Month: February 2016

The Insecure One: Chapter 2 – By Air or Earth

(Stillness: 3 days, Travel: 9 days)

Day 1

Loading onto their respective transports, the Riley family and Luelle-Doubter duo set out for the Docking Grounds.

The ‘Kosshor’ Cluster of looming airships and air balloons had already been visible in the distance from the crash site; the sheer size of the crafts as they hummed the odd 18 to 24 stories above the ground made them impossible to miss. Getting to the grounds was only a matter of driving over the ruins and debris of the old world, the occasional piles of the long deceased adding a grim reminder to the otherwise mundane trip.

As the two parties journeyed, albeit at a distance from each other, it soon became apparent that they were not the only ones rallying to Sergo’s call. Multiple other vehicles zipped by and joined in the way, and above, even some of the strictly solitary air vessels were heading in the same direction.

Usually, it was only the crew and passengers who were allowed even near the Docking Grounds, with visits from outsiders being strictly regulated.

As the Riley Caravan and Saboteur Duo drove up into the grounds however, they found it completely packed. Survivors of every walk of life were there, and seeing even their Saboteur group there, Luelle and Doubter could only throw over disgruntled frowns when the group met their eye and shook their heads in warning.

The mayhem would come, but not just yet.

As the minutes went by the Docking Grounds grew increasingly crowded, and those gathered turned restless. Stuck side by side in the crowd, the Riley Family Caravan and Saboteur Duo could only tolerate the buzzing around them and each other’s presence in silence. A while longer passed with the Cluster just hovering above them, the airship Kosshor (the Cluster’s leading vessel) suspended silently in their midst.

Finally a series of horns went off from the ships, and one of the air balloons began to descend. It stopped 8 meters off the ground, and looking over the gathered through the screen of the hanging deck, Sergo spoke into an amplifier.

“I GIVE IT 6 DAYS TOPS; INSE KILLS US ALL.”

The balloon stabilized where it hovered, and he continued.

“WE’RE NOW DOWN FROM OUR 3 DAYS OF STILLNESS. THE TURN HAS ACCELERATED, AND BY DARK TOMORROW WE’LL BE FORCED ON THE MOVE ONCE AGAIN . . . INSE KILLED MY CREW. . . IF WE COULDN’T OUTRUN HIM, YOUR CHANCES WILL GO FROM SLIM TO NOTHING BEFORE THE END OF THE COMING TRAVEL.”

He paused.

“WE ALL KNOW FIGHTING ONLY MAKES IT WORSE, BUT AT THIS POINT WE’RE OUT OF OPTIONS: INSE’S TURN IS GOING TO OUTRUN US WHETHER OR NOT WE FIGHT HIM, AND I HAVE DEVISED A PLAN THAT WILL GRANT US A CHANCE TO END ALL THIS. I CANNOT REVEAL MUCH, BUT IF WE ARE TO SUCCEED, WE WILL NEED AS MANY OF YOU-”

Rumbling, like a collapsing building or thunder grew in the distance before fading off into silence, and looking across the land, it seemed nothing had been disturbed. A murmur slipped through the silence that ensued, and perhaps fueled by paranoia, claimed the distant silhouette of Inse had taken on a glow.

Above however, Sergo hesitated to proceed, then did, his voice now strained, anxious.

“. . . IT HAS TO BEGIN NOW.”

His balloon began to rise again.

“INSE KNOWS WE’RE COMING. ALL OF THE KOSSHOR CLUSTER STANDS BY ME. IF YOU ARE IN, APPROACH ANY ONE OF THEIR CREWS. THEY WILL SORT YOU OUT.”

The balloon rose up into the sky, docking by the Kosshor itself. On the ground, the gathered began to murmur, hesitation and uncertainty brewing. Finally, they began to fracture, and although some trailed off away from the Docking Grounds, the majority began to approach the grounded air vessels.

Among them were several smaller airships, a medium one, two air balloons, and strangely enough, a small group of air-affiliated ground transports typically used in repairs and cargo transfers.

