Who: Everyone
When: August 9 and onward
Where: An unexpected destination
What: The newcomers go on a trip and end up far from where they expected
Warnings: Potential violence. Please label your content!

NOTE: PLEASE READ THIS OOC POST FIRST.

When the time comes for the travelers to go on the off-world trip that will help restore Thisavrou, they are not alone. Others who have settled on the planets longer and come to call them home are also prepared to travel; through the Ingress and do their part. Yet when the newcomers step through, whether they stepped through the Ingress seconds or hours apart, they will find that they have arrived at the same time, and only newcomers are in sight.

What awaits them is not a land of plenty. The land is barren, and dark storms in the sky resemble those held at bay by the Ingress complex—but much, much closer. Those who traveled on the Moira may recognize the landscape; though they have come through at a different point from the crash, they are on the Midway Hub. And there is no portal back. They are trapped.

hitting the road

Though some have been here before, the Midway Hub is not as they remember it. The storms fill the sky, leaving it dark and ominous even when they are not sweeping across the landscape—but they have clearly done so in recent times, and often. While never a lush land, large patches of ground an acre or more wide looking nothing more than utterly dead; the thistle that naturally grows is brittle, black and unable to be consumed even with the usual preparations to make it edible, and here and there animal corpses are found twisted into unnatural poses, but seemingly uninjured. These places are particularly concentrated near the broken Ingresses litter the landscape. While Midway Hub as a whole may seem naturally arid, these dead spots leave no hope that anything can possibly live there again.

The travelers have two options: stay where they are, or move on. While it might seem that they've been tricked into coming here and been left abandoned, those with the technological ability to do so may detect a sign of hope: a familiar energy source, far in the distance. Although none of the Ingresses they pass will ever work again, the faint energy shows that one still-functioning Ingress lies far in the distance, days away.

Although technological scanning or impressive memory of the landscape indicates that they are not separated from their destination by one of the gates that divide the land, they are also far from the shelter of the facility at the center of the Hub. Any attempt to travel in a direction other than that of the energy signal will result in a strange disorientation after several hours, bringing individuals back to their original path as though they've gone in circles. Meanwhile, though travelers will feel the need to slake their hunger and thirst through any natural water sources they discover, wildlife they can hunt for food and any supplies they have on them, if they don't find sustenance, they'll find that they will never pass out or reach the point of starvation. Instead, they'll be left alive and awake but feeling utterly hollow.

storm front

At regular intervals, the energy storms above descend onto the land, bringing not rain but violent clashes of negative energy and thunder so loud that nothing can be heard above it. The passing of the storms leaves some strange effects. The ground is warped and rotted by their touch, even solid stone degrading to a spongy surface. The air is tepid and oddly charged. Prolonged contact with air or ground will not supply energy, however — it drains it from organic and synthetic life alike.

Those who remember their last trip to the Hub, or simply explore in the right direction, may come across the cave complexes with their glowing surfaces and streams. The light is dimmer now, a sickly green, but drinking from the streams will still restore the energy lost, for a time. This time, however, the lethargy that inevitably follows is much more severe, and the drinkers are left with a raw, empty feeling leeching in from the wasteland around.

Those who are exposed to the storms, either by finding themselves in very close proximity or even closely observing them for too long as they approach, may lose their sight, or hearing, even much of the ability to feel touch — whatever sense they used in observation. What lingers in its place is a numbness. A hunger. And as time passes, the time between storms decreases; what seemed like hours between the storms becomes scarcely one, and their intensity grows.

wild life

Sentient beings are not the only ones affected by the storms; these creatures, attracted to sound and able to track by scent, and these panthers, which once looked normal but have been twisted by the storms into more monstrous forms, are numerous enough that travelers must be constantly alert for their presence. Though natural predators, the threat the creatures represent is not itself natural. They are also more aggressive. Some strange instinct drives them, not a need for food. While the panthers themselves can be caught and their meat cooked, it has little taste, offering nutrition but not satisfaction.

old familiar places

Although it's difficult to track the passage of time without day-night cycles, after what seems like more than a week of the travelers' unexpected trip, the storms abruptly come rushing in at the group of travelers, as if they're herding the group to move faster toward their destination and the Ingress energy that awaits them. The true nature of that destination becomes clear when debris appears on the horizon; the energy comes from the wreckage of the Moira, the interstellar ship that crashed here months ago.

Despite the trauma of impact, large sections of the ship remain surprisingly intact, though few of them are properly vertically oriented. If travelers are able to make their way inside the damaged sections of the ship, they'll find familiar territory, if they are one of those who traveled on the Moira, as well as shelter—something that's increasingly necessary as the storms seem to center over the ship, leaving little hope for survival outside. Useful items may be scavenged from the ship if they are willing to explore, but no personal items of any kind remain.

Strangely, the deeper travelers go into the crashed ship, the less familiar their surroundings will seem, regardless of their orientation. The inward-leading paths into the ship become generic metal, and as with the travel on the surface of the planet, they may find themselves back where they started. And no matter how far they go or how hard they try, they will find themselves unable to make it to the Ingress chamber itself...for now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[And Kurt listens with all the attention of a faithful student while Miller talks, briefly fussing with the bag of cookies he'd offered earlier. He gets one free, takes a bite, then tips his head in consideration.] A Savrii history teacher seems like it would have been too convenient for us. [Don't be bitter.] Uhm, what I meant was— [Pause.] Nevermind.

