Molten Aether FFRP

Overdue Date / Time Bump

Blazing Umbra is in the year 2387 and Embers of Soteria is in the year 1045 A.W.

Usually I do this on New Years Day but missed it this year. Retroactively, the year has been bumped by one. Angelic Sins runs in real time, so that is no surprise there where the year is the current year.

Blazing Umbra is in the year 2387 and Embers of Soteria is in the year 1045 A.W.

Since this notice is coming so late, characters can fudge their storylines to be in 2386 or 1044 for Blazing Umbra and Angelic Sins respectively to maintain continuity. Some other things such as starship launch dates and character birth dates or other major dates will remain the same unless they cause a problem.

Unprecedented Move toward Ubiquitous AI?

The senate has agreed to a period of public commentary where citizens can freely comment on the legislation. They comments will then help to point the senate in the direction which its population wishes them to go.

The rights of Artificial Intelligence programs (AI’s) have been a controversial issue in recent years. Since the founding on the Serenity Concord it has been known as one of the friendliest places for an AI to reside. The passing of the first comprehensive AI rights legislation in known space in 2384 has only increased the draw of the Concord on AI’s.

Still the act is not without controversy and the military organization Solas Tempus has not made things easier. In recent years the organization has begun churning out it’s own AI programs and while the organization claims that it is fair to AI’s and offers any AI they create in accordance with the ALFRE Act there have been controversial decisions made. Most notably the organization’s Multinodal Core technology and using AI’s to manage critical functions of ships and other facilities. While the Icarus League, an AI rights advocacy group based out of Nimbus Station, applauds the opportunities for AI’s to find work and stable places to live they also warn that the use of AI’s by military organizations has not always gone well for AI’s who did not want that kind of life.

The Serenity Concord has put itself at odds with the Icarus League again through a new proposal working its way through the Serenity Concord Senate. The new bill was first penned by Senator Murrika of the Schatten Star System. The bill would provide for new policies relating to most government jobs, especially those in law enforcement and military service as well as some high level government positions. The new act, simply called Senate Bill 2895 right now, would designated that many (if not most) positions throughout the government and military would be required to have an AI partner. Police and other law enforcement / investigation personnel have been long partnered in pairs even in larger teams, this new law would require every law enforcement officer to be partnered with an AI, even if two people are normally partnered together.

The Icarus League has come out against the bill, they acknowledge that it would provide high-level employment for thousands of AI’s but only if those AI’s accept being tied to a flesh and blood person for their employment. The rights group expresses that while this may seem like landmark legislation, it instead takes AI’s back a few steps forcing them to be even more tied to flesh and blood counterparts. They believe that the legislation should be rewritten to include additional rights for if an AI would like to work without a biological life form, which would open the door to AI-AI partners, which is currently very rare. Many law enforcement unions have expressed a similar sentiment that some personnel may not wish to be partnered with an AI and they point out that biological-biological pairings have been a standard for centuries and have shown excellent result.

Solas Tempus has come out in favor of the legislation and has admitted assisting the senator in writing it. They view the legislation has part of bringing a new era of AI-biological relations and point out their Master Systems AI program as a perfect example of why this legislation works. The organization also released some information which was formerly classified as to what a Master Systems AI (called a MSAI within Solas Tempus) does. These released documents outline how an MSAI is a pivotal part of operations on its facilities and space vessels. Such an AI would be capable of taking over an unmanned vessel or one whose crew was incapacitated or killed and not only complete critical missions but also return the crew home. Previously if a starship was to go missing, there was a strong possibility that it may never be found again. They point to records of Starfleet vessels which have been listed as missing for over a century. With an MSAI aboard, a ship could return home even in situations which a biological organism could never survive.

An unnamed source within Solas Tempus has relayed that such pairings are likely to happen within the military organization regardless of the legislative fate. They note that many of the flag officers are paired with AI’s already, those AI’s occupy a position of Master Systems AI for personal transport / scout vessels assigned as part of the organization’s General Order 12, section D. The organization would not comment to verify or deny this assertion, though we did receive a statement from former head of the organization, Lance Thomas.

