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etrayaooc2026-05-08 10:02 am
etrayamods) wrote in etrayaooc2026-05-08 10:02 am
Entry tags:
Mission 015 Plotting
Mission Summary
Genre: Dystopian / Horror
Premise: Echo can no longer detect what's happening in Pollux, and sends Etrayans to investigate. In Pollux, cut off from contact with Aurora and unable to return until whatever's causing the interference is removed, the Etrayans find things have really gone to hell...
Tone: Intense, heavy, and serious.
Objectives: Determine what's happening in Pollux and install a new A.I. if necessary.
❬ NO ANSWERS, ONLY CHOICES ❭
Most of you will remember Pollux, another bubble city similar to Etraya. A few of you are even from there. Maybe you've been wondering what came of it since some Polluxians were abandoned in Auriel -- it's been easy to think that Castor, the resident A.I. that runs Pollux, simply lost track of them. He's a very busy intelligence focused on his city's maintenance and not so much on his residents. He's lost or miscounted them before.
You might assume that even if you don't know what's going on in Pollux, at least Echo does. You would be wrong.
Pollux is now a blind spot in Echo's sight, and it seems frighteningly plausible that, whatever happened, Castor is no longer capable of managing it. Aurora has tasked everyone with going to Pollux, finding out what's going on, and installing a new A.I. if required. She warns that contact with her will not be possible while there and they will not be able to return to Etraya until the interference is removed.
She has little other information to offer.
Note: due to mod availability, there will be no IC network post from Aurora for this mission -- but please assume there was one.
You might assume that even if you don't know what's going on in Pollux, at least Echo does. You would be wrong.
Pollux is now a blind spot in Echo's sight, and it seems frighteningly plausible that, whatever happened, Castor is no longer capable of managing it. Aurora has tasked everyone with going to Pollux, finding out what's going on, and installing a new A.I. if required. She warns that contact with her will not be possible while there and they will not be able to return to Etraya until the interference is removed.
She has little other information to offer.
Note: due to mod availability, there will be no IC network post from Aurora for this mission -- but please assume there was one.
This is a meta-plot heavy mission with opt-in dark / intense content. It will start May 22nd and last until there is enough IC activity to determine how it ends.
Whatever is causing Echo's blind spot must be removed before a new A.I. can be installed. Characters will need to evaluate what's going on, determine what happened to Castor, remove the interference, access the local server farm, and install the replacement A.I.
They can participate in as many or as few aspects of the mission as you like -- just remember the only way to avoid the mission entirely is to purchase a mission pass through activity rewards.
There are multiple ways to find, confront, and get rid of the culprit. Violence or diplomacy could both work. Let us know how your character intends to address things in the mission queries thread and if you're interested in success, failure, and/or consequences for their efforts. The ultimate solution will be determined based on in-character actions.
Whatever is causing Echo's blind spot must be removed before a new A.I. can be installed. Characters will need to evaluate what's going on, determine what happened to Castor, remove the interference, access the local server farm, and install the replacement A.I.
They can participate in as many or as few aspects of the mission as you like -- just remember the only way to avoid the mission entirely is to purchase a mission pass through activity rewards.
There are multiple ways to find, confront, and get rid of the culprit. Violence or diplomacy could both work. Let us know how your character intends to address things in the mission queries thread and if you're interested in success, failure, and/or consequences for their efforts. The ultimate solution will be determined based on in-character actions.
❬ MISSION NPCS ❭
The city of Pollux is a densely packed urban area of gleaming chrome buildings crammed into a bubble much smaller than Etraya. It's normally well-kept and meticulously maintained, but now it's eerily vacant when they arrive except for a few stragglers -- Polluxians, not bots -- who escaped being rounded up. They don't have much to say about what's going on apart from saying that the bots all stopped one day, and then people started disappearing.
Some of them show up again alive, enforcing the new lawless regime and quelling resistance against those who used to be their teammates; some show up again as corpses; and some aren't seen or heard from again.
Prior to six months ago, Polluxians lived a life not dissimilar to Etrayans, just one monitored by Castor instead of Aurora. Pollux is normally run like a well-oiled machine, Castor being far more preoccupied with his city-building than his residents' welfare. This left him poised to be vulnerable to an outside intrusion by an as-yet unknown entity, and thus, six months ago, life for Polluxians changed completely.
