Talk:Quest Plan Timeline

Presidential Action Lists

MILITARY

Personnel

Marshal the Troops: The SDC has come a long way since its inception, the only organisation that you could truly call a professional fighting force. It’s not the only one however, and though EarthGov has kept meticulous records on expenditures, the actual breakdown of forces available to you is…less than satisfactory.

• 2107
  • The Solarian Defence Corps: Grown from humble origins, the SDC is the most well-known of all humanity’s creations that will oppose the Shiplords. Numbering in the tens of thousands, a full accounting of their strength could not go amiss.
  • Potentials: The products of the Awakenings are without question the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of mankind. Devices and weaponry without peer, skill applicable to the battlefield that goes beyond superhuman, and in the case of the First Awoken a promise of fire and will that the Week of Sorrows will never again touch humanity.
• 2109
  • Experimental/Auxiliary formations: There are over a score of these projects, some having apparently been steadily working away since before you left your Institute. At least you hope they’ve been working for all that time. Some of what’s talked about in the records sounds completely insane, but fifty years ago the same was said of the theory that underlies your power.

Potential Combat Doctrine: The First are an eclectic bunch, all with different styles of participating in combat, and this has only become worse as the Second and Third have come into their own. Lina has been trying to put together a common doctrine for Potentials for a while, and she’s made progress. The problem is that no one has been willing to put it to the test, but it’s easy enough to change that.

• 2108-2109
  • Swift Caution: You’d love to take more time to make sure all of this will work, but there’s a war on the horizon. Formalise the package, run it through a quick editing, then distribute and begin training rotations.

Unified Military: The SDC and Potentials are the two largest groups that make up your military strength, but there are a host of others too and the command structures are all separate. This is simply inefficient, and Lina is intent on streamlining all of the various competing interests into a single chain of command.

• 2110
  • Practiced Leaders: The Potentials are the only people capable of creating the devices that are humanity’s only real chance of defeating the Shiplord incursion, and have a unique understanding of how they work. Unfortunately, you’re quite aware that the Potentials have no chain of command as anyone else would understand.

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Full Inventory

There was never much order to the work of the First Awoken to begin with, and much of it was secretive at first. There are many weapons and other Practiced devices scattered across the globe known only to few. Old as they may be they are still creations of Practice, and that makes them valuable.

• 2107-2108
  • Search for weapons: The weapons of the First remain without peer, and the stories of some of the power of some of the lost devices are both chilling and incredible. With war looming, you need every piece of that power that you can find.
• 2107-2109
  • Search for devices: Weapons were most of what the First Awoken created, but it was not all. The Elder First are said to have built many things in the first years after the awakening, all of which vanished five years later. What did they create, and why did they choose to lose it?

Forging the Sword

The only blows humanity successfully struck against the Shiplords were made in space, but although you have returned to the stars again, little of what plies the dark is military. There was little need for it, but that’s all changed now. All you have to do is work out which of the proposals you want your Minister to push.

• 2108-2109
  • The Haft: The proposal from the SDC is well made, a new line of warships reinforced by Practice to expand their limited space presence. Individually they’ll still be much weaker than Shiplord vessels, but quantity has a quality of its own. And from the looks of their plan, they’ve been working on the tactics and logistics involved for the last three decades.
• 2109-2110
  • The Hilt: You really didn’t expect that Restorers like yourself would have an idea for the fleet, but it years out that you’d be wrong. The weapons of the Shiplords were unlike anything humanity had ever encountered, but Practice could level that playing field. Using some of the results gleaned from Project Insight, they’ve designed a vessel that should be able to shield others from Shiplord fire. Each one requires fine Practice, limiting their numbers, but as a shield they will be without peer.
  • The Blade: The plan created by the First is unsurprising, but exceptionally detailed in terms of costs and time required. They also seem to have known about the other proposals before you did, which raises some interesting questions. When the Shiplords came, they came in small numbers, and the workings of Project Insight lead the First to believe that they may be able to build ships capable of matching them. Not many, but if the Week of Sorrows was anything to go by you won’t need many if they can match Shiplord technology.
• 2110-2111
  • Wings of Terra: Expanding the ability of the auxiliary fleet, the designs for this came out of one of the experimental groups closely affiliated with the SDC. The small strike craft proposed would launch from repurposed auxiliaries, and due to being manually piloted would have a far higher chance of reaching their target than missiles.
• 2111
  • One Thousand Spears: You had to call and check that you’d been sent the right set of documents when you saw this proposal. Coming from one of the Experimental divisions, it suggests equipping Potentials with a framework that will allow them to engage the Shiplords directly in the void with all the power of their Practice. Whatever that means.
• 2111-2112
  • Fury of the Heavens: The weapons created by the First Awoken are more powerful than any humanity has ever known, but their strength is limited by a lack of availability. The weaponry retrieved from across Earth has helped relieve this shortage, but more could be done. Even a small thing, like making sure every missile fired against the Shiplords has felt the touch of Practice, could do a great deal.
• 2112
  • Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defence): Thanks to Mary’s rather eccentric working group, your shipyards are now capable of refitting your current vessels with reverse-engineered Shiplord point defence systems. Although they won’t be as effective as Practiced systems, they’d be head and shoulders better than your current baseline.

