is supposed to be a fluid, which leaks away slowly once its containment is disrupted…

Silliest damn bit of technobabble I remember ever having read.

[Blinkin]

Sure that you're not talking about anti-matter? ;)

The gloss over of artificial gravity has been around since the first silent movies with a science-fiction element. It wasn't called artificial gravity, but blaming roddenberry and Star Trek for all of the seudo-psyic psychobabble in the world isn't entirely correct.

A old role-playing friend who had serious trouble with anything the least bit un-realistic once pointed out that the "rocket pistols" of the original Buck Rogers were totally unrealistic because the amount of distance that it took for the rocket to accelerate to achieve a velocity effective enough to detonate was measured in dozens of yards instead of feet... then, the fuel capacity of the little rockets and so on and so forth. Yet, we don't blame Buck Rogers for the fact that the science didn't support it's effects.

So, I try hard to just watch for the story of sci-fi productions and ignore the lack of actual scientific fact. Even 2001, which went to some lengths to seem based on realistic effects flunked several elements... so... enjoy the story. :)

[Chrystal]

There is some justification for the Graviton particle... It's one of the odd quirks of science that gravity cannot be explained in terms of anything except itself... I remember my physics teacher at school saying to imagine the universe as a thin rubber sheet. Every massive object distorts the universe in the same way as placing a ball of a certain mass on that sheet.

Of course the problem with the analogy is that you are using gravity to explain gravity!

But I have never heard or seen a better explanation. There is a Unified Theory of Science into which every single subatomic force known to man (strong, weak, electromagnetic, etc, I think I forgot one...) fits, except - at least, to my knowledge - gravity!

But yes, Treknobabble is cringe-worthy at times.

My favourite is the idiotic concept of "Inertial Dampeners", which the Trekies came up with to counter the fact that the entire crew would be a greasy smear if they went from standing still to "warp 6" in two seconds... And yet in ToS, they didn't seem to work very well... *giggles*

In RimRunners, the character Bet Yeager speculates about the take-hold sounding literally a second before a massive burn kicking in on Africa - the carrier she was a marine on - and the fact that there were some long, long fore-aft corridors on a carrier that you didn't want to get caught in when the mains kicked in and aft became down with anything up to ten g's... and she describes seeing people falling past her in those corridors.

So yeah... Newtonian physics!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knE4eIn-YDA

[Rook Seidhr]

There is some justification for the Graviton particle...

Oh, it's part of every theory of quantum gravity in one form or another—but it's a gauge boson, not an invisible form of matter. You cannot fill a ship with gravitons any more than you can fill it with photons. It's a category error.

(my undergraduate degree in physics did not teach me real physics but I can puzzle out some of the longer words from context—real physics starts in grad school)

[Chrystal]

Player ID: Chrystal

First Name: Lena

Surname: Fiori (NB: This is the Ship Surname)

Gender: Female

Age: 18 standard years subjective

Height: 180 cm

Mass: 63 kG

Hair Colour: "As picture"

Eye Colour: "As picture"

Skin Colour: "As picture"

Build: Slim with decent curves, 82-61-82

Distinguishing marks: Small burn scar on back of left hand, walks with a slight limp in her left foot

Sexual preference / Orientation: Lesbian

Assigned Department: Engineering

Stated specialisation preferences: Main engine Maintenance, Jump Drive Technology, Cargo Management

Likes: Synth-caf, girls, machinery, Cyteen beer, getting her hands dirty, Jayna

Dislikes: Low class Azi, men, people who don't get their hands dirty, stuck-up stationers, idiots, people bossing her twin around.

Personality prior to the attack: Lena was very calm, easy-going and likeable. She was studious and diligent, never missing her studies, never shirking a responsibility. Lena was fairly quiet, normally. She had a small group of friends on the ship, and when on station-leave, rarely ventured beyond the hostel and a few bars nearby, rarely engaging in sleepovers with other ship's crew members or stationers. Her preference for female companionship is something she never tried to hide, but equally never actually broadcast, considering it to be her own business and no-one else's. She reckoned that, sooner or later, she would come across another like-minded female who would wish to join her on her ship, or whom she could join. In the mean time, every so often she would find someone who would share her bed.

She was always fascinated by what made the ship go, and when asked "What do you want to be?" by her mother, when she was six, had replied "Wanna make ship work!" That had stayed with her through her childhood and teenage years. Her mother, Miranda Fiori, who sat Scan 2 Mainday, approved of her choice. Her father was some unremarkable insystem belter at Cyteen Station.