So, you're telling me that regardless of how many different species come through the Ingress, none of their ideas have been integrated into Savrii culture? It seems ... absurd to think about.

[Another brief moment of silence.] Actually, come to think of it, that sounds altogether unfeasible. Development through integration is necessary. I can't imagine they created all of this technology from nothing or that they were born with this knowledge.

Is that possible? If they're hiding things from us, we should approach them on that matter. [Except, you know, the Moirans are currently not in a position to even be asking for things from their hosts. They'd been sent away for — in Kurt's opinion — obliterating any trust they might have built by abusing the Ingress' abilities.]

Some of their ideas did. But it's more like that no one needed to fight against the status quo.

Take for instance that there was a race called the Sli'arth. They were a warrior culture, nomadic, that attempted to take resources from the Savrii. But they were convinced to integrate and settle. But consider this, how would a warrior culture be so easily stopped by words when they encounter a planet with limitless resources and no military.

And this isn't the first time they exiled someone. Another collective called the Nargaskul were forcibly deported, and contact with their worlds was cut off.

We're not new.

As for your previous question, yeah. My friends seem to be alright. Hopefully. But I hope at least I can convince you to take a closer look at history in the future, knowing this. [The history of everywhere. It's not meant to scold him, just that vague hope that he could get one person on a learning path.]

At this point, I think they're done with us.

[Yes, a warrior culture being persuaded to integrate instead of invade is something, but what rings out most to Kurt was the last bit of followup statement: forcibly deported and contact cut off.

The sudden realization causes his breath to hitch, ruby-red irides dilating with apprehension.] ... so, [he starts, proceeding with trepidation,] there's a chance we'll never get off this planet, then.

[He decides not to dwell, though, his expression softening to relief when Kazuhira mentions the well-being of his friends.] 'Hopefully' makes it sound like there's doubt. Are some of them unwell? [Admittedly, he feels somewhat foolish, blindly accepting help from the Savrii, but he'd never thought one of them (let alone more than that) would put that trust to the test.]

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they were. We overstepped our boundaries multiple times. You can only do that so much before people decide the risk isn't worth it anymore.

Don't say that either. Don't let them make this okay for them to do.

My peers when I was a child never forgave me for things that my father did. And the Americans wouldn't even respect me for my birth name. I had to take something else. Because I was like someone else, right?

But I'm not. I'm me, and you're you. And you were out there during each and every one of their problems trying to help. You were exactly the opposite of the type of person they should be getting rid of.

So don't accept it. It's not your fault. And accepting it makes it alright to do it to anyone else who's innocent.

But I— [he hesitates, blinks, reconsiders his admittance. No, that's not fair at all. Kazuhira is someone that he's always felt was trustworthy and honestly? He has a right to know.]

You should know that I [pause] killed people on that slaver planet. It was reckless of me to do so. I should have known better, but the child spoke of the atrocities committed against Moirans ... [And the older man's speaking of forgiveness, which Kurt knows all too well. Their current standing with the Savrii didn't seem all that condonable; he doesn't think it would warrant being dumped on a storm-ravaged planet with no way home, though.

His expression twists momentarily to disbelief before settling somewhere between exasperation and agreement with Miller's comment.] What should I do, then? Causing an uproar about unfair treatment would only make matters worse. Although, that could merely be my own opinion.

[Now, he's afraid to voice the question bouncing around his head, so he keeps quiet as an alternative to asking. Something that proves to be more difficult than he'd imagined.]

Another reason... history is good to learn.

Much of the slaver colony's business was done through a place called the Mini-Colony. While we were there, we caused major trouble for their supply chain. We were on their way to slowly destroying their business.

I was sold on that colony, so I hated it as well. But the way to stop the slavery was to stop the buyers.

But it wasn't that, either. I told Ahab that this would have always happened. We were never going to be perfectly agreeable. To be honest, I'm glad we weren't if this was their way of dealing with it. [He's sympathetic, though. He can see the guilt there. Ahab had the same for defending that woman. But it wasn't their fault. The Savrii had been questionable for a while.]

[Continuing to argue over the matter would do them no good. Kurt's going to always feel a little guilty about what happened, although Miller's right. World peace never worked, regardless of what type of 'world' it was.]

... they sold you, too? [He ends up biting his tongue far harder than he intends to keep his automatic response from tumbling out. One of his hands lifts, settles across the spanse of his abdomen where he'd almost been run through by his own sword. Now, he can admit (to himself, at least) that he has no problem with how many slavers he'd 'taken care of.']

I don't understand why the Savrii would have kept in contact with those people. That planet is one they should've cut off.

I think they came into contact with that planet because of the Ingress interference. But they didn't care about what we did to the slavers. The Ingress was all they cared about.

I know because I tried to appeal for the people the intermediaries took. Their response said as much. It doesn't matter what the slavery had done to people. All they cared about was that the Ingress had been touched.

[That impersonal treatment had been his first clue, the source of doubts for him.]

[Wait, hold the phone--] Did something specific happen to the Ingress during the invasion? Or was it because it had been used without permission? [Or was it something entirely different altogether?]

You say 'took,' but in what sense of the word? Surely, the Savrii didn't attempt to hold any Moirans against their will.

[In his defense, he only talked to Chara about the slavery and as soon as he'd heard 'children,' well ...]

August Event Log: Part I

hitting the road

storm front

wild life

old familiar places

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