Galileo's Burden, Phase Alpha: Bungle in the Jungle -- PLOT POST
Previous Plot Posts:
Initial Overview
Main Plot Post
Phase Alpha Thread
PLEASE READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN PHASE ALPHA OF THIS PLOT!
Welcome to Avania III, Orya! The village of Avania is a beautiful tropical paradise, where the locals live simple lives from what they can gather from the land. The village is fairly substantial in size, around 400 people total, and the Oryans are a friendly people, if a little shy thanks to their deep religious beliefs.
Plot post is currently up on trans_9, with set up sections for various things going on the week of the scientists' stay and other first part goings-on.
Shipside - Communication with Reda
Feel free to approach the revered mother with any questions about the mission-- whether or not you're going to be going on it. Council, command staff or any crew members are welcome to ask her whatever they want.
Shipside - Preparations
Any other shipside threads that DON'T need me to NPC Reda go here. Use as needed.
Arrival on Orya
Self-explanatory.
Researching the Burden
The Village
The Temple
All self-explanatory. Feel free to set up any threads you'd like in any of these sections. You are free to NPC as many Oryans/natives as you need to, as long as you behave yourselves with them (more info below.) I will be NPCing Reda, so if you need her for any reason, let me know.
Here is some basic information to help you with the setting, the village and the aliens themselves.
Oryans and Oryan Culture
Oryans are a little bit taller than ordinary humans, with males averaging around 6’5” and females around 6’ even. They are humanoid creatures with familiar human features, large dark eyes and slender bodies and limbs. However, instead of hair the Oryans have an array of anemone-like tentacles. Their skin comes in a rainbow of colors, from green to blue to purple to orange and everything in between, but their skin tones are generally pastel to protect from the bright sun and hot climate.
Like I said up above, feel free to NPC the Oryan villagers as necessary in your posts. They are hospitable and friendly, though all of them share a deep love for the goddess Avani. Avani is something of a fearsome goddess, very Old Testament-fire and brimstoney, and the Oryans tend to view her with as much fear as they do reverence.
Every afternoon, the villagers gather at the temple for a sermon by Mother Reda. They prostrate themselves to the ground in front of the temple steps, praying for Avani’s blessings, which Reda relays through song.
Once a week, the villagers all prepare a sacrifice for Avani, which is burned on a great pyre in front of the temple. Sacrifices range from material goods to crops and occasional livestock. Human/Oryan sacrifices are not common, but looking into Avanian writings shows that they’re not entirely unheard of. Anyone you ask will vehemently deny this.
Oryans are very family-oriented. They share three meals a day, the largest meal being at lunchtime and often shared between the whole village. They protect themselves and their families by fighting with tall weapons that look like polearm axes, and both the male and female Oryans are trained as warriors. Children are taught lessons by the village elders every day, and older kids (around 8) are charged with getting water, doing laundry, caring for livestock or harvesting crops.
Oryan food uses ingredients gathered from the jungles of the planet, supplemented by crops grown in the village and meat from livestock or hunted creatures. Oryan dishes usually come out horrifyingly colorful-remember that green and purple ketchup they used to make? Like that kind of horrifyingly colorful. However, people from Earth will be able to identify that it tastes a lot like Thai food, spicy with lots of vegetables.
Banni, a popular alcoholic drink, is made from fermented jungle fruit. It used to be used in sacred rituals for the Oryans’ old religion, but Avani has forbidden those rituals. It is now just an ordinary recreational drink. It tastes like very sweet fruit punch with an alcoholic kick.
It should be mentioned that banni is brewed in casks made from tree bark that often has mild hallucinogenic properties. Drink too much and you’ll be trippin’ balls. Of course, our dear meatship nerds would NEVER abuse this...
The Village of Avania III
Like I said on the first post, Orya looks a lot like Besaid Island from Final Fantasy X-- the part we're exploring is a very small island almost completely covered in thick jungles, save for the village where the scientists will be staying. If you ever need a mental picture for something, go whip out your PS2 (or your Google Image Search) and let your imagination go from there.
