Rolling in progress! It'll take a while longer than they usually do, I gotta get used to writing rolls again :p

EDIT : Here we are! This is the first part of the roll, seperated from the rest because I have a few questions for you guys.

Chernogradost-Golgotha Popular Directorate - Kebbit
[1 = 6 (reroll)] From his secure but well decorated office within the heart of the Crown of Thorns, the Overcaptain flips through a number of preliminary reports about the colony before he began to relay his orders using his computer terminal and the radio system connected to it, carrying his commands along the ship's fiber optic nerves to their destination, the bridge. "Proceed further toward the great work of ensuring housing for our entire population within the security of the mountain." The colony already had enough housing for the entire population, but if they ever wanted to expand, to thaw the rest of the colonists, then they would need to expand. His orders were broken down into tasks, then relayed to the work crews with quick, mechanical precision. Immediately, they set to work, driving ten of their multipurpose machines into the mountain once again, ones that had already tasted the rock of the new world and found it just as easy to eat as any on Earth.

He switched to an external camera and watched the miners set to work, carefully spinning up their diamond tipped drills before boring into the rock walls. Suddenly, there was a bang and the ground rumbled as they towed a machine out, the drive shaft cracked, but after a quick tending to by a few technicians, it was back to work in no time at all. Lights were carefully installed into the roof of the cavern, linked to the colony ship's power plant. Stalactites were cut down and their ground based brethren flattened, the entire cavern smoothed out and removed of any obstacle that could impede the movement of the machines or harm a careless colonist. Elsewhere, the first excavations began, a few feet from the existing housing blocks. The machines dig out a wide and deep area, three stories high, then smash the stone down into smaller blocks, used to reinforce the barricades outside the front of the mountain.

And of course, in front of the small, gated cave at the furthest back of the colony, the tunnel under twenty four hour surveillance and armed guard at all times.

As soon as the miners are done, the builders move in, re-purposing the machines again and turning them into forklifts and other such tools as they divide the three stories into three floors, connected together by a series of balconies in turn linked to their equivalents near the entrance, creating a design that is efficient, easy to defend and easy to build. Whereas the houses near the entryway were quickly built, so as to get everyone out of the colony ship as quickly as possible, these have had more care put into them, more effort in both construction and design. They are taller, harder built, with more room, even a separate dining area on the ground floor to be used communally by the entire household, quickly giving them the reputation of being luxury homes, though it did cause a reduction in the amount of units they were able to build. They are the beginning of a new "middle class" housing area, for low ranking officers, bureaucrats, engineers and scientists, with the entry way being known as a lower class area for enlisted grunts, technicians and others.

[9] Next, he turns his attentions into ensuring that his people have a more than adequate food supply. A diet of kelp and prawns is enough to sustain a man, true, but it's not enough to make him fierce and strong in either body or mind, yet alone raise their morale. So he issued another order. "Burrowed drip-irrigation lines are to be laid within an area ten klicks square by the mouth of the fortress (here designated Ensk-CGPD), directing our water excess into the creation of a bloc of moist arable land. Researchers from our Agricultural Committee will oversee and direct this work, selecting prime rice cultivars from our gene bank and any other crops which may be suitable."

For the builders, it was a simple enough task. They drove out and set to work, creating a valve at the end of the water pump to allow them to divert flow directly into the fields as needed, even using some of the stone dug up by the excavations to help protect the buried pipes as the settlement begins to grow into a town proper, given the name Ensk-CGPD by the Overcaptain, though the settlers quickly shorten the name to Ensk. Near the colony ship's gene vaults, the Agricultural Committee begin narrowing down the possibilities, using the ship's sensors and various instruments to analyze the climate as best as they can before a few scientists depart from Ensk to do some field research, hoping to get some better information. Finally, they return at sunset, change clothes and one of them arrives at the Overcaptain's office to give them their results.

A regretful scientist from eastern Poland wearing the green and white uniform of the Agricultural Committee salutes the Overcaptain with fear...then he begins to explain. "I am sorry, comrade-Overcaptain, but the fields...they're not suitable for rice. The water pump system loses too much pressure over such a vast distance...and the nutrients..."

Silence reigns supreme as the Overcaptain looks at the agronomist from across his stone table, crafted from the same bedrock that the colony used as its foundation.