How has the attack affected them: Lena has become decidedly more outspoken since the attack on the ship. It is almost as if her personality has been shifted up a gear. She harbours a deep burning hatred, now towards the Earth Company in general and the Maziani in particular. Whereas before, politics were for others, and the war was far away, now suddenly it is up close and personal. She is constantly fighting an urge to run off and join the Union Fleet, to some how hit back, but manages to reason with herself that keeping her ship alive and running, keeping the goods flowing between the Union stations, will be a good enough way, and in this way she will not be letting down her surviving family.

Player O/Os: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=74306.0

Any Other Info: Lena got her left foot trapped between two cargo canisters that were being loaded onto the ship, when she was twelve. She had been playing around in the downside cargo area, a silly, dangerous game of "dodge" that she and some friends had invented and that the adult crew were trying desperately to put a stop to. She was the one who didn't dodge fast enough. Her left foot was crushed. Station Medical managed to put her foot back together again, but she was forced to spend a long year stationside while the ship did it's regular run, and she has walked with a limp ever since.

As a result of this she is several months older than her twin sister Jayna .

[Chrystal]

Please feel free to post approved character sheets here.

I have decided arbitrarily on a family surname of "Florentine". If anyone has any major objections to this (like perhaps you associate that name with something unpleasant, please tell me and if you wish, suggest an alternative?

A better suggestion from Riveda, the surname is Fiori. It actually fits a lot better with Merchanter family names in the books!

[Blinkin]

Player ID: Blinkin

First Name: Samantha, or Sam

Surname: Fiori
Gender: Female

Age: 18

Height: In CM. 167.6 cm

Mass: 59 kg

Hair Colour: Blonde, kept in a bob
Eye Colour: brown

Skin Colour: Peaches and cream

Build: Athletic, a little on the curvy side with a rounded rear and generous C-cups

Distinguishing marks: Piercing in her ears, bellybutton and pubes, a tattoo of hunting cat on the back of her right shoulder and a faint scar on her right hip from a childhood accident.

Sexual preference / Orientation: bi-sexual

Assigned Department: Operations

Stated specialisation preferences: Cargo Handling, damage control and engine repair

Likes: Reading, flirting with the guys, watching the stars via video systems,”real” food from a station and a good joke.

Dislikes: Short rations, sappy vids, inactivity, The chemical smell of medical areas and pirates.

Personality prior to the attack: Sam was a fairly content, confident and independent young woman who was prone to harmless jokes, flirting with the guys and laughing at even the worst jokes; especially when one of the children told a funny story that she had heard a thousand times before. She loved the children and waited for the time that she could have one or two… or three of her own someday. A light-hearted girl who had never known much more than the ship and liked it that way. Carefree and while a hard-worker, relished the moments that she could steal for herself and her love for anything that she could read. A little bit of a day-dreamer who liked to simply look out at the stars via the displays and plan her future with her extended family. Outgoing in a flirtatious fashion, she had gone through several little crushes and tried hard to maintain an optimistic attitude while she pursued this boy or that  one, the occasional “playtime” with a willing person during her off-duty time.

How has the attack affected them: Sam doesn’t laugh anymore. She hasn’t yet allowed herself to grieve, but is very deeply in the anger phase of the process. Her once light heart is filled with a fury that the reactor core might not quite match it’s heat. But, the anger is focused and directed toward those who have caused her loss and the deaths of her family. Her smiles are a bit more fierce, a little strained and her brown eyes spark at even the mention of the companies. While her rage comes out sometimes in yelling fits or  biting comments, she has directed a lot of it into a different kind of passion; that of the flesh and her determination to live every minute as if it might be her last and that she is certain that she’ll go down to a raider’s weapon.. and her teeth in his throat! Where she was a playful flirt, she has become more aggressive in her “playtimes” and in some way that she has refused to admit, an attempt to find some solace in someone’s arms and maybe bring children back to the quiet places of the ship. Although her hatred runs red hot, she’s also developed a fear of being confined.

Player O/Os: Find Them Here!

Any Other Info: Nothing comes to mind

[Rook Seidhr]

I have decided arbitrarily on a family surname of "Florentine". If anyone has any major objections to this (like perhaps you associate that name with something unpleasant, please tell me and if you wish, suggest an alternative?

It makes me think of spinach. I like spinach, but it's not a spacer thing. I will be constantly chuckling.

(in cooking, "florentine" generally means "with loads of spinach"; thus, "spinach florentine," like "tomatoes Provençal" or "shrimp scampi," is redundant)

"Fiori," maybe?

