TEST DRIVE MEME #1

[space_aces]

WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD

Your journey only happened because of your benefactor, so it begets that it starts at your benefactor as well. SUPERBIA, which is as much of a location as it is an entity, is where everyone's search for Fortuna begins.

There's not much of a welcome party: shortly after their fateful encounter with SUPERBIA, in which they swore to join the quest to find Fortuna, the new Privateers will find themselves afflicted by a sudden change in perspective. See, teleportation is a tricky process, so from SUPERBIA's point of view, why not make the target destination none other than itself? One highly disconcerting moment later, and the Privateers find themselves inside the belly of the beast.

The vast mega-structure is shockingly lonely, void of anyone other than the Privateers. Those who look off the metal satellite and to The Network for intelligence (or take a skim at the Space Wikipedia article) will find out that the surrounding space is clear for lightyears; rumors have it that the place is cursed. It won't take long to understand why.

1

Overclocked

The innards of SUPERBIA are that of an impossibly scaled up computer, and the Privateers start right in the middle of it. You are the spider living in the dusty PS4. Literal rivers of coolant, transistors the size of mountains, landscapes made entirely of circuitry. The sky, bounded by a distant metal ceiling, is constantly alight with coursing electricity that cracks the sky with lightning storms. It can be assumed that the Privateers are the first living things to set foot here, because such a place is not ever meant to be traversed by delicate, organic, mortals that worry about things such as "temperature" or "voltage". SUPERBIA needs not lifeforms to continue its operations; why design for them? Traversal itself is difficult: unscalable walls and perilous drops are common to encounter. The only company the Privateers will find are oddly adorable maintenance robots, which sadly seem too occupied by their directives of maintaining the massive machine to offer any assistance (or even acknowledgement of their new guests).

It is immediately clear that the most urgent priority is to get the hell out of here. Before your adventure ends at the starting line.

2

Skeletons In The Closet

If one stays inside SUPERBIA, either by getting horribly lost or losing all common sense, one will notice a peculiar pattern emerge as one gets deeper into the bowels of the mega-structure. Passages shrink and become more level, and the incredible hostility and danger of the surroundings fade away, until one comes across areas which were definitely intended for humanoid organisms to use at one point.

The construction of these areas is cramped, unfurnished, and dreary; they are reminiscent of artificial environments meant to handle harsh external conditions like a submarine or bunker, but they are entirely livable. One can eventually find distinct rooms, but everything in them has crumbled to dust and their original purpose is nigh impossible to discern. Deeper investigation may reveal the few items that have stood the test of time. While it is more plausible for life to have existed here, that doesn't seem to be the case now. What happened here?

3

The Shipyard

In the opposite direction, when one finally reaches the outer edges of SUPERBIA, they will be rewarded with the place to pick up a spaceship and a stunningly beautiful view of outer space. The outside of SUPERBIA has no atmosphere to get between you and the stars, and they shine brightly, like a beacon calling one out into the first steps of adventure.

The shipyard is already filled with countless space ships of every size, form, and function, all autonomously constructed by SUPERBIA's factories over the countless years. What's the harm in taking one or twenty out for a spin? Even if one has no intentions of permanent ownership of the vehicle, it's not like SUPERBIA will miss it. For a Privateer with a more specific vision, however, there are kiosks around the yard which will allow one to design their very own space ship down to their exact specifications. When the process is done SUPERBIA's matter printers will have it out and space-ready right before your very eyes.

If a Privateer has a ship, vehicle, or large item that they intended to bring with them, they will also find them here, neatly parked in the Shipyard. Why didn't SUPERBIA extend this courtesy to the pilot's themselves? The answer is revealed as soon as the owner makes a closer inspection: the inner contents have been rearranged, like a whirlwind was unleashed inside and assorted loose items thrown around. Now aren't you glad your transportation was given special attention, and the same didn't happen to your innards?

4

Hot Crewmates in Your Area

But how will a single Privateer man an entire space ship? No worries: when one steps into a ship, the strangely endearing maintenance robots will suddenly take acute interest. The robots will follow inside and immediately start assuming the duties of a spacefarer, eliminating the need for extra hands on deck.

Even still, there's just no eliminating the want for a human touch, though. Thankfully even that dilemma has a contingency plotted by SUPERBIA.

Communication devices are easily available on every space ship. They come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from huge stationary consoles to portable smartphone-like screens. But whenever a Privateer attempts to access the Network, a pop-up will appear, obscuring the whole screen.

Tell me a little about yourself. Are you a LEADER or a FOLLOWER? What is your best feature?
The device will be rendered unusable until one relents to the pop-up's demands and provides answers to its questions. What will these be used for? The mystery will be solved when a social media app mysteriously installs itself on the same device, with profiles preemptively made for every Privateer. Each Privateer's profile consists of their given answers, paired with embarrassingly candid photographs. SUPERBIA has eyes in many places it seems.