The village is built up of sturdy huts made from thick tree limbs buried in the ground and shaped into a roof, with thick fabric to keep out the weather. Three people can fit in one hut, and the Oryans have provided a place for the crew to sleep. Accommodations are a bit spartan, but the sleeping bags provided are very soft and comfortable. Mind the bugs. They’re guinea pig-sized.
At the far north end of the village is a large and elaborate temple (if you are still running with the Besaid Island comparison, it’s almost exactly like that.) The temple was built in ancient times to honor the Oryans’ gods, but it has only recently been converted into a temple to honor Avani. Ancient carvings have been covered up or destroyed and replaced with hand-painted tapestries of prayers to Avani.
The temple is home to Reda, the revered mother of Avania, spiritual head and leader de facto of the village. Reda is protected by a group of warrior monks called the Chosen, and she is never without at least two of these silent, imposing soldiers standing in the background. It is notable that Reda is not actually Oryan herself-in fact, she appears to be human. This fact does not keep the Oryans from treating her as one of their own, revering her every word and listening to her wisdom and guidance. Reda spends most of her time at the temple but can be reached if needed by speaking to the Chosen at the temple and arranging a meeting with her. The villagers won't take kindly to anyone who insults or offends her, anyone who threatens her, and probably anyone who wastes her precious time.
Reda is also extremely hot. This does not bode well for certain members of the Nerd Herd.
Galileo's Burden
The nickname of the illness that is gripping some of the villagers. The crew will be a bit puzzled to find that the outbreak is not quite as bad as Reda hints it is, and there are only about six villagers sick at the moment. The strangest thing about the illness is that it seems to manifest different symptoms in everyone.
Some who are sick with the Burden exhibit symptoms like a severe flu; nausea, vomiting, fever, aches, chills and coughs. Others are simply feverish and delirious, spending a lot of time muttering and mumbling strange things to themselves. Some are prone to weeping hysterically and potentially committing random acts of violence. Most of them spend a lot of time praying in their beds. None of them are precisely lucid and none of them can talk much about what's happened to them.
The Burden seems to attack people of all ages-- currently, the sick patients are a mixture of old and young Oryans from all walks of life, with only one thing in common.
What is that one thing? You'll just have to find out, won't you?
Of the patients, only one young male Oryan named Tamil is lucid enough to have normal conversations with the crew. Let me know if you need me to NPC Tamil.
Getting to Work
There is almost nothing in the way of science equipment in the village, save for some clay jars to hold water in and dishes to set things on. Any specialized equipment will need to have been brought from the ship.
Here is a To-Do List for the village. Your characters can feel free to do any of these things during the first part of the plot, or anything else you might thing of-so long as it is DIPLOMATIC and not liable to anger our hosts to the point of throwing you off the planet.
1. Treat sick villagers suffering from the Burden
2. Research the Burden to discover a treatment
3. Assist rebuilding efforts after a large forest fire last month
4. Help villagers with their work and chores (hunt, get firewood, fetch water, pick crops, care for animals, mend clothes, do laundry, whatever you can think of that needs to be done in a small farming/gathering community)
5. Teach village children, show them how to read and write, tell them stories, have adorable moments where they hang off your arms and legs and call you Uncle/Auntie, etc.
6. Show villagers various Stacy-age technologies (they will likely refuse to use any because Avani frowns on technology, but will be interested nonetheless.)
7. Help clean the temple (under close, close supervision by the monks who serve Mother Reda.)
If you have any other ideas, run them by me on this post and I’m almost sure to say yes. Anything to keep our dear nerds busy, and out of the urge to misuse the psychadelic booze.
... yeah, a psychadelic booze thread absolutely has to happen now.
Please let me know if you have any questions, need clarification, or need me to NPC Mother Reda for you. The plot post will follow this one shortly, and once it’s up feel free to go, go, go! Have fun, and remember, you can always hit me up via PM or on my AIM at FullArmoredGG.