[Blinkin]

If you want to make everyone feel hard-up, name them Phizer (sp?) lol

If you're feeling a little cheesy, we could go with fettichini (Often served with a cheese sauce). lol

[Rook Seidhr]

Player ID: Riveda

First Name: Mark

Surname: Fiori

Gender: male

Age: 19

Height: 180cm

Mass: 75kg

Hair Colour: As picture

Eye Colour: Green (as picture)

Skin Colour: As picture

Build: As picture

Distinguishing marks: One gray star on inside of right wrist, the start of a night-walker navigator's tattoo (to which he as yet has no right, of course)

Sexual preference / Orientation: Heteroromantic demisexual (though he would characterize himself as asexual)

Assigned Department: Operations

Stated specialisation preferences: Navigation

Likes:

• math
• music
• those puzzles where you have to fit a piece of metal through a gap in another piece that's apparently too small, or whatever
• pictures of weather
• trying to grow facial hair

Dislikes:

• crowds
• alcohol
• loud noises (he puts up with ship noises, they're familiar enough not to make him flinch, but he certainly doesn't like them and he could never work in Engineering)
• small children
• people who try to figure out his emotional buttons

Personality prior to the attack: As a child, Mark was bright and curious; his mother Tanya was junior chief comp, and she expected him to follow her into that specialty. When he was 16, however, he nearly died in jump from an allergic reaction to a contaminated dose of trank. After that, he was phobic about tranking down, and only faked doing it. He learned to claw his way through the nightmares and perceptual distortions and move around the ship. It had a marked effect on his personality, making him somewhat schizoid (rather than borderline like Capella in Tripoint), more interested in people as puzzles rather than as beings like himself. When he concentrates, he can "put on a skin" and behave normally; he just doesn't always bother. He fought hard and dirty to be reassigned to Operations and made it just before the attack.

How has the attack affected them: The death of almost everyone Mark knew has made him more withdrawn, less and less willing to "put on a skin" like a normal human being. He regrets having alienated his mother in the course of fighting for reassignment, and now hears her voice in the Between, urging him to "join us" (i.e., sabotage the ship in jump). He knows it's a projection of his own survivor guilt, and isn't going to act on it, but it distresses him that knowing that doesn't make it go away.

Player O/Os: here

Any Other Info: not at this time

[Rook Seidhr]

If you're feeling a little cheesy, we could go with fettichini (Often served with a cheese sauce). lol

Oh, fettucini can be served with any sauce—marinara, arrabbiata, margherita—just as any pasta can be served with an alfredo sauce. And I'd better stop before Chrystal reassigns my character to Cookery :)

[Chrystal]

Okay, yes, Fiori it is, I like that. I hate thinking up surnames!

Sorry Blinking, please could you edit?

[Blinkin]

Sure, no problem.

So interesting that the only male on the ship, so far, is asexual... I guess that if Sam needs snuggling, she'll have to go looking in the Engine room. lol

[Chrystal]

If we don't get a couple more players at least this is going no-where anyway!

I'm patient. I am waiting for those who have expressed an interest to offer characters for approval.

[CassYuri]

Player ID: Cass Yuri

First Name: Olivia

Surname: Fiori

Gender: Female

Age: 20

Height: 178cm

Mass: 70 kg

Hair Colour: "As picture"

Eye Colour: Green

Skin Colour: "As picture"

Build: "As picture"

Distinguishing marks: Yin/Yang tattoo on the back of her neck.  Tongue has a metallic green stud.  Nipples are pierced with metallic green bars.  Belly button is pierced with a dangly translucent yin/yang pendant.

Sexual preference / Orientation: Lesbian

Assigned Department: Sciences

Stated specialisation preferences: Economics, Scan, Helm

Likes: Profit, Zero-g martial arts called "Zedo", Free Trader air, Science, Exercise

Dislikes: Losing money, Anyone messing with the Free Trader or it's crew, Earth Company, Stationer air, People who try to trade or negotiate like the "used car salesman" of Earth

Personality prior to the attack: Up till her teenage years Olivia had to use a respirator when on a station, because of a respiratory suspectibility to airborne viruses.  When she was seven, some stationer boys were teasing her and took her respirator and she got terribly sick.  After that she was determined to learn how to defend herself and took up Zedo and exercise.  She developed a distaste for stationer boys which as she became sexually active turned into an exclusive interest in girls.  She was open about her being a lesbian, but never hostile toward boys unless they were being jerks.  She took a real interest in the business side of the Free Trader and managed to make a decent profit on some small scale trade ventures she took upon herself to pursue.  As part of her desire for profit she also learned what she could about the scanners to sniff out adrift cargo, valuable salvage, or raw materials that can be gotten easily.  With an eye toward eventually Captaincy, she is also eager to pick up the helm skills to legitimize her in that role.

