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by the inquest
"Arguments on their nature are refuted by those who return to shore, wide-eyed with tales of their savagery."
All Moirans are woken to the sounds of the ship coming to a rather grating halt some time in the early morning cycle. It’s no faster or slower than any other stop, but it is unexpected as the captains didn’t mention an upcoming disembarkment. Shortly after, a message is sent to every MID:Navigation has informed us that we’re approaching bad traveling conditions: an overactive star. Instead of stopping on Liant El, we’ll be docking here on Ceta. Please exercise caution while gathering supplies and during excursions. Follow their safety guidelines. If the chance allows, we’ll also be signing new crew on the planet. Please greet them first and show them to the ship. Thank you. The Ingress has pulled you in. Your body experiences several sensations at once: being pushed forward as if a hand is resting on your back, momentary and startling blindness, a gentle ringing in your head. You have difficulty discerning whether it is hot or cold, but where you have been prodded is noticeably warmer than the rest of you. Some may suffer from dizziness while others are perfectly fine. Once equilibrium has been reestablished, you will notice you are standing on a long platform and that the room is filled with a soft cerulean light. It's slightly humid and dark despite the glow around you, and nothing is familiar.
For those few who come through Ceta's Ingress, there will be crew of the Moira there to greet you. They tell you of the Ingress, how it is broken, even on this planet, and that the ship is headed back to the origin of this technology. This planet’s Ingress is set precariously atop a floating rock formation, the only way from one area to the next is on small air-propelled boats. Crew members will guide everyone back to the Moira and take them to the Medbay; contracts will be signed posthaste.
WELCOME TO CETA
At first glance, Ceta seems mostly inhabitable, and that's because it is. The atmosphere around the planet is surprisingly thick in most places, sometimes thin in others, and without some way to filter the air, it is mostly unbreathable; it's a giant gas planet, its core made of various molten metals and the atmosphere a mix of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrous. Ceta's gravity is also uneven, meaning that some areas will have stronger focal points than others. The terrain, when it is visible, appears rather rocky—hardly the best conditions for life and stable living. What's more unusual, however, is that despite this fact, there is, indeed, a small populace "living" among the mist and clouds, but it's clear they do not live here year-round. It's hunting season, and they are there for the bounty.
These visitors have built small platforms that are hooked together by ropes and swinging bridges, which they call "temporaries". Unstable buildings are rare, dangerous, and spread out over these temporaries to prevent damage or accidents. The temporaries float along, swaying and shifting with the planet’s atmosphere, and posted at every point of entry and all open surfaces are a particular set of rules that everyone must abide by. They are written in dark ink and large block letters so that all passing by will stop and read them:
NO FIRE. Flammables, ignition sources, matches, lighters, and anything that creates a spark is prohibited. The atmosphere has higher levels of hydrogen, and the smallest spark will create a problem.
AIR BREATHABILITY. Monitor your vitals. Wear masks or re-breathers if needed.
WATCH THE EDGE. All walkways are the only thing from you and falling. Be cautious and watch your step. These signs should be given their due attention. The edge is just that: the end of where it is safe to walk. If a wooden plank gives way beneath your feet, you will plummet through hundred of miles of atmosphere before hitting the planet’s thin surface. The captains reiterate that crew should be careful and stick to the main temporaries, gather supplies, visit at their leisure, and then go back to the ship.
☄ IT'S A BIRD! IT'S A PLANE!The organisms that have evolved on this planet are unintelligent—a fact that is told to you by the other visitors. As there is no solid materials or ways for them to interact with their environments, these giants float along within the atmosphere, though it appears that they are flying when they are merely navigating through. They travel in groups of three or more and sometimes come close to the outskirts of the temporaries. Because there is an invisible filtration dome around the temporaries, this allows the creatures to pass through without harm and return again into the mist as they please. They are difficult to see at night and are rather skittish in the presence of sudden light.
☄ @ THE MUSEUM Every evening when work is done, artificial light sources illuminate the streets of the temporaries. There is one bar, if you can actually call it that, but the main attraction is a museum. The support structure appears to be made out of the skeletal system of the giants that "swim" and live on Ceta, and though the outside seems rather unassuming, the inside is not for the faint of heart. As it's considered informative, there are displays of the internal structures and functions of the very creatures that seem harmless and as unintelligent as the visitors claim. There are sections of the museum dedicated to their anatomy and what makes them so valuable: inside their air sacs, which is what gives the illusion to flying through the atmosphere, is a mineral that, when harvested, attunes and sharpens the senses so that brain capacity and function excel over one-hundred percent efficiency. Likewise, aside from these informative areas, there is also a history of how and when the visitors began to hunt them for this valuable, unnamed resource.
☄ HARVEST SEASON Are you looking for work? Or perhaps you're bored with your duties aboard the Moira and prefer to see just what it is these visitors do during the day? Hunters will often pay for menial labor to help with the killing and retrieval of the giants of Ceta. It is by day, not by hour, and once aboard one of the many ships, you will be put to work handling equipment or being on the lookout for "signs" of the creatures. Once they've been spotted, the real work isn't in capturing them or even trying to subdue them—though they give a good fight. It's in the harvest, done below deck once they have been safely brought into the ship's cargo areas by the tethers, that can get quite gruesome. As a defense mechanism, cutting into the skin creates a rather noxious emission that can cause disorientation, hallucinations, or unconsciousness. Worst case scenarios can often result in death.
