Iron Stars - fatimah

Fatmimah is awakened from her rest by the sound of the comms terminal in her room gently alerting her and urgent message is waiting. Gudrun is a nice place and living in Central has its perks. That said as a lone member of your order stranded here in a strange place , it’s time to do something more. The UNW foreign service was looking for recruits and your application was processed days ago. The ping sounds again. More insistent this time, almost like it is agitated the message has not been read yet.

Fatimah opens her eyes and glances at the time. Not yet dawn, good. She hadn't missed morning prayer. Still time left to handle whatever the message was about and wake up before then too, hopefully. Rolling out of bed, Fatimah gets water boiling for coffee before she clicks open the message in the middle of another annoying beep. The water boils and she pours it into her coffee machine as she reads through the message, idly mumbling a little prayer at the enticing scent of the heavenly drink brewing. "Alhamdu lillahil-lathee Aafanee fee jasadee waradda Aalayya roohee wa-athina lee bithikrih." (edited)

The message is from the UNW foreign service corps, and it looks like based on the first few lines your application has been accepted. In short, the polity is preparing an expedition to Kuhuk , a world south of UNW space that has not been contacted in some time. It was once a geostrategic position of importance and the natives there have been left behind by time and circumstance. In short, the UNW is putting together an expedition to reach out to the natives, and pave the way for future polity expansion, while also uplifting the locals. If you accept the mission, a small team will be sent with you as a member to the planet, leaving via free Merchant from Gudrun. Further details would follow, but the known planetary information is transmitted to you as well so you can weigh the risks for yourself. (edited)

14:35

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/iron-stars-nekosmash/a/kuhuk-article?preview=true

Kuhuk

Fatimah hurriedly writes back that she eagerly accepts the mission. Kuhuk would be the perfect place for her to start.

Upon acceptance, the coordinates to the Central Air/Star port are provided to you. The mission team is meeting at noon today for briefing and expeditious transport off world to the destination. It looks like three others along with the shuttle crew are accompanying you.

She memorizes the coordinates and saves the message before turning back to the now finished coffee. Fatimah takes a sip and smiles, glancing out her window at the slowly lightening morning sky. She quickly steps into the bathroom to wash herself before coming back out to set her sajjada out in the direction of Sol. On stellar distances, to pray to Makkah was to pray to the home system as a whole, and Fatimah loved the star of her birth above any other. Fatimah kneels down and begins her morning prayer. Once the fajr is complete, Fatimah rolls up and stows her sajjada inside her pack alongside her other belongings. She spends most of the morning packing and researching more about Kuhuk before setting out to make the meeting by noon.

Upon arriving at the Air/Star port you are waved through the gate upon the guards there seeing you have mission documents from the UNW. They allow any weapons you might have to go in with you as well. You can see three others standing in front of a shuttle, all having just got there a few minutes before you too. A UNW functionary is also present standing before the ramp and shuffling mission documents in their hands, they seem eager to give you the mission details.

19:58

"Now that everyone's assembled, does anyone have questions before I get into the briefing?" the human male says , excitedly and borderline impatiently, looking down at his notes once again. (edited)

Fatimah smiles and nods in getting at the other three. She looks them up and down, trying to gauge their appearances. She shakes her head at the functionary. "I don't."

"Most of the details won't be apparent until you get to the planet. Atmofilters have been left for each of you in the ship locker along with vac freshers in the event of truly bad weather on the surface. The natives won't attack on sight but they've had a history of being abused by the people who have come to visit their world, they may be untrusting and quick to anger if discussions with them go poorly, you're permitted to use lethal force in defense of yourself or your team should that happen"

"What sort of abuse?" Fatimah asks with a small frown. She hoped to avoid killing where possible. Her hand drifts over where her dawn pistol is holstered; hopefully she was skilled enough to end a fight non lethally.

"The Tenebrian Remnant occupied the war during the first year post-scream and used the natives as corvee labor to get starship construction minerals mined .They set up a fake religion, sky temples and everything that were really orbital elevators meant to bring the goods up to the shipyard that used to be there. Quota doesn't come in...the gods get angry...and well, you know what happens next..." the diplomat lets the meaning hang, not needing to paint a bleaker picture than he has done already.