Now they can find themselves in a variety of positions: victims in the infiltrator's games, enforcers keeping the new dystopian order, resistance fighters building up defenses in the eerily empty and unmaintained shell of the city, or survivors just looking to get by and last until Echo remembers they exist. Something, eventually, must change -- but in the meantime, they've all been getting by however they can.
Mission NPCs are encouraged to develop the setting of Pollux, both prior to the current state of affairs and what it is now. You can describe their role here for assumed CR with other NPCs.
Some of them show up again alive, enforcing the new lawless regime and quelling resistance against those who used to be their teammates; some show up again as corpses; and some aren't seen or heard from again.
Mission NPC applications are open for this event as Polluxians to be encountered by Etrayans. We may offer mission NPCs opportunities to hold key pieces of information or otherwise further the plot.
Any remaining player characters originally from Pollux are welcome to have handwaved CR with them if desired.
Any remaining player characters originally from Pollux are welcome to have handwaved CR with them if desired.
Prior to six months ago, Polluxians lived a life not dissimilar to Etrayans, just one monitored by Castor instead of Aurora. Pollux is normally run like a well-oiled machine, Castor being far more preoccupied with his city-building than his residents' welfare. This left him poised to be vulnerable to an outside intrusion by an as-yet unknown entity, and thus, six months ago, life for Polluxians changed completely.
Now they can find themselves in a variety of positions: victims in the infiltrator's games, enforcers keeping the new dystopian order, resistance fighters building up defenses in the eerily empty and unmaintained shell of the city, or survivors just looking to get by and last until Echo remembers they exist. Something, eventually, must change -- but in the meantime, they've all been getting by however they can.
Mission NPCs are encouraged to develop the setting of Pollux, both prior to the current state of affairs and what it is now. You can describe their role here for assumed CR with other NPCs.
❬ SUB-PLOTS & LEADS ❭
Investigation
Player characters can gather information by exploring the city and by asking the remaining Polluxians questions.
Sometimes, corpses appear dumped in the park in the center of the city that serves as the only green space. Characters may recognize some of them; you can sign up to have dead castmates appear. (These will be AU versions that do not prevent anyone from playing them in the future.) These characters are completely dead and cannot be revived, even by Echo. To those who have the right abilities, they can tell that their souls were ripped out and obliterated.
Scouting the area around the park may reveal that there's one enormous skyscraper that is hidden by magic. It can be detected by those with magically sensitive abilities, and those individuals can guide in other characters.
Removing the Interference
Anyone who makes their way into the hidden skyscraper will immediately discover complete power nerfing inside the building, and find a horrific game show being held à la Squid Game, where anyone who loses a round or acts out is killed or otherwise faces severe ramifications. The missing Polluxians are all there as either contestants or enforcers, the permanently-dead corpses outside threat enough to make them fall in line.
Characters who sneak in will find themselves forcibly signed up as a contestant or as an enforcer for the game show, and others can be kidnapped off the streets by a mysterious force, holding no memory of what occurred and simply waking up there.
This part of the mission is going to be extremely violent with elements of psychological horror. Any character who dies here will wake up back in Etraya -- but there will be no way for those left behind to know they aren't permanently dead like the unfortunate Polluxians.
Whatever is causing the interference is housed in this skyscraper on the top level. As characters win rounds, they progress up floors, and the group starts about halfway up. Winning enough rounds, Hunger Games style, might make the orchestrator appear -- or maybe causing a big enough fuss like a mass uprising or breaking the rules of a game would get them to show their face...
One has to wonder, after all, who is executing people if the enforcers refuse to.
Find the Server Farm
Somewhere in the city is the server farm that houses Castor's intelligence. With how congested the city is, it will take some concerted effort to find it. Like in Etraya, it's hidden in a secure location and protected by multiple layers of security, including the actual room with the servers being completely devoid of breathable air.
Characters will need to search for and locate the server farm, which is ultimately located in the special collections section of an art museum, disable security systems, fight off strange, eerie opposition from the reanimated undead and from former Polluxians turned enforcers, and restore life support systems or otherwise come up with a solution to escort someone who has a copy of the new A.I. over to its main access terminal.
Install the A.I.
Multiple copies of the new A.I. will be handed out based on who requests to have a copy in-character; please report at the major events thread if your character has asked for a copy. They will receive a hard-shelled briefcase, and a second character will be tasked with holding onto the data chip that unlocks it.