☄ WORD LIMITS As things are beginning to wind up (or down), something seems to have gotten into the MID systems and caused a malfunction. On the morning of 03.13, it suddenly becomes clear that communicating with others who are not from the same universe or similar timelines seems very difficult. Understanding each other becomes rather hopeless as the day continues, and these repercussions can be felt across the entire ship. The Captains send out another MID message that appears as a jumble of unusual letters and symbols. However, there is one word that can be read by everyone and (hopefully) understood: RATCHET. Figuring out this problem shouldn't take long if everyone can leap the language barriers and work together.
( ooc; All New Arrivals: you have the choice of coming through the Moira's Ingress OR Ceta's Ingress. For questions, go here. Please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! )
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hownkai) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisavrou_log2016-03-01 02:40 pm
moira (aft)
The crying part isn't happening, though. She just feels heavy and numb. All of this, it still feels unreal. It doesn't make sense, she doesn't understand where she is or what's going on, no matter how many times she reviews the explanation she was given. Crying would have at least helped her feel better, but she can't have that either.
Her long and silent gaze into the blackness outside is interrupted when she senses someone walk onto the aft far behind her, the solid form of his body pinging her radar system. It's a man, modest height, fairly athletic but not big. She turns her head slightly to get a visual. Older, at least Dunban's age... but not anyone she recognizes.
Is he coming over here? Maybe she should stand up. She waits to see what he does.]
no subject
He gestures to the place next to her, at the end of the walkway, beneath such an impressive view. ]
Is it all right if I join you?
[ Obi-Wan is quite unassuming, particularly without his long robe to hide himself. His effort here is to engage but not overwhelm; with so many people coming and going, it only makes sense that a few would feel extremely displaced. Thus far, he has yet to decide how he feels on the subject, but he does interpret himself as having an easier time than most just based on his training.
Nevertheless, far from home is far from home. ]
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[Which isn't entirely true, but she's had a good amount of time to herself by now and crying isn't going to happen, so there's no use hogging this place for herself anymore. Plus, maybe more importantly, she just doesn't feel like getting up yet.]
Did you come here for the view? It's different since we left that misty place.
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[ Leave it to Obi-Wan Kenobi to find a bright side in nearly every endeavor. While he doesn't appreciate what's happened and how any of them were brought here, he can find what it takes within himself to live in the moment.
He lowers himself down near her and looks up to behold the view. ]
Is that why you're here?
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I don't... really understand what it is that I'm looking at, yet. This is called "space," right? That's what everyone else is calling it.
[Her legs, bent up towards her chest, shift around slightly.]
Where I'm from, outside the land we live on, there's just sky and ocean. As far as the eye can see. I've always been told they go on forever. But I guess that must be wrong... there's no ocean down there.
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[ Body in the water, and given no limitations, a person can swim forever around their world. An ocean would go on forever in that case. ]
Space is little more than an ocean in of itself. We float here. We're not alone in it. It asserts its own will upon us and we're somewhat powerless against its tides. Perhaps you can find familiarity in that.
no subject
I guess it's true that I can't do anything about it. Powerless, like you said. That much hasn't changed.
[Life, and especially her life, is just one big struggle against being powerless.]
But I still don't... understand it. It's so strange. It's supposed to be empty, right? But it's so cluttered at the same time. So many stars. More than the sky ever had.
[she glances over at him. he's pretty matter-of-fact about all this.] Is it normal for your world? This "space," I mean.
no subject
[ For his part it's not difficult to imagine a life without space travel, although he's never had to experience that personally; he was far too young to remember his first space flight, and since then has gone as far as piloting through space.
Pulling back on his perspective proves to be a challenge, but Obi-Wan is used to that. ]
Where is it you're from, if I may?
no subject
I'd be surprised if you'd heard of it. I'm in a completely foreign place... practically another reality or something.
[but there's no harm in answering. this is just conversation. the man is being polite and warm, she ought to answer.]
It's called the Bionis. It's the titan that gave birth to all life. There's another titan too, the Mechonis, but I'm not from there exactly.
no subject
[ It's especially true when it's somewhere well outside his own galaxy. That in of itself is remarkable, not to mention useful in expanding his own universe in a way. ]
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[The idea of having even one photograph is nice, though. Her closed-off posture opens slightly as she unbends her knees and sits up a little straighter.]
But basically, the Bionis and Mechonis existed forever. The story goes that they were locked in battle since the beginning of time, but eventually each scored a blow on the other and they perished. We live on what's left of the Bionis. And, like I mentioned, there's nothing but ocean and sky outside of them.
[motioning to the view of outer space again --] So, all this... I wouldn't know how to describe what I'm seeing to the people back home.
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[ A concession in some regard. He follows her gesture to glance out at space once more. It's... strangely comforting to him, particularly in its perceived emptiness. It's so much a part of Obi-Wan, and while he doesn't particularly enjoy the fact that he spends so much time there — he really does like having his feet on the ground — the fact remains that space is far more his home than any one place. ]
You seem to do a fine job describing to me what you saw back home. Should there be a difference? I think you'll do well.
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[Fiora knows he couldn't imagine the true majesty of the Bionis without seeing it for himself, but if he gets the idea, that's good enough. And the same probably could be said for the people back home.
After a moment Fiora realizes she's sitting up straighter, thinking about something other than her own misfortune, and starting to maybe comprehend the universe she'd been crudely transplanted into. More deliberately now, she looks away from the starscape and at the man who'd sat next to her.]
...Sorry. I should have introduced myself properly. My name's Fiora.
no subject