Intro Log: The Forgotten City

[atlasmods]

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!

Comments

[resnipstance]

[ Her expression softens. ]

But ... thank you.

[ She shifts closer to the baby fire to get warm. ]

[ceruleo]

But I didn't get lost, did I? [ He fires right back, but there's no real combativeness in him, just that same cocky confidence from earlier. Her thank you catches him by surprise, and he ducks his head sharply, trying to hide the glow along his nose in the glow of the fire. He pokes it gently, nursing it until it's taken properly, then straightens himself out to go fetch his rifle parts.

He drops himself next to her with the parts in his arms, gently placing them down between himself and the fire. It's a bit like putting puzzle pieces on the ground in the same order you'd left them in: difficult, and unpleasant. ]

How'd you learn how to put a blaster together, anyway?

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka gives a small shrug and a faraway smile.]

Ah. That would be Anakin's fault. ... He's a genius when it comes to technology. I'm nowhere near his level, but ... he taught me a lot.

[ceruleo]

Anakin? Wait.

[ His brows knit together, his shoulders moving away so he can better frown at her. ]

You know that jerk?

[ He hasn't put 2 and 2 together yet. ]

[resnipstance]

[Eyebrow raise.]

Of course. He's my old master.

You know. The one you asked about?

1/? i don't know

[ceruleo]

[ Several things click into place. ]

2/

[ceruleo]

[ THIS EXPLAINS SO MUCH. ]

3/

[ceruleo]

[ Holy crow that guy was scary though???? Chances of getting rekt by protective Master are now at like, 500%. ]

4/

[ceruleo]

[ UNSURE HOW TO PROCEED ]

5/6

[ceruleo]

[ Rebooting.............. ]

6/7 i take it back

[ceruleo]

[ Hnnngh. ]

7/7

[ceruleo]

Well, at least he's got great taste in apprentices.

[ Smooth. ]

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka actually chuckles-- both at the line and Lance's reactions, even if she doesn't know exactly what they're about.]

Thanks. But actually, he... didn't choose me. More like I was-- uh, foisted upon him. Boy... he was so mad.

[She says it with a smile, though. The memory is indeed both fond and funny to her.]

[ceruleo]

[ Well, she's smiling, but 'he was so mad' doesn't sound pleasant. ]

What, seriously? How come?

[resnipstance]

How come he was mad, or how come we got shoved together?

[ceruleo]

[ He opens his hands emphatically. ] Both.

[resnipstance]

Well, normally, Jedi Masters choose their own Padawans. And usually not until they're much older. Anakin had only been knighted for about six months at that point-- he'd only just turned nineteen. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say he probably didn't feel ready to take on the responsibility of looking after a fourteen year old on the battlefield.

But the Clone Wars changed all our usual traditions. The Order didn't have time to wait around for Masters to pick a new crop of apprentices at their own pace-- we were stretched too thin. They just had to start assigning people, ready or not, to get every able-bodied person onto the field that they could.

[ceruleo]

So, a kid teaching a kid, basically. [ That sounds great. Not. ] Why were they called the 'Clone Wars'?

[resnipstance]

... Basically. [Ahsoka never considered Anakin to be that young when they first started training together. A nineteen year old seems impossibly old and wise to a fourteen year old. But now that she's nearly eighteen herself, she thinks Lance's words are pretty apt.

At the next question, though, her expression darkens.]

... Good question ... with a crappy answer.

The short version is that the Republic used a clone army to fight the Separatists.

[ceruleo]

Jeez....

[ Questionable ethical choices on all sides, at least from where Lance is standing. That blows him out of the water, though--clones? Sounds like something the Galra would do. ]

And we only just got the hang of cloning animals. [ Cloning humans, though? Fraught. ] Why? Couldn't get enough people on their side?

[resnipstance]

Yes. In a way.

The Separatist army used droids-- robots. Everything in their entire army was automated except the leaders. They had nearly a decade to prepare for a war they knew was coming-- to prepare hundreds of millions of mechanical soldiers that didn't feel pain or fear or question orders.

When it hit us, we were badly outnumbered.

[ceruleo]

So that puts you on the uh, Republican side? The 'clone' side. [ Fighting against robots; he's done his fair share of drone-destroying. ] How'd they know the war was coming?

[resnipstance]

I guess you could say that after a thousand years of peace and prosperity under the rule of the Galactic Republic, nobody ever really imagined that it would come to war. Everybody thought that the Separatist faction would eventually see sense and come back into the fold. Or else resolve things diplomatically.

But the Separatists were preparing for war the whole time. They were only biding their time so that they would be prepared.

[ceruleo]

[ He's getting a very condensed version of events. His conflict with the Galra is simple in comparison, but only because there are no other players, as far as he's aware: Zarkon controls nearly every sector of known space with an iron fist. ]

What triggered the war?

[resnipstance]

Uhhhh. That's... more complicated. There were a lot of different things at play-- and you'll get different answers depending on who you ask, too.

The shortest version I can give you is... well. In the months leading up to it, the Separatists launched a bunch of terrorist attacks on the capital, in protest of our government. Then, things escalated. There was an assassination attempt on a Senator-- incidentally, a senator who was one of the foremost proponents of engaging in peace talks with the Separatists. Fortunately, she lived.

Assassination attempts are pretty serious business, though, so they assigned a Jedi to investigate what they could and track down the culprit. His findings eventually led him to Geonosis-- a Separatist planet-- where he discovered a massive droid army being manufactured in secret. Not only that, but he also uncovered that the Trade Federation was behind Senator Amidala's assassination attempt. Uh-- sorry, this is where it gets kind of complicated. So, the Trade Federation and the Banking Clans were all backing the Separatists, because. Well, one, war is good business for them financially, and two, the Separatists were offering them more trade freedom and better rates. Short version, people are motivated by money. No one is surprised.

Anyway. The Jedi Master who went to Geonosis to learn all of this happened to be Anakin's master-- when Anakin himself was still an apprentice. His name was Obi-Wan. At the time, Anakin's assignment was to guard the Senator who'd escaped assassination. Geonosis is fairly far away, so in order to get his report back to the Jedi Council, he had to relay his message through someone else on another planet. That someone else was Anakin. Obi-Wan was then captured by the Separatists, tried, and found guilty of espionage-- punishable by death.

Anakin and the Senator both didn't want to leave Master Obi-Wan to die, so they decided to mount their own rescue-- but of course, they were also both captured, tried as spies and found guilty. At that point, it was going to be war either way, if the Council let the Separatists kill Senator Amidala. Either that, or the people would lose all faith in the Order to protect them and restore balance, and that probably would have sparked a civil war instead. So the Jedi Order eventually invaded Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé back before they were killed.

Aaaaaand that's what kicked off the Clone Wars! Aren't you glad you asked?