Tag: MorningStar

#Morningstar 5: Against the Awakeners

The situation

* At the Call to Order, everyone asked the Keepers to do everything, so now they have to find a way of reactivating Stasis Pods so the Enforcers can put criminals to sleep, and find a way of debugging the flight system for the MC.

* The Listeners have recently begun exhibiting unusual flocking behaviour.

* A new refugee, Jose, told Verity of how he was woken and then imprisoned by a group of medics, before he escaped. Verity and Agent Johnson have directions to where he was found.

* 101010 and Brother Curiosity’s expedition to find space for the Throng’s drug factory uncovered an unusual mobile radiation source, a food processing plant full of mustard gas which had been made after the Awakening, and many questions. An MC work crew has been detached to disassemble the plant and make it safe.

The Maintenance Collective consult the mind of INC-07 in their group consciousness and learn that there were two factions among the Sleepers: the political and military elite responsible for the war crimes, and colonists from far-flung parts of the human empire.

The MC set to work disassembling the food processing plant, and the Keepers assist by providing information on the best way of dealing with the gas. unfortunately the cleanup isn’t perfect, and residual contamination causes unpleasant injuries to several members of the Throng, incurring Treaty. The MC also gains Need: Prestige, reflecting their feeling that they are under-appreciated. They control the bridge, but they’re still being treated like scutters by everyone else.

Meanwhile, the Enforcers and Keepers start to look into the Awakeners. Major Petrova hits the streets, and learns that an Awakener priest named Vusa is holding meetings in the back room of Kana’s coffee house. She arranges for Kana to plant a tracking device on him so he can be followed next time he ventures into the dark decks.

Verity meets with Jose again while he is undergoing orientation. Sleepers were all fitted with a subcutaneous RFID chip containing location and biographical data, as well as a UV tattoo to provide a physical check. Verity reads the latter, and learns they were woken from bank 227-A, deep in the dark decks.

Major Petrova continues her investigation using the Enforcers’ surveillance system and records, as well as a few snitches. From Vusa’s preaching, the Awakeners believe that the voyage is endless and that the ship is all humanity has. It is unjust to deny the Sleepers a part in human civilisation, so they want to wake everybody up, ideally all at once. The good news is that they haven’t figured out how to do this yet, but are actively looking for someone in the Sleeper holds who can. They’re operating out of a small clinic in the darker recesses of the left bank, high up in the catwalks with excellent escape routes. Surveillance feeds show the clinic is well-guarded, with blank-faced security guards who seem to be… not all there.

Eventually, the surveillance pays off, and Vusa heads off into the dark decks with a pair of disciples and two of the blank-faced guards. With Sister Verity and Agent Cassius, a sharpshooter, Major Petrova sets out in pursuit. The tracking device lets them keep tabs on Vusa, but they have a run-in with the mysterious mobile radiation source, then get lost while trying to get out of its beam-path. They know where to go, but not how to find their way back.

Eventually, they find Vusa and his party in a lit room which has been converted into a makeshift jail. While the blank-faced men stand guard, Vusa distributes food to about a dozen recently-awoken Sleepers. At this stage, Verity tries to convince Petrova of the importance of stopping another Awakening: apparently there are emergency protocols which could trip if too many Sleepers wake up (this may be why the original Awakening was so lethal – and why there is a food plant full of mustard gas). Preventing this is one reason why the Keepers have been reluctant to restore the MC to full capacity. Petrova doesn’t seem entirely convinced, but is more than willing to act to prevent Sleepers being kidnapped and kept prisoner. Sending Cassius off to get an advantageous position, she calls out to Vusa that the area is surrounded and demands his surrender. When a stunner shot over someone’s head doesn’t convince them, Cassius drops one of the blank-faced guards – and the other one is disturbingly unmoved by this. Vusa is persuaded however, and surrenders. Petrova gets the cuffs on everyone, frees the prisoners, and starts asking questions.

The prisoners are all recently awoken from bank 227-A and have been kept here for a few days. The blanks don’t respond, but Verity checks out their tattoos and finds that they are from bank 221-7, further away, and that they are… not right. They obey Vusa’s commands, and are generally docile and obedient. The best she can tell is that something has removed their soul.

