State of the Game 2

[hohnkai]

M O D U P D A T E

Hello Savrites! We had originally intended this to be a normal mod update type of post, but we decided to do a State of The Game update instead. Mostly to let you know what's going on, where we're going, and where we'd like to end up. First, let's talk about apps! As per the calendar, applications will be opening up again on October 16th. We have changed some of the rules regarding apps to (hopefully) make it easier on both new and old players as well as the mods. They are reflected on the individual pages, but here is a summary: ☄ A reserve is now required for all applications. ☄ There will be an application cap. ☄ Any current player who officially drops may re-app a new character at any time, but only once every 2 months. The application cap will be set to 15 applications for new players and 15 applications for current players. This means we will have a total of 30 app slots open during October. Whichever slots are not filled will then be opened as a "free for all" on the last day of the cycle (October 22nd). Two Page Updates: Mini Games & Jobs TIMELINE: October - Mini Colony * see info below November - Ship Month December - Midway Hub January - Midway Hub February - Arc II Thisavrou Plot Specific Sign Ups Are Now Closed In October the ship will be touching down on the Runoff's Mini Colony. This is a mecha of trade and commerce, which is something we want to do a little bit of world building with. There are three sections below that players should participate in. The first is a sign up for location specific plot; take a look at the linked map and respond with your character's name and the corresponding number. Once all the numbers have been taken, we'll double them over for anyone else that signs up. The second section is to 'create a business'; in this section players can build a business and then NPC it during the event. The third is suggest something that occurs on the mini colony; you list it and if it fits, we'll approve it. All of this stuff will be built into the event logs when they come up. We'd really like our players' input. If anyone has questions about the upcoming event(s), Arc II, or anything else, let us know below. Thank you all for being amazing players.

Comments

World Building

[hohnkai]

Is there something you want to have as a part of the colony? An aspect of how the place functions or a type of tech that is available. Maybe an event that happens every year and will go down during the event. Suggest something that you want to have as part of the plot and we'll work out how to make that happen.

[ryuuzaki]

I'll try to see if I have other suggestions, but for right now: L and Tex have just decided to try to build a dry shooting system (i.e., something for target practice that uses no ammo, similar to what's described here) that uses laser sighting and sensors to tell you if your target has been hit. They've been planning to see what supplies are around the ship that they could use, and maybe to adapt the existing scoring system that the shooting gallery has to this purpose, since it also involves small lasers. However, if they could find this kind of item at this colony, or if they could easily find the components to make it, they wouldn't run all over the ship looking for supplies.

So I think they'd like either some kind of weaponry shop or some kind of electronics building and repair shop! Or both.

Approved!

[hohnkai]

We'll make sure to include a weapons shop, and an electronics building and repair shop on the mini colony when we do the post. Is there anything you'd like to see specific with it? For example, are these in a shady area? Somewhere cleaner and nicer? Is there only one way to buy the stuff there or are they an anything you can trade goes kind of place? We just want to know what you'd like to see for these two locations.

Ideas for world building

[a_shadow]

Presenting multiple ideas for the type of place this could be:

Solarpunk:

• Similar to a test being conducted in Missouri, the colony would have solar-powered panels for citizens to walk and drive on. The panels would light up in strategic areas at night and power the adjacent buildings.
  
• Tall buildings are built to maximize roof and patio space, terraced to include sustainable sources of food and oxygen.
  
• Liberal use of renewable sources for fabrics, such as linen and hemp, dominate the fashion choices. Art nouveau-inspired design choices and liberal use of stained glass dominate the look.
  
• More about solarpunk as a design concept can be found here.

Dystopian:

• Fingerprints or other unique identifiers are required when entering the premises, for the purpose of tracking purchases and linking them with individual users. This is so that targeted advertising may be placed on nearby billboards and signs by computer systems that are tracking the citizens' every move.
  
• Building projects have been expanded underground, leading to the slums of the city being located below the powerful banks and other large businesses. The leadership basically denies there's any trouble with this, though the poor who live there suffer from mold-borne illnesses and lack of sunlight.
  
• Crime is punished immediately, as people who are caught are known to be guilty because of the constant tracking of everyone's movements.

Modern:

• The place where the ship docks is a large city similar to contemporary New York City. However, the trade center and the central station are combined, leading to an intensely busy trade depot with many multiple languages being spoken, currencies being traded, and people hurrying to and fro.
  
• Outside the trade and travel hub are many other business districts—theater, restaurant, shopping, and financial, just to name a few.
  
• Public transportation is freely available and reliable.

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Possible events to include:

• Underworld festival: The natives honor their belief in the specter that rules the afterlife by honoring it with a celebration in hopes they will not die in the coming year.
  
• Paper festival: Natives write notes to their friends, relatives, and celebrities to express something they haven't told them in the last year. These notes are left taped to doorways, signposts, and other publicly accessible areas for other people to read.
  
