Category: Event

LORE24 ENTRY #28 – 1st Annual Aphelion Station Grand Ball

Category – Event

A year after the massively successful creation of Aphelion Station on the far side of the Demon Barrier, the alliance of corporations that funded and created the ever-expanding station, led by Veylani Transport, held a massive gala event to celebrate the occasion, showing that they were not worried in the least about the rumors of poor planning, dangerous working conditions, and sabotage that swirled about the entire operation.  Veylani Transport’s head, Releana Veylani, was widely known to be attending the event herself to further bolster confidence in the operation that she had so vehemently pursued.

The Grand Ball itself was open by invitation only, and these were extended mostly to representatives of corporations, governments, and other powerful groups, with a healthy mix of celebrities and entertainers.  Perhaps in honor of the wild frontier that had been opened, the event was a costume party with an animal theme, and as one might expect of the rich and powerful, there was plenty of alcohol-fueled debauchery to be found, with many of the attendees showing up in racy, fetish-heavy costume designs with plenty of leather and latex to be seen amidst this highly BDSM-themed event, which supposedly had the blessing of Yurisaya herself.

The event did not go off without unplanned excitement, though.  The famous orc artist, known only as Rhoghor, and known for his appropriately kinky masterpiece paintings, had been brought in to reveal his most recent collection that he had created, known as the “Visages of the Starway Maiden”.  According to him, he had been inspired the moment Lila Darius had penetrated the Demon Barrier and laid open the Demon Sector, and had spent the previous year working on his masterpieces.  When the paintings were revealed, they showed a beautiful blond human woman, either nude or scantly clad, in various states of restraint, but always with her back visible, for upon her back was a brilliant tattoo of a copper-scaled dragon, its eyes seemingly glowing with an unnatural intensity as they followed the viewer, the dragon’s body seeming to move of its own accord.  The reaction of the crowd was immediately positive, though for whatever reason, the representative from DSM, one Saida Entoris of the Arcane Research and Development group, caused a stir following the reveal as she and her bodyguard attempted to detain Rhoghor, though further chaos seemed to erupt at this very moment, leading to a wild finish for the event.

Still, by all accounts, the ball was mostly a success, and those involved are looking forward to the next one, already making plans for something that will be even more memorable. 

 

LORE24 ENTRY #18 – The UCSD-0001 Incident

Category – Event

A demonstration of power by the megacorp DSM, the UCSD-0001 incident, more commonly known as the Ruvale Blockade outside the official channels, was a show of force by the company, proving that they had the resources and manpower to quickly and efficiently blockade an entire planet in order to secure stolen corporate resources and capture those responsible.  Officially, this demonstration/training exercise went off with only minor issues, the largest of which being a chemical spill aboard one of DSM’s cruisers that resulted in significant damage to the ship’s hangar, and the actual blockade was was fully enforced, tested, and released within 72-hours.  The response of the local populace was stated to be “negative and vocal, but overall insignificant” regarding the inconvenience.

Unofficially, there was much more to the blockade, all of it revolving around the discovery of a relic of unknown origin by a mining company working upon one of more distant planets in the Ruvale system, their corporate headquarters based on Ruvale itself.  The object, listed as “Unknown Crystalline Storage Device – 0001” in company records, was roughly spherical in shape, and only about an inch in diameter.  Within the red-colored gemstone, which was as hard as diamond, were microscopic symbols that were determined to be of an ancient Draconic language; the object itself radiated magic energy.  All attempts at reading the data within the device were unsuccessful, and the mining company reached out to other groups for assistance in deciphering the data contained within the object.

This search for an arcanist put the compnay, and UCSD-0001 on DSM’s radar.  Once DSM had attained knowledge of this relic, their CEO, Rivalle Volcari, immediately initiated hostile takeover procedure of the mining company.  Within two weeks, the company was part of DSM, but its former CEO had gone missing, along with UCSD-0001, just before the final steps were completed.  Moving with remarkable swiftness, having confirmed that the object had yet to leave Ruvale, DSM initiated further measures to fully blockade the planet and secure the object.  The relic had been confirmed to have been taken by the former CEO, and had then been stolen by a third party.  A fast-response security team was dispatched to Ruvale to secure the relic, but the thieves managed to fight their way through the security team and subsequently disappeared.

Initially, a massive manhunt was started locally, with the capitol city, Radermere, being locked down by local law enforcement, working with DSM’s operatives.  Within forty-eight hours, having yielded no results, DSM green-lit the planetary blockade to secure the relic, and their nearest ships were pulled off their assignments and redirected to Ruvale, with others following within a handful of hours.  Hackers intercepted encoded corporate transmissions, however, and word was able to spread on Ruvale of the coming blockade.  Those in the know began preparations to leave the system immediately and spread the word to everyone who would listen.  As it would turn out, the thieves responsible for stealing UCSD-0001 were more resourceful than DSM could have imagined, and were able to smuggle themselves and the relic off-world during the mass exodus of ships that were leaving the planet as the first of DSM’s fleet arrived.

 

LORE24 ENTRY #8 – The Pteravilla Stalker Incident

Category – Event

In the months following the latest border dispute, after the hostilities had died down and peace had been restored, the scout ship Pteravilla Stalker was on a run of the mill patrol through the restricted area between the formerly feuding sectors, when their sensors picked up an unidentified ship, though the sensor readings were not conclusive, indicating some form of active jamming.  As the small scout ship approached the vessel, the bogey answered none of their communications, nor did it react at all to their approach.  The sensor readings were still not revealing much in the way of details of the ship, only that it resembled a stock DSM cargo ship, one of their “flying skyscraper” designs that showed all the hallmarks of the corporation’s lack of interesting design features.

According to the official report, filed by Captain Maerril following the incident, visual inspection confirmed that the ship showed no signs of damage, and power readings were still inconclusive due to what appeared to be a sensor dampening coating over the ship’s hull.  The vessel’s ID code was obtained and a search ran through the available databases, but no matches were found, and the search inquiry with DSM for registration information was lost in the midst of their vast bureaucracy.  Per the Captain (and with corroborating accounts from other surviving crewmembers), the Stalker‘s first officer, Shi Sukimori, insisted upon leading a small team into the mystery ship to determine the nature of the vessel.  Against the Captain’s better judgement, he was convinced by the commander to allow the mission.  With Sukimori in command, the boarding party consisted of the Stalker‘s co-pilot Kaylee Serra, technical officer Hilde Fireforge, medical officer Briar Azalvia, and the scout Murissa Fer’Ragnarra.

Communications were spotty once the team had boarded, and it is the Captain’s opinion that a properly thorough search was not performed.  Soon, and against Captain Maerril’s orders, Sukimori initiated the startup sequence for the mystery vessel, which resulted in a sudden power surge through the ship’s main power core which resulted in a catastrophic failure and subsequent explosion that heavily damaged the Pteravilla Stalker and resulted in the death of multiple crew members.  The crewmembers who managed to reach the escape pods and who survived the explosion were eventually picked up by another military vessel that had been dispatched to assist with the investigation.  Captain Maerill has admitted to bad judgement in this matter and has since resigned his commission, and is now employed in the private sector, as are the other survivors.  The members of the boarding party have been listed amongst the lost crew, but have been posthumously dishonorably discharged.  

The truth of the matter, however, is something else entirely.