Actual Play - 15th Game - 11 Aug 15

Arianwyn/Deep Space/Hallu (0519 -)  Date:  545-021

When last we played (with a minor hand wave to swap crew) Zaccheus, Gildas, D’Arcy, Capt Neo, Tiernan, Gwayne, Vladimir, Dionysius, and the aliens Fil and Ga’a’atak had attempted to return to Alwuud to investigate the mysterious behavior of Dionysius during his amnesiac period.  Instead, the Arianwyn had misjumped 17 parsecs, and was stranded without fuel in deep space, where they’ve been for two weeks.  Capt Neo and Ga’a’atak both went into low berths to conserve resources, and Fil had locked himself in his cabin and hadn’t been seen since the misjump.

At the beginning of their third week, Vladimir asked about the alien Fil, and decided to rouse him from his cabin.  He knocked and was surprised as the door opened immediately!  Fil ran past him, through the forward lounge, where most of the team was, and onto the bridge.  As everyone crowded in, they saw that Fil had apparently lost 20% of his body mass… he was emaciated and looked exhausted.

"My friends," he said to them, "I have to talk to you before it is too late!"

Suddenly, the ship’s radio came to life with a loud crackle, as Fil collapsed to the ground.  A voice from the radio called out, "Hello!  Hello?  This is Shar-Captain Naneb Bata of the Pilgrim’s Journey.  Please identify yourself!”

Struggling to his feet, Fil managed to whisper, “Don’t answer him…” before collapsing again, this time out cold.  As Fil hit the floor the second time, the proximity sensors screamed to life, and the formerly empty star field display showed a ship that dwarfed their 400 ton craft… a ship easily displacing 10,000 tons, approximately 2 kilometers overhead!  A second screen showed the view below the ship, where they saw a flat plane extending in all directions, and blocking out half the sky, with a horizon more than 17,000 km away!  In addition, the ship’s logs suddenly showed they’d been near the “object” the entire two weeks, and had recorded hundreds of proximity warnings.

As they discussed their situation, they again heard Shar-Captain Bata identifying himself and his ship, and asking them to do the same.  Zaccheus used his life detection capability on the ship above them, and learned there were more than 10,000 humans aboard.  Vladimir, admitting he knew nothing of Zaccheus’ psionic powers, suggested that maybe Fil had been battling the Shar-Captain psionically or hiding them from him to protect them ever since they’d arrived, and that might account for his weakened condition.

 A third time the Shar-Captain hailed them, before moving his ship forward 10 kilometers and landing on the surface.  At this point, Gildas and Tiernan decided to check on Fil.  They were able to wake him, and asked what was going on.  In a weak voice, he answered them.

“I had hoped to hide this place from you forever, to protect you.  Its people once knew it as Kazar, and it is known to my people as SanKazar Yanno Kazarisan; in your language, “Kazar, the place of our shame and our failure.”  With that Fil passed out again.

Confused, but concerned about Fil’s health, and hoping to protect him from further psionic attack, they put him into cold sleep in a low berth.  They decided to wake up Capt Neo at the same time, and pulled him from his low berth capsule.

Vladimir, D’Arcy and Gwayne took the ship’s launch, and drifted down toward the surface slowly, so as not to alert the other ship.  They headed in the opposite direction, searching for anything on the surface.  After travelling 10 kilometers, they headed back, having seen no markings or structures anywhere on the seemingly metallic surface.  While they were investigating, Zaccheus again used his life detection ability, but this time focused on the surface below.  He alternately detected no intelligent life at all, and millions of beings, and all numbers in between, in a constantly and randomly changing count.

Three hours after landing, the Pilgrim’s Journey suddenly lifted off the surface, and flew back into position above the Arianwyn.  He hailed them twice more, and receiving no reply, flew directly upward, away from the surface, and then jumped out of system.

Vladimir, D’Arcy and Gwayne took the launch forward to the landing site of the Pilgrim’s Journey, where they found a 30 meter wide depression in the surface.  They landed on the depression as the other ship had done, but nothing happened.  Looking outside, they noticed a second, smaller depression nearby, so they donned their helmets and went out to investigate.  They found themselves under the influence of a standard gravity field, thus making movement simple.

The second depression turned out to be 4 meters across.  D’Arcy walked over to it, and jumped into it… and it irised open, swallowing her!  Gwayne followed immediately.  Vladimir drew his weapons, and jumped in, prepared to fight.

