Providence Truth Inaugural Broadcast

A signal is broadcast out of the darkness of space, those who have been especially paranoid or those who were inquisitive enough about the truth knew where to tune their receivers, the subspace signal comes on loud at the appointed time, intro music has a fair bit of static at first, but clears up pretty quickly before the face of James Anatoli appears.

Hello everyone it’s me James Anatoli of Providence Truth Radio, your ray of truth in an abyss of misinformation. First off we have some very interesting pair of topics to talk about today that really highlight the state of affairs on Nimbus Station. First, however, I would like to remind all of our listeners about transporter shield. This isn’t a joke — this chemical cocktail is specially made to prevent the transporters from scrambling your brains everytime you are beamed somewhere.

Alright back on track. Now after our brave free speech advocates were violently broken up by the irresponsible goon Spartan Mike, a counter protest was assembled. Well I only call it a counter protest to give them the benefit, but many of the witnesses say it was nothing more but a display of anti-human power. You guys may not believe me in this but this next story apart from being true is also a great example of the double standard. In response to the anti-human propaganda a great man, Jeffery Brooks, called them out for their misinformation. They obviously played the victim to garner sympathy and to get the help of our misguided leadership. How misguided? Well Admiral Lance Thomas happened to be around and only happened to catch the last part of the discussion between Jeff and the anti-human thugs when the thugs pretended to be the victims. The misguided idiot berated Jeff and even went so far as to threaten him! Can you believe that? Threatened for exercising his free speech! Folks I don’t know what is happening to our station but it is not good, we are experiencing a degradation of our nation.

You may think that this is another example of Lance being hard on his men but I have another topic to discuss. We recently had some fine men and women come to the station to take command of a ship. The Captain, Laurena, had caught an X-Wing flying dangerously close to the station. Understandably she went to the hanger and looked for the pilot to berate them for endangering the people of the station. So good so far but the xeno, a splice from another world, just ignored her. Can you believe the nerve of that xeno?! She just completely ignored Laurena and walked away without following the orders of a superior officer! Had Jeff done the same thing he would most likely been arrested and sent to the brig on the spot. Remember that, you wanna know what happened to the xeno? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Do you see what kind of double standards we are dealing with? They can march all over us and ignore our authority with no repercussions but we can’t even express our opinion without threats!

Folks I don’t know what to say about the direction the station is headed in. What I can tell you is that we must resist this sort of tyranny. At first it’s just something innocuous but believe me this is a portent of things to come. We have to fight them every step of the way and show them we are serious. Folks keep fighting the good fight, this is James of Providence Truth Radio signing out.

Music begins to play as the image of James fades to black, then the channel closes.

Strange Sightings of Unknown Woman

Residents of Nimbus Station have reported sightings of an unknown woman roaming the halls of the station. She has been described in a number of ways, some of which are directly conflicting. Some say she is a young woman in her early 20’s while others swear it is a young girl of 9 or 10 years old. In both cases the person looks confused and while most cases have her unable or unwilling to speak, in all cases when the person turns away for a moment or otherwise takes their focus off of the girl, she vanishes. Security reports that no such person has been sighted by security personnel and sensor logs show no additional life signs on the station when the sightings occur. Given the inconsistent nature of the sightings it is possible that some use of holographic or other technology should be considered. Anyone experiencing such a sighting should report it to station security immediately.

Void of Unfinished Plots

Back when I was doing all Tabletop role play we had a guy that would promise to run games a lot. His name was J.D. and the main GM would get tired of running things so, we’d all roll characters in whatever system he was going to run, play one or two sessions and then those character would be in the void, by this I mean we’d never be able to pull them out because the game was always “going to be” continued and J.D. would just drop it.

I try very hard not to do this but there are a number of plots that have been going on for a lot longer than I wanted them to go. To help with that I’d like to invite any players who want to help restart or resolve the current plots to do so. This will also serve as a kind of primer to different kinds of characters we need to add to the role play.

Incomplete Plots

Ok, so here are the plots currently going on that I recall right now, and where they stand. These, of course, don’t involve PSL’s (personal story lines) that are tied to one or two individual people.

