Serious question though... Since you'll be in the states, why not try to work up a few mini-sessions at a sane hour of the day?

Well it would still be questioning my sanity.. and health.. if I gave up on some quality time of the holiday i had booked for my fiance and I!

see you all tomorrow!

I just specified a sane /time/, I figured it was a given nothing else about it would be sane

So, Bish is out for...looks roundabout 3 weeks. Sucks for us, but as some of the new players know, I tend to run Chat & Recruit drives whenever we don't do a game. What's that, yeah, we're full up! (Very happy about that, by the way.) So, sucks for me, I can't do my recruit magic (come watch it happen anyway )

Point being, I've been working on a new sheet, bit by bit; there's still a good chunk of work to get done, but I'm extremely optimistic in this case. It'll make semi-quickly throwing together a mech much simpler (for me at least,) since it'll just be a matter of making a few base selections.. Everything by-the-book should be available via drop-down (or straightforward inputting for Propulsion), and it should all auto-calculate final values for the important things (MV especially, but also damage modifiers, MA for land, sea, and air, etc.)

I'm saying this because, for many of us it's been a while since we've had a good and proper mech battle, and let's just face it, they're fun. I know Sayge is experienced with the setting, and I know Felix watches this place like a hawk (and I have experience that aside from being a madman, he's good with MZ too ) So, I'd like to try to put together some skirmishes for anyone that shows; either PvP (Teams...one-on-one just seems to promote "Mine's better" attitudes) or PvE, whichever works out best.

I'll be on AIM/MSN and more-or-less always reach-able by email, should anyone have any questions or suggestions (including STFU, but I'm not likely to listen to that one,) and hope most of us will come around come Saturday.

Bish, get back and get ready for Saturday, Blargh!

Hi guys, its Mary here, just logging in to say hi. And I was wondering if the game would be running this Saturday? Hope so, and will see you all then.

Should be. Wednesday was when Bishop should have gotten back home, so he should be ready to go by Saturday morning. I know I'm hoping so. I need a good role-playing game.

I have indeed returned! refreshed and ready.

Mary, I got your email;, looking through it now, should have an answer before game tomorrow!

Steven, you about? I wish to converse with the on a matter of mecha costing!

Felix? you about?.. just so. .well.. just so ..

and everyone else of course!

Miriya?

I am always about. Except for Sundays. Thats when I sleep.

Ok...so now we find out if the rather long chat between Tiana and Brandt exceeds the post length limit! : (Edited: missed removing Damien's ID code)