Each fell in darkness, then suddenly flipped over, only to find themselves standing on a circle on the floor of a comfortable looking waiting room containing a long table, chairs, and on one wall, two large black display screens standing side-by-side, each 1.5 meters wide and 2.5 meters tall.

Their suits indicated a breathable atmosphere, so they took off their helmets, and Vladimir decided to investigate the displays.  Neither seemed to have power, but when he put his palm on the middle of the left panel, it lit up, showing a room similar to the one they were in, containing a single man.  Vladimir jumped back, then waved to him, and the man responded, “I can hear you.  Greetings, and welcome, I am Chief Engineer Tamar Horne.   You do not look like pilgrims… so what can I do for you?”

Suddenly, the right panel lit up as well, also showing a similar room, and containing another being… one almost, but not quite human, with much larger eyes, and much smaller ears, but otherwise appearing normal.  “My name is Nahdool Tanquar!  I am The Philosopher.  Welcome.  I see that you are not pilgrims, but invite you none-the-less to join us in Nirvana.  But first, why not bring the rest of your team?”

“We’re the only ones onboard,” said Vladimir, referring to the launch.

The Engineer responded, “I’ve been analyzing your ship for the past two weeks and The Philosopher was NOT referring to your launch!”

Vladimir tried to hail the Arianwyn, but was unsuccessful.  “You can’t reach your companions from this room, I’m sure The Engineer could explain why… but it’s not important.  Go back to your ship, and bring the rest of your team, so I may invite you all to join us in Nirvana!

“Actually, you would be much better off going back to your ship, and leaving here.  His “Nirvana” is not a place for you!”

“All we need,” said Vladimir, “is help refueling, and then we can go.  Can you help?”

“Yes, but bring your companions first,” responded The Philosopher.

With that, Vladimir, D’Arcy and Gwayne put their helmets back on, stepped onto the circles on the floor, and immediately fell downward, flipped and found themselves on the surface next to the launch.

At Vladimir’s call, Zaccheus brought the Arianwyn forward, and landed near the launch.  Zaccheus, Capt Neo, Gildas, and Tiernan joined the other three, and all went inside, leaving Dionysius, Fil and Ga’a’atak in cold sleep aboard the Arianwyn.

Back inside, The Philosopher again asked them to join him in Nirvana, explaining they could have everything they’d ever wanted.  The Engineer tried to dissuade them, saying Nirvana was simply a trap, and no one had ever returned from it.  During several hours of conversation, they learned or figured out the following:

• The surface they’d landed on was the outer shell of a Dyson sphere created by The Philosopher’s people in the distant past

• The Philosopher’s people had called themselves the Kazari, and they were no friends of Fil’s people, the Melashravishim.  The Melashravishim had come to Kazar near the start of the building of the sphere, and promised great things… but soon were working to convince them against building the sphere.  The Melashravishim stayed for centuries, until the sphere was complete, then vanished

• The Philosopher’s job is to welcome pilgrims from other worlds, and invite them to enter into the Nirvana they’d created, much like the pilgrims delivered by Shar-Captain Bata and The Pilgrim’s Journey

• The Engineer was actually a human from the home galaxy, and had been born on Regina

• His “anteroom” was somehow keeping him alive, and had for the centuries since so many people had been ripped across space to this galaxy

• He had been Chief Engineer on a battleship in a fleet attempting to locate Regina when they came upon The Sphere.  All his people had eventually accepted The Philosopher’s offer and entered Nirvana.  He had vowed to stay behind and try to warn people of the danger, because although The Philosopher said they were free to return, none had ever done so

The party finally decided they could not, as a group, accept the Philosopher’s offer, so he asked them to take a gift back to their King as a show of friendship.  They agreed, and he produced an orb 60 cm in diameter, that glinted and sparkled like a fire opal.  Tiernan accepted it, and promised to take it to Oer’King Ossian.  The Philosopher also offered to give them fuel and supplies to make it to the pilgrim’s star system, Sanlo.

The Engineer, on the other hand, offered to trade a 300 ton gazelle class close escort ship named Fast Eland for their 400 ton merchant ship, if only they would leave behind the Philosopher’s Orb and promise never to return.  The party tried to convince Zaccheus to accept this offer, both because it was capable of jump-5 rather than just jump-1, and because it was fully armed.  After much argument, he declined, because he didn’t want to lose the cargo capacity.  Instead, he asked to have the engines on the Arianwyn replaced with better ones, and the originals put into the cargo bay for transport back to Arden, and The Engineer agreed, saying it would take a month to make the swap.