"However! All is not lost!" he says with a reassuring - but fearful - smile, "We have a number of suggestions that should...well, could work. We have come up with this plan, here," he passes a small ten page report to the Overcaptain. The first six pages are nonsensical agricultural information about nutrient and mineral mixes, as well as predicted rainfall, but the last four are a clever plan for a large, square grid of four by four farm plots, each growing something different and set to rotate from one field to the next with each harvest, ensuring that the soil would never be depleted and that the colony would always have some variety in what they choose.

The Overcaptain reaches onto his desk, hand hovering over his sidearm - to the scientist's momentary terror - before casually picking up his stamp and signing the report off, passing it back to the scientist...who quickly left without a word, heading to the gene vault. There, sixteen different species are selected with the utmost care, even if they were only being planted in the smallest of quantities. From top left to bottom right, they chose : barley, potatoes, oats, onions, maize, Armenian cucumbers, soybeans, peas, cabbages and sugarbeets. The remaining fields, rather than producing purely edible crops were instead used to farm seasonings, such as paprika, garlic, mustard and black pepper, while the final two were set as orchards for oranges and lemons, the only section that would stay constant. Of course, the colony ship - despite having an enlarged gene vault - didn't carry enough of each seed to fully cover such large fields and even then they only took two thirds of each to leave some spare in case the harvest was lost.

Then they set out with a small military escort to ensure that the colonists were safe in the event of an alien ambush. When the Agricultural Committee arrived at the fields, they were surprised to see that they had been created exactly to the Overcaptain's specifications...with a few additions.

Using the remaining stone from the excavations proceeding at Ensk, the builders had created a large barrier around the fields, four feet high and covered with earth, steep and difficult to climb over, with a single gate that had to be moved by hand. In the center of the grid was a storage shed for holding machines, seeds and anything else that might be useful, attached to a bunkhouse...and a large, tall observation tower, clearly designed for a sniper team and equipped with a good radio to stay in constant communication with Ensk-CGPD. What else could have been expected when military engineers built civilian infrastructure?

The Agricultural Committee quickly planted the seeds with their machines and started irrigating the fields. A dust storm started to rise, kicking up against the fields, but the earthen wall easily protected the fragile plants while the group retreated into the bunkhouse to wait. The day grew hotter and drier as the sun rose in the afternoon, beaming down on them with all its fury. Finally, after a long day ensuring that the seeds had begun to sprout, they returned home to the cheers of most of the population, grateful that they would no longer have to eat prawn cocktail everyday. Though it would take a long time for the fields to be fully used and they were intended only to augment the diet that was already there and provide essential vitamins, it was progress in the right direction.

[10] Finally, with the builders at work in the housing district and the Agricultural Committee at work out in the fields, the Overcaptain had one last thing to do. He sent a messenger - a man from his own personal guard, people he had known for years before the apocalypse - to find Captain Matveev. It had taken only a few minutes, as the captain had been at work supervising the work on the barricades outside the colony ship. The captain was let in alone, the guards returning to their posting outside the room. "You wished to see me, comrade-Overcaptain?" he asked with the utmost respect.

The Overcaptain rose from his chair and walked across the room, to a music player, turning the volume to full before selecting a short song.



Then he returned to his desk and spoke quietly, nearly impossible to hear against the loud music even for a man in the same room, yet alone for any bug that might have been listening in.

"I give you authorization to create a cell of well-armed internal investigators with orders to probe this illicit zone of the ship. Give them isolation suits and maintain constant communication via a guarded wire towed by a designated man - if things go poorly, as I suspect they might, any division of the party will mean murder. If the tunnel contacts are our own, however, do not let our men be the first to open fire! We need answers, not an immediate bloodbath."

Fedot nodded immediately. "Understood, sir."

The song ended.

The captain left without a word to gather his men in secret, the people of the colony believing they were preparing for an expedition into the tunnels beneath the colony. They took a few of the harsh environment suits, removing the hefty life support systems and inserting steel inserts, making them bulletproof to anything less than an assault rifle round at close range. They tied cables around their waists, equipped carbines from the armory and then headed into the unknown in small parties, staying close together even without the Overcaptain's orders. They had watched enough horror movies from the cultural database during their downtime to know that to be alone in the mysterious depths was to risk everything.

With the party well and truly out of communication, the Overcaptain went back to work. The Agricultural Committee was a surprisingly efficient organ of the Directorate, small enough that it could quickly respond to changing situations but big enough to make an impact, even without requesting additional labor from the colony. They had managed to get the fields ready in exemplary time, leaving some officers to suggest the creation of other committees, such as a manufacturing or production committee, not to mention a purpose made defense organization. But that had led to another argument all together around the creation of a public services central committee that would watch over other organizations, naturally including the currently independent Agricultural Committee.