• 2112-2114
  • To Know War: You have a fleet, but only part of it has known true combat. Although you can’t give the rest of the Navy a taste of what Task Force One and the seconded ships for Operation Gauntlet experienced, there are other ways to prepare. Lina has set out a punishing schedule of wargames and training for the Navy, all you have to do is sign off on them.
• 2113
  • Everyone loves Upgrades (Nano-repair): With the success of last year’s work fixing the issues present in the original nanotech repair systems, you now have to install them. Lina seems almost resigned to several more phases of upgrades over the next few years, although also aware that it’ll probably save thousands of lives.
• 2113
  • Rolling Thunder: Whilst the Home Office focuses on industrial scale fabbers, the War Office has seen a different potential in the new fabrication systems. Although they can’t make everything, a way to restock missile armaments without the need to bring up highly vulnerable colliers could be exceptionally useful. They won’t be Practiced at all, but the Navy’s personnel would take any missiles at all over having none.
• 2114
  • Everyone loves Upgrades (Nanomaterial Hardening): Another year, another upgrade. In terms of usefulness however, this is high up the list. The ability to adapt the armour of your ships to incoming weapons fire will be priceless given the presence of Shiplord escort groups in the Tribute Fleet now on its way.
  • Everyone loves Upgrades (Crystalline Heatsink Technology): Although Practice has made a great deal of heatsink technology obsolete, it remains impossible to fully distribute the technology to all systems and even all ships. With Sixth Secret nanotechnology, it would be possible to rebuild the entirety of a ship's heat dissipation systems to utilise crystalline structures similar to diamond instead of current technology. The FSN had been moving in this direction already, but the shipyard fabricators make it possible to complete before the invasion.

Humanity’s Shield

Weapons are well and good, but a solar system makes for a vast fortress given time. Here you have something to work with as well, as all of humanity’s orbitals are equipped with some weaponry. There’s always room for improvement however, and a new need for it too.

• 2108
  • Eyes to See: You can’t hit an enemy you can’t see coming, so a network of sensor platforms at the edge of the heliosphere has been proposed. These should give you some early warning of the Shiplords’ arrival and help you secure the system.
• 2108-2109
  • The Aegis: Orbitals are well and good, but Project Insight has shown that the Shiplords can be a truly spiteful people. You have some planetary defences, but nothing unified, and the planetary shield network has been stalled in the construction phase for years. If humanity is to live, you must be able to protect Earth.
• 2109
  • Walls of Steel: The new orbitals across the solar system are all armed, but their construction was never designed to hold up to Shiplord firepower; only Prometheus Station coming close. That can be fixed, but it will take time.
  • The Maw: The Shiplords came with only eight ships before, surely it would be possible to overwhelm them with firepower, and the orbitals provide far larger platforms for weaponry. It’s possible that you could up-gun them further and then direct all of that firepower at the Shiplords.
    • The Maw & Walls of Steel Merged to the following action in 2110
• 2110-2111
  • Walls of Sol: The Walls of Sol: The trance last year began a process, converting the outer ring of orbitals into fortresses with few peers. But there is more to do in the inner system, much more.
• 2112
  • Adamant Miracle: When the Shiplords came before, they set Mars ablaze, and only Practice was able to restore the small part of it that is now yours again. The teams that worked on the Aegis defence network on Earth have come forward with a plan to install protections around Skylark, to make it as resistant as possible to any attack. Given the symbolic value of the city, and the very real value of the Red Tower, it merits thought.
  • Man the Walls: Although the Navy has shouldered the burden of supplying trained staff to operate the new military systems of your orbitals, they’ve been trained for ship to ship combat and many find it hard to work with the idea of a stationary platform. Forming a new service branch this late is a complex process, but Lina promises that a properly trained orbital defence corps could pay considerable dividends.
• 2113-2114
  • Securing the Miracle: Although Skylark now has defences that rival those of Earth’s major population centres, it has been pointed out how completely the Shiplords devastated the world to destroy any shred of the data stored there. Perhaps it would be wise to ensure the presence of the most powerful defences possible, in case your foe tries again.
  • Walls of Blood and Steel: The naval exercises taking place will give some experience to the newly minted Fortress Command, but it will take the form of supported defences when such support might not be available. Organising unsupported defence and siege exercises could help them a lot.

Piercing Light

Although reverse-engineering the FTL drive of the Shiplord Courier captured last year is beyond your capabilities given the time restrictions involved, it isn’t it useless. Given the manner of acquisition, Lina and her own advisors believe that it would be possible to fit the drive to one of your ships before the Shiplords arrive. They admit that the drive will not function within the inner system, but further out it could be a powerful asset.

• 2111-2112
  • Commanding Speed: You knew the Ministry had worked on a flagship design, but it had been discarded due to the issues present in repositioning such a large craft quickly. With access to an FTL drive, however, Lina has brought the nascent Calypso class to your attention.

Drawing the Line

With the invasion arriving next year, it has been brought to your and Lina’s attention that the old plans involving the fortified orbitals no longer apply given the Shiplord’s FTL capabilities. Lina wants to tow all of the out-system orbitals into the FTL exclusion zone created by Sol, but she has some options to pick from for how far to bring them. And how careful she’ll have to be with the process.

• 2114
  • Wall of Mars: The hardest of the options, a phased withdrawal of all assets outside of Martian orbit, this turns the red planet into a bastion against which you must hope the Shiplords will crumble. The distances involved are more complex, and when combined with the need for orbital insertion it is definitely the most difficult. But it also removes any ability of the Shiplords to retreat through FTL if the engagement proves decisive in your favour.

Blinding Eyes

The sensor net you’ve set up across the system is excellent, there is little doubt of that, but Vision has some particular insight to put to work on that task that Lina wishes she’d had five years ago, let alone now. There is still time for one or two things, however.