How has the attack affected them: She feels like she should have been able to do something more to protect the Free Trader from the attack.  She doesn't know what but she feels in her bones that she should have been able to do something.  She is even more protective of the Free Trader and crew that remain and hopes to rescue those taken.  Just as when the boys took her respirator and she took up Zedo, Olivia is trying to figure out how much money and on what they need to spend that money to make sure an attack on Free Trader never succeeds again. 

Player O/Os: https://elliquiy.com/forums/onsoffs.php?u=54350

Any Other Info: none at the moment

[Chrystal]

Okay, that's four.

We have engineering, Cargo, Nav and helm. We could do with scan, comp and med, but the latter two are less important.

In fact, it is feasible we could actually get going with just the four survivors and see who else manages to crawl out of their hidy-holes once we get the ship going...

I'm waiting on characters from RedEve, Thymoit, ElvenKitten.

Anyone else wishing to join may still do so. I'm going to close recruitment at 10 characters though, regardless...

And I will start work on the details for the ship itself, then get the OOC thread open.

[orderNchaos]

Chrystal, you still need characters for this??

[Chrystal]

I was actually wondering if anyone was still interested, because it's been a while since I last posted here and no-one has come back saying "Is it still happening?" which is usually a bad sign...

If people are still up for this game, then I will happily accept more characters...

[Rook Seidhr]

I was actually wondering if anyone was still interested, because it's been a while since I last posted here and no-one has come back saying "Is it still happening?" which is usually a bad sign...

Oh, sorry!

Is it still happening? I hope it is!

[Blinkin]

Oh... is it still happening? I'm still here and interested.

I usually just let a thread sit and see if anyone else post something to respond to. My assumption (yes, yes, don't say it) is that if I've posted an interest, the GM understands that I'm interested. If not, I state a withdrawl of interest in PM and thread.
;)
So, guess what Chrys? You're still stuck with me.

[orderNchaos]

I'll work up a character if you think we're still going to run it.

[Chrystal]

Ugh...

I guess, I'll have to then...

As long as people don't mind waiting another month or so before I actually do anything? I'm not feeling up to it at the moment. Seriously, I would love to run this game, but I have no idea whether it will work, whether I'll be able to maintain my own interest, let alone anyone else's...

I was reasonably happy just to let it go away, but if people want me to run it, I will do my utmost. However, I shall probably not be participating with a character, or if I do, she won't be involved very much.

[Blinkin]

Chrys,

If you don't feel up to running this, I don't think anyone is going to blame you for admitting that you're not up to running it. I'm not going to ask anyone to do something that they aren't up to doing. :)

[Chrystal]

Yeah... the thing is, it's a story I really want to do! I just don't have the energy at the moment!

[Rook Seidhr]

Run it when you do have the energy. Ping me and I'll be there.

[Chrystal]

Keep an eye on this thread. I'll post here when I get the inclination to start...

[CassYuri]

I have an eye on this thread.

[Chrystal]

I am mostly stuck on doing a deck plan.

If everyone had read "Merchanter's Luck" then I wouldn't need to, possibly...

But I am far too realistic to assume that everyone will see the ship the same way I do without putting a deck plan up in the OOC, even if everyone has read the reference book, because people assume things are on different sides of corridors etc...

The problem I'm having is fitting everything together in my head, and if I can't do that, how can I expect anyone else to?

[Rook Seidhr]

Is a deck plan absolutely necessary? Are you expecting us to do tactical movement?

[Chrystal]

No, I'm not expecting anything like that. but what I am expecting, if I don't provide a deck plan, is one person saying that the galley is to the left of the bridge and another saying it is to the right, and someone puts a fore-aft cross corridor between cabins 30 and 32 and someone else puts it between 30 and 31, and then someone comes along and adds a second deck to the ship that simply doesn't exist, etc...

And please don't try to assure me that this won't happen, because I know it happens. Even when there is a map, people get things wrong - And some times the person who drew the map forgets what they drew and gets it wrong... *blushes*

(Yours truly forgot where the path went on my map in Pony Palace!)