What do you do?

 

[OOC] You two can either stay together or go in opposite directions I don’t mind either.

Lore V: The Insecure One – ( ‘Law’ )

The inconsistent state and location of the survivors of Whatslef make it impossible to officially organize society into a certain state of order. While some groups share a common way of life, the majority came to establish an unsaid and unwritten, but mutually accepted, way of life and mutual coexistence.

Land

General:

Typically, since few survivors-the Saboteurs excluded-would bother or interact with each other unnecessarily, survivors usually follow along the lines of the following practices:

  • Weapons are not carried in hand/leveled/aimed when within proximity of other groups or individuals
  • Camps are not approached without the owner acknowledging the visitor’s presence first
  • Scavenging is done in the proximity of others only when they know you are there, otherwise, the presence, whether welcomed or not, announces itself to avoid unwanted, impulsive conflict
  • Vehicles keep a distance from others if traveling within Whatslef during times of stillness.
  • Vehicles do not bear mounted weapons. By right, there is no reason to need them.

When conflict does arise, either as a result of the above going wrong or not being sufficiently practiced, the following is usually observed when others outside the conflicting parties are around:

  • Conflict that may result in collateral is met with intervention if necessary, but only if the intervention is carried out by more than one onlooking individual/group
  • Violence, when it breaks out, is restricted to the parties involved. All those associated with the collateral immediately takes on the side opposing that which inflicted the damage, and eliminate the mutual threat or threats
  • Following the resolution of a conflict, whether by means of negotiation, coercion, force or a party emerging victorious, the involved parties and those associated to them are watched by other survivors. Word spreads fast despite the relative distancing survivors practice, as a threat to one may suggest a threat to all.

Barriguards and Zealots:

Those who carried out the first attacks against Inse were the first to recognize the consequences of doing so. Rallying together, they created the second and most formidable line of defense in the Fore-lands, the Barriguards, against those out to destroy Inse in the hopes of preventing the attacks from worsening the situation. They are stationed at the base of Inse Itself, where they have set up the infamous barricade.

The Zealots on the other hand worship Inse as a god, and make up the first line of defense in the outer region of the Fore-lands. Armed like any other survivor, they patrol the outer Fore-lands.

The two groups are distinct from each other but share in the same goal of preventing others from bringing harm to Inse. Hence, when within the Fore-grounds, the ‘laws’ of Whatslef are dictated by whichever group is encountered.

In the Zealot lands on the outer region, such is observed:

  • Weapons are sometimes confiscated and kept in scattered locations
  • Visitors are constantly checked on and questioned at odd times.
  • Sometimes, a small company of zealots will escort the visitors regardless of where they go and what they are doing.
  • Vehicles that are unmarked, or not obviously enough marked, by the Zealots upon entry are instantly gunned down
  • Occasionally, shootings occur at random.

The region between the Zealots and Barriguards barricade however is a heavily defended, prohibited zone. Only a few are allowed across, and the conditions of which this occurs is unknown. The Zealots appear to understand the exceptions, but never explain.

 

Air

Cluster:

A Cluster consists of a collection of allied airships and air-balloons that stick together, cooperating and coordinating to keep each other safe and up to speed in times of travel.

Within a Cluster, the following is mutually acknowledged and practiced:

  • Vessels keep at a safe distance/varying altitudes from each other to avoid collisions
  • Weapons are kept disarmed unless the Cluster signals for the take down of a targeted vessel, during which only certain vessels will arm themselves
  • Vessels assume a role that contributes to the Cluster in times of travel (Carriers, Signalers, Rear Fliers, Side Guards and Cycle Patrollers, etc)
  • Vessels who are unable to contribute in times of travel avoid becoming a burden, and serve as runners in times of stillness.
  • Failure to do so leads to the detachment of the vessel from the Cluster, or in the case of hostile/potentially threatening vessels, lead to their elimination.