• 2114
  • Interference Pattern: Although the Ministry for Security remains elbow deep in the process of deciphering Shiplord scan patterns, there are some things that you are aware now. Although it would take a considerable amount of work, it might be possible to use the ring of sensor platforms to project a system-wide interference pattern. It wouldn’t have a major effect, but it could disrupt long range scans and meddle with the Shiplord’s ability to get an accurate reckoning of your defences before they engaged.

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Shipyard Operations

Military:

• 2110 & 2112-2114
  • Construct Auxiliary Task Groups
• 2111 & 2113
  • Construct Dauntless class Squadrons
  • Construct Tower class Squadrons
• 2114
  • Construct Dauntless class Reserve Squadrons

Infrastructure:

• 2110
  • Construct Prototyping Centre
• 2111
  • Design Centre Expansion
  • Yard Work

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DIPLOMACY

• 2109 no actions were taken in this category
• 2112-2113 no actions were taken in this category

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• 2105
  • Presidential Address: It is a tradition older than democracy itself that a new leader speaks to their people on taking the reins of power and lays out plans for the future. In turbulent times, it gives people something to hold on to, and you know the importance of the mind and soul far better than most.

Those Behind the Curtain

The government is not just you and your cabinet. There are hundreds, thousands in fact, of others who take part in the process of keeping humanity stable. Recently they have been extremely overworked, and it wouldn’t be hard to arrange some social occasions to meet them and get to know the people who will be implementing your plans.

• 2105
  • The Bureaucracy: The thousands who will be responsible for putting your decisions into action, it’s actually surprisingly small when compared to the governments of the old world. These are the people who have been most stressed by the sudden changes that came with the Pattern’s discovery, but also the most experienced in navigating EGOV ’s complex web.
• 2106
  • Holdout Administration: Marcus has identified the people within the bureaucracy who appear to be the centre of the distributed web that is resisting your overtures. You’ve no skill in that arena, but he’s pointed out that it was in large part your direct involvement boosting their spirits that let him find the agents. Kazuki doesn’t particularly like it, he feels it could compromise your integrity, but you can try.
• 2106-2107
  • The World Congress: Although they’ve stepped down from their voting duties, the Congress is still the elected voice of the world that you now lead. With the voluntary suspension of debating policy, they now have far more time to dedicate to their constituencies then you do and are a potential gold mine of information and experience, if you can win their confidence.

Reach to the World

You’ve spent years trying to put the world back together, but even a Potential has limits. The Circles helped, but there’s more that can be done. A world united is a powerful thing, but you’ve already done most of the easy work. Now you have to work out the hard parts.

• 2105
  • Those of the Circles: The Circles are present across all of human society, and you know that many of them see things as you do. They could give you a complete picture, although putting it all together could be difficult.

You asked for help and the Circles answered. The reports they gave you would have been invaluable on their own, but they also gave you suggestions. Plans based on the knowledge they gathered, to act on what they told you.

• 2111
  • Phoning Home: The communications network that Sol has now is far more advanced than anything it has ever had access to, but there are still many living without lagless communication. It isn’t a vital project, but could be an important one.

One World, One Heart

Kazuki has been far more personally exposed to the needs and desires of the people, and he has some suggestions for how to bring all closer together. He’s quite adamant about the need for them, and although you agree you can’t quite see how some of it is meant to work.

• 2105
  • The People Sing: You know the power of music; it’s been a way of finding peace ever since you were a teenager. Kazuki knows it even better, and has prepared a series of events that will use it to bring the world together. The plan has you speaking at several, but apparently you’re singing at a few as well. You’re not sure how you feel about that, to be honest.
• 2106
  • Starlit Allegro: The concerts and speeches were a resounding success, exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. It gave your name a human weight so unlike what’s normally ascribed to Potentials. Kazuki is overjoyed, but also tells you that there’s more you can do. Earth saw you last year, now he wants the people of the scattered habitats to get the same chance.
• 2108
  • Honour in Sacrifice: It was a small number by the standards of the last major loss of human life, but the sacrifice of your detail is something that Kazuki says should be honoured. He adds on a more pragmatic note that it would allow you to show that you are truly alright, and soothe the concerns of the public.
• 2110
  • The Heart Remembers: Billions were taken in the Week of Sorrows, and although they are remembered it has been too long since a proper ceremony. The Third were but children at the last one, and perhaps it might help them understand the depth of loss inflicted by your enemy.
• 2111
  • The World’s Heart: This is the final piece, according to Kazuki, the keystone of all the work he’s done with you over the years in bringing humanity closer together as a whole. It built from your first speech, the songs you sang that year, and has led to this. You asked for unity, he says. Do this, and you will make it a reality.

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• 2114
  • Prepare an Address: You have given many speeches and songs to humanity, but this suggestion of Kazuki’s makes its way to you past all the other focuses vying for your attention this year. Although all are prepared for the invasion, the power of words in the moment before battle is well known.

STEWARDSHIP

The Forge

Although the Shiplords did not burn the Earth, they did destroy the vast majority of its orbital infrastructure and it took time to rebuild that without the ease of the First Secret. Much has been remade, but the humanity of the Second Secret had no great need for shipyards or war factories. If you are to create a force that can face the Shiplords, however, Earth must have them.

