tushanshu_logs | Event | Satellite

Event | Satellite | Salvage & Repairs

Characters: Any and all!
Date: May 22 - 26, 2013
Location: Keeliai, turtleside, ARSHEPHELIOS cluster remains
Situation: The fires are put out and repairs around the city have begun. With life preserved, eyes turn now to what exactly crashed down into the ocean.
Warnings/Rating: Please put CW in your subject lines

Satellite Crash Event

Crash Landing | Salvage Party | Shocking Spectres

Questions | Keeliai | Repairs | Salvage | Other | Oceanside | Shellside | ARSHEPHELIOS-side | Coralside

The majority of fires are reported as under control and repair crews start forming up to bring Keeliai back to her pre-scorched splendour. This is all well and good, but there remains a cluster of debris that crashed into the ocean drawing the attention of salvagers and Foreigners alike. Boats and teams form up and head up to scour the ocean, where the cluster rests upon an expansive and ancient coral formation and can be reached within ten metres of the surface.

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Check the event announcement for details and answers to your questions. There's a thread there if you want further clarification, or you can ask here and we'll be glad to respond!

[The final flickers of flame are quenched by midmorning of the twenty-second and a collective breath of relief escapes the kedan, carried along by a similar sentiment that Tu Vishan spreads to the little ones that take residence upon him. Their break, however, is short-lived and Lieuen is the first kedan to step up and start hiring/forming teams of workers to handle repairs to the architecture. Structures are first to be tackled, with scaffolding going up around the most damaged buildings and engineers moving quickly through the Sectors to assess where most the attention should be focused.

Foreigners are invited into these workgroups, offered recompense of fifteen juulan per day from Lieuen himself, via the crew leads that he authorised to do the hiring. The days are long and he wishes to offer more, but his funds are tied up with the purchase of supplies and can offer little more.

Rescue and recovery efforts persist in downed and heavily damaged buildings, with each Sector demonstrating a slightly relented response to assistance than they did during the immediate aftermath of the crisis.]

[Residents of the eccentric Metal sector begin to scatter all over Keeliai as word spreads of salvage from the great fires from heaven. Lodged in building supports or buried in rubble, bits and pieces of strange metal and technology can be found. Some appear to be components of a larger construct and others simply transmit a burst of static from hidden speakers when fiddled with for too long. There is little apparent rhyme or reason to the nature of the smaller trinkets; while many suggest communication applications and some indicated weaponisation, there are also findings as simple as a very old, tiny music box that offers a sparkling light display as it sings its song. A few capsules can be found with what appears to be date markings and are reminiscent of time capsules -- breaking one open with release a shock, a plume of smoke, and then a dozen small mechanical toys, cards, and photos of a starscape unfamiliar to an Earthling's eye. All writing and dates are near illegible, but there exist some aerial photos of a star-shaped launchpad that have 'ARSHEPHELIOS' stamped across them.

Needless to say, there is immediately a trade market which springs up to gather and resell the salvage, finding worth in even warped metal for its potential to be recycled into something of merit to the structural repairs. Criminal and innocent kedan alike are involved in it, some offering to help Foreigners find materials, others trying to steal it.

Here and there, black cylinders are found which bear jagged line etchings that have been shaded blue. They bear no apparent seams and each stands at a half metre tall and a third of that wide. Each etching is different and a vague pattern can be discerned by comparing ten or fifteen of them together. The kedan know not what they are and, if asked, they will likely sell their find for ten juulan -- they assume there is some value to the substance, but it does not resemble any metal they know and they do not have the time nor resources to explore it right now.]

[Business and life begins to return to normal in and around Keeliai, with kedan making the best of a battered situation. Merchants reopen late in the morning, restaurants around noon, and by early afternoon all appearances are than of normalcy.

Kedan asked about what happened will reply that they are certain only of the fire that rained down from the sky. They whisper that there is an island of metal off of Tu Vishan's south end, but the younger kedan will say with a giggle that some believe it to be a few centuries worth of refuse come to surface.]

[The fires are not quite out by the time the first few kedan head to the southern edge of the turtle and start parsing off into teams to investigate the nature of exactly what crashed into the waters. Some remains float on the water between the shell's edge and an ancient coral reef that Tu Vishan navigated around the night before and a few dive in to retrieve bits of foam and some light packages which are contain an oddly flavoured powdered substance when they are torn open.

While some of the curious kedan simply dive in and shift to an aquatic form, those with an eye to bring larger things back to shore order up boats from a dozen fisherkedan in the area. They canvass the crowd for interested salvaging groups, charging a small fee (three juulan per trip) to the crews on the promise that they will only take ten percent of any profits made from items sold off this salvage boat. Foreigners and kedan are welcomed here, especially those guests which have or can take a form appropriate to aquatic exploration.]

[Ten metres beneath the surface rests the twelve-satellite orbital defense platform ARSHEPHELIOS. The cluster came to rest within an ancient coral reef after tearing a deep rift into it. Kedan can be found diving in and around it, staring curiously at the markings that identify it for they have never seen that name before, nor does it occur in their common folklore.