Vusa is persuaded to talk (and to lead them back to the City) with promise of immunity and protection from the Keepers. The Awakeners work for a man named Jagarta Tun, who owns the clinic in the Left Bank. They’ve been waking Sleepers for some time, looking for the one who can wake everyone. They haven’t found him yet because some people aren’t in the right pods, and in the meantime they’ve been installing slave-chips in those they wake, and using them as muscle or selling them to other Factions to fund the cause. Tun performs the operation at the clinic, sneaking the prisoners in in the dead of night via one of the many service passages leading from that part of Left Bank.

Petrova thinks it will be impossible to get a dozen refugees plus prisoners into the City secretly, so marches in openly, effectively telling the Awakeners that the game is up. The Enforcers immediately declare Jagarta Tun a wanted criminal and mount a raid on his clinic, capturing him and some of his guards, though some Awakeners escape. Once she’s got him in a cell, Petrova offers Tun a deal: she won’t add slavery to the charges if he shows her a way to undo it. He demands bail as a “sign of good faith”, but Petrova refuses. If Tun could figure out how to implant a slave chip, someone can figure out how to remove it.

Meanwhile, the Keepers act to protect the Sleepers from interference. Having finally received their security gear from the Puppeteers, they call in a debt on the MC to get them to install it in the Sleeper banks. The Keepers help, of course, using their knowledge of the nearby banks to make the system far more effective, but the MC interfere with one of the the Throng’s business plans and end up exposing themselves a lot in the dark decks, gaining Need: Security. But the City now has a permanent security system for the Sleepers, which should prevent any future Awakener activity and potentially warn of refugees. The MC then Call in a Debt to get the Keepers to publicly acknowledge the assistance, and the Keepers rouse the minds of the unbelievers to give them some public recognition, removing their Need: Prestige.

Finally, the MC announce that they have found a clue as to the location of the life support systems.

I flailed a bit in places here with improvising details, but the session seemed to work OK. And we learned a few things about what was important to the Keepers and the Enforcers. We also got our first real use of the Treaty rules, though the fiction ended up trumping the mechanics (the Keepers had previously called in debt on the Puppeteers to get Surplus: Security, which should have zeroed their Awakener-related Need the moment it arrived. But they wanted to use their new Progress move they’d learned from the MC to get something which affected the whole City, and so contrived a chain of moves solely so they could lend aid and do that. Which ended up with the MC getting more debt…)

#Morningstar 4: New Mysteries

The situation

A few years have passed since the discovery of the Bridge, and there have been changes. The bombing of HQ killed the Chief of the Enforcers, and their deputy, Commissioner Sergeiovich, stepped naturally into the role (Major Petrova thinks she could have had the job, but didn’t want to be stuck behind a desk). Unfortunately Sergeiovich is a natural administrator, tight-fisted with the budget, and with an emphasis on paperwork rather than results. Petrova does not like him. But the City is at peace, and the current biggest unsolved crime is that someone is distributing fake ration-books.

In the Maintenance Collective, INC-07 has retired (though their mind is still part of the group consciousness), and the Proactive paradigm dominant in the group mind has lost ground to Archive/Storage, which wants to keep everything as it is and properly backed-up. 101010 (or “Ten Ten Ten”), a former Listener surveillance-ball who has joined the MC, has become a significant voice, representing those wanting to explore the ship. Some weird things are happening in the dark decks, and the Listeners, always eccentric, have started flocking together in packs, though it is not clear why.

Brother Lux, who caused problems a few years ago breaking people out of the Enforcer’s brig, is now openly leading the Keepers, but Verity is still a trusted voice. Verity has worked with 101010 before, but regrets taking them as a pupil: now, they know too many of the Keepers’ secrets.

INC-07’s consciousness in the group-mind has remembered another key secret of the builders: humanity fought several genocidal wars against alien species before being defeated. The survivors are now being shipped somewhere else to be Somebody Else’s Problem – effectively exiled.

Call to Order

* The MC’s leader (“Lead-bot”, a big, shiny gold droid, effectively a Bluetooth human interface device for whoever is dominant in the Collective’s group consciousness) states that they have been updating the flight computers, but found that several are corrupt and need debugging. They ask the Keepers to find the relevant archive to restore the system. The Keepers accept.

* The Keepers want the Throng to include more educational materials in the entertainment systems. After some internal consultation, the Throng accepts. The Keepers seem mildly disappointed with this.

