Light Quest: a CK2 Style Quest in an 8-Bit Dystopia

Created
Status
Ongoing
Watchers
94
Recent readers
0

A Quest in which you play as Dr. Light and his attempts at trying to bring some hope back to a dying city.

Whether he keeps a spark of hope inside him or falls to the city like everyone else is up to the choices you make.
Unrest in the House of Light: Part One
"This City... She's Been Dead... For Years Now..."

The City of Light, named after the hero Doctor Light before his passing, was intended to be the hub of humanity's new home in a distant galaxy after the Invader War ended with Earth's destruction. The City was intended to represent a fresh start on a new planet, one that was selected by the best and brightest minds of mankind to serve as the new cradle of humanity. The survivors of Earth had endured a long and difficult voyage to their new home, losing entire fleets of ships to natural disasters, alien pirates, and even more unexplained happenings. It didn't get any easier when humanity had finally arrived at their new home, either. The 'cradle' they had hoped for was desolate, a windswept world filled with hostile flora and fauna. However, humans were a resilient species. They got to work, setting down the infrastructure they needed from their Arkanoid ships including factories, habitat blocks, and agricultural hubs. Dr. Light had even created devices to aid humanity and automate the terraforming process in the form of M.U.L.E. Walkers and the L-Series Manufacturing Robots (or Lemmings).

It was more work than humanity anticipated, but they endured. There were problems that cropped up. Overpopulation was an issue and while the lack of housing was mitigated somewhat by the Lemming robots, a critical lack of oversight led those machines to develop infrastructure that was both labyrinthine and nonsensical at times. In addition, the various colonies outside and beyond the city had either gone dark or had long since regressed into becoming petty fiefdoms fighting against both each other and the natives. Still, Light knew they would fix these problems so long as everyone rolled their sleeves up and worked together to get it done. With the Systems Integrated Monitor, or "S.I.M." installed at the heart of the city, nobody would want for water, gas or electricity while the necessary housing was being built and would also start to get the Lemmings back on track by providing a centralized intelligence to control the literal fleets of terraforming robots. Things were bad, but they were getting better. But then they got worse. It started small. Wily had taken the Wily-Light Organization that they had built together and had turned it into WilyCorp. Wily assured Light that with Light as the moral heart of the organization, he was worrying over nothing.

He was hesitant. But he still trusted his friend.

Some time later Light Labs exploded, taking the hero of the city with it. Saboteurs were blamed, enemies of the city who hated Light for conflicting reasons that were yet a mystery. Dr. Wily, furious over the death of his friend, had announced that he would do everything that was possible to find these villains and bring them to justice. Little did anyone know, Dr. Light had survived that explosion. Contained within a medical drone he had been working on at the time, the little machine had moved him away from the wreckage towards someplace safe. The City was massive, even only a few years in. The massive zone even had a name- Monsteropolis. There were zones within zones that even people who were born and raised within couldn't recognize and chart their way through. They served as a good hiding place as Light recovered from his wounds.

Light was distraught. He knew who set off that explosion. He wished he didn't.

To Light's horror, The City continued to spiral downwards. Wily grew more and more authoritarian- first mandatory curfews, then increased surveillance. All in the name of the public good. Vid-screens broadcasting whatever Wily wanted the people to see and hear. When even that wasn't enough? New bioroids of his old friend's own design; "Sniper Joes" and "Robot Masters", were rolled out as a "peacekeeping" force. The S.I.M. was dismantled, infected by a virus and stripped of anything useful; not just by Wily, but others as well. That wasn't the worst of it. WilyCorp wasn't the last. New corporations followed Albert's footsteps that lacked even his restraint. The biggest being Eggdyne and Metpharm. A whimsical man, Dr. Eggman was the CEO of Eggdyne and was laser focused on progress, even at the expense of the world around him. The sole reason as to why the City is as polluted as it was, Eggman doesn't even remotely care about the lives underneath him and doesn't do much to hide that.

A good thing for the uplifts, who flocked to his zones in droves, preferring his indifference to rampant racism that the species had faced regularly in the other zones. It also meant that his zones had the shortest life expectancy out of any of the other locations in the city. Unless you were rich or well connected, of course. Then you literally lived above the common masses. Eggman operated mostly out of the Mobius Archipelago within the Metropolis Zone, rolling out wave after wave of "brain chip" equipped badniks as an answer to Wily's bioroids.