[Blinkin]

*raises hand* I'm the one who does those mistakes... and I have the book on order. Surprisingly they're all checked out.

I wanted to start with the first book, but as the game deals directly with Merchanters luck, I decided to start there and backtrack.

[Chrystal]

Yeah... um... Given that you can't see a map even if there is one, I think you can be forgiven...

[Blinkin]

It's probably more that I don't know my right from my left... I never could march in step. ;)

As long as you tell me that I've made a boo-boo, I'll happily go back and fix it. I don't think that I've ever added a floor to a structure, but I have added a bathroom once or twice.

That reminds me of an arcutechal boo-boo that a firm made in a set of blue-prints for a building downtown several years ago. The building was 30 stories and about as unique as a square could be... meaning that it was a perfect square that just kept rising to the roof and stopping.

Anyway, the building was framed and the exterior walls about half of the way up the sides when someone realized that the arcetechs had forgotten something. There was not a single restroom in the whole building. From the sub-basement to the roof. Not one toilot or sink anywhere in the blueprints... The corp that had paid for the plans shit a brick when someone pointed it out to them.

[Chrystal]

I'm sure I saw once, a set of architectural drawings where the planners had simply forgotten to put a door in to a room. No-one had noticed, and because the outer walls went up first and then the inner walls, and everyone was working to the plans but no-one was talking to anyomne else, the place got built with this room with no door in it... It was the site supervisor who noticed and brought it to the builders' attention, and the builders pointed out that there was no door on the plans and the supervisor fired the architect and had the builders take down part of the wall they'd just built and put a door in!

That was a long time ago, now, and I can't remember who it was told me about it and showed me the plans. Might even have been my dad!



Anyway....

I could see about doing a detailed textual description of the ship's layout, which would actually be more helpful to Blinkin than a map. Would everyone else find that acceptable?

[Rook Seidhr]

I could see about doing a detailed textual description of the ship's layout, which would actually be more helpful to Blinkin than a map. Would everyone else find that acceptable?

Sounds good to me!

[Nowherewoman]

Player ID: Nowherewoman

First Name: Jayna

Surname: Fiori

Gender: F

Age: 18 (subjective)

Height: 180

Mass: 66 Kg

Hair Colour: As picture

Eye Colour: As picture

Skin Colour: As picture

Build: Somewhat more developed across shoulders, back, and forearms than shown

Distinguishing marks: monochrome astrolabe tat on her back; usually has nicked and banged-up hands and arms, from work and play.

Sexual preference / Orientation: Omni

Assigned Department: Engineering

Stated specialisation preferences: Fabrication

Likes: Lena;Working with her hands; roughhouse (in and out of bed); zero-G;loud music; disrespecting authority; prototyping; hand weapons.

Dislikes: Wimps, slackers and cowards of any gender; bossy people; Trank lows; gremlins; gear that's badly designed, too heavy, or inefficient; official goons of any sort.

Personality prior to the attack: Jayna was always a bit louder and a lot more aggressive than her twin Lena; for quite some time she was unfairly pigeonholed as the muscles of the pair, while Lena (equally unfairly) was marked down as the brains. Never one to take orders gracefully, part of her attitude stemmed from the not-totally- indefensible position that, if she was clever enough to do something in the first place, she was clever enough to not need telling that it needed doing. Needless to say, this led her to a number of conflicts with her teachers and superiors, and pretty much washed her out of any chance for officer status.

However, she's plenty willing to pull her weight and more than; that, plus very steady hands and a remarkable grasp of spatial relations helped turn her into an excellent machinist and shipfitter. A curiosity not less than her sister's drove her to constantly pull stuff apart to see what it did- usually, she could even get it back together again.

Jay has endless energy, and is always willing to argue (for fun or in earnest), or wrestle (clothes on or off). She's become a reasonably skilled HtH fighter, and may be the best among the survivors at 0-G combat.

How has the attack affected them: What once might have been written off to high spirits has turned into true anger- Jayna even quarrels at times with Lena, and is always ready to go if someone mouths off, especially someone not part of their crew. Always protective of her sister, especially after her accident, Jay has become almost annoyingly hovery, turning into the sort of authority figure she herself hates.

Player O/Os: https://elliquiy.com/forums/onsoffs.php?u=54379

Any Other Info:

[Chrystal]

Right. Well, I guess I'd better work on this.

I'll pop an OOC thread up some time soon. This is going to have just the one IC thread, unless anyone has any strong objections to this?

