( open ) i'll fly you to the moon and back

[initiates]

Date & Time: September 21st - September 30th, 11:59 PM
Location: The Hold, the Moon Base
Characters: Any/all.
Summary: The Transports are evacuating to the Moon Base. Those on the Moon Base try to settle in and figure out their next move. Setting info can be found here.
Warnings: Talk of nuclear warheads and reference to immense loss of life. Please contact the mods should any individual thread get graphically violent or anything else of the sort.
Note: Use date and location tags in your subject headlines! Such as "On the moon, 23rd onward" or "On the spaceship, 25th" or "down at the Hold, 29th."

The Hold is a flurry of activity, grim faced members of the Initiative group directing supplies and people with the subdued air of people facing their own doom, and wondering at how to process the knowledge. None of the Initiative appears unaware of what will happen; their eyes linger on the Transports, expressions pleading, hopeful, doubtful, or immeasurably sad in turn.

Every eight hours, the space ship is sent back up with a load of people and supplies. The pilots are worked until they can't; the AI stolen ages ago by the Initiative greets and corrals people and supplies at both ends, and in the middle step between.

The network continues to broadcast on narrow channels between the Moon Base and Exsilium, up until the time that all connections are lost, with the carrier located en route to Exsilium. The first airship will pass by without dropping anything, but it's too early to celebrate. At a six hour delay from behind, the second airship arrives, and with it, the dark promise of the Black Code's nuclear weaponry.

The six hour window allows for time for those left behind, either by choice or circumstance, to be pulled to the Moon Base with the successful activation of the Transport Pad. New characters will ultimately arrive with the remainder of those not yet on the Moon Base, all in time to witness the explosive contact of the nuclear warhead with the ground of Exsilium live on satellite.

But until then, there's only the hurry, the silence, and the potential for full out rioting should the Transports spread word to the Exiles inevitably left behind to face this fate.

Comments

[have_hat_will_travel]

Well.

Yes. Unless you take the right Feats of course.

[trustycrowbar]

[Right, yes. They must have updated the rules since last he played.]

So err, hypothetically... someone like myself COULD do learn a spell of a similar make, maybe a little less elaborate, even though I'm not from anywhere near your world.

[The intonation is that of a hypothesis. Half-question, half-statement. Half-disbelieving, half-hopeful.]

[have_hat_will_travel]

Well, I've only tried with the Bard class, but I taught someone how, yes.

I'm not quite sure what the modes of thought have to be like when you're from a different world than I, but it does work, at least at low levels.

[trustycrowbar]

Hmm... I've long held a hypothesis that all these different varieties of magic you see around here, stem from a single set of laws that have yet to be discovered by science. This may not completely confirm it, but it DOES lend it some validity! Maybe I should look into learning some myself. Could be useful.

[have_hat_will_travel]

It does make sense that there'd ultimately be an underlying logic to it all; there's a fair amount of such consistency in the different methods of magic of my world. Even when you get out to stuff like Incarnum.

[trustycrowbar]

[Whatever the hell Incarnum is, this is very encouraging news.]

How do you learn these spells, exactly?

[have_hat_will_travel]

Well, that varies by class. A lot of people have some naturally - "Spell-Like Abilities." See my teleport, for example.

Others, you pick up by learning a class and gaining levels in it. There's the involved fluff, but the class level's usually the key step.

[trustycrowbar]

[Class level... how does that translate to a guy like him? One can't take a level in Scientist, after all.]

[...Can they?]

I... see. I think. Most worlds would have issues with a class system that stringent, but it takes all types. How does one learn a class?

[have_hat_will_travel]

Well... If you've got something resembling the skill ranks, I think just putting a character sheet together and knowing the rules would be enough.

It never specifies the vocal or somatic components.

[trustycrowbar]

[Character sheet? Holy hell. He didn't think it'd be THAT literal!]

I... can't just write down my entire life in a single sheet! [He sputters, disbelieving.] At least I don't THINK I can.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Well of course not.

Well, I guess it's theoretically possible with fine enough Ink. For a Tiny person.

But no. We're just talking some of the numbers, a few paragraphs of detail that are frankly kinda optional.

It's... I never really thought about how odd it is, since it's the norm where I'm from.

[trustycrowbar]

Do you make these character sheets yourselves, or are they made for you at birth, or what?

[HE'S SO CONFUSED.]

[have_hat_will_travel]

Individuals have a certain inherent knowledge of their own numbers, then as part of their studies in a class they put together the sheet.

Most non-adventurers don't bother, though. The math doesn't matter for most people, just the adventuring populace.

[trustycrowbar]

I... see.

[Okay. Sort of like career day in school, only without the accidental fogging of the classroom with noxious gasses from the scientist's demonstration. Man, that was a great day...]

Maybe there's an off-world analogue to the process that plays upon the same basic principles. Obviously I don't know my own stats.

[have_hat_will_travel]

When I worked with Shirley Fenette, we pretty much put together an informed guess and ran with it. It seemed to work, so...

[trustycrowbar]

It actually WORKED?

[So this is feasable! Normal people CAN indeed cast spells... if they go through the motions.]

[have_hat_will_travel]

Well, yeah.

Putting it all together does take some time, though. Time I don't precisely have a lot of right now.

I mean, I'll have all the time in the world once we're stuck on the moon.

[trustycrowbar]

Technically... and literally, yes. I'll ask you more later; I need to get back to work and I'm sure you do too.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Yeah, thanks.