Ch. 1 The long way home

[darlis moonbeam]

Jake grins at the thought of himself getting married, it certainly never seemed in the cards before, as he was always bouncing from one place to the next but twenty years was a long time and anything could happen. "In this hypothetical world were I am married, if she so chose could she come with us when we left? Obviously she would be a member of the crew at that point and would need to pull her weight on the ship."

It also registered on his brain that the captain mentioned having to find and bring back the puddle jumper and the necromancer ships, but did not mention his fighter ship. "Earlier you mentioned having to recover the puddle jumper and the Necromancer, what about my fighter, what happens to it? Will I need to find it as well?

Edited August 7, 2023 by darlis moonbeam (see edit history)

[wrathgon]

Capt took this opportunity to give a little back to the cocky mouthy pilot " I guess you will have to see when you get back eh?"

[darlis moonbeam]

Jake chuckles at the captains statement. Obviously the old man thought he finally got one over on him. "Feeling peckish this morning Old Man, this Sim we all going into going to let you stay all powerful or will you be a lowly mortal like the rest of us peasants?"

 

Though obviously he was worried about his ship, he was not going to give him the satisfaction of thinking he won anything.

[wrathgon]

4 hours ago, cheezal said:

Captain's Quote

"We crash land and break one of the planet's ancient, what you would call nuclear fallout shelters, open-releasing people that have not been part of the planet's society for over 100,000 years! We, unaware of this till later in the day, spend the day clearing a base of killer robots so we can safely decide what we will do. The ship is damaged and we dump the time jump ring, so you will have to find that and the necromancer and puddle jumper, on the planet before you leave. "

Kartesh enquires the following "Will telling us how long before this event happen's have any effect on the timestream? ,Are we aware of the number of continients on this new world? ,and have any idea of the trajectory and co ordinates of the Necromancer and The Puddle Jumper when they set down?"

he awaits the Captain's reply...

 

"you never change... NO" says flat out.

Edited August 7, 2023 by wrathgon (see edit history)

[wrathgon]

"Mortal or not, I am all-powerful either way pilot." comes the reply.

[darlis moonbeam]

Jakes grins at the captains statement, he was obviously getting under his skin. "I have known a lot of powerful men back on earth, they thought they were all powerful too, but the only thing they could not beat was time. That I believe can humble us all." While he did enjoy ribbing the captain, honestly having everyone worship the ground you walk on must get tiring at times, and it must be a breath of fresh air to find a mortal who didn't. They were not getting any younger, and as he already mentioned time really was not on their side. "So Old Man, anything else we need to know before we start this twenty year hiatus down on the planet?"

[wrathgon]

WIP

"So if there are no more questions I CAN answer let's get down to business. In front of us a lovely system you may think you know it.." He pushes a few buttons on the chair and the viewscreen floats down and shows you what looks like your solar system. All the planets are there and everything looks as if you left it over 1 year ago.

 

"But this is where one of the seeders planted another human seed to grow into something different. Enoch if you would now scan the system and bring it up onto the screen."

 

Enoch does not have any trouble navigating the new systems within a few moments data was filling the screen. He looks at the data and go back to rescan to make sure it was correct then goes and does it again. He shrugs at the captain "it's correct" is all he has to say.

 

PL 4 for starship operations, including incredibly crude and bulky spacesuits and rocket packs for repair crews.

The system is full of starships if that is what you can call them. They are PL 4 using steam to move around and do so VERY VERY slowly. You're not even sure how you get a PL 4 launched into space... The ship's sizes are all two sizes bigger than standard for the class

 

Use base ship types of two size classes higher than expected (ie., use Destroyer for Shuttle, etc.). Always use the Colony Ship framework and add expansion bays to grow food, raise families, etc. Worst engines, worst sensors; no computer/shields/drift engine/defensive countermeasures. Ships will have a single Flak Thrower for each direction, and military ships will have a turreted Nuclear Missile launcher of the largest type possible.

 

You all stare at the screen in complete confusion. Then the power core info comes up

PL 10+

Energy used: Minimal

Energy output: unlimited

 

"Ok that must be the shard, where is it?" asked the captain thinking this will be an easy pick up of a limited tech race.

"Everywhere, every ship has a power core listed there," Enoch says.

"Every Ship?" Capt asks again, and Enoch nods.

 

The planets are all empty of people, Earth has been strip-mined for materials and so has the rest of the planets. It seems people fully live in these MASSIVE mile-long ships all their lives. We detect crops, and multiple layers of trees and lakes, whole worlds have been built on these cruel PL 4 ships.

 

People live on Tier 20 Supercolossal ships with the Space Station framework and the largest Orbital Death Knell. The flagship of the empire is 1,000 times the size of the Death Star and its tier is too high to contemplate. These ships are hollow and large enough to have oceans, weather systems, mountain chains, etc along their inside circumference.

 

"Let's listen to the signals coming out of here" We turn on our radio signals and listen to the language. Not English or any kind of spin-off of it. The computer find it based on Incan. Bring up Incan translation we get more information

 

First, we catch prays to the following gods:

 

Inti, Incan greater god and pantheon leader, lawful evil, god of the sun and the Emperor.

Viracocha, Incan greater god of the city-ships,

Illapa, Incan greater god of the sky and thunder.

Ataguchu, Incan intermediate god of creation.

Vichama, Incan lesser god of revenge, death, and war. An atropal son of Inti who helped create humanity.

Ch’aska, avatar of Illapa, Incan god of the day and good (despite not being good themselves).

Jesus, demipower of Lawful Good Christendom.

Axomamma, Incan demipower of potatoes.

Mama Koka, Incan demipower of the coca plant and cocaine.

