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[Gamerlord]

"He's over there."

Point down random corridor and when he leaves skedaddle!

[_DivideByZero_]

((In the future, you can PM me your intent if you wish to keep it secret from other players.))

[Ama]

"He's over there."

Point down random corridor and when he leaves skedaddle!

"Thank you random other employee person, but I was talking to this person controlling the robot."

Slvia glares as much as a robotic sphere can at the person controlling the robot.

"Until I'm done talking to your boss you better not touch that cylinder."

Down the random corridor!

[_DivideByZero_]

((We should all do fluff, it's fun, and if it becomes too much, _DivideByZero_ can just make a dedicated fluff thread.))

I wouldn't mind, but the reading might be a little too much for most people to handle.

Port Anchorage, Northern Ridge, Askarian | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Askarian Shores
Snow (Low visibility. Actions toward distant objects incur a small penalty based on distance)
Freezing Wind (-1 to all actions when exposed)

Be quiet.

Guild Officer: We saw him running to the marketplace, that way. Running like a bullet.
The officer points to a

[3] Your pursuers rush by, not noticing you as you hide. Good, because your hands are getting tired. You drop down, making a loud noise. The noise won't be heard, though, as sound does not travel very well through this atmosphere. Most public speech is done through nearfield communicators running on a universal channel.

The repair crews, having left long ago, don't pay attention to the situation. You do wonder where Orion is, though.

Pilot: I stuffed his body in the cargo section. Wanna take a look if he's still alive?
Just as he says this, you hear a tapping coming from the hull of the plane. Your suit is designed to amplify noises like objects hitting other objects in order to facilitate combat awareness. Actual speech is filtered out, so anyone with a broken voice unit will be nearly impossible to hear.

...

Habitat Ship Gamma, Askarian Orbit | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Urban Station
City Manners (-1 to first impressions)

"He's over there."

Point down random corridor and when he leaves skedaddle!

[4] You cheerily mislead the stranger whilst grabbing a cup of Starboard Mocha. The perfect drink for those long hours spent manning the targeting computer. Despite what occurs in the movies, most space combat is incredibly quiet and boring. You sit for hours waiting for a firing solution, occasionally running some calibrations with the computer when it's clear you won't need to fire offensively. Defensive weapons run on the much more sophisticated Point Defense computer, which runs itself with some kind of AI program to prioritize objects. The PD Comp on one of the ships you used to be on even had a girlfriend.

Now, real, fun space combat happened in orbit. Fleets would still just shoot past each other at hypersonic velocities, but at least the time between encounters was more on the order of minutes rather than hours. Plus, maneuvering around and trying to get behind enemies abusing orbital mechanics is always exciting.


As you space out, you briefly look back at reality, noticing what looks like a tree just through some window blinds. You walk up and undo the blinds, and there indeed appears to be a tree outside the store that wasn't there before. Huh.

"He's over there."

Point down random corridor and when he leaves skedaddle!

"Thank you random other employee person, but I was talking to this person controlling the robot."

Slvia glares as much as a robotic sphere can at the person controlling the robot.

"Until I'm done talking to your boss you better not touch that cylinder."

Down the random corridor!

You rotate a few angles toward the robotic body, glancing disapprovingly. He doesn't seem too miffed.
"Fair enough. I shall go work on a paper. Tell me if you need me."
The robot holds still, and the face disappears from its screen, replaced with text: "Dr. Alan de Château, PhD".


You follow the hallway the woman pointed at, instead, and find an office held by a "Equipment Director," as well as a "Quartermaster General" somewhere further down the hall and a "Executive of Inventory". You bump yourself lightly against the Director's room, and you hear a deep voice from within tell you to enter.

The Director appears to be a Mantid. Holding a large cigar by the pincer, he greets you with as much expression as a faceless insectoid human with compound eyes can muster.

"Welcome Slvia. What is it that you need from here?"

Spoiler: Mantids (click to show/hide)

When the GenTek Conglomerate collapsed, it left behind hundreds if not thousands of unfinished projects either left without funding or continued with private investments from either competitors looking to reseal the gap in the economy, or independent scientists interested in the now-publicly available research.