Fatimah grimaces and shakes her head. "Bastards." She mutters. "So how heavy of a role are we expected to take? Just providing the people the tools to help themselves rebuild or do you want us to try and act like new ambassadors of the galaxy at large?"

“Society will move south eventually. It is good they make an informed decision about their place in it when it comes knocking, lest they be exploited again. Tools, training and news. That’s the best things you can bring for them. Youll also be exploring somewhat. Anything more we can fill our data banks with about the planet Is valuable “

"Understood. Will we be joining others already on planet or are we to be the first?" Fatimah follows up. "Who's in charge of the operation?"

“You will be the first and the group will jointly make its decisions. Everyone has a role on this expedition and no one is here by chance. I trust you’re all professionals and will find a way to work with one another on the ground “

She smiles and glances around her new partners, trying to take stock of the group. "Well then, I look forward to getting started."

(If you are set to go I can fast forward to leaving /getting there )

(sounds good)

02:42

(can I get a read on the rest of the team?)

The three others consist of a taros male, a Merlon female and a human female. The two women look to be more security and soldiery types while the Taros seems to be focused more on some kind of engineering or technical discipline . You can see he also has a translator torc on his arm so if there are any encounters with the locals you’ll have a way to communicate with them

Fatimah nods to herself, swallowing down a note of concern. Of the 4 people being sent, 2 being security types seemed an ill omen.

(10 days of downtime as we head from Gudrun to Khuhk)

04:12

(do the days training have to be continuous? Or can I log 10 days towards skill x and resume training at a later date?) (edited)

(You can pick it up at a later date )

04:13

(It’s cumulative over time)

(Cool cool, then Fatimah would spend her downtime brushing up on diplomatic readings and conflict management, trying to bump up her Talk to 0)

(10/90 for talk. When you have a second if you haven't done it yet, keeping track in the notes section on your sheet helps a lot too, we will have manyposts between here and there)

14:41

Arriving in the system you are the only starship here and your transport makes its way into the system, carefully scanning as it proceeds. The locals have no way to communicate with space, and the team looks at a map of the world, debating where to land or how to proceed once on the ground. So much of the strange world is a mystery, and it is your task to learn as much about it as you can.

Fatimah would be scanning the map, looking as well for a suitable spot. Preferably on a coastline or river for ease of transport and water access, defensible terrain, plenty of sun for the solar panels. She also would like to keep a respectable distance from any major settlements, but still accessible.

(is there a settlement in particular you're interested in?)

(let's do northwest coast, near the keep of the bonespeakers and the Soroth tribe)

(and last thing for me, a quick D10 as we land, so I can generate a hex!)

Nekosmash

(and last thing for me, a quick D10 as we land, so I can generate a hex!)

(rolled a 7 in the roll20 page)

(thank you, ill get this generated when I sit down in a bit)

(no hurries!)

Setting down within 20km of the Bone Speaker encampment you land in a dusty desert bowl, where the orange brown dirt beneath your feet is just wet enough to cling to boots and packs. The other members of the team are likewise not pleased by the conditions but landing directly in their settlement may have caused issues. The sun is shining down from its mid day zenith, and you might be the only living things for kilometers around.

Fatimah steps off the ship with the others and hurriedly sets about getting the camp assembled. Hab domes needed to be raised, solar panels set up, much work needed to be done. She works with her teammates to divy up the labor so they won't have to sleep in the ship tonight.

The base camp is established after just a few hours and the solar charger is set up so a few new Type A cells can be completed each day if they're used up. The ship launches back into orbit to monitor and facilitate comm traffic where needed. The dust raised by it billows out in all directions, and someone will no doubt have seen it before long.

Once the camp is settled, Fatimah sits down and looks at her team. "So I suppose now's a good time to get to know one another, yes?" She says with a friendly smile.