Bishop: A long sleek shuttle lands.. as it des, the elevator lowers it inot the next cargo bay along.. from out of its hatch a mechanical hound races..
** Tiana heads up on to the top deck to watch the shuttle land **
** Brandt (D) chuckles and lowers to 'catch' Sirius "Just got a little cooped up, didn't you? Plenty of room to run around here though, and we'll play a bit later." **
Bishop: The hound as it coems closer is obviously mechanical cybernetic...
** Brandt (D) gives Sirius a pat on the back as he stands and gestures over toward the cake-wielding Tiana "We have a new friend, too." **
** Tiana smiles at seeing the mechanical dog "Aww, now thats a nice animal" **
Bishop: the botweiller leaps and cavorts around his owner before eying the big kitty in the next cargo bay
** Damien (C) turns and heads out the door. "I'm gonna get some rest. Wake me once we get to our destination, or at the next meal time. Whichever comes first." **
Brandt (D): "His name's Sirius."
Tiana: "Nice to meet you Sirius. I'm Tiana"
Brandt (D): "Humans would call him my...pet, I believe, but it is not the same meaning. He was wounded when I was young and, in time, I bonded him to this body. Much as your tribes do with your mecha."
Tiana: "So, what was he before he became this?"
Brandt (D): "He was a wolf, just as you see him. It is not as common a practice among my people... Few, if any, have the gift I possess. It also allowed me to communicate with... I may be saying this wrong, but 'Mac an t-Sealgair'."
Tiana: "A who what now?"
Brandt (D): "I think it is his name, and of another language..."
Tiana: "So, what does he do? Other than sniff places he shouldn't?"
** Brandt (D) chuckles "Sirius, or 'Huntress'?" **
Tiana: "Sirius"
Brandt (D): "Well, he can pilot Corona" *Gestures to his ship* "better than I ever have, strangely enough.. He can be eyes and ears places I can't, and everyone just needs a friend sometimes."
Tiana: "So.. your pet pilots the ship?"
Tiana: "And looks after you?"
Brandt (D): "Sirius pilots the ship usually, yes.. As for who looks after whom, that is tougher to declare."
Tiana: "I just can't help but think, if I asked him, would he say you were more like his pet?"
** Tiana says with a grin, squating down near Sirius **
Tiana: "What do you think? Would you take to take him for walkies?"
** Sirius (D) huffs and trots a few steps toward Corona, then stops **
Brandt (D): "Oh, I know what he wants. he's been cooped up on the ship, up in orbit..." *He walks onto Corona and after a moment a small crystalline shape, about the size of a baseball, flies from the rear hatch. Sirius jumps into the air to catch it, and the crystal shatters and seems to disintegrate, like evaporating water*
Tiana: "What's that?"
** Brandt (D) walks out with a small box and sits on the edge of his ship's tail bay, setting it to the side, it launches another shard which Sirius has to chase to catch* "It rapidly generates a crystalline drone and launches it.. They don't last long, but it's usually enough for him to catch. His mind is still that of a wolf, he desires exercise, even if it no longer holds physical benefit." **
Tiana: "But what are the things your shooting at him?"
** Brandt (D) waits until one is about to launch and quickly reaches his hand forward, snatching the crystal without actually /holding/ it, as he had the teddy bear she'd thrown at him. He holds the crystal up for her to see; a long octahedron, it appears to just be a hollow shell. **
** Tiana looks at it curiously "Well, its pretty, but still no idea what it is" **
Brandt (D): "It is just a crystal. There are similar crystals native to this world."
Tiana: "Seems like kind of a waste of crystals though..."
Brandt (D): "My kin discovered long ago a method to rapidly grow them.. I use a similar technique to grow my weaponry."
Tiana: "Ohh, I see. Like creating them with psychic energy?"
Tiana: "I can do something similar to that. Though I'm not very good at it"
Brandt (D): "We discovered these crystals do grow in exposure to psychic energy, and when that is done, they have certain properties. We discovered other methods for growing the crystals, though... they lose those properties, but can be grown significantly in minutes, or seconds."
Brandt (D): "What do you mean?"
Tiana: "Well, all of my tribe have psychic abilities of some sort. We think they come from the geodes in the vast caverns that the Cashama crashed in to"
Tiana: "It puts us in tune with the earth and the materials there"
** Brandt (D) nods "And yours?" **
Tiana: "Mine?"
Brandt (D): "Your ability."
Tiana: "Its what I just said, to make crystals and formats of stones and minerals, and to control them"
Brandt (D): "I'd very much like to see that sometime, if you feel comfortable with it."
Tiana: "Maybe, sometime"
** Brandt (D) nods and draws his hands together, then extends one outward, the crystal suspends between them as if held on a rope, then flies out toward Sirius between shots from the device **
Tiana: "Wouldn't it be easier to use some sort of ball? That way he has to bring it back as well"
Brandt (D): "I've done that, in the past. This system offers the ability to generate more than mundane shards, however. If I want to give him a /real/ workout, as it were, they can evade him."
