Player 005

The story begins

Your entire body is in pain. You open your eyes slowly and realize through your
disorientation that you are naked lying on the grassy moss covered floor of a
jungle. You can't remember how you got there or even where there is. It is night
and the sky is lit with an aurora. You find a sliver of solace in gazing upon
the familiar constellations. A column or beam of light is pointed vertically
into the zenith originating about 100 yards away from you. It's colored white
and it does not seem to diffuse in the atmosphere. There are no other remarkable
sights to draw your attention away from this light and what might be originating
it.

(Aside: choices will become more apparently numerous as the game goes on.)

I check carefully that my body is in walking condition before I begin to pick
myself up. I stumble slightly and begin to gain some balance as my vision
becomes clearer. For a moment, I take in the strange yet accepting silence that
encompasses me. While glancing at my surroundings, I notice again that I am not
clothed; I remedy this by ripping a few leaves from a tree, trying my best to
tie them around my waist for some cover. I feel a sudden sense of tranquility
and excitement as I turn to watch this shimmering gleam coming from this peak
that is so close yet so far. Regardless of my feelings I stop gazing and quickly
search for something with which I can defend myself. I find a sturdy stick about
my height, and using it for some leverage, begin walking towards the shining
light.

The column of light is coming from a structure, now in front of you. It is
particularly inviting despite being made of all metal and in the shape of a
pyramid. The forest grew around the building making it seem nestled and
comfortable. A recessed door was left open yet all you can see through it is
blinding light. The warmth of its glow is alluring and hard to resist as you
stand in the wet, cold night of the forest.

My sense of comfort has lessened dramatically as I look around for any signs of
life near this "perfect" structure. I do not see nor hear anything as I hold
firmly to my walking stick and think for a moment. I begin to ask myself, "Why
am I here? What is this place? Where is everyone? Who...Who am I?" As these
questions raise my anxiety, I begin to feel the coldness around me. I feel no
choice but to walk towards this warm light, enter through the door, and hope for
the best.

Your bare feet touch the cold metal as you step within. As your eyes begin to
adjust, your entire body briefly tingles as if it fell asleep. You find yourself
walking down a narrow and short hallway. All the surfaces inside are white. At
the end is a door; it slides open upon your arrival.
"ah, you've arrived"
A man turns to you. Dressed in a white lab coat and surrounded by technology, he
grabs a handheld device and walks your way. It is obvious that he is benevolent
and expecting you.
"like a wild beast, tracking dirt into my lab" he shakes his head as he types
away on his device.
"alright, you pass biometrics. Debrief is right through that door... As well as
your armor..."
He motions to a door.

I stare at the man in disbelief and shake my head as I try to understand,
"Wha...wait wait wait, hold on just one second Bill Nye...first of all: Where am
I?...Who are you? And what are you talking about...armor?"
I pause a moment; despite the enticing thought of acquiring some real clothing,
I had to get answers. I held my tongue before I could ask my next question that
kept running through my mind "Who am I?" I did not want to come off so
oblivious, as I am sure he probably already thinks I'm insane. I stare at the
man waiting for an answer as he continues tinkering nonchalantly.

"Don't worry too much, this is natural. You may not remember anything now but
eventually your memories will come back to you." he says with a bored tone.
Perhaps he has said this very thing many times before.
"I'm the physician, and beyond that I'm not much good to you. Where you are and
why you are here is explained in the next room so I'm not going to bother." he
now seems very eager to push you along.

You walk through the door. It's automatic and slides apart. You walk into a
circular room with a domed ceiling. In the center is a place clearly meant for
you to stand on.