Cluster-to-Cluster:

There are a few dominant Clusters among Whatslef which coexist at the same time. Typically, these Clusters are ‘led’ by a significant craft which sets the direction and pace of travel, and in times of stillness, determines where the ships will park, aka, the new Docking Grounds.

Between Clusters, the following is mutually acknowledged and practiced:

  • Clusters are to maintain significantly large distances from each other, whether during travel or stillness.
  • Should a vessel from another Cluster need to approach for whatever reason, it would have to do so alone and radio in as it does, or else risk being deemed a threat or compromised.
  • Alternatively, the vessel may near, but stop at a distance where the crew representatives will continue by land.
  • Failure to respect the air space and security of other Clusters would lead to all out battle, but as doing so would serve no one, this has yet to occur

Docking Grounds:

The Docking Grounds present the rest of Whatslef with a tight, interdependent concentration of armed air-faring crew members and their similarly armed families on the ground. With every individual out to defend their cluster-allied crew members, it is rare that trouble occurs if at all.

A sense of order does exist however on the ground, and any threat is either gunned down or detained by whichever crew is responding to it. Ultimately, it is up to the crew and their captain how to deal with the threat, and unless said threat is significant, the other vessels will not get involved.

Air Cities:

Air Cities refer to when the allied air vessels of a Cluster link up their common chambers through ladders and ramps, allowing for movement and trade between them for crew and certain trusted visitors. This is only done over the first few days of stillness to allow recovery time before the next travel to fix any setbacks that may occur during this period of vulnerability. It is a possibly the only occasion where ‘laws’ really do come into place given the sensitive location in the air.

  • Any ‘crime’ from petty theft or cheating in trade to attacks is dealt with by the vessel it occurs in. Usually, this involves the individual(s) in question being stabbed to death or thrown from the air-borne vessel in order to avoid gunfire within the vessel.
  • Should the troublemaker belong to an allied vessel of the same Cluster, the same is either done and followed up by a mention to the associated vessel or left quiet in the hope he will not be missed. Alternatively, the person/people are reported back to their vessel.
  • Should the troublemaker belong to another Cluster, this would usually mean more than one visiting at a time. In this case they are all thrown out, but not literally, and sent back to their Cluster. A second ‘crime’ in the future from any member (whether repeating or new) of the offending Cluster is met with the original consequence.

Air Space:

The airspace of the Fore-grounds expand beyond the grounds themselves, and are heavily guarded by both the Barriguards and Zealots.

Air vessels that get too close are shot down or targeted for sabotage under the presumption it meant harm.

 

Lore IV: The Insecure One ( Architecture )

Before Inse

Overall Nature:

The world was richly and diversely cultured before the days of Inse, and the united lands featured unique architecture representative of their many people, who at this point in time, had long ago achieved mutual tolerance for each other. Peaceful interaction and interrelations thrived, and such influences carved its way into the structures of the time.

Remodeled metal and mineral forms, advanced ferrofluids, supremely refined stone and both modified and natural land forms were complemented by the progressions of alchemy, and sorcery filled all remaining gaps and created new fields upon which to expand the possibilities of their world.

General:

Zealot temples to different worships stood among smaller monuments of dedication, and the residencies of the scientifically and magically inclined were clustered both together and separately; no true thoughts were ever given to the natures of these divisions and unities, as such lacked significance in a world where the residents themselves understood their interdependence, and embraced their coexistence.

Trading stations, commercial transport docks, leisure facilities, etc were all communal and varied in style. While most structures were based on the ground, an intricate network ran beneath it, as well as above it, suspended among the air faring vessels of the time. 

Monuments:

The products of collective, nationwide efforts, monuments were built as both memorial landmarks and icons of milestones, and stories of how new breakthroughs in technology and new contacts and blessings from gods alike were celebrated through their constructions.

