Prisoners Of War - A Sci-fi extreme game. Interest check

[Chrystal]

Prisoners Of War

Humanity discovered the Jump Drive in the year 2116 CE. From that moment, it seemed a bright future awaited the human race. The stars were suddenly in our hands. We had the long-awaited faster-than-light means of getting from one star to another without spending hundreds of years getting there. The Human Diaspora to the stars followed. We found stars with no worlds, at first. Then we found worlds that were uninhabitable. Finally we found inhabitable worlds. Some were barren, and we seeded and colonised them. Others had life of their own and we analysed them and on finding that there were no intelligent creatures, we colonised those worlds too, eliminating species that proved harmful and replacing them with ones we could eat. Then we came across other worlds, those that had intelligent life forms. None with technology anything like as advanced as our own. The old horror story of the invaders from space was reversed. We now became those invaders. Offering help, appearing benevolent, or at least benign, ignoring warnings from our own history and warnings from fiction written in the long forgotten past about not interfering in other cultures. And when, inevitably, some of these alien races tried to rebel against our benevolent rule, we revealed humanity's darker side, our iron fist, crushing their resistance with our superior weaponry. In two centuries, we conquered and colonised almost a hundred worlds. And then it happened. It was inevitable, really. We came up against a species that was our technological equal. More, they were as warlike as we. They had some strange code of values, they refused to back down where we clearly had the right. And so the first shots were fired in a war that would devastate both civilizations. The war has been raging now for almost ten years. The enemy do not know the meaning of the word "Surrender" and do not seem to fear death. They fight to the death, and our own losses have been impossibly high, millions killed almost a billion wounded. There are prisoners, on both sides, the enemy prisoners we have captured are subdued by force when they are out of ammunition, and even then it is costly. But of course, we Humans value our lives, we don't throw them away. "He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day". Human soldiers tend to surrender when they can no longer fight, and have nowhere left to retreat. unlike the enemy that pick up rocks and throw them, and continue to do so until they run out of rocks, and then launch themselves at us and attack with their bare hands until killed or beaten unconscious, humans will stop fighting, raise their hands in surrender. Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention, but the last thing I expected was to be stripped naked, have my neck bitten, although not hard, and then put in a small cage and transported to a different world, to what amounted to a zoo, where I was put in a bigger cage with a handful of other naked humans... So far our treatment has been harsh, but no worse than (say) that meted on the American POWs by the North Vietnamese in the 1970s.

The Mrinka are a race that lives and dies by Hnahag. The closest word in the human language is honour although this does not even encompass a small part of what Hnahag actually means. Hnahag is taking only what is needed, it is standing tall like a tree not bowing down like the grass. It is killing only for food or in self defence, never for fun or in anger. It is life and death and everything in between. Our race is unified by Hnahag, unlike other lesser races that are splintered and fight amongst themselves. We discovered the Jump Drive in your years 2016, and we set out to explore the galaxy. We found many worlds. Our sun being closer to the centre of the galaxy than yours, we found more stars and more planets. Many of them with life, many with intelligent life, but none with a technology as advanced as ours, and none who lived by Hnahag, although several races did live by some of the principals. So we educated them. And as with our own people centuries before, those that would not learn to live by Hnahag, we eliminated. This is only right. Hnahag is the only correct way to live and many of our subject races are able to see this and embrace it. More, those that do so find that their lives are improved. In three of your centuries, we conquered and colonised over a hundred worlds. And then, the inevitable happened: We encountered a species our technological equal. And they were more Hnahagrrr than any other race we had ever encountered. Peaceful coexistence was never even a remote possibility. Either we would conquer them, or they would destroy us. The war has been going on now for almost twelve years (ten of yours, I believe). While the Mrinka fight and die with Hnahag, the enemy does not. They fight when it suits them, then turn and run like a herd of Ylalla. When cornered they throw down their weapons and pretend they are not soldiers, but then they bleat like fvirr when they are treated like the animals they act like. A Mrinka knows fear, of course. Fear is a chemical reaction, programmed into the Mrinka nervous system just like all other emotions. There is nothing Hnahagrrr about showing fear. But a Mrinka does not fear death. What a Mrinka fears is dying Hnahagrrr. And to die in battle is Hnahageh, more Hnahag, were such a thing possible. We do not understand how a species as advanced as ourselves could not understand our way of life. How could they have survived? A major principle of Hnahag is embodied in the word Gjzahahra , the best translation of which is, "I am stronger than you and so I must hurt you". This concept is what allows us to kill to eat, but it also applies to those races we have conquered. Yet the enemy do not submit as a race, but as individuals. They place their own existence above that of their species. This is both illogical and Hnahagrrr. And so when we capture these enemy soldiers, we must hurt them, we must force them to submit. We must treat them as slaves, at best, or even as animals. This is necessary for our Hnahag!

