hey folks! I’m an academic, so I’m always doing some free writing before work to get into the swing of things, and writing up the synopsis for our last session proved to be a great way to start up work today. So here’s an intro to our characters, factions, and a synopsis of our first episode!
[LONG POST AHEAD!]
So what are our characters?
Xanthus Swift —The Adventurer: Human Galactic Personality Explorer — With her trusty droid Bernard by her side (think BB-8), and her squad of soldiers behind her, Xanthus explores the galaxy in search of something that has not yet been revealed to her crewmates. Despite Pickthorn’s presence, she is mistrustful of Collective androids and their supposed peace and helpfulness.
Youncy Grant — The Medic: Crystalline Regimented Military Academic — Youncy is a member of the Core, a medic assigned to this group to help them complete their mission. A member of the Crystalline species, a non-organic lifeform, they are naturally Resistant (immune to normal fire and freezing temps, but still use O2 and CO2 to fuel themselves, aka they still can’t exist without an atmosphere). He became a medic because he was fascinated by organics. Despite vowing to save lives, he’s willing to hoist his rocky frame into the frontline if it means protecting others from harm.
Pickthorn — The Inventor: Android Productive Industrial Technocrat — Pickthorn is an android freed from The Collective by the android rebel group the 141. A tinkerer and mechanical genius, Pickthorn is on the run from the Collective, hoping to get information to free more of his people. He can interface wirelessly with computer systems using his standard Collective Unit uniform, though it bares some scars from his perilous escape thus far.
Clyde Sandiego — The Assassin: Human Advanced Clandestine Scoundrel — A runaway son of the Dynasty mercenary family, Clyde stole the Dynasty Falco to escape (their ship). Although born on Earth (which must be advanced now, eh?), he’s been living out amongst the stars in this ship for quite a while, always one step ahead of the agents that have been sent to bring him back into the fold.
People wanted to be able to play aliens, so I rolled up a few rules for them. Androids get 1 mod from the cybermods in the Far Beyond Humanity preview. Aliens get a trait that lets them do something in the narrative they wouldn’t otherwise get to do. Humans to compensate, get 1 additional Class 1 asset. I let Xanthus make her droid as a crew.
The Factions:
The Collective — A species of sentient machines that age and have mimicked humans, they refer to themselves as Units to evoke their collectivist philosophy and machine past. Ruled by the oldest androids, they are a peaceful race and always providing help to the other species in the galaxy. Although individuals are separate and have emotions, the Collective seeks to return to what it sees as a purer machine past. Units are expected to act as emotionless and inhuman as possible by the ruling elite.
The 141 – This rebel group opposes the domination of androids by the Collective, encouraging free-thought, individuality, and emotion.
The Dynasty — An organized crime family that mostly trades on its ruthless assassins.
Erso Kingdom — An insular planet known for it’s overwhelming military might and defenses. Vaguely xenophobic, they don’t wish to conquer others, only to ensure that no one can ever take them down. Quick to lose trust, and hard to regain it, they will stop at nothing to prevent harm to their planet and culture.
The Core — Composed of members of every species in the galaxy, the Core is an elite military force and academy. Peacekeepers, they choose the ‘core’ or elite members of each species to monitor potential threats to all species.
WRAITH — World Research Alliance for Isolating Technological Harms — After the terraforming disaster on Beta Centauri 3, WRAITH believes that sufficiently advanced technology must be controlled by a organization working in the public interest, not private corporations. From scientists working on secure knowledge to politicians working on laws to prevent private use, WRAITH uses its public front to keep technology out of the wrong hands. Some say though that that’s not all they are doing to prevent work from falling into the wrong hands.
Last time on: The Dynasty Falco:
Pickthorn, Xanthus, and Clyde explore a derelict Dynasty ship floating in an asteroid field looking for sensor data that could help track all rogue android units in the galaxy. However, when Pickthorn restarts the ship’s computer, the automated defenses are triggered. Xanthus quickly hides with her droid Bernard while Clyde sneaks into the cargo hold to take out the defenses. Dispatching one of the hunter-killer droids with flung blades from his gauntlets, Clyde accidentally (or is it?) causes to smash against some precious cargo that appears out of place. To help her see inside the crate, Pickthorn restarts the ship’s life support and gravity, causing Xanthus to fall from the ceiling, hitting her head on a piece of cargo on the way down. Clyde is nowhere to be found [He unfortunately had to leave, but has stealth so he played it as part of his character].
Dazed, she convinced Bernard to go over. When he saw what was inside though, the little droid short circuited in fright. It was an Erso Kingdom fusion bomb with only 10 minutes to spare! It must have been triggered by the explosion of the HK droid!
Meanwhile, back on the Falco, Youncy convinces a Collective ship that appears from behind a nearby asteroid that they are on a medical mission buying his comrades precious time to find the sensor data. The Collective agrees to not interfere, but boards the ship looking for the data. Desperate to prevent himself from being discovered, Pickthorn, a rebel with the 141, shoots a hole through the side of the ship, and launches himself through space to Xanthus’s shuttle lying just outside the Kestral’s engineer section.
Replacing Pickthorn on the derelict ship, Youncy comes back to find three Collective androids with laser rifles trying to break into cargo hold. To keep up appearances of a rescue mission, Youncy cuts through the door and the three androids run inside to assist the injured. A medic attends to Xanthus, while another works on Bernard. A third attends to the bomb, communicating with his superiors. Youncy observes one droid talking to a newly awakened Bernard, offering to take him to their ship, and learns from the medic that they have been ordered to complete their mission at all costs, bomb or no bomb. Xanthus, having followed the third android down to the computer core to collect the sensor information, slices the android’s legs off in zero-g. Sensing trouble ahead, Youncy slices the tech android in half as Pickthorn patches into the medic’s link: “You can be free. Come with us.” Xanthus grabs the fragile floppy drive and they run for her shuttle.
As they lead Cindy Gutierrez (an inside joke, they named the android medic this) off to the shuttle, the Collective ship begins to fire on the Kestral. Pickthorn spins up the jump drive as the Collective ship begins to turn their laser cannons to the Falco and launches a missile at the shuttle. With some tight turns, Youncy manages to lose the missile in the asteroid field, but not without banging up the shuttle a bit. As they skid into the shuttle bay, Pickthorn yells, “HOLD ON! It’s going to be a WILD JUMP!”
A missile and laser shots fling through space, passing directly through the space where the Dynasty Falco was just moments before as it blips out of existence.
POP. The Falco emerges. Off in the distance, Chevron IV, the planet where they must drop off their information.
Next time, on The Dynasty Falco: Who do they need to get this information to? Who hired them to retrieve this information? Why did the Dynasty Kestral have it? Who did the Dynasty collect this information for? How did the Collective know to find the ship at this location, an astroid in the middle of unclaimed space? Why was the Kestral transporting a Erso fusion bomb? Where did Clyde disappear to and why did he disappear as soon as the bomb was activated? Did he get off the Dynasty Kestral before it was destroyed? What happened to the Collective ship? Did it get out in time before the Erso fusion bomb went off?
And most importantly, who is this Cindy Gutierrez? New rebel android, or Collective plant?
Thanks for reading! Hopefully we’ll get together soon and y’all can find out what happens next =)