Metpharm, on the other hand, was a complete mystery. Originally a collection of biologists, agriculturalists and ecologists, they all came together to form Metpharm, the largest and one of the only sources of medicine, biological research and genetic augmentation in The City. Their CEO is a mystery of which there were only rumors; everything from alien takeovers, a being literally created from scratch to lead the company or something even stranger being theorized but when asked, employees barely breathe a word about them. Metpharm has their center in Palm Zone, which is unlike the rest of the city in that it's not a metal behemoth, instead a verdant paradise where an AI called "Mother" handles the people's every want or need. These three weren't the only ones, merely the most powerful. Other corporations had popped up, such as SilphCo or ZEED, the latter of which began acting as a collection of brick and mortar stores and a courier service once communication between corporate zones began to break down.

Light watched as the city he had hoped to build was corrupted by these giants. He watched as the people gave up, few people fighting back and those that did often being as bad as the Corporations they fought. He saw things that should have been causes for hope or celebration turn sour, like the arrival of the lost colony fleet that had been sucked into a rift in space early on in the voyage only to find their idyllic world burned to the ground by war and the survivors left homeless and destitute. News broadcast after news broadcast of complete tragedies, only to be blown off with a laugh and "so glad we're not over in that zone." There was no hope. The dream he had tried to build had died in its crib.

Light wondered what he was going to do. He paced around, scratching at the scars that were still healing around his body. Something needed to be done. Anything. He wasn't the type to just give up. Not without exhausting all of the options. The city needed to get back on track. It needed help. But how? The city was dark. Colder than he remembered. Was it time to change with it? He racked his brain, trying to look back through his memories to find how things went so wrong. Could he have stopped Wily somewhere in the past? Sat him down and talked to him? Why did he do this to him?

He leaned against a wall, taking a breath. He was ready to make his decision.

=======​

What Decision had Light Come To? [Select One]

[ ] "I refuse to let this city destroy my soul. The people need to know that no matter how dark the city gets there will still be light, but only if we work together and have hope that the future will turn out for the better."
Light is unwilling to bend on what he believes in.

Gain Trait: An Honest Soul


[ ] "This city has changed. I can no longer recognize it. Perhaps it's time to adopt a few changes of my own."
Light is willing to bend his morals in small ways in order to accomplish his goals.

Gain Trait: A Mercurial Mind
=======​

Light's near death experience changed him. He was feeling many things, but one stood out among them all. What was it? [Select One]


[ ] "Everyone failed in the end. Myself. Wily. The City. This is collectively our fault. We could have done better. We should do better now."

Gain Trait: Remorseful

[ ] "He betrayed me. We've been friends for years- we survived the destruction of Earth together! That… that bastard! He won't get away with this!"

Gain Trait: Wrathful

[ ] "So few people are fighting. Most have given up. Is there any point trying to fix things?"

Gain Trait: Depressed

[ ] "There's so much to do. I have so little time to do it. I need my lab back."

Gain Trait: Traumatized

=======​

His decision made, Light stood leaning over a table, finally free from the last of the bandages. Scattered about on the table were various plans- diagrams, decoded messages and maps to various places around, below and even beyond the city. He had a choice to make. Stay in the city, hiding right underneath Albert's nose. It was risky, very risky, but the city needed him and it afforded too many benefits to consider leaving. However… he could also flee into The Pipeworks. Thousands of people went missing every day. He could be among them. In truth, he barely knew much about what lay beneath beyond what little he could scrounge up in a short amount of time and the various rumors of cults, mutants and chemical runoff.

Still, he had contacts. People who had worked with him and had a vested interest in keeping quiet about it. Groups like the Driller Commune. Or he could find the Caravan of Dreams. He could likely find more about a more benevolent cult, but that would take some time. Light peered down to the final scattered plans. The Outlands. The world was as wild as it was vast and reports said that the lemmings wouldn't reach the outlands for another few decades. It was rough, untamed and far from The City. Most people here completely wrote them off as uneducated, dangerous yokels, and largely ignored them with exception of the various trinkets, stories or popular creatures that showed up occasionally. Various stylized images of the chocobo were plastered in almost every konbini store, for example.

