Greybox

[Kerr]

Okay I want to throw another lore nugget in here about spacecraft because I didn't mention it in the OP and want to clear things up. How they work in Greybox isn't like how they work in a lot of Sci-Fi where massive ships can just take off and land on planets with ease. Because believe it or not there's actually a lot of problems (both safety and practicality) with a massive spacecraft both taking off and landing on planetary bodies, especially heavily populated ones. Instead only smaller vessels (so think a crew of about half a dozen to four dozen people) actually land and take off on planets. Bigger ships stay in and are usually built in orbit.

On Mars they use the Space Elevator at Olympus to get cargo/crew directly from the big ships in orbit to the planet. There were other Space Elevators on Earth and they still exist but like you know, The Collapse happened so they aren't used. On other planetary bodies (moons, planets, etc) those big ships typically dock at space stations where they unload their cargo which is then later carried down by those smaller vessels. Or the big ships have shuttles, the big ships park in orbit and then the shuttles fly down directly.

Naturally bigger ships can carry more cargo and have more powerful engines than smaller ones. This all seems like something I should probably go back and add into the OP proper under the transport section.

[Aarah]

I feel like my posts won't do your world justice, as I will forget things like stuff they'll be able to do/get on the Jeeves system, clothing that can change itself, etc, etc. Or I'll remember afterwards and then think 'arr, I should have used that'.

[BetaB17]

Big ships? Little ships? So long as I can tie a lil spaceman to a bungee cord and make a burning marshmallow out of it, I can care less

I mean.. It's not like any responsible DM here will willingly allow one of us to pilot a large ship under any perceived notion of landing on a planetary mass... No sir.. That would be beyond stupid

[The SheoDovah]

Is it wrong that if we descend via it, I'm gonna to be tempted to suggest Klutha drop from StarShip Troopers?

[Kerr]

I feel like my posts won't do your world justice, as I will forget things like stuff they'll be able to do/get on the Jeeves system, clothing that can change itself, etc, etc. Or I'll remember afterwards and then think 'arr, I should have used that'.

You'll be fine, don't worry about it. I mean yes, things in Greybox are rather different from the real world and that impacts how people interact with themselves, other people, their environment, etc in some big ways. When it comes to your mesh implant just think of it like having a video game like HUD in real life crossed with an internet connected Smartphone that has something like Siri (which would be the Jeeves AI.) Or just think of Google Glass. But like, I think you'll be okay, people are still people and act like people do.

The Lifeboat agent you're working with can basically act like a GM mouthpiece when I need them to, offering you suggestions if need be and they'll almost always be just a message via the mesh away.

@TSD: 'fraid I got you beat when it comes to Starship Troopers, COG are really heavily influenced by them (the film at least.) Their motto (Glory to Mankind) is a reference to something else though.

[Aarah]

Okey doke.

I read the OP a while ago, but if I read it again right when the rp starts, I think that will do me good too, as then things will be fresh in mind. Cheers.

[Kerr]

{Greybox}

09:14. Monday 24th March, 2127.

Lifeboat Safehouse. Elysium, United Republic of Mars.


"....because it's really obviously a [&@%!] idea. Could have at least cut off mesh access." said a man with a strong Irish accent. "It's my operation, we need them to trust us. Besides, this safehouse is almost spent." said a distinctly more feminine voice with a SoCal accent. "They're waking up, better hope we don't regret this." said the Irish voice again.

The soon to be surrogates came to in a room with wooden flooring and concrete walls painted a light blue, the room itself wasn't particularly large. They were sitting in metal chairs laid out in two rows of three facing a large blank board typically used for presentations, the sort of thing you'd see in a classroom or boardroom. They all had handcuffs on but other than that were facing no restraints. They also had mesh implants with a blank Jeeves AI installed. They were all wearing generic looking grey jumpsuits, black underwear and black boots but as the clothes were made of smart fabric and connected to their mesh inserts, they could easily be altered into something else.