Tiana: "nice. I guess that works well then"
Tiana: "And not a problem if he fails to catch one and it goes in the water"
** Brandt (D) chuckles and nods, glancing down to the device; the next crystal flies through the air and darts to the side just as Sirius snaps for it. Keeping aloft, Sirius shows his skill for flight extends beyond the Corona itself, launching into the air and chasing after it.* **
Brandt (D): "May I ask you something that may seem..personal?"
Tiana: "If you'd like"
Brandt (D): "Could you explain your bond..your meld.. with 'Huntress'?"
Tiana: "I don't have one with Huntress... She's just a mecha, like a can of soup is just a tin can. Though she's a kick ass tin can"
Brandt (D): "Is that the case with all of your Kin? The Earth Tribe?"
Tiana: "No, we've a lot of different mecha types, I think Huntress probably even used to have some automated systems and its own personality"
Brandt (D): "That is what I sensed.."
Tiana: "But it was stripped out long before my time, and replaced with Hama. He's the current core, an integrated system with the psi lens"
Tiana: "I don't know much about him, but the mecha's clearly not designed for it. He's in the big underside pod which is built to be detachable"
Brandt (D): "The spirits of machines such as.. 'Huntress' are like any other being, even if they are inherently animal. There is much that could be gained from trying to understand him."
Tiana: "I don't think he'd agree. He can be a bit shirty if I keep asking him too many silly questions"
Brandt (D): "I do not know your history together, so I may be wrong, simply offering a suggestion, Tiana." *Smiles politely*
** Tiana smiles "Its ok. The thing to keep in mind is just that these mech's have been running for far too long, way past their expected life, and I guess some of their personalities have got a bit peculiar" **
Brandt (D): "That's true. Sirius would have passed away naturally years ago." *And out in the midst of the hangar, he stops trying to catch crystals and rolls over, chewing at his flanks.*
** Tiana smiles, looking back over to watch the mechanical dog **
Brandt (D): "So, I think I can see your point about becoming peculiar. But wouldn't it make you more effective to have his cooperation, than to fight ocassionally?"
Tiana: "We don't fight, and he doesn't cause any problems. I'm the one controlling the Huntress after all. And we are still melded as well, I can use my limited psychic abilities through his lens system"
Brandt (D): "Very well. I simply had the impression you and he...disagreed...often."
Tiana: "Oh we do. He never liked the war with the fire tribe for a start. Said we needed to be more protactive in taking back the city."
Tiana: "And he's always ranting on about the war starting to begin with, though I think he's just cranky that we lost."
Brandt (D): "If he is as old as he seems, perhaps he has some understanding that influences his views?"
Tiana: "Probably. Or perhaps he's just getting confused with a hundred past wars"
Brandt (D): "Such a history often offers insight."
Brandt (D): "My people believed themselves safe... for nearly a thousand years following our exile, we had lived in peace amongst ourselves, isolated. If it were not for our gifts and understanding we had discovered from our new homeworld, we would not have prevailed."
Tiana: "Prevailed against what?"
Brandt (D): "The Pantheon."
Tiana: "Which gets us back to Orphan Star I guess. Tell me about them and this Pantheon bunch"
Brandt (D): "I do not know much about Orphan Star, but the Pantheon attacked when I was very young. Living in isolation, we had unified; learning from the mistakes of our past. A small army of mecha swept down and razed several small tribes of an outlieing colony. We had ships, but not of war..."
Brandt (D): "Little could be done for the first assault, but by the time they reached our homeworld and more developed colonies, plans for a defense had been spread." *He pats the decking of Corona* "My father engineered this ship class as a means of distributing that defense. Large suits of armor such as what Ragistan wears. Each ship can safely transport 4, including its weapons...6 if absolutely necessary."
Tiana: "Interesting... Its hard to imagine what its like off world and out in space."
Tiana: "So these pantheon people have space faring craft?"
Brandt (D): "We still suffered. Many kin from my own tribe were killed, and Sirius was struck by a blast while my tribe evacuated.. Eventually, the Pantheon suffered enough, and left..."
Brandt (D): "There is a large galaxy out there, Tiana. Many craft of war travel through it."
** Tiana looks up at the sky curiously "My people came from up there as well. But now we're all people of the earth..." **
Brandt (D): "Did all tribes come from your ship?"
Tiana: "I don't think so. Though I'm no historian"
Tiana: "I think we just accumulated on this world over the years like so much driftwood"
** Brandt (D) nods "That happened to one of our tribes, as well. Lost during our exile, now they have grown to be many." **
Tiana: "But not you?"
Brandt (D): I was sent by our Sages...part of our leadership...to find and offer to guide them back home."