As soon as you do, the room lights up with a bright luminescent blue. You
realize you cannot move; something is holding you in place. Panels in the floor
next to your feet lift open and mechanical appendages begin to dress you with an
inner suit (garments made to be worn under armor). Without noise, a door appears
on the wall in front of you. A woman walks into the room from that door. She is
a gorgeous tall blonde-haired woman. She walks to you.
"there you are..."
She walks up to you and summons a holographic terminal.
"your operator left already, he's an impatient metal head."
She types away on her terminal.
"... Subject 005. Inducted into the service of the insurrection. It says here
that you've never been on Halcyon before and know little about the political
affairs surrounding this war..."
She glances up with a smirk and continues.
"you seem to have committed to the aid of the revolution or sided with us
openly. You might not remember it but you are here out of your own volition."
She seems to get frustrated as she shuffles through holographic documents.
"Ugh, these forms are incomplete. They don't even have your name!"
She continues scanning through the documents for several more seconds now
looking concerned.
"Or your preferred armor, or your skill sets, or your physical attributes, or
your upbringing, or even your age..."
She looks up from the terminal and stares at you blankly. Breaking her look she
plasters on a smile and says
"Let's start from the beginning..."

(Aside: Remember, this is a roleplaying game. The only rules which apply are
physics and telling a good story. There are no limitations to the possibilities
you can choose here or anywhere else. Thinking about what you want out of your
skills or armor will help you with this next part. This is meant to be general,
hence why I've not given you a better understanding of the universe yet. Ex: I
prefer light, agile armor optimized for melee combat. I'm good at piloting and
I'm excellent at stealth. Just because you did not mention something does not
mean you are not good at it.)

While hearing everything the woman says my head begins to pound and the room
feels as if it closes in around me. I think to myself, "Too many
questions...I...I don't know!..." After a moment of absorbing all she says my
head suddenly stops spinning, the room stops moving and expands back to normal,
and I begin to remember...yes!...I remember everything. My anxiety is gone, and
I slowly yet excitedly begin filling in all the blanks as I tell her,

"My name...my name is...Tuvia, and your forms are not entirely correct. I am
here not only by my choosing, but I was called here...by a higher power. I am
here for God...our Creator...my all powerful Father. You are correct though, I
am here to help. I was told that I will help bring change to this place, and
that He will use me to...to..."rescue"."

I remember so much, but as I try to explain further I realize that I, myself, do
not even completely understand.

"...This is all I know...I do not know how nor where to even begin, but I know
that I am not alone......This is who I am...through Him, I am me."

My excitement subsides, for I try to remember more from long ago...from my
childhood, but my memory is empty beyond what seems to be a recent time.

I continue, "My past beyond this, I do not remember. I do not know my age."

After what seems to have been a while of staring at me in disbelief, she looks
at the terminal and slowly begins typing.

I finish answering, "You speak of armor and skills...please understand this...I
do not need physical armor for I do not welcome fighting or confrontation... you
talk of my skills...I assume you would refer to combat skills...as I have said,
I do not fight as a conventional "soldier"; I have never killed another, and I
have not come to do so. All I know is that I am here to "help" your
"revolution," I cannot explain further...so for now I will continue filling out
your forms."

I smile as a strong feeling of comfort and peace falls over me, but she looks at
me as if I am completely insane.

"Um...my skills...yes...I have been gifted with substantial piloting skills as
well as extensive medical training."

I pause for a moment and smile again as she glances at me. I realize that
perhaps I should not have been so straightforward with her. But I know why I am
here, so I am confident and not afraid. I continue smiling.

She says "Um...alright...uh...I suppose this will suffice...let us continue on
then."

(aside: you just set the precedence that there is even religion in this
universe. just to warn you, this universe is not our own. not everything jives
so if i step on your toes with this just try to understand that.)

"You get all that ops?"
she says into her com link.

You hear an unnaturally low voice respond to her in a very low volume.
"already transferring 002 to the front door. We'll put him on tank watch for
now. Something must have went wrong in the ensembler."

"My thoughts exactly... So Tuvia, there's only a few more things to cover before
you head out."

A projected image appears all around the two of you. For now it is blank space
and stars.
"I have prepared this holovid to catch inductees up to speed on this short
notice mission." she says to you.