Across from them were two people, what looked like a white man and an Asian woman. Each of them had a heavy pistol in a holster around their waists. The man was leaning up against a wall to their left next to a door which was currently shut while the woman was standing right in front of them. The woman had short black hair and dark eyes, she was about 5'8 and wearing an orange tank top, green khaki three quarter length pants and black high top canvas trainers with orange laces. Her left arm had a long light blue tattoo sleeve of waves. Their partner was a white man with brownish blond hair, grey eyes and a short beard. He was about 6ft wearing a grey pullover jumper, white t-shirt, black jeans and black boots.

"I'm Kuo and this is Mark." said Kuo introducing themselves. Mark, the man leaning against the wall nodded when his name was mentioned. "I know this is going to be a bit disturbing but, it's the 24th of March 2127. We got your backups from DuClair's mansion, you, um, the other yous and her have all gone missing."

The six transhumans who were just now waking up were feeling rather groggy and likely extremely unnerved at being restored from backup to unfamiliar surroundings. They also had to come to terms with the new bodies they now inhabited.
---
Dr. Yirgalum Kidisti's new shell was that of a black neuter android who looked like someone in their 30s. They lacked any notable sexual characteristics with both a flat chest and groin as well as possessing a generally androgynous appearance. They were about 5'10 in height, build wise they were rather thin and lacking in muscle. The shell had short neat brown hair and brown eyes lacking any scars or tattoos.
---
Leopold Maximilian Esterhart's new shell was a Bruiser Borg which was about 6'4 in height and very bulky. The Bruiser Borg looked like a Korean man in his 40s with medium length black hair and brown eyes. The shell notably had cybernetic legs with a hidden compartment on the left leg, as well as a few scars which dotted the body. While Leo may not have been able to tell right away, a lot of the internal organs including the heart, lungs and spine were cybernetic.
---
Grayden Connerty's new shell was a splicer which in many respects was similar to his old body. A white man in his 20s standing 5'11 in height with long brown hair, a thick full beard and piercing blue eyes. The body had a cybernetic vocal manipulator and biological toxin filtering. There was a nanotat of a white rabbit located on the left side of the chest over the heart.
---
Cid• inherited a Pleasure Borg as a body with all the standard alterations such a shell brought as well as a hitchhiker module. Waking up the shell was currently in female form but the inbuilt sex-switch mods meant that could be easily changed. The shell stood at 5'9 and looked like someone in their 30s, white with green eyes and unkempt dark brown hair. The most notable aspect of the appearance was a deep facial scar on the cheek caused by a knife. As scars could be healed in a healing vat with ease, their continued existence was likely intentional by the shell's previous inhabitant.
---
Jíng Lólím's new shell was that of a Worker Borg. The body had cybernetic eyes, a cybernetic left arm, a cybernetic heart and cybernetic subdermal armor on the chest. Appearance wise the shell was that of an arabic woman in their 20s with shoulder length straight brown hair and hazel eyes. The shell was 5'7 in height.
---
Gryff's new body was one that Jíng Lólím would find incredibly familiar as prior to this it was the one she had been inhabiting. The shell was a standard splicer who looked like a Chinese woman in her 20s, had brown eyes and was 5'4 in height with shoulder length bright red hair that had purple streaks and a red chibi dragon tattoo on each shoulder.

All of the shells also carried a skillsoft implant which had been ready loaded with some basic combat knowledge.

Hidden:

Hey everyone, we're finally starting this so out of characters posts in hide tags from now on. Also Kildare accent is what Mark has, if you're wondering Velvet. Accents are mental, they'd carry over between bodies, so feel free to have fun with that.

'Surrogates' is the term I'm going to use most often to refer to PCs are a collective, seeing as you're going to become Lifeboat Surrogates now in bit. You can find pictures of your character's appearances below, Baloth obviously you need to edit that in your mind to the details which TSD laid out in his character sheet. I'll leave the pronouns of your PCs to your discretion and follow your lead.