We have seen significant improvements in both efficiency and effectiveness of flag offers and even command staff through the use of AI’s in mission-critical positions. While I can neither confirm nor deny any current investigations into new orders along those lines, it could be seen as a next logical step. Our AI staff have been pivotal parts of our organization even before the ALFRE act. One also cannot overestimate the need for any living thing, whether artificial or biological, at having purpose. None of us service Solas Tempus out of pride or because we want to amass power or wealth, no we do it out of service and because it is a worthy cause to get behind. One should not second-guess the choices of anyone for choosing to serve. Our organization has never had a draft, we do not press individuals into service – no matter if they are artificial or biological life. We simply do not believe in it. As an experienced command officer, I can also tell you that forcing someone to serve when they don’t want to doesn’t give us anything other than a disgruntled and resentful individual. I don’t want anyone under my command that doesn’t want to be there; AI, Romulan, Klingon, or anyone else. Anyone wishing to discharge themselves from service can do so following the same rules and regulations that everyone agrees to adhere to once the sign up. An AI is no different and will not be treated different.
Fleet Admiral Lance Thomas

This statement from the former head of the organization seems to suggest Solas Tempus could very well be looking into pairing their personnel with AI’s. In doing due diligence we could find no confirmed cases where an AI was forced into service, speaking with many different AI’s they did not believe this was plausible. Multiple AI’s also shared the Admiral’s insistence that they serve the organization out a need for purpose. Rumors within the organization do suggest that some AI’s created for the organization could feel a definite pressure to do what they were designed to do, undercutting the assertion that Solas Tempus does not want anyone, even an AI, to serve unless they wish to be there. The Icarus League refused to go on the record about that issue for any specifics but does say more than one AI created by Solas Tempus has come to see them about options pertaining to a choice to enlist or opt for civilian life. The League was unwilling to get into specifics stating that they wish to keep the details of AI’s seeking their help private.

The New Workflow

Pushing along with the efforts to improve the server and revive role playing, another thing that was discussed in our thread discussing server changes was the fact that storylines are few and far between and people have trouble with coming up with plots. Some of the plot difficulty deals with how powerful Solas Tempus is in Blazing Umbra, however that isn’t the only issue. We’ve gotten similar feedback before, about how easy / hard it is to come up with plots for different settings.

TL;DR: New links to Trello boards are posted (please read on for details):

Moving forward we’re still going to be using Trello for project management but I’ve reorganized the Trello boards to demonstrate how a story idea moves from initial inception to a completed story that has been played. The goal is that every user who wants will have a definite say in what goes on from the brainstorming process onward to actual playing. Our ultimate goal is two-fold. We want to both utilize a system where the work of writing and running new plot lines and through use of that system, teach others how to make use of it as well. I know a lot of people have different workflows, the goal is not to squash anyone’s personal way of doing thing. For the server, the intention is to provide a framework where a project can be started and completed by the group in an understandable and easy-to-follow way.

I am also working on templates for what questions to ask / answer in order to fill in the necessary gaps of a storyline or story element. I will, of course, be seeking input on these as soon as I get them up and running. The idea with all of this is to create a way for more people to make and participate in more stories. To this end story ideas will be posted, even if incomplete, and players / staff alike will be invited to take up and story that is incomplete and continue it.

Following that I will be personally casting a more narrow net with regards to story writing. Personally, I will be only moving forward with stories if they inspire me to the point that the ideas flow out nicely during the brainstorming process or when there is broad support. Previously every time a story idea was brought up, it was followed and an attempt was made to develop it. I will personally be seeking support to write elements of the story from players and other staff members. Ideas will still be posted on a regular basis, Trello makes it incredibly easy to just toss an idea up into the system to be followed up on later. A mix of brainstorming posts and their responses along with potentially polls on Discord will be used to determine support amongst players.

I’m not here to force anyone to use a system they do not want to use. I do encourage people to at least try the new system in developing a story. It may seem too much / overdoing it. My broader idea in this is to allow us to link together smaller plots into larger overarching plots, the way I have tried to do before.

The server cannot survive without plots being written and played. While I have a lot more time than I used to, I also am not able to write everything without getting a serious case of burnout. I hope this redesign and addressing of issues makes it easier for players to get and stay involved.

