 March 27, 2014 - 5:38am | Suppose that the air whale was another eorna creation during the 900 years since the day of doom, a sort of hey this thing might help us fend off the sathar. It doesn't make much sense from a biological perspective but from an engineered perspective maybe. And since the eorna have used crystals in their technology perhaps this is one of their creations. However, it proved problematic to control them and while the project was pursued as part of the Great Mission its been shelved. However the team of PCs have penetrated the sathar obelisk and learned that a sathar fleet is on the way. suddenly air cover that could give the worms a rough handling is greatly desired. Enter the ABC quest- PCs must "tag" air whales with control units, which will let them be controlled. Alternately they have proven to be impossible to control directly but a beacon was developed that will draw them to certain location. this beacon must be placed in or near the sathar landing site/assembly area. it will draw air whales which will be more of a nuisance to the sathar as they should be able to deal with them but it will cause them to dedicate assets to the problem. Previously in another thread there had been discussion of the sky-mor: ul-mor that ride flying mounts. these could be involved in this as well. EDIT: I like the beacon idea more than the tagging idea. going beacon over tagging actually makes the sky-mor irrelevant. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 27, 2014 - 5:48am | The Air Whales of Volturnus- a two part encounter and new addition to the ABC quest (or replacement to the ABC encoutners if you dont like them much like me)- recover and repair the beacon. sneak it into a place that would hurt the sathar. The sneak it into a place thing is tough- do you give the PCs holo screens and let them walk it into the area or is it that the eorna know where the sathar landed the last time (900 years ago) and want the beacon to be buried there and remotely activated once the sathar land. Complication: the first sathar landers begin arriving while the PCs are in the area. "Get to the chopper!" Note: if the PCs manage to complete each step of the ABC quest it adds 10% to the chances of the good guys winning the battle of Volkos and this mission could be treated the same way. Its not going to stop the sathar but its cummulative with the other preparations and could tip the scales in the eorna and PC's favor. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 27, 2014 - 5:43pm | I like the idea of air whales being an Ul-Mor creation. I would go with the PCs taking devices to suspected landing locations and then waiting to activate the ones where the landings do happen. The PCs may even have to build these devices and can only cover as many locations as they can make. Then they have to track the air whale hurds and decide which beacons to activate to draw the air whales to the right locations without confusing them. They also have to estimate air whale travel time. The air whales may have a lingering genetically engineered need to attack sathar by scent. -iggy |
March 27, 2014 - 6:38pm | Air whales move at "slow" which is 16-45m/turn or the average of 30m/turn So PCs need multiple beacons. they are not initially available and they are told perhaps at the defense installation (mechanon mounds) The erona dont view the mechanons as truly sapient IIRC so the erona shouldn't view them as a potential ally (or its just part of them being in denial about the mechanons that they dont see them as potential assets against the sathar). PCs venture into the mounds looking for beacon kits now the PCs encounter an advance race of robots and must decide to recruit them for the war effort and obtain beacon kits. This means that they have one certain objective and the other they should choose on their own. A total failure is no beacon kits and no mechanon aid. partial success is beacon kits. and complete success is both beacon kits and mechanon aid. Since we're talking about a retool or rewrite of Volturnus encounters then I also think that the mechanon aid should come from the moderate party within mechanon society not the anti-biological party. Which would mean that the moderate faction goes to war against the sathar. An interesting consequence is that if too many of the moderate mechanons are killed it changes the balance of power in mechanon society toward the anit-biological party. which will bode ill for the future on Volturnus (mechanon revolt could come much sooner). I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 27, 2014 - 9:06pm | But the moderate party could pursuade the anti-biological party to join by playing on their desire to kill biologicals. Maybe they promise to reconcider their anti-biological views after they experiance fighting biologicals. This could kick off internal mechanon debates and rebelions. -iggy |