(I dont mind detailing the NPCs out a bit more if we see them over the course of a couple missions)

19:47

(otherwise id end up with a legion of them to keep together)

19:48

Someone is about to talk when one of the small proximity sensors outside begins to chime gently. Something is coming within 200m of the camp, that is not identified as part of the wildlife here.

Fatimah rises to her feet, heading to where the proximity sensors indicate that the something is arriving from. She keeps her dawn pistol and knife hidden in her clothing, not wanting to be unprotected but also not wanting to appear hostile.

There are six people outside 200m from the edge of camp. Theyre clad in tough scrap traveling armor and none of them appear to be armed with more than a long knife here or there. They’ve taken pause as the alarms are chirping and they are not sure what to do

"Hello!" Fatimah calls out amicably, deactivating the alarm. "It's a pleasure to meet you, welcome to our camp." She gestures them over, keeping a respectful distance herself for now.

The cautiously shout hello back over the distance between you, and seem to approach slowly, almost skittish in nature. As they come closer you can confirmed they're not armed aside from the knives they use.

She approaches equally slowly, keeping her hands empty and where the locals can see them. "My name is Fatimah bint Abbas and I represent the United Nations of Worlds. We're setting up this little camp to help you recover from your occupation."

1

"United...Worlds...." one of them barks. "You come to build...sky..ships?" he says, trying to gather his thoughts based on what he has seen before.

Fatimah shakes her head. "no sky ships. Only gifts and knowledge." She replies.

“We come to camp? We come, as friends?” He croaks, trying to find the words or remember what the Remnant language was like

She smiles and nods. "Come as friends." Fatimah replies waving them over and turning back to camp.

They make their way into camp cautiously, following you. They've been invited in and are becoming comfortable, but the question of what you're doing here, what you want, and how they fit into everything are things they have. Getting in well with them might mean getting into a settlement somewhere.

"Where..where friends from stars come from?"

14:45

"Are you...Rem..nant?" Their leader asks.

Fatimah hurriedly sets out the finer rations they've got and shows the tribesmen around the camp while dinner cooks. "We're not Remnant, we drove the Remnant away from here actually. I was sent by my people to help yours recover from their reign. The UNW comes from many different worlds, each working with each other for mutual good."

"What good does UNW want from this place? " They ask. Their weapons are forgotten now, as they heartily dig into the meal. You get the sense they're listening to anything more that might be said.

"No goods, we want you to recover and grow. And hopefully one day, your people can take to the stars yourselves and join us there." Fatimah replies cheerfully, taking a few bites herself. The 10 day journey had been more than enough to take away the novelty from those ration packs. She quietly hoped to herself maybe the tribesmen could share fresh ingredients.

One of them opens their field pack and skewers a large hunk of salt rubbed meat. They place it over the fire and some of the others begin mixing the rations with something that looks like flat bread , dusted with crushed nuts. They offer to share with the team

03:29

The medic shrugs. They have tailored allergens on hand if this doesn’t agree with anyone

Fatimah eagerly accepts. "Is there anything I could do to help?" She asks. Regardless, once the meat is cooking, she follows up while munching on the flatbread. "So which tribe are you from?"

“Bone speaker tribe. We find food, water and medicine plants for the wise men. They use them and help the tribe and take wisdom from our dead “

"We would be interested in speaking to your wise men soon, begin sharing our knowledge."

“You will follow us back and will speak with them. They are wise people and you seem better than the remnant “ Dinner is finished and the travelers once again heft their packs and weapons , preparing to depart to their home. “The sky temples do not work anymore. The remnant took the metals of the ground with them “

"Metals of the ground?" Fatimah repeats questioningly. She shoulders her pack as well and sets off behind the tribesmen, keeping a eye on the surrounding country as they walk. It never hurt to familiarize oneself with the surroundings. She grimaced slightly at the realization she'd missed her evening prayer, but ah well. God understood circumstance.

It seems like based on what they're saying, and the initial reports of this world the Remnant had come to this world , and corrupted its culture to incite the locals to mine and offer the goods to 'sky temples' , likely cargo shuttles, so the ore rich planet would be a building block of Remnant ship building and supply chain.