So, the Overcaptain called several colonists to his office, including the head of the Agricultural Commitee, and watched them debate with one another.

"The creation of a single, Public Services Committee, with the Agricultural Committee subordinate to it, would vastly simplify the running of the colony government. The Overcaptain could simply issue an order to the Committee and allow them to see his requests fulfilled. Add a few other subordinates to the Public Services Committee, like for example a...Morale Division, healthcare, water..."

The head of the Agricultural Commitee, a middle-aged woman with thick glasses and graying black hair scoffed. "So, food production would come under the Agricultural Commitee, who would in turn answer to the Overcaptain?"

The engineering officer, just as old as the woman but completely bald and with a face hardened by years of work nodded. "Yes, of course. Is there a problem with answering to our comrade-Overcaptain?"

"Of course not. But here's a question : Who will run the colony's energy supplies?"

The engineer raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Go on, tell us then."

"That depends on where the energy source is coming from, but overall it would be structured like this : The Industrial Commitee would be divided into several subcommittees, such as manufacturing, energy, construction, so forth and so on. Then the energy committee would be further divided based on the category, so a petrochemicals division, a nuclear division and -"

The woman burst out laughing. "So, bio fuels. They'd come under the Agricultural Commitee while they are being grown, then thrown to some...what, Biological Fuels Commitee, processed, then any waste materials would be passed back to the Agricultural Committee and then they would be given to the Electrical Generation Committee! That's four transitions! The amount of red tape would be absurd! Then a fifth shift if you want the "Morale Division" to use the stuff!"

"Come now, it wouldn't be that bad. The bureaucracy could easily be handled by computers and other such things."

The representative of the military, an army general who had personally overseen the security of the Crown of Thorns while it was under construction, a true member of the "Old Guard" and as reliable and steadfast as concrete, broke his silence. "There is no reason it should be on computers anyway, comrade-engineer. That merely makes the system even more inefficient."

The engineer sighed as the woman smiled. "Thank you for seeing reason, comrade-general."

"However, there is need for better organization. Not for some...backwards "Public Services Committee" - what are we, the USSR? - we could stand to make things more efficient. Right now, you, sir, comrade-Overcaptain, communicate directly to the workers when you give an order by radio or through your terminal. Of course, this gets things done and the people like to hear from you directly, but we could stand to make the government run more smoothly by the creation of a...let's just call it the "Central Directorate" for now, with yourself as the head.

"We then simply attach the committees to that. You would simply pass your commands to the "Central Directorate", then they would pass them to the Committees and then to the population. No hierarchy of committees, no red tape."

"But wouldn't the committees simply...fight with one another? Overlap?"

"That seems like a problem, yes, but it's better than your idea... I thin-"

There was a loud bang and the entire room started to shake. The Overcaptain snatched his handgun ready, and the general drew his own weapon as the left wall, a series of briefcases, began rumbling.

Then they slid sideways, into the walls, and a heavily armored man stepped into the room, rifle raised and safety off...till he saw the Overcaptain.

Then he lowered his weapon and removed his helmet. "Sorry, comrade-Overcaptain," Captain Matveev brushed sweat from his brow, "I didn't know this room was yours."

The engineer bolted from his seat to look into the corridor as the general holstered his sidearm.

"Forgive me for my language, sirs...this should be a ♥♥♥♥ bulkhead! Bombproof!"

"Every room has an entryway through the tunnels. We gave the operators on the bridge one hell of a surprise, but we haven't found anyone in them."

"How did they...make the tunnels?"

All eyes turned to the general.

"Don't look at me," he said calmly, "I didn't have clearance for the construction site. That was a separate zone of command. I commanded the mechanized brigades that protected the main approaches, not the site itself. However...comrade-engineer Zakharov, didn't you work on the colony ship during construction?"

The engineer paled.

"Yes, I did. I helped work on the FTL systems...project Pathfinder, certified mathematician, I also helped with the installation."

"Do you have the plans? For the ship?"

The engineer paused, then nodded quickly. "Yes, I think the Overcaptain himself has a copy, too."

The Overcaptain, senses trained upon the battlefields of Europe and Asia, heard the tapping of footsteps in the tunnel as...someone, in an entirely black suit leaned into view, barely illuminated by the lighting.

He raised a gun and fired.

