hexarchate_rpg | new player welcome post

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new player welcome post

[Hello, new players! This post is for new and old players to get acquainted with each other in-character (IC) and out-of-character (OOC). I will be updating the character roster shortly for easy reference. Characters from the first arc who are still wrapping things up in Move 24, feel free to continue; I'll get to y'all shortly.

In the meantime, feel free to introduce yourself in OOC threads, including any information you want other players to have about you (including pronouns if relevant, or what time zones you're usually on, that kind of thing.]

[IC]
Ashari has just recruited a number of newcomers to the team in the hopes of shoring up its weaknesses and is, in classic Andan fashion, throwing a party on the Cantata (the moth ship formerly known as the Wasp and/or Bumblebee) so that folks can meet-and-greet. There are canapés, and Ashari promised Sulen that there are no recreational substances other than the alcohol if anyone wants it; Ashari is currently in the galley mixing drinks for anyone who asks. The public spaces of the interior have been decorated with somewhat lopsided and overly colorful artificial flowers (the matter printer was feeling cranky) as well as plush moths. There are in addition six friendly levitating baby moths, all wriggly tentacles and eyes, who will gravitate toward anyone who sings to them, and who like to be petted.

For the purposes of this post, "public areas" include the galley, the common room, and the storage hold, which has been temporarily pressed into service as a place where people can hang out. People are also welcome to hold private conversations elsewhere. For the moment, however, the cockpit, engine room, commander's office, and communications room/gunnery are off-limits.

[See this wiki entry on the Cantata-Wasp for more details on its layout.]

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Ashari's voice goes soft. "Glad someone does. Although you're not going to like this next one." They lower their voice still further. "We're going to need to split the team, and that means I'm leaving you. Temporarily, I hope. But that means Sasha is senior, and she'll be in charge of the team that stays with the Cantata. Can I count on you to keep her"--Ashari lifts an eyebrow--"honest?"

[This is setup for transitioning inactive PCs out of the team and transferring the team leader role to Sasha, since

zuhrovet volunteered and I prefer to have an active PC lead.]

"I might be more inclined to throw myself out an airlock than playing useless games. I like practical, hands on teaching." A brief pause. "Fuck, are you a Shuos? How many Shuos will I be dealing with, and is it too late for me to space myself?"

"Fuck, no." Sasha's finishing her second tequila, which might be why she gives the medium-long version: "I took the Nirai exams, but they asked me to prove something that wasn't true in characteristic seven, and it turns out a page and a half of 'what the fuck were you thinking' isn't a passing grade. So then I had to get a day job. About the Shuos, there were two on our last mission, probably three on this one. If you have to space someone, I recommend starting with Mishka; he's the teenager."

"Cute," Reshad tells the mothling, as she follows its signals to scratch the preferred tentacles. She refrains from startling when the big moth hums along this time. Tunes, not words! It may be the most peculiar form of communication she's used, but it certainly seems to be a form of communication.

If only she were a musician.

After trying to follow the mothling's improvisation, with moderate success, she hums the first phrase again - then slowly, humming in place of some of the words, tries to piece together a half-remembered song. The words are in a low language, growing in confidence as tune trips memory, and memory loosens tongue.

Seyli nods, like they know what the hell Sasha's talking about in regards to characteristic seven, whatever it was, it certainly left an impression in her mind. At least she's not a fucking fox. "A teenager?" Their eyebrows shoot up again and they glace back toward the woman with the flowers. "Another teenager? I clearly should have asked more questions before I signed on," they say, with a huffing little laugh.

"Yeah, we've got a tiny foxling who doesn't know the meaning of fear. With luck, one of the adult foxes will get stuck with the babysitting." Sasha shrugs. "I don't know if you see traveling in time as an advantage? I think that's worth the price of admission, most days. But maybe it's different if this is your past, and not your future."

[If you want to start a new thread, so we're not quite as far sideways, I'll follow you!]

Sasha Zuhrovet (zuhrovet) replied:
"Yeah, we've got a tiny foxling who doesn't know the meaning of fear. With luck, one of the adult foxes will get stuck with the babysitting." Sasha shrugs. "I don't know if you see traveling in time as an advantage? I think that's worth the price of admission, most days. But maybe it's different if this is your past, and not your future."

"Do any foxes know the meaning of fear." Seyli finally turns their attention back to their drink, which has been mostly ignored. "It's interesting, to say the least. And I find the goal appealing, to say the very least. I'm not sure my future had much in the way of it, so." They shrug. "This is it, now."

"Yeah. Can I ask you about a weapon, from the future? Alaric told me something that concerned me, but I don't trust him to estimate orders of magnitude."

The Shuos are from later, so they might know more. But Sasha doesn't need to go out of her way to engage the pretty people, no matter how innocently they seem to be playing with the mothlings.

"If it's something that's available in my future, and I can answer, yeah." They're extremely curious where this question is going to go, with all the options one could choose from in their timeline.

"He said there was some sort of fungus, that if you let it loose in an ecosystem, would be like black mold through all of it. I want to know, how often will that happen? One world? A thousand?"

