saveyourselves | Concerning endgame: The invasion and beyond

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Concerning endgame: The invasion and beyond

CONCERNING ENDGAME

For the final CR/plot meme, please go here
For the returnee registration, please go here.

SCHEDULE OF THE INVASION

A lot of things are happening at once. This is intentionally so - people are supposed to split up, so pick and choose! That you have to limit the involvement of your character to a reasonable amount is a rule.

Day 1: A snake! OOC date: 29th of April
Day 2: An invasion! OOC date: May 5th
Day 3.1: The invasion spills and a counterinvasion! IC date: May 10th
Day 3.2 - For those people that are GOING TO SPACE IC date: May 16th
Day 4: Now the day is over, night is drawing nigh IC date: May 22th-24th

More information and a description of the invasion can be found here.

THE INVASION'S OUTCOME

You are still welcome to submit this form for your characters, if you haven't done so yet. As per the poll's results, this will be decided OOCly. For the purpose of tallying resources to determine how well the numbered will do in defending Earth and maybe even overcoming the Enemy's mastermind, but also to coordinate what goes down, please comment to this thread using the following format:

Character: Name | <user name=journalname>
Capabilities: List not only combat powers but also other powers/abilities that may be of interest (sometimes things that can do something are rather surprising!) and resources, be they money or people that they know or areas that they're familiar with, etc.
What role(s) would/could they play: Combat or evacuation efforts, mission control or talking to enemies, political coordination/diplomacy or transporting troops, whatever comes to mind. Please also include if you have any preferences/anything already plotted out.
Location: Not everyone can defend Locke City, or the Enemy will just invade everywhere else. Characters can of course retreat to another location or travel between places to give more of an element of surprise to their attacks, but take into consideration that the invasion is scheduled to only last three IC days, so there are logical restrictions to how much characters can move around.
Options for others: You have five gundams but only on pilot? Your character can fly but not fight so they could carry a fighter around?Please put that here and check around what others might be offering

Mods may comment to your comment with alteration requests or options for how your cahracter could get involved, but if we don't that doesn't mean that we haven't seen it/are mean, it just means that it is fine as it is. We will try to let everyone do what they want, but please understand that we might shuffle things around a bit if too many people are trying to do the same thing. Please also refer to the FAQ below and the General Questions thread if you need more information to fill in the form.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER?

The successor game will start the day after StE closes. LexiL has volunteered to look into running a post-StE game in the spirit of this discussion. Please go to her thread here to discuss the nature of such a game further, she definitely would like everyone's opinions and also help, if someone would give it.

ONE LAST POLL: CHANGE OF THE SCHEDULE?

The start of the invasion has been moved to the 29th. Here is a poll that will be open until the 9th. The thing that is up to voting is if the start of the invasion (currently scheduled for the 15th) should be pushed back to the 19th or 28th. Everything up to the 11th would stay exactly the same; the only change is that there would be a bit more time to wrap up plot relevant threads before the invasion and to explore Tokyo.

During the invasion, every IC day will last multiple OOC days.

RETURNING CHARACTERS

As per the poll's results, dropped characters will be allowed to return for the invasion. If you wish to bring back a character or know someone who wants to bring their character back, please make sure that the character gets registered here.

STATE OF THE GUARDIAN ANIMALS

The continued existence of the Animals is crucial to how well defended the echo areas, which are the only gateways to Earth that the aliens have, are. An area with an entirely unharmed Animal will be easy to defend, an area with a deceased Animal will be near impossible to defend.

Wise Snake (Locke City): Both Wise Snake and the smaller snakes are deceased.
Crablobster (Las Vegas): Deceased.
Silent Swan (Neuschwanstein Area): ~~Please tell us if the swan itself is still alive here.~~ Silent Swan is unharmed. Wolpertinger and Doppelgänger are still alive for the most part.
Santa Claus (Lapland): The main Santa is unharmed, but a number of the minor santas/grinches are deceased.
Mushroom (Christmas Island): Alive, but rendered unable to fight due to a glass roof covering it. The minor fungi are still mostly alive.
Deep Blue (Galapagos Islands): Alive.
Cousin Itt (Central London): Damaged, but alive.
The Swarm (Santarem, Amazonas): ~~Please tell us if damage has occurred here.~~ Slightly decimated but mostly intact. Core alive.
Kappa (Tokyo City): Will be added once we know.
Jörmungandr (space): Alive.