Blazing Umbra

Akron Mystery (currently on Act 3)
Political Pressure
- Operation Succubus / Operation Grey Angel
- Racial Tensions
Infinity Wave Investigation (currently on Act 2)

Akron Mystery

The Akron Mystery’s current state is talked about here on the forum but also in these tagged posts. Currently, there is one open thread on the forum where Flask is stuck on the USS Akron. Aside from that I’ve asked repeatedly for someone to go ahead and start playing some creation player-character of the Akron to interact with people and be a problem, that hasn’t happened so I’m trying to figure out a way around it.

What do we need?

Akron currently is in need of scientists and magic specialists to study the Malitae.

Political Pressure

So because of the expansive nature of this plot line, a lot is included within. The basic idea is talked about here as well as here and here of the forum. The basic idea is that Onyx is using covert measures to apply political pressure to undermine Solas Tempus. In doing so, they are attacking the organization on multiple fronts.

Since the game mostly takes place on Nimbus Station, that is where the bulk of the role play is focused. In this, we’ve gone through a few things already and I’d say that the main plot is on Act 4, but that act is going to wait until we’ve completed one of the related sub-plots, which is the Abduction of Megan Shepard, this abduction is part of a larger effort on the part of Onyx and the residual Imperial forces in the Blazing Umbra Universe.

The the abduction of Megan and the rescue efforts are talked about in Operation Gray Angel posts while the Imperial efforts are talked about in Operation Succubus, on a wider-scale the Imperial / Onyx efforts can be also looked at with the Imperial Intercepts category.

What do we need?

While we finally found an interrogator for use on Megan, currently one player is playing the three starships searching for Megan, which is spreading one person a little thin! So we need people who are willing to play additional assets, preferably with ships of some kind to help search for Megan and then later engage Imperial forces.

Infinity Wave Investigation

This mission began with the Infinity Wave that had the entire group stuck in 1509 orbiting Saturn for an extended period of time while the Lilith went to stop the wave from happening. The initial act of this plot saw that Onyx had successfully constructed or obtained some ALR-X Missiles, which were accidentally used on Earth’s moon before the birth of the United Federation of Planets and it wiped out of current timeline. After disabling the missiles, the Lilith returned having allowed everyone to return to the 24th century.

I put out a general call for participants and only found 2 players willing to participate. That’s fine, but we could use some more players to take on this mission. There will be both investigation and combat as things get underway. Anyone wishing to join are welcome and should contact me directly.

Angelic Sins

The main unfinished plot line here is with Symbols in Blood and Sorrow, currently on Act 3 after being reboot. The plot is currently stuck at waiting for players who play witnesses. The overall arc is talked about in this forum thread which has links and goes over the plot to-date. We need people to play witnesses in order to continue this plot. The witnesses should be RPed out, murders will go along with these notes which outline the kinds of things people would be seeing. I’d like to get a few people to actually play these witnesses.

Embers of Soteria

The generalized overall plot of Embers of Soteria is really about how the veil between worlds is breaking down. The current incarnation of this is in the Daemoni Attack. Since it is just beginning there is a lot of room to play in. Right now, experts in magic (and counter-magic) are needed, people who are knowledgable in monsters, spirits, and demons. Anyone wishing to play in this arc is more than welcome to do so.

Daemoni Attack

Hunters and others moving through the Eras Forest and beheld rips in the air sending forth ghosts in droves, all throughout the woods these things appeared seeking out anyone and everyone who was alive, even larger animals were attacked. No one has yet come up with an answer for this tragic loss of life, several dozen hunters are reported as dead along with a group of young children, gathering firewood and berries to bring home to their mothers waiting arms. The things would encircle their pray once threatened or attacked themselves, circling faster and faster around the person would slowly die, loosing the essence of life itself!

Mistress of the Souls Templar, Lisa Thompson, was herself attacked and some two dozen of her soldiers were killed leaving her alone alive when a woman came to her aid and saved her. Mistress Thompson would not explain how, but she did say;

There are no things that cannot be bested, no things that cannot be killed, and if these creatures of evil wish to fight we will oblige them and they will know our resolve either burning to dust with our magic or a sword sticking out from their guts. We will prevail, there is no question, that is a promise upon the Old Gods.