[

kese_seyli, the fungal canister dates from shortly before Ninefot Gambit, so would not have been around during Seyli's service during Vrae Tala's campaign. However, Seyli has probably heard of the weapon since joining the rebellion. The Kel are actually fairly sparing with fungal canisters, not out of humanitarianism but because clean-up of destroyed planets is extremely expensive and time-consuming--a fungally-destroyed world can take upward of a century to reclaim/re-terraform by dedicated Nirai teams. Of course, Seyli may also have heard scurrilous gossip about the whole thing; feel free to be creative!]

The mothling seems content, and in fact a second mothling levitates toward Reshad, apparently attracted by the music. The Cantata drops silent as it listens to Reshad reconstructing the song; if she gets to a point where she's repeating any portion of it, it will attempt harmony.

Seyli's nose wrinkles. "After my time, but I've heard of them. Never seen one in action. I've heart they can take out a whole ecosystem, yeah, but I have no idea. I can't say I'm surprised we ended up with a weapon like that." They hold their (bare) hands out, palms out in a helpless shrug. "Wouldn't put it past them to use it on a planet gone heretical."

Knots and stars. "Planets don't have ideologies." Sasha is sorely tempted to show off her own heretical tendencies--she could print off a handful of dice and see how often she rolled a four, which would probably be a lot--but she is the one who asked the fucking question. She spins her empty glass instead, watching the way light from the table-screen shines through it, and decides to wrench the conversation back to safer channels. "Anything else I can tell you about? More personnel stuff? Supply? The matter printer can make firearms, but unless and until we get a newer model, we're stuck sourcing ammunition conventionally."

Sulen's hands clench into fists, knuckles going white. With effort, they relax enough to finish their drink.

"You're correct. I don't like it. May I ask where you will be going?"

"And the Hexarchate doesn't care." Any show of numbers like that would simply be a miss on someone like Seyli, anyway. They glance around the room, taking in the assorted collection of people. "You've already let me know we don't have much in the way of conventional fighting force, but a decent number of Shuos." Their nose wrinkles. "What kind of access do we have for conventional sources of things like ammunition?"

[

yhlee, are we going to be able to hit up the rebellion for resupply, or are we on our own for in-character scrounging? In addition to ammunition, Sasha desperately wants some computer parts (a tablet that doesn't come from c. 227, and as many cheap desktop-equivalents as she can afford). I've been assuming that's outside our matter-printing scope, at least without purchasing appropriate schematics, but do tell me if I'm wrong.]

[You'll be able to hit up the rebellion for resupply, so you can assume that reasonable rebellion-y things are covered. Sasha should be able to get her computer parts, and ammo for the entire group, no problem.

I owe a couple more responses on this post--I promise I'll get to them after dinner! We went to a Renfaire today, which was delightful, but now I am exhausted. XD]

All Sasha has learned so far is that the future of the heptarchate is astoundingly, incomprehensibly irresponsible. If she wants a count of planets destroyed, she'll have to ask the foxes.

"We've got reasonable supply for conventional items, though I'm not sure how quickly Ashari will want us to move out. I've been sourcing grid components, so I can do testing in an actual controlled environment, and I don't expect ammunition to be a problem. The faster we have a list, though, the faster we can lean on people."

Ashari reaches for Sulen, then lets their hand drop. "I'm going to be taking the Kel and Yehan to a rift that Remi notified me about that the rebellion does not yet have a presence in. The idea is to set up an independent base so we won't be left in the lurch if Quill moves against us more openly."

That sounds... surprisingly sensible and not unnecessarily risky. If Ashari's telling the truth, which is something Sulen used to take for granted and doesn't, any more. But they can hardly start arguing in front of the new recruits, and Sulen doesn't want to argue. "And you think I'll be of more use here?"

"We-ell," Ashari says, drawing out the syllable, "let me put it this way. Do you trust Mishka not to get into trouble, or Virmad not to have a crush on the latest handsome man to flutter his eyelashes at him, or Sasha to keep her temper, or Iawa to know what to do in a crisis, or Alaric not to reveal himself as a foreigner? I need someone to keep an eye on things. It's you or no one."

"I'll have you a list once I check out the matter printer and take stock of my own supplies." They had a pretty good idea of what they needed, but the extra time to go over it will never go amiss. "That is, do I get the list to you or someone else?" Seyli asks as they glance out over the room. "Who is in charge, here. Specifically, once we're out on our own?"

[Note to

zuhrovet: Sasha is free to quickly interrupt Ashari and ask about the upcoming mission so she and Seyli can discuss planning if they want.]

[I don't know how quickly this can be accomplished, but it should be entertaining!]

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Page 8 of 10

new player welcome post

Re: Scoping the Room

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

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continuing sensible conversations

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[fungal canister timeline notes for Asher]

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Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

Re: Scoping the Room

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

supply questions

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Re: Scoping the Room

Re: Scoping the Room

Re: Scoping the Room

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[note to Sasha]

Re: [note to Sasha]