Comments

[sleepfan]

The mage watches Tok draw, listening to her like this is the most enthralling thing he's ever heard in his life. Because to his brain, it nearly is. All thoughts of the space ships temporarily flee from Linhardt's mind, replaced entirely with Tok's cosmology. Entire planes of magic? That's fascinating.

"In Fodlan, we need to generate the energy ourselves or harness already existing energy on the...Material Plane?" That's the correct term, isn't it? For where they live their lives.

"It sounds as though elementals are similar to ants - they're both individual and part of a whole?" Ha, take that, people who thought Linhardt's observations of insect life were pointless. There is an application!

"Do you want to make a magical engine with me? I should be able to power one, though with much less force than an elemental. Unless we have a way to store magic?" His voice raises hopefully.

[strewth]

Tobacco- [John quickly corrects himself-] Nicotine, at least. Kinda like a Rustler Burger. Y'know something in it, 's doing the job well enough.

[strewth]

[John invariably contains multitudes, and at the moment, most of those multitudes are directed at insulting children.]

What're you, seven? I couldn't pronounce homophobia at seven, which was all well and good, since it wasn't a word, then. Just called it being a cunt.

[He smokes his cigarette, fails to make eye contact with the child, and scans the area. Most of his attention is focused on his own rambling commentary, unheeded by whether or not anyone is listening.] Never saw the point of this ally business, anyroad; all it does is bicker and bicker and get folk into the wrong discos. If you ain't storming parliament, I haven't the time for dialog. Which brings me to use, lad, I'm plenty useful, just not to you.

III | B

[wresting]

In so much as McGillis had admired Sandrock for a moment — several, in fact — someone did find the gundam before Quatre.

...although that had been well over an hour ago. Overseeing the work of several maintenance robots, McGillis is quite busy when Quatre arrives, nigh oblivious until the distinct sound of a cockpit opening registers in his peripherals. McGillis turns, watching from a lift operated cage; the height, relative to Sandrock's and Grimgerde's cockpit. McGillis cross his arms, smiling in a manner between pleased and knowing.

"I've never seen your mobile suit," he calls across the distance. "It's a gundam, isn't it." To his left, Grimgerde stands side by side with Kimaris Vidar. It isn't too surprising a conclusion.

[fourhope]

[That's a cover story he could.... absolutely hate, but learn to live with. Maybe this little miscommunication might work out in his favor in the long run.]

I apologize if I gave you that impression. It'd be foolish to always assume the worst case scenario, just like it would be to think it always worked out in the end. Sometimes people who shouldn't lead are removed from their positions. Sometimes they are not. Would you agree with this assessment of the universe at large?

[This is starting to feel like a comedy of errors. How did it get like this? It's a good thing Duo isn't currently around to read over his shoulder, because the other pilot would be howling with laughter.]

I have made assumptions again. I think I'm beginning to understand. Your title, I am mostly familiar with it in a military sense. Is that not the case on your world?

I'm afraid inter-universe diplomacy is new to me. I will work on adjusting my mindset in the future.

[kid_devil_you_dont_know]

If you do decide to go for a larger ship, I suppose I could modify mine to act more like a shuttlecraft for you. [He smiles,] That is, if your crew roster doesn't fill up with robot pilots.

[astrogator]

[Gaelio is right, she realises. SUPERBIA is offering all of this, and she's in contract now, there's no real reason not to take it. None except her own feelings of unworthiness, which she knows better than to share with another competitor, not even a friendly one. On the Tradelines, people with Ari's level of experience don't get offered their choice of ships. They don't even get offered command of other people's spare ships.

Except that as strange as it might be, Ari is in command now. SUPERBIA wants it that way. So the real question is - what would Captain Kavarai do? Ari thinks fondly of her old captain, and the four years she'd spent on his ship. And he'd have been delighted by this, and taken every opportunity, even if he'd be troubled over going privateer, just as Ari had been before she realised it was better for her career than the alternatives.]

Then I suppose I shouldn't pass up the opportunity. [She grins at Gaelio, much as if he'd just given her permission to do it.] It's true, the engines take up a lot of space. Engineering is always the largest department on our ships. It's possible to build a ship that's compact but heavily armed, though. You have to be careful about balancing the weight, and with your storage capacity - for fuel, and food and supplies for your crew. Although it seems that there's the possibility to have a crew primarily composed of robots. That's efficient, but it might get lonely out in the black that way.

[She's probably rambling, but her enthusiasm can't be faulted. If he wants to see what she actually designs, he might have to be patient.]

