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[10ebbor10]

Your name: Robert

Age: 29

Gender: M

Occupation: Former lead designer and chief engineer of the Aurochs project. Worked on the Newdawn project as well. Technically still employed, but effectively not.

Location: Aurochs main launch base, on an artificial island before the coast of Africa, located at the Equator

Stats: Yay stats! Gotta define stuff with numbers, "pretty strong" and "kinda weak willed, I guess" will not do it.

Strength: 8
Dexterity:9
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 16
Will: 11
Charisma: 10

Skills:

Tell me the skills your character has, whatever they are. I'll be using 2d6 to resolve all rollworthy stuff and the skill scale will be as follows:

Major skills
-Aeronitical designs and stuff
-Mathematics
-Trilingual
-Electronics

Minor skills
- Chemistry
- Explosives
- Making and firing Model rockets
- Segwaying
- Programming

Spoiler:  17 September, 2028 (click to show/hide)

Today was the day, the culmination of the entire project, and possibly the dawn of a new age. Getting the Aurochs licensed had been a Titanic work, and because of that they had missed several launch dates already. They had lost the race against their closest concurrention already, but that didn't mean it was over. The Aurochs was superior in almost every way.

"T minus five minutes. All personnel should evacuate the launchpad immediatly.

Robert snapped awake. He'd dozed away during the preparations. Hadn't had much sleep yesterday. Damn nightmares.
He looked up from the computer screen in front of him, and through the window of the flight control center. It stood almost a kilometer away, but the Aurochs was still clearly visible. The massive 7 stage rocket was certainly one of the largest and most complex things ever build. Made almost entirely out of carbonfibers, it stood almost 160 meters (much higher than the historical Saturn V rocket used to go to the Moon) high yet weighted much less. Capable of carrying a payload of about 30 tonnes to a geocentrical orbit or beyond, while being capable of dropping of smaller sattelites along the way, this thing would certainly revolutionize space travel.

Robert checked the fuel tank statuses once more. While he was certain nothing could go wrong(uttermost attention had been given to the design, and governement agents had spent almost 3 months investigating even the tiniest parts.), the procedure required it. His search showed no anomalies, as was to be expected. The Main engines Hydrogen tanks had the right temperature and pressure, and the tricompound fuels of the boosters seemed fine too.

T minus 2 Minutes. Prepare for rocket ignition.

He spend some time thinking how they got there. The beginnings of the compagny had been hard. The time before they got this base, before they got commercial backers and governement subsidies. The time when they had to beg other organizations or compagnies for a chance to launch their prototypes. The time when it was just them, a group of 10 people, no more. Anyway, that time was over. It hadn't been a bad time, but neither had it been a great one.

T minus 1 minute. Initializing Ramjet systems. Preparing for launchtower decoupling.

From here in the command center, he couldn't hear the deafening roars from the turbines that provided the air for the first stages massive Vulcan XI-b engines. What he could hear however were the sheers of the supporters, of those who had pledged their support. Small and large organizations alike had joint for this venture, as the Aurochs costs almost 500 million on it's own. Most of these cost where ofset by the fact that 5 of the seven stages are reusable, but nevertheless it was a gigantic amount of money. It's payload doubly so.

T minus 30 seconds: Booster ignition

The boosters activated, and smoke started to rise from the massive exhaust ports on the side of the island. The thunderous roars were only faintly audible through the thick glass that covered the launch control on all sides.

T minus 10 seconds: Main engine ignition
T minus 3 seconsd: All engines to full power
We have lift-off, lift off confirmed.

Accompagnied by a thunderous roar, the titanic mastodont slowly rises from the launchpad, leaving an enormous plume of smoke behind. Both in the Control center and the Vip room(the secondary control center, on the West side of the island.) people started to chear. But they feasted to soon. A soft bang, almost inaudible against the engines noice, a small flame that springs up from the rockets side and then suddenly the alarms. Complete failure of Turbine 3. Pressure failure in hydrogen tanks 3-6. Partial failure of turbine 1 and 2. Pressure loss on booster 1 and 4. Thruster 2,3,4 losing power. An orchestra of alarms sounded in the control room.