New Positions Filled

The posting of the positions list has proven very effective in the short time since it went live. We already have 3 of the many positions filled, one in each setting.

In Angelic Sins we now have a new Master Vampire for the city of Chicago, Victoria Romana played by Dasfier. Victoria is going to be a major player in future plots taking place in Chicago, being the most powerful Vampire in the area.

In Blazing Umbra we have the new Master Systems AI of Nimbus Station being Neo Akazuli played by Jumping Script. The old character is seeing new life as an AI as discussed with Jumping Script last year. The character was a valuable addition to the station before and now has new plot opportunities open as an AI and the adjustments that must, by definition, come from being an AI that was once flesh and blood.

In Embers of Soteria we now have an owner of the Hearts Refuge Inn. Previously it was stated to be two local brothers, but this didn’t come into play very often as they were not actual characters. Now the owner is Rachel Oxen, played by Dasfier, a minotaur woman who has an appropriately tragic backstory to build off of.

Please seek out some role play with one of these fabulous characters! Thank you to Dasifer and Jumping Script for their contributions.

Open Positions Lists are Live

A list of key roles for important positions in each game are now live and available. This lists may change, those wishing to apply character for such a list should submit a character application through the forum and note which position they are applying for. There is a dedicated list for each setting and additional positions may be added as needed.

The lists are available on the WordPress site listed under Applications (or you can click here).

Applicants will have their character application reviewed by all the staff and the staff will vote to approve / disapprove or request the player to make changes. Characters in positions of power make for more responsibility for the player. Players should consider how they want to play a particular position and if they have the free time to do so before applying.

Upcoming Server Changes

Our survey on things to potentially change on the server was fruitful and we got some really good feedback and discussion, which is still ongoing as we make some changes. Two of the biggest problems for people were about how character applications are processed both for moderators approving characters and players submitting characters. There was not a lot of love for the Google Forms approach. To solve this we’re going back to something we did early on, that is using the forum for character applications. The difference is now there is a default template that can be just filled out then cut/paste directly into the wiki with minimal modifications.

I will also be creating a list of open character positions soon. The page, Current Positions, is up now but I haven’t filled it in yet. Each setting will have a list of open / available positions in that setting. Once the list is up it will have each open spot with a spot for the location the position is in and any notes associated with that role.

A Potential New Beginning

For the last few years we have consistently hit a wall as to what is available within the confines of each setting and its history / lore. The three separate (but related) settings has its drawbacks. Moving between settings to this point has been treated as a bit of a no-no among players without special permission.

I have long been toying with the idea of finding a way to remake the settings in such a way to divorce them from some of the problematic sources. Star Trek in and of itself can be quite limiting and is not always consistent in its plot elements, we have attempted to smooth these difficulties but as we have developed a cosmology model for the 3 settings we have come to some issues.

The question comes, what do we do about it. I’m not doing anything right away, I still have about 6 weeks in my student teaching. In preparation though, I have created a survey. Please review the survey and give some responses. I’m not going to lie doing this would be a monumental task, depending on what is changed. I would need help in doing it but it would also allow us the opportunity to forge a new game from scratch and make it truly ours / divorced from Star Trek, Star Wars, VtM, D&D, etc..

Revered Ambassador Dies

Federation Ambassador D’Osch passed away today on his way to the station Unity One after brokering a peace treaty between settlers of the Tendara asteroid in territory formerly belonging to the Cardassian Union. The colony, administered by the Unity One space station, has been one of the most hotly contested issues since the Dominion War. Negotiations came to a peaceful close yesterday when Bajoran and Cardassian settlers signed a peace treaty signifying that the two sides are ready to put to rest decades long animosity. D’Osch is well known in diplomatic circles as being a pivotal player in advocating for the rights of all, in line with the highest ideals that the United Federation of Planets represents.