While this was going on, Capt Neo continued his conversation with The Philosopher, asking if he’d be able to get a dreadnought if he entered Nirvana.  The Engineer again warned him it was a trap, but The Philosopher simply said, “Anything you want can be yours.”

As The Engineer began work on the Arianwyn, Capt Neo stepped into The Philosopher’s anteroom, and said, “OK, I’m here, can I have my dreadnought now?”  The Philosopher laughed, and said, “You haven’t entered Nirvana yet… that is through the next door.”

Capt Neo opened the next door, only to find stairs leading downward.  He started down, and found himself on a great stairway seemingly hanging in a sunny blue sky.  Looking up and behind him, he saw it led up to the doorway.. while downward, far far below, was the ground.  He walked down for hours, into the heart of a beautiful white city.  The first person he met was a woman, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen!  “Where can I get a dreadnought,” he asked her, to which she merely smiled and said, “I have no idea what that is!”  When he asked about a ship, she pointed him across the city.  Following her directions, he came to a harbor, where beautiful wooden boats, some with sails, some without, were moored at the docks.  He spotted a man on one, and called out to him.  “I’m looking for a dreadnought, but a woman sent me here…”

“You speak like a pilgrim, but you are not dressed as one.  What is it you seek?”

“I was told I could have anything I wanted, and I want a dreadnought.  Where do I find one?”

“I do not know the term.”

“A ship.  A ship that can take me to other worlds!”

“Ah, then I can help you!  I am the captain of this fine vessel, and I regularly take cargo and passengers to other worlds in it!”

“You don’t understand,” said Capt Neo, “I don’t mean other islands in the ocean, I mean other worlds altogether!”

“But that is what I mean, as well!  We sail out and then enter the fog, and after a week, we return to the sea and sail to port on another world!”

Frustrated, Capt Neo said, “Never mind,” and left to find the stairway.  He climbed for what felt like 12 hours before finally reaching the door in the sky… and upon passing through it, found himself back in The Philosopher’s anteroom alone.  Stepping back into the waiting room, he found nobody there, either, so he donned his helmet, and went back to the surface.  He’d been gone two weeks, and his team had given up on him.  Vladimir looked at The Philosopher, and exclaimed, “You said no one ever came back!  You can’t say THAT anymore!”  The Philosopher conceded.

When the modifications to the ship had been completed, the original engines loaded aboard the Arianwyn, and the ship refueled, Zaccheus and the team bid both The Engineer and The Philosopher farewell.  Tiernan again promised to give the Orb to Oer’King Ossian, and they departed for home.

Their route, accomplished without encounter, and without mechanical problems, took them from Kazar, to Damiano, and then to Tekmiti, Hakan, Sniila, Ohanzee, Mitsuko and to Arden in turn, utilizing their upgraded Jump-3 engines.  In each system, they stayed near the gas giant long enough to refuel, then continued their journey homeward.

During their first jump, from Kazar to Damiano, they tried to study the Orb, finding it beautiful and mesmerizing, and just a bit unsettling.  They left it alone after that, but on their final jump, from Mitsuko to Arden, decided to jettison it from the Arianwyn 3 days into the jump.

Upon returning to Arden, Zaccheus turned the Arianwyn over to the Starport, and asked to have the newer drives removed for study, and the original reinstalled.  The team was told this would take 60 days.

A week after their return, Zaccheus was interviewed by the Ardeni Kingdoms Information Service.

(Game Calendar:  545-021 to 545-114).

Actual Play - 14th Game - 16 Jul 13

Star City/Arden/Kapu (2227 EA766C2-6)  Date:  544-287

Characters in play this night included the returning Tiernan, Zaccheus, D'Arcy, Aggie, Capt Neo, Dionysius, and a new PC, Vladimir.

Two and a half weeks after dropping Watson, the "boy in the metal box" cargo container with the Chief Librarian, he asked the group to return to the Kelrax system for additional salvage, including the main computer core from the station.  They contacted the Peacekeeper, and asked Chief Engineer Zesiro to accompany them on the journey.   As they waited for his arrival, they met a recently arrived exile from Gruvek by the name of Vladimir Alexicov, a retired marine.  He agreed to join their party as well.