• 2105
  • The Lifeblood of War: The sort of militarisation you’re going to need will require vast amounts of resources, and Earth is nearing the end of her vast supply. Fortunately, there are other places you can go in the solar system.
• 2105-2106
  • Steel Wombs: Most of humanity’s ships have been built on Earth, or in the few small berths that have been constructed since you returned to the stars. But for the war, you will need vessels far larger and more complex than anything humans have ever built. For that you’ll need a proper shipyard complex.
• 2106
  • The World’s Forge: With the mining stations complete in record time, there is a new need for orbital smelters, refineries, and other infrastructure of every type imaginable. With Adriana on course to bring the shipyard complex online next year, she explains that this will allow for a significant buildup of necessary resources and parts.
• 2106-2107
  • The Old World’s Bounty: That is not to say that the world of your birth is without use, however. You know yourself that there are scores of old factories that could be brought back online to help support the war effort.
  • Girded in Miracle: The Potentials are capable of truly incredible works, and you know from the reports of Project Insight that these miracles will be needed. Perhaps you could organise them into a more effective construction force?
  • Reaching Heaven: Currently your entire ground-to-orbit setup is something of a mess, even with Potentials having replaced crude chemical rockets with much more efficient flight mechanisms. An old plan from before the Week of Sorrows might help fix that, although the costs make your head spin. It’s called a Space Elevator.

Thera’s Mystery

You know that Adriana is working on something on the side, she’s told you as much, but even now all she will tell you about it is what she’d need to make whatever it is useable. Something that should revolutionise the design process, if she’s to be believed. The fact that she’s been talking with Mary about it as well is something you are glad for and at the same time slightly terrified by. What to do…

• 2105-2108
  • Overwhelming support: If Mary has continued talking to her after she explained the idea, then it has to have merit. Throw every resource you can at the project. If she needs access to the entire distributed network, she’ll have it and more besides.

Amateurs study Tactics…
...Masters study Logistics

You spent ten years of your youth rebuilding parts of the old world, and that included the meticulous infrastructure that has been badly damaged by a severe lack of proper maintenance. Surely you can do more to repair it now.

• 2105
  • Full Rebuild: You’ve worked with the network on many occasions, and you know it rather well. Bringing some of your expertise to bear on this problem should allow you to do everything you need to at once.

With the network coming back online at the start of the year, you find several competing options about how to use it.

• 2106
  • All the World a Stage: This one came out of your vast success in public events, and it’s been pointed out that the net could support far more bandwidth and at faster speeds. Along with the obvious advantages, it would also allow for full hologram broadcasts.
• 2109
  • Search Function: When the network came back online, you found several communication lines that seemed to lead nowhere. If there are secrets hiding here, it’s probably a good idea to find them.
• 2110
  • Swords from Ploughshares: Although primarily civilian, parts of the network were used during the Week of Sorrows to coordinate the defence of Sol against the Shiplords. Although the defence failed, the idea has merit, and Lina strongly pushed this option.

Healing Hands

• 2106-2108
  • Cities of Light: Most of humanity still lives in sprawling settlements that have grown around the Institutes, but hundreds of millions have found their way to the glittering cities that the Restorer-Focused rebuilt over the last thirty years. This is long work, and will take time to come to fruition, but moving all of Earth into Practice-built cities would have many benefits.
• 2114
  • Symbols of Hope: Many of the great monuments that humanity built in the last two hundred years are only barely hanging on, victims of the single-minded focus that had to be given to other things. They’re more than just the physical trappings however, and restoring them could do the world good.

Engineering Corps: Robert’s brainchild for almost a decade now, he’s finally in the position to start putting it into place. Adriana knows engineering and design a lot better, but she doesn’t know Potentials like he does.

• 2108-2109
  • Extend the Department: Turning the new department into a fully-fledged independent affiliate will take time and resources, but will allow for swifter expansion and redeployment down the line.

Mars

Red Ashes: When Mars burned, you lost more than lives. On that world lay some of the most advanced facilities ever built, and everything they had worked on was lost. You’re not sure how Mary is likely to feel about trying to reclaim the world her family died on, but it’s worth trying.

• 2106
  • Base of Operations: Establish a small base on the burned planet. It’ll let you do some of the survey with boots on the ground, and should speed up the entire process.

Skylark Reborn: The Miracle of Skylark. First Practiced Miracle since the discovery of the Pattern, that many had believed had signalled the end of those glories. It’s impossible to understate the value of Vega’s Miracle as a symbol, but it does leave you in the rather interesting position of having to decide what to do with it.

• 2107-2108
  • Return to Red Sand: It had always been your intention to return in full to Mars, and Vega’s Miracle presents the perfect opportunity. It will be something of a rush job, but with the advantages that she and the other Potentials have given, it should also be possible.
• 2111-2112
  • Uplink: Some parts of the city still remain offline or in need of replacement, particularly its communications gear. Integrating Skylark back into the net would allow you to distribute its databases, and access its systems remotely.

Fabrication

• 2113
  • Industrial Fabrication: Although the technology for fabrication has been proven sound, it’s not something that either Mary or Adrianna felt comfortable throwing directly into production given the potentially horrific consequences of it going wrong. This will allow for full field testing of the industrial scale fabbers, and then a general rollout assuming the technology remains stable.
• 2114
  • Infinite Parallel Processing: Something thing that's a known design that's relatively easy for nano-fabricators to mass-produce is computing equipment, both conventional and quantum. With the amount of processing power you can concentrate at this point, simulation and recovery systems can catch some of your failures.

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INTRIGUE

The Spider’s Web

EarthGov is a finely balanced web of competing interests, one that has been flung vastly out of balance by the discovery of the Pattern and your election as President. Your understanding of that web is rather lacking, however, and it’s been strongly suggested that you fix that.

