cityship: (Meanwhile...)
cityship ([personal profile] cityship) wrote in [community profile] trans_92011-10-24 10:59 pm

Shore Leave: Geartopia [Open to All]

||Attention all crewmen, shore leave is now in progress, attention crewmen, shore leave is now in progress...||

Stacy's voiced called the entire crew, until all of them were gathered at the Obs Deck. Then, a dossier appeared on the screens, along with the image of a rotating planet.

Planet Designation: Geartopia
Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Yes.
Sentient Life: Homo Sapiens, Homo Animalia, Machina Erectus.
Water: 20.6% of the planet's surface.
Climate: Earth-like, Arid desert
Landscape: 70% Desert..
Air: Normoxic concentration.
Air Pressure: 101.3 kPa (kilopascals) = 14.7 psi (pounds per square inch)
Sky: Blue
Sun: A class G2V, yellow star.
Warnings: Wildlife, humanoids and plant-life can be hazardous.
Nomalanga has given us a map with which areas to avoid.
Mission: Shore leave, and preparing for an attack in a few days, planet's time. Nomalanga has promised food, clothing and animals in exchange for your cooperation in aiding her.




Once, long ago, Geartopia was built by aliens visiting the planet and granting intelligence to some native species. Of course you wouldn't know this apart from the giant black obsidian monoliths humming precariously outside of town. They are formed in a circle formation that might remind those who come from earth of Stonehenge, only built out of a much more study device. This is what Nomalanga used to contact you. The rocks cannot be moved and any attacks on them will be useless. The Wild Ones will come out of the forest at night, leaving a trace of plants as they go back and fro their own forest. The technology the elder aliens left them allows for contact with Stacy but otherwise there is nothing futuristic going on on the planet - the aliens wanted it this way and for the most part the population respects this.

All except Snidley and his goons, of course. Thankfully most of them have gone into hiding once their plot was found out. In fact, Nomalanga and those still loyal to her are busy working on making this planned attack, and getting the townspeople ready for it.

You can also find a few remains of their culture scattered around the land in the form of large stone carvings around the town, in between a wooden tavern bar or used as a sort of tribute, covered in dry plants. Most of the area is dry and arid, with very tiny grass and shrubs growing over the hill, and, strangely enough, an area from town that is densely populated by forest. Few dare go in, due to it being the territory of the Wild Ones.

As you walk around, you notice that the technology is steampunk with a cowboy flare; there is one train that comes from the towns every morning at 6am and leaves at 9pm. Horses can be rented for a price (some normal, some like this), chariot rides as well. Gears and dark clothing seem to be the norm, possibly due that their source of leather. The inhabitants are mostly humans, humanoid animals, alien natives and steampunk robots.

But enough of that, let's see what you can do here:

- Saloon and bars of all sizes, most comically named with an object, and a color. You can find all sorts of them across town, but those on the western side are more sympathetic towards Snidley and hate strangers with a passion. Do not go there unless you're ready to fight a few of them.

They do, however, have the best drinks, and card games.

There are hotels with gear pianos playing wistful tunes as you drink hard liquor made from cactus juice, honey and barley. The honey wine is especially prized and costly.

There is also a small carnival with steampunk and old west fair, sugar and cactus fruit pies, whole animals roasted over open pits, musicians, and a single wooden coaster. It's not much, but the food is excellent.

Be careful, however. The cactus fruit does cause stomach aches for most people not native to this world. Think of it much like lactos intolerance. It's a chance you take eating it. However if you do, it tastes much like an orange, strawberry and a banana were put together in a blender.

As thanks for helping her out, anyone stepping into the city is given by the mayoress as part of her exchange bartering price, one cowboy hat (all brown), one pair of steampunk goggles, a steampunk vest, and, most importantly, one part of leathersnake steampunk boots. This is a gift for anyone who is just visiting to blend with the locals and to prove she's honest about her dealings. As if it wasn't obvious after the first mission, in any case. She'll need your strange and powerful manpower in the upcoming days.

And hey, if you're up to it, you can help with a little cleanup. After all most people here don't know your skills. However, it's also calm and quiet in the farms. You want to do some honest work for a day, they'll give you some of their seeds in exchange. The system seems to be based more on services and barter than any money.

There is still currency and Stacy has given you a few golden coins, spend them wisely. A few farms are opened up to sleep for free, if you don't mind being with the animals.

The General store has steampunk items for sale, but most of them are much too expensive for anyone on the ship to by. You can try to barter.

Oh and news travels fast. Cause problems, and Nomalanga won't be too happy about it.

[OKAY ALL DONE GO FOR IT. You are also free to create additional places, to post your own private logs involving the town! Contact me if you need extra information about Geartopia either via PM to things_go_boom's account or by AIM, I'll be happy to answer. NPC goons if you want to do a bunch of bar fights, just think typical cowboy stuff. Shore leave will last until the 31st and players can go to and from the ship to the city each day, so you can have your characters stay for a day or two and then come back.

