Chapter 2.1 (such as it is)

[yhlee]

[GM's note: This is Ashari's summation of the mission briefing to Sasha, who is the new team leader in the interests of whisking away inactive PCs. While this letter is addressed privately to Sasha in-character, players are welcome to have out-of-character discussions [in bracketed comments] about, e.g., logistical concerns or things that they would like for their own characters. Regular IC discussion--e.g. if Sasha decides to start a meeting to discuss planning--can also happen in comments to this post, without the brackets.]

[Reminder: I'm out of the country from Sun., Dec. 2 to Wed., Dec. 5, so will be out of commission during those days and maybe a couple after. I apologize for the bad timing but hope this will give y'all something to chew on in my absence.]

[ETA: For reference, this is the one existing map of the hexarchate]. It's ca. Revenant Gun, but you can see some sites of historical interest. Candle Arc, for instance, is near the bottom center, in the Glover March.]

Congratulations, Sasha. You're in charge now. I expect you have very strong opinions on how things should be done. I look forward to hearing all about it upon my return.

As I told you earlier, Kaliyan, Ankat, Yehan, and myself will be siting a new base of operations just in case we need to cut our ties to the rebellion, or the Quill-led part of it. But don't worry. I wouldn't leave you entirely without hawks and foxes to play with. Don't hesitate to bully the new recruits as necessary to get the job done. I for one consider it highly promising that you seem to be getting along smashingly with the new Kel.

Here's your part of the mission. I have received reliable intelligence (no, you don't get to ask what I did to get it, unless you want to arm-wrestle for it after I get back) that there's going to be a significant push into the Lanterner era. Moreover, Quill is involved with rebellion operations via a rift to the heptarchate during 852 [h*archate timeline for reference]. Given what I understand to be the historical significance of that time period, this could be a major push.

Your task is to enter 852 via the rift map that Nirai Remi has provided us and figure out what Quill's people are up to. If this is a major intervention, what are they trying to accomplish? Can we get anything out of it?

The exit of the aforementioned rift will take you to a Lanterner orbital stronghold called Autumn Pyre. (They seem to have gotten their naming sensibilities from the Kel, how tiresome.) It's three days' travel by Cantata to Candle Arc, which has not yet happened. (You know what I mean.) Autumn Pyre is a military base, but it also houses a Lanterner aristocrat-diplomat named Aramis kae Pharon who fancies themself a natural philosopher and is interested in studying rift phenomena. Like civilized people, the Lanterners put their family/house name first, the personal name last. The "kae" designates an aristocrat or person of high rank--it can be given to generals and the like even if they're of low birth, it's all very complicated. Unfortunately for Autumn Pyre, but fortunately for us, Lanterner cultural peculiarities mean that kae Pharon is what we'd consider the "ranking officer."

Quill's people have already made contact with kae Pharon. Quill herself doesn't appear to be on site--yet. I've obtained forged orders that should make you look like reinforcements for the rebellion. Things are chaotic there anyway, what with interdimensional travelers. Get to Autumn Pyre and find out what's going on before it comes around to bite us in the ass. Oh, and if you get a chance, grab me some Lanterner red cordial, I've always wanted to try it. Good luck!

Ashari

Comments

Re: moth harnesses - paging Alaric, Seyli, and Remi

[kese_seyli]

Seyli thinks for a while, in no rush to answer the question in haste. "If we're doing a heavy duty armor, shoulder mounted weaponry, something built into the arms. Energy weapons, not projectile. And yes, a lighter battery for shields is always good. Anything we can design that's lighter, slimmer, allows for better range of motion than that they have should be appealing. Especially, if it's priced just above what they're already paying. Less would be suspicious."

Re: moth harnesses - paging Alaric, Seyli, and Remi

[zuhrovet]

"Aymad and I get to add armor pricing to our list of things to look up once we're at our destination, then." The mothgrid can probably spit out an estimate, but nothing beats actual data, and this sort of information is usually proprietary data. "Is there other information you need from me, before we enter the rift?"

Re: moth harnesses - paging Alaric, Seyli, and Remi

[slybrarian]

"There's a few advances is universal powerpack designs that I think are due to come out around that time, compatible with both weapons and equipment," Alaric says with a bit of a grimace. "Pedestrian, but probably tempting, and unlikely to throw off the balance of power. As far as information, I'd look into what sort of raw materials are available to them, particularly rare or artificial elements."

Re: moth harnesses - paging Alaric, Seyli, and Remi

[kese_seyli]

"Pedestrian, but stock in trade for anyone on the ground," Seyli counters. "And it won't draw undue attention to who we are and what we're doing, going in with something exceptional might get the kind of attention we're not looking for?" They look toward Sasha for confirmation.

Re: moth harnesses - paging Alaric, Seyli, and Remi

[zuhrovet]

Sasha nods. "We're going to seem strange no matter what we do. Reshad suggested posing as pirates, and I think that makes sense. But the less seriously people take us, the easier it will be for us to accomplish our true goals."

Green saint, she thinks, if you can arrange for all of our chaos to be fake, I'll... I don't know how I'm going to manage it, but I'll go back in time and plant you a fucking forest.