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

[retributing]

Gaelio looks at Duo, as though not entirely sure he'd heard correctly.

"...Hah? You were trained before though, right?" In mobile suit piloting, at least. Right? Duo can't mean a literal random stowaway.

[braidedwonder]

Duo’s shoulders shrug. Yes, he’s had training, but for the most part he’s something of an idiot savant that managed to teach himself a good deal of things on the fly.

For a kid that barely had a formal elementary school education it’s astounding, but Duo wouldn’t be caught dead talking about that.

“Yeah, a little bit. Guess they figured if I could get past their security I could do somethin’.”

[retributing]

This kid has to be joking. Gaelio isn't entirely sure what to do other than stare incredulously. Mikazuki Augus was a gremlin in the shape of a human, but he was at least a damned good pilot, even Gaelio had to admit that.

Speaking of Mikazuki, though, maybe that explains it: "Ah. You have the Alaya-Vijnana?" Human Debris were forced through surgery even for mobile workers to circumvent giving them a proper education, so if Duo was untrained otherwise, surely that was the reason. (Or he's fucking with him. Right? Surely they didn't give him a Gundam just for getting past security.)

[braidedwonder]

He’s sure that some part of him, in some way, wishes he was joking. In some universe he doesn’t get caught stowing away and absconds to some random colony instead of languishing on L2 until something major happens and he dies.

Instead, here he is. Pilot of Gundam Deathscythe Hell who stumbled upon the opportunity accidentally.

Life is funny, isn’t it?

“Well I’m a guy so.. no.” That’s a crass joke and he knows it, face already cracking in to one of those Cheshire grins and shoulders shaking with laughter before he corrects course.

“No idea what that even is. So I doubt I have one.”

[retributing]

Gaelio gives Duo a slightly puzzled look for just a moment. Far more male than female children were given the surgery so wha- oh. His expression shifts to one that is briefly disapproving, but a tightness in the corners of Gaelio's mouth suggests he finds it at least a little funny.

"It's an implant that allows the pilot to connect directly with a mobile suit - anything from a Gundam to a worker - to allow information upload directly to the brain." Maybe it has a different name for Duo's time?

[braidedwonder]

"Yeah uh.. no implants here." Though that may seem a little disingenuous when Duo's immediate uncomfortable habit is to rub at the base of his head just below the base of his braid. He has no way of knowing that the ports generally go in the back, of course, but the thought of an implant directly to the brain?

Sounds a bit like Zero on steroids and immediately brings about an uncomfortable pit in his stomach. Now that they've established that he hasn't been a sticking pig for implants, though -

"That sounds unnecessary, though, if you tune the mobile suit to match the pilot enough."

[retributing]

No implants, either. Gaelio has met a woman who is vaguely familiar with the concept of mobile suits, but not ones like he is familiar with. That is strange on its own, but to meet someone not only with a mobile suit, but a Gundam, yet the similarities end there... He's not entirely sure how to make heads or tails of it.

Gaelio smiles thinly. "The recent use of Alaya-Vijnana is less illustrious than its origins, admittedly, but it is common beyond the Earth Sphere, as mobile suits and mobile workers are rather ubiquitous." He glances to Deathscythe briefly. "Gundams are much less so, however."

A shrug. "Gundams in particular can be fitted to match the pilot-" his own Kimaris Vidar is proof of that. "-but more often the pilot must adjust to the suit's particulars." Such as Bael, and from what he knows, Barbatos, too, to say nothing of hundreds of generic mobile suit units. "With the Alaya-Vijnana that is more intuitive." Though it can still demand a heavy toll. "Without, it takes a skilled pilot."