In that moment the Overcaptain's world exploded into frantic action as adrenaline flooded his veins. The general dove past, taking the shot and hitting the deck with a thud, Captain Matveev spun on his heels with his rifle, but the man in black was fast, trying to bolt out of the way, trying to flee into the darkness and Matveev was heavy, encumbered by the armor.

The Overcaptain took a shot...a single shot, no time to aim and no time to think.

There was the scream, of pure agony, of horrific pain, as the bullet connected, the target, so clearly a man now, dropped to the deck.

Time began to return to normal as Fedot rushed over to the intruder, the soldier he was tethered to catching up from down the deck at the sound of the shots. The entire colony ship went to red alert in an instant as Matveev began to laugh, kicking the traitor once as the head of the Agricultural Committee called for a medical team over the intercom.

"You shot his ♥♥♥♥ off!"

The general writhed on the floor, clutching the gunshot wound as medics rushed to his aid and carried him off on a stretcher, the traitor being a lower priority. The engineer rolled up his sleeves, the same blood type as the general tattooed on his shoulder and running alongside the medics. The agronomist saluted before leaving, leaving Matveev, his partner and the Overcaptain alone. His comrade returned behind the passageway, pulling a leaver concealed as a pipe, forcing the bookcases to slide together...leaving a tiny gap at the top, one that the Overcaptain realized had always been there, right at the top of the bookcase that managed to blend into the decor, a small hole as wide as a finger.

As wide as the barrel of a gun.

"With your permission, comrade-Overcaptain, I would like to start interrogating the traitor, as soon as possible, before his friends get time to break him out."

Colony Statistics
Population & Consumable Resources
3996 colonists.
Housing : More than sufficient for entire population.
Food : Yes, with positive food production and storage for four turns.
Water : Yes, with enough storage to maintain water supplies for five turns.
Consumer/luxury goods : No production, but there are more than enough goods to go around.
Industrial Resources
700 units of basic construction materials.
93 heavy machines.
Electricity : Yes, with Excellent supply.
Fissionable Materials : No production or enrichment facilities, but storage is at full capacity.
Military Assets
Thirty soldiers.
Five firehouses.
10 ATV-R vehicles.
Enough equipment to equip three hundred soldiers.
1950 units of military supplies.
25 heavy military equipment.





Okay, just thought I'd say that you got very, very close there Keb :p Not all the dice numbers are shown, especially for background mechanics, etc, but you tied four times.

Then it was a twenty versus a one.

Anyway, I've got some questions for the players : What do you think of the difficulty? Is the game too hard, or too easy? Is the information clear enough?

What about the characters and the overall feel of the setting? Is there enough information, or is more needed? Is the game too focused on characters, or not enough?

And of course...what do you guys think about side missions?

Tell me what you think, guys! This is your chance to help shape Destiny!

Alright, last page, there was a minor action that wasn't a part of Kebbit's main action post, where'd that come from, and how does that pan out, since they seem achronistic. [This could tie into side-conflicts, quests, etc]

As far as focus goes, I think I'd be more comfortable with character intrigue, but that's only especially because of my ineptitude with grander strategy.
Which isn't to say much? What can a hikkikomori that stares at data feeds for days do?

That being said, I'm not sure what is enough information or not. All I know is that I'm gearing in a certain direction, and now I'm overstocked with food. [I'm curious if they like the porters I made, they are weird, but I know at least know a few things I could do with them]
Difficult, same with the above, but at the very least, I know it's not gygaxian.

Ah, that! Yeah, he put a minor action in his post in small letters alongside his normal actions. A minor action is pretty much any action that requests information, or about finding something out. I think it'd be pretty bloody bad if someone had to use one of their main three actions to do something as simple as, say, checking what had been taken from storage.

So, for example, if you wanted to ask what your population thought, that'd be a minor action. However, a democracy (or any nation that shares their design system with a democracy, like a federation) cannot use them to request designs or anything.

It's purely for the gathering of information and interaction with colony NPCs.


Hmmm...the main problem I'm having with giving you content is tailoring things to fit your nation/culture. Keb's nation, for example, is easy to understand but doesn't lack any depth or require me to know what something like a "hikkikomori" is :p

And even then, most colonies don't have special events to deal with right now, but that's by design and by RNG. Others have them, but they're in the earliest stages and thus undetectable...for now.

There's definitely a lot of strategy involved, however If you've got any questions on things you should be doing, hit me up on steam or something and I'll help you out But the first thing every player should do is assure self-sufficiency in all critical needs and give oneself a foundation to build off. Don't worry about having to rush, the colonists aren't going to get freezer burn if they're in suspended animation for too long.