Greetings

Welcome to this, my latest and probably my last ever group game. I said I wouldn't run another one, but then this idea came along and I fet it was too good to resist, especially as it gave me the excuse I needed to create the Mrinka Wiki page that I have been craving for some time.

The game is set in the year 2326, in a prisoner of war camp set in a remote area of the planet known to it's native inhabitants as Kraahh. The prisoners are all human and the prison guards are all anthropomorphic feline aliens who call themselves Mrinka. The Humans are all naked, and the Mrinka are all clothed and armed.

Okay, get the picture? good.

So here is the Moraline Checklist

Game:

• The game will go in either N/C Exotic or Extreme, possibly the latter.It will be a Freeform sandbox wioth GM-Guided elements.
• The game is open to everyone regardless of gender and orientation, provided they are willing to abide by my rules.
• Players will play Human POWs and Mrinka guards in a Prisoner of war camp.
• The setting is a guarded compound set inside a metal cage, in which there are huts, toilets and a water supply.
• The story is sandbox and as such the plot is down to the players to construct. However, an escape attempt by the prisoners would certainly be worth considering. Other events might include an air-raid by Human bombers, interrogation of prisoners to extract information, scientific study of the prisoners... Just a couple of ideas.
• Character creation details will be supplied as and when I get enough interest.
• Required Resources: I have created a wiki page giving as much detail on the Mrinka as possible. Reading it is compulsory for anyone wishing to play a Mrinka. For humans it is optional but recommended.
  The page can be found here
• Players are requested to post at least once per week
• Sexual activity is expected, both within each species and between the species, the former as a means of relieving the boredom of guard duty and prison camp, the latter as a form of torture and to break down the prisoners.
• Post tagging will be used. Post header code will be provided in the OOC thread if this gets going.

Game Master Info / GM(s) Participation Level

• Becky-Annn has agreed tentatively to be my assistant GM, as she knows almost as much about the Mrinka as I do!
• Play will mostly be sandbox, with the players creating their own story-lines, however I will be throwing in the odd GM-guided event
• The overall environment will be created by the GM. Within that, players are free to add details at need.
• NPCs will be handled by the GMs - Guards by me and Prisoners by Beck-Annn
• My character will be the Camp Commandant (Or Mrinka equivalent), Becky's will be either the Senior Human Officer in the camp or a Xenobiologist expert in the Mrinka
• The OOC thread will be available to discuss all aspects of the game and also for general non-game-related chatter. Please give priority to game-related issues.
• Either GM can be contacted by posting in this thread, via PM, or if you have an approved character, by posting in the OOC thread (when open).
• The GMs' word is law and all disputes, disagreements and decisions will be resolved by the GMs, in as fair and impartial a manner as humanly (and Mrinkanly) possible.
• PvP will be allowed, and must be resolved according to the rules of Hnahag... common sense, as with all freeform games.

Additional:

• Player Oath "The Oath of the Drake" is a useful reminder of player responsibilities in a group game.   
• Players are asked to bear in mind that Non-Consent applies IC only. Players do not implicitly give their consent for whatever you wish to do to their character. Please read and respect player Ons/Off. Further, if a player asks you OOC via PM or OOC post to change your IC post, please do so.
• Players are requested to post at least once a week. If you plan to be away for a week or more and wish to continue playing when you get back, please post to that effect in the OOC thread, and make an attempt to withdraw your character from any scenes they may be involved in. Players who do not post for a week and do not inform the GMs that they intend to be away will have their character(s) confiscated by the GMs and removed from play in whatever way we see fit.
• New players may simply appear as if they had been there along, for the first while. Once this becomes impractical, new players will be able to "arrive", at the discretion of the GMs
• Players may write in whatever tense and person they feel most comfortable with. Generally this will be third person past tense.