The image now zooms to a binary planet system (aside: both planets are
earth-like, one with much more water.) a low voice begins the speak.
"Long ago, humanity spawned from one of the two bodies known as Gemini. They
quickly dominated their surroundings and turned to the sky. Wars were fought
over the second planet once they got there. That's all speculation now. Over
1000 years ago both planets fell victim to a total technology failure. Caused by
an unknown and catastrophic cosmic event, both planets were left to rebuild from
nothing. No infrastructure, no communications, no tools and no history. They
rebuilt idealistically, knowing already what to plan for in the future. All
nations of both worlds came together to build a monument to their united
success, Halcyon."
The focus of the projection now zooms in on a large space station between the
planets.
"The most massive structure ever build. The space station Halcyon is positioned
at the barycenter of the two planets and acts as the bridge between the two
worlds. It was constructed after the outlawing of artificial intelligence but
still is self governed by the single most advanced and A.I. like system; capable
of constructing itself, producing robotic troops and even taking sides in a
conflict. The conflict at hand is named the exodus wars."
The projection zooms now to another planet. Slightly smaller and less green.
This planet is the next farthest in this system.
"For the past 200 years the close neighbor planet Pandora was being terraformed
by a joint effort. Nearing the end of the terraforming, some nations jumped the
gun in attempting to populate the planet. Mind you, overpopulation is at this
point uncontrollable and the pushing factor in politics today. The war started
when the colony ships (or displacement ships) were shot down while entering
Pandoras atmosphere. Dozens of vessels now lay strewn upon the surface with no
survivors. No nation is claiming responsibility."
The Gemini planets are brought back into focus.
"Still, war broke out between 2 of the nations and all others filed suit shortly
after. Today, almost all nations of Gemini participate in an all out skirmish on
the now ironically named Halcyon. It's the only space port capable of
accommodating a population displacement therefore whoever controls the station
controls Pandora. This war would have been long over had Halcyon chose a side.
By not doing so Halcyon has prolonged the war by not letting anyone win. Also,
it's creators never gave it the option to not choose a side. Much talk is about
Halcyon becoming sentient and the implications of that."

The girl chimes in.
"we are the group Solaris. We are a defecting group who's intentions are to take
Pandora away from the nations of Gemini. To do that we need Halcyon on our side.
That's where you come in. You are an agent of Solaris. As an agent your orders
are to go to the Main Docks and investigate and if possible intercept a shipment
we expect to arrive. We are far too small to ever conceive winning this war
without the aid of Halcyon... Listen, we've spent a large deal of money
conditioning you for war. Since this isnt the case anymore we still need you to
directly aid our other agents doing the main objective. we have good reason to
believe that one of the warring nations has sent a gargantuan walking tank to
board Halcyon and eliminate the productions layers in order to cripple Halcyons
defenses. The specs we heard of the tank make it illegal by the conventions of
war set long ago. it most likely wont be branded with the nation who created it.
it is unfortunate that we have no other leads besides that it should be arriving
on a cargo ship at the main docks in only a short while."

the holovid disappears and the room lights up again to normal. after this is
done, the walls of the circular room lift open to reveal a weapon rack
completely surrounding you. mechanical arms come from the ceiling and begin to
apply a type of suit to you.
"Since you refuse armor," the girl says "you will be suited with an
environmental suit. it has basic weapon fire deflection built in but only as a
last resort. if you will not take a lethal weapon i suggest taking any one of
the various riot suppressors or a weapon designed to be used against synthetics.
it is your choice however, you will be doing investigation work. Actually, once
you're all done here you may exit through the door behind me to start your
mission right away."

She walks up to you and presses a few buttons on your new suit.
"Alright ops, you can take him from here."

An unnaturally low voice speaks to you from your com device.
"Alright agent 005, I have quite the mission for you. You can call me Operator
or Ops for short. Pick up any equipment you might need and head through the
door."

After you are satisfied with your equipment you walk through the forward door.
It slides open revealing a colossal metal-scape. You now stand on a catwalk
around 20 meters above the floor. It leads only to a spherical craft.