[fourhope]

Ah yes, over by the rhino-horn gundam. Duo's told him stories about that one. Though the horn is disappointingly small in comparison to how it had been in Duo's story. Even with adjusting for Duo exaggerating he'd still been quite a bit off course.

The call out has him turning with a small smile, because of course the stranger has never seen anything like his Sandrock. Why would he have? But the use of the word gundam makes Quatre freeze for just a fraction of a second, caught off guard. Sure, operation meteor is over, but... no. Operation Meteor is done.

"In the sense that Sandrock is made from Gundanium Alloy? Yes." He agrees amiably, not stopping in his inspection of Sandrock's cockpit. Manners are one thing, but so efficiency is another. Settling in to tidy and run diagnostics, he raises his voice slightly to be heard over any muffling the cockpit might provide. "I take it that suit is yours?"

[nothing_can_stop_me]

I’d rather have regular faces over robots, honestly. You do NOT want to be marooned and left alone - it is not fun.

[astrogator]

[Gave her that impression? He flat-out stated it. Ari's rolling her eyes at that, but she plays along, and taps out her answer.]

Yes, I'd say that's an uncontroversial assessment. I suppose it makes it a bad idea for any of us to make generalised statements about leadership.

[Those next messages are just plain confusing. She's going to have to pull it back to first principles.]

It's a military rank, yes. The Tradelines defend the freedom of the colonies, protect their people, and facilitate trade up and down the lines. Being military doesn't mean it was just handed to me along with a fancy uniform. I had to work hard for it. It also doesn't mean that anyone using it is putting himself under my command or conceding that I have some authority over him. My authority is limited to a certain sphere and I have no interest in exceeding it. I hold liberty as the highest of values.

[Yes, by joining the military she's giving up a good deal of her own to protect other people's. That's how it goes.]

Now, I mentioned the Ricans to you? They're a society in my sector, and they don't believe in the use of titles of any sort. So you can be a lieutenant, a doctor, a director, a king - and on Rica you're just plain citizen. If that's your philosophy, I respect it, and I'll support your right to it. But if you've just decided that my particular title is meaningless in your eyes, even though you know nothing about me or my people, then yes, I'll be offended. You needn't be a trained diplomat to see why.

[crystalmaster]

"Yeah, exactly," Radley said. That was a vague response and to him it felt like avoiding the question. But if that was how he wanted to play it, Radley wouldn't press it. He was content to focus on the ships too.

"If it's been a long time, it makes me wonder if this Fortuna is really real. It could just be a loco legend. It sounds like the legends about pirate treasures back home. A lot of those didn't seem to be real."

But sometimes they were.

[retributing]

[ Gaelio, having seen that his Gundam is in order, has little else to do while he awaits his ship being built. While it is a rather interesting thing to behold, friendly conversation is preferable to hours alone. (It never hurts to know more about how your competition works, either; what really drives them. If you understand your enemy, you understand their limits. That was a hard-learned lesson that he had taken to heart a few years ago. Granted, while it can't be said that Gaelio isn't in it to win it, the journey itself is most important to him, this time.)

He listens and nods, taking mental note of the choices he had specified. He had chosen a not-quite small ship, fast and well-armored. What it lacks in weapon space, Gaelio can make up for if necessary with Kimaris. Although thinking of that, he might need to see about refitting some of the armaments. The Dáinsleif KEP launchers can puncture a hole in damn near anything, but require a clear and steady shot. ]

Ah, I'm used to being around other personnel on a ship. It will feel a little strange, only robots. [ Says the man that has a personal relationship with a 60-foot robot. ] Are you going to try to recruit a crew?

[thefifthchild]

I'm fourteen. And I happen to have the good fortune that even at seven I wasn't a drooling simpleton. Shame about you, then. Must be all the nicotine. [He does follow the wizard's gaze, much more invested in what Constantine can do than he is in the stupid bickering half baked argument they're having.

He rolls his eyes at the accusation. If you can call it that.]

Good. Neither do I. Dialogue is a waste of time, I've always been more partial to action. Exactly why I'm a vigilante. [He puts a plastic bag of dust in the pouch on his belt.]

...Are you not at all interested in what happened here?

[astrogator]

[Ari nods.] My last ship had a crew of two hundred fifty, all human. That's a little high, but I don't want to rely on robots alone. I'll be doing some recruiting. Resources seem to be unlimited, after all - I'll pay very good wages to attract quality spacers, run my ship like one out in my sector, and it should be fine. I have some experience writing employment contracts.

[She doesn't see this as privileged information, or giving away any particular strategy - it's plain common sense, in her eyes.]

What I'm not so sure about is teaming up with other ships out here. From the look of things, there are some real loose cannons in SUPERBIA's fleet, such as it is. Don't you think so?

[This is the more interesting question to her. She'd thought it a strange suggestion when she heard it, given that they're all in competition, but it had indicated to her that maybe they'd be heading somewhere that safety in numbers mattered.]

c.