• 2105
  • The Administration: They’ve been thrown for a loop by your appointment far more than Congress, so it might be expected that they’d hold a few grudges. They also are the ones responsible for actually implementing policy, which makes their happiness with you much more important than you thought.
• 2106
  • • The World Congress: The single most powerful check to Presidential power, they’ve ceded effectively complete power to you. Who pushed for that? Why? And what do they think of you?
  • Cat’s Cradle: Someone is pulling strings within your administration, trying to break the hold that your actions last year gave you. You still can’t understand why anyone would do that, you’re trying to save the world, but Marcus’ report is very clear. You can’t ignore this.
• 2107
  • The Cabinet: You almost had a screaming argument with Marcus when you saw this suggestion. Almost. He knows the ins and outs of politics far better than you, and although the entire idea makes you feel a bit dirty inside…he might have a point. Maybe.
• 2110
  • Suspicious Offices: Marcus has identified the Delegates whose offices are linked to what he hopes is the final point of the movement. As they’ve not done anything illegal yet, he is limited in what he can do, but an increased security oversight might allow him to catch something.

Know thy Enemy

The Shiplords are coming, you know that now, and if you are to be prepared you must know what they are truly capable of.

• 2105
  • Insight requires…Insight: Most of Project Insight is only slowly becoming accessible to you, and the charitable part of you can understand why. Unfortunately, you need access to the resources of that project now.
• 2108-2109
  • Visions of the Lost: There are, now that you think of it, records of the Shiplords during the battles that began the Week of Sorrows. Recorded across every spectrum that humanity knew of at that time, they could be a valuable resource that none have thought to tap.
• 2110
  • Corpses Leave Clues: The Shiplords did good work cleaning up the mess that their two ships made when they were destroyed, but several pieces evaded their clean-up. Most have settled into stable orbits now, and each is a potential gold mine of Shiplord technology.
• 2111
  • Cleaning House: There are still many platforms and assets left over by the Shiplord subnet after it was brought down. Although several parts of it remain active, their ability to resist is negligible with the VI that gave them purpose gone. Cleaning them up may also yield further data or resources.
  • At The Gates: The Tribute Fleet data is encrypted, but it’s a static encryption, little protection against what Marcus is capable of. Decoding it should give a far better understanding of what you’ll be up against in three years.
• 2113-2114
  • Blurred Crosshairs: The reverse engineered schematics of the Shiplord point defence brought with it more than one benefit. Given a look at how Shiplord defensive scanners work, the Ministry of Security believes they might be able to construct signal jammers to degrade their performance.

Piercing the Veil

• 2107-2109
  • Watching the Stars: When the Shiplords handed down the Directives, they said that any violation would be swiftly punished. To the suspicious minded, that would suggest that they left eyes behind. How about you go looking for them…so you can poke them out.

• 2108
  • Forensic Detail: Throw the full weight of the Ministry behind the investigation into the assassination attempt, and support it on a governmental level. Autopsy the remains of the assassins, and track them back to the source.

Last year’s investigation revealed many things, including almost certain proof that there are elements of Shiplord technology linked into the stellar infonet. Narrowing down what the Security Ministry believes to be a relay platform is a good start, but if it’s just a relay then there has to be more. And Marcus says that given the work he had to go to find that, you’ll want to completely eradicate the network to be properly secure.

• 2109-2110
  • Middle Way: The second option is what he prefers, a compromise between speed and efficiency. Shift the transmission paths for most message traffic to around set of relays, and monitor for shifts around it and the currently narrowed down platform. It should be able to get them a good picture of the network to work from, and also cut off most of the subnet’s access

Voice from the Grave

Thanks to the diligence of FSNS Avalanche, you now know of what you believe to be the final piece of the Shiplord information network remaining in the star system. Unfortunately, technical or infospace dissection of the platform is likely to leave it useless due to the anti-intrusion systems installed in the shell.

• 2112
  • Know Thyself: The data inside the Tombstone platform could be priceless, not for any knowledge of the Shiplords, but for what it might tell you about what they are likely to know very soon after entering the star system. This must be your priority.

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• 2112
  • Closing the Net: Although it’s probably impossible to get all of the Tombstone platforms, giving the Navy some practice tracking stealth systems could come with benefits all of their own. And for every platform you destroy or capture, the better your chances of coming to understand more of the technology that protects them.

• 2113-2114
  • Breaking Chains: According to data recovered from the Tombstone platform, Marcus and his analysts believe that there may be discreetly hidden hooks still left in your systems. Hooks that could have been designed to respond to specific codes, but that the subnet must have purged from its memory on realising the likelihood of its hub’s capture. This is not something that anyone feels comfortable leaving alone.

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LEARNING

The Neverending Journey

The pursuit of knowledge is an endless path, with no set beginning or end. Mary has been walking it since she was small, and has found only a few like her in that time. You count yourself lucky to be among them, even if you’ve fallen a little behind. Now she wants to do something with what they know.

• 2105
  • Bring it Together: Expand the Ministry of Science to include these dedicated followers of knowing, allowing them to put all of their knowledge directly to work.

Second Step: All of the scientists on Mary’s list have settled into their new working and living environment now, and you can see how happy your friend is to be surrounded by those just as passionate as she is. Now that they’re all integrated however, they need a direction.

• 2106
  • Curious Words: During the last year, you felt the presence of Practice where you would not expect to. On telling Mary, she quietly requisitioned every recording she could get her hands on and is now prepared to begin a full analysis of the occasions where you remember the feel of power as you spoke or sang. Maybe she’ll find something.
• 2111-2113
  • Picking the Bones: The defensive node captured last year is a potential treasure trove of information, but it has to be analysed and properly studied first. Aware that you don’t have as much time as anyone would like, Mary plans to turn it all over to those like to herself and then monitor. From a safe distance.