Anyway, I've got a funeral to attend tomorrow, so there probably won't be a post tomorrow, but I've actually got a question for everyone :p

Does anyone have an intact version of the map? Imageshack ate the original and I lost the original files to a corrupted file structure :s I know the rough location of each of the players, but I was hoping someone might know something more precise.

>With Matveev, begin interrogation of the captured man after ensuring that he is in a stable medical condition. Emphasize his options - a prison term, with eventual rehabilitation and reconstructive treatment when technology allows, or deliberate surgical crippling and exile to a certain death.

"You still have something yet to live for, traitor. The Directorate can bring you back to freedom and health, but the state's mercy rests on the demand that you help its people. Can you tell us the reasons for your opposition to the country that bore you from certain death on Earth? Who do you work for? What are their near aims, and how can we save citizens' lives from your misguided brethren?"

>Establish a major electronics forge, with all the necessary chemical washes, etching beams, annealing forges, wafer grinders and vapor deposition chambers needed to turn silicon into the backbone of the colony.

>Announce to my officials intent to establish a system of independent agencies coordinated by rapid computerized monitoring systems, ensuring that corruption vanishes, that the Directorate can quickly respond to any threat and that citizens are measured by work, intellect and fighting merit alone. In this draft phase, order the leadership of the colony to develop chains of command and create a working organization for:

a Labor-Industrial Committee,
a Civil Defense Committee,
a Scientific Committee,
and a Committee for Internal Oversight,
all in addition to the currently established Agricultural Committee.

Great care should be taken in the plan to maximize the benefits of the proposed "information circuit bureaucracy".

a message to other colonies

Hey Kebbit, what was your nation's history and demographic, I forgot the agreement we made.

I think your last guess at the Nundinate's location was Kazakhstan/Central Asia and the Near East Orient.

The sketch I made for the CGPD's assumed regions was:

As for Caek's questions...

I think the game is at a good level of difficulty, as I can't see the background dice that determine things. Challenges to the colony are stimulating and keep the RTD interesting as a whole.

I would be interested in seeing a developing national character and culture for colonies that are not the CGPD.

Side missions are very good as long as they aren't simple quests, but rather opportunities like fallen alien artifacts or unique and risky scientific missions.

I recall early on there was a random event roll once or twice. It resulted in crazy radiation from a nearby war. And two people found alien reactor parts... one of them I recall was part of an energy absorption grille that was extremely efficient.

Not sure about collecting seven dragon red diamonds, though.

The alien wreckage was a textbook example of a good side mission, yeah.

Would be more interesting to have to straddle a fine line between tearing up the place (think, destroy the natural balance, or unstablise the local landscape), and getting bombarded with space flotsam instead of finding five golden rubies in a forest. Though that goes without sayin.


So if anything, my tribe straddled the southern, and western borders of your originating demographics, and includes portions of Mongolia (or at least some sort of tundra, or mountain range, never been really specific), because that's where the Helmseer comes from.
Considering where, I got the concept of the Helmseer from, a homestuck fanfic, I'd probably have to involve the recent advances in Crypto 2, and the divergence of the Grey Tribe, with Second and Third World Countries.
Maybe I should try again, or try harder.

Hypothetically, adoption would come as a result of being able to make/affirm self-governing microcurrencies/loans, and making agreements that were in a pseudo human language and immutable instead of dense legal pretext and always-cunning lawyer-interpretation.

And this is all in part to make the Helmseer seem a bit more probable. In canon, the Helmsman is directly integrated into a ship, or even something else that was about the same size, as the sole control mechanism, expanding their consciousness; in the fan fiction, the introduced concept of a helmseer was different: They were rigged into a massive data feed, and their natural intuitional/cogital talents were more or less harvested by using them as a super computer.

Though in reality, or this game, I'm not sure anyone really has the technology to directly link a person to a machine, but at the very least, she'd need some holistic view of the status quo.

• . . .

> Poll Fourth Net for the Commonwealth's common wealth, and the reception of the Moonmen Automated Porters.


" [In response to the Overcaptain, but in Open Dialogue] Quite a strong message, Captain, though I have more to fear about your contemporaries, than you. My colony is found in a similar situation with excess food and water, but not much else. We have some information about the planet at large. What are your thoughts on a greenhouse? [1 1 3 5 9 15 25 41]"