Ashen Stars- If you're going though hell...

...keep going.


Got together with Lana and Jay last week to create characters for the game that Jay will be running. The game is called Ashen Stars and I can already tell it is going to be crazy fun. It is a space opera setting (sort of- think Firefly meets Cowboy Bebop meets Star Trek) and it can be played as serious or as humorous as you want. Knowing us, it's going to have plenty of snark, fun, and massive amounts of high drama.

Game Background:

Seven years ago, the Mohilar had been defeated...barely. They had appeared in Combine space and quickly overran the Combine's defenses. The core planets had been irreparably poisoned. Billions of people/aliens had died. Industrial production had stopped. The entire economy collapsed. Untold numbers of ships had been destroyed. A last ditch engagement had resulted in a surprise defeat for the Mohilar. They abruptly vanished, leaving behind a decimated Combine.

Even though the war was not even a decade in the past, memories of it were growing vague and contradictory. This was due to a bizarre effect called the Bogey Conundrum. That the war was fought was not questioned. The destruction was also well remembered. However, just about everything else was fuzzy, at best. Flashes of memories would happen but trying to hold onto them was difficult.

Faced with the problem of trying to rebuild the Combine was a daunting task. Barely able to take care of the surviving inner core, the frontiers (more commonly referred to as the Bleed) were left basically to themselves. Realizing that some sort of law was needed, the powers of the Combine set up an organization known as Licensed Autonomous Zone Effectuators or Lasers. They are the law in the lawless Bleed. When situations arise, a call goes out. Lasers bid on the contracts and take care of whatever problem has come up.

Cast of Characters:

There are seven possible types to play in the game. I went standard human female. Lana decided to play a warrior locust/praying mantis species called the Kch-Thk. Jason chose to play one of the cybernetic and genetically altered cybes.

Lana's character idea is great. The Kch-Thk are a warrior race that eat anything and everything. In order to join the Combine, the entire race had to undergo genetic modification to quell that urge. No eating your allies/partners. Besides being bug like, they have a couple of other interesting characteristics. The Kch-Thk are not born. They go through a sort of migration into a larvae when they die. If they are deemed worthy, they are allowed to hatch. If not, they get fed to the other larvae. Their knowledge and personality are retained. Rck'rd (the name of Lana's character) is eight years into his current migration. However, something went a bit awry with it and he came out a little messed up. Okay, he was more then a little messed up. The war was a bit of a godsend to Rck'rd. He was/is an awesome fighter. It also allowed him to exert his dominance over the enemy. Once the war ended, he was at loose ends. How to show his dominance over the lesser beings now? He went in search of knowledge. After a bit of time and studying, he got the brilliant idea that, if he couldn't eat the humans to prove his dominance, he would fuck them into submission. That being decided, he started to study human behavior and social niceties. There was one huge problem with that. Actually, two major problems with that. Firstly, he is still a bug and wouldn't get very far while looking like that. That problem was solved with a bit viral manipulation. It allows him to look human and get the ladies. Secondly, even though he studied up on human relations, he isn't very good at it. It's a work in progress for him. If other members of his race knew what he was doing, they would think he was insane.

My character is a human female by the name of Carys. She had an...interesting upbringing. Her home planet is named Haven. It was a planetary experiment set up to prove that a society could be genetically planned/manipulated. Every person born has been genetically modified for their eventual place in society. Going to be a surgeon? You would be born with a high intelligence and dexterous fingers. Going to be a farmer? You would be modified to be strong and have endurance. Everyone would be satisfied and happy with their lives because that is what they had been born to do. It is a perfect world. Everything is overseen by a coalition of scientists. They are the ruling elite. Their experiment had been running smoothly for generations. There was no crime. There was no rebellion. They proudly pointed out their success to the other worlds. Then came Carys. Something went wrong. She was rebellious. She lied. She stole. She got into trouble. In other words, she was a typical human with free will. Frankly, they couldn't control her and she was fast becoming an embarrassment to the experiment. Then came the war and the powers that be cheerfully sent her off to (hopefully) die. In fact, they specifically requested that she be sent to the front. She didn't die. Once the war was over, the scientists decided that they wanted her back. They wanted to "fix" her and, if they couldn't do that, they wanted to erase her existence. She refused and met up in the Bleed with her friend Rck'rd. She is being VERY actively pursued.

Jason is playing a cybe. He too was involved in the war on the front lines as an officer. The cybes started out as human but due to their extensive genetic and cybernetic modifications, that status is up for debate. Some cybes believe that they are the logical next step in human evolution. Some even go so far to believe that they are a separate race all together. They are known as separatists.  Jason's character is one such. Other then that, not much is known about him (Jason is still fleshing out his character. I keep bugging him about details like a name and such but still waiting. I will update this when he finally gets everything to me).

Miscellaneous facts:

If you ask Carys and Rck'rd how they got their ship, they will tell you but it changes with each person who asks. The truth is that they stole it and they believe the original owner is looking for them to get it back. They also have a friendly competition going on about who can sleep with the most people. There is a dry erase board set up in the main living areas where they keep track of points.

The ship they own is of the Mandible class (We still need to come up with a name).

The game has an interpersonal ability called bullshit detector. Best. Ability. Ever. And, yes, we all took ranks in it.


That's about it for now. We will be playing this as a break from Dresden. More information will be coming as we get into the game proper and start romping through the universe. I cannot wait. It seems like it will be so much fun. Next entry will be the recap of the last Dresden game. I know...I know...I have been lax with timely updates but I will get better.