Everyone in the command center looked towards the rocket with horror. Even from this far away you could see the white clouds of hydrogen seeping away, and rocket faltering in it's ascent, and slowly, ever so slowly tip towards the left. The computer, desperatly struggling to righten the ship, attempts to drop the right boosters. In the Vip center people looked amazed at what's unfolds in the air above them, they saw the boosters flying away, and the mastodont struggeling to stay in the air.

Robert doesn't often remember much of this anymore. He doesn't remember ducking when the explosion blew away the Flight control centers windows. He doesn't remember hearing the eardeafening explosion. He doesn't really remember seeing the massive fire and smoke pillar moving up from the island, even though it was visible from several countries away. What he does remember though, are the screams. Cries of Joy and amazement turning into bafflement and screams of terror, as the massive rocket crashed into the Vip center.

The fire burned for days, and it consumed the entire Vip center, the live of twohundred people and the Aurochs project. Funding was cut completely, and the compagny was picked clean, even though investigation freed them from all blame. Now all that remains is a blackened island with a dark past, of which occasionally the lone rocket flies.

Spoiler: The Aurochs Project (click to show/hide)

The Aurochs project was one of the more promising heavy lifting reuseable launch systems. The project was put on hold after the incident during the first commercial flight, which was also the first full scale test flight. 

Spoiler: NewDawn project (click to show/hide)

Taking advantage of the Aurochs lifting capacity, the New Dawn project was a plan to organise near Earth flight and to provide in cheap solar power by using orbital sattelites. Most of the new dawn sattelites are extremely heavy. To day no designs have been made public nor has any sattelite been launched.

The project was cancelled after the Aurochs was discontinued.

[/spoiler]

Explanations and bios tomorrow.

[Wayward Device]

Ok, so I'd Like to get this started some time soon, but we still need more characters. I'm tempted to start with the characters that are ready (Evil, Zanzetkuken, Jaass is nearly there too) and let latecomers start when they're ready.

@Hailfire, Deep Waters: You still in? I want to hear all about this associate stuff! Tel me things! Tell me!

@10ebbor10: Must.... know....more...about...Aurochs project...artificial island base...must!

Anyway, let me know, post characters, questions etc. We're nearly ready to have some disturbing adventurers in the not too distant future.   

[jaass]

I might not be able to play the next couple of weeks. Life may get kind of busy, but if I can I'll try to drop by.

[HailFire]

Well, that was the plan, yes... we'd been making progress on getting our sheets done (it was going a bit slower than normal, obviously, since we were collaborating), but sometimes life just decides to take a dump on you.

I'm going to be gone pretty much all of next week, so if I join, it's either going to be late, or on the waitlist. 

[10ebbor10]

Added some information

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Why does it seem like I started a pattern with some organization going after all of the characters?

You may have planned some organization, wayward device, but you haven't told anyone details of that one yet.

[Wayward Device]

@jaass, Hailfire: Not to worry, Life etc strikes again. I'll waitlist you for now, but you can start when you're ready.

@10ebbor10: Excellent. A character haunted by the ruins of a grand attempt to reach for the stars and the ensuing "accident". Looking very nice indeed.

Why does it seem like I started a pattern with some organization going after all of the characters?

You may have planned some organization, wayward device, but you haven't told anyone details of that one yet.

Hahahahahhaha! Your every action draws you further into my web of doom! Bwahahahahahaha! *Lighting flashes, thunder rolls*

*ahem*

I have been surprised at how well everyone's characters fit into my... plans, especially given how vague I've been. And details will have to be earned with blood, sweat and mental anguish. And shadowy forces is plural .   

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

I made a couple of additions and changes to my character and supplies list, tell if I need to change anything.

1)I have been surprised at how well everyone's characters fit into my... plans, especially given how vague I've been.
2)And details will have to be earned with blood, sweat and mental anguish.
3)And shadowy forces is plural .   

1)That it is.
2)That is not...
3)What...the...carp...

[10ebbor10]

So, that one's good or not?

[Wayward Device]

I made a couple of additions and changes to my character and supplies list, tell if I need to change anything.

Yeah, that's fine, all makes sense (especially the int from 14 to 15 and comp).

So, that one's good or not?

Still looking good. The Aurochs had/has the potential to to become the caravel of Earth Orbit Colonization (Lunar too, if its a larger, lighter and more efficient Early Digital Age version of the Saturn V), while the NewDawn project could have lifted billions of people out of energy poverty worldwide (and do it pollution free), possibly bringing about a level of change in the standard of living not seen since the Renaissance.   