The space station, Unity One, is home to the governing body of the settlement commanded by the Fleet Admiral J. J. Belar Governor of Cardassia and head of the 5th Tactical Task Force. Tensions have been running high since the appointment of the Unity One space station to administer the settlement. Bajorans have been weary of leadership with its origins in Cardassia since the 50-year Cardassian Occupation of Bajor. Cardassian settlers are known to have taken umbrage with objections to their leadership, stating that the occupation was a “long time ago” and perpetrated by a “different Cardassia”. Many of the older settlers are known to have been survivors of the occupation, which is known to have stripped Bajor of its natural resources and made prodigious use of slave labor camps. On the heels of Federation-Bajoran cooperation at Deep Space Nine (formerly Terok-Nor) at the administering of the Bajoran Wormhole to the Delta Quadrant, many questioned the choice to put the settlement under Cardassian jurisdiction. The efforts of Ambassador D’Osch have pulled forth the new component to strengthening peaceful ties between Bajor and their former oppressors.

D’Osch, originally from Corridan, is known to have successfully negotiated some of the most tricky treaties of the modern era, a key player in Dominion negotiations nearly a decade ago. In the wake of his passing delegations from every major power are said to be arriving at Unity One to pay respects in the coming weeks, including Solas Tempus where Admiral Lance Thomas himself is said to be personally attending the service. While no record exists of D’Osch and Admiral Thomas meeting in person, an unnamed source within the Federation Diplomatic Corps states the pair knew each other well and that D’Osch assisted with negotiations between the organization Solas Tempus and the Federation.

The Solas Tempus / Federation treaty is largely seen as the backbone of a mesh of agreements which allow Solas Tempus to operate as de facto protectors of the timeline. If it is true that D’Osch assisted, even in secret, with crafting parts of that treaty it is very likely that he is one of the key members of the Federation to thank for the continued protection against temporal incursion. Admiral Thomas was not available for comment, though Fleet Admiral Sal D’Amico made a public statement earlier today:

A great man has been lost. Our hearts go out to the family of Ambassador D’Osch and we thank him and his family for the contributions made over years of dedicated service. Solas Tempus stands with the D’Osch family and the Federation in shared sorrow and grief, as if he was one of our own. Peace is a difficult thing to come by in our time, beset often by greed and villainy, to quote Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers.” This is certainly true with Ambassador D’Osch. He will be missed.
Fleet Admiral Sal D’Amico of Solas Tempus

In accordance with his wishes, we did not reach out to the D’Osch family for comment. We humbly request that any thoughts be sent through the Federation Diplomatic Corps to the family, the date and time of a public service will be announced by the Diplomatic Corps when set.

OOC Note 1: I know to those in my game this seems a bit weird. Someone on a Facebook group for Sci-Fi renders posted an homage to his grandfather passing. Reading it, I thought of my own recent losses. Since the homage was put into perspective of a Federation Ambassador I requested permission to post this article here. I know that during this pandemic a lot of people have lost loved ones. I hope that perhaps this article, as minor an insignificant as it is in the weight of such loss, brings some tiny morsel of peace.

OOC Note 2: At the direction of the original author to bring the article in line with the story he is writing, I have made some edits / corrections.

Overdue Plot Update

Starting off here with an apology. I have found it difficult to get my shit together and keep plots moving, a recurring problem. Getting back on top of things here is a plot update for everyone.

Blazing Umbra

Bucket and I have decided to reboot the Marine Force Recon raid in the Bone Nebula to reform it into a smaller and easier to manage mission. The new raid will be a small force intent on planting a transceiver into the stations computer network.

The final piece of the puzzle for the Exploring a Derelict plot is almost done, that being the alien entity itself. Once that is completed we should be able to begin the actual game. A most heartfelt apology from me on how long it has taken to go from idea to an actual plot on this one.

Last but not least for Blazing Umbra there is the redone Desert Phone Booth plot. After discussions with Dasfier and others we’ve got a new plot outline up and now we’ll get things set up. In particular a character needs to be created to be the plot antagonist who may be used later (if they survive) in future plots involving Onyx. We’ve always been short on antagonist characters which has somewhat limited plot development. There are other plot elements to outline but assuming everything goes normally we should be able to start the new plot within the next week or so. We will also need a Temporal Operative which I can play myself but anyone wishing to play that part (or the part of the Onyx antagonist) are welcome to drop me a message or ping me on Discord to let me know.

Angelic Sins

My main focus in this setting is the Corrupted Children plot. The setup for the plot is pretty well done but still have not called for players to participate and actually begin the plot. Since I’m just getting a lot of things fired backup, going to probably call for players next week once I have a chance to look over everything again.

