Ushering In The Golden Age
Ushering In The Golden Age was a special event on Battle Fantasia MUSH that ran from late January to early February 2016.
TIMELINE 3: Ushering In The Golden Age is an ongoing special event running right now!
At the climax of the 2014 Sister Schools Sports Festival, hosted by Ohtori Academy, Southern Cross Island was cut off from the mainland by a cosmic blast of golden light so powerful it left auroras in the sky before and after. The bridge was incinerated in a heartbeat. At the same moment, military forces secured the island, ostensibly to find the terrorists who had committed such a dramatic crime. The magical girls, lured into transforming and exhausting themselves against a powerful opponent, were unable to stop the invasion.
So, what's next?
Contents
Propaganda: Southern Cross Island Attacked!
The news feeds of the nation -- and the world -- are abuzz with panic, horror, anger and grief. The Southern Cross bridge, linking Tokyo's Southern Cross Island with the mainland, has been instantly destroyed in a massive explosion. A number of insurgent groups have come forward to claim this terrorist attack as their own doing, but the most reliable intelligence sources indicate that the real perpetrators are still on the island, and there's chatter about plans for a biological attack -- some kind of weaponized virus -- as their next move and possible escape plan.
This would endanger all of the people currently on the island, which includes the inhabitants of sunny Southern Cross Town, and the students and staff of Ohtori Academy. What's worse, the attack came at the conclusion of the Sister Schools Athletics Festival, so virtually the entire populations of Infinity Institute and Juuban Public School are also present... and trapped.
In an attempt to liberate them and control the situation, Southern Cross Island has been briefly placed under the jurisdiction of a joint UN Peacekeeping task force. At the vanguard is the Golden Fleet, owned by the United States-affiliated Private Military Company Golden Age. Concerned citizens should be reassurred by the knowledge that they have already blockaded the island with their warships, and landed platoons of soldiers and squadrons of armored cavalry in order to restore order to the island, protect the people, and apprehend the terrorists before they can release their biological weapon.
The Golden Age PMC has not been available for public comment, but the UN Secretary-General and Japanese Prime Minister appeared together to condemn the attacks, and together promised to bring the perpetrators to justice before any further harm can be inflicted upon Tokyo and its people.
On The Ground: Ohtori Invaded!
In an immense blast of golden light that left auroras scarring the sky for hours afterwards, the bridge connecting Southern Cross Island to the mainland was instantly and totally obliterated. Everyone affiliated with the Sister Schools was on the island at the time, which means that everyone is now trapped; the channel between the island and Tokyo proper is crawling with warships, and the skies are full of helicopters.
The island itself is full of soldiers and tanks, who have announced that they have been sent to protect the students and find the terrorists responsible for the attack, who are believed to be hiding on the island, probably within Ohtori Academy itself.
Students and staff are being rounded up and kept in Ohtori Academy facilities -- mostly the classrooms, though with at least triple the number of students, the gymnasiums and sports arenas are also in use. The dormitories have been emptied; it seems that the soldiers prefer to keep everyone together, as much as possible.
Their search for justice appears to include systematic blood tests of the population, a very slow process. It will probably take several days to get everyone through that battery of inspections (and it's a brusque process, extremely upsetting to most people, be they child or adult). Rumor has it that they're testing for some kind of virus that the terrorists may have released on the island.
The Sister Schools' Student Councils have jointly released a statement asking their peers to cooperate with the army, but also demanding better conditions for the students. It has gone largely ignored by the military, who continues to act with rudeness that is, at best, born of urgency.
There are rumors of runaway students -- though why they're running is an open and difficult question. Regardless, the military is patrolling the beaches and forests of the island with thoroughness and skill. It's not impossible to hide out, though, as the island is riddled with cavern systems. There are also whispers of monsters, though this is mostly dismissed as ghost stories. And who wants to be telling ghost stories at a time like this?
IC Details
- The entire playerbase is trapped on Ohtori Academy's Southern Cross Island, because they were there for the Athletics Festival when the bridge was blown to smithereens.
- There is no internet and no cell phone service; a total information blackout seems to blanket the island. Calls to parents are /not/ being facilitated.
- Students and teachers alike are expected to stay in their assigned classroom or gym. All trips elsewhere -- to the bathroom or the cafeteria (the only source of food at the moment) -- require armed escort.
- Complaints (many of them from the teachers rather than the students) are met with brutal indifference which will quickly escalate to violent subjugation if the complainer doesn't back off.
- The soldiers really are testing everyone medically, and also comparing faces to a set of photographs. Glimpses of those photographs make it clear that all their targets are young female students. Sometimes they refer to their enemy as 'valkyries,' presumably code for the terrorist organization, but given that their real targets are Sister Schools students... Something Fishy is going on. Something bad.
- The soldiers seem very interested in the Library (which has been emptied of students), searching it with the kind of detailed care that one might use to look for secret doors or something.
- The soldiers are occupying the Chairman's Tower as their home base. That the Ohtori Student Council is still also in the tower is about as blatant a hostage threat as any, though it's possible they're actually collaborating (or being forced to collaborate).