[Chrystal]

Important Information

The Mrinka are an alien race. While I am happy to have players play them, and impose their style of play on the characters - Mrinka are individuals and are each as unique as Humans - There are certain aspects to the species that make them who they are and make them different from other anthropomorphic species in the galaxy.

Detaile of the Mrinka can be found by clicking this link.

I would ask people to respect my hard work and not edit the wiki page please. If you have anything to suggest regarding the species, please either PM me or post it here.

If you wish to play a Mrinka, then it should go without saying that you need to read the wiki page.

Regarding the language, I do not expect Mrinka characters to post their speech in Mrinari - the vocabulary is simply not big enough. But when specifically addressing prisoners, guards should use as few and simple words as possible, and it would be realistic if these were in Mrinari.

If there is a word or phrase you need that isn't there, please have a go at making it up, using the grammatical rules I have supplied. I would prefer it if such additions were run by me first.

All Mrinka units of measurement will be expressed in Human Metric for ease of use. Thus time intervals will be hours, minutes and seconds - a Kraahh day is close enough to an earth day as to not matter too much. Lengths will be in Kilometres,  Metres, Centimetres and Millimetres. Weights in grammes and kilogrammes. Temperatures in kelvin or degrees Celsius.

[Chrystal]

Reserved

[Chrystal]

Reserved

[Nymphadora]

Perk!

[BeckyAnnn]

*waves to Chrystal

[Chrystal]

Hey Becklet...

How's my favourite subbie? *grins*

I need you to have a look at the Wiki, please and tell me if there's anything obvious that I've missed. (I wish I'd thought to create that when we started that story! I've spotted some glaring inconsistencies in the language that I've had to rationalise!)

[BeckyAnnn]

*blushes


I am good. 

And I will have a look at it but don't expect me to be able to pick out any language problems.   lol

[BeckyAnnn]

I didn't notice any glaring problems, Chrystal.   Maybe a typo here and there but nothing to really catch my attention.

I love that you included a list of commonly used words in the Mrinka dialect and suggest that you include a link to that in the opening OOC post if you had not already planned to do so.  All of the players should have the OOC bookmarked and having it in the first post will make the link to it easy to find.



Live or die, but do so with Hnahag.
~Becky

[Chrystal]

Cool.

I tried to proof read it, but there's always a few typos slip through. The list of "common words" is actually the words I used in "Interstellar Enemies", with a few additions, and the grammar is what I made up while Karteh was trying to teach Dori to speak Mrinari.

I am planning on linking the wiki in the OOC opening page, yes. The vocabulary page will be there in the index of the wiki page.

I'm thinking of adding an Idiomatic Phrases section....

[Vonandi]

Interested.

[Chrystal]

Hi Ithnuul, and thanks for the interest.

Still needs a few more.

Perhaps I should put "Female characters only" in the heading, to attract a few male players?

[BeckyAnnn]

Hi Ithnuul, and thanks for the interest.

Still needs a few more.

Perhaps I should put "Female characters only" in the heading, to attract a few male players?

Lol....that usually does it.

[Catherine7]

I'm interested in playing one of the prisoners - if my sex doesn't put you off.

[Chrystal]

I'm interested in playing one of the prisoners - if my sex doesn't put you off.

No, not at all, you are most welcome.... Just si you know I score 5.9 on the Kinsey scale, so female players and characters are always welcome. It's just that this game is open to all three genders (quite literally), and I haven't had a single male player express interest yet. This is troubling, because it means that straight female players are not going to want to play.

And ironically, every time I try to run a game that I only want female characters for the first three posts are always from male players!

[Vonandi]

I was showing interest under the assumption that most of the the guards would be male, not female... not sure if I'd be totally comfortable with the latter unless I just stuck around to advance the plot, which I'd be totally willing to do with as extensively written this world seems to be. I prefer my non-con as an ongoing looming threat rather than an inevitability anyway.

[Chrystal]

I was showing interest under the assumption that most of the the guards would be male, not female... not sure if I'd be totally comfortable with the latter unless I just stuck around to advance the plot, which I'd be totally willing to do with as extensively written this world seems to be. I prefer my non-con as an ongoing looming threat rather than an inevitability anyway.