One of these projects was the Mantids, an attempt to merge the human body with advantageous aspects of arthropods. For example, arthropods respire through their skin, so why should humans have to have a single pair of lungs and a throat? That's a weakness. Mantids have microscopic pores all over their skin, and have five lobed lungs, one in each upper limb. They also have a bright green exoskeleton, reflective to UV wavelengths to avoid skin cancer. Nutrients are deposited into a sea of antimicrobial chemicals and enzymes which further break down food while eradicating traces of disease before the nutrients are absorbed back into the Mantid's bloodstream. Having multiple hearts reduces the chance of a fatal heart attack, allowing Mantids to live for hundreds of years provided they can get medical help.

The downside is that they cannot reproduce, which means that the hundred thousand or so Mantids that were produced when the Genecode got leaked are pretty much all there is. There was a model in the works that could lay eggs, but all research into it had thus far ended in failure and the project disappeared to the stellar winds. The remaining Mantids, not wanting to subject their species to even more abuse of the kind that usually comes with genetic engineering, took every possible measure to wipe out traces of the program.

Mantids have four legs and a pair of arms, both of which host pincers which fold into the forearm as well as hands with five highly flexible fingers.

...

The Jolly Roger, Franz| 238d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Zero Gravity
All items have no weight penalty.

"Damn, the door shut, gonna blow it, stand back."

Wait, isn't water explosions incredibly dangerous?

Blow the door, but take cover behind the air tank, as it can compress.

Your suit absorbs most shockwaves. At least, you hope.

[6/6] Your suit shakes vigorously as the explosion echoes throughout the tank like an... explosion. Charlie screams expletives as it happens, although the heads-up-display shows no signs of physical damage.

Unfortunately, however, the explosives were so powerful that they ruptured the entire tank, causing water to leak out constantly. You rush through this time, finding that the tank you were in was part of a series of tanks connected to a single long branch tube. Said branch tube is now leaking water, and is being sealed off by another bulkhead that's slowly closing!

[3] You rush at it, making your way through, but Charlie arrives too late and decides not to go through it as he doesn't want to get crushed.

Charlie: Flippity flapdash! Steve, blow the vaclock, I'm stuck and Vax has all the explosives.
Steve: Vax is who again? The mutated human with the infra-red hair?
Charlie: Yeah I think so.
Steve: Heading to the pod now...

Well, sucks for him.

You find yourself inside a large spherical hub about ten meters in diameter. Here, small tubes distribute water to all the important ship systems nearby, which mostly comprises of weaponry. There are about eight tube openings of various sizes. In particular, there are four small ones, three medium ones, and one large one.

The small ones appear to have greater current running through them, however. One of the medium ones has some red light coming up through it. You also hear some low-pitched explosions through the water.

[SaberToothTiger]

"Follow me. I heard something."
Check on Orion, with a gun in my hand.

[Happy Demon]

((Well it's in spoilers, and pointless, all they need to know is what you say, so reading the spoilers would be... spoiling.))

Maybe I should've tried bashing it first... ah well.

"Hey, I have a limited amount, so it's either this or hoping you don't f*** up on the next one, 2 in a row so far. I could set up a charge on the door, but you better not f*** up again."
"By the way, there's another tube with red lights in (also some explosions), anything special about it?"

Go through one of the small tubes.
If Charlie wants another try, set up a charge, and move to the small tubes, so I cannot fail to get through.

[Happy Demon]

((Fluff time, now for some simple stuff, rather than personal.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Twintail, Tigerscale, and Claw subtypes

Among the tailed mutants there's the occurrence of Twintails, as the name suggests, they have 2 tails, but these are quite widespread and hereditary, especially among Werecats (twice the fluffy tails).
It's rare to occur to Lizardmen descendants, as their tails are too big for it to be beneficial.
Tigerscale is a subtype occurring to Strong-arms, Goliaths, Lizardmen, Leviathans, Dragons, and Wyrms, it's when their skin/scales get patterns, most often in the form of stripes.
Tigerscale is both a boon and a bane, being attractive, but also making them targets for the Speartails.