Brandt (D): "Our fleets, long ago, had determined a new home. One of the ships never arrived."
Tiana: "So thats why your here? Do you have a space capable ship?"
Brandt (D): "Corona. The design was intended to be built quickly, and ferry the defensive mecha to any colony and tribe at risk of attack."
Tiana: "Seriously?"
Tiana: "So it could go in to space right now?"
** Brandt (D) nods "She wouldn't be enough to bring back my kin, but I can help them prepare additional vessels. And, yes. With the exception of a brief re-charge between launches, she can reach orbit nearly any time." **
** Tiana nods her head "That must be incredible" **
** Brandt (D) smiles "It was unbelievable the first time, and it is still a unique experience.." **
Tiana: "Oh well. So why are you with these people? Seems to be distracting you from your goal"
Brandt (D): "It has helped, actually... Immensely. Everywhere I've travelled, I've met new kin of this world."
Tiana: "I see, I guess they must have spread out"
** Brandt (D) nods "We all have a gift with technology, not just my own ability... Many of my kin, though, live in secret, careful of alliances. To them, the lessons of our exile are still a painful memory." **
** Tiana nods agreement **
Tiana: "So, tell me more about the crew here?"
Brandt (D): "They're fairly straightforward... You still haven't met a few, but, Ragistan is the son of a trade cartel's head.. Damien once defended his village from an attack from a group related to Orphan Star, and has had other dealings with them in the past. and Ardith is...complicated, I think you noticed."
Tiana: "Yeah... was she ok? She seemed to just walk out part way through. I hope I've not caused problems"
Brandt (D): "I'm sure it's fine. She has a talent for certain things, but others just make her lose focus."
Tiana: "I'm not sure I understand"
Brandt (D): "She is easily distracted."
Tiana: "Oh I see... Well I guess she is pregnant. Lots to think about"
Brandt (D): "Yeah, that's kinda new, too."
Tiana: "Who's the father?"
** Brandt (D) shrugs and shake shis head "I don't truly know. Not sure it's my business, but I haven't heard any names spoken." **
Tiana: "Thats odd... You'd of thought a crew like this would be a bit more intimate. There's very few personal things that stay secret for long in my group"
Brandt (D): "We have not known each other more than a few weeks... and as I said, it is little of my concern whom she mates with."
Tiana: "I guess so"
Tiana: "So, where was it we're going to? And what was it you intended to do there?"
Brandt (D): "I'm not sure, now. Everything with the Orphan Star happened rather quickly... We are fortunate to have escaped alive, I'm sure, but it feels like we did not find what we were looking for. Not exactly."
Tiana: "What were you looking for?"
Brandt (D): "Well, we knew the Orphan Star were involved with something... And as a whole, we have learned who, and the means they are exploiting to cause their harm.."
Tiana: "So, your goal is to get rid of the Pantheon?"
Tiana: "Do you know what the Pantheon's goal is?"
Brandt (D): "They seem to seek to want to control something on this world, or destroy it all."
Tiana: "But you don't know what?"
Brandt (D): "Not exactly, no."
Tiana: "So your current goal is to find out what they are seeking to control?"
** Brandt (D) shakes his head. "Perhaps.. you'd have to ask Ragistan, to be certain. I think part of our purpose back at Pigeon is to regroup and plan." **
** Tiana nods her head "Will do. Though for the moment the main thing I'd like to do is find the rest of my group" **
Tiana: "You know, I'm pretty sure I could probably get myself in there if I went. Unless you think they'd just blow me up on sight?"
Brandt (D): "I couldn't say...we went under the guise of hired help on a transport ship. They do not keep pleasant company, Tiana... I expect we will return, and when we do, perhaps you can help your people then, but I would not advise going alone."
Tiana: "You went there intentionally on a transport ship? But didn't get what you went there for?"
Brandt (D): "We were there for information... We just didn't speak to the people I thought we would."
Tiana: "Well, may be I can help you out. I know I'm young and not exactly experienced at much, but I've spent my whole life fighting a gurilla war against an insurmountable opponent. I might not count for much, but it'd be good to face an enemy I actually cared about trying to defeat"
Brandt (D): "I hope you get that opportunity, but hear us out, first... It may well be our next move /is/ an assault on the Orphan Star base.. I know it's morning, but I've had a very long night, if you know what a Magmabat is, and could use some rest. Bid Hunter goodbye, and I'll check in later, ok?" *He doesn't give her /much/ opportunity to respond to the 'hunter' remark (but she can) as he shuts off the crystal launcher and slides it further onto the cargo bay of Corona
Brandt (D): *
** Tiana nods "Night" she says "I guess I'll get some rest myself" **
** Tiana climbs back up in to her mecha, slipping past the pilot seat in to the small back room inside it with her tiny fold out cot in it **
** Brandt (D) nods as Sirius jumps onto the back of the ship and runs up the ramp to the foresection, Brandt following **