ARSHEPHELIOS itself shows the wear and tear of atmospheric re-entry, with scorch marks tracking down insulated panels and melted sensor antennae jutting lopsidedly from the exterior panels. The make of the cluster is reminiscent of communications satellites conglomerated into a rough star shape, but there are oval pods incorporated into the infrastructure that can be opened to reveal sparse, zero-gravity living quarters. No bodies are contained within and only a few bits of emptied food packets remain of whatever once inhabited them.

While there are dozens of arrays situated across the cluster that once held sensitive equipment to measure unknown parametres, much of these have been melted down to scrap and are being treated as such by any kedan salvaging or paying juulan for the finds. Charred circuitry fetches five juulan per board and warped metal ten juulan per twenty pounds.

The real worth's found inside the living units and once fried panels have been pushed aside. A few dozen more time capsules like those found in Keeliai remain in the pods and another five thousand black cylinders can be found. These bear jagged line etchings that have been shaded blue; they lack apparent seams and stand at half a metre tall each with a third of that being measured for width. Each etching is different and a vague pattern can be discerned by comparing ten or fifteen of them together. The kedan have no information about these either and offer ten juulan on the promise of salvageable material within.

Then there's the technology, which far surpasses what Keeliai knows today. The vast majority of it has malfunctioned, but there are circuitry panels associated with weapons technology, wiring kits familiar to the eyes of a communications installer, and a half dozen other assorted husks and shells of things that once were -- and have yet to exist in the eyes of the kedan. While near nothing can function on its own, those with wise eyes or quick minds may see potential to integrate these things into technology they currently possess...]

[Beneath the ARSHEPHELIOS cluster and extending down beyond the barrier of Tu Vishan's presence exists a vast coral structure that exhibits traits of both deep water and tropical coral growths knows to many Foreigners. The water has been disturbed and a murky cloud very slowly settles in the aftermath of the crash, bits of coral debris breaking off and sinking into the deep as the weight of the cluster continues to bear down upon it.

Marine life appears to have abandoned reef on impact, with some fish carcasses and coral growths showing burns and crush trauma. Over the days of salvage, some slowly returns -- either by emerging cautiously from their homes nestled deep within the heart of the reef or by returning from the deeps that they fled to upon impact. They display a variety of colours and temperaments, some investigating the salvagers up close and others nipping them before darting off.

Some debris can be found at rest on the reef's lower ridges, with similarities to the salvage found in Keeliai and on the cluster itself, but it is rare in comparison.]

[Wood sector, just outside Una's suite. Una's crouched down over something that looks like a ruptured laptop with a panel of multicoloured pieces of metal instead of a screen. It fell out of the tree where her suite is (nearly knocking her on the head in the process; only the alertness of a friendly kedan prevented a concussion). She's trying to examine it without taking it apart; at some point she'll give up and start carefully dismantling it. Every now and then it emits odd bleeps or staticky noises.]

[A square in the Fire sector. Henry's bargaining for one of the capsules, on the grounds that it is aesthetically interesting and, who knows, it could be valuable. The transaction is going in a rather langourous, oblique fashion; the kedan woman who is selling it is in no hurry to sell, and Henry is fairly relaxed about buying; they are talking as much about the events of the last couple days as about the object on the ground between them. They seem to be closing in on an agreement around ten juulan, though. Feel free to interrupt, or catch Harry immediately after the transaction is complete.]

Edited 2013-05-22 18:44 (UTC)

[Well, this is fun. By which Dorian means a little on the tedious side. He doesn't like digging through wreckage, but he has seen enough of the technology that he's very curious about it. So Dorian has grabbed his least favourite coat and has taken to going into the most dangerous buildings—the ones that are closest to collapse, the ones that have the biggest risk of killing whoever goes inside them—and searching through the debris for anything really interesting.

At one point, he can be found sitting on the roadside listening to a strange music box with a captivated smile. At another point, he has to pull himself out of a pile of rubble that, yes, collapsed on him. Hey, it's still not as bad as the Blitz.]

[Well, Richard did want to learn how one goes about acquiring work without rights of succession handing things to you automatically.

So, capable of more effort than his delicate build might suggest, Richard puts himself into working all of those long, long days. He persists in keeping a good humour about him, and even as he works himself to exhaustion, he put effort into befriending and supporting anyone who shares a team with him.]

[Invincible had been working on clearing debris alone before he came across a working team, and since then has pretty much been spending every waking moment among them... if you'd count his catnaps resting. Too much work to be done, he'll sleep when its over, same as usual.

Currently, he can be found lifting up a large piece of collapsed wall onto his back as if it were Styrofoam, preparing to move it to an open space for destruction and removal (he could injure someone if he just punched the thing into a million pieces right there) when he notices someone in his path.] HEY! One side, please!

[During one of the breaks, Invincible had opted to fly off and buy water skins for the crew with his earnings. He holds one out to Richard.] Water?