The Claw subtype was initially exclusive to Relentless Werecats, but they've been occurring to Speartails and normal Werecats lately.
Claw changes the nails of the hand to make them tougher, sharper, and be more firmly attached to the hand, often when people try to pull their nails out, they end up pulling fingers off instead.
It is a pain to manicure however, as you need either relentless patience or a pair of strong pliers to cut them, and replace them a lot, because the nails are tough as hardened steel.
They do help in climbing though, as some trained individuals can suspend themselves from their pinkie nail lodged in a wall.
The nails grow faster than normal, making constant care needed, and some have their toe nails strengthened, but this is being filtered out, as they're not as attractive.

Edit: ((More fluff.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Skullmire Sludge incident (hehe, SS incident)

About 17 years ago, when Motorlord Zak's troops were patrolling the Skullmire, killing everyone who tried to migrate (everyone knows that the Skullmire is forbidden to be in).
The Sludge had sent an aircraft to transport Sludge to a spaceport, so they could use them in the Sludge Smuggling Program.
On their way, disaster struck, the aircraft had to make an emergency landing... in Skullmire, all the passengers survived, and the aircraft was well on it's way to be repaired.
Then one of the armored squads found them, and shot them all dead. The Sludge Lords later heard about this incident, and they were not happy.
About 300 unarmed Sludge, shot dead for crash landing in the wrong area, when they had no choice.

Motorlord Zak was given a bad reputation among the Sludge because of this, and he was disqualified for assimilation (extension of life by way of assimilation by Bio-Sludge).
All contact with the Sludge was also cut off, even his best diplomats couldn't get to talk with them.
Then Vax joined the family, who did have contact with many Sludge, while being a Xylia member made the Sludge Lords ignore her, she just convinced her Sludge friends to contact them.
Vax also continued her 'anatomy lessons', and it was only a matter of time until they could no longer ignore her, and she then got communication between Motorlord Zak and the Sludge set up.
Had her useful ties with the Sludge been recognized earlier, it would've counted as one of her deeds.

Edit 2: ((Triple fluff.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dental hygiene and kimonos

On Bob, because of the preferences of mates, dental hygiene is of utmost importance, if you have cavities or discolored teeth you need to be really good if you're ever going to get laid.
Regeneration works differently on teeth, a tooth removed takes almost an entire year to regenerate, unless they also lose a chunk of their jaw.
Most prefer to just keep their teeth clean, rather than taking a pair of pliers and cutting off a chunk of their jaw.
Among Houses, dental hygiene is one of the first things children are taught, if you join a Speartail House, you have to have perfect teeth or they'll cut off parts of your jaw with an angle grinder.

Most Houses also give lessons on how to put on kimonos, as Bobites have taken a liking to it's colorful patterns, so it's used a lot at formal occasions.
Dragons and Werecats (and by extension, their descendant types) have some leeway on this, as Werecats can't afford most things, and Dragons are metalworkers, warriors, or have fluffy fur.
Lords are required to use these, even if they're the aforementioned Dragons or Werecats, and it has to be unique, which the Werecat Lord has gotten a lot of hate for not doing.
It's difficult to obtain one unless you're part of a House, as they're in high demand. Which justifies them taking it away from you if you're exiled out of the Charta system or kicked out of the family.

[_DivideByZero_]

"Follow me. I heard something."
Check on Orion, with a gun in my hand.

You open up the door to the cargo hold, which swings down in order to allow goods to be wheeled onboard. As it drops to the ground, a disoriented Orion falls out and rolls a couple of feet.

-1 due to Freezing Wind.

(2-1) vs [3-1]: Orion tries to force you to give him the gun, but you just pass the weapon to your other hand and point it at his visor. He seems to be wearing a replacement suit, one that doesn't have a cracked face. You forcibly turn the switch on his head, which stops his attempts.

Forced to talk, he immediately demands that you return the red bead thing he had in his possession earlier. Which nobody has, although the Engineer claims to have seen it.

Orion: "Fool! You lost an incredibly valuable piece of equipment! Without it my superiors will think I am dead!"
Engineer: I think I saw it fall in the water when the fishers came aboard.
Orion: "This is terrible, I will have to escape somehow..."
Officer: Well no s**t.

[1] Also, your low oxygen alarm starts beeping for some reason. Odd, because you--oh right, you smashed your suit against the wall hours ago. That must have crippled the oxygenator with the impact! If there was any sort of leak, it probably burst a pipe or at least froze it and plugged up the flow.