That is, if there hadn't been that terrible "accident". Yes, this will work very nicely indeed.

"Now all that remains is a blackened island with a dark past, of which occasionally the lone rocket flies."
"Making and firing Model rockets"

Hmm, it's almost as if someone on that burnt island of broken dreams is dealing with the awful stress of seeing their vision come to a fiery end by retreating into the simple joys of their childhood... or something.   

[10ebbor10]

The launch base is still operationall. At least the Secundary (smaller) launch site is, the main launch site has partially melted. Sometimes other compagnies use it to launch a rocket, but never any important launches. It's what pays for essential maintenance and such.

I could probably give you a whole load of numbers on the Aurochs, information about the different stages(7) and operational costs(100 million for each launch, if all recuperable parts make it without more than estimated damage). Not going to do that yet. (It is however a rocket about 50% larger than the Saturn V, and actually just a bit lighter.)

[10ebbor10]

Is this one still alive?

[Wayward Device]

Yep, it certainly is. Just needs more interest really (and characters). I'm actually ready to start, but only two characters are ready. I might start things off when there's three, but even that is a bit low.

Anyway, if there's a bit more interest and some more complete characters are posted we can get started. All my evil plans are still waiting to be used . 

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Hopefully this 10ebbor10 bringing this back to the first page will pull up membership.

[Wayward Device]

Turn 0: In the Kingdom of the Blind, every journey begins with a first stumble

James G. "Zanzetkuken" Elrod

You wake at dawn from fitful dreams [10] where you are running from hooded figures trying to drive rusted iron awls through your eyes, running though a shadow city, running to a goal you can't see while rain like smoke falls from an angry purple sky. The images fade quickly [7] as does the crystal clear understanding of them you had mere moments ago. The clock on your bedside table tells you that its 6:53 AM on Monday the 12^th of January 2029 and dawn is just starting to break up an overcast sky (this last factoid is provided by your own observation). You should probably get up and go to work. The Government (or the Company, as you think of the specific Government research organization you work for) lets you keep "programer's hours", meaning that they don't really care if you roll in to work  after noon, as they assume that you'll probably be working 'till dawn. Still, you like to show your face early in the day, if for no other reason than to keep up appearances and avoid unwanted interactions with co-workers with more traditional timekeeping habits. You get up and swing your feet from your bed, ready to begin the day. 

Hidden Roll 1 [2+1=3]: Hmm. Something didn't go well for someone or something
Hidden Roll 2 [12-2=10]: Someone or something seems to have succeeded despite the odds. A troubling development

What do you do now? 

Lars Olofsson

You and your Dormobile are parked on the outskirts of a small town close to Lubeck, in northern Germany. With you is an acquaintance from your years on the road, Traugott Geiger. The two of you have just returned from recycling some copper pipes you recovered from an abandoned house at the local scrap merchant [8] and are about to split the profit. Well, the house had certainly been abandoned by the construction workers building it late last night and if melting down waterpipes intended for a German household to fuel China's Industrial Imperialism isn't recycling then you don't know what is. Regardless of these fine distinctions, its time for the cash up. The stacks of pipes you sold came to almost €900, leaving your share at  €445 and change. Traugott tells you that he's got some serious money problems right now and offers you a small bottle with a dropper containing enough LSD for about 200 tabs, or roughly enough to trip the fuck out of a company of marines, in exchange for your share. He'll understand if you want the cash, but would prefer to get rid of the acid. 
 
Hidden Roll 1 [9+2=11] ESP Roll [9+3=12]: You feel that you've worn out your welcome in this town.
Hidden Roll 2 [7+1=8]   ESP Roll [8+3=11]: You have this, like, urge to head south, just hit the open road and put it all behind you.

What do you do now?


((Well, the old "wait and see" was about as effective as a coconut blast furnace, so I decided to go ahead and start things off. Please keep track of your character spoilers (i.e. when you get loot/skills/injuries its up to you to paste them in to your spoiler). Of course, I'll be referring to them a lot, but this should make things easier for me . And please bold your actions. Both of these aren't so important with only two players but will make things a hell of a lot easier when there's more. Anyway, let disturbing adventures in the not so distant future commence!))