The IC start-point will be a few minutes after the Maziani marines have climbed back aboard the Rider Ship Perth, and headed back to the carrier ECS2 Australia. If anyone would rather their character didn't see all the bodies and the blood, and then go through the additional trauma of realising that there are crew unaccounted for, taken by the pirates, please say so, and you can have your character join the game after the characters in at the start have cleaned things up.

I intend to do a time-skip after the initial scene where everyone emerges from hiding places, which will happen as soon as a chain of command is established either officially or unofficially, and as soon as the survivors have managed to get passive scan working and seen that Australia is heading for Jump.

The time skip will basically cover the time taken to clean up the ship, get rid of the bodies out of the airlock, scrub the blood off, collect up the shell casings and recycle them, etc...

The restart point after the skip will be a couple of main-days later, when they gather to decide what to do...

How does this sound?

[Nowherewoman]

Totes agree to one thread- it's a small enough group that any noise level from chatter, sexies, etc will be far outweighed by NOT having to jump artound through three different boards.

[Blinkin]

*typing slow due to numb fingertips* Works for me, but then I'm easy. ;)

Chain of command... That will be entertaining as either everyone will want to be in charge (except for Sam), or no one will want to be in charge (Including Sam).

The constant is that Sam will not want the job and actively seek to avoid it. Kinda  of like the party member who over-peppers every meal so that no one will want them to cook.

[Chrystal]

Don't you have speech recognition, Blinkin? I would have thought that was a must!

So far it's looking like Revida's character Mark Fiori is going to get the top slot, unless anyone else puts in a bid for it.

But the whole point is that my character doesn't get it, because that destroys the game dynamic, with me as GM throwing situations at the player characters and the Captain making good or bad decisions based on limited knowledge.

[Blinkin]

Speach Recognition doesn't work well for me. I have a stutter that can get very pronounced when I'm tired, nervous, excited, etc. It would go nuts if I tried to use it.

On the other side, if I do accents, get angry or try to sing, my stutter disappears entirely... but that's hard on the wife and dogs (I'm not a pleasant angry person and my singing voice is hit or miss at best... usually miss by light-minutes.) The accents... well, I suspect that a speach recoognition system would probably have fits if I tried with my scot, celtic, russian, Italian or german. I pull them off fairly well, but it's still going to hurt.

[Chrystal]

Speach Recognition doesn't work well for me. I have a stutter that can get very pronounced when I'm tired, nervous, excited, etc. It would go nuts if I tried to use it.

On the other side, if I do accents, get angry or try to sing, my stutter disappears entirely... but that's hard on the wife and dogs (I'm not a pleasant angry person and my singing voice is hit or miss at best... usually miss by light-minutes.) The accents... well, I suspect that a speach recoognition system would probably have fits if I tried with my scot, celtic, russian, Italian or german. I pull them off fairly well, but it's still going to hurt.

Are you sure you aren't a member of the Royal Family? George VI had the same thing.

[orderNchaos]

I'll try and have one up tonight.  How about an engineering person.  Need someone to keep the engines going and the ship together.

[Chrystal]

I'll try and have one up tonight.  How about an engineering person.  Need someone to keep the engines going and the ship together.

We already have two of them.

We could use a medic, or a comms opperator, a comp programmer, a helmsman.

[orderNchaos]

oh ok.  Helmsman works, I'll work on it.

[Chrystal]

One thing you might like to bare in mind is that Helm is command track. Mainday Helm 1 of a fully crewed merchanter jump-ship is the prime captain. AlterDay Helm 1 is the number 2 captain, Helm 2 MD and AD are vice-captains.

I'm not saying you have to take on the role, of captain, but be prepared to be voted into it none the less.... You can always be voted out of it again!

[Blinkin]

Well, I can trace my linage back to a High Chanclor of Ireland, but that's not royalty.;)

[orderNchaos]

Player ID: orderNchaos

First Name: Cami

Surname:  Denton

Gender: Female

Age: 19

Height: 161 cm

Mass: 57 kg

Hair Colour: As Picture

Eye Colour: Green

Skin Colour: as picture

Build: slim, athletic

Distinguishing marks: freckles cover almost 80% of her body.  Her left ears has three piercings running from the lobe up, her right ear has two piercings on the lobe and one at the top.  A double heart tattoo in red on the front of her left hip.

