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[NJW2000]

SOLAR GRAVEYARD

You don't really know how you're going to do this.

You look down at the deck of the voidship, at the stars, or across at the friends you'll be leaving behind. Mags, the oldest and wisest inhabitant of the Needle, tells a tale you already know by heart.



Once, there were many worlds. Entire universes, enclosed since the start of time, each with its own planets, its own laws, its own peoples, places and magics. Impregnable walls of prima materia surrounded the worlds, separating them and keeping them from the dark waters of the primordial Chasm.

Then the Reivers came. Collossal beings of unknown intent and indescribable might, they tore down the barriers between the worlds, ripping universes open to plunder the contents. They ransacked the multiverse, leaving the punctured realities spilling out into the Chasm and one another. From one they might steal entire planets, stars, great swathes of space, taking from the next only a single flower, a spider's web, a blade of grass. For years, they stood in the swirling mass of their plunder, assembling the great incomprehensible artifact from fragments of countless worlds. Whatever they created, they took it with them when they left.

In the wake of the Reivers, the inhabitants of countless universes were thrust together without warning. Wars erupted. Crusades were undertaken. Fanatical cults swept the tangled stars, and great beasts from the wilds of space ran amok through the remains of galaxies. Worlds clashed, empires crumbled, entire civilisations collapsed. The sun-eater forges of the Tungsten Heresiarch, the endless hives of the Iserop Collective, even the living planets of the Lifeshapers, all lost in the chaos. And finally, the strange and terrible creatures of the Chasm emerged, to hunt the beings of light and matter and flesh.


A dwindling number of survivors inhabit the wreckage of space, eking out a precarious existence in the ruins of the worlds. This is where you come in.

Spoiler: Character Sheet (click to show/hide)

Name: Your name

Nature: what manner of being are you? Standard human? Human with the face of a jackal? Ant colony inhabiting a suit of armour? Anything else about you we should know - hobbies, appearance, sartorial style?

World of origin: where did you come from - what kind of world? Or were you born or made after the barriers between worlds were broken?

Specialties: you must have been selected for this mission for some reason. You can be good at three things, excellent at two, or really astonishingly good at just one.

Contribution to ship: a rare or precious artifact that you contributed to the voidship as it was being built. The ceaselessly beating heart of a demon, usable as a power source, say. A huge mechanical beetle that functions as landing craft. The hide of a Chasm-beast providing camoflauge and protection. Whatever you like. You don't have to explain how you got hold of it.

(Note that the more powerful the artifact is, the more temperamental, dangerous or just plain broken it will be.)

Spoiler: What is this? (click to show/hide)

 This is a RTD, with slight stone soup elements, chunky salsa style. Don't worry if you don't know what any of that means past the first four words, you don't need to. When (if) this updates will not be predictable, but there'll always be 24 hours to post in absolute minimum. Players will be selected at random a day after posting, to ensure timezone balance. There will be a waitlist.

The basic plot is that you and a couple of people are traversing the ruins of space trying to find a way to build a new universe. Good luck!

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions, I've probably missed something.

A voidship is a vessel built to traverse what remains of space, a gigantic patchwork of oceans, ether, vacuum and murk, slowly sinking into the primordial Chasm, littered with the endless debris of dead worlds. Your ship is new, created by the folk of the Needle, a heavily settled sliver of iron lying in the remains of a destroyed planet. And, until now, your home.

You and four others stand aboard the voidship, the folk of the Needle watching you depart. Your sacred and vital mission is to create a new world.

You don't really know how you're going to do this.

[Knightwing64]

Name: Lucca Abraham, Or in his own tongue, “Quaster”

Nature: Lucca is a large floating squid-like creature with a bulbous body. His species are called Xelqu. His hobbies are practicing psionic power and studying gene modification.

World of origin: Xecol, The Xelqu’s homeworld is a swampy ocean filled with giant egg-like hives. The Xelqu have been around for a very long time and had learned to open a slight crack in the barriers, Allowing them to travel between worlds.

Because of this, They would constantly explore and travel the galaxy in giant epoch-spanning mass-migrations before the Reivers came. As masters of genetic and psionic manipulations, they constantly improved themselves and remade the worlds they visited. They did this so often they began to think of themselves as gods, Despite being no such thing.

