atlasmods: (Default)
The Atlas Mods ([personal profile] atlasmods) wrote in [community profile] theatlas2016-11-09 10:37 am

Intro Log: The Forgotten City

GOOD MORNING NEW ARRIVALS



This time for real!

WAKEY WAKEY.

As the storm finally peters out and characters can once again move above ground it becomes abundantly clear that the landscape has changed. Where vast expanses of sand dunes once laid is now the half-buried remnants of what looks like some sort of...city? Full of structures. It stretches so far it's really hard to tell. But there is one thing characters will notice:

There are more stasis pods.

Revealed by the sandstorm, a whole new flurry of pods can be found scattered on the way to the city (curiously though, not in it. Hurry and wake those guys up!

SPREAD THE LOVE. OR ACID.


With the departure of the storm there's even more new arrivals to be found besides those fellow travelers of yours! The "Seedlings" and "Cactus" are now both available, the former blown in by the storm and the former uncovered.

The Seedlings are generally pretty harmless. They like to burrow into the sand so only their "Leaves" plant-like leaves remain above ground, and they're quite happy to stay that way until surprised. Then they pop up and trip over themselves a little, before slowing down and wandering aimlessly. When they find a patch of sand that looks comfy they begin burrowing back down.

Pull or yank on their leaves though and you'll find yourself with a face full of pollen that makes you want to just tell everyone how super-cool they are. It lasts a while, and then you get a fever and vomit for two hours. Good times.

The Cacti are much less harmless and just...why would you eat them? Everything about this plant is poisonous, and cracking it open causes a corrosive acid-like substance to spill out. It'll eat through everything but...dirt, oddly. Metals and flesh are like hot oil on plastic.

DON'T GET LOST

And last but not least: The Forgotten City. Maybe you want to check out the Hull first for some loot, but maybe that's not such a cool idea anymore? Although it looks like the ship's definitely more powered after draining the suits of whoever went in, now it's started to spread and fill the sinkhole the ship's in. Suits can go from 100% to 0% in just ten minutes--not good!

Lucky for everyone else, it looks like finally there's some sort of civilization up ahead. Go on and check it out!

OR DO. THAT'S OKAY TOO.

Go nuts, have fun, and enjoy! (This is the wildcard option)


OOC

The Flora, Fauna & Resources page has been updated with information on the seedlings, cacti, and crystals! These items are now all available for Discovery, and The Forgotten City will be available indefinitely from now on! Characters can take this time to settle & build up a foundation for themselves, explore the area, and of course, harass those poor little seedlings.

We encourage players to make their own open posts for this setting--you don't need to stick to just this intro log! But make sure to make our newbies feel welcome!
backwatertrooper: (huff - you're dumb)

[personal profile] backwatertrooper 2016-11-17 12:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[The words, more than the tone they're said in makes Cloud twitch a little more upright and narrow his eyes, somewhere between defensive and just plain annoyed. But it's... been a day already, so he tries to let that go in the next breath.]

I'd like that. [Focusing on the gun in the man's grip, he frowns.] Do they... even use bullets?

[They could, of course, but remembering what the pods look like, what these outfits look like, Cloud's not going to assume. He'll adjust.]
superblack: (late night)

[personal profile] superblack 2016-11-18 05:50 am (UTC)(link)
Not from what I can tell, no.

[He pauses briefly. How old is this... boy? Boy could be an apt descriptor. Young man may not be so far off either.

Bruce has seen too much to really attribute youth to innocence, though.]


What's your name?
backwatertrooper: (backwater expert - talking)

[personal profile] backwatertrooper 2016-11-18 07:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Cloud. [There's a momentary pause - he's had at least one person react to his name today, after all - then he continues, glance flicking between Bruce and the gun he currently has in his hands.]

... Have you fired anything similar? Do they... work similarly enough to normal firearms? What about recoil?

[He'll have to fire one himself to actually get used to it, but some sort of idea beforehand of what to expect, especially if they don't use bullets. Really, it just makes him wish for a sword even more. If nothing else, you don't have worry about things like that.]
superblack: (??)

[personal profile] superblack 2016-11-19 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
[He makes no real motion, nor reaction, to the name. Cloud's pretty low on the list of weird names when you come from Gotham.]

The recoil isn't too bad. It doesn't use ordinary bullets. If you've used something like a rifle or an automatic, it won't be too different.

[Cloud seems to know what he's talking about, though. A soldier, or a mercenary? A toss-up, in all honesty.]

It'll take some getting used to if all you know are bullets.
backwatertrooper: (so see sir... - suggestions)

[personal profile] backwatertrooper 2016-11-19 01:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[A small, wryly amused smile quirks Cloud's lips and he nods.]

That's... basically what I've been using for the past one and a half years. Okay. Should be able to figure that out.

[Another nod, a little more certain this time. Sure, all he has used up until now is firearms that use bullets, but Cloud's feeling relatively certain he can figure this out without wasting too much... what? charge? what do each shot count as if the gun doesn't use a bullet, anyway?]
superblack: (??)

[personal profile] superblack 2016-11-20 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
[One and a half...?

The kid's a bit more smiley about the weaponry, the use of it all, but still...]


How old are you?
backwatertrooper: (backwater expert - talking)

[personal profile] backwatertrooper 2016-11-20 03:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[Cloud shrugs, a little distracted, mostly trying to get a mental map of how these weapons might be disassembled before he tries it, and also missing his helmet. They're pretty dumb and unwieldy sometimes, but they do help in low light and in glaring sunlight like this...]