Fatimah frowns at that. Too much of this planet's mineral wealth had already been lost to exploitation. Perhaps in the long term future an asteroid could be towed into orbit as a sort of reparations for their descendants. "How have your people fared since the sky temples left?" She asked. "And how have the other tribes fared as well?"

“We do not speak to them often. Long way to travel overland to go and there is nothing we need them for. The people are quiet. We are hungry. Trying to get by. “

03:28

“Many lost family to the mines “

"I am sorry to hear that. We are happy to share whatever you need to recover. We hope to aid all the tribes in this manner." Fatimah replies. She casts her eyes to the sky and cracks her neck. "How long to your elders?"

"We leave now, we make it by middle of night. "

15:11

They begin packing their meager belongings now that the meal is done. "You will follow us, we will bring you to them"

Fatimah agrees and begins packing up her kit as well once dinner is cleaned up. "I look forward to meeting them." She takes a minute to lay out her sajjada and hurriedly perform her evening prayers. Rushing a bit through the process, Fatimah manages to finish as the tribesman complete their packing.

(if yuou didn't have any other questions I'll move us on to the settlement, I don't want to throw you into something you didnt think you had time to prep for when Ic you'd have had it)

(sounds good)

(sounds good as in you're all set? )

(yea sorry. I'll just take a small gift of rations and medicine with me)

1

You travel across the dusty plains over the next few hours under a brilliant star lit sky. Camp is packed and traveling with you and the locals don't way much on the trip aside from consulting one another on the placement of landmarks and the best routes to take back home. Their settlement is in sight at about midnight, as promised. The walls are made from stone, long bones of now extinct local beasts and stretched hide in places where wood and stones were not found to complete the work. A pair of towers made from scrap metal look over the countryside near a gate made of the same, and a quick exchange of gestures between your guides and the sentries seem to convey the information needed to allow you to get inside. This late, not many people are awake, but someone is sent to fetch the elders and there is a bit more commotion behind the walls as you pass through the gate and see the scrap buildings first hand.

Fatimah takes in the sight of the village with quiet astonishment at these people's resilience and ingenuity. She patiently waits for the elders to arrive, trying her best to appear friendly to the villagers who are awake and around her.

There are three of them, wearing shirts made of bone woven with what might be dried ligament. Two are women and one is a man, all are human, and each wears the face of a skull over their actual features for this meeting. “Our hunting party returns home, and you have brought guests?” There’s a quick exchange between the elders and their scouts as they confer you’re not Remnant and have come here representing another group entirely , but the scouts make it clear to both you and the elders that you should be given time to speak in order pitch your goals for being here to the elders yourself. They vouch you treated them well and fed them, and they never felt threatened in your presence once introductions were made

Fatimah bows respectfully to each of the Elders before saying her piece. "Thank you all for your gracious hospitality, seeing me so late. My name is Fatimah bint Abbas and I am a servant of the United Nations of Worlds. We are an alliance of many peoples from across many different worlds. Worlds like yours, as well. The Remnant hurt your people terribly when they ruled over you. Now that they have been driven away, we want to help you heal." She reaches into her pack and pulls out the box of medical supplies and the box of rations. "I have brought this humble gift of food and medicine for you to show our goodwill towards the Bonespeakers. We hope to set up an outpost where our skyship landed so that we can continue to provide knowledge and assistance for all the tribes of this world. Our dream is that one day, you will recover fully and become able to reach for the stars yourselves." She finishes, taking a small breath. Fatimah scans the faces of the elders, looking for a sign of what they think about her words.

“An outpost? “ one asks, hanging on the point you’ve only just emphasized. “Do you need metal? Are you here to keep the old deal? “

20:50

The clan can grasp most of what you’re saying. Life here is hard. Nothing comes for free and their only contact with off worlders has only driven the point further home

20:51

You represent something new, an exciting possibility for them, but also a chance for the old ways to return in different clothing

"no, not at all!" Fatimah hastily responds. "We do not plan to have a presence here larger than our current encampment. The old deal with the Remnant is dead and gone. We truly seek only to assist the tribes of this world."