[wresting]

In this case, a member of 'no one' is one (1) McGillis Fareed, outfitted like an uncool Evel Kneviel, sitting leg over leg, consulting a kiosk datapad. He knows better than to think Constantine is speaking to him, but he nonetheless responds: "you'll enlighten the crowd, I assume." The man clearly enjoys hearing himself.

[fourhope]

[No, that's just what she inferred from what he said. Nothing he's stated says 'I think I'm better than everyone else because I'm rich'. That's all on her. He's said nothing of the sort and wouldn't say anything of the sort, because that's the most ridiculous concept he's ever heard.]

I will strive to be clearer in my communication in the future.

[Honestly, this entire conversation is frustrating even for someone as usually calm and unflappable as Quatre. One miscommunication after another and he's still not sure how.]

So I wasn't incorrect. I'm afraid I'll have to ask for your forgiveness again. You see, my father was a very devoted Pacifist - as is my entire family, and I've a complicated history with military organizations. It's nothing personal against you, yours, or your people.

[retributing]

[ Sounds to Gaelio like Arilanna has her head on straight, and will do well in that. He nods.

Other ships, however. He glances thoughtfully skyward, before returning his attention to her. ] Alliances that benefit all parties in the short-term are fine, I imagine. Who knows what we'll encounter out there? [ A knowing little smile, something almost nostalgic behind it. ] The difficulty lies in making sure you know all you need to know going into it. Honesty is not everyone's policy, even in the best of times.

[ Something almost morose shadows his expression and tone. ] What isn't said can be more dangerous than what is. [ A smile returns as though to lighten the warning, though a little more grim for whatever is clouding his thoughts at the moment. ]

[strewth]

Crete. Weren't you listenin'? [To the torrent of bullshit that John has been spouting.] You remember what happened there, with your public school education?

[The lad doesn't have the accent, no, but he has the posh attitude.]

[funnylittleclown]

One of the annoying things about the Doctor was that he often ducked questions whose answers were too complicated or too difficult to manage. The ships however, there was some thing he saw no reason not to explore further.

"It might be real but amazingly difficult to find... Or a story like you've said. I suppose we won't know that until we start looking for it.

There. That looks like an old Mars lander. I haven't seen one of those since, well, it has been a while."

[funnylittleclown]

I do! I actually have quite a collection of hats.

[ He glanced around but being currently TARDIS-less he couldn't actually show any of them off. ]

I've been wearing one recently that's black and actually quite tall.

[ Think stovepipe hat. ]

[funnylittleclown]

"And yet you did agree to come so whether you trust SUPERBIA or not there was something in the offer that interested you."

He stepped over to a panel, looking over its flashing lights and dials as he continued.

"May I ask what it was?"

[funnylittleclown]

Give him a month cooped up in the same place and he would play whatever video game he could find!

"You plan to run wildly all across this expansive hanger bay?"

This was dedication.

"Might I suggest you run up to the top of that cockpit first?"

A gesture towards the huge cruiser that they were still standing very close to.

"It seems to be the tallest thing in the area and might save you some running if you could spot your ship from up there."

[kid_devil_you_dont_know]

[Eddie nods thoughtfully.]

So... you volunteered to search for Fortuna, too, right? Mind if I ask why?

[It might seem like a subject change, but Eddie's actually trying to see if their goals align enough that he'd genuinely team up with Della for the quest.]

[astrogator]

[ooc: just a little note - she never mentioned her guess/misconception about him being rich or thinking he's better than others, she just thought about it - so she'd have no reason to think he was writing to her about that. She thought 'I apologize if I gave you that impression' was about the universality of the history/bad leaders being difficult to oust issue. I'm enjoying their little culture clash, just don't want it to get frustrating ooc for anyone, so thought I'd clarify :) ]

Look, communication over datanet with strangers is tricky, and that's before we factor in coming from very different sectors with different customs. Don't worry.

[Ari has no problem with pacifists, either. She doesn't rightly understand why being a pacifist would make someone react quite the way he has to her, but it would seem unkind at this point to press him on the matter. He's not a diplomat, and he hasn't had the sort of training she has.]

Everyone has the right to their own values. I respect your family's pacifism, even if I don't share it. I don't mean you or your people any harm.

[braidedwonder]

"Your guess is as good as mine about how long they've been around." Duo's shoulders shrug. Could he give an approximate? Sure. But at the moment it hardly seems important to let him know that their Gundams are relatively new. He's happy enough that they don't register on whatever system he has, and all of Deathscythe's data is safe for another day.

Besides, he has no idea how long the idea of them, or even the construction of the five Gundams, had been in development or direct process.

"I was just a stowaway who got picked up to pilot."