People in the miniplots, the mini plots will start up in a few days! There will also be a general fight for anyone who wants to join in on the 29th. Thank you and enjoy yourselves!]
youmissed: (204 skipping)

[personal profile] youmissed 2011-11-05 09:58 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, hey. John will have both Ms. GI Jane and Space Kilts United know he's only spilled just the one time. Maybe...1.5 times. Ish.

1.5 times-ish has a nice ring to it.

John turns to glance over at Aeryn coming in and picking a chair for herself like she owns the place. By now he's had probably more than he should, nursing his drink and the jug that he's probably hogged and it's probably the first time he can say he's outdrank a Scot. Not that he made it a point to go drinking with Scots in the first place but still. By now he's cultivated a decent sense of inertia, John making extra careful not go spilling the rest of the jug on Aeyrn or Jamie as he offers some to her.

"He's right. Big 'beastie'. I'd say big as a house," John says, not yet at the point he'd be slurring, and still at the point he'll tease Aeryn. He's just hit the "good mood everywhere" part. He grins at Aeryn. "Jamie here's telling me all about the Ohm and why Stacy hasn't shot them through a black hole. He's a good kid."

As first impressions go, John likes Jamie. He doesn't get the sense that he wants something outta him, no sprouting of alien tentacles on him, nothing. He already likes that about the kid. The bartender swings by with another glass for Aeryn and sets it down in front of her before bustling off elsewhere, John tilting back the last of his own drink before he reaches over to fill everyone's. Aeryn, too, he thinks could unwind. Sometimes he wonders if she knows the meaning of the word.

[identity profile] becoming-more.livejournal.com 2011-11-06 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
A 'beastie'. Aeryn furrows her brow. Now even Jamie is making up words. What is it about humans that makes them so difficult for her to understand, even with the translator microbes? Like most things Crichton says, however, she lets it go.

Aeryn sniffs at her drink tentatively before downing half the glass in one go, tossing her head back. "Can she even do that?" she asks, setting the glass back on the table and contemplating what she just drank. Shooting someone through a black hole just sounds silly to her-- again, something Crichton made up.
bonnypiperlad: (puzzled)

[personal profile] bonnypiperlad 2011-11-09 07:08 am (UTC)(link)
Sometimes even the humans wind up getting confused by the other humans, actually. Case in point - having failed to pick up on the whole 'teasing Aeryn' part of things, the mention of varmints being big beasties causes a rather perplexed expression to appear on his face. "They are?" He thought they were smaller. Rat-sized, in fact. But then he spots John's grin, and his face clears. "Ohhh, aye. Aye, of course."

Hopefully John wasn't banking too much on that particular description of them actually working. But...on the off chance Aeryn hasn't actually picked up on that yet, Jamie decides sticking to the subject of Stacy shooting people black holes is a better one.

"I've no idea," he admits. "What I was going to say earlier is that she's been hurt in the past, and again more recently, so she's not able to do everything she once could. Anyway, we still don't know half of what she can do even without that. I do know the one time we had to use a black hole we had to travel to it."
youmissed: (313 girly straws astronaut approved)

[personal profile] youmissed 2011-11-09 04:47 pm (UTC)(link)
John makes it a point to ignore that look Aeryn gives him. The what the frell are you on this time one. It's like him telling her about Santa Claus and the Superbowl - as far as she's concerned, they both sound ridiculous: big guy in a red monkey-suit squeezing through chimneys ("impossible", she insisted...once he explained what a chimney was) and the Superbowl was awesome commercials and bunch of muscle guys going at it over a ball ("why do they have that much padding?" Aeryn had asked. "Practically coddling in field exercises.").

So in other words, John thinks Aeryn misses the point about what's so great about Earth culture more often than not and that he might need a break from explaining it to her.

John busies himself sticking himself almost nose-deep in his alien booze as Jamie explains, John from the back flashing a thumbs up. You got it, champ, it says.

"Travel to it or through it?" That gets John's attention. That and the little itch in his head. John reaches up to rub his fingers through his hair as he exchanges glances with Aeryn. "So basically she's more organic than anything else. We're waiting on her time table."

That he can understand, thanks to Moya. John's surprised that Jamie is so casual about it. Maybe after the first couple of Close Encounters he got used to it or went right past the shock factor to blind acceptance.
Edited 2011-11-09 17:37 (UTC)

[identity profile] becoming-more.livejournal.com 2011-11-10 09:54 am (UTC)(link)
Aeryn sneaks another look at John, concerned. "Travel through it?" she repeats. Black holes aren't the same as wormholes; surely he realizes that. Surely he hasn't gotten that desperate to return home. She doesn't miss Crichton's little rub against his temples either.

She shakes her head a little, getting back to the subject at hand. "Like Moya," she muses. "Does Stacy communicate with the crew often?" Since there's no Pilot intermediary, the fact the ship can 'speak' at all fascinates her.
bonnypiperlad: (you can't be serious)

[personal profile] bonnypiperlad 2011-11-13 10:27 am (UTC)(link)
"To it," replies Jamie, giving John an odd look. Who in their right mind would travel through a black hole? That is, if it could even be done. He'll be the first to admit that he's not the best person to ask about how a lot of space travel works, but even he's fairly sure that it's not possible to go through them and come out the other side in one piece.