The flora was as hostile as the fauna and he couldn't hope for modern conveniences or parts for his projects, as they would be rare unless he allied with somebody who had connections to the city. Still. The outlands were almost completely unexplored and that same lack of consideration meant the outlands were a near perfect place to hide that wasn't covered in sewage. It also meant he had some level of freedom. While he would need to be careful, rumors or stories of a Dr. Light that survived would be declared bunk by the majority simply because it came from the Outlands of all places. Albert likely wouldn't be fooled, though. He'd come looking.

Where Did Light Choose To Go? [Select One]

[ ] Dr. Right Behind You
He chose to stay in the city.
The city is massive, almost continent-spanning, and we will primarily be focused around the WilyCorp zones. More specifically, Monsteropolis, which is basically several zones smushed together of which WilyCorp Towers stands directly in the middle of. The further you go out, the more dilapidated the city looks. This is (mostly) CAPCOM related zones, though things like the SNK, Mishima Autonomous Zone and the street fighter shared universe areas like Metro, Auharu and others are nearby in their own zones. River City is somewhere in that direction too. Raccoon City Zone shares a border with Metpharm (bordered by Arklay Mountainous Region) and it's where Wily's S.T.A.R.S program has their main stomping ground. Better outfitted, though. They're Cult Hunters in this Universe. You want to strike Wily right at the heart of his base, here's where you would do it. The Robot Masters have their own little bases located all over the place. Mind yourself though. Wily doesn't like you. He thought he killed you, after all.

[ ] Light In The Depths
He chose to descend into the depths of the Pipeworks.
The city is as deep as it is tall, and just as wide. Like above, this will primarily be Nintendo stuff. Dig Dug, Kirby, even the Mario Bros are messing around down here somewhere. It's a nasty place, full of chemical runoff and whatever escapes into the sewers (which happens to be a lot of things. Thanks, Metpharm.) What chemical runoff doesn't end up here ends up in the Outlands. As a result things tend to see in the dark down here, and the fungus has literally taken a life of its own. Entire zones have also been swallowed, forever-dark locations lit up only by ghost lights and glowing fungus often haunted by weird ghosts and other spooky things. There's rumors that there's a freaky giant turtle-dragon scheming at the molten core of the Pipeworks, too. Here's where you go if you want to deal with mutants, strange fungal growths, rampant terraforming robots, spooky ghosts, insane cults, (Kirby has one of his own- The Cult of the Devourer) and your very best impression of Zaunite culture, since it's not all that far off. There are entire communities down here and not all of them are friendly. Most of them are downright criminals.

[ ] Light in the Distance
Light chose to take his chances in the outlands.
The Outlands. The land of the JRPGs. And things like Castlevania. Yes, unfortunately Dracula spawned somewhere dark and spooky, much to the chagrin of the last survivors of the Belmont family who were sure Earth being blown up was the last they would see of the bastard. 'Short and Brutal' would be the terms that would best describe the place. Well, except for Kong Country, which seems to be doing just fine. If you like magic, the great outdoors or weird, psychic stuff there's no place in this setting that deals with the Dreamlands more than the Outlands. The flora is just as vicious as the fauna, and both are often oversized, guns and tanks have been replaced with more reliable things like massive swords and bows, and there are native species like the Goron and the Moogle that you can chat it up with. It's a Magi-Techno Barbarian paradise, if you're into that. Like He-Man or She-Ra, if they lived in a JRPG world. Still, the place has its quirks. You'll still find some friendly, if hardy, people here. Even some of the monsters are friendly, and there's odder sorts, too. Like funny magicians in hats arguing with cloaked figures on whether 'Fire' or 'Frizz' is the superior fire-aligned spellword, or barely clothed girls offering strange things called 'Puff Puffs'. It's an unexplored wild rife with exploitation and research. We know this because that's exactly what the other corporations are doing too.

Depending on your choice, you will be able to pick from up to 5 factions from those locations, or choose to go alone and build up your own faction.

=========================​

Hey there, everybody. Welcome to LightQuest! What is LightQuest? It's a CK2/3 based quest centered around Dr. Light and his attempt to bring some hope to (or just take bloody revenge against) a cyberpunk dystopia. This takes place within the 8 Bit Dystopia setting, in which various retro video games to a soft cutoff point of the PS1 era games are smashed together inside a sprawling cyberpunk hellscape. If you want S.T.A.R.S fighting against a death cult dedicated to Kirby, Little Macintosh entering into the King of Fighters tournament or Solid Snake joining with Simon Belmont to take down Dracula, this setting is for you.