FAQ
How strong are the enemy soldiers? Strong. Think something like a boss fight on medium to hard mode, for every single one of them (think Darth Vader to your Luke or a Balrog to your Gandalf). The Enemy's intelligence will adjust the strength of their soldiers to their opponent's to a degree and send stronger soldiers the way of stronger characters. Their strength lies in: Speed, durability, strength and one special power - that can be superspeed or telekinesis or any other superpower.
Can the enemy soldiers combat my special power X? Yes and no. They come in groups of hundred, and every group has a different ability. If your character is lucky, they will not immediately run into a group whose abilities negates your character's special ability X, but they are coordinated well and will send a group who can to their place as soon as they figure it out. Example: Your character can summon ghosts that are invincible because they are intangible. After that registers with the Enemy's troops, they'll send an unit your character's way that can make intangible things tangible, so after the ghosts took out a number of soldiers they'll suddenly encounter opponents who can kill them.
My character can go to space!/Can I my character fight the spaceships? EXCELLENT. Once Jörmungandr has shown up, they will able to fly up in a straight line until they hit the outer parts of the atmosphere and then fly all the way around the planet at that altitude. They should however be careful to not leave the echo boundaries. And yes, they can fight the spaceships. The ships are armed! Their guns are strong enough to hurt the serpent in the sky (which has a similarly hard to pierce hide as Wise Snake and the Crablobster). On the flip side, the spaceships are as stable as an average Star Trek/Star Wars/etc ship with its shields down. Good metal, but nothing supernatural.
How will the Animals (and their smaller parts, like doppelgänger, santas and wolpertingers) react to my character? Not at all. They battle the Enemy's troops without paying attention to what they might wreck or kill in the way, but won't attack anyonething from Earth, either.
• What will doppelgängers do once the invasion starts? Once the invasion happens, the Silent Swan part will take over the doppelgänger's brains/actions insofar as they will see only one goal: Defend Earth, and specifically the Neuschwanstein echo boundary, at all cost. What the rest of their personality does with that goal is up to the players. This means that they should be found in the Neuschwanstein area as that is what their purpose is, but there is a bit wiggle room if there are other factors (mind control by a third source, being imprisoned, etc).
Can my character talk to the invaders? Yes! Some may even express regret about their wrecking havoc, but do it anyway, because staying true to their orders conquers all other considerations.
RETURNEES - Will my character receive any echoes upon having their echoes return? No! BUT they will witness Jörmungandr's pink light, so they can have a tier 2 right upon entering the game. They can also receive recurrence echoes throughout the invasion. Please request your character's echoes on the echo page just like you did while they were in the game!

Please direct questions regarding any of the above to the thread below and not the post in general. Please do not use this post for plotting among yourselves and go to the final CR/plot meme instead.

Threaded | Flat

Please leave all information regarding if/how much the Animals were harmed/killed here.

The invasion will last roughly 3 IC days but much longer OOCly.

If you're anything like me, you've had an amazing time here at Save the Earth during your stay, whether that's many months or just a few. All good things have to end eventually, but that doesn't mean that new things can't start, and for anyone who's interested, I'm happy and willing to help start something new following the official end of Save the Earth. Kira approached me about it and I'm absolutely thrilled to volunteer in the interest of continuing my character's story; if you are too, please join me in brainstorming how you want the sequel to be organized and handled... and try to be gentle with me, it's my first time.

Right now, my vision for a semi-post-apocalyptic Save the Earth V.2 is a changed world. The aliens have invaded and been defeated, but not without tremendous cost and sacrifice. A horrifying new cancer is spreading. Government and economy are in a state of uncertain flux and the name of the game is rebuilding what is salvageable outside of decimated echo zones. Leaving is OK, though; anywhere on Earth, Numbered characters will still be able to retain their echoes, and even if global communication is crippled significantly, the Network is still a reliable mode of communication for these individuals.

I really want to hear your thoughts, but to get us started brainstorming, here are my personal preferences for the sequel's feel:

Tone: Semi-post-apocalyptic slice of life, with aspects of survival horror thrown in. The Earth was saved, but bears the scars of an intense battle, and the ecosystem and climate have both been affected. Humans have to work harder to survive and maintain civilization and order, but they are not at The Walking Dead levels of "EVERYTHING IS GONE." The world is war-torn and more rugged and but in many ways, life can continue as usual, and is encouraged to. All characters can keep in contact via the Network regardless of their location on the globe, but following the destruction and devastation of the entire planet, some pretty extremist groups might spring up, and become a powerful draw to those who have lost their religion, their homes, or their loved ones. The majority of humans won't necessarily hate Numbered, but the minority might make it unsafe to be alone. You're better off with your friends, and I anticipate one or more groups of Numbered to stick together and form a close-knit and geographically close community.

Plot: Though slice of life is what many of our long-suffering characters deserve after all the struggles they faced in STE, these guys are asskickers and no one wants them to get bored. What I'm interested in running with is an invasive alien species that hitched a ride on the ships attacking Earth in STE's finale: an as-yet unseen, rapidly evolving microbe that has limitless potential to adapt to new environments and is making Earth its new home. Starting from the ground up, they rival other bacteria, plants and animals that have existed on Earth for millennia in being well-suited to earth, and are fast approaching sentience. They are technically aliens, but they evolved from a molecular level on Earth just like our characters did, and will behave as though they belong here... but advanced life forms take a long time to grow, so many of them will jump the gun and try to hijack earth-native animals and humans as parasites. If your character becomes infected, will they coexist symbiotically with their new tenant or seek a cure? Opportunities abound for nerdy scientists and brawny fighters alike.

Characters: If you were in STE, you've got a free pass and you're in. If anyone else is interested in joining us, they'll app in as characters receiving echoes, and can start anywhere on Earth (though it's obviously more convenient to start near other Numbered people.) In addition to apping in your classic Numbered birdman/prodigy/magical girl, I'd like to explore the option of apping as a member of the invasive alien species; whether your host is a houseplant, a gazelle, or a human college student, you'll evolve, eventually take them over completely, and wear their face as you gain new powers and abilities (these would be treated like echo requests for Numbered characters.) The exception to this is if you want to app in as a microbe hitching a ride on an existing character; then you're sharing a space and need to work it out with them!

What do you think? Are you excited? Horrified? Slightly turned-on? Whatever you feel, please leave your input and suggestions. If you'd like to offer help in any capacity, be it coding, playing NPCs, or anything else like that, feel free to volunteer, because while I have a lot of energy and enthusiasm, I don't think I can run something like this alone. :D

Threaded | Flat

General Questions

How are the Animals?

Poll: When should the invasion begin?

The invasion's outcome

...and beyond!