* The Enforcers state that they are currently detaining a large number of non-capital criminals who are taking up space: the brig is overflowing. They ask the Keepers to find some empty working Stasis Pods and find a way of using them so criminals can be put back to sleep. The Keepers accept.

* The Throng say that the new educational responsibilities will place stress on their facilities and that they need a suitable space near the city for some of their production. They ask the MC to find them somewhere suitable. They accept.

Verity meets with Mr Vyapura and calls in a debt to get the Puppeteers to provide security systems – cameras, remote alarms, locking mechanisms – which can be used to keep an eye on the nearby sleepers and prevent unauthorised awakenings. The Puppeteers can meet this need, but it will take some time. While passing through Old Town Verity finds a crowd gathered around a man in a dirty stasis suit – a newly arrived refugee is being taken to Orientation by Agent Johnson. There’s been an unusual number of them recently, and this one looks quite disoriented. Verity intervenes, reassures them, and gets their story: apparently they were woken by a team of medics, who kept them prisoner along with a dozen or so other people. They escaped a few days later while being moved, and have spent a week wandering the dark decks before encountering a drone who led them to some scavs. Verity recognises the drone from its description, and after confirming a few more details with Johnson, goes off to talk to its owner, Crazy Yan. After being bribed with a hot tip on the location of the jungle (“packed with valuable panther skins”), Yan shows footage of the refugee’s discovery and gives a grid reference, which at least gives some idea of where to start looking.

Meanwhile the MC has sent some new recruits into the dark decks to find a suitable space for the Throng. They’ve interpreted their request as one for a new drug factory, rather than just space for one, and they’ve turned up a food processing plant which should fit the bill. 101010 takes along Brother Curiosity, a low-level Keeper, and guided by an automapper device, heads into the dark.

Zoom In

The automapper works perfectly, and leads them straight to the location. Unfortunately on the way it leads them straight into a field of strong ionising radiation. 101010 and Brother Curiosity try to backtrack hurriedly and find another way round, but in the process discover an unnerving fact: the field moves. They have no idea exactly where it is coming from or what is causing it – it may even be on another deck entirely – but it is mobile. But eventually they’re out of it without taking too many rads, and arrive at their destination. It looks exactly as described – the pipes and vats and reaction chambers of a food processing plant, currently inactive. But just after they enter the room, a massive security door slams down, trapping them in there.

101010 is prepared for this. instructing Curiosity to take cover, he pops out his experimental energy projector and aims it at the door. With a massive explosion, the door is vaporised – coating 101010 in an uneven coat of vapour-deposited metal, injuring Curiosity, and damaging the food plant. Which promptly starts leaking yellow-brown vapour. Curiosity, who is good at getting information out of things, prods some of the local panels to find out what the plant was last configured to make. The answer is unnerving: 1-Chloro-2-[(2-chloroethyl)sulfanyl]ethane, otherwise known as mustard gas. And it was configured to make this after the Awakening. Did one of the newly-awakened Sleepers do it, or was it part of an emergency protocol? Either way, Curiosity and 101010 agree that the plant needs to be dismantled, the gas safely vented or converted to something inert, and the space cleared out and decontaminated before being handed over to the Throng. 101010 puts out a call to the MC for a work-crew to begin the job…

The work we put in in the previous Age on building the setting really paid off here, with the group basicly making its own trouble. While the Enforcers didn’t get much of a look-in, they’ve got obvious plots dangling for next session (refugees and ration books), and the group hasn’t even started to look for another ship system yet. And we’ve got some unwelcome truths, new mysteries, and possible threats to worry about as well. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it all pans out.

#MorningStar 3: Taking the Hole

The situation

* INC-07, Major Petrova, and Verity have surveyed a (mostly) safe route to the Bridge (there is an area of difficulty near the Den where the decks are collapsing, which needs to be surveyed around, but groups can get their by the risky route). The Enforcers and Keepers have convinced Lt Elijah to deputise people as emergency flight crew, so they have bridge access, and all 3 factions have begun the process of investment.

* The Colony Defence drones have been deactivated and directed to a central point for disassembly. The three searching factions have gained significant tech reserves from this.

While searching for the Bridge, the Keepers discovered some exploitable resources (an environmental processing plant and a Sleeper hold full or corpses). They have been thinking about exploiting them.

* Major Petrova has done police work to get the details on the Hole Gang’s HQ, sufficient to allow a major assault. The Hole Gang have been demanding protection money in the Left Bank.