• Fruit festival: Natives celebrate the abundant crop of the local sweet fruit that is unknown to anyone on the Moira.

[hohnkai]

Hey! The mini colony is a huge trading and living zone, so the three types of settings you suggested would all exist there in some way, among others. What we'll do is take bits and pieces, if not all of, the info you supplied above and tie it into different sections for other players to have their characters to be a part of.

So the festival idea is fantastic and one of the other mods wanted to suggest that we combine it. Something like, there is a group of natives on the mini-colony that throw the festival and it's to honor their god and the dead in hopes that they will live through the following year. They write notes to those that are still alive to honor them as well, telling them what they haven't, and they eat a local sweet fruit that nobody on the Moira has ever had. If you are good with this, we'd need a new name for the festival and any other details. Like what is the fruit, taste and appearance, does it do anything special? Are these group of mini-colony locals different or unique in anyway? Do they wear certain clothes during the festivals? Do they decorate the city? Anything like that.

[a_shadow]

The festival is known as the Desiderium festival, which is a word meaning an ardent desire for something that has been lost. The fruit, which resembles an Australian fingerlime, ripens at around this date every year. This citrus fruit is tart, yet sweet, and crumbles into 'caviar' when removed from its rind.

Fruit images: 1 2 3

The ethnic group that throws this festival, the Lamaria, makes paper from the rinds of the fruits, which is the only proper paper for the notes to be written on. As fitting the occasion, people wear special finery to present the notes to their friends and relatives, and to wear to the grave sites where they leave the notes for the dead. These tend to be burgundy and lime colors, like the fruits, and are shot through with gold (I can't draw anything for this but I'd like this culture to fit into the solarpunk aesthetic from my suggestion post).

They don't decorate the city itself as they are just a smaller ethnic group from among the population, though their own local neighborhoods may be decorated.

The fruit has no special effects on the eater, but pairs nicely with alcohol for after-hours consumption.

[hohnkai]

Oh, wow. This is fantastic. We'll definitely include it. It will probably end up its own prompt, so if you think of anything to add let us know!

[sidecars]

Back home, Bucky was a smuggler on military bases for the other soldiers. Is there any kind of black market or supply and demand for items/contraband that are illegal or hard to get? Things like pornography, rationed foods or materials, hard to get baubles or designer knock offs, etc.

The only thing Bucky won't want to smuggle are drugs or human trafficking.

[hohnkai]

Hey! Since you suggested it, we'll include this in the log as well. There will be a black market type deal where items that are rare/illegal/hard to get are sold.

[worn_wings]

This system is home to one of the fiercest, most intensely competitive pop music scenes in the galaxy. Right now the hottest song is G'yr nik warrum p'kohn ss'vom, loosely translating to You make my liver quiver, by the band Comitial Tripod.¹ Musically, it's a fairly traditional ballad of atonal warbling with a heavy, near-hypnotic drumbeat, but the lyrics are full of racy double-entendres that scandalize the older generation. It's exceedingly popular, played several times an hour on most music stations, often hummed or sung in snatches by the cool kids out on the town. Though not particularly melodic by average human standards, it is pretty catchy.

The band is scheduled to appear next week, and the streets of the city are full of scalpers offering tickets... and bookies laying odds on whether it'll happen. Because the music scene here is so competitive, bands will do nearly anything to get ahead. Comitial Tripod is a band that's achieved a rare level of popularity-- only about 42% of their airplay time is pay-for-play, the rest is genuinely supplied by DJ choice and audience requests. It's hard to beat a force like that, and rumors abound that several of the lower top-ten bands have put out hits on the members. Just last month their manager was found in a shallow grave.

One thing is for sure-- if the show goes on, it's going to be one to remember.

1. The translation is a little imprecise, as the organ in question has less to do with digestion than the average liver. It's biggest function is the production of bioluminescent pigments and pheromones used in the mating displays of the band's dominant race. As such, in their culture it's more equivalent to the human cultural use of the heart-- an organ where love is felt.

[hohnkai]

Lmao this is fantastic. Since the log already went up, we didn't get to put this in, but if you want to do a post to the network or log comms with it you totally should. Otherwise, we'll try to include it in the next log if we can.

[prorenataa]

Rodents! Specifically called Roddicans

A strange hi-bred cross, as large as a medium sized dog but obviously rodent like. Bald tails, narrow faces, wickedly sharp jaws that are capable of giving a human a nasty but not fatal bite.

Smart, like rats, they are definite survivalists and there are possibly rumors that they are used to punish disobedient slaves.

They are mostly nocturnal and stick to the less savory areas of the mini-colony.

Mostly they're here to give Courser something to snack on and possibly provide some jump scares/low level challenges to PCs.

[hohnkai]

This is awesome. We didn't get this in time for the log, but you can definitely use it for something if you want or do a post on them. Or just mention them in passing. Otherwise, we'll try to include it in the next log if we can.