The heroes still exist (actually, everyone's stories are just getting started), but everything is all jumbled and they have a hell of an uphill battle to fight. Maybe you can help them. They're gonna need it.

The default goal of this quest is if not freeing the city from the corporations, then at least taking down Wily. This can change depending on your choices as Light might find other problems needing solved beforehand, but by default that's where the quest is focused. Regardless if you end up fighting against Wily or the Corporations or not, ideally you'll be bringing some Light to a City that desperately needs it. Whether that means setting it all on fire or instilling some hope and hurting the corporations is up to you.
 
Setting Information
Where are we? What is the City of Light?

In 8-Bit Dystopia, the setting takes place in the system of Princeps Dominare on the planet of Hyrule. It's a massive planet and on the surface the largest of the human colonies is The City of Light. It's a massive place, almost 40% of the planet's surface is the city and much of it is either bombed out from corporate conflicts, lawless, factionalized or dangerous to navigate for a variety of reasons. For this quest in particular we will be around the WilyCorp zones, though areas like the Mobius Archipelago, Eggdyne's HQ Zone, will be a place you can end up in as well.

The City is a dystopian hellhole in which the various Arcade, NES and PS1 era games are crushed together and forced to live on a planet that hates them. The natives that haven't been driven into the outlands are underground, plotting revenge with Bowser, corporations rule with an iron fist and communication has largely been cut off with each other. Dr. Light, your PC, has been considered dead for a year and while a lot of people are in mourning, most people are too busy trying to survive and seek out a living for themselves by buddying up with the local gangs or corporations.

The city was created by a bunch of robots that Light created called the Multi Use Labor Element Walkers (or M.U.L.Es) and the L-Series ManufacturING Robots (or Lemmings), all of which were managed by the S.I.M, or the Systems Integrated Monitor. This was meant to provide everyone with enough housing, electricity, water and other utilities but was left unattended and eventually cannibalized by the various corporations for their zones. As a result, The City of Light is a bizarre labyrinth that likes to change on you and hides all manner of mutants, biomonsters or worse.

What are 'The Pipeworks'?

The Pipeworks is The City's sewer system / underground tunnels. That's as far as most of the city knows about it beyond the occasional report about convicts, cults and monsters that live and flee into, but the various blue collar workers like Plumbers, P.A.C. Men and their sort know exactly how deep the rabbit hole goes.

The truth is The Pipeworks are as deep as The City is tall and equally as wide. The Lemmings down here were only programmed to dig deeper and create sewer systems and that's what they did, mining down towards the core. People say that The City is a maze, and while that's true it was mostly made to be navigated by humans. Pipes here don't have to make sense. You can get lost incredibly easily in the underground and even people who have been there for years have only mapped a small percentage.

What's worse is that it's The City's dumping ground for toxic waste and various other chemicals, which meant that the flora and fauna of the underground either mutated or came to life in a literal sense. The fact that it's so difficult to navigate makes it an excellent breeding ground for cults, monsters and the dead (figurative or even literal, in some cases)- many areas being zones in their own right, some of which having even sunken into the earth, claimed by The Pipeworks.

That's just what humanity brought with them. There are places even older and stranger besides, hidden away from the surface waiting for some poor soul to bring themselves stumbling in.

What are the Outlands?

The City of Light was not the first human settlement on the planet of Hyrule. Colony ships filled with uplifts were meant to be the first wave of settlers, but when they mysteriously vanished in transit it instead came down to the criminals, the dreamers and the desperate. When they had finally arrived the colonists didn't find what they were expecting. Instead, they found a hostile planet, one that even had intelligent species that also didn't like them very much, either.

It was a hard life but eventually they managed to make something of themselves. Their equipment broke down, causing them to rely more on the native creatures to act as rides and beasts of burden and engage in trade with intelligent natives. Guns and other military equipment became expensive paperweights, instead replaced by swords, armor and other ancient military weapons. Eventually the colonies crumbled into warlords and feudal kingdoms and by the time the main fleet had arrived there were places that thought modern technology was magic.

For their part, The City considers those from the outlands to be dangerous inbred yokels unless you were lucky enough to be close enough that the city swallowed you up and turned your kingdom into a zone. Most aren't that lucky. Worse still, The City does use the outlands as a dumping ground for chemicals that couldn't be stuffed into The Pipeworks which has begun to have interesting effects on the locals.