Void Secrets

• 2106-2107

The Directives forbade use of the First and Second Secrets on pain of extinction, but they never said anything about learning more of the Secrets of the Void. Mary is daughter to the man who discovered the First Secret, heir to the legacy of the Void in more ways than one. None have wished to delve into this field for fear of drawing attention to Earth, but now that you know of the Pattern there is little need for caution.

Things found on Mars and by Mary. Directions to explore.

• 2108-2111
  • Small is Beautiful: The Potentials have given many Miracles within the field of nanotechnology, and science has struggled for years to catch up to them. Some of what the first generations of Prologue could do is now in the grasp of ‘regular’ science, but there were those in the Red Tower who disagreed with humanity’s focus on the Second Secret.
• 2110
  • From the Other Side: You and the other Potentials know, without a doubt, that your power is a high secret of the Void, and old research supports this. Have all pre-Sorrows research on the subject compiled and added as a proper resource. They had ways of looking at things that you do not, after all.

The Red Tower

One of the main centres of research on Mars before the Burning, the Red Tower was also one of the primary conversion points for the atmospheric conversion system better known as Clear Skies. Fully restored and online after the Miracle of Skylark, it is a treasure trove waiting to be unlocked.

• 2107
  • Tower of Babylon: The tower’s research levels remain in lockdown, old files revealing that the Shiplord focus on Mars had suggested to some leaders that they had been after the data held within. The codes to unlock the levels are on record, but in the chaos of the Week of Sorrows there was little enough time to transfer control of Earth’s network codes, let alone those of a planet razed to the ground.
• 2114
  • Ancestral Key: Although the majority of the tower’s files have been unlocked, some high level files remain encrypted. Mary mentions quietly that a great deal of the Martian colony systems were DNA coded, and that privilege system seems to have remained in effect. Given who she is, Mary might be able to unlock those files, assuming she can convince the security protocols that she is who her DNA says she is.

Practiced Power

The Potentials are the most powerful weapon humanity has, but it’s a weapon that you still know frighteningly little about. Mary now has access to far more resources than she did before, maybe you can help her along.

• 2108
  • The Making of Miracles: Practice can bring forth the untapped potential of any object, limited as it is by a Potential’s Focus. A lot of Practice is personal, but some is similar, and a formal foundation to work from could help many of the Third.
• 2110
  • A Gift of Blood and Soul: It’s a matter of record that the Potentials came from a sacrifice of the Great Dragons humanity built to protect itself, but what does that mean? Few records of the Dragons remain, and were before out of reach even to Mary. It’s quite different now.
• 2110
  • Writing on the Soul: It’s easy to say that Potentials are a result of power in an imprint on their soul. It’s a lot harder to explain. There have been great strides in the theory, but it needs the distributed network to finish the final calculations in less than centuries.
• 2111
  • Reading the Word: With a theoretical explanation finally in hand, Mary advises a careful examination into the imprints. For that however, she’ll need new tools, ones that can actually see what she wants to study.
  • Mortal Instruments: The power that the Dragons gave you came from their intelligence, but also from their shared sacrifice with the men and women who served with them. The creations of the First are without peer as weapons, what further strength could be unlocked by giving them minds?

The Sixth Secret

The possibilities of nanotechnology are theoretically endless, and Mary knows this, but she’s been working with Lina enough that she’s thinned the list down to a bare handful. Tuning it to current needs, she calls it.

• 2112
  • Damage Control: You’d thought that working out a way to self-maintain your ships with nano-tech would be easy. Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple. Bugs, errors in design schematics and actual construction, the first testbed ended up having to be towed into the sun. The Navy needs a fix, and quickly.
  • Assembly Array: On a more permanent side, nanotechnology provides an incredibly potent construction functionality, although teaching them how to build things without them exploding mid-way looks to be an incredibly complex task on the programming side. It’s not impossible, though.
• 2113
  • Energetic Resistance: There’s one last thing that Mary has on the list of easily applicable Sixth Secret technology, building off of the nano-repair systems into something that should be able to resist Shiplord missile and energy fire. You’re not sure that you understand how it’s meant to work, but Mary’s confidence is reassuring.

The Elder’s Vault

• 2110
  • The Elder’s Wall: The doorway left behind by the Elder First has proven impervious to any attempt to open it, as to be expected from the work of the original Restorers. Their message, whilst simple enough, was also rather cryptic. Mary would like to study the door and those things around it before anyone attempts to open it. She’s rather insistent.

The vault left behind by the Elder First is a treasure trove of data and devices, but you need ways to fight, or defend against the oncoming invasion. There’s not much in the way of an index however, so it’s going to be a slow process.

• 2112
  • Pushing the Boundaries: There are deeper areas to the Elder Vault, ones that even yourself have found only partial access. What you have found has pointed to work entirely outside of what you’d ever have expected from the Elder First, artefacts that might be capable of actually taking part in the fight against the Tribute Fleet. Getting access to them might be hard, however.
• 2112-2113
  • Artefact Investigation: Given the manpower at your disposal, looking around the vault for devices that might be useful isn’t beyond you. It might be slow, and have less of a chance of finding anything truly special, but from first impressions ‘normal’ Elder First devices should be quite enough.
• 2112-2114
  • Databank Sweep: The databanks in the Vault are works of art, holding an order of magnitude more data than anyone thought such size-limited systems could. A typical scientist could lose themselves in there for decades, and Mary could probably go for longer. She’s promised to not get lost on chain-research however, and to focus on things that could be directly useful for the war effort within the remaining timeframe
• 2113
  • Doors and Keys: There was some success last year in finding a device that might be of use in the immediate conflict to come. Unfortunately, it’s locked away behind restrictions that you’re not sure even you can bypass. But you can’t know until you try.