"The Bone Speakers cannot directly support you for now, but we allow you time and will see what you do. Your actions will tell, before long. May you be better than those who came before"

"Thank you, elders. That is all we ask. Please, accept this humble gift and thank you again for seeing me." Fatimah sets down the boxes of food and medicine and bows again.

“And we have an offering as well. You have come in peace and honored the bond that travelers have when coming here in peace.

"Oh?" Fatimah looks up. "I am humbled by your generosity, elders. It is my hope that your people and mine can become friends in time."

Bone, stained and polished and turned to an almost mirror sheen is presented to you on a long woven cord. With primitive tools this would have taken a long time to make and is an object of value to the tribe. You can see the elders and a few warriors wearing something similar upon a quick glance through the assembled crowd here

Fatimah smiles widely and approaches the elder bearing the necklace. She gratefully accepts the gift and immediately puts it on around her neck, glancing around a moment at the others who wear such items to make sure she does it correctly. "I am honored, thank you." Fatimah says quietly.

You’re given safe passage to stay for the night and the following couple of days if you wish to learn more of the people here, and you’ll get the chance to mingle and help out before being turned loose back to the wilderness. The team is ready to settle in for the night , trying to figure out how to make use of their best shot to make positive headway with the people here (edited)

Fatimah will agree to stay the night, no need for making the return trip in the dark. She sets up her sajjada next to her bedroll and after a quick wash, begins her Tahujjud since she was already up in the proper time. The night sky is unfamiliar here, but it's not long before she can find Sol. Its light is comforting, but also fills her with a terrible homesickness.

Morning comes before long. You've managed to bag yourself about five hours of sleep. The village is up and beginning to move already for the day, the sounds of fires being lit, people talking, and otherwise the business of ongoing life fills the air.

After morning prayer, Fatimah comms the base camp to see if they need anything from her today. If not, she'd like to hang around the village to get a feel for the people here and help whomever needs help with their daily chores.

(Everyone at camp came here with you, and the shuttle is in the system facilitating comms, but they’re scooping fuel so wouldn’t need anything )

05:17

There are many chores happening in the village. Some are washing clothes , others are skinning and carving animals caught recently by a hunting party , some are weaving , and others are busy fixing things around the village or otherwise handling security related duties

You're given free reign of the place. This mission is one of understanding and the locals seemed to at least grasp that much from your midnight meeting with their leadership. They are cautious, but respectful of you.

@Izyra

Fatimah prepares a quick breakfast with her team and delegates duties. The Merlon soldier is sent to the walls to help security while the other human is sent to aid the hunters. The Taros who'd turned out to be an engineer is sent to assist repairs around the village. Fatimah herself goes to help the women washing clothes and weaving.

They smile and are polite but no one directly approaches you as you set yourself down by the small creek that runs through the village. A space is made for you to kneel down with them and they go about scrubbing their clothes on the rough rocks

Fatimah will spend the day assisting them, making small talk where possible. She also keeps an eye out for trouble or if anything urgent comes up.

1

(anything you'd be trying to steer a conversation towards? )

02:02

(I don't want to ignore your efforts but unless prompted, they're probably going to keep to themselves)

(I'd steer the conversation towards rebuilding efforts and any dealings with the other tribes)

(okay, we can get a talk/cha if you don't want to RP it out then)

Nekosmash

(okay, we can get a talk/cha if you don't want to RP it out then)

(that'll be a 7)

They don't offer up much on their own. This is a culture of obedience and tradition in both men and women, and if the elders think that alignment with you is a good idea, they'll go with it, but some express a bit of reluctance. They've been taken advantage of by outsiders from the stars before.

20:08

Most are unwilling to say or offer much more- and the elders have said already that you don't have their cooperation, but you have their interest and permission to establish and outpost nearby. They'll need to see how the UNW comports itself before doing more.

