Diplomacy Game #1 - Story Thread

[Velociryx]

{{Author's Note: We’re still a few days from the start of our Diplomacy Game, but I wanted to introduce the story thread and do something to set the tone for the game. For those of you interested in following along, but not actively playing, the map being used is one of my own devising. It contains none of the “standard” landmarks that we’ve all gotten used to, and I’ve done all I could within the parameters allowed by the scenario editor to bring back a very “alien” feel to the game (let’s face it, after several months of playing, having the Garland Crater pop into view just doesn’t have quite the same impact it did the very first time you saw it). To that end, I have done all I could think to do to make this map as intriguing as possible, and there are a number of entirely new landmarks to explore…..}}
-V.
***

PlanetFall:

Exactly three microseconds before the reactor core blew on-board the Unity, the ship’s central computer sent the following burst transmission to all escape pods:

Planetary Survey: ****Incomplete – Interrupted by emergency system shutdown and override.

Anomalous Findings:
****Power Sources Detected:
Type: Unknown
Total Peak Output: Unknown – Est. at 2.03x10(3) GW
Scatter Pattern: Non-Random

****No Significant Industrial Development or Mass-Habitations Detected (Note: Rock composition made a below-surface scan impossible and inconclusive)

****Anomalous structures found which do not conform to any datalink entry re: GMT (Geologic Modeling Template)
Type: Unknown
Composition: Unknown
Scatter Pattern: Non-Random

****Conclusion: Based on preliminary analysis, it is Probable (77.3%) that these conditions point to evidence of some previous, sentient civilization.

Lifesign Scan: ****Indeterminate. Probable (86.3%) indigenous flora and fauna, possible (38.2%) other lifeforms.

****Transmission Ends****

[This message has been edited by Velociryx (edited September 24, 1999).]

[Velociryx]

***Shortwave transmmission picked up, MY 2136. Signal was weak and the sender was unable, apparently, to receive any sort of reply***

This is William Roberts, Morgan Industries Comm Hopper Echo-Jasper-Oh-Seven-Niner, transmitting to anyone in range. We have landed safely and colonization efforts are underway. Should anyone be in need of assistance, we will be monitoring all frequencies round the clock in an effort to establish trade and communications.

Specifically, our science teams are anxious to compare notes about the Aging Phenomenon we have been seeing since our arrival. We have concluded that it seems to be some side effect of the strange Fungus which grows rampantly in some parts of the landmass we’ve landed on, and it seems to affect both living and non-living tissue. We have recently come across some clearly alien structures here which point to some ancient and highly advanced civilization. Our best dating techniques put them at several thousand years old, and yet everything that we have found appears to be fully functional, even if we do not understand precisely what those functions might be.

***Long burst of static***

....I say again, this is William Roberts, Morgan Industries Comm Hopper Echo-Jasper-Oh-Seven-Niner, transmitting to anyone in range....is anyone out there?....

***faint, indeterminant background noise, and the garbled, half-heard sound of someone else talking***

.....No.....I don’t think anybody’s listening.....or if they are, then they can’t respond.....or maybe they can and we just can’t hear them.....

***More static***

.....will be monitoring these frequencies round the clock.....

***Transmission breaks up, and nothing further is heard.....***

-=Vel=-