Then, One day, The Reivers came and tore open their universal barrier, The Xelqu were enraged when the Reivers came and took all their resources and killed thousands of their people.

Specialties: Lucca is astonishingly good at psionic power and using that to manipulate genes to mutate, Improve or create. As is all of his people.

Contribution to ship: A power source. The heart of a elder Xelqu that is overflowing with psionic power and is slightly sentient, It was given to Lucca as a present for 14278th birthday.

I would appreciate it if you read the world origin, I think I did really good.

[Glass]

Spoiler: Varisdel, the Mechansoul Sorcerer (click to show/hide)

Name: Varisdel Zhannim

Nature: Physically speaking, Varisdel is a Darisen, a mostly-humanoid race with two pairs of arms, pointed ears that sweep back a foot and a half (the extra length makes them better at distinguishing sources and distances of individual sounds), knee-length tails, and pale green skin. However, if one were to look at Varisdel's soul, one would face the exceedingly unusual prospect at finding something that, despite being supposed to be immaterial, metaphorical, and overall not actually having substance, is made of metal. Very complicated metal, in fact, with some twenty or more identifiable alloys and random bands of different metals, constantly shifting as gears turn, pistons chug, and materials expand and contract in response to what appears to be electrical or thermal stimuli, all of which originates within the soul-machine itself.
It should be noted that this is unusual in the extreme, and is otherwise unheard of in Varisdel's home universe.
Regardless of the impossibility of Varisdel's soul (does it even count as one of those?), it clearly grants them an affinity for the very concept of metal as a whole, and technology in particular, in addition to twisting their form to fit their spirit. Specifically, their skin is smooth, rigid, slightly reflective, and cool to the touch, almost as if they were a statue rather than a living person. Further than that, Varisdel's upper-left arm truly is made of an alien metal, fluid in motion yet solid to the touch, which they can shape to their needs.
Beyond their physical appearance, Varisdel typically wears an outfit appearing something like a cross between that of a medieval blacksmith and of a futuristic starship mechanic, with a tunic, pair of pants, and smock made of exotic, highly-durable materials, which are probably metals of some variety but act more like silk, polyester, or latex. The tunic is dark red, the pants are grey, and the smock is a leathery, grease-stained black. He also wears a pair of brass goggles. At least, the metal looks like brass.

World of origin: Varisdel was born at the very moment - the very instant - that the Reivers broke Artylia. What had before been a realm of magic and ancient ruins swiftly became a field of death and far more recent ruins, for the greatest martial champions found their swords and shields useless against the sweeping armies of gun-equipped aliens while the archmages of legend were assassinated before they could react.
They barely even took anything, but what they did take wrought disaster upon the world. They dug to the very core, and dragged out a divine corpse, which had for so long been the very foundation of Artylia. With its removal, magic fractured, and so did the land itself; pockets of unreality abounded, and shards of landscapes cascaded in freefall, at whatever speed and direction the local physics dictated.
Varisdel was lucky enough to have been in a pocket that could sustain life, that could hold an island in place, that wasn't prone to suddenly killing everything in it - but clearly, though it was livable in a physical sense, its effect on the spiritual realm was a much stranger matter.

Specialties: Varisdel is an absolute expert at all things mechanical. Machinery is quite literally in his soul, the very fabric of his being. [Note: 1 skill]

Contribution to ship: Varisdel's contribution is a strange box, about the size of a tool shed, and made of a dull, grey metal. It is remarkably light, and clearly hollow, but when opened, it can reveal nearly anything - always something useful, though it is not always clear how it should be used. It cannot be closed with anything inside.
In the past, Varisdel has mostly used it to acquire food and spare parts, though it has created things up to a small workshop completely filling its space.

[Devastator]

Spoiler: Sheet (click to show/hide)

Name: "Suzy"

Nature: "Suzy" is a colony of intelligent symbiotic microorganisms, currently inhabiting the body of what was a young human female named Suzy.  Said microorganisms engage in symbiotic behavior, infecting a host organism and multiplying until they can properly saturate the entire body.  This allows them to use their abilities in a more organized and comprehensive manner, affecting the world on a macroscopic scale.  In return they supply the host organism with new abilities, repair and improve its body, and aid it in accomplishing its goals.

The colony inhabiting Suzy has been with her for about two years now, and is approaching maturity.  This can be noticed as they have began to shed their adult crysalises, causing her to shed the discarded shells as if they were tiny pieces of sparkling glitter.

