Date: Thursday, June 16, 2011
Players: Marc, Ben, John

Our initial Issues were hard to summarize in one word, but they were, in essence: lifespan as a function of economic power, intrinsically imperfect communication, and trading freedom for security. From this, we built a very curious world indeed.

The planet: Parsis 2, also known as Sanctuary. Most of the world is unexplored, alien jungle. No one has any real reason to travel outside the boundaries of the colony. And why would there? For under the watchful eyes of their Archons, they’ve got everything they need. The Archons are super-rich humans who, through advanced but extremely complex medical procedures, have gained immortality… at the price of autonomy and freedom. They must be in constant contact with their medical devices in order to stay alive. Some are a few hundred years old; others are even older, and rumor has it a few of the colony’s founders are still alive somewhere.

Enter our Shock: a strange plant has begun growing on the outskirts of the colony. Exposure to pollen from this plant causes a small section of the population to gain natural immortality. Dubbing themselves “Perennials”, these new lifeforms must find their place in Sanctuary.

And so our stories began:

Onus Modri (Ben) was the protégée of a powerful Archon named Solomon (John). At first it seemed like Modri had it all: he was slated to join the ranks of the Archons as an Elect, he—despite being warned to sever ties—was in contact with his brother and young son, and he was a favorite pupil of his master. But when rebellion and Perennial insurrection began, Modri found himself facing the truth: the Archons would do whatever to took to remain secure in their station. And he was now their right hand, tasked with carrying out many grim missions.

Alto Zues (John) was one of the original founders of the colony, and a prominent Archon in his own right. He did not get to his position by being soft, and he intended to stay there indefinitely. So when a rebel organization named Hera, headed by Avelina Knaut (Marc), arose and began staging attacks on Archons, Alto wasted no time in mobilize his contacts in the police and military. But it wasn’t enough. His base came under fire, and he had to make a difficult choice: annihilate the source of the rebellion and risk his own death, or sink into his shell and allow things to deteriorate outside?

Colius Word (Marc), a medical technician at Sanctuary General, had it all: a beautiful wife, a career, a nice home. That changed in an instant when he returned from work to find his wife’s ex-boyfriend helping her pack. The man, Gallen Lorae, explained that he and Pria were “different” now. They’d been altered by the longevity plant, and were going to join the Perennials elsewhere. Colius managed to remind his wife of her love for him, but her expanded mind put her on a level beyond Colius’s understanding. Their relationship continued to deteriorate as Colius sought a means to become immortal himself.

In the end, various events in each story spilled over into the others. Colius and Pria conceived a child, but when Colius found himself unable to become immortal through the plant, he obtained experimental medical technology and tapped in. Pria went with Gallen instead. Colius never saw his child. Meanwhile, Alto chose to have his forces firebomb all the longevity plants in the jungle; as a result, he was undefended when the rebels came, and he perished. Shortly after that, Modri’s son received a brain injury during rebel fighting, so Modri—with his insider knowledge of the Archon’s inner circle—tapped into their medical machines and used the power of the devices to heal his son… at the cost of killing all of the remaining Archons.

Our world resolved itself with a shift in power: now the rich Archons with their artificial lifespan-extenders were gone… and in their place stood Perennials, imbued with immortality by luck rather than wealth.

Thanks for a great game guys!

I can't lie. I had way too much fun antagonizing Marc's character. I was waiting to see if Marc would decide to have Colius brutally murder the obnoxiously reasonable and patronizing Gallen in the first five minutes of the game. I would not have blamed him. I think I got the "darrrr!" face in all three conflicts, which might be a personal best.

We were just talking about story game merit badges/achievements right before the meetup (so you could flash your badges at the sister club in Oly), and I think this needs to be one of the categories: making a protagonist who is simply ideal to torture. It's a wonderful thing to do. The icon could something like a silhouette of a weeping person with a big bullseye on the back...