Unison

• 2112
  • Unison: What Mary, Lina and Vega created last year was and is a miracle of combined science and practice, a fusion that has gone far beyond anything you’ve built before. Even the Calypso seems far less than the system that Vega managed to bring online. Everything you’ve built so far has been using Potentials and Practice to make it stronger. Unison, if you can complete it, will do the opposite.

---

PRACTICE

Internal Focus

• 2105-2106
  • Soul Over Body: The example of Marcus Romero shows the power of a Potential’s gift when turned inwards, something only a few of the First have done to a similar degree. You’ve seen one side of a Potential’s power. This is another, and it bears exploring.

More than a Vessel: With their success parsing out the basics of what Marcus did to himself, Vega’s staff have assembled a list of options to expand the understanding of internal Focus use by Potentials.

• 2110-2112
  • Look to the Centre: There’s enough in the files that the Ministry for Practice have put together for other Potentials to work with. Having more data to compare against would be nice, but taking two years to just make sure isn’t on the cards.
• 2113-2114
  • Realising the Soul: Thanks to the data that the Ministry has been able to put together on what they think Marcus did to himself, they’re able to put together a set of techniques. It’s not much, and the chances of any breakthrough like Marcus is low, especially with the need to train the Two Twenty-Three. It’s still better than no chance at all.

Project Harmony

Practiced Miracles are the result of joint Trances, a process that you believe allows a group of Potentials to widen the lens through which they project their power to include all of their Focuses. Vega has an understanding of this process far more advanced than she should, which is one of the reasons you believed her. Now you’re going to give her the chance to build on it.

• 2106
  • Hey, Listen!: Lab work and teaching are good ideas, but they’re not thinking big enough. Assign Vega to lead the Potential involvement with one of your new projects, and then just let what happens happen.

Another section of your policy made almost entirely invalid by the Miracle of Skylark, Vega now has all the proof she needs to point to of her ability. Far more will accept her advice with an example like that behind her. Of course, you could also choose to send her to another project, although other actions taken by the Ministry will suffer.

• 2107-2108
  • Practical Proofs: One of the reasons that she’s been having so much trouble is that she’s not been able to actually show her work. Bring in some Potentials and get them to Practice with her, that should get some results.
• 2109-2110
  • Be Harmonious: Vega has an instinctive awareness of how to bring many together in a Trance, and she believes she could teach some of those with similar Focuses to sense the same things.
• 2113-2114
  • Fluid Harmony: The data compiled last year seems to be changing the way it’s being used as people look it at, but no one can understand why. This is Vega’s work, at the core of things, and she’s probably the only person who can truly understand it.

The Shape of Miracle: Vega can now be personally assigned to an action utilising a Practice Dice, and a success will automatically trigger a Practice Trance. Other actions will suffer without her oversight, however, reducing her bonus to all other Practice actions and Practice dice by a quarter.

• 2110 - Assigned to Middle Way (See Intrigue)
• 2111 - Assigned to Mortal Instruments (See Learning)
• 2112 - Assigned to Fury of the Heavens (See Military)

Project Insight

A long running working group of Second and some Third Awakened, Project Insight is the only reason you know as much as you do about the Shiplords. They taught the world of the enemy’s ways, unravelled many strengths and few weaknesses, and discovered the Pattern in time for you to prepare. Now you have a new question for them.

• 2109 & 2111-2113
  • Achilles Heel: The Project has found several weaknesses in the Shiplords, but Phoebe has told you that they can all feel something on the edge of their consciousness when they search through those things, just out of reach.
• 2113
  • Our Enemy, Before Us: Eight ships came before, but would eight come again? It’s a simple question, but one with deeply important connotations.

The Two Twenty-Three

• 2112
  • Learning to Run: Although still deeply involved in tuning the Unison process to make it functional for the vast majority of Potentials, Vega has also started training with her platform. Kagiso has apparently been extremely helpful in feeling out her limits, which Vega has found to have grown considerably. She wants to try and put together a first-generation training manual for the Unison Platform, to make the process of equipping them (hopefully) next year easier.

The newly founded group, taking its name from the number of Unison Platforms available for the foreseeable future, is still very much in its learning stages right now. Only a little more than half of the Platforms have had users found for them, and the training process is about as haphazard as one could possibly be. It’s working, but if you want an effective fighting force from the fruits of Project Unison, there’s a lot more work to do.

• 2113-2114
  • Synchronisation Trials: In simple terms, a recruitment drive. The three Ministries involved in the original Project Unison are pooling their resources to bring in as many Potentials as they can for testing. Organising it around the duties of the Potentials is a constant hassle, however, and for every new member of the 223, a Potential is lost from their old position.
  • Learning to Run, Flying Edition: You and Vega have reached some level of understanding beyond the barely trained scrambling that most of the unit is still stuck at. Passing on your knowledge is something that the platforms are constantly trying to make more efficient, but there’s no real substitute for organised teaching. There are also the other utility functions of the Platforms to contend with, with the flight capability being the most focused on.
  • Integration and Entanglement: Perhaps the most interesting discovery about the Unison platforms so far, made late last year, is that they’re able to extend their functionality to cover items Practiced by their user. There’s also the strange way in which they seem to allow a Potential to push around their Focus, making them capable of things previously thought quite impossible. Much to discover, and so little precious time.
• 2114
  • Upon the Wing: The experience of the 223 is rising quickly, but they’re still only on the edge of what Lina would consider battle ready given what they’re probably going to have to do. She also needs to talk with you and the other heads this year, to put together a firm doctrine for the unit.
  • Miracles of Being: Although your group within the 223 continues to chart a different path, the vast majority of the unit has dived into the field of integrating their creations with their Unison platform with an almost desperate abandon. Training is all well and good, but to fight effectively they must find it in themselves to fight with everything they have created.