((Well it's in spoilers, and pointless, all they need to know is what you say, so reading the spoilers would be... spoiling.))

Maybe I should've tried bashing it first... ah well.

"Hey, I have a limited amount, so it's either this or hoping you don't f*** up on the next one, 2 in a row so far. I could set up a charge on the door, but you better not f*** up again."
"By the way, there's another tube with red lights in (also some explosions), anything special about it?"

Go through one of the small tubes.
If Charlie wants another try, set up a charge, and move to the small tubes, so I cannot fail to get through.

The small tubes are very cramped, and would be difficult for a human to enter. Due to your small size, though, you are able to navigate through it and find that each pipe splits off to an independent location. Unable to turn around conveniently, you keep going up until you find a series of tubes made of glass that the piping transitions into. Looking just over the threshold, you find several crewmen manning computer stations and operating large computers built into the floor. One computer has two crewmen hunched over it, missing part of its shell and having several parts floating about. Three other crewmen are located at monitor stations and are looking away from the current pipes. You can see abstract tactical representations of the orbital theater on said screens.

[Happy Demon]

((I'm gonna guess they're outside the pipes, and I'm seeing the from it.))

Hm... cramped, rifle's gonna be a pain to fire.

"I wonder if those computers are waterproof."

Plant a charge inside the pipe and continue, flood the room.

[Happy Demon]

((Fluff.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Horned, Diphallic, and Persistent subtypes

The Horned subtype is seen in non-Demonic mutants having horns, it does provide some more head protection, but most times it's just in the way.
It's cosmetic, no real purpose, it happens frequently to Speartails.
The Diphallic is characterized by mutants having 2 phalli, that's it, it's a complete waste of flesh.
It's a bit of a fetish for some mutants, which is why it still exists... weirdos.

The Persistent is a Speartail and Razorclaw subtype, it's characterized by mutants having boundless energy, this sounds good on paper, but often ends up with Broken Regeneration.
It also boosts adrenalin production, making adrenalin rushes last for days, it also numbs pain, which increases likelihood of overexertion, leading to broken regeneration.

[Gamerlord]

Okay, this is freaking me out. Let's go find a chainsaw or something.

[SaberToothTiger]

"Orion, calm down, and for fuck's sake, that bead thing is lost. I thing we may all agree on that."
Put my gun away and try to find a replacement oxygen tank.

[Happy Demon]

((Hm... more genetically engineered fauna then.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Pest Spiders and Acid Spiders

Some mad scientist decided to try and take over the world with a legion of spiders, the higher oxygen levels supported larger insect life than Earth, so they used this to make the Pest Spiders.
The Pest Spiders are 2 meter tall acid spewing spiders, but unfortunately, the corrosive atmosphere is almost as corrosive as their acid, making it completely useless.
Whenever these pop up, they're easily killed, as acid resistant suits are common.

The Acid Spiders is the result of making the spiders useful, making them produce LSD (also called acid) instead of the OMG-I'M-MELTING kind of acid.
These spiders are also bigger than the Pest Spiders, to make them produce more LSD, they're 6 meters tall.
A direct bite from an Acid Spider will kill you (after the biggest trip of your life).

Edit: ((Fedora. Fluff.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Hat

The Hat is an advanced piece of technology, it looks like a normal fedora, but inside is a supersonic reactionary kinetic field generator (a bulletproof shield, but it can stop lasers and explosions as well).
By following the neural pathways from brain to body, it creates the field around the entire person, it stops supersonic projectiles immediately, smashing them, and suspends them in the air for 0,5 seconds.
It's powered by an array of super capacitors, making it incredibly expensive, it's unknown who makes them, but it's often used by very powerful and influential criminals.
Due to it's existence, people use fedoras a lot more now, as there's always the chance of this one being... The Hat.
It doesn't stop subsonic weaponry though, so you can just shoot them with an arrow or throw knives at them, but they often wear a bulletproof vest or better in addition to The Hat.