Specialties: Two.
Energy Projection.  As a team, the organisms are capable of manipulating and projecting energy.  The easiest is light, which can be formed into minor images, which can be controlled on the fly.  Most commonly this is used to form the image of a tiny feline, with which the symbiotes use to interact with Suzy and the rest of the world directly.  In addition, these energy projection abilities can be used as weapons, as in rays of light, or heat, or lightning.  They can also be used to create sounds, although this ability is only sufficient to communicate.  Over the course of their long relationship, the colony has became used to working with Suzy, and can synchronize their abilities along with her own movements for greater power.

Minor Transmutation.  The organisms are also capable of some level of matter manipulation.  They can change objects into similar objects, not changing the substance of the material, but changing its form.  This can be used to change an iron rod into a spear, or to clean rust off an item, or to change one kind of cloth into a different type of cloth.  It can also be used to heal, albeit only in a limited manner.. things can be healed quickly and crudely, or properly, but only over a period of days or weeks.  It can also be used to refine raw materials into finished material, such as extracting metals from ore.  In addition to being limited by the tiredness of the microorganisms, this is also limited by the ability of the host body to hold something.. it can only work on things that Suzy can touch with, or hold in, her hands, and only to a depth of several inches.

In addition to the above, the host body is slightly superhuman in physical capabilities, from years of slow effort from the colony.  Suzy still largely appears human, albeit just a bit.. more, as if she's a protagonist rather than a bit character.

World of origin: Unknown.  The host body is from an agricultural space colony, but the colony organism has no known homeworld, and is found infecting many creatures from a wide variety of backgrounds.  There aren't many of them overall, but the colonies are widely distributed.

Contribution to ship: Briefcase Tank.  A tank, that can be folded up into an easy-to-carry form.  When folded up, it appears as a briefcase with an icon of a tank on the side.

[Glass]

Dev, did you make a virus-induced magical girl

[Devastator]

That may be the case, yes.

[Fluffe9911]

Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)

Name: Steve Goldwin

Nature: Steve is a standard human with short brown hair and his favorite pair of gold trimmed shades he likes to wears almost 24/7. According to Steve he enjoys passing time by reading and imagining things in his head, he also likes to think things threw before attempting anything preferring to stay on the side of caution when it comes to potentially dangerous activities.

World of origin: Steve comes from Thyone a outer planet where capitalisms and businesses run unchecked, a frontier of corruption and greed where most peoples lives are pretty much determined the moment they were born.

Luckily for Steve he was born as the son of the Assistant Manager of Gliscan the leading company in eyewear manufacturing leading to him having a relatively comfy life growing up.
Yes things sure were going well for Steve even managing to take over as Assistant Manager after his father passed away but then the Reivers came.

Once word got out of the impending catastrophe anyone that could afford to leave did so including Steve although it left him broke in the end for you see only the very lucky or the very wealthy were able to afford the quickly absurd prices to leave and by the time the Reivers hit Thyone billions of people were still left behind doomed to perish for simply not having enough money.

Specialties: Steve is astonishingly charismatic when he wants to be, given enough time he could convince you to buy rocks for gold or sell you a house underwater. its thanks to this charisma he was able to get a slot on this ship in the first place.

Contribution to ship: Steve had to sell most of what he owned to be able to afford a ticket off his planet (not that he owned much anyone since most of it was company property) by the end of it all Steve had left were his shades which he refuses to part with, a cheaply made business suit and a Wacko TM 3.0 Nuclear Laser Pen he bought from a street vendor as a child now 20% less likely to explode on use! Edit: Song for my character https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4qaHpBz5M4

[Egan_BW]

Spoiler: what is a sword without a swordsman? (click to show/hide)

Name: Stride Blade

Nature: A creature of the Chasm, housed and imprisoned within a manufactured, technological housing, that of a dark-bladed sword two meters in length. It is capable of talking but cannot move on its own. It perceives the world and speaks from a round blue "eye" stone where the handle meets the blade. The stride blade is typically polite, if laconic, and seems to enjoy being wielded.

World of origin: The stride blade's soul originates from the Chasm, a stray and ravenous beast. Its housing, and binding, were created long ago by the inhabitants of Loia, a species of flying, feathered cephalopods well-versed in the melding of technology and metaphysics. When the stride blade was first crafted, its behavior was tightly controlled by the binding, but in the eons since these have grown weaker... yet the blade still cooperates with those who choose to wield it.