While the Mistress’s words have comforted many, others still wonder about the details. Stories tell of the things simply stopping their attack for no reason and moving off to the north. Scouts have been send out from a few different towns, but so far none have reported seeing them again. Certainly it is a thought that chills to the bone, what could cause such creatures to stop and why then did they not vanish but instead moved North? There are no answers today, but perhaps tomorrow some will be found.

Fight Over Barrier

Mysterious ship that appeared near barrier few days ago was today attacked by Solas Tempus strike force after getting confirmation that crewman that disappeared are aboard.

STV Epoch and 2 squadrons of Peregrine fighters accompanied by Jaina and Tal Ravis in their own fighters (X-Wing and Scimitar respectively) attacked the heavy-armed vessel. During the attack the ship responded with their own squadrons, destroying at least 2 fighters in initial contact. Shortly after pilots of Peregrines started feeling weird about whole fight, some even fleeing field of combat. This was later confirmed to be a form of psionic attack known as Battle Meditation. Reports from the Epoch crew show that they suffered similar symptoms.

We received statement from one of pilots, flight officer Gabrielle Valenzuela;

It was like back head feeling that you are about to die, you instinctively want to run, find safe place, it was hard to resist, I was among ones that did run away. I’m not proud of that but it was like that, I was afraid of death. Hell I couldn’t even believe that we all risked life for one random person! Now I do feel bad about it, after all every life is important.

After ship defences were lowered, strike team composed of Jedi Master Reman and Tobi Angelos beamed aboard to search ship for missing personnel and Jyn. After they found Jyn the strike team was forced to fight through her own enraged attacks, before Jyn managed to injure Reman who holds to the story that he allowed this to happen. Just before getting tackled to ground and was knocked unconscious. Jyn is currently resting in sickbay, her status has not been made public as yet, though it is known she is allowed select visitors.

The crew of the unknown vessel informed Solas Tempus that it’s designation is INV Raven’s Hand, an Harrower Class Dreadnought. The last words of it’s captain, before one of Sith aboard killed him, asked Captain Leonard of STV Epoch to keep his crew safe. The safety of the crew of the Raven’s are of course being held safely in Solas Tempus custody abiding by the standards of humane treatment of prisoners. Solas Tempus released a statement ensuring that the crew will be treated with dignity and respect during their questioning and debriefing. The future of the enemy vessel is unknown, Solas Tempus declined to comment but rumors suggest the vessel may be either stripped down for research or perhaps refit and introduced into the fleet.

Helping Me Out / New Category

Managing Updates

I have spent a long while trying to figure out exactly how I was going to keep up with everything going on. People are making their own stories but I don’t have a lot of time to keep up with what’s going on in them. This is an excellent problem to have but I had to discuss things with Staff in order to decide what to do about it. I want to keep everyone updated on what’s going on but I don’t have time to be updated myself! Thus, I’m opening up this WordPress to be contributed to by anyone who runs a story.

Anyone can join the site and after verification of who you are on Discord (anti-spam reasons), a Staff member can upgrade your access. Contributors cannot publish directly but their posts will be saved to be reviewed by Staff and published once they are cleared. This is so we can maintain consistency on what is posted where and the like.

Thus, I encourage all of our players who run stories to please join the WordPress and when appropriate make a post about what’s going on to keep everyone informed. Once it is saved it will get reviewed and posted. This will make a significant difference in the ability of our site to flourish.

New Area

We’ve also added a new posting area, Liz (Imperatoris Lacerta#8924) is going to start helping us out with the general political tension in Blazing Umbra by doing an Alex Jones style broadcast / postings here. The new area is called Providence Files and will have a very similar feel to it’s real world analog.

Ghostly Writing Prompt

So in coming up with the new monsters for the Embers of Soteria Setting and what they looked like I ran across a lot of images of ghosts and the like, most of which are clearly really bad photoshop stuff. The image here is no exception, but I like the image none the less.

I’m inviting everyone to look at this image and create a paragraph or more about it, what’s going on there? Who are the ghosts? Is someone watching them go down the paved road? Is another ghost watching them? Are they really ghosts or is this a Scooby Doo scenario? Just… Go fun places with it.