At least, he really hopes not, because the reason they were there in the first place was to get rid of the Nightmare King, and the thought it could have survived is not a pleasant one at all. "There was something we needed to get rid of, and the only way to do that and make sure it wasn't going to come back was to go there. I can tell ye about it if ye like, but..."

He's not at all sure that they would want to hear about it. Stacy seems a much better topic. "Anyway, Stacy is the one that ye hear in your head, when ye first wake up. And she does talk to us from time to time, usually when there's an announcement of some sort. Like one of the missions. But there's other times she'll talk to us as well, and ye might be able to get her to talk to ye if you're lucky. Who's Moya?"
youmissed: (s1 :|)

[personal profile] youmissed 2011-11-14 11:18 am (UTC)(link)
Why's everyone giving him that look? At this point, John can't say what is and isn't possible in this particular end of the universe. A few days ago he didn't think he could get teleported out of his bed, so he thinks it's a fair question to ask -- for all he knows, the physics are all weird out here and you could travel through a black hole.

Still, Aeryn has a good point with her question. He figures it's a perfectly valid one. Another living ship, no idea yet if there's a Pilot, and it'd make sense to figure out if there's a way to talk to whoever's steering this boat. It's gotten to the point that he's stopped thinking of the ship as a who and not a what as weird anymore.

"So she's piloting then and we're all along for the ride basically." John says, thinking aloud. He's lost in thought for a moment until he looks up, blinking at Jamie. "Moya? She's another ship. Living like this one. Kinda. Probably not the same species. Less slimy, I'd say."

That's the term, right? Species? Moya's just as much a living creature as anyone else. As as temperamental as Moya can get sometimes, at least she doesn't run around the universe drafting people for her crew. John still wants to know how Stacy even did that. He exchanges looks with Aeryn, frowning, thinking the thought's got to have crossed her mind at some point in between all her PK tactical assessments. What worries John is this kind of tech falling into the wrong hands: think the Peacekeepers were bad enough? Think of them armed with the power to just shanghai people from wherever they wanted, no matter how far they ran into the Uncharted Territories. Scary thought.

[identity profile] becoming-more.livejournal.com 2011-11-23 12:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Well. That's a pretty definite method of dealing with one enemies. Aeryn raises her brows and gives Crichton another meaningful look, ever so slightly impressed. And worried.

"A Leviathan," she appends to Crichton's description, going for the succinct route. Now back to business.

"How do we get Stacy to talk?" Because Aeryn, for one, doesn't like the idea of being 'along for the ride'. Not without a few questions answered first.
bonnypiperlad: (thinking)

[personal profile] bonnypiperlad 2011-11-24 09:07 am (UTC)(link)
Normally Aeryn's explanation would have brought about a confused look, but luckily John mentioning this Moya was another living ship means that he actually can figure out what the word means - more or less. It's close enough that he nods in understanding before answering the her question. "Well, ye just ask her, I suppose."

The question, though, is where? The only time he's really talked to her was when she was already addressing the ship as a whole, so he has to think for a moment where might be a good place to try otherwise. "Maybe in one of the Sensoriums. I'd say that's likely the best place to let her know ye want to speak with her. Although sometimes if she's talking to us about something else that's happened on the ship, ye might be able to try from other places then. I'd not say that happens very often, though."
youmissed: (yep)

[personal profile] youmissed 2011-11-26 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"So it's not as easy as picking up the phone. Have you ever talked to her yourself?" John figures it's worth asking. Maybe it's a really obvious question but sometimes those are the ones you want to start asking first, in his experience.

There has to be a way to try to locate and contact Moya if she's not already docked here. Despite what he's been telling Aeryn about them needing to stay and check things out for a bit, ultimately he does plan to try to jump ship and get back to the others. Hell, Moya's his closest thing to home these days. At the very least they need to be told about this Ohm thing and pointed in the opposite direction so they could book it to wherever the Uncharted Territory's version of Switzerland was floating around.

[identity profile] becoming-more.livejournal.com 2011-11-30 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, hold on, Crichton." Aeryn puts down her glass. "That doesn't sound too hard. It should be easy enough to find a Sensorium that's open and address her directly. Has anyone ever tried that?"

Somehow she doubts it's as simple as Jamie's made it seem, but even without a Pilot, Aeryn thinks there still has to be some way to get the ship's attention.
bonnypiperlad: (thoughtful)

[personal profile] bonnypiperlad 2011-12-02 08:01 am (UTC)(link)
"Aye, I have, but not in the Sensoriums. It should work, though." He just figures it's the easiest way to get her attention, since she's using your thoughts to create everything in there anyway. Although, it occurs to him there might be another option they could use, if it didn't work. "Ye might be able to talk to her in the Obs deck too, come to think about it."

He darts a look between the two of them over his glass, taking another drink from it a second or so later before setting it down again. All this questioning about how to access Stacy has him wondering why they want to know so badly, and he decides to just go ahead and ask about it. The worst they'll do is simply not tell him what they want, right?

"Was there something specific that ye needed to know about? If it's your friends from home you're worried about, they're likely somewhere in the pods."