Specialties: The stride blade is accomplished in the act of puncturing. This is its purpose. This can be used to spear through nearly anything, or to cleave a hole in space itself, creating a navigable tunnel through solid matter or even between worlds.

Contribution to ship: A Titan. This creature is human in genetics and form, but several stories tall, hairless, and skinless. Its mind is only rage, it hungers for flesh, and it is too angry to die.

[Knightwing64]

My character would be extremely interested in the Titan.

[Egan_BW]

Do be careful with that thing.

[NJW2000]

Looks like we have exactly five here, so anyone further sheets are going in the waitlist. We'll start tomorrow.

I would appreciate it if you read the world origin, I think I did really good.

I'll be reading all of the character sheets, don't worry. I enjoyed reading your world origin.

By the by, as things stand, your character will be extremely good at psionic gene-editing, but merely ok at using their abilities for larger tasks like lifting heavy objects. I think, for the purposes of this RTD, moving big things with one's mind and editing genes are two different skills.

 If you'd like to specialise in both of them, we can change it to that, but you'll just be excellent rather than astonishingly good.

[Knightwing64]

Looks like we have exactly five here, so anyone further sheets are going in the waitlist. We'll start tomorrow.

I would appreciate it if you read the world origin, I think I did really good.

I'll be reading all of the character sheets, don't worry. I enjoyed reading your world origin.

By the by, as things stand, your character will be extremely good at psionic gene-editing, but merely ok at using their abilities for larger tasks like lifting heavy objects. I think, for the purposes of this RTD, moving big things with one's mind and editing genes are two different skills.

 If you'd like to specialise in both of them, we can change it to that, but you'll just be excellent rather than astonishingly good.

I’m okay with that.

Also, Is Xecol still around? Or did it get destroyed? Just out of curiosity.

[NJW2000]

SETTING OUT


After one last look at your former home, the doors close, and you're alone on the ship.


Have you ever held a slice of orange, and teased away a single cell? That's what the void ship looks like: a long, almost organic grey metal body, one end tapering to a heavily armoured point, the other abruptly ending in a flat face, as if cut away by a giant knife. The five of you are assembled in the bridge, near the pointed end, gazing out from heavily reinforced windows. A young woman, a suited man wearing shades despite the dim blue on-board lights, a green-skinned metal creature stand beside a floating cephalopod, a blue-black blade the length of a man resting in a mechanical scabbard behind them, ready to be shunted to the very tip of the vessel if chasm traversal becomes necessary. It's a strange group.


Lucca's tentacles drift across the controls, and the ship's engine hums into life, the heart of an ancient Xelqu elder, brimming with psionic energy. Psionic ships are quiet: there's no exhaust, no propellors turning, just smooth movement away from the Needle. The voidship begins to weave between the huge chunks of solid iron that used to make up the core of the planet, frozen midway through some catastrophic planetary explosion. Planets are pretty big, so it'll take a while to get to the exterior.


You have some free time on board the ship.

Spoiler: Ship (click to show/hide)

Status: Fully intact


Fore:
 - Bridge
 - Varisdel's box, currently empty
 - Engine room (Elder Xelqu Heart, Psionic)

Central:
 - Quarters
 - Suit Room (4x standard armoured voidsuits, fitted)
 - Infirmary
 - General Storage
 - Biological regulation garden (waste disposal etc)

Aft:
 - Secondary Storage Chambers: Nutrient Stock, Gene Library, Titan
 - Pods
 - Main Airlock

Movement:
 - Psionic propulsion via Xelqu Heart
 - Chasm Traversal (requires mounted Stride Blade)

Weaponry:
 - Cleavers: huge detachable metal blades, psionically controlled. Also useful for traversing fluids.
 - Secondary: flechette cannons

Spoiler: notes, replies, etc (click to show/hide)

Note to all: please bold actions. Communicating is generally a free action, so that's an exception. You don't have to involve me in your conversations in or out of character.

Also, Is Xecol still around? Or did it get destroyed? Just out of curiosity.

Its ruins might still be around.

[Glass]

Check what's in my box. It's never not a good time for that!

[Egan_BW]

"Well well, it would seem that we're off. How do you feel, leaving your homes?"