 

Domestic animals are reserved for nobles, though the ships are big enough that they have jungles with wild animals and the like. There are even wild people still living in the jungles and mountains!

     Everything is ruled by the Emperor, who is possessed by an Incan god. All the technology is created by someone else possessed by a god. In fact, all the gods hold day jobs, possessing one mortal until they die and then finding someone new, which usually involves a massive ceremony and selection process. The government is basically an effective Lawful Evil communist empire, where all citizens have their basic needs met, but laws are strict, you’re expected to contribute without question, and any invention not from the gods is ignored and discredited. This is why technological improvement has been so slow over the millennia.

 

 

Capt just stares dumbstruck...

Edited August 7, 2023 by wrathgon (see edit history)

[wrathgon]

48 minutes ago, darlis moonbeam said:

Jakes grins at the captains statement, he was obviously getting under his skin. "I have known a lot of powerful men back on earth, they thought they were all powerful too, but the only thing they could not beat was time. That I believe can humble us all." While he did enjoy ribbing the captain, honestly having everyone worship the ground you walk on must get tiring at times, and it must be a breath of fresh air to find a mortal who didn't. They were not getting any younger, and as he already mentioned time really was not on their side. "So Old Man, anything else we need to know before we start this twenty year hiatus down on the planet?"

"yes, you only know MORTAL MEN that is where your knowledge fails. I did not say there are others that are more powerful than I, as you have already seen anyone with that huberous is most likely no longer with us, I am confident in saying I am all-powerful when it comes to this little group. Do take the time to notice if you will IF I am limited how much less I am without all my bells and whisles when I see you again you can give me your assessment." and he cocks his smirk.

Edited August 7, 2023 by wrathgon (see edit history)

[evedgebah]

"Despite my penchant for Cybernetics and augmentations, I like actually being alive. Breathing, smelling, tasting. Sex. You'd previously hedged on those experiences as being tenable as the unliving. Further, while you have magic to augment your ability to learn and interact with technology and knowledge, I unfortunately have no magical talent, so my Cybernetics are again required.

I do appreciate th discourse captain, but until these barriers can be overcome, I shall rely upon my mortal shell and do what Ivan to prolong it's existence."

[wrathgon]

He shrugs "You rather be an unfeeling machine as you chase old man death away instead of an unfeeling unloving you are running towards the goal without understanding that its the journey and getting to the end that matters, but maybe you won't be there with us. "

[evedgebah]

Enoch smiles, "My cybernetics enhance my senses though, they don't dull them. I do not strive for either shell, robotic or undead, but a prolonged biological existence. You can play the mortal role whenever. Wave your hand and gain back your form for a time. I would not have such luxury. Not as a machine, nor likely as undead. If there were another option for transformation, I could see purpose in it, but as it stands, I would lose too much."

[wrathgon]

"We will leave this talk to past self when your old and grey to see if still feel the same. Now let's see where this shard is."

 

He goes to his chair and puts something into a slot, that looks like a picture frame with something in it. Enoch sees a new option to scan and also notes he can for magic which he does.

 

The system is magic positive but restricted use.

 

The other option also points to one of the city ships as the location of the shard. The city is a few hexes from Earth and there is 1 other city ship with 20 hexes. From watching they can only move 1 hex per turn so no way could they catch you if moved at full speed.

 

"So any of you need to rest from your jump back from the past? Or can we enter the system and see what we can find out."

Edited August 7, 2023 by wrathgon (see edit history)

[cheezal]

Show this

The government is basically an effective Lawful Evil communist empire, where all citizens have their basic needs met, but laws are strict, you’re expected to contribute without question, and any invention not from the gods is ignored and discredited. This is why technological improvement has been so slow over the millennia.

 

Kartesh hears the Captain say and before he knows it he thinks to himself "a bit like here!''

writing down everything the Captain has said in his book.

He clears his mind of such opinions before saying...

"And what of us?" Kartesh says to the rest of the crew switchin away from that of the Captain.

"What do we do once we get unto this world? do we stick together? or stand alone? or try and do the later ,but staying loyal to one another,covertly aiding one another for the twenty years?"

 

He then covertly sends Enoch,Farhvan,Jake and Zora an isolated message over the H.u.ds..

"If we are to have any hope down there,we have to aid one another find the two ships to get us off the planet""

"Does anyone know of any device or spell that could be placed on both ships,to aid us in locating them when we get down there, that's duration or power source could last decades"

Edited August 7, 2023 by cheezal (see edit history)

[darlis moonbeam]

Jake listens to Kartesh before he responds "If you mean once we leave the Sim and enter the real world, then I would say we definitely need to be very careful. Some of us, this was with a look at the Captain and Samuel are probably going to set off alarm bells within this computer system that I assume has some connection to the real world to make someone on the outside suspicious and have them keep tabs on those individuals and the folks they interact with openly. Would any of our systems we have still work so that we can communicate outside of their network, off the grid as it were? I obviously think we should help each other if we can, and do it without suspicion. We can not help anyone if we are locked away in some underground bunker by a shadowy government agency though. "

 

When Kartesh contacts them behind the Captains back he was not surprised "Well I will leave magic to the experts, but I am just guessing here that our computer systems probably work on a different frequency than theirs so that could potentially be tracked, also perhaps our ships are made from materials that are not from this planet and that too may be tracked."

 

Jake then focused his attention back on the Captain "Well Old Man, that depends on if I get to pilot this ship"

[wrathgon]

"Be aware the Sim system is a PL 9 computer supercomputer with AIs running around inside so any type of data signal could be detected including magic and psionic at that level of tech. I will leave it to you how much you risk to stay friends in the SIM. Outside a bit easier maybe for some."