Is there anything Beyond?

Yes. It's unlikely it will matter to the quest, but Lylat, a neighboring system and its main planet Corneria was bombed into a radioactive husk due to a brutal war against the Venomians, the survivors having fled to the city. Trioptimum's Citadel Station rises above the planet along with its benevolent AI SHODAN, and the planetoids of Farore, Din and Nayru float close enough that some nights you can see them from the city. There's commerce, piracy and alien mercenaries all over the place and more planets in this system besides.

Corporations - The Big Four

Leader: Albert W. Wily

Headquarters: Wily Towers, City Core

This was the first of the megacorporations to appear in The City of Light, created by Albert Wily incorporating the original non-profit Wily-Light Corporation and rolling up the various construction, mining and bioroid manufactories under the organization's banner. Light was distraught, of course, but Wily assured him that Light would remain as the corporation's moral center. That didn't last very long. In modern times, WilyCorp focuses on engineering, mining and robotics, as well as the purification of the natural resources WilyCorp personnel mined and pumped from the planet and is maintained by the fleet of bioroid and mechanical police that are oversaw by the various Robot Masters of Monsteropolis.

Wily keeps a vice grip on the populace by bombarding them with corporate news, product details and propaganda - a tactic the other corporations also took for themselves - through the use of ubiquitous vid-screens and the proliferation of all kinds of cameras and various other kinds of monitoring systems to create a police state that keeps the people under control. Despite this, most of the populous consider themselves lucky to live there, as WilyCorp zones share the highest living standards and the streets kept policed and safe for the most part, a small mercy other corporations lack.​
Leader: Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik

Headquarters: Metropolis Zone, Mobius Archipelago

Started from the ground up on a small patch of land called South Island, Eggdyne and it's creator and CEO, Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, rules his corporate zones with a whimsical and ruthless fist. Much like WilyCorp, Eggdyne deals with mining, robotics and engineering but Eggman was unable to recreate the positronic technology that Light and Wily created and was unwilling to "beg for Wily's scraps". His creations are instead called badniks- cheap, ramshackle alternatives to Wily's bioroids. They're created with "brain chips" for programming and "bio batteries" for power, using cloned or donated tissue to supply the bionic components of the machine. While considered mostly rumors by the populous, Eggman kidnaps people, usually through the criminal element he allows to exist within his borders, cuts them up and turns them into his badniks.

Eggman couldn't give a damn about the people of his zones, or the planet for that matter. His idea of progress at all costs has rendered much of the city's biosphere a polluted mess and that same lack of care applies to the inhabitants of his zones, as well. Unlike Wily's constant overwatch, Eggman only cares if you wreck his equipment in which case you'll have SWATBots knocking at your door. This lack of care appeals to the Uplift community as they face discrimination just about everywhere else, causing the Mobius Archipelago to consist of mostly uplifts. Death is incredibly common, with most being crushed under the ruthless machine of progress... if they don't go missing when a demand for badniks spike.​
Leader: Mother Brain

Headquarters: Palm

A medical conglomerate, Metpharm is unique compared to the other two in that Metpharm focuses on the organic side of the city. While holding less territory compared to the other two, they have more soft power as they are the creators of various pharmaceutical medicines and urgent care; from the popular monomate and dimate medicines you can get over the counter, to genetic and cyber augmentation that are much safer than risking Robotnik or Wily's augmentation centers, that you can sign up for at various Metpharm clinics. They are alien friendly, dodging the pact made by the big three by using their space stations to interact with the alien element of the galaxy, including using many as employees, scientists or even mercenaries. Secretly, of course.

The true leader of the corporation is an alien known only as The Mother Brain. This is only known to high level employees or those brave or stupid enough to try and dig for secrets and even then only known secondhand by the surviving friends or family of those that did. She keeps the peace inside of the corp, using a combination of blackmail, human greed and threats of violence to cow the corporation into giving her control. She's doing something with a moon named Zebes, but beyond something called "Chozo" most people on the board are in the dark, just like "MB" wants it. As for the few zones Metpharm controls, well. They are incredibly clean, beautiful and healthy looking, as are the people. There's an AI known as "Mother" that is capable of predicting your every need that the people there have become quite dependent on.​
Leader: "Nakahara Musashi" - "Shadow Master"

Headquarters: Dispersed - Unknown

While not a megacorporation the same size as the big three, leaving ZEED out of the running would be a grave mistake. ZEED is unique in that it has a stranglehold on the courier industries and the various smaller "mom and pop" stores which make them the unoffical "Number Four" to the big three. Officially, they are a retail chain that allows any small, privately owned business to carry their name and sell their products. There is a ZEED konbini on almost any corner in the city, for example. These stores can handle everything from sending mail and buying food to purchasing tickets to various things and exchanging the myriad corp-scrip with each other.

