Fun and Excercise [Open to everybody]

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

«If anybody wants to drop in, I'm setting up something special in one of the Sensoriums,» Luly transmits broad-band over her comm, and gives quick directions to the particular one she's in.

She has, indeed, set up something rather interesting: a full city in 1/20th scale, with skyscrapers, roads and avenues, and even little (presumably) automated cars buzzing around. Towering over the rest, though—and it's not as if the city is really that short, for even at 1/20th scale the skyscrapers tower over seventy-five feet tall easily—is a multilayered glass-and-steel pyramid, huge even in miniature.

A whole area has been blocked off and cleared of buildings, with the entrance to the Sensorium—and sitting in racks are a full set of power armors. They have a standardized base design, but each one has a different set of glyphs painted on it, and different equipment mounted on the arms, shoulders, and back.

((Please keep it to one thread for now—I'll split it into more later if/when needed.))

Comments

[not-prncss-tldr.livejournal.com]

Lafiel is one of the first through the sensorium gate, intrigued by what Luly might consider "special". Inside, she finds herself on a vantage point over what appears to be a lander city. She would be astonished except she has no sense of scale towards it. Having grown up on an orbiting city of two million divided into independently floating sections totalling three hundred thousand kilometers, then having spent most of her time since age thirteen in the Star Forces, she honestly doesn't know if this is large or small for a grounder city. She can tell, however, that it's scaled down and marvels at the detail. Miniature birds the size of gnats take flight at her approach.

Set aside near the entrance are several bulky looking pieces of armor. They're larger than the EVA suits she's used to but the design is similar enough.

"Are those EVA marine suits?"

[runnerwithagun.livejournal.com]

"What are EVA marine suits?" Ronon says as he walks through door and towards the forming group, twirling his gun. "I'm Ronon Dex," he introduces himself as he looks around the sensorium. He was impressed with the city that was set up. He looks at the armor curiously.

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

In scale, the outskirts of the city aren't that large—but that pyramid, if you scaled it up, would be fantastically huge, enough to hold a whole major city inside it... and that would just be the bottom level.

"They're Centurions," Meluly says with a grin, perched on the shoulder of one of the armor suits. "Mobile infantry and special police, that kind've thing... these ones are all kitted out for different roles. In scale, they're about the size of main battle mechs."

[not-prncss-tldr.livejournal.com]

The terms were unfamiliar to Lafiel but the intentions came through. "And what are we doing with them?" She says as she unspools a diamond shaped connector from a slot...seemingly at her forehead, hidden by the tiara she wore and her blue hair. She thinks she already has an idea...

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

Robert wandered into the room, eyes taking in the strange, miniature city and the other, very strange suits of armor. He looks back at the others, having gotten a bit used to seeing people in either the skintight plantsuits or even nude.

"So, what's on the agenda? And what did I miss?"

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"I put this together out of one of the exercises they ran us through in gen-prin—it's not a no-win scenario, but you're not expected to do very well." She grins, though, like this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Her fingers rap a hidden hardpoint on one of the power suits and it opens like a cocoon, revealing a snug-looking but well-padded interior. "They're all geared up with paintball ammo... the objective is trying to defend the arco complex—" (she gestures to the huge pyramidal building) "—from waves of attackers until enough air support actually shows up to clear them out. There are some other tricks, so you have to keep your eyes open, but you won't find out in advance..."

[runnerwithagun.livejournal.com]

"Sounds great." Ronon was getting pumped, he wanted to see this challenge through.

Ready to get things started, he did the same as Meluly and opened up a power suit. Getting into the suit was easy but there was one thing he really needed to know. "So, how do I shoot?"

[not-prncss-tldr.livejournal.com]

As Dex is asking this, Lafiel's already settling into the cushy interior of one, having imitated Meluly. She's naturally selected a model with jump jets.

You may catch her looking a few moments to hook the space-sensory-organ in her forehead into the machine...but there's no port, so she just lets the thing settle its armor around her. comes her voice, small and tinny through the speakers.

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"Your what?—hang on," Luly says, checking on the little status displays on the side of each suit, the one reserved for her still hanging open. The power armors seal up remarkably comfortably... there must be some sort of intelligent or semi-intelligent automated system, with the way the interiors adjust to smoothly fit them, padding inflating to get a secure grip and guiding their limbs into the proper alignment.