"The gondola will take you to the main docks, hop in and I'll give you the
rundown on the way."
Not really having a choice, you walk up to the gondola and enter it's open door.
It closes behind you. It is a spherical craft made of mostly a transparent
material like glass. Its around 10 meters in diameter and doesn't look to have
any apparent engine or controls.

"Alright," the gondola begins to move. "there are reports of a nation who has
broke the conventions of war and is sending an illegal tank onto the station to
eliminate Halcyons opposition. This unit is said to be a massive walking tank
capable of crippling Halcyons manufacturing layer. If it succeeds it will mean
the end of our cause. Your mission is to verify this units existence and if
possible prevent it's success. Your secondary mission is to find out what nation
made this unit. This may be an overwhelming task and might need the intervention
of the whole team if the tank gets close to Halcyons manufacturing. However, the
tank is still in transport and has not reached the station yet. You will begin
your mission in the main docks. This is the neutral zone and you'll be free to
walk around naturally. I suggest commandeering the freighter and keeping the
tank from entering the station. Another option is to infiltrate the dock
controls. This mission is why we are putting agents in the field prematurely. We
can't wait for the agents to fully recover from conditioning because this tank
could ruin everything."

The gondola begins to descend.
"Here I am getting ahead of myself. You still need told how the station works."

"Halcyon is made up of cylindrical floors known as levels. These levels have
different names but they all work the same way. They are laid out in layers one
on top of the other. These layers never touch though. In between each layer is a
frictionless gap of space known as the interval chasms." the gondola reaches
the bottom of the level you are in. It then passes through a hole on the floor
and enters the interval chasm. Looking around you can see the curvature of the
layers and then a sliver of open space in other directions. "As you can see,
each level spins opposite of the levels above and below it." the gondola passes
through a hole in the top of the next layer. "centrifugal force from the spin
simulates gravity for each level. This means that 'up' is always in the
direction of the center of the station. We call it the spine. It is a tube
running the entire length of the station. It houses the magnetic drives which
regulate the speed of the levels."
The gondola now descends upon a populated commercial district. Everyone seems to
bustle about in commerce. As you get closer to the ground you see venders lining
the buildings each with their own shop front. A couple of kilometers off you see
the edge of the level which clearly has large ports for ships and cargo to pass
through. The rest off the landscape looks like a see of cargo being organized
and reloaded to different crafts. These shopping districts seem to be nestled
everywhere they can be.
"these are the main docks. It is the outermost level of the station and for the
time being is still a war-free zone. Even Halcyon is aloud to maintain a
security force here for peace keeping. Most people down here are suited up for
combat despite the ceasefire since commerce is heavily under fire everywhere
else."
The gondola touches down in an open area of this shopping district. Buildings
tower all around you and stacks of cargo boxes are seen past the buildings and
stacked equally high. The vendors make the place look like a giant mall.
"alright, this is it." says the operator. "In case you need to buy anything for
your mission I've uploaded some credits to you. You only have a short time
before the cargo ship arrives. I would suggest finding out if it is actually
carrying our target or not before then. Other then that I don't have any more
info for you. I wish I did but my intel doesn't cover everything in the docks.
Though, I will help you out along the way. Any questions before you begin?."

(aside: this is the last entry in the prologue. Your entry isn't meant to be an
action entry. Just your final thoughts is good enough before we start chapter
1.)

______________

Pandora example

Narrator-
The mainframe room lay just beyond your reach; taunting you with it's
transparent door. You don't have the means to get in. Hell, knocking would work
if there was anyone in there but this place is all but vacant. If only the few
roaming guards you passed up had security routines in the mainframe room. You
see your objective through the door; The security core. You need to deactivate
it.
"we are almost out of time" the Operator urges you. "you need to think of
something fast or team alpha is dead. 1 minute and 20 seconds until impact"
You start a mad dash back to the hanger in hopes a walking tank could fit
through the halls.
"Merc! Look out! Guards are about to turn the corner!" the operator urgently
warns for action. The narrow hallway you are in leaves little option, for you
are directly in the center of a lengthy section of it. Already having hacked
into the monitoring system you see that one man is of high rank. A high enough
rank to access the mainframe room with his digi-presence key given he is alive.