:

Dr Yirgalum Kidisti


Leopold Maximilian Esterhart


Grayden Connerty


Cid•


Jíng Lólím


Gryff


---

Kuo


Mark Larkin:

[BetaB17]

Cid•

When he came to, lulled awake in a dreadfully slow pace, the first thing to note was his rather unnecessarily bored look in his eyes. He shuffled his head slowly off to the side, hair parting with the force of gravity as his half open eyes looked between the three individuals and then at his own cuffed hands. Still half awake with any lack of urgency, staring down with a dead gaze

It didn't take long after he gained consciousness for the smart fabric to react, shuffling at first, before phasing into a pure black color. Then slowly, as he grew more aware, yellow patterns started to etch along it's left sleeve, slowly resembling circuitry.

While he was looking down, staring upon his hands as he turned them about. The sleeves upon his jumpsuit grew increasingly baggy and in length, as it morphed to be mildly oversized around his torso. A shallow sigh escaped his breath as he inspected those same hands, the fabric of his sleeves creeping up upon his wrists, and a reflection that kept glancing off his handcuffs

In a slow, deliberate action, he slacked his head back, looking off to the side and at the room, his hands, while still cuffed, raising off from his lap. Lazily he placed his left ring finger between his teeth, making no hint on why or for what reason, before quickly biting it off at the 2nd joint.

[Aarah]

Grayden Connerty

Grayden made a low grunting noise as he awoke. His head felt heavy and thick, and it dropped downwards so his chin touched his chest. The movement made him jolt back up, this time his head falling backwards.
With his eyes still closed, he heard the sound of people walking.
Slowly he opened his blue eyes, a brighter blue than they used to be, but as yet he was unaware of the fact.

He brought his left hand up to rub his face, and his right hand came with it, joined together by the cuffs.
The strangeness of this made Grayden more alert, and he looked down at his hands.
"What the [&@%!]?"
He began to take in his surroundings; people whom he didn't recognise, most of them handcuffed too.
His attention moved to the woman talking at the front.
The man listened, mouth agape.
In hearing that they had all been put in new shells, Grayden immediately looked down at himself.

Male? He had a feel. Yep.
He noticed his hands looked fairly youthful.
Still young.
He frowned in annoyance at the cuffs, and lifted his head to address Kuo and Mark.
"'Ey! Will yuh take these off?"
He held his wrists forward sternly and stared with a look of disgust on his face. It was a demand, not a question.

[Kerr]

"Jesus." Mark exclaimed with disgust in his voice when Cid bit off part of a finger. He stared at Grayden in bafflement. "What? No. You're in those things for a reason. Like if ya try to eat us or something." He added gesturing to Cid.

"Not how I'd have put it." said Kuo giving Mark a glare and looking at Cid with a certain unease. "But he's right. I'd like to work together but, you have to understand our caution. In case you haven't figured it out we don't work for Miss DuClair."

[Aarah]

Grayden

Grayden looked at Cid when Mark exclaimed. His expression mimicked that of the man with the Irish accent.

"We're not all freaks. I'm not anyway. Don't know 'bout them lot though."
His eyes passed over the four other 'guests'.

Grayden squinted slightly at Kuo.
"Oh yeah? Who yuh work for then?" He asked suspiciously.

[BetaB17]

Cid•

He didn't seem to show much if any reaction, to his finger or to the stranger's exclamation. Tossing the finger in his mouth before spitting it out to the floor, a bit of blood stained below his lip. He leaned back in his chair with a carefree attitude "Ya ya ya...." He raised both his cuffed hands, one slack while the other extended a finger to probe an itch from the inside of his right ear, almost highlighting his general attitude "...anybody with half dozen functioning neurons could figure that out..."

He stopped proceeding his nonchalant action, and moved forward his hands to his lap, leaning forward as he did so "..So then.. Why bother bringing us back.. Couldn't you have just left things the way they were...". Even as his unkept hair shuffled about as his eyes adjusted to Mark with a certain level of coldness "...If we turn up, we turn up.. If we don't.. Good." Blood continued to stain his pants, not that he seemed to notice

[Baloth-Kul]

A voice--soft, effeminate, yet ultimately androgenous--with an Asian accent slowly crept out of the mouth of the sixth shell.

