The ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’ begins in the Rachare sector, between Shadari and Sallumini territory. The Rachare is somewhat sparse, and there is an isolated planet, nestled against the large Rachare nebula, the world Kzerlak II. This is the site of a private prison, run in a circuitous way by GenDev, off the books. Kzerlak is a place where people disappear. It is used with knowledge by Shadar, Almerand, Sallumin and the Dominion of Morath, but all maintain plausible deniability.
Characters
Two of the starting player characters were crew aboard a research vessel, the Shadowlight, four years ago. The third PC was at Kzerlak for another reason and met the other two while there.
Shastar Pym, a Shadari journalist (Dave’s character. She’s famous, legitimately covering the research mission of the Shadowlight)
a Sallumini undercover operative (Wayne’s character. He’s investigating WMD and terrorism)
Naylon Smithers, a weird scientist (Mike’s character, who was in the prison for a crime he did commit. “Smith” as he is called, is from the Combine, and was born and raised in an asteroid belt.
The Shadowlight crew included a number of NPCs, notably two that made it out the other side in the escape:
Alensky (a jack-of-all-trades abolitionist from Shadar space) Alensky is militantly pro-third Edict. He belongs to a sect in Shadar that wants the third Edict to be made primary (enforceable even outside the Compact).
Ames (a pilot who thinks he’s the voice of reason) Ames is from Shadar space also.
Two players came in later, Rose, and then most recently, Jessie. Also, two players changed characters during the game for various reasons, completing our dramatis personae.
Don Ispako (a swindler, and actor with theatrical AI chip) Don was involved in a scam, but fell in love and couldn’t close the deal. In the ensuing shoot-out, Don killed the intended groom. The mark (the bride’s father, a wealthy Morathi) did not just kill Don, for his daughter’s sake, did not just kill Don, but rather, sent him to Kzerlak to be forgotten. Don is only just arriving in a prison transport, in orbit around the planet, when the game begins.
Persefoni Greenwitch (Jessie’s character, naval officer from Almerand, now secretly investigating WMD for Almerandi intelligence.
Olean Maerik – (A professional ship’s captain with a checkered past from Osterosza) Olean is hired on the the party
Makráken – A
aken –
Game Set-up
The party begins on Kzerlak II, as inmates of Unit 2 of Kzerlak Prison. In session zero, the players create characters, and are then told of the circumstances leading to their captivity.
The party were the crew and passengers of the free trader Shadowlight (chartered for a research mission to the Smoke Signals, an astrophysical anomaly) that took on an illegal fare along the way. They didn’t know that their passenger was Japheth, the 2nd in command of the New Road (a Shadari resistance movement that wants to reinstate the Imperial Mandate of Shadari rule of the Array).
During a stop-over, Japheth committed a delayed act of terrorism before getting back on the ship. Three canisters of nanites targeting only human tissue were opened at the down port, just as they were leaving. The device was set off after they had re-boarded the ship, but the crew saw the devastation of the nanite weapon that attacked only human tissue, and the crew had no clue what it was about when they jumped, or that Japheth was to blame, although there was suspicion.
Shadari ships jumped ahead of them eventually, and detained them. There was some reason, something the crew saw, that meant they could not be allowed to re-enter society. Though their innocence was established, and it looked like they would be released, they were instead abducted by a rogue Shadari intelligence agent, and the whole affair was swept under the rug. They were disappeared to Kzerlak one term ago, and they have been there for four years.
One starting player character is someone who was already at the prison, and one is just arriving. The other two PCs are crew from that event, four years after the incident. Several NPCs from the original Shadowlight crew have kept pace with the PCs (five NPCs), but only two accompanied them when they escaped.
Game summary
7228 a.r. week 5
The situation had multiple things working in their favor during the escape:
The prison was being relocated.
The rogue planet was coming through the ecliptic, only a million km from Kzerlak.
Uniforms were diverted.
An agitator in the general population had planned an escape. Japheth’s people were planning their own delayed break-out, using the first escape as a diversion.
First a Shadar Imperial Escort showed up.
The group plans to use a land vehicle and hide in a cave, before making their way to the Sallumini Cathedral Ship, far from the prison.
In the second session, Rose joined the game. Her character Don Ispako was rescued from a prison transport. He was on the Shadar ship with Japheth when the Cathedral Ship used its spinal mount to smash the Shadari ship. The players saved Don, but dumped Japheth’s pod into the gas giant.
week 6.3- 6.4