This is only a general idea I put down this morning.
Suggested Story Plot: By Partha.
Tsi-Hu are shape shifters, but GateStriders have only met the warrior class.
They did not create the great cities which are now the ruins that players find.
Those were created by the 'hidden ones'. They are called so because they never reveal their true form. They are master shapeshifters, some appear as warrior classes, others as animals, some as plants or even carven images (like gargoyles).
At first players will have no idea that there are other TsiHu.
A funny quest will be to retrieve the main base camp mascot, a dog some nameless gatestrider brought. But he adamantly refuses to follow you back home... he just keeps running away.
He's part of the plot later on.
….
When the first gatestriders came, one team stood head over shoulders above the others; the Black Gate Aces. They went where others did not dare, fought enemies everyone feared, exploring further & thumping deeper than anyone else. So of course when a new zone was opened, one that contained great ruins, they were first to go.... they turned out to be the only to go.
No one really knows what happened, the recordings are garbled, distorted and sealed.... some are trying to access the files, those who get close, disappear. The Black Gate Aces (BDAteam) who came back, were changed... they revealed nothing beyond the mission report. Of those who came back, all stopped gate striding, settled into administrative and leadership positions at main locations and have since set regulations that explicitly prohibit the exploration and colonization of the zone they last explored. It is now only recalled as the forbidden zone. The only explanation; the zone contains geological and environmental dangers far too hazardous to risk colonization. The financial and consequential resource costs were too high to counterbalance the meager resources to be found therein. It just wasn't worth the money and time. That was the word, and their word was never questioned.
No one has dared going back... except for the main base mascot who seems to be trying to go back each time he gets loose... ~_^
later, the plot unfolds:
All this to reveal that the TsiHu 'hidden ones' have replaced the BGAteam, and are infiltrating the GateStrider Community. There will develop a sense of real paranoia and mistrust as people start to feel like those they once knew and trusted, are not the same anymore.
Some will suggest it's the planet itself, maybe the gate striders should just leave...?!? Maybe there is an Ambiant energy that messes with human cognitive abilities and/or neurology? Maybe they are being mind controlled? Who knows...
The only way, is to break protocols and regulations and GO to the forbidden zone.... and SEE what is there...
That's a major mission, done in multiple parts,
Those who return to main base, find themselves changed....
The TsiHu have a plan, ….. if they can't BEAT the GateStriders.... they will assimilate them.....
It IS, after all, the most cost effective way to win a war....
Suggested Story Plot: By Partha.
Tsi-Hu are shape shifters, but GateStriders have only met the warrior class.
They did not create the great cities which are now the ruins that players find.
Those were created by the 'hidden ones'. They are called so because they never reveal their true form. They are master shapeshifters, some appear as warrior classes, others as animals, some as plants or even carven images (like gargoyles).
At first players will have no idea that there are other TsiHu.
A funny quest will be to retrieve the main base camp mascot, a dog some nameless gatestrider brought. But he adamantly refuses to follow you back home... he just keeps running away.
He's part of the plot later on.
….
When the first gatestriders came, one team stood head over shoulders above the others; the Black Gate Aces. They went where others did not dare, fought enemies everyone feared, exploring further & thumping deeper than anyone else. So of course when a new zone was opened, one that contained great ruins, they were first to go.... they turned out to be the only to go.
No one really knows what happened, the recordings are garbled, distorted and sealed.... some are trying to access the files, those who get close, disappear. The Black Gate Aces (BDAteam) who came back, were changed... they revealed nothing beyond the mission report. Of those who came back, all stopped gate striding, settled into administrative and leadership positions at main locations and have since set regulations that explicitly prohibit the exploration and colonization of the zone they last explored. It is now only recalled as the forbidden zone. The only explanation; the zone contains geological and environmental dangers far too hazardous to risk colonization. The financial and consequential resource costs were too high to counterbalance the meager resources to be found therein. It just wasn't worth the money and time. That was the word, and their word was never questioned.
No one has dared going back... except for the main base mascot who seems to be trying to go back each time he gets loose... ~_^
later, the plot unfolds:
- An errant radio communication from the forbidden zone, receivable only from a few specific high altitude locations. Possibly a SOS beacon. Explanation: must be an omniframe beacon message left over from one of the BGAteam that didn't make it.
- The original omnisuits from the BGAteam don't show the expected damage that would support the events of their mission statements. As a matter of fact, there's no damage …. at all....
- Strange behaviour on behalf of the BGAteam members themselves, failing to recognize old friends and recalling prior events differently than what happened such as their earliest missions to EM8ER.
- Each of the BGAteam has a particular dislike for the main base mascot. Most wish he would just go away, or worse.
- Anyone who digs into the story behind the mission to the forbidden zone is at first told to mind their business, then get pulled ranked, then are outright threatened. If they pursue it further, they get all their accumulated resources impounded. If they still dig in deeper, they are zone restricted until they complete a babysitting escort mission meant for 'kiddies', which turns out to be a massive ambush and bloodbath. Those who are smart enough to flee or strong enough to survive, might be granted zone thumping access again, but they will never be allowed access to the forbidden zone.
- Other signs are popping up, NPC's are disappearing and reappearing later, different... they act different, react different, think different....
All this to reveal that the TsiHu 'hidden ones' have replaced the BGAteam, and are infiltrating the GateStrider Community. There will develop a sense of real paranoia and mistrust as people start to feel like those they once knew and trusted, are not the same anymore.
Some will suggest it's the planet itself, maybe the gate striders should just leave...?!? Maybe there is an Ambiant energy that messes with human cognitive abilities and/or neurology? Maybe they are being mind controlled? Who knows...
The only way, is to break protocols and regulations and GO to the forbidden zone.... and SEE what is there...
That's a major mission, done in multiple parts,
- Covertly gathering resources to open up small pocket of the zone.
- The main base mascot actually knows the way, but the players have to follow him there....
- Once those pockets are there, explore them to find traces of the team's original path and egress.
- Establish a forward base of operations in secret, multiple ones of possible (maybe instance events by team who discover that they may well be in pocket layers of reality... so they can't see or communicate with other teams in the same place!)
- Delve deeper into the ruins... find the original omniframes of the BGAteam, all of them, no bodies, just the mecks. This is where the main base mascot stops, he refuses to leave one omniframe.... then players put the pieces together, he's not a mascot at all, he's one of the original BGAteam members. You see, hidden ones and warriors are not the only TsiHu, there is another higher class, one that can manipulate not only their own DNA and forms, they can transform others as well....
- Deeper still into the ruins, where shadowy figures seem to lurk in corners, only to disappear leaving only statues and ruins behind... supporting NPC characters also disappear, making the task even harder....
- They find uncountably rich resources, well worth more than any possible reckoning.... this zone is RICH in resources !
- Then, the big reveal, the Tsi-Hu assault, the ruins are NOT abandoned at all.... teams get swamped and will need to retreat... or find some way to hold their ground against a new kind of foe and potentially massive Kaiju.
Those who return to main base, find themselves changed....
The TsiHu have a plan, ….. if they can't BEAT the GateStriders.... they will assimilate them.....
It IS, after all, the most cost effective way to win a war....
Likes:
Pandagnome