Edit 2: ((More fluff.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Lesser Fernswamp earthquakes and reports of Blood Talon activity

17 years ago, a series of earthquakes were felt in the Western Lesser Fernswamp, the earthquakes continued, and people started leaving, saying they heard ghostly whispers.
15 years ago, Space Zombies were spotted at various locations, and eliminated, more earthquakes shook the land.
11 years ago, a great earthquake shook the land, but then all reports stopped, this was also when Blood Talon started his killing spree.
10 years ago, a great ash cloud began obscuring the Western Lesser Fernswamp from space observation.
8 years ago, an expedition was sent to investigate, none returned.

7 years ago, a forest fire started spreading from the Western Lesser Fernswamp to the rest of the Lesser Fernswamp, it was stopped.
6 years ago, life was no longer detected in the Lesser Fernswamp, yet the earthquakes continued.
5 years ago, a last great earthquake was felt, and no more was heard, the earthquakes had stopped.
3 years ago, the Western Lesser Fernswamp is explored, great holes are where the cities used to be, and all the land had been scorched.
2 years ago, the ash cloud clears, revealing the entire Western Fernswamp has been devastated.

4 years ago, reports of Blood Talon starts coming in, but this time, from outside Bob, in a linear pattern across the Charta system.
3 years ago, a plasma trail from the Western Lesser Fernwamp is found, one belonging to Blood Talon, and one belonging to something much, much bigger.
2 years ago, derelicts are found, they've been damaged by Blood Talon, all equipment and components are completely destroyed.
1 year ago, all reports of Blood Talon stopped, and the plasma trail stops, for both Blood Talon, and the very large entity.
5 months ago, research results seem to indicate that a strong energy discharge had been initiated at the plasma trail's end.

Edit 3: ((Ok, time to continue this.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Vax and the hunt for Jack the Ripper

Kaz "Steeljaw" Blackthorn had found the whereabouts of Jack the Ripper, she was allowed to take with her a squad of Steel Dragon soldiers, and her family, to get revenge on Jack.
Kaz and Zazz "Specter" Johnson took Vax with them, so she could act as bait, Vax had volunteered for this.
Zazz Johnson: "You, sure about this? You're not, one, of us."
Vax Murdock: "Oh come on, worst that could happen is if I am the one who kills her. At least it'd be a friend."
Kaz Blackthorn: "I'll make sure we get to kill her, now put on this frilly dress and act creepy, Jack targets them first. Also, here's a rifle." Kaz handed Vax a dress and a sniper rifle.

Vax Murdock: "Eh, how do you know that?"
Kaz Blackthorn: "Tak Jenna, Speartail, first to be killed. She was a good sniper. She tried socializing by talking about her rifle, creepy as hell, but nothing harmful."
Vax Murdock: "Sorry for asking, I'll get right to it." Vax stripped in front of them, and put on the frilly dress, it was hand crafted, made with care, though a bit dusty.
Vax walked into the streets, this was part of the Ghost Sector, but very populated now, though the chalk outline on the ground from years back was a bit creepy.
There were some kids here, 5-7 years old, Speartails, acting tough, they were playing with their knives, probably boys, 9-11 of them.

Vax Murdock: "Hey boys, want to see my rifle?" Vax made the creepiest grin she could.
Speartails: "Uhm... sure." Vax showed them the rifle, making sure to point out every feature, giggling constantly.
Stranger: "Oh, hi there Tak, been a while." Vax turned around, still keeping her creepy act going, the Speartail boys started inching away. "Reincarnation's a bitch aint it."
Vax Murdock: "Uh... Jack? Are you... Jack?" Standing up to a slightly hunched standing pose. The one in front of her didn't have any mutant features, looking like a Human.
Jack?: "Another reincarnate eh, kindred spirits we are, sorry about the knife in your gut, it's my way of saying hi." She stretched out her hand, for a hand greeting.

Vax shook hands with Jack, once, before she was pulled towards Jack, then felt herself stabbed in the gut, and then the knife was twisted.
Vax Murdock: "Jack!" Vax wrapped her Combat Fluff hair around Jack's head and tightened, to crush her head, but then a shot was heard.
A sniper shot hit Vax's fluff hair, but shattered and cut off part of her hair, rather than kill Jack.
Jack: "Oh my, learned a new trick eh, Tak?" Jack withdrew her knife and started shanking Vax repeatedly. "Time to kill ya again, you creepy bi-" A shotgun muzzle filled Jack's mouth.
Jack looked, and saw Zazz Johnson, having shoved his shotgun into her mouth, and stayed there for a while, while Jack saw all the other troops there.