Initial Overview
Main Plot Post
Phase Alpha Thread
PLEASE READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN PHASE ALPHA OF THIS PLOT!
Welcome to Avania III, Orya! The village of Avania is a beautiful tropical paradise, where the locals live simple lives from what they can gather from the land. The village is fairly substantial in size, around 400 people total, and the Oryans are a friendly people, if a little shy thanks to their deep religious beliefs.
Plot post is currently up on trans_9, with set up sections for various things going on the week of the scientists' stay and other first part goings-on.
Shipside - Communication with Reda
Feel free to approach the revered mother with any questions about the mission-- whether or not you're going to be going on it. Council, command staff or any crew members are welcome to ask her whatever they want.
Shipside - Preparations
Any other shipside threads that DON'T need me to NPC Reda go here. Use as needed.
Arrival on Orya
Self-explanatory.
Researching the Burden
The Village
The Temple
All self-explanatory. Feel free to set up any threads you'd like in any of these sections. You are free to NPC as many Oryans/natives as you need to, as long as you behave yourselves with them (more info below.) I will be NPCing Reda, so if you need her for any reason, let me know.
Here is some basic information to help you with the setting, the village and the aliens themselves.
Oryans and Oryan Culture
Oryans are a little bit taller than ordinary humans, with males averaging around 6’5” and females around 6’ even. They are humanoid creatures with familiar human features, large dark eyes and slender bodies and limbs. However, instead of hair the Oryans have an array of anemone-like tentacles. Their skin comes in a rainbow of colors, from green to blue to purple to orange and everything in between, but their skin tones are generally pastel to protect from the bright sun and hot climate.
Like I said up above, feel free to NPC the Oryan villagers as necessary in your posts. They are hospitable and friendly, though all of them share a deep love for the goddess Avani. Avani is something of a fearsome goddess, very Old Testament-fire and brimstoney, and the Oryans tend to view her with as much fear as they do reverence.
Every afternoon, the villagers gather at the temple for a sermon by Mother Reda. They prostrate themselves to the ground in front of the temple steps, praying for Avani’s blessings, which Reda relays through song.
Once a week, the villagers all prepare a sacrifice for Avani, which is burned on a great pyre in front of the temple. Sacrifices range from material goods to crops and occasional livestock. Human/Oryan sacrifices are not common, but looking into Avanian writings shows that they’re not entirely unheard of. Anyone you ask will vehemently deny this.
Oryans are very family-oriented. They share three meals a day, the largest meal being at lunchtime and often shared between the whole village. They protect themselves and their families by fighting with tall weapons that look like polearm axes, and both the male and female Oryans are trained as warriors. Children are taught lessons by the village elders every day, and older kids (around 8) are charged with getting water, doing laundry, caring for livestock or harvesting crops.
Oryan food uses ingredients gathered from the jungles of the planet, supplemented by crops grown in the village and meat from livestock or hunted creatures. Oryan dishes usually come out horrifyingly colorful-remember that green and purple ketchup they used to make? Like that kind of horrifyingly colorful. However, people from Earth will be able to identify that it tastes a lot like Thai food, spicy with lots of vegetables.
Banni, a popular alcoholic drink, is made from fermented jungle fruit. It used to be used in sacred rituals for the Oryans’ old religion, but Avani has forbidden those rituals. It is now just an ordinary recreational drink. It tastes like very sweet fruit punch with an alcoholic kick.
It should be mentioned that banni is brewed in casks made from tree bark that often has mild hallucinogenic properties. Drink too much and you’ll be trippin’ balls. Of course, our dear meatship nerds would NEVER abuse this...
The Village of Avania III
Like I said on the first post, Orya looks a lot like Besaid Island from Final Fantasy X-- the part we're exploring is a very small island almost completely covered in thick jungles, save for the village where the scientists will be staying. If you ever need a mental picture for something, go whip out your PS2 (or your Google Image Search) and let your imagination go from there.