Sexual preference / Orientation: Bisexual

Assigned Department: Operations

Stated specialisation preferences: Helm

Likes:
    - Reading
    - Drawing
    - Flying
    - 'real' food
    - Physics

Dislikes:
    - Engines and the grime that goes with them
    - Being bored and being able to do anything to change it
    - Space Stations
    - Being stuck in a space suit for more than about ten minutes.
    - Horror vids

Personality prior to the attack: Cami had always been the quiet reserved girl as a child with a streak of curiosity that tended to get her in trouble.  The sweet innocent girl who you could always find in a corner with a book or at a view screen with a pad drawing something planets and anomalies. 
Her curiosity tended to get her in more messes than not but she always found a way to use her sweet innocent personality to talk her way out of things.  Never happy if she stayed in one place for too long, she developed a certain restless nature as she grew older.  Cami generally gets along with people, her personality can be very warm even if she tends to be quiet.  There are few that realize the darker rebellious nature deep inside her.   

How has the attack affected them: Cami's personality has grown darker and more angry since the attack.  She uses the anger to hide the grief of a similar fate happening to her adopted family. Cami grew up on a in-system mining ship after her mother married the captain and joined his crew keeping close ties with the Free Trader.  Two years ago, the mining ship was attacked by Union ship.  Her parents were killed and the ship was left to drift in space.  A trade ship happened upon the derelict ship and found Cami still alive.  She was taken to Voyager station, where she met up with the Free Trader and joined the crew.

Player O/Os: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=79332.msg3484100#msg3484100

Any Other Info:

[Chrystal]

There's a few things I'd like you to change, please?

1) There are no view-ports on space ships in Cherryh's universe. The outside wall is the floor, because it rotates to provide gravity. Instead they have vid screens attached to external cameras. The walls of the rotation cylinder are actually quite thick!

2) If the Fioris were Cami's mother's family she would have been born aboard the Free Trader and would be a Fiori, unless her mother left to live on a station. This did happen just not often. So if that is your intent, please could you say so?

3) There are only three planets in the region of space within which the free trader operates. Earth (which they would not go anywhere near); Pell, which is across the line in Earth Company space at the time of the story, although later will be the Alliance capital; and Cyteen, which is the Union capital and is very heavily defended. The Battle of Cyteen has already taken place and was won by Union, resulting in heavy losses to the Earth Company Fleet.

What would be more in keeping with the setting would be if she was born and raised on a small in-system mining ship, which was attacked by the one side or other (doesn't really matter which), and was found several days later by rescue crews after the raiders had gone. You could make this at Voyager station which is on Free Trader's route.

Thanks.

[orderNchaos]

Thanks for setting me straight.  Not as familiar with the universe as I should be.  I've only read parts of Downbelow station.

[Chrystal]

You might want to have another edit? You seem to have pasted in my post?

If you could change "view-portal" to "view screen", as well please?

[orderNchaos]

GGrrrr....I already deleted that stuff.  It's strange that it didn't take.  Ok, sorry for making this so difficult!  ;)

[Chrystal]

Wonderful, thank you. And don't worry about things like that. Let's face it, if I wasn't so fussy about accuracy it wouldn't matter, so it's my own fault really...



Characters we have so far:

Player	Character Name	Department	Main Specialisation
Chrystal	Lena Fiori	Engineering	Main Engine/Jump Drive Maintenance
Blinkin	Samantha Fiori	Operations	Cargo Handling
Riveda	Mark Fiori	Operations	Navigation (Nightwalker)
Cass Yuri	Olivia Fiori	Sciences	Economics/Scan
NowhereWoman	Jayna Fiori	Engineering	Fabrication
OrderNChaos	Cami Denton	Operations	Helm

Posts still available:

Comms tech (Operations)
Medic (Science)
Comp operator (Science)
Life Support (Science)
Cookery (Science)

I'm not really expecting anyone to want to be a life support tech, because that is probably the least attractive job on a space-going vessel, but it is easily one of the most important: Basically you are in charge of turning people's waste products into breathable oxygen and drinkable water!

Cookery is probably the least vital role, and if one of the players with a single specialisation wants to add it as a subsidiary, please do...

[Rook Seidhr]

I hate to pick nits*, but it's "Riveda" not "Revida."




*a bald-faced lie

[Chrystal]

*facepalm*

I am so sorry. I was copying and pasting the table row and didn't want to copy and paste people's names, which is what I normally do

Please feel free to call me Chrastyl!

[Blinkin]

I thought that Sam also had some experience with damage control, butif you really want her to help out with life support (afterall, you can't handle cargo all of the time), I guess she's as good as any... just don't give her shit about waste management. ;)

[Chrystal]

I have her down as damage control as well, I just forgot to put it on the list... Like Olivia has Helm as well as scan, but I forgot that.

