[Interest Check] Celestial Aberration

[Starchaser]

They hit us without warning. Indiscriminate and without provocation. Mankind was not equipped to deal with them. We were a fledgling race, just testing the waters of the space outside of our small home. Faster than light travel was still deemed a purely theoretical dream but a realistic impossibility. Advances in technology had allowed us to spread out into our own solar system but we had ventured no further. We had not truly considered the possibility of a first contact situation and would have been ill equipped to deal with the sort of alien invasion that popular culture and our imaginations could envisage. We never anticipated anything as hideous or unnatural as the harvesters. The first sign of the oncoming apocalypse was the destruction of the scientific research colony on Titan, a moon of Jupiter. Contact with the colony abruptly ceased and the deep space operations vessel Akira was diverted from its mining operations near the asteroid belt and sent to investigate. It never returned. Its last transmission was a video feed sent by junior communications officer Mika Tanaka. She was naked and bathed in blood, none of it her own. She had a wild, haunted look in her dark eyes and a disturbingly twisted smile on her face. She held a plasma cutter, a tool used by technicians to cut through bits of damaged bulkhead. Her last words were. "Now the stars are right. We must prepare ourselves. They are coming." She lifted the plasma cutter to her neck and sliced into her own throat.

When they reached the Asteroid mining colonies, some of the hardened belters survived long enough to send back footage of their arrival. They came in strange vessels, black multiformed masses of hardened organic tissue. They would emit missiles composed of dark energy that could tear holes in hulls or damage engines and weaponary. They would grow leparous black appendages that would ensnare nearby objects. Once a vessel or colony was ensnared the feasting would begin. The victims would undergo a sustained psychic assault that would visit upon them terrible visions, inducing extreme fear and insanity. The invaders would then feed off the resulting psychic energy generated by the harmful negative emotions. The victims thus driven mad would turn on each other before killing themselves. By the time the harvesters reached Mars mankind had developed weapons that could wound the flesh of the alien ships. Nevertheless Mars still fell, but it bought humanity the time it needed to survive.

The previously questionable science of paranormal research combined with advanced astrophysics and theoretical physics to build the nexus. Six million psychically sensitive volunteers sacrificed not just their lives but their very souls to become one with the nexus. In their eternal waking slumber they formed a biological brain that was both a dream catcher and a psychic amplifier. They suffered the terrors broadcast to them by the harvesters, shielding the rest of humanity from them. They also amplified the dark energy formed by their own terror and sent it back to source, routing the invasion.

And so we endured, prisoners in the sanctuary of our own home whilst a battle of hideous magnitude endlessly raged above us. Then things changed. It began when the nexus successfully killed the crew of an alien ship without killing the ship itself. A five year research program began to reverse engineer the alien technology. The result was the Voidwalker - A mixture of alien bio-engineering and human technology. A ship capable of not only standing against the alien onslaught but also of traversing the stars. That was the first breakthrough. The second was the discovery of the source. The harvesters were never meant to exist in our universe. Their coming was facilitated by a unique cosmic event. The collision of three super massive black holes at the center of our galaxy tore a small hole in the fabric of reality. An incomprehensible alien mind was woken, and it sent the harvesters into our universe to feed it. A special device made of dark matter and alien biotechnology would need to be deployed at the source itself, creating a vortex that would seal the tear. It is believed that once their link to the source is severed the harvesters will loose their power, wither and die.

Destiny calls. You have been chosen to hurl your bodies into the unknown. You must locate and destroy the source. This is our only chance. The fate of humanity rests on your shoulders. Good luck!

Crew positions:

Captain
First Officer
Security Officer
BioEngineer
Medic
Counsellor
Scientist
Pilot
Gunner
Symbiont

The voidwalker is a bioengineered vessel that requires a symbiont to power it. The symbiont interfaces with the ship giving over her mind completely to the ship. Once this is done she can never be disconnected so its a form of self sacrifice but she retains her own desires and emotions. The joining is said to be an ecstatic experience.

[Arcanist]

Have interest in playing the pilot or Symbiont.

[Starchaser]

Ok that's one.

I recon we need about 4-6 players to get started, but if I get at least 3 people interested I'll set a game up.

[Terian]

I'm potentially interested in running the Symbiont, though it depends on what actually is going on with them.  Giant rape machine victim?  Not much interest.  Basically acting ship's computer while plugged into a bio-mechanical interface?  Could be fun

[Juggtacular]

You ever watched Outlaw Star? Maybe it's like that? The Symbiont in essence "becomes" the ship, with their senses becoming the ships senses, they talk through the speakers, etc... like Melfina did. Only difference is it's not a tube filled with goo you can hop out of. It's a permanent thing.

[Starchaser]

Jugtacular has the right idea. Except the ship can't fly itself. It still needs a crew.

[Amarlo]

This certainly has me intrigued, but I worry that too much focus will be placed on the symbiot role. Also, in my humble experience, I've found rps that focus on ship vrs ship battles to be clunky due to the technical nature of them. Usually they become more focused on the pilot and the captain. As well as the Gunners. It turns into a sort of power ranger effect where the only one truly important there becomes the red ranger.

[Terian]

Jugtacular has the right idea. Except the ship can't fly itself. It still needs a crew.

Mmm, could be workable then.

[Erich Norden]

Registering interest, possibly for a role as scientist or ship's technician.

[Starchaser]

This certainly has me intrigued, but I worry that too much focus will be placed on the symbiot role. Also, in my humble experience, I've found rps that focus on ship vrs ship battles to be clunky due to the technical nature of them. Usually they become more focused on the pilot and the captain. As well as the Gunners. It turns into a sort of power ranger effect where the only one truly important there becomes the red ranger.

This game is going to be very character driven and it won't just take place on the starship.

I have a lot of interest which is good but only lords seem interested which is bad. If I can get a few more ladies interested then I'll get this one started.

[Starchaser]

Ok its been a while and no one else has expressed an interest. However, I think I will set up some threads either today or tomorrow and get the game started. Hopefully we can attract some female players to even out the gender gap as the game progresses.

I was thinking of setting this one up in extreme. Any objections?

[Arcanist]

No objections.
Any objections to us taking multiple or female characters?

[Starchaser]

Nope.

I personally prefer female characters -> female players and Male characters -> male players but that's just me., and we're all adults here, right?

[Starchaser]

Character submission thread up:-

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=302530.0