The village is built up of sturdy huts made from thick tree limbs buried in the ground and shaped into a roof, with thick fabric to keep out the weather. Three people can fit in one hut, and the Oryans have provided a place for the crew to sleep. Accommodations are a bit spartan, but the sleeping bags provided are very soft and comfortable. Mind the bugs. They’re guinea pig-sized.
At the far north end of the village is a large and elaborate temple (if you are still running with the Besaid Island comparison, it’s almost exactly like that.) The temple was built in ancient times to honor the Oryans’ gods, but it has only recently been converted into a temple to honor Avani. Ancient carvings have been covered up or destroyed and replaced with hand-painted tapestries of prayers to Avani.
The temple is home to Reda, the revered mother of Avania, spiritual head and leader de facto of the village. Reda is protected by a group of warrior monks called the Chosen, and she is never without at least two of these silent, imposing soldiers standing in the background. It is notable that Reda is not actually Oryan herself-in fact, she appears to be human. This fact does not keep the Oryans from treating her as one of their own, revering her every word and listening to her wisdom and guidance. Reda spends most of her time at the temple but can be reached if needed by speaking to the Chosen at the temple and arranging a meeting with her. The villagers won't take kindly to anyone who insults or offends her, anyone who threatens her, and probably anyone who wastes her precious time.
Reda is also extremely hot. This does not bode well for certain members of the Nerd Herd.
Galileo's Burden
The nickname of the illness that is gripping some of the villagers. The crew will be a bit puzzled to find that the outbreak is not quite as bad as Reda hints it is, and there are only about six villagers sick at the moment. The strangest thing about the illness is that it seems to manifest different symptoms in everyone.
Some who are sick with the Burden exhibit symptoms like a severe flu; nausea, vomiting, fever, aches, chills and coughs. Others are simply feverish and delirious, spending a lot of time muttering and mumbling strange things to themselves. Some are prone to weeping hysterically and potentially committing random acts of violence. Most of them spend a lot of time praying in their beds. None of them are precisely lucid and none of them can talk much about what's happened to them.
The Burden seems to attack people of all ages-- currently, the sick patients are a mixture of old and young Oryans from all walks of life, with only one thing in common.
What is that one thing? You'll just have to find out, won't you?
Of the patients, only one young male Oryan named Tamil is lucid enough to have normal conversations with the crew. Let me know if you need me to NPC Tamil.
Getting to Work
There is almost nothing in the way of science equipment in the village, save for some clay jars to hold water in and dishes to set things on. Any specialized equipment will need to have been brought from the ship.
Here is a To-Do List for the village. Your characters can feel free to do any of these things during the first part of the plot, or anything else you might thing of-so long as it is DIPLOMATIC and not liable to anger our hosts to the point of throwing you off the planet.
1. Treat sick villagers suffering from the Burden
2. Research the Burden to discover a treatment
3. Assist rebuilding efforts after a large forest fire last month
4. Help villagers with their work and chores (hunt, get firewood, fetch water, pick crops, care for animals, mend clothes, do laundry, whatever you can think of that needs to be done in a small farming/gathering community)
5. Teach village children, show them how to read and write, tell them stories, have adorable moments where they hang off your arms and legs and call you Uncle/Auntie, etc.
6. Show villagers various Stacy-age technologies (they will likely refuse to use any because Avani frowns on technology, but will be interested nonetheless.)
7. Help clean the temple (under close, close supervision by the monks who serve Mother Reda.)
If you have any other ideas, run them by me on this post and I’m almost sure to say yes. Anything to keep our dear nerds busy, and out of the urge to misuse the psychadelic booze.
... yeah, a psychadelic booze thread absolutely has to happen now.
Please let me know if you have any questions, need clarification, or need me to NPC Mother Reda for you. The plot post will follow this one shortly, and once it’s up feel free to go, go, go! Have fun, and remember, you can always hit me up via PM or on my AIM at FullArmoredGG.