20:09

(essentially, we have an inroad here, we don't need to continue spending time on this if you're eager to get into other things)

(gotcha, makes sense) Fatimah will continue assisting and coordinating her team for the rest of the day. When night begins to fall and people retreat from the day's tasks to get dinner, she will approach the elders and offer a communications device to the tribe so that they can call the base camp at any time.

They are familiar with compads, having seen Remnant models in action before, so there is an element of similarity here. “Thank you” they ask, accepting the gift earnestly. “May the ancestors guide your way on this world “ (3xp, 5000 credits )

15:44

(Can help with level up if you need it)

(ooo nice, I'm lvl 2 now?)

(Yep! If you need a hand with level up let me know!)

(thanks!)

(need a hand? )

(Been away from my computer, visiting relatives for the new year sorry)

02:27

Level UP Level: 2 Focus: Diehard 1 Old HP: 6 New HP: 11 New Skills: Talk 1 for 2sp, Increased Dex by 1 for 1 sp Current AB: +1

02:32

Also for my lvl 2 Sunblade ability I chose Universal Language which lets me speak and understand with anyone with a language and also gave me a level in the Diplomat Focus

(all good, the time between Xmas and New Years always feels like a giant liminal space to me too)

15:23

(if you want to continue here we can, if you want to explore other planets or chase down some personal things we can do that as well)

(exploring other planets sounds like fun)

(want to join Iumi as she explores a quarantined world near UNW space? )

(sure!)

Level UP Level: 3 Focus: none at lvl 3 Old HP: 11 New HP: 16 New Skills: Sunblade 2 for 3 sp New Sunblade ability: Cosmic Insight Current AB: +1

(this all looks good. I know you were shopping for items, just make a list here when you've made your selections and I'll give it ia look)

20:49

(The vac skin is TL5, that is not available)

(gotcha)

(Did you want to split off into something solo?)

(yes please)

(did you want to follow up on those signals from the zombie planet now that you guys handled the radio tower?)

(that sounds great. I also need to go through my sheet and refund any other TL5 stuff I bought)

(I think the vac skin was all there was)

22:10

(I can check though )

(Grav harness?)

(I’ll check over your sheet again and make a bigger list tonight )

(thanks)

Returning to the planet you and Iumi examined, you see that the situation here has changed a bit. You are welcomed back to the orbital platform and upon reaching the bridge you can see that several small signals have been detected all over the planet.

2

Fatimah smiles from the bridge and looks to the others around her. "I'm glad to see you've been busy and I'd be honored to continue to assist. What do you need currently?" She asks the highest ranking officer on the bridge.

"Despite it all, it looks like a community of survivors has made a home for themselves near the cooler regions of the planets north. It's not a great life they'll have down there, but it seems safe. We would appreciate someone looking into them, seeing if they're above board, and if they are, what we can do to help them"

Fatimah nods and studies the station's view of the planet. "Bold people, to resettle so soon. Are they from the stations or survivors from the surface?" She asks. "I'd be happy to check in and assist them however I can." God willing, they'll grow and take back their planet from this wretched plague. Fatimah thinks to herself. God willing, we all do. She tilts her head to gaze out the view screen at the distant, faint flickering dot that is Sol.

01:37

(so sorry for the lapse in activity, life keeps coming in waves.)

(Real life comes first)

14:56

"Survivors from the surface, as far as we know no one who actually made it to space has gone back down. We are confident you'll get the answers to the questions everyone has. We can send you down as soon as you are ready.

Fatimah smiles at him and turns to leave. "I'm ready now. Perhaps I should take a comm unit with me so this community will be able to talk directly with the orbital stations." She suggests.

(your compad can already do that)

16:26

(unless you don't have one, then they'd give you one)

(I meant a spare one to give to the settlement)

An extra is procured from one of hte many supply lockers on the station for you to bring down to the surface with you. The shuttle crew is overlooking a map as you come into the bay, trying to determine a good place to land. (edited)

I'm sorry Neko, I appreciate everything you do for this game. I just keep getting occupied by life and I feel bad fading out for days or weeks at a time so I'm going to back out. Thank you so much for helping me and I wish you the best moving forward

(thank you!)

20:03

(you too!)