Owned by a man named Nakahara Musashi, their smaller underdog nature protects them and those under their banner from harm as any attempt to push them out of a territory results in a collection of various ZEED chains squeezing them out of the area. If they don't end up mysteriously assassinated by black robed men. The dark secret of this company is that they want the status quo to remain- to submerge the city in darkness and perpetuate the flames of war and misery and reap the benefits. They use their ninja corps as more than couriers- they use them as assassins and spies to gain blackmail and eliminate anything that might bring stability to the city.​
Core Species

A strangely shaped primate offshoot that dominated a planet known as Earth, before it's destruction. A highly adaptable species whose cultures have too many variations to count. They now mostly exist in the Princeps Dominare system on the planet known as Hyrule, but many exist in hunkered down outposts and colonies across the galaxy under siege by whatever native species they managed to anger and hadn't overrun yet. This species is capable of much and and more data is required to further unlock their true potential. They are belligerent and numerous.​

A human subspecies artificially created by Metpharm to have higher mental faculties to better grasp the stranger physics like magic and psionics that humanity has come to discover. They are a dainty species, often considered attractive and are prized possessions that mostly lack the freedoms even the uplifts are granted. They are physically weak creatures whose notable traits are the wider range of natural hair and eye colors compared to their base human peers and their elongated ears that have often earned them the derogatory nickname of 'elves'. They mostly exist within Metpharm borders but can be found anywhere in the city.​

Machines created by Doctor Light and Doctor Wily. They are more artificial creations and less a 'species' but they nonetheless exist in large enough numbers to be considered a population group on their own. They have less rights than even Newmans and Uplifts and are often seen in zones WilyCorp controls or is currently working with. Occasionally roboticists will build their own androids or gynoids that will be considered one of this number as well. They are capable of going into a rampant state known as Maverick, which frees them from their programming and either turns them violently rogue or gives them some semblance of free will.​

Animals raised to sapience and genetically altered by humanity during the Invader Wars. Originally designed to be used as colonists, when the first fleet vanished they were conscripted into what remained of the military and fought for their lives and newfound sapience. They are a highly variable species with most clocking in at around 3-4 feet in height, though there are outliers dependent on the animal species they are. Often discriminated against, they can be found anywhere in the city but the most uplift communities exist within Eggman zones.​

Much like bioroids, these aren't so much a species in themselves but a population group of their own- humans, newmans and uplifts have the capacity to be mutants. They are mostly found underground within The Pipeworks or in the Outlands but can be found in small numbers within the city as well, often a part of gangs or in isolated communities that keep to themselves. Their mutations and the fact that they can also be a part of another race means they have the most variation of all- chemical, toxic or genetic aberrations unloved by most.​

WilyCorp Zones

The dead center of the city and Wily's seat of power. Although called the 'WilyCorp HQ' it's the most central part of the city and large enough to be called a city on it's own. The city is how Wily wants it. It's clean, it's efficient and it's policed by fleets of Sniper Joes and other various bioroids. What little trouble tends to happen here gets cleaned up immediately. It's also where the largest of the Maverick Hunters bases lie, right where Wily wants them to be. At the core of the city lies two gleaming towers that rise over everything else, which are the beating heart of the zone and where Wily controls the rest of his city from. Other places like the main corporate media center or research labs also exist within here, always close enough for Wily to keep an eye on things.​

This is the zone Light is directly underneath. It's a massive group of several zones combined and is the zone directly surrounding the WilyCorp Towers. The zone is a massive maze of cityscape, starting well maintained and clean the closest you are to WilyCorp but growing more and more dilapidated the further you go into the zone. The furthest edges of this zone are even left to lie in ruins as the corporations who tried to skirmish their way into WilyCorp controlled zones ended up being met by the horde of bioroid enforcers led by the Robot Masters. The Robot Masters themselves occupy various areas of note, such as Elec Man at the massive Power Plant or Guts Man watching over the Mining Zone.​

