Cycle 1 - Disolution

Jul 8, 2025 12:08 am
Cycle 1 - Disolution


Dice roll- 62(d100)


Within a fraction of time, you find the answer, in the empty space between the atoms where the darkness thinks, you know the mesa is right, logical, compromised of risk and opportunity. You can find solutions for what is lacking.

With a silent scream of tortured atmosphere, the droplet punches violently through the mesa's obsidian skin, its friction-blistered surface carving the glassed formation. Sand and rocks liquefies, splatters, and cools instantly, the air snapping in protest. Heat blooms, searing and acrid, ozone-tainted, kissed with sulfurous fumes. A baptism and your arrival.

Then, stillness.

Slowly, deliberately, the metallic droplet dissolves in a hiss of caustic vapor, leaving a skeletal husk behind; twisted, brittle strands that resemble bone more than metal. The fumes linger, sharp and biological, a pungent reminder of transformation. Amidst this freshly etched, scorched cradle lies your shell; the Scīœn unit.

A moment, a ripple of awareness, and the Scīœn stirs. Shards of skeletal metal snap, then scatter into the desert’s winds, unveiling your bodies beneath. Your sensors sweep methodically, greedily absorbing data: air pressure, wind speed, electromagnetic whispers. No threats, immediate or visible.

The desert wind sighs mournfully around you, rasping grains of sand grinding softly against obsidian ridges. The sun dips low, painting elongated shadows across barren dunes. The mesa stretches out beneath an ethereal sky, unknown yet strangely familiar.

Iridescent waves paint the twilight with magnetic strokes, the static background that results is filtered out and within its atrophy; rhythm you find logic, communications, intelligence. A one way invitation laced in potential and danger. You focus your sensors, filtering out the broad waves.

You collect data on bushes and crawling insects that your sensors logs and filters. As ascertained, bio-mass is scarce, but present. The field will grow, even if the results will be limited. You know that there are means to mitigate these issues.

Later issues.


Within you chimes the seed, a whispering promise and burden. Dormant potential thrums in your core, waiting impatiently to burst forth, to claim this virgin cradle as its own.

https://res.cloudinary.com/dtjjgiitl/image/upload/q_auto:good,f_auto,fl_progressive/v1751935578/hq0iyy7b1yvcjddhysk4.jpg

"It begins," your thoughts ripple outward, tasting the emptiness contained in the still air, your solitary entity, vast in purpose yet small in presence, poised on the brink of your own demise. You step forward, your limbs steady, mechanical and fluid, sensors alert. You wander, for a hook, a revelation to greet your awareness with possibility.

"ENOUGH!" Your mind reels into focus. Odd but natural, Error prone, This world does not yield its secrets to you yet. You will need to tame it first, or break it, it does not matter which. Results matter.

How will you plant your flag:

1. Immediate Survey (Orbital Recon)
Call down the Arkītect’s orbital sensors to quickly identify an acceptable planting zone. This ensures rapid deployment of the Exophage seed, limiting your exposure but potentially sacrificing optimal long-term growth for expedited results.

2. Curious Assessment (Ground Recon)
Conduct a thorough survey on foot, curiously exploring the mesa to personally identify opportunities. Slower, but grants precision and reveals vastly more information than could otherwise be gathered. You might gain strategical insight, personal and more usable data. But you might lose it all.

3. Long-Term Planning (Strategic Optimization)
Forego immediate planting to analyze geological stability, resource distribution, and future expansion options. This meticulous preparation maximizes the long-term strategic advantage, but prolongs vulnerability during this crucial phase.

4. Other - Write In.
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Jul 8, 2025 10:33 am
We must be strategic in this endeavor. We have already made the safe choice to go where we have such limited resources in lieu of secrecy, we have time to decide where we shall plant.

We must take our time and focus on strategic optimization. During this time the Mirage Imagina should keep us safe from the local biomass. We have given ourselves time, let us use it.
OOC:
DM Note: Player votes for strategic optimization, acutely aware of the nature of their time and how to utilize it. Thank you for playing Cycle 1!
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Jul 8, 2025 1:12 pm
So it begins. With a big crash and a big dust cloud setting down. As we receive the huge wave of data captured from our senses, a clear image of our surroundings forms.

The mesa, in all it's expanse. Very similar to us, in fact, scarce in immediate resources, but abundant with dormant potential.

The Mirage Imagina will keep us hidden from any threat, but it will not hold for long if any creature wanders in by accident and stumbles into us.

No. Time is scarce as well. We must immediately survey the terrain to find an adequate planting zone for deploying the Exophage seed. It might limit us long term, but it will be the starting point for growth, and once we're ready jump into the delta where there are more than enough resources and biomass.
OOC:
DM Note: Player votes for immediate survey, bringing an enlightened perspective of urgency while displaying their drive for long term expansion in mentioning the very real possibility of capturing the other zones once adequately prepared. Thanks for playing Cycle 1!
Dice roll- 7(1d20)
Last edited July 8, 2025 7:39 pm
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Jul 8, 2025 2:36 pm
The cold mind weighs the options and is drawn to Long-Term Planning (Strategic Optimization):

The Mesa was chosen for its security so that we may take the time to optimize without outside interference. Initial scans confirm original analysis. This area is barren, active threat level minimal. Because the area is Barren, careful site selection required before Exophage deployment.

Rapid deployment risks sub-optimal growth that may compromise future expansion. Once we determine what resources are available to us, we can deploy the Exophage and begin cultivating Vōrellīum on a limited scale. For now our needs are small as are our risks.
OOC:
DM Note: Player votes for strategic optimisation, reflecting on the opportunistic nature and initial reasons for, the mesa zone and how to usilise what it offers to compensate for what is lacking.
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Jul 8, 2025 2:44 pm
Maxpower; you feel compelled to roll a d20 and to add the result in your post.
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Jul 9, 2025 1:05 am
The entire point of coming to this barren land was its isolation. Without any ready sources of energy or biomass it is best to continue acting conservatively. The Scīœn is strong enough for a preliminary assessment of the area. Once the idea planting site is located then the Exophage seed can be planted where it can maximize the pitiful resources of the area. It is best to keep the Arkītect’s orbital sensors in reserve to help plan the expansion phase after this area has begun to produce. The key is to remain isolated and uninteresting until ready to expand. Once the expansion begins then the risk increases greatly.

While scouting it is important to identify potential targets for the Terror Anchor. If the region is truly barren then it is likely home only to small resilient bio-forms. However there is a chance that some larger forms may still reside or migrate through the area. Should that prove to be the case the a guardian to watch over the initial slow growth will be required. But if none are a threat then the next best targets will likely be near the borders of richer territories and can help with the expansion.

Long-Term Planning (Strategic Optimization)
OOC:
DM Note: Player votes for strategic optimization. Displaying great clarity and putting inphasis on the abundence of choice. Opportunity promotes positioning, which grants power Thanks for playing Cycle 1!
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Jul 10, 2025 11:23 am
I would go for 1. Immediate Survey (Orbital Recon). I want to end the phase when I am alone as quick as possible. I want strenght in numbers. I fear being overtaken during a longer survey. I feel that I am too precious for theses tasks. I can always optimise and adjust later once I deployed and have expendible entities.
OOC:
DM Note: The player votes for immediate survey. Using pragmatic reasoning, seeing themselves as a ruler more then an opportunistic creature driven by fear. If They expires, the possibilities expires.

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