- It is totally possible (and highly encouraged) for sufficiently determined and magical students to escape the soldiers, but it's worth noting that they seem extremely willing to gun down anyone, including innocent students, in order to apprehend the uncooperative. They will casually threaten harm, so a direct assault on the school to liberate everyone is not currently possible.
- Escapees' best option is to hide out in the woods and try to gather up. But the woods are not very safe; besides patrols, there are strange monsters, especially floating purple manta ray-like creatures with strange red sigils on their backs (sigils that are very similar to some of the monsters which had previously attacked Ohtori Academy students recently). The monsters tirelessly hunt escaped students, but leave the school alone.
- Ohtori also has an exceptionally high population of Witches (in the Puella Magi Madoka Magica sense) who are currently gorging on the panic and despair of the student body. They're both a danger out in the woods, and a danger to the population that the military knows nothing about (as they can, and are, entering school grounds to feed) -- hunting them without being apprehended by the military is a major challenge, but a necessary one for the altruistically-minded.
- There is no escape to the mainland. All attempts to leave by water or air automatically fail; there are just too many monsters and too much hardware, too much to blow through before girls get tazed, netted, bolo'd, or otherwise recaptured. Escape attempts are welcome to be scened out, but they will need to end in retreat, back to hide out on the island.
- Escapees can and should find the cavern system under Ohtori Island to hide out in. It has fewer of the manta monsters, no soldiers, and more Witches. It's a real labyrinth down there -- there's a lot to explore, and that includes some very interesting ruins. There are lots of carvings and obelisks and things. What they are and where they've come from is confusing and impenetrable, though -- the historically-minded might notice, at best, that there are remnants from /multiple/ civilizations down here, there is some serious diversity of mysteries afoot.
- What there isn't is food, which may necessitate raids on the Academy kitchens (an extremely fraught proposition, given the possibility of students used as hostages to get escapees to surrender again). Indeed, even out in Southern Cross Town (the little town on the island that kind of supports the school proper, as well as some tourism) food seems to have all been moved to a centralized location, and the inhabitants are up in one of the Academy gymnasiums.
Dramatis Personae
Invaders
There are a number of antagonist NPCs present who may exist in some form in your scenes. Golden Age Orphans and Golden Age Soldiers are available to NPC for each other using the Battle Fantasia Youma Repository System, or just fight 'em without the csys if you prefer. There are also named NPCs who you could see from a distance (and avoid), and named PC antagonists you could contact in order to tangle with, as well...
Many magical girls have already fought Orphans without having a full appreciation for what they are (or knowing their name) -- they've been used as shock troops by a certain conspiracy for over an IC year, appearing around the time of the 'Feng Shui' plot as well as attacking Ohtori Academy students over the summer (which spawned a vampire rumor). However, nobody has faced them in this quantity; this youma form represents being hunted by six or seven of them at a time. Their wolfpack tactics aren't quite as sophisticated as the soldiers' various strategems, but they get the job done. These Orphans are pale purple with a weird, glowing red symbol on their backs. They have two forms: while hunting, they are flat as pieces of paper and about as large as a Holocaust Cloak (which is their basic MO, to rush up to a girl and try to smother her). Once they've found their prey, they fully invest in being corporeal, becoming massive, vaguely humanoid monsters with huge, dripping, fanged maws and claws. Some are larger than others. They will attempt to kill their prey, but soldiers generally intervene, recapturing defeated magical girls faster than the Orphans can finish them off (and seem to have actively trained around this contingency). For what it's worth, the forces occupying Ohtori Academy do seem to want their enemies alive.
- Golden Age Orphans have a Youma form, #57. To see their sheet, +youma/sheet 57. To see their attacks, +youma/attacks 57. To see their description, +youma/desc 57. To summon their form onto yourself to use as a GM, +youma/summon 57, then +transform Y.
The occupiers of Ohtori Academy, Golden Age Soldiers are Master Rank D on a combination of their sheer quantity (this youma form assumes you're fighting a squad with constant reinforcements and some artillery support) and the fact that they are specifically trained and equipped (possibly with some creepy magitechnology) to fight magical girls. They're not Powers of Darkness, though; these are distinctly mortal men. (REALLY BAD mortal men, though; the intention here is not to agonize too much over fighting them.) Their fatigues are well-suited to forest combat, and their helmets keep them anonymous.
- Golden Age Soldiers have a Youma form, #56. To see their sheet, +youma/sheet 56. To see their attacks, +youma/attacks 56. To see their description, +youma/desc 56. To summon their form onto yourself to use as a GM, +youma/summon 56, then +transform Y.
Miyu Greer was ostensibly a cold, expressionless, apparently totally indifferent Ohtori high school student -- a classmate! Only in Alyssa Searrs' presence has she ever been seen to smile; and only when Alyssa is threatened in any way has she ever been seen to frown. But she's obviously so much more, since the Golden Age Soldiers take orders from her and the Golden Age Orphans coordinate with her. Oh, and her arms can shift into stunningly sharp swords; in combat she moves with appalling speed and grace, the sort that unsettles rather than inspires. She must be a robot, or a cyborg, or some other kind of technomagical girl.