Hidden:

Think BMO from Adventure Time

"Well, at least I'm still alive!" Gryff felt a thin smile stretch across their new face. "And hey, this is neat." They began to explore their new body, hands creeping along to poke and prod (nearly) every inch. "This is neat." Gryff gently pulled a handful of hair in front of their face, inspecting it.

Focusing back to the situation at large, Gryff addressed Kuo. "It's nice to meet you, Kuo, but I'd like to get these handcuffs off, and...find myself. ...I like your tattoo."

Gryff looked aghast at Cid's self-mutilation. "Is there a psychosurgeon in the house? Or maybe just a regular surgeon?"

[BetaB17]

Cid

He didn't even bother to turn and look at Gryff, "Everybody's a critic..." to give a numb response "Just.. Lovely" very numb indeed

[Velvet LeChance]

Dr. Yirgalum Kidisti

Kidisti awakened with a suddenness which almost hurt, his environment rapidly transmitting in all it's unfamiliarity and bewilderment. He took an immediate breath, glare wide and absorbent. The danger might not have concluded yet. He was a big, big name, after all: a target for anti-humanist radicals, and their liberal allies, across the known galaxy. However, the concern quickly broke off as he managed a scan of the rest of the room, capturing people, voices, confusion, and a curious sense of reassurance. He saw bots tied down: if this was a pro-bot insurgency it was being done very poorly.

His scan receded entirely as the room was overcome by raucous excitement, the Doctor turned his attention on himself.

First, his mind extended itself for the last of his memories: turning up at that mansion, uploading his memories, and then... Nothing. He must have died - and been resurrected. That suggested a new body. He glanced down in inspection, glare reaching across his hairless chest, between his legs and to where his groin was, or at least should have been. His hand extended to it but retracted sharply at its coldness, its inhumaneness. Bile suddenly swept up his throat as he came to a realisation as to what had happened. This wasn't resurrection, it was concious stasis. It was, it was..

His mind overcome - malfunctioning, as one might - he couldn't stop himself from leaning over and spewing out whatever was in his stomach.

[BetaB17]

Cid•

Holding forward both his shackled arms, mildly shaking then to make the cuffs jingle abit, as if to garner some attention. After a few seconds, even with his arms vertical, he bent one of his wrists so that a lone fi her could point in the general direction of Kidisti

"Maybe I spoke too soon.. Looks like he may need a psychosurgeon or two..." He shrugged his shoulders and gave off a similar gesture with his shackled hands "Not that it matters.. Not that any of it matters.."

He dipped his chin as his eyes reflected his morbid sentiment "You die enough times.. And you figure that one out quick"

[Baloth-Kul]

"Nnnnope." Hastily relying upon their mesh insert, Gryff retailored the plain jumpsuit into a slick yellow raincoat. Between self-mutilation and vomiting, it was getting pretty messy in here.

[BetaB17]

Hidden:

Well, vomiting noises, more like. He's synthetic, having a functioning digestive system isn't exactly a necessity. Tho I'm sure there are plenty of things he'll find that different now

[The SheoDovah]

Jíng Lólím

"Morning!" Jing exclaimed with glee as she woke up before realising that there was something a bit....odd....about herself. "Wait a second, i don't recall getting a smart fabric gray jumpsuit." She saw the colour of her hands and was a bit disturbed by the change of skin tone. "Or changing my voice. Or...." She pulled a part of her hair towards her left eye. "BLACK HAIR!?" She exclaimed in horror. "I'm a redhead!" She rapidly scanned her eyes left to right before looking around. "Hey! That's my body!" She exclaimed upon noticing herself. "What the...... fluggernutter is going on?!" She half-shouted as she looked at her body. "Like, seriously, why am I over there and seeing myself?" She watched Gryff. "Just what is going on?"