This is kind-of what I meant...! If you are referring to players being male, then you could always go and recruit some? If you are referring to characters... well the guards are all Mrinka, and... well, if you have looked at the Wiki page, you should have seen that there are THREE Mrinka genders.

So my obvious question to you is, how would you feel about a premale guard, played by either a male or female player?

One thing I insist on, is that players express a preference if they have one for the gender of player and character they write with, and that this preference be respected at all times. It will (if I get enough interest) be included on the character sheet. Player preference is YOUR preference and WILL be respected. Character preference is what your character prefers, and need not be the same as what you prefer. It need not be respected, if it is different from the player preference.

I hope that helps?

[Vonandi]

I did read that bit was unsure how that related to that game as a whole. I care not whether the player is male or female , only the characters. I guess I was sort of under the assumption that people of one gender would in general play as that gender. I did notice that there where three genders but what I didn't notice is that premales where bisexual. I had some assumption in my head that only male Mrinka would be a threat, despite the other two genders being around, which I see now is not the case, and I didn't think that just because there where other genders  that they would also be part of the guard.(Which doesn't necessarily remove them from the equation either, I guess I was just rushing in with out thinking it over) 

I am not really sure how I feel about that, seeing how the idea of 'premale' is such a foreign concept to me I have a hard time imagining them despite the description provided. I feel like I could make it work, a certain level of androgyny would make it more confusing for the character and I think therefor a bit more interesting. I am willing to give it a shot but I understand If you wish me to go elsewhere , if more people come along it would make a lot more sense for people who are inherently up for something like this to get first billing. Not that I'm not interested, but It it's certainly something I haven't tried before.
   

[Chrystal]

I did read that bit was unsure how that related to that game as a whole. I care not whether the player is male or female , only the characters. I guess I was sort of under the assumption that people of one gender would general play as that gender. I did notice that there where three genders but what I didn't notice is that premales where bisexual. I had some assumption in my head that only male Mrinka would be a threat, despite the other two genders being around, which I see now is not the case, and I didn't think that just because there where other genders  that they would also be part of the guard.(Which doesn't necessarily remove them from the equation either, I guess I was just rushing in with out thinking it over)

Well, logically, given that the premales mate with both males and females, but "normally" males and females only mate with premales, in the more "conservative" strata of Mrinka society at least... It would only be the premales who would be a threat as humans lack the third gender, and male/female sex is actually something of a touchy subject amongst the felines! However, so is bestiality, and from a  Mrinka point of view having sex with a human would generally be regarded on the same level as having sex with a Glurra. (A glurra is to the Mrinka/Human relationship what a kitten is to the Human/Mrinka relationship, a small domesticated animal that resemble a cross between a chimp and a pig!) So the gender taboo would be largely ignored.

As for people playing their own gender.... *chuckles* There are a lot of guys on this site who play female characters and a lot of girls who play male characters. While it is the GMs prerogative to say whom they wish to play in their game, there is always debate going on about the issue of cross-gender characters. People have very strong feelings about it, on both sides.

In this game, I have decided that, because there is a clear middle option which needs to be filled from somewhere, I will allow cross-gender play in all five genders.

I am not really sure how I feel about that, seeing how the idea of 'premale' is such a foreign concept to me I have a hard time imagining them despite the description provided. I feel like I could make it work, a certain level of androgyny would make it more confusing for the character and I think therefor a bit more interesting. I am willing to give it a shot but I understand If you wish me to go elsewhere , if more people come along it would make a lot more sense for people who are inherently up for something like this to get first billing. Not that I'm not interested, but It it's certainly something I haven't tried before.

I am more than happy to have you join the game. I don't see this as getting over full. I'm hoping for around 12-16 players initially, with one third being Mrinka and two thirds Human, but I would accept one quarter to three quarters. I also anticipate that number dropping to about 8 within the first two weeks of play. Because this is what ALWAYS happens to group games on this site. *eyeroll*

At the moment I have four people interested, all female, and all wanting to play prisoners... So still plenty of room...

As I already stated, if you only want your character to have sex with male characters, that is fine - provided we get some male characters! If you are happy to have her be abused by males and/or premales, that is equally fine.