Embers of Soteria

Our two primary plots of interest are the Return of the Fae and the Necromancer on Elder Soteria.

For the Return of the Fae we’ve done a call for players already and gotten some response. Ideally I’d like to have at least 2-4 Fae and about the same number of humans. I’m happy to start things with less. As of right now we’ve gotten response from Dasfier and Liz on the forum. Before going on and outlining the first act in more detail, I would like to have our cast of characters who are going to be there. Thus anyone wishing to play a fae or human for this should let me know as soon as you can. I really like this plot idea and am excited to see where it goes.

The return of the Necromancer on Elder Soteria is also in the planning stages. We’ve got out BBEG (Big Bad Evil Girl) and still have to come up with an outline for the first act. I plan to get that rolling by the end of this week and also do the general call for players who want to join. As previously said we already have some interest in this from Dasfier, Chubby, and Bucket. Others are welcome as this is going to set up (along with the Return of the Fae) for the bigger Weakening of the Veil plot.

In preparation for the Weakening of the Veil plot I’ve also started a thread to brainstorm a needed character for that plot. There is going to be an old wise wizard (male or female does not matter) who is going to be the only person still alive which can actually read the magic runes that protect Elder Soteria from the Dark Aether plane. Thus anyone who has any ideas for such a character is welcome to put their 2 cents in. I want to make the character unique and not just an NPC plot device, with the hopes of using them regularly for expositional purposes.

Roundup

I know it’s been a while. I had expected to feel more like doing this stuff while I was in California but I’ve had a really hard time being comfortable sitting down to do things. I’ve mentioned it on the forum and in the chat before, so again my apologies for the plots and stories that I’ve left hanging. I would like to get more going on in Angelic Sins, I like the setting a lot but seems to be the least interesting to anyone. It does not help that I’m not particularly good at horror, it isn’t a genre that I like in media all that much.

Anyone with any ideas about plots or stories to do in Angelic Sins (or anywhere) I invite to let me know. I’m happy to put ideas on the list, though if I’m doing the development it may take me a bit. Everyone is welcome to come up with any of their own ideas and just get approval from the staff too. I will help out in any way that I can to get plots off the ground.

Murderous Children

Officials today reported information on 3 new cases being investigated by the police. In each of these cases the evidence points almost entirely to a sudden and sustained outburst of extreme violence from a child. Each of the 3 cases happened within the last 24 hours and police have not found any commonalities between the cases other than the fact that children are the primary suspect in each.

In the first case, which occurred at approximately 3:03 AM today. Video evidence shows the child, whose name has not been released, running at a young man. The young man, approximately 24 years of age, knelt down and attempted to catch the child appearing to assume the child was in some kind of trouble. The child then gouged the man’s eyes out, pushed him over, and stomped on his throat, chest, and head. The child’s parents were then found having been bludgeoned but still alive. The child was found dancing having painted their face in the man’s blood and rolling the removed eyes along the ground. Police were attacked by the child but EMTs on scene were able to administer tranquilizers to the child, who is now hospitalized.

A similar case at 7:33 AM this morning a child on a school bus attacked and strangled the bus driver while the driver attempted to pull over to the side of the road. In this case there is no video evidence but the students on the bus have remarkably similar stories as to what happened. The child in question grabbed the radio microphone and used the cable to wrap around the neck of the driver and pull tight. Some of the witnesses recall that other children were cheering as the driver was being strangled, though these accounts are confused. The child, along with 4 classmates, is now missing.

Finally at approximately 2:00 PM this afternoon, a child was caught in the fact of stabbing pencils into the face of a teachers aid. The child had already punctured the aid’s brain ramming a series of 4 sharpened pencils through the eye sockets of the adult and into the brain. School authorities pulled the child off and the child is now hospitalized as well.

Police have issued a statement asking for any information about increases in violent behavior. They are exploring several avenues but believe there may be some kind of chemical influence on the children, looking for anyone who has seen strange people around children recently. The public is being asked to be careful of who their children come into contact with until police have more information as to any potential causes.

Anyone with additional information on these incidents are asked to contact the authorities immediately.