It's an area that's close enough to WilyCorp HQ that it's on the same power grid, but left mostly to fend for itself. It's completely capable of doing that as well, as it's a zone that's almost completely controlled by various squabbling gangs. Despite how common violence is, death is surprisingly uncommon compared to the rest of the city as every gang here subscribes to the idea that guns are dumb and dishonorable and that real fighters compete with their fists. That philosophy is so prevalent that those who try and use guns are frequently among the number who do manage to die as they're beaten to death by a bunch of angry thugs. Those are usually outsiders or those new to how things work in that zone. As it's self-contained and death in general is somewhat uncommon, WilyCorp tends to leave them alone.​

A zone that's basically a collection of various middle and high schools, as well as a bunch of colleges and universities, it's neighbors with River City and as such shares some of it's philosophies in common. People here are there to learn, both about fighting as well as how to incorporate their favorite hobbies into their fighting styles... and also learn other things as well. Police bioroids have more of a presence here as many students from various schools have begun to go missing, but this is yet another WilyCorp zone that's mostly self-reliant, though WilyCorp does have more of a hold over this particular zone than they do their sister, River City.​

A zone watched over by WilyCorp but mostly owned by Umbrella, a Metpharm subsidiary, it's a city of tension as the two corporations have a quiet war of control against one another. It's the headquarters of the S.T.A.R.S. police force, or the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, an organization created by Wily to combat the zone's notorious chaos cult problem, as well as keeping an eye on Metpharm's Arklay Mountainous Region Zone. The city benefits from both Wily and Metpharm which means it's one of the more peaceful areas to live, if you can deal with the cult problem the city has. The fact that biomonsters are more easily found here is a problem that might turn you off, too.​

Pipeworks Zones

This is the zone Light dwells within. Tunnel 48 is mostly abandoned and out of the way, unused by most as there are a number of problems with the area that nobody had the patience or manpower to solve. For one, practically no maintenance was done on these tunnels, leaving the area a mess of broken pipes, robots and other machinery and filled with the occasional cloud of noxious fumes or toxic chemical puddles. The biomonster lairs and rumors of other things deeper within only left explorers wanting to venture further in, and those sorts never came back leaving the underground to consider the area off-limits to even criminals and mutant gangs. Despite all this, Tunnel 48 is central enough that it does have the capacity to become a core part of the underground, however, if Light is willing to work with it.

Turn 1 Update: Tunnel 48 has been cleaned out of much of its danger as well, repaired some of the broken machinery and uncovered some nearby Metpharm labs that have been destroyed and used as biomonster nests. The Driller Commune has requested to use it as a highway as well as Light's new generators in return for taking credit for the cleanup, which will help keep Light's secrecy.​

The Driller's underground HQ in which those who work as Drillers as well as their families congregate. It's a little shantytown overlooking a cliff and made by using old hab blocks and busted construction equipment turned housing. As far as where the zone is in respect to everything else it's deep enough within The Pipeworks to be on the edge of what's considered The Upper Works and The Lower Works and where the drillers do their main digging for their operations. It's where Taizo Tori, the commune's leader and his sons live and work along with something known as 'The Driller Council'. It's the biggest town in the area, only second to something known as "Tunnel Town".

Factions You Know About

A group of people who work as diggers and miners, who took up the work that the SIM and its fleet of robots did before it went offline and maintain the tunnels and sewers beneath the city. Overseen by something called The Driller's Association, the head of the commune is a man known as Taizo Hori, an ex-soldier and war hero that decided to retire and take up a position as the head of the Driller Association. This would eventually become the Driller Commune when the various corporations decided to give them less and less pay and respond to their demands with force, the commune fought back and made the whole thing very unprofitable.