Loading into the Arianwyn, they jumped to Tralnor, spent a day refueling, and headed on to Alwuud, where they again spent a day refueling.  Their next jump took them to the Kelrax system, where they quickly headed to the asteroid with the colony station.  After landing, Vladimir scanned the local area and found the remains of quite a few wrecked starships.  Zaccheus used his psionics to scan for life, but found nothing within his range.  Once inside the station, Zesiro inspected the power plant, and told them it was a standard hydrogen powered plant, with tanks capable of storing 30 tons of fuel.  The party made the 5 day round trip to the closer of the two gas giants in the Kelrax system, and were able to fill the station's tanks.  Zesiro brought the power plant online while the party explored the power dome.  They managed to find the main breaker controlling life support in the dome, and brought it online as well.  As air started to fill the power dome, Zesiro turned on power to the central dome, and the Team began to explore it as well.  With power restored to the dome, they were able to use a terminal to pull up maps and locate the main computer room, as well as the program notes for the AI Seed program, which they realized must be Watson, the "boy in the box" they'd "rescued" during their last visit.

In order to salvage the computer core, per the Chief Librarian's request, they left life support off in the central dome, and blew the airlock so they'd have a large enough exit to manhandle the computer to the ship.  This took several days, during which several party members explored the third dome.  This dome held both living quarters and a store-room of personal gear, which they inventoried.  Once the computer core was secured in the Arianwyn's hold, they flew to the gas giant to refuel, then made the journey back to Arden, again stopping for a day in the Alwuud and Tralnor systems to refuel.

Back on Arden, they delivered the computer core and copies of the AI Seed program data to the Chief Librarian.  They asked if any progress had been made with Watson, and learned he'd been moved into a shielded vault after he asked about The Watcher.  Inside the vault, Watson had admitted The Watcher had been asking him lots of questions, but wouldn't tell anything about himself, and that in the vault, he could no longer hear The Watcher at all.

They decided to take a break for a while in Star City, and a week later, Dionysius woke with his first vague memory of what had happened to him on Alwuud.  He recalled using his pickaxe on the concrete in the hole he dug, and he remembered breaking through it.  He couldn't remember how thick the shell was, but knew he'd accidentally dropped his pick into the dark hole and had a clear memory of seeing it fall out of sight in the darkness.  He never heard it hit bottom.

They decided to return to Alwuud to solve the mystery, and brought Ga'a'atak and Fil onboard with them before taking off.  Leaving orbit, they made the jump to Tralnor... but didn't fall out of jumpspace at the end of the week as they were supposed to.  Three more days went by, and they finally dropped into normal space... 17 parsecs from their intended destination, in deep space... without enough fuel to attempt another jump!  Using the astrographic data they'd received from Kearnay, they quickly figured out where they were, an empty area of space (0519) in Hallu Subsector.  They spent a week there, scanning space around them, and found jump signatures indicating the area had been visited recently, and possibly regularly.  They turned on their rescue beacon, hoping another ship might jump into the system and find them, but also began work on splitting hydrogen out of the alcohol Tiernan had on board.  During their second week stranded, Ga'a'atak and Capt Neo entered low berths, hoping to conserve life support and supplies...

(Game Calendar:  544-287 to 545-020).

Player Map of Kapu Subsector as of 544-287

Here is the Player's Map of Kapu Subsector as of 544-287!

Actual Play - 13th Game - 24 Jun 13

Star City/Arden/Kapu (2227 EA766C2-6)  Date:  544-209

Characters in play this night included the returning Tiernan, Zaccheus, D'Arcy, Gildas, Maddoc, Cinnia, Aggie, and Dionysius, and a new player, L3, joined us with her character Aggie, a scientist from Arden.

Almost two months had passed since the party returned to Arden.  The Chief Librarian sent word that he needed to speak to them.  "Looking through the Plan Alpha archives," he began, "I found that some of the data was damaged.  It appears our ancestors left something important at the colony in the Kelrax system... but we have no idea what it was.  O'er King Ossian would like you to go there, determine what of value may have been left there, and if possible bring it back.  Oh, and I want to introduce you to Aggie Iliopoulos, a computer expert who should prove useful on this mission."  The team introduced themselves, and the next day, Tiernan, Zaccheus, D'Arcy, Gildas, Maddoc, Cinnia and Aggie left Arden.