[ qilby had managed to keep his belongings mostly-safe from the looters in the fire sector the day before-- but he'd fended off far too many desperate, sticky-fingered kedan to make him feel comfortable with anything more than a little light salvage around his suite. the lab equipment's easily replaceable, his research and two months of notes perhaps less-so... but his personal effects are simply too important to risk, even as well-guarded as they are.

the krosmoz have enriched his life in several ways and gifted him with much, but rarely is he able to say that they've literally dumped a load of space technology on his house. not that he's complaining -- he's already gathered an array of particularly interesting metal and circuitry (and already considering what to build with them) when he sees out of the corner of his eye a kedan quietly approaching his little pile. yet another thief.

well, he's having none of that! qilby doesn't even bother looking 'round. with a careless wave of his hand, he opens a portal under the young kedan, dropping the poor guy-- oh, just anywhere. possibly on top of an unfortunate passer-by. that'll... teach him? ]

[It's going to take the reef decades, if not centuries, to recover from the damage the crash has done to it. Nita's retrieving stray satellite bits from this depth not for the salvage fees the kedan are paying, but because she wants to minimize the risk that any exotic materials in the debris will have of poisoning the reef in the years to come.

With the hand that's not carrying the remains of a space station, she shoos off an eel that decided to express its displeasure at her presence with teeth.]

Get lost, you jerk. I'm trying to help.

[Namor can talk to sea life. Why can't she?

Or maybe the sea life just isn't listening. Nita glares after the eel as it retreats into the murky distance. Ingrate.]

Edited (dw stop changing my subject line) 2013-05-23 06:18 (UTC)

[Richard accepts with an appreciative smile.] Thank you. [a pause, then] How much did it cost? [You should pay people back for these sorts of things. It's just the right thing to do.]

[Also, in the back of his head, he may or may not be thinking that Invincible has a great outfit.]

Need a hand? [Propelled carefully by a borrowed current, Percy floats into view. Apparently he means that quite literally; a fist of solidified water forms in from of him, his real hand guiding it gently through the debris.

He snorts a little at the departure of the eel.] Oh man, you do not want to know what it just said.

I don't care what it thinks!

[FISH ARE JERKS. She likes dolphins.]

[It's really no surprise that Arthur is out here too, helping to get the large pieces of debris back to shore where it can stop disrupting all the marine life. He's accompanied by a small school of fish hanging anxiously behind him as he swims up, trident on his back for now, and starts carefully extracting another piece of the wreckage.]

They're all just agitated right now. Strange things crashing into their homes tend to do that. For what it's worth he- ...no, he isn't apologizing. [A light shrug.]

[ When the fires seem to all have been put out, when people's attentions seemed to turn from averting any number of crises to clean up, Jack takes a few minutes to gingerly lower himself into a seat next to one of the streetlamps remaining standing and relatively undamaged. He has expended a lot of energy over the last 24 hours, finding inventive ways for ice to beat out fire and he'd be proud of himself for that if he could keep his eyes reliably open.

Moving along with everyone else to pull through the rubble to get anyone trapped inside the collapsed buildings, sparing a few sharp raps upside the head for those trying to loot, though they were not his focus. He's smudged with ash, dirt and debris, and there are burns on his hands and bare feet. Yet the sharp eyed ones may catch patches of ugly purple bruising visible on his extremities underneath the layer of mud and grit, darkening almost to black at the tips of his fingers, colouring the thin tissue along his eyelids, the corners of his mouth, speckling pale cheeks like unwelcome freckles. The spirit had held nothing in reserve in the face of rescuing those who'd needed it, and now had no cold left to preserve himself.

Jack pulls his hood up over his head to block the sun from warming the back of his neck, knowing he needed to get somewhere cool -- ideally back to the freezer -- as soon as possible. But he'd be all right if he just took a moment to gather himself, he could spare a few more minutes to make sure no one else needed aid, Jack thought, and promptly passed out. ]

[Steve gets to Dorian's chosen location as the rubble shifts. The worst of the damage control is over - and the disaster is the first thing that's drawn Steve out of the comparative solitude of his close friends since Steph went missing. Went missing. Like it's that simple, that solvable.

He plunges into the crumbling building without hesitation, enveloped in the recklessness of personal loss. The shield hangs on its straps across the back of the costume Steph made for him months ago.] Hold on. You're all r- Dorian?

[Steve stops on an unsturdy pile of debris and slips, rattling his way down to the immortal's side as the overhanging roof groans.] What are you doing here? It's dangerous.

[Steve waits until they're finished before he steps in, examining the capsule with a mix of curiosity and reservation. Steve's experiences with strange technology have not been the most positive.]

Afternoon, sir. [He nods to the capsule.] You have plans for that thing?

[Dorian pulls himself up to his feet and rolls his eyes, dusting some debris off of his clothes. The clothes show signs of tears and bloostains, but the skin is as perfect as ever.]

You're right, Steve, it is dangerous. I could be hurt—or worse, killed.

[He woke up on the sassy side of the bed this morning. He offers Steve a hand to balance him.] You all right? There's no one here, I checked, so if you're doing the hero thing, you can move on to the next building.

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Event | Satellite | Salvage & Repairs

QUESTIONS

KEELIAI

REPAIRS

SALVAGE

OTHER

OCEANSIDE

SHELLSIDE

ARSHEPHELIOS-SIDE

CORALSIDE

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OPEN! cw: descriptions of bruising/lividity?

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