* The Listeners have been scouring the dark decks for a supply of raw materials for the Puppeteers and have come back with a lead.

INC-07 recalls further secrets of the builders: that the Sleepers were war criminals. Humanity had done something terrible and faced a horrific judgement for it, but some had been rescued.

The Keepers have been eyeing up the Sleeper hold the panthers had been using as a meat locker: its conveniently on the way to the bridge, and the fact that its precious cargo are now dead means it could be cleared out and used as living space. They convince the Puppeteers to help them take it over, selling them on their religious mission to keep the ship safe. Actually clearing it out is an arduous process, and requires most of their allies in the Foundry to move in, and halfway through the process a group from the Throng of Pleasure turns up with the intention of turning into some sort of inn and have to be bought off. But eventually the Keepers establish the first real settlement outside the City, and name it “the Den”. They also reap a bounty of tech from the old Sleeper pods (which can be safely cannibalised), and invest most of it in the Bridge. Finally, they get a lead on where the panthers came from: the jungle, an actual biological habitat near the Den, which holds a complete ecosystem.

The Listeners have found a refuelling plant which was intended to be used for the colony’s vehicles post-worldfall, which they think can be safely disassembled. But some catastrophe in flight has flooded the entire facility with fuel. They also ask the Puppeteers of Trade for assistance (the work is ultimately for their people in Recyc after all), but the work is long and dangerous. An accident in the process damages several MC drones (giving them Need: Repairs), and kills several of the assisting staff from Recyc, requiring reparations.

Meanwhile, the Enforcers have been planning to take down Igor and the Hole Gang once and for all. Using the intelligence she gained previously, Major Petrova leads a strike squad into the Hole, mounts a textbook assault on Igor’s headquarters (complete with stun grenades and rappelling), and arrests him and most of his key people. But getting out with the prisoners is harder than getting in. Petrova holds a gun to Igor’s head to get him to call off the gangers blocking their escape, but the remnants of the Hole Gang aren’t going to go quietly. Shortly after the Enforcers have got the prisoners back to HQ, word comes in that a group have seized the new fusion reactor in the Left Bank and are threatening to blow it up unless Igor and his people are released.

A crisis meeting of the families is convened. The Keepers use their status as medics to get some people into the power plant to care for gangers who have been wounded in the standoff. They secretly disable the charges, but one of them is captured, though the gangers don’t know exactly what she was up to. Meanwhile the Enforcers have evacuated the whole sector of the Left bank, sealed the pressure doors, and started lowering the oxygen levels. Which makes their inevitable assault a walkover. The surviving gangers are rounded up and arrested, and the Enforcers make a show of force in the Hole, finally bringing it under control (though it requires a constant security presence). And conveniently there’s now a large, unoccupied space the Keepers can use to set up their school for the children of the area…

The MC makes the final investment in the Bridge, and gives Treaty to the Keepers to get them to stand aside and allow them to control it. The Keepers are happy enough to do this, and do a lot of work on the Bridge interpreting the holy source code and training under the MC. The MC meanwhile rootkit several of the flight computers, adopting them into their group mind, but change their doctrine in the process. The Enforcers use their bridge access to locate new resources for themselves and the MC, but also suffer a disaster, as the last dregs of the Hole Gang smuggle a bomb into HQ, destroying their newly-acquired automatic defence systems. But peace finally reigns across the City, for a few years at least…

This session was mostly done on the family level, with only Petrova dropping down to do character stuff. It felt rather abstract, but provided a reasonably satisfying conclusion to the threats of the age. The MC have done rather well out of this age, getting themselves control of the Bridge, a pile of tech, and moving into positive mood. The Keepers haven’t done too badly either. But while the Enforcers have established order, their position feels precarious, and they have the realisation that humans aren’t really in control, but are working for a bunch of aliens and AIs. Which seems like some nice tensions to explore in the next age.

#MorningStar episode 2: Back to the Bridge

The situation

* An expedition led by INC-07 and Verity has found The Bridge. They have also found the army of Colony Defence drones surrounding it, and learned that there is a search & destroy team hunting for “boarders”. The MC and its Listener allies are now recognised as crew by Colony Defence, and will not be fired upon. The other inhabitants of The City are probably targets.