Once the interference is removed and the server farm is located, those with a copy can access the mainframe and boot it up. Installing the new A.I. is the win condition for the mission, after which the Etrayans can go home, and the remaining Polluxians can pick up the pieces... or migrate to Etraya if any mission NPCs have had enough and choose to leave with them.
Player characters can gather information by exploring the city and by asking the remaining Polluxians questions.
Sometimes, corpses appear dumped in the park in the center of the city that serves as the only green space. Characters may recognize some of them; you can sign up to have dead castmates appear. (These will be AU versions that do not prevent anyone from playing them in the future.) These characters are completely dead and cannot be revived, even by Echo. To those who have the right abilities, they can tell that their souls were ripped out and obliterated.
Scouting the area around the park may reveal that there's one enormous skyscraper that is hidden by magic. It can be detected by those with magically sensitive abilities, and those individuals can guide in other characters.
Removing the Interference
Anyone who makes their way into the hidden skyscraper will immediately discover complete power nerfing inside the building, and find a horrific game show being held à la Squid Game, where anyone who loses a round or acts out is killed or otherwise faces severe ramifications. The missing Polluxians are all there as either contestants or enforcers, the permanently-dead corpses outside threat enough to make them fall in line.
Characters who sneak in will find themselves forcibly signed up as a contestant or as an enforcer for the game show, and others can be kidnapped off the streets by a mysterious force, holding no memory of what occurred and simply waking up there.
This part of the mission is going to be extremely violent with elements of psychological horror. Any character who dies here will wake up back in Etraya -- but there will be no way for those left behind to know they aren't permanently dead like the unfortunate Polluxians.
Whatever is causing the interference is housed in this skyscraper on the top level. As characters win rounds, they progress up floors, and the group starts about halfway up. Winning enough rounds, Hunger Games style, might make the orchestrator appear -- or maybe causing a big enough fuss like a mass uprising or breaking the rules of a game would get them to show their face...
One has to wonder, after all, who is executing people if the enforcers refuse to.
Find the Server Farm
Somewhere in the city is the server farm that houses Castor's intelligence. With how congested the city is, it will take some concerted effort to find it. Like in Etraya, it's hidden in a secure location and protected by multiple layers of security, including the actual room with the servers being completely devoid of breathable air.
Characters will need to search for and locate the server farm, which is ultimately located in the special collections section of an art museum, disable security systems, fight off strange, eerie opposition from the reanimated undead and from former Polluxians turned enforcers, and restore life support systems or otherwise come up with a solution to escort someone who has a copy of the new A.I. over to its main access terminal.
Install the A.I.
Multiple copies of the new A.I. will be handed out based on who requests to have a copy in-character; please report at the major events thread if your character has asked for a copy. They will receive a hard-shelled briefcase, and a second character will be tasked with holding onto the data chip that unlocks it.
Once the interference is removed and the server farm is located, those with a copy can access the mainframe and boot it up. Installing the new A.I. is the win condition for the mission, after which the Etrayans can go home, and the remaining Polluxians can pick up the pieces... or migrate to Etraya if any mission NPCs have had enough and choose to leave with them.
❬ MISSION NOTES ❭
📌 — Please make sure to use the major events comment thread specifically to announce character actions that have a significant impact on the mission outcome or other characters. In this mission, the outcome will be largely determined based on events reported here. Please also report if your character dies while in Pollux.
📌 — This is a meta-plot heavy mission with opt-in heavy / intense content. It will last until there is enough IC activity to determine how it ends. The mission wrap-up post will summarize actions taken by characters and what the ultimate outcome is.
📌 — Contribute suggestions for dark games to play in this thread, and we might include some in the log!
📌 — Please note that due to mod availability, there is no in-character network post from Aurora announcing this mission -- but please assume there was one.
📌 — For all questions relating to this mission, please refer to the mission queries comment on this post. Other questions can be directed to the FAQ.
📌 — This is a meta-plot heavy mission with opt-in heavy / intense content. It will last until there is enough IC activity to determine how it ends. The mission wrap-up post will summarize actions taken by characters and what the ultimate outcome is.
📌 — Contribute suggestions for dark games to play in this thread, and we might include some in the log!
📌 — Please note that due to mod availability, there is no in-character network post from Aurora announcing this mission -- but please assume there was one.
📌 — For all questions relating to this mission, please refer to the mission queries comment on this post. Other questions can be directed to the FAQ.
❬ PLOTTING FORM ❭