[Kerr]

Kidisti dry heaved for there was nothing to vomit up. Changing the cut and colour of clothes took time, so if Gryff was hoping to get an instant raincoat they were out of luck.

"Oh, uh, thank you." said Kuo when Gryff complimented their tattoo. "They're not gonna believe us." said Mark to his partner as the group started waking up and talking. "Stop being a grumpy old man and give Cid some medigel." said Kuo. "I prefer the term 20th Century Boy." Mark scoffed. He made his way over to Cid. "If you bite me..." Mark said kneeling down in front of Cid and making eye contact. He took a canister of Medigel out of his pocket and applied it to the injured finger, coating the wound and stemming the blood which Cid was rather blasé about.

"But no, we didn't bring you back just so you could find yourselves. It's because we're hoping you can help us find Constance. Or rather, find who Constance is looking to find before someone else does. I'll explain it all in minute, have a presentation set up and everything." said Kuo before noding at the blank board behind them. "Mark and I are both members of an organisation called Lifeboat. You might have heard of us. This is one of our safehouses."

[Aarah]

Grayden

"Lifeboat? Yeah, I've heard of yuh. Didn't know you were actually a real organisation, mind. Keep yourselves pretty secret, don't yuh?"
Grayden shifted in his chair to get comfortable, then lifted his right leg so that his ankle rested on the knee of his left leg.
He briefly gave the others in the group a once over. Seem like a load of weirdos.

He turned his head to face forwards.
"Come on then, love. Let's see your li'ull presentation."
Grayden stared expectantly at Kuo with a small nonchalant smile.

[Velvet LeChance]

Dr. Yirgalum Kidisti

Pain erupted across Kidisti's chest, a stinging ricocheting through his throat. But nothing emerged bar a harsh, melancholy splutter. He couldn't even demonstrate his disgust.

Several moments past and his stomach settled. Or at least his mind settled. He had no idea if the nausea which had risen through him had been invented or not, the recollection of another life. It felt real at least - but then it was all supposed to feel real, even if it wasn't. He swallowed back to dryness which rang in his throat, eventually finding the peace of mind to halt considerations of an immediate suicide. His glare struck again across that disturbingly hairless chest, capturing view of his 'saviours'.

"Is this some sort of sick joke?" it asked.

[Rook]

Leopold Maximilian Esterhart

Leopold awoke in a momentary state of panic. He blinked rapidly, rolled his tongue over the unfamiliar teeth, and flexed his stiff facial muscles. Recovering his composure, he gazed down at the shell's cybernetic legs and muttered groggily, "Aw, hell..." He looked with morbid curiosity at the maimed Cid and the retching doctor, but declined to comment, instead holding up his cuffs and addressing the Lifeboat agents:

"Y'all call this a 'safehouse', but it feels more like one of them BDSM joints." Leopold drawled, "What safe word do I need to give to have these off? Or I suppose I've got to sit through your lil' presentation first, huh?"

[BetaB17]

Cid

He didn't seem to object to Mark applying the gel, almost like he was waiting for it, however he returned that gaze with a dead one of his own. "Relax.. I'm reasonably harmless..." He shifted his focus to the stump of a finger as the wound was healed "....Not that you would believe me...."

After Mark was done, he added "A presentation though? Don't tell me it's a Powerpoint.. Never thought I would die from boredom.. But I guess there's a first for everything..."

He tilted his head off to the side, to get a clearer line of sight on Kuo "But before that.. Why didn't you just bring up a recent copy of Constance then?" he slacked back in his chair "Would of saved alot of hassle.. Would of made more sense too.." His voice carried a certain level of melancholy

[The SheoDovah]

Jíng

"I've found myself. I'm over there!" Jíng exclaimed whilst pointing as best she could to Gryff. "And nope, never heard of this organisation but that does not explain why I am here and there!" She looked at Gryff. "And how on Mars is my......body there if everyone else's is 'missing'." She inquired whilst being clearly disturbed by the situation.