These monuments stood at sanity defying heights and scales, and even spanned great lengths over the lands. To enable this in the already occupied dense and clustered land, and even air, spaces, the structures were built within fractures of realities from the world’s true one, allowing monument and city to exist on the same plane without obstructing each other despite being built in the same place. The genius of the magically and/or spiritually inclined, they transformed the world, over years and years of hard work, into its own monument of success, its diverse cities spreading across the lands featuring commemorations upon commemorations. 

Significant and/or Functional Structures:

  • Air Terminals/Maintenance Docks:

Very common across the lands, terminals were often suspended at great heights by jets or magic, but were also built rooted to the ground by traditional, high-rise, metal stands. These allowed for the production and maintenance of air vessels and the ferrying of passengers and cargo alike.

  • “Hope”, The Monument to Greatness:

Not entirely true to the humility of its name, Hope was an 8000 kilometer long, 3000 kilometer wide and gradually sloping 0-1800 kilometer high stone-mix monument that stretched over the lands. Existing between realities in a masterful balance of magical and spiritual prowess, it stretched all laws of the speculated and known, combining the far extremes of every trade into an icon of the conquered impossible. Declared “Hope” by the world for the possibilities within reach it suggested for their future, it stood primary as a testament of power and well-deserved pride.

 

After Inse

Overall Nature:

Unable to come to terms with the massive loss and destruction, survivors of Inse’s arrival ceased to be able to cooperate as before, and while an uncertain mutuality and coexistence remained, attention skewed primarily towards self-preservation.

Scavenging and looting commenced, and any structure or building bearing versatile or valuable materials were stripped down to remodel and construct either transports or temporary shelters for the road.

The diverse and unique cultures of the people’s architecture were hence mostly broken down and blended into the clustered patchwork of their land and air vehicles. The land’s architecture on the other hand, revisited and diminished over the ten years past, came to resemble ruins of basic, almost indistinguishable frameworks of metal and stone.

General:

Zealot temples and places of worship were initially left untouched, with significant relics protected and carried along in times of travel in order to preserve them. Small, simple alters were built as the traveling persisted, and trailed along the paths of travel in clusters to allow worshipers to place their relics in appropriate shelters in times of stillness. After years of unanswered prayers and no spiritual contact however, the majority of these lesser followings ceased to upkeep their altars, leaving the lands specked with dismal little shelters. Taken as temporary homes by travelers, these little altars were soon stripped of any excess materials, and eventually, even the surviving temples met the same fate.

Meanwhile, the communal amenities and facilities of the ground were the first to meet with looting and destruction. While their ruins still resemble some semblance of their former uses, the majority sit in states of varying decay, used as temporary shelters and parking grounds. The underground network, only partially looted towards the surface sectors, remain open even after all the years past, but the state of their lowest levels are unknown. Given Inse’s increasingly unpredictable turns, to venture underground would prove too great a risk.

Monuments:

Having been built within fractures of realities from the world’s true one, the world’s monuments saw what can only be described as existential deletion upon Inse’s arrival. As the world had been ripped from its realities, it left behind these monuments, which consequently, also claimed everything they had been built over, leaving behind patches of bare land. 

Of the few that had not been balanced between realities, these were eventually broken down over the years for the materials they were made of, and in the case of pure stone structures, came to serve as way points for aerial navigators. Their intricate designs and daring formations remained here and there across the lands, but under the accelerated decay experienced when Inse’s gaze was elsewhere, came to loose their color and detail.

Significant and/or Functional Structures:

  • Air Terminals/Maintenance Docks:

The disabling nature of being outside Inse’s gaze ultimately caused every suspended terminal and dock without a physical support to come crashing down, destroying the buildings beneath it. These massive ruins lie where they had crashed, portions of them missing from being looted for the parts. Those with supports on the other hand, had gradually deteriorated over the years, and while most of the stands remain upright, the terminals themselves at their tops are in varying stages of decay. Also completely looted and torn up for resources, they stand as empty, sky-high shells, avoided for fear of their inevitable collapse. 