Weirdly enough, the hands inside don't seem to be fully articulated - just grips to fit each finger, with pressure-sensitive elements. Not that they do anything, at the moment, because aside from the basic always-on systems like the optical sensors (the inside faceplate is filled with a remarkably high-clarity screen) and audio systems, the suits seem to still be running their startup sequences.

About ten seconds after each of the suits seals up completely—without really being able to move, it's rather claustrophobic—the progress monitors scrolling across the display vanish, and the displays realign, shifting into a full-surround mode that gives panoramic, unencumbered vision in every direction... even up, suggesting that either somebody was really thorough about these things or that there might be some aerial enemies.

And then the HUD lights up—systems integrity checks, ammo counts, sensor displays... It's all extremely intuitive and, for the moment, low-key.

And then there's kind of a blip, as the low thrum of the primary power source hits the internal compartment, and the suits are something more, as the wearers' prioproception and body kinesthetics very suddenly expand to encompass the entire set of machinery somehow.

It's very disconcerting and yet very right, somehow—it feels like one could use the suit like their own body.

All the suits have simple antigravity jump pods, enough to bounce like a jackrabbit on a whim—but Ronon's are built up, reinforced with small turbines for extra thrust, easily capable of three or four times the distance of the others. EMULATED ROLE: MOBILE HEAVY WEAPONS MECH. reads the HUD in his suit. ENHANCED SPEED; ENHANCED JUMP CAPACITY; SIMULATED HEAVY ARMAMENTS. The weapon the power armor is holding, he realizes, is a hand-held weapon but at an absurdly built-up scale, like carrying around a vehicle-mounted machine gun even at the larger size of the suit—but in the (remarkably deft) fingers of the suit it has nothing more to it than just enough heft not to forget about.

EMULATED ROLE: ARTILLERY SUPPORT MECH. displays the HUD in Lafiel's suit. ENHANCED ARMOR; SIMULATED LONG-RANGE AND PINPOINT ARMAMENTS. There's a strange weight on her shoulders—which, if she turns her head to look, with the way the the display system makes the whole helm seemingly transparent—look remarkably like a matched pair of missile launchers, or something of the sort. And, held in one hand of the suit, is what one wuld get, more or less, if one built an anti-materiel rifle to the size of somebody ten feet tall... and then added a bit more for no particular reason. Still, it handles easily, and the simple and recognizeable grip and trigger on it, like Ronon's main weapon, make it quite intuitive.

"How's it feel?" Luly asks, her voice coming through the suit's audio sensors a little distorted but generally recognizeable. "This basic stuff's all easy, that's why I set this up in the first place..."

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

Robert watches the others clamber in before belatedly following suit, nervously settling into the suit of powered armor. This was something completely new and foreign to the ex-cop. But it did look rather fascinating. Almost like being in a walking tank. He coughed, tensing as the armor sealed around him, fighting back the sense of claustrophobia that enveloped him for a moment.

"Whoa...this is weird..." Hey, was that him on the speakers? Keen!

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

As the screens in the helm Robert's suit light up, that sense of claustrophobia probably lightens, given the seamless surround vision. EMULATED ROLE: MULTIPURPOSE MAIN BATTLE MECH. reads his HUD display. MEDIAN SPEED AND ARMOR; MULTIPURPOSE ARMAMENTS. Attached to the arm of the suit is something faintly recognizable as some brand of rifle, though it's got dual barrel assemblies—to judge by the weapons displays that configure in the corner of the HUD, the secondary is some kind of multifunction bomblet launcher.

[runnerwithagun.livejournal.com]

Ronon sees the heads up display and grins. "This one says 'Mobile Heavy Weapons Mech.'" As he studies the screen he moves his gun around to see how the screen reacts and what info he can gather from it. How to fire the gun now looks straight forward. He raises the gun and aims but observes instead of shoots. On the HUD ammo info and a crosshair appear as the gun is raised, then disappears as he lowers the gun.

"Impressive." The suit didn't feel bulky at all and was pretty comfortable considering it's size.