Player-
"this isn't going to work" I think aloud to myself as I sprint towards to
hanger. It's too far and I know it.

(rehash:"Merc! Look out!" the operator warns.)

This is perfect! I need only drag this man to the door at the end of the hall
behind me. I wall jump my way to the high ceiling and wait in the trusses. The
heavy contrast of the hanging lights concealing my presence. I loop the end of
my utility cable into a simple slipknot and wait to lower it. The useless lackey
walks in front of my target in the practically one man wide hallway. As they
pass under me I lower my fishing line and adeptly drop it around my targets
head. Immediately I jump down from above leaving the cable around the trusses
like a pulley. The target flys up as I drop down in front of the lackey. The
lackey turns behind him to find no one to his amazement. He turns back to me who
already has a gun to his face.
"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"
he screams.
BOOM I plant a shot into his face.
" ... I'm the juggernaut... Bitch"
I kick both the mens dropped weapons down the hallway and retract my cable which
pulls me quickly to the ceiling. I jump through the trusses to undo my loop and
both the target and myself fall to the ground. I plant one good blow to the side
of his head which knocks him out immediately.
"20 SECONDS!" the operator now screams.
I begin running back to the mainframe room while putting slack in the cable.
It's close but my cable just barely makes it back to the mainframe door. I grab
the handle and hold on with all my strength and then... retract the cable. The
amazing force of the cable pulling the man to my right wrist stretches me but I
hold. The guards unconscious body slams head first into the door with a mind
shattering crunch. I quickly release my cable from his neck as I say "there's
something I didn't mention in acclimation... I can throw like a mother fuckin
riot"
The door slides open. As it does I prime my grenade and whip it through the
mainframe room.

__________


This interaction gives a good example of what a player can do. The only reason
this world is ambiguous is for the player to fill it in. At first the player
starts out a little bit before the point the narrator ended. Gave his thought
process during the previous narration. In each narration after the intro, the
player will be presented a new goal with certain hurdles to get by. This goal
can be something as simple as going through a door (mind you, if you do not know
what's on the other side of that door then it's not a good idea to keep going).
The goal can also be complicated with many prerequisite parts to achieve. This
example is one such goal. As the narrator I give the player a setting and
obstacles to surmount. It is assumed this player has already been in the hanger
and therefore can go to that area and come back all within his turn. If he had
done so, the player could have expanded upon that part by adding more obstacles
of his own to make a better story. In this case the player took the challenge of
telling how he neutralizes both enemies without killing one of them. To do this
he took an ambiguous aspect of his surroundings and described it further in his
favor. This change to the environment is very small and would not affect
anything vital. Things like this are acceptable in the game and encouraged in
order to make a good story (since that's the real goal).

Truthfully this is almost a minimalistic entry in respects to description. The
player tells just enough to make it understandable. What the player does do well
however, is manipulate the enemies. This is allowed to a point. The player
defines how the enemies are walking, how they react and what they say. I don't
have any rules about what you can make an enemy say but good rule of thumb is
keep it short and purposeful and only faceless minions. I will almost always
omit something you make a main character say. This example is one of those
exceptions. try not to step on my toes as the story architect and I won't cut
your feet off.

The last thing the player does is assume an event. He ends his turn with his
grenade in the air. This has little more purpose besides being a good story
element. I as a narrator will not make the grenade miss since his comment right
before makes the success so much sweeter.

There isn't any rules on enemy difficulty but it's a good idea to follow some
guidelines when killing an enemy. Enemies should all fall in a few general
categories. You will find infantry, mechs, tanks, and massive enemies. If a
player decides he's going to one shot a tank with a pistol, I'm probably going
to omit the rest of his message after that action, not kill the tank, and give
him (the player) a 'stumble'. So, enemies do have an effort rating. This is not
to say you can't kill a tank in one shot but you'd better make a good reason.