It's worth pointing out that I was sort-of hoping for some male prisoners as well, which means that there would be the possibility of m/f H/H sex as well as m/f or p/f M/H sex.

However, as things stand, I'm not holding my breath! I may have to come up with an alternate premise...

[Dashenka]

I am willing to join, obviously if, I can play a character that's either a prisoner and being told what to do and what not, or is submissive enough or otherwise in a role to follow leads.

In other words, I don't have ability at the moment to plot a story for my character and want to pair up with somebody who can.

Hope that makes sense :)

[BeckyAnnn]

I am willing to join, obviously if, I can play a character that's either a prisoner and being told what to do and what not, or is submissive enough or otherwise in a role to follow leads.

In other words, I don't have ability at the moment to plot a story for my character and want to pair up with somebody who can.

Hope that makes sense :)

You could always be a subordinate Mrinka taking orders from Chrystal's character.  ;)

[Chrystal]

You could always be a subordinate Mrinka taking orders from Chrystal's character.  ;)

That still requires some sort of initiative, Mrinka soldiers aren't insects... In fact, we're talking felines here, probably the species least likely to follow orders in the entire universe!

Anyone who owns a cat will know what I mean by that! LOL!

[BeckyAnnn]

But wouldn't not following an order be hnaghgrr?

[Chrystal]

That would depend upon the order!

If the order was hnahag, then to disobey it would be hnahagrrr (you missed an r off, but I'll forgive you). But obviously the opposite would also be true. So if a troop of soldiers were ordered to attack an enemy position, in an attack that was pretty much suicidal, that order would be considered hnahagrrr, and refusing it would be hnahag. UNLESS it was then explained to the troop that by carrying out this suicidal attack they would draw the enemy's attention away from a sneak attack going it at the side of the enemy position. This information would turn an apparent waste of soldiers into a necessary diversion, a sound military tactic, and so the order becomes Hnahag and the troops given the order will perform the attack willingly and will die with hnahag!

Now, here's an interesting conundrum.

To surrender is Hnahagrrr. Mrinka do not surrender, although they may be taken captive by force.

So a prisoner is hnahagrrr. (In fact the entire human race is hnahagrrr, but a POW would be Hnahagehgrrr - even less honourable).

This means that to guard a camp full of hnahagrrr prisoners must logically be a hnahagrrr job. The Mrinka instinct would be to kill the enemy... But to kill a people who have submitted is also hnahagrrr. This presents the Mrinka with a dilemma. They have never before come across a race that will pretend to submit only to take up arms again at the first opportunity. The concept that "It is every POW's duty to attempt to escape"¹ is totally alien to them!

The Mrinka expect that when you submit, you stay submitted, you do not attempt to escape, you do not continue to resist, and you do not attempt to return to your own lines and take up arms again. To do so is extremely hnahagrrr, because you have been deliberately deceitful from their perspective by laying down arms in the first place!. From their perspective, POWs should not need to be guarded. Of course, they learned this mistake early on in the war, and from then on set up camps to guard their prisoners, and also put standing orders in place of what to do with them.

But what about the guards? To guard a hnahagrrr prisoner is a hnahagrrr job. NO self respecting Mrinka is going to volunteer for such duty... And because the order to guard a prisoner is hnahagrrr a soldure with hnahag would be within his/hir/her rights to refuse it.

The answer?

Well, I'll see if anyone else comes up with a better solution that I have in my head, or whether anyone comes up with the same solution.



1] US Army Code Of Conduct, Article 3, states: "3. If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy."

[Catherine7]

If there was value to keeping the prisoners other than simply preventing them going back to fight on then there is purpose to guarding them and so would not be hnahagrrr (with as many r's and g's as required). The simple solution would be to simply kill the prisoners (or not allow them to surrender) as I'm sure the Mrinka have know knowledge of Geneva or what came out of it.

So the question becomes: why would this race keep and feed a group of inferior being?

We must know or have something they want.

knowledge - perhaps about the invasion. But the grunts (like my character would be) simply do as they're told and have no view of the overall plan
Something we have - maybe immunity against a virus, something that is radically different - like our mating habits.

What about curiosity - we are so different in how we behave that the Mrinka have chosen to study us, to determine how we react under specific conditions. This would give them valuable insight into how they should fight us.