  • “Hope”, The Monument to Greatness:

Now known only as the desolate and empty Hope Path. Having been balanced between realities, the act of Inse ripping the world from its own reality both combined and cancelled out those the Hope monument overlapped. Instantaneously destroying the cities it spanned over and all within it, Hope was virtually erased from existence in the next instance, taking with it all traces of anyone having ever been there. All that is left behind is hence a 8000 by 3000 space of empty flat land, desolate and unnaturally void of sound. While some do use it to travel when Inse’s turn crosses it, most avoid it for the fear the nothingness would ultimately drive them mad. 

Lore III: The Insecure One ( Authority )

Since the Major is constantly displaced with each turn, establishing a structured social order is virtually impossible. ‘Authority’ in Whatslef, or rather, the degree of influence an individual wields over others, is hence measured by:

  • An individual’s capacity to survive and keep up while traveling/Inse turns
  • An individual’s capacity to survive everyone else when things are stationary.

For the most part, most survivors would not care to bother others (with the exception of Saboteurs), and so the second point is rarely considered.

General Nature of ‘Order’

Since most survivors do not typically bother each other, focusing instead on their own independent survival, few to no social orders or hierarchies exist. Instead, an unsaid and unwritten, but mutually accepted, way of life and co-existence is practiced:

  • Weapons are not carried in hand when within proximity of other groups/individuals
  • Camps are not approached without the owner acknowledging the visitor’s presence first
  • Scavenging may be done in the proximity of others if they know you are there, otherwise, the presence, whether welcomed or not, announces itself to avoid unwanted, impulsive conflict
  • Conflict can be met with intervention, but only if the intervention is carried out by more than one onlooking individual/group
  • Violence, when it breaks out, is restricted to the parties involved. All those associated with the collateral immediately takes on the side opposing those who inflicted the damage, and eliminate the mutual threat or threats

Significant ‘Authorities’/Influences

THE big ONE

The largest, fastest and most able airship, THE big ONE is the last air faring craft that would ever be threatened by Inse or the other survivors.

Given its capacity to outrun the Blindlands and help other ships to do so, the airship is respected and even protected by the allied crafts that travel with it as a part of its cluster.

While the captains of these allied ships do not take orders from the (virtually unknown) captain of THE big ONE, and in fact fly independently, they do follow on THE big ONE’s lead and gauge their altitudes and flight paths based on its flight. This can be seen in how THE big ONE leads the cluster in times of travel; its every turn, change in velocity and change in altitude is mimicked by its cluster, and upon settling into a new period of stillness, the cluster spreads out to allow THE big ONE choice of docking air space before closing in again to dock themselves around it.

Rare instances, assumed to be caused by specific repair needs, have also seen THE big ONE descend onto the ground. In such instances, the allied air vessels distribute themselves around it at varying heights whilst crew members station themselves on the ground to guard its perimeter. While crew members of THE big ONE itself are seen stationed around it, it is the allied crews who form the first ring of defense. Among ground based survivors and other air faring clusters alike, it is known that this was never an official condition upon allied vessels to THE big ONE, but rather, a practice that manifested mutually among them over time.

Captain Sergo

Following the destruction of his craft and the loss of his crew after Inse’s gaze outruns them, Captain Sergo openly gave into his rage and began rallying together everyone and anyone who wished to partake in his plan to take down Inse once and for all.

Formerly established in reputation and significance as one of the rear fliers of his associated cluster, Sergo’s craft was relied upon for saving any ships that fell behind or experienced crew-endangering malfunctions during travel. Unable to keep up after Inse’s turn began to speed up without warning, however, Sergo’s craft fell behind into the trailing East Peripheral, and then into the Blindlands, causing it to crash down into the Major ahead. Only he is recovered barely alive in the East Peripheral. The fate of his crew is unknown, the prospects grim.

Restored in the Major, he reacquires his influence almost immediately and becomes the new voice of victory over Inse. The reasons, presently obscure to most, are expected to reveal themselves as the plan unfolds.