They jumped to Tralnor, stopping there only long enough to refuel, and then jumped to Alwuud to pick up Dionysius.  As they landed, they noticed the giant hole Dionysius had been digging when they left was completely gone, apparently filled in and with new grass already growing over it!  Dionysius was nowhere to be seen, but a messenger approached and invited them to meet with the King.  Once there, they were informed that Dionysius was hospitalized and in a coma.  The King explained he'd started acting strangely just a few days after the group left him, and wouldn't allow anyone near the hole.  He then began to fill it in, working apparently nonstop for more than four weeks until it was filled in.  He then collapsed, and it was apparent he'd slept little and eaten less during this time.  He'd been carried from the site and had not regained consciousness.

Using his psionics, Tiernan was able to heal Dionysius enough to awaken him, only to find he had no recollection of anything after the team left him on Alwuud.

In the meantime, Maddoc visited the training site he'd set up last visit, hoping to collect some trained soldiers to take along.  He was less than pleased to hear the Colonel tell him the recruits were slow to learn group tactics and military discipline, as they'd been raised in an individualistic warrior culture rather than a military culture.  He returned to the starship without soldiers just as the party prepared to leave.

After jumping to the Kelrax system, they learned it had two gas giants and one asteroid belt.  Approaching the nearest gas giant to refuel, they found a heavily damaged space station in orbit.  The piece that was left massed about 200 tons, so after a brief exploration, they attempted to pull it into their cargo bay.  They were partially successful, pulling it halfway into their ship when it lodged and stuck.  They immediately set about trying to dislodge it, and after several attempts they popped it free and accelerated away from it.  Unfortunately, they changed it's orbit, and as they accelerated away from the gas giant, they watched the wreck fall into the clouds and burn up.

Heading in toward the asteroid belt, they located it's homing beacon, and made radio contact with a young boy.  He told them he was trapped in a room in the main dome of the colony, and had been alone for quite some time.  It took them four days to round the star and arrive at the colony, which turned out to be three large domes with connecting tunnels.  One dome held living quarters, one held a power plant, and the center held labs.  In the lab dome, they located a large sealed metal box, which the boy claimed to be trapped in.  He couldn't remember his name, so the party decided to call him Watson.

While half the party was attempting to open the box, the other half flew to a wrecked starship not far from the station.  It had heavy combat damage and no power.  The bridge held several dessicated Vargr wearing vacc-suits but no helmets.  The team was unable to bring the engines online.

Meanwhile, in the dome, the party decided to lift the box in order to free the boy.  They unbolted it from the floor, and managed to lift it only to find it had a solid bottom.  Perplexed, they decided to take the entire box back to Arden with them.  They loaded it into their cargo hold, called the other party back from the other wreck, and headed home to Arden, stopping at Alwuud and Tralnor just long enough to refuel.

(Game Calendar:  544-209 to 544-265).

Actual Play - 12th Game - 3 May 13

Allshire/People's Democratic Republic of Allshire/Gruvek/Kapu (2126 E978978-9) Date:  544-073

This week we were back up to 10 players:  Zaccheus, Blaine, Dionisius, Tiernan, D'Arcy, Capt Neo, Maddoc, Gwayne, Chidi and Cinnia (via Skype).

(In order to get everyone together again) O'er King Ossian asked Maddoc, Gwayne, Chidi and Cinnia to take the Amuar (Peacemaker) to Gruvek to assist with the diplomatic mission.  On the morning the rest of the party was supposed to meet with the League of Nations on Gruvek, Prime Minister Victoria Taylor, of Allshire, notified them another ship had arrived.  They made contact, then postponed the meeting in order to bring the new arrivals down from orbit.

Chidi, Blaine and Gwayne opted to remain on the Amuar (Peacemaker) in orbit, and Maddoc chose to stay outside talking to soldiers on the base.  The rest of the party entered the auditorium to make their case for joining the Ardeni Kingdoms.

They were surprised to note that only half of the national delegations were human!  Twelve were Vek and five were mixed.  The Vek delegates appeared to be crystalline-scaled lizard men!  After being introduced to the delegates by Prime Minister Taylor, Tiernan led off with a speech about the Kingdoms, trade policy and the non-interference aspects of the agreement.  D'Arcy, Capt Neo, Zaccheus and Cinnia chimed in with additional information, and took questions from the delegates, some of whom were openly hostile to them.  Shortly after the group was accused of spying, Dionysius teleported out of the room, which caused an uproar!  Blaine sat quietly, then walked out himself.  Capt Neo stood up and passed out copies of the Trade Accords to all the delegations, and the party gave them time to read over them.  The delegate from The Federated States of Kree asked about purchasing weapons, then argued that if the group helped their enemies even without military aid, it would allow them to devote more time to their military, thus endangering Kree.  He stood up in a huff, ripped the Accords in two, and his delegation walked out.  On the way past the party, though, he dropped a note on their table.