* An attempt by the Enforcers to seize territory in The Hole failed messily. Igor and the Hole Gang are causing more problems than usual.

While the others had been searching for the bridge, Major Petrova has been doing police work, working snitches, collecting deck plans (such as they are) and sensor readings, all to get a fix on Igor so the Enforcers can plan an assault to take him out. Now he’s killed a bunch of them, they need to hit back, and hit hard. But the return of the expedition puts her plans on hold.

The Families discuss the bridge, the drone army, and what to do next. Major Petrova is interested in Lt Elijah. Is he the only mind the MC found, or do they have more? The MC dissembles, hiding the real truth: they have a cache of mind backups, but Lt Elijah was the only one they had DNA for, and the viability of the others has not been tested. They insist that Elijah is under their protection. Meanwhile, scavs are bringing back tales of being fired on by combat drones in the near dark. The families need to solve this to prevent a panic. Fortunately, the Enforcers have dug up the old colony defence protocols, including the command channel and override codes. They rig up some broadcasters so they can attempt a shutdown if the drones get too close to the City, but the better option is to go to the bridge, and use the network there. The Enforcers, MC, and Keepers agree a plan to recall the drones to a central location, shut them down, and split the salvage. They tool up for the job and set about retracing their steps, marking the path as they go to find a safe and repeatable route.

Two thirds of the way there, somewhere near the environment plant, they realise that something is stalking them. INC-07’s bodyguard drones disperse, and try and herd whatever it is towards the group. They succeed, but too well – the next minute, there’s a flash of teeth, claws, and fur, and Lt Elijah is being dragged into the darkness. Major Petrova opens up with her stunner, dropping both Elijah and the beast, but is swiped by a second one rushing from the shadows. INC-07 rushes to Elijah’s rescue, and manages to scoop him up then ram the animal off Petrova before it too is stunned. Petrova quickly kills both stunned creatures before they wake up, then finally gets a good look at them: its a pair of black panthers. How are they roaming the decks? Because the Sleepers – who were the last of their species – were being transported with a representative sample of their surviving biome, including apex predators. what they have in the stasis tubes or wandering the ship is all there is of Earth…

A more practical question is “what have the panthers been eating”. At this stage, the group realises there’s an open door to a sleeper hold nearby. Inside, its a nightmare of smashed open stasis tubes, dried blood, and old bones. The panthers (or something) have been using it as a meat locker for some time, and there’s only a few active tubes still left. Verity identifies at as a habitable space which could be used by the City once cleaned out, though it is a long way from anywhere (though conveniently on the route to the bridge).

Heading closer to the bridge, they try a short cut, but stumble into an area where the decks are damaged and collapsing. Verity uses the thrusters on their suit to haul Major Petrova across the dangerous area without incident, but they’re clearly going to need to survey a slightly different path in future.

At the bridge, Verity again impersonates a colony defence officer, and is granted access. Lt Elijah lets them in, and Major Petrova successfully broadcasts the recall and shutdown command via the security network to get the drones to return to a nearby space. While they wait for them to show up, Major Petrova and Verity suggest (with the assistance of Verity’s recall of old ship regulations) that Lt Elijah should grant them permanent access to the bridge by deputising them as emergency flight crew. Elijah is persuaded, but only after the MC agrees (having been bought off with Treaty). Once that is done, the group takes a look at their new haul of battledroids. INC-07 uses a rootkit device to overwrite the programing of several and indoctrinate them into the MC’s network (gaining Surplus: Soldiers for a rainy day), but the effort ends when one goes crazy and and has to be disabled – destroying the rootkit in the process. The others plan how to use their haul of tech to start reactivating the bridge and gain some control over their lives…

Second session, a few more hazards, and a first test of character-level combat. The pick-lists slow things down compared to the freeform narrative style of Uncharted Worlds, but I’m hoping we’ll get used to it. The story flowed fairly naturally from the setup, and I didn’t need to throw any of the kickers I’d prepared into the mix. They’ll keep. Meanwhile I’m wondering: what’s the Hole Gang been getting up to while people are off traipsing around the ship? I think we’ll find out next week.

I gave away far too much Tech (5 points each, or 2 points and a surplus) for the drone army. OTOH, they got nothing last session, its a big score, and half of it has been invested straight into bridge control. Still, the characters are now feeling a bit better resourced, and have angles on a few more surpluses they can get.