Probably what I should do is put primary, secondary and tertiary specialisations in the table.

[Nowherewoman]

Please feel free to call me Chrastyl!

It's a very nice Chrasstyl.  If sometimes a crass one. ;D

[Chrystal]

OOC thread is Open
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=215765.0

I will be populating the reserved posts at the start of the thread as we go, so please remember to check back.

[Chrystal]

I'm going to give this thread a quick bump, because it's been almost a month, and while the game has been dormant and unstarted during that month, it seems folks still want me to run it, so let's see if we can get a couple or two (tautology intentional) more folks interested...

[Chrystal]

Just to say, I shall be kicking this game off some time in the next few days.

If anyone else fancies joining, it is NOT TOO LATE!

[Jarulf]

I'm really tempted by this, but have limited experience with free form group plays. If you are still accepting more players, I'd love to try though, but I need to read up a bit on the setting. I've only read Downbelow Station, and that was ages ago.

Which remaining crew position would be the least demanding, the one requiring the least responsibility and possibly most solitary? I'm not thinking of creating a lazy no good for nothing son of a bitch, just someone who deals with the trauma by isolating himself a bit. ;-)

[Chrystal]

Hi Jarulf.

If you've read Downbelow Station, that's more than some!

A quick run down of what the remaining posts will entail:

Comms: This is a very public and up-front post. Comm-1 is the voice of the ship and will become known to stations and other ships as time passes. The person in this post needs to be out-going, and able to talk to strangers.

Medic: This is a relatively secluded position. The character will only need to interact with others when they are sick or injured. The character is also responsible for preparing the doses of trank between jumps, but the data for this will be in comp, and it is simply a case of prepariung the doses in the med bay and then handing them out.

Comp: This is a bridge post and will require a certain level of interaction with the rest of the bridge crew, but comp techs are traditionally geeky and no-one is going to be surprised if the character keeps to himself while off watch.

Life Support: This is a much less glamorous job than it sounds - basically it involves hands-on maintenance of the least appealing but most vital systems on the ship - the waste and water recycling and reclamation systems, the air purification and oxygenation systems... Anyone wanting this role is going to earn my undying respect, because if no-one else takes the role, my character is going to be doing that job!

Cook: Basically this character could be anything from introvert to extrovert, but needs to have a flair for creating pal;atable food out of synthetic ingredients.


For someone who wants a role with minimal responsibility and maximum solitariness, I would say, in decreasing order, Cook, Medic, Life Support.

The position I would most like to see filled, of those three, is the Medic.

[Jarulf]

Medic would be ok. Though I would have to fake my way through it ;-)

Would a character who had recently joined the crew from another ship, or even a station be ok? One of the casaulties would be the girl he came on board for, an older sister then or cousin to several, if not all, of the surviving Fiori. I'd like to put him at the upper end of the allowed age range. His general noob-hood, lack of Fiori genes and shyness would make him unfit for a command position.

I'm not set on this if it is problematic though.

[Chrystal]

That sounds totally fine to me.

Of you like, he could already be a qualified medic, off a ship like Dublin (the first one, rather than Dublin Again) where the chance of getting a seated crew position is slim, even in the life-sciences department, and he was looking at remaining as a lab assistant or medical orderly until he was in his late thirties. The transfer to Free Trader gave him an instant promotion to Med 4 (Alterday assistant medic), and now he finds himself as Med 1.

If you want to send me a character sheet or post it here, I'll have a better idea of the fit.

[Jarulf]

Thanks. I'll give it a little think tonight, and send you a sheet later or tomorrow.  I imagine a fully qualified medic wouldn't, eh hurt?

[Chrystal]

ANNOUNCEMENT

The game has commenced. The worst part, all the blood and gore of the massacre of the Fiori family by the Maziani is over. We have reached the first planned time-skip.

If you would like to join the game, there is still time.

The ship is going to be "got working" again, in the next sequence of posts, which will also determine the "pecking order" in the survivors.

After that, we will be heading for jump, and once we reach that point, any new players will need to wait until we reach Cyteen station.

(Yes, this is story based, like I said, and I have a plan. It is flexible and not exactly fully formed beyond the next few moves, but it exists!)

As our scan tech player has not been seen on E for over a month and has not posted IC, I am removing the character. So we could really use a scan tech.

[Blinkin]

Just wanted to say that this has turned out to be a great game. I'm enjoying it tremendously!