Seventeen delegations signed the Accords, and delivered them to the group.  Thirteen delegations walked out vowing not to sign, and the other five said they had more questions.  After further discussions of representation at the O'ersmeet, currency linkage and the non-interference clause, three more delegations signed, and 2 more decided not to.  The 20 delegations who'd signed then asked about trade goods and  everyone decided to conduct trade the next day.

The party returned to their rooms and, after reading the note, met again on the Arianwyn.  The note from the Kree delegation asked them to contact him via radio at a specified frequency at 2330.  The party made contact, with Tiernan talking for them.  The Kree representative told them they would sign the agreement if they could get weapons, but Tiernan said they couldn't do that.  They spoke for several minutes and the subject was brought up several more times before the radio contact dropped.  The players realized they might have been set up, and asked to listen to the recording of their radio call... but they hadn't recorded it.  (Zaccheus then said that from now on, ALL radios on the ships would be recorded at all times!)

A little while later, they were contacted again by the Kree representative, who asked again if they were willing to trade in arms.  When they balked, he played back a recording of Tiernan saying, "We will ... offer you weapons."  Tiernan tried flattery, admitting Kree had pulled one over on them, but still refused to sell weapons, and the Kree representative hung up again.  The party immediately drafted a dispatch to each of the tweny signers explaining what had happened, and delivered them to the barracks where each delegation was staying.  Tiernan arranged a quick meeting with Prime Minister Taylor, who told him this was standard for Kree... they always played whatever games they could to get ahead.  She told him it would not affect any of the signers, but might affect the other nations.

In the morning, the party brought their trade goods, and ended up selling all the spices (from both Arden and Cevdoo) and textiles they had on-hand.  They then purchased a large load of high tech computer parts from a company from the Commonwealth of Lub.

During all this trading, Dionysius found soldiers on the base who needed to do some digging, and volunteered to help.  Meanwhile, Maddoc, through one of the soldiers, recruited 7 young men from outside of the base to join his "army" and see the stars.

As the trading finished up, Tiernan said the party would remain until the end of the week if anyone else needed to speak to them.  Maddoc asked his contact to find a trainer who would go with them, and he met with a retired Sergeant Major who asked about the job.  He said he could pull together a team if he could have 3 more weeks.  The group waited the three weeks, and Maddoc's "training team" arrived, each wearing jack armor and carrying a pistol.  They were led by a Major, and he agreed they would set up a military training school on Alwuud if Maddoc supplied cash, weapons, recruits and local govt support.

The party then jumped to Cevdoo, where they met with Abinadab.  He was disappointed they had no goods for him, but agreed they could bring in outside help to upgrade the starport on Cevdoo, as long as trade continued to flow through him.  The party continued on to Alwuud, where Maddoc met with King (and Clanchief of Clan Pryce) Baird, who agreed to host the military training facility.  He then dismissed Maddoc and spoke directly to the Major.

Jumping on to Tralnor, the party met with the Council, and asked if they could bring in Leventis Labs to help upgrade the starport.  The Council asked about the starport on Arden, and when they learned it was only a class E, told the party to take a hike, since they already had a class B!  The party then went home to Arden, and sold the computer parts to Leventis Labs at a huge profit.  Maddoc asked to go to Alpha Base, so the party flew out to see the O'er King.  Maddoc met with him to discuss setting up a draft, and the O'er King lectured him on the their government form, reminding him that the free people of the Ardeni Kingdoms would not put up with such a usupation of power, and he wouldn't even consider it!

The party returned to Arden, and we stopped for the night.

(Game Calendar:  544-073 to 544-157).

Latest Kapu Subsector Map

Here is the map the party has of Kapu Subsector.  It is current as of 544-070.

Changes include the larger border of the Ardeni Kingdoms, and the new name, Alwuud, given to the Libmon system by King Baird of Clan Pryce after he and his people established their new colony there.

The party is currently on Gruvek, about to meet with the League of Nations to negotiate a treaty.

Actual Play - 11th Game - 26 Apr 13

Star City/Arden/Kapu (2227 EA766C2-6) Date:  543-218

This week was our smallest group of players for Star Clans.  We had a new member, M, join us, and he created a Kearnayan Army Col named Deka, who was serving as a crewman on the Amuar (Peacemaker).  We also had D'Arcy, Blaine, Zaccheus, Tiernan, Capt Neo and Dionysius (he changed his spelling).  After our previous game, they gave Capt Diallo the OK to practice skimming the gas giant for refueling, then party spent a month and a half hanging about Star City.

As this session began, they regrouped and discussed their next move.  They decided to continue trying to expand the scope of the Ardeni Kingdoms, via diplomacy, trade and colonization.  Since the group was smaller, and they wanted to carry cargo, they left the Amuar at Arden, and opted to use the Arianwyn exclusively for now.

After loading up on trade goods (liquor and spices) they jumped to Tralnor then Libmon and on to Mitsuko.  At Mitsuko, they won over the Supreme Leader with the promise that once a year, they'd return with more liquor and spices in exchange for arms and more prisoners.  They agreed there would be no other visits and no other visitors.  After the Supreme Leader signed the agreement, they collected 11 political prisoners, telling him they'd drop them off on an empty planet like the others, and immediately made the trip back to Arden.  The "prisoners" were hired right away by Leventis Labs.

Next, they spoke to the chief of Clan Pryce about emigrating to Libmon.  He liked the idea, but asked to be taken to Alpha Base to discuss it with O'er King Ossian.  The two reached a quick agreement, with the Chief of Clan Pryce being elevated to King.  Upon their return to Arden, the group spent a few months ferrying all 400+ members of Clan Pryce to their new home on Libmon.

Returning to Arden, they loaded up again on liquor, and headed off to Cevdoo.  As they landed, the ship was approached by five merchants in palinquins.  One of the five happened to be Abinadab, who they'd traded with their first time to Cevdoo.  He shooed the other merchants away and invited the group to a feast in his tent.  They were able to convince him to sign the trade accords without too much effort, simply having to agree that all trade with Cevdoo would be through him, and that they'd show up every two months, to give him time to sell out what they'd brought earlier.

Back at Arden, they went to Alpha Base to ask O'er King Ossian to focus on upgrading the starport on Arden.  He agreed it was an important goal for the Kingdoms.  He asked them to take the armor they'd bought at Mitsuko to the Front, where Ardeni warriors were engaged in a stand-off with the Uruki.  After doing so, they returned to Star City where they met with the head of Leventis Labs.  Their goal was to have him open a lab on Libmon, but he declined, saying he'd do so as soon as he knew King Baird (formerly Chief Baird of Clan Pryce) wanted them there.

Finally, they decided to try Gruvek again.  They journeyed to Gruvek via Abequa, where they stopped to meet with King Baloq and Queen Delphi (formerly of their party).  They discussed having Leventis Labs open a subsidiary there and the King agreed, writing out a warrant for delivery to the Lab.  Before they left, Queen Delphi showed the party her children, two fifteen month-olds, a boy named Jean, and a girl named Channelle.

They jumped on to Gruvek.  The last time they visited Gruvek, their ship had been shot at by ground based laser defenses, so they were more cautious.  As soon as they arrived in the Gruvek system, they began hailing.  Their first contact asked who they were, and didn't believe they were from another system, finally signing off rather than talk to people who were clearly trying to con him.  The second contact they made was with an astronomer at a mountaintop observatory.  He didn't believe them at first either, but when he trained the telescope on the ship in orbit, he invited them to land.  He arranged a meeting with his nation's Prime Minister.  They flew the ship to the capital, landing on the lawn outside of the parliament building, where the Prime Minister met them and invited them inside.  They discussed the civil war the planet was having, and she told them there was no such thing... not one of the 35 nations was having a civil war.  Over tea, she explained there had been a long war, but there was an uneasy truce right now, and they asked if there was a transnational group they could speak to.  She left them to confer with the King, and returned later in the day, quickly signing the trade accords, and agreeing to call a meeting of the League of Nations.  They were moved to a military base and hung out for ten days, during which they were caught by camera crews outside the base perimeter and broadcast internationally.  On the morning of their tenth day on the base, the Prime Minister arrived early and told them to prepare to meet with the representatives at the League of Nations.

We ended play for the night with them preparing to meet the League.


(Game Calendar:  543-218 to 544-072)