Upcoming Staff Elections

Starting today we will be going through nominations for Staff members. Existing staff will not continue their places unless they are both nominated and win except for those members of the SysOp group who are preeminent staff members. The purpose of holding nominations for so long is to allow those server members who are not online very often a voice. The election process will begin and elections will be held starting on September 14th and go until September 28th (the server’s birthday).

Number of Moderators

So far the poll on how many moderators there should be is centered pretty heavily on 4 moderators. So we’d then have a total staff of 3 SysOps and 4 Moderators. Thus, the election process will take the 4 nominee’s with the highest votes (see further down for details).

Criteria for Staff

Before nominating staff members consider the following suggested criteria for staff members.

Be able to remain calm and rational even while being insulted, trolled, or otherwise baited.
Be able to assist others with role play and writing; such as creating NPC’s to facilitate role play or help refine ideas during the creative process.
Create a foster a creative environment that is safe to express new ideas in.
Exhibit a lot of patience in the face of problems, particularly the attitudes of others.
Is well spoken and articulate while also not being afraid to speak up to other staff members or SysOps

I would like to build a server where the staff supports each other and the server. Thus, any one person having a bad time of things or perhaps losing their cool has the other 6 staff members to rely on to reign them in and keep things steady. As such, anyone elected to a staff position should be willing to listen to their fellow staff members.

Nomination Process

Nominations will be done via DM and the source of nominations is kept private and will not be disclosed. Once nominated, the person will be contacted privately and asked if they would like to accept the nomination. If they do not accept the nomination, their name will not be released onto the server. Public nominations will not be recorded and are considered to be unacceptable.

Nominee Approval

There is also the potential for a reverse-nomination, that is if a person would like to bring up a potential nominee who they feel would not make a good staff member, they are required to do so via DM to a SysOp only, public declarations against a potential nomination are not acceptable in any way. In the event of the nomination of someone who 2 or more people have presented concerns with, the SysOp’s will privately decide if the nomination should stand. Again, this will be kept private.

Election Process

Once we have the final nominations in place after the 2 week period, elections will be held. If there are 4 or less people nominated it does not mean that they will automatically become staff members, they will still need to be elected.

Number of Votes

Any nominee who gets less than 2 votes cannot be elected to staff even if there are still slots to be filled. This means if we only have 3 nominee’s and only 2 of them get 2 or more votes, we will only elect 2 staff members.

Filling Vacant Slots

In the event that there are still vacant slots after elections, the SysOps will decide if they wish to appoint other members or not. Such appointee’s would not necessarily require to be listed among the nominee’s. The appointing of a new staff member would be voted on by the SysOps alone to fill out the vacant moderation slots. This same process will be used in the event of a staff member leaving the group, unless a SysOp leaves and then the new SysOp will be appointed by myself, the server owner.

More Information on What is Needed

So, I posted a request not long ago for witnesses for Angelic Sins. To help with that, here is a post to the forum about what is happening and what people might witness, to give a good starting point. I also would like to point out a few other things that we need for various parts in the Game.

Thanks to Liz, there is the idea of an Alex Jones (Infowars) style character, which I think is a great idea, I posted a request for this kind of character to the forum. Not only that, but in our story with the Imperials and abducted Commander, it would be helpful to have someone do an interrogator.

I’m trying to push things along on all fronts, so finally here is what I’m looking for for Embers of Soteria. I’d love to get some ideas, it is largely undefined what is coming but we have some pretty powerful characters in play so it should be mysterious and vague at first but end up being huge and incredibly powerful / dangerous.

Requesting Players for Murder Witnesses

So, I’ve been thinking about how to advance the plot in Angelic Sins. We have a murder mystery / supernatural killer plot going on there. A team has been assembled to work on it but I realized they have no work to do yet. Thus, we need to provide witnesses.

To that end, I’m going to be putting it out there for people to bring forward witnesses. We’ll do the RP for the murder’s on the server, live. Most of the witnesses will be NPC’s, more than likely, so people are free to bring a character into that without approval. Some of the witnesses could be full characters as well.

I’d like to get this rolling as soon as possible, anyone wishing to participate, let me know.