---

PERSONAL

• 2105-2106
  • Singing Heart: Music, particularly song, has always been an escape for you, a way to reconnect with yourself. You’ve also found it an excellent way to connect with a large number of people, but you’re not really sure about the concerts Kazuki seems to want you to be part of. Taking some time to practice properly should help

• 2106-2107
  • Powerful Echoes: You’ve become steadily more convinced over the years that there is something deeper hiding in what Potentials can do, some ability to touch concepts and influence metaphysics in a way that is terribly hard to understand. You’ve reached for it before, see if you can find it again, and hold onto it this time.

• 2108-2110
  • Music of the Soul: Even though you’re back to where you were before, there’s always room to improve further. And you’re starting to find a real connection between music and your ability to touch the stranger side of your Potential.
  • Power in Balance: Vega made it quite clear that you needed to heal in a way not of the physical when she met you after the attack. She also somehow got Mary to support her, and so this was less of a request and more of a notification.

• 2111
  • Eldest Legacy: You were one of those offered teaching by the Elder First, and so the message that they left applies as fully to you as it does the handful of others who received similar offers. Go to the door they left behind, and see if you can unlock what lies behind it.

• 2112
  • Unison Fitting: Although still in the prototyping phase, Vega has spoken with considerable passion about how useful her Unison platform has been to her. She’s currently knee-deep in the process of working with Mary and Lina to complete the system and work out a way to train Potentials in their use. Work she says could be a lot easier if she had another Potential she knew to work with. The benefits of a platform are not inconsiderable, either.
• 2113-2114
  • Unison Training: Training with Siddhartha and the Two Twenty-Three will be vital if you plan on being involved in the battles to come. The way in which Unison platforms and their users synergise in their training would also be lessened by your absence, according to Vega and Siddhartha both. And to be frank, knowing how to use what Sidra’s given you could be a literal lifesaver if the Shiplords are somehow able to attack you directly again.
• 2114
  • Artifact Examination: Mary found several devices that you’d created in your youth, to take with you through the Elder’s Door. Although you remember most of what you could do with them quite clearly, you also remember that there were some more complex functions, and you’ve grown a great deal in your understanding of Practice since then. Perhaps you could use them? [Write-in an item on your inventory list, will unlock its traits for use.]
    • Concert Set

Inheritor

Although others may access it, the master control for the Elder’s Vault remains with you. This may make you far better suited to finding what you need in there, as any limits that remain should be far less restrictive to yourself than any other. It will take time, however.

[Write-in a selected Elder’s Vault action to boost.] (See Learning)

• 2112 - Pushing the Boundaries
• 2113 - Doors and Keys
• 2118 - Pushing the Boundaries
• 2119 - Database Sweep

Talk with a Minister

Now that you’ve chosen to step down, talking to your Ministers about what they’d like to do in future seems like a good idea. They’ve proved their worth and potential, but knowing what they want could let you help them.

• 2118 - Vega, Mary, Adriana, Kazuki
• 2119 - Lina, Marcus, Kazuki

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Hero Actions

Vision Your discovery last year within the Elder’s Vault is eager to aid in your last remaining actions before the Tribute Fleet arrives. Although undeniable unsuited to military work, and there being no time to optimise to task, the vast processing power she has access to is not to be underestimated.

• Cutting the Cord:
  • After the near disaster last year, Marcus would be glad to accept any help, and Vision’s basic nature makes her a fearsome presence within the net. This could allow Marcus to focus his own attention elsewhere, or for the both of them to work together in burning out any remnants of what the Shiplord monitor program left behind. (Intrigue | Breaking Chains)

Following the battle, Vision is eager to aid in any way she can now that the immediate danger has passed. Still unsuited for military work she might be, but she doesn’t have to be suited to that to be enormously useful.

• The Eldest Insight
  • Vision was, quite bluntly, the Elder First’s predecessor to Project Insight. Only her knowledge is making the process of reconstruction possible so swiftly, but would be possible for her to focus all of her attention on the project. It might not speed it up, but it should definitely make it more efficient and secure in the long run. (Practice | Restoring the Observatory)

• Research Updates
  • Although her memory contains a great deal of scientific knowledge, a considerable amount of it is outdated, and if she’s to function as an effective research partner she’ll need to update that knowledge. Fortunately, Vision is an Artificial Intelligence. The only issue she has with knowledge input is processing power, and she has a lot of that.

• Restraining Sight
  • The first artificial intelligence created since the Elder First, Iris is taking to the role for which she was initially designed with inexhaustible energy. Sometimes a little too inexhaustible, but the sheer enthusiasm of the young intelligence is almost infectious. That said, she probably needs a little talk about certain things she shouldn’t be doing in the network, given that almost nothing can keep her out. She hasn’t been breaching anyone’s privacy, but there have been...some incidents.

• Broken Bindings
  • The database of the Elder’s Vault is a ravaged and tattered thing, but Vision was there when much of the data inside it was ordered and the filing system whole. Given that memory, and your desperate need for information, asking her to rebuild the library that the Elder First left behind could be a potentially priceless advantage. Vision herself has shown interest recently, and has voiced a curious opinion that the system should not be anywhere near as damaged as it currently is.