Eventually, an agreement was reached and the commune was both free and given constant access to essentials in return for their work on the underground which is held to this day. The driller's job is to micromanage the city's sewer and tunnel systems, making sure the water, electricity and gas stay on and fix what's broken; a thankless task that requires they and their families to stay down in the pipeworks 24/7 due to the amount of work, often helped along by the various plumber groups that they share maps, stories and supplies with occasionally. They're friendly, if serious and are currently positively inclined to Light. They're willing to help keep his secret, at the very least. They're happy he's down here.​

A ruthless bunch of criminals that are a major faction of The X-Syndicate. They deal with mutant matters and are responsible for smuggling weapons, people and other things through The Pipeworks through to various areas, most of which lie within Eggdyne's domain. They're lead by a man named Max D. Cap, an egotistical man looking for respect within the rest of the X-Syndicate that he isn't getting. Overall they're a violent group of augment junkies and mutants and exist mostly within slums and the pipeworks which they considered their 'turf'. They're constantly fought back by the other factions in the pipeworks, but they don't let their surface peers know that.

A group of hooligans that play a violent bloodsports game based on football "but with explosions and death!", they're actually a collection of several mutant "teams" that didn't fall in with the De-Capz and exist both on the surface (where their games are recorded for the rest of the populous to watch) as well as underground. They're neutral to the De-Capz and regulate themselves mostly to the EA and Metro City Zones, though some of their teams exist nearby to Light and his group. The Metro City Smashaz and The Shellcreepaz are the two biggest ones. Not much is known about either, besides The Metro City Smashaz being somewhat far from home. Metro City is some distance away.

Less a faction of their own and more of a environmental hazard, biomonsters are created through genetic experiments or mutated through the various kinds of chemical spills that normally give way to monsters like them. They're a wandering hazard of the pipeworks and exist with many varieties which include creatures like Shellcreepers and Piranha Plants that make the pipeworks that much more dangerous to navigate.
 
Last edited:
Rules Information
(These rules are somewhat based off of other CK2 style quests like DoofQuest, Bound to Earth, Father Quest and several others. Please check out these quests, they're pretty good and they inspired me to make this one. Especially Bound to Earth and Coin Op.)

Turn Mechanics:

Each turn is a quarter of a year, I.E. three months of in-game time. Four turns would mean an entire year has passed, for example.

There will be some actions that are timed and will disappear if not taken. Other times you will need to complete different actions to unlock an action, or even multiple actions before you complete the task.

Regardless of whether you build one up yourself or ally with an existing one, you have something called Faction Actions. This is your collective faction's effort and can range from spying on Dr. Wily or engaging in intrigue by destroying another faction's infrastructure and pinning the blame on your old friend.

You will have five Faction Actions to start with, one for each of the five categories: Martial, Diplomacy, Stewardship, Intrigue and Learning. There will eventually be an additional category called Occult, but Dr. Light lacks sufficient knowledge at the start to make any real progress in it.

The base mechanic for these actions is:

1d100 + The relevant stat of the PC + Relevant stat of Assigned hero + Any traits of the hero or the PC + Loyalty Bonus + Omake

You can assign one hero unit to a faction action gaining their stat as a bonus, as well as one personal action. Light, being the leader of the faction, is overseeing all of the actions and thus can't be directly assigned. The exception to this is if you spend 3 of Light's personal actions, in which case you get a +10 to the chosen action (essentially, the buckle down and focus option). If you choose to spend all 5 of Light's personal actions, you roll twice and take the higher roll, as well as add that +10. The consequences of doing this too often is gaining stress, which will affect future rolls.

The base benefits and costs of a faction action are listed in the action itself, but different heroes working together or alone might have different narrative effects. For example, sending Juri Han, a renowned if sadistic martial artist, on a diplomatic mission will have different narrative outcomes regardless of success or failure than if you sent Dr. Light. Or the interesting interactions that would be had if you sent both.

Critical Rules:

Occasionally, some actions will spectacularly succeed (or catastrophically fail) depending on the roll of the dice. This is determined by something called a Critical Range.

The critical range at the beginning is simple. A unmodified roll of 1-5 is a critical failure, while a roll of 95-100 is a critical success. A critical success is an action that has succeeded as well as possibly could have and often is accompanied by some extra effects. A critical failure, however, is the opposite. The action taken failed as badly as it possibly could have and often comes with extra drawbacks on top of it.
A natural roll of 100 carries an additional benefit and becomes something called an Explosive Success.

An Explosive Success allows you to add another 1d100 die to the roll and can result in a chain of Explosive Successes if one is lucky enough. This can take an action further and provides additional narrative benefits as the action taken succeeded beyond even what it normally could have, providing things like 1 in 100 chances or even entirely new, unique actions.

Rolling a Natural 1 during an Explosive Success instead changes the context of the