Vax Murdock: "You have... no... idea how many d*** jokes I'm thinking of... right no-" *BLAM* Jack's head was blown off. "...w."
Vax, no longer held by Jack, fell, but Zazz caught her, and carried her to a medic. They had anticipated her getting wounded. Kaz was there with them.
Kaz Blackthorn: "Well she's dead now, I'd expected some send off one liner, but she's dead. Actually, excuse me, I gotta go piss on her corpse."
Kaz left, Zazz followed, then they returned, bladders empty.
Vax Murdock: "So, while we're here, mind telling me about your lost brother and sisters?" Kaz nad Zazz accepted, and they spent the rest of the time telling Vax about their old adventures.

[Ama]

"I need to ask you a some questions, please. First question why there is a some alien that looks like a tree standing outside this establishment saying that you have stolen a cylinder containing its head and second question, why one of your employees named Dr. Alan de Château messing around with the cylinder right now?"

[_DivideByZero_]

Port Anchorage, Northern Ridge, Askarian | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Askarian Shores
Snow (Low visibility. Actions toward distant objects incur a small penalty based on distance)
Freezing Wind (-1 to all actions when exposed)

"Orion, calm down, and for fuck's sake, that bead thing is lost. I thing we may all agree on that."

"No but you don't get it. The company... it will think I'm dead. It's lost contact. That means when they do find me... I am a living security breach."

Put my gun away and try to find a replacement oxygen tank.

You head inside the nice, warm airlock of the spaceplane and get to work on your backpack. They are a fine piece of machinery, but expensive, and so each backpack comes integrated with its suit. They cannot be replaced because they typically last longer than the suit. Its components, however, can be removed. You lock the doors to make sure nobody depressurizes you, then you slip out of the suit and take the covering off of the backpack. You find a LOT of ice clustered around the air intake, but no ruptured pipes anywhere. That means there is probably a leak somewhere that you'll have to find, but otherwise you don't need to replace much.

Inside the airlock, you have various supplies at your disposal. The emergency repair kit features a sticky glue, rolls of electrical insulation, a pneumatic hammer and nails powered by a mini air tank, and a can of nondescript fine white powder.

...

Habitat Ship Gamma, Askarian Orbit | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Urban Station
City Manners (-1 to first impressions)

Okay, this is freaking me out. Let's go find a chainsaw or something.

[3] Lawn equipment is scarce in this section of the city, but you do locate a recoprocating saw and a buzzsaw in the workshop. Both are battery-powered.

"I need to ask you a some questions, please. First question why there is a some alien that looks like a tree standing outside this establishment saying that you have stolen a cylinder containing its head and second question, why one of your employees named Dr. Alan de Château messing around with the cylinder right now?"

"Hm, I am not too sure about this tree alien you speak of. The cylinder, however, was brought in by Nidoma. Our chief computer scientist was tasked with analyzing the device's locking mechanism and encryption. We do not want it to explode in the faces of our squishier operatives up here.

Do you happen to know what this cylinder is? We could use any help we can."


...

The Jolly Roger, Franz| 238d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Zero Gravity
All items have no weight penalty.

Zero-G Flood
Laser weapons suffer a -2 penalty
All weapons have -1 accuracy

((I'm gonna guess they're outside the pipes, and I'm seeing the from it.))

Hm... cramped, rifle's gonna be a pain to fire.

"I wonder if those computers are waterproof."

Plant a charge inside the pipe and continue, flood the room.

You set the charge and--

[1] You see red lights everywhere! Someone must have seen you and pulled the alarm! One computer crewman remains at his computer post, while the other two abandon their posts and rush out the door.

[6/5] You rush back down the pipe so you can safely detonate the charge, and blow it up, causing water to start pouring from the pipe. You swim back up with the flow, and find that the water is scattering across the cabin in the form of both small and large droplets bouncing off walls and clustering near the ventilation. The crewman who stayed at the computer is now floating around the room, not moving.