- Miyu is a terrifyingly powerful Golden Age enforcer, and one of the most significant threats to avoid while on the run. Direct interaction with her guarantees being re-imprisoned, NOT with the other students in classrooms, but in a dungeon-like setup Golden Age has in the school basement.
Alyssa Searrs, fondly nicknamed the Golden Angel by her many fans, was the leader of Ohtori Academy's choir and winner of a number of international voice competitions. Also she's the daughter of the CEO of the Searrs Foundation, which seems like it might be relevant all of a sudden, since she hasn't been locked up with everyone else. She's been seen from a distance accompanying Miyu Greer. Magical girls remember seeing her at the Oil Refinery recently, where she exhibited a magical golden glow that corresponds perfectly to the immense blast that took out the Southern Cross Bridge.
- Alyssa is actually in command of Miyu and everyone else, and the one summoning and directing the Golden Age Orphans. Approaching her means automatically engaging with Miyu, and the corresponding consequences, but she can be seen from a distance accompanying Miyu around the island.
Ye-jin Song, masked and under the codename White Queen, is one of the Golden Age enforcers tasked with identifying and subduing magical girls, either by drawing them out or hunting down escapees. (Timeline 3 only.)
Kasagami Araki, masked and under the codename Crimson Rook, is one of the Golden Age enforcers tasked with identifying and subduing magical girls, either by drawing them out or hunting down escapees. In her public persona as the Disciplinary Executive, she is strongly encouraging cooperation with the soldiers, to avoid harm to the students and to bring the criminals who blew up the bridge to justice. (Timeline 3 only.)
Shizuru Fujino, masked and under the codename Black Bishop, is one of the Golden Age enforcers tasked with identifying and subduing magical girls, either by drawing them out or hunting down escapees. In her public persona as a Student Council member she is being 'held' separately from the other students in the Tower. (Timeline 3 only.)
Resisters
All Sister School students and many teachers are present, especially normal NPCs, though Student Council members are being held separately in the Chairman's Tower. Players are encouraged to showcase their classmates, though the normal civilians will not be able to escape (and should not be brutalized too badly if they resist; the net result of standing up to the soldiers is waking up in a classroom with a big band-aid X on the side of their head). Please ask before using another cast's NPC.
This is a good opportunity for normal friends to find out that PCs are magical girls, in the context of not wanting them to worry when they go missing. This is not mandatory, only a suggested twist.
Scene Suggestions
If you've read this far you can probably see where we're going with this: Ushering In The Golden Age is an event designed to be run without staff GMs, by players, for players, with players, as characters discover the new normal of occupation on the island, escape from their captors, explore the island, find one another, and begin to organize a resistance. The setting provided is fairly defined but still with plenty of room for improvisation. If you aren't sure if something would be allowed, just ask!
CAPTIVE STUDENTS
- You're in a classroom/gymnasium with other students...
- ...speculating about what's really going on, while playing cards to pass the time.
- ...and someone needs to convince the soldiers to provide allergy medication.
- ...starting to form a black market over the distribution of snacks.
- ...but someone is missing, and the soldiers are asking about it.
- ...keeping your voice down, because you're planning an escape!
ESCAPING THE SOLDIERS
- You've escaped your classroom/gymnasium and are slowly working your way out of the school, when...
- ...you come across a patrol and have to fight them -- quickly!
- ...you come across a patrol and have to flee before they use someone as a hostage!
- ...you come across a patrol escorting another student somewhere; do you follow them, confront them, or avoid them?
ON THE RUN
- You and your friends are hungry...
- ...do you sneak back INTO THE SCHOOL to liberate supplies?
- ...do you break into the dorms to see if anyone has a stash?
- ...do you try to hunt a forest creature?
- ...do you dare to knock out some soldiers and try their MREs?
- ...but it doesn't matter because you're being chased, by like, a hundred of those hunter-killer Orphans!
- You're in the forest or underground...
- ...taking turns taking naps and talking quietly, resting, recuperating.
- ...brainstorming what to do next.
- ...and your friend that you haven't found yet walks in, making for a happy reunion!
- ...and your worst enemy walks in, making for a tense situation!
- ...looking for water.
- ...and you stumble across a mysterious ancient ruin in a cavern!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: My character was transformed when the invasion hit, but I don't want her secret identity shared with everyone, what should I do?
A: The magical girls, exhausted from fighting the Cybodies, had a few seconds to escape into the crowd of students and detransform, so nobody's secret identity was revealed in this way. Recognition Inhibition takes care of the rest. ICly concerned characters could obscure their faces deliberately by making masks, etc, which will of course turn out to be remarkably effective.
Q: Can I schedule a public +scene for any of this? I want to escape/save someone/run some Soldiers and Orphans!
A: Yes, please do! Just bear in mind that a full frontal assault on the school and its soldiers is not possible at this time, since in a battle of that scale the soldiers would use hostages to force a surrender. Each side hunting the other for small, scary skirmishes is more the tone.
Logs
Please tag all of your logs and cutscenes related to this special event with
[[Category:Ushering In The Golden Age]]
and they'll automatically appear here! (For TIMELINE 3, please put the prefix in the log title as usual.)