Sixteen.

[As of not quite two months ago. Then he frowns and looks back up.]

... Why?
superblack: (late night)

[personal profile] superblack 2016-11-21 12:52 am (UTC)(link)
[Sixteen.

God help him. Sixteen and already too familiar with rifles and guns. He can't say he was any better, God knows Bruce was training and fighting by then, yet it stings to hear it from someone else.]


Just curious. I don't know many sixteen-year-olds who know this much about guns.

[Lies. Gang wars and lunatics made soldiers of kids, orphans too. Sometimes both.]
backwatertrooper: (if you would forget - profile)

[personal profile] backwatertrooper 2016-11-21 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
As long as you can keep up in basic, ShinRa lets you join. [Shrugging, Cloud bites his lip, blue eyes going from studying the firearms to the desert around them and the ruins nearby.] I wanted to leave Nibelheim, so...

[Well, it's more than that, of course. It's about being strong, being able to be strong enough to help people when they need it, be like Sephiroth (... like Zack), and for that, he couldn't have gone anywhere but ShinRa. Shrugging again, Cloud looks back at Bruce.]

... ShinRa's a company. Not sure when they started to need the security forces though.

[A company with it's own army, that is.]
superblack: (lex!!)

[personal profile] superblack 2016-11-25 06:34 am (UTC)(link)
[A company is recruiting teenagers to be part of a security force.

That means nothing good could've possibly come from this ShinRa if it was so obsessed with this level of security, a standing army as it were.

Bruce says nothing, though. It's not his place to say anything when he knows so little.

Yet.]


If you don't know, I wouldn't know either. I can think of a few times, though.
backwatertrooper: (so see sir... - suggestions)

[personal profile] backwatertrooper 2016-11-25 12:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[Aside from conquering sovereign nations to get at the mako and supply them with energy? Actually, Cloud can think of it too. He hesitates to jump into the whole thing about Wutai, though, and nods.]

There's monsters around... So hiring mercenaries or keeping your own is useful. [A pause as he shakes his head.] But when I found out about ShinRa, they'd already... had an army for a while.

[He knew enough to know SOLDIER came about with the Wutai war, but that was it - the Army had existed before that, of course.]

superblack: (right anyway)

[personal profile] superblack 2016-11-30 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Already Bruce isn't a fan of ShinRa. Not that he could say much: his own R&D Department is basically a free reign for his own personal use of untested and experimental technology.]

Son, I can't tell you what to do if and when you go back, but I wouldn't put too much stock or faith in your ShinRa.

[He could continue for years, if he'd like, as long as Cloud had no dreams of ShinRa being any sort of good. Monsters or not, a standing army is overkill.]
backwatertrooper: (glancing down and away - can't face)

[personal profile] backwatertrooper 2016-11-30 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[Opening his mouth, Cloud closes it again with a frown. He remembers what Zack had said, about SOLDIER, and... there's a reason for that, of course, but he hasn't gotten it out of him, yet.]

Maybe not. [A shrug as Cloud ducks his head.] They've helped people, even if they aren't. I just... wanted to be strong. So I could help, too.

[Shrugging, Cloud shifts on his feet. The faint blush partly from feeling uncomfortable, partly just embarrassed. And also, of course, show his hometown he wasn't... useless.]

Doesn't really matter here, though, does it... aside from how to use what I know so we can survive.
superblack: (Default)

resurfaces dramatically and without warning

[personal profile] superblack 2016-12-06 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
You're not wrong.

[Maybe that was his only way out, but he still doesn't approve. At least, not of ShinRa and their methodologies.]

If you want to train, I might be able to help.

[There's not a whole lot of use in hiding being able to do everything he could do. It didn't mean he had to show all of his cards, though. Best to be selective about his skills. Cloud could use the training if he's already started.]
backwatertrooper: (uncertain - um sir..?)

welcome welcome

[personal profile] backwatertrooper 2016-12-06 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[Let him tell you about the enhanced super soldiers ShinRa makes, created with a substance no one knows exactly how it works and cells from an alien but shh!

Looking up, Cloud blinks and stares for a silent moment, then he nods, hesitantly. He's not sure why he'd offer, but...]


I've... got a friend, here, from where I'm from. From a more, um... elite unit than the one I' in. [He can't help the grimace that comes out at that, his failure still sour, even if there's nothing he can do about it.]

Zack's helping, but... if it won't be a bother...

[A shrug. Then he certainly wouldn't mind.]
superblack: (sure)

[personal profile] superblack 2016-12-08 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
It's not like we're low on time here.

[Granted, surviving and pushing forward to who knows what is a full-time job in and of itself, but he's willing to help Cloud get better if that's what he really wants.

Besides, he couldn't just let Cloud keep sounding and looking like that.]


I can't say when we can start, but as soon as we get solid footing we can figure out where to start and what to do.
Edited 2016-12-08 01:45 (UTC)
backwatertrooper: (tiny happy smile - noogie him)

[personal profile] backwatertrooper 2016-12-08 12:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Not really. [Cloud shakes his head in agreement as he slowly starts to actually go over the gun to try and figure out what, if anything, might need to be fixed.] Getting a supply of food and water is the biggest issue, isn't it...

[Because if those ruins are safe, they'll have temporary shelter, at least. Glancing up, Cloud smiles faintly, the tilt of it shy. Whether this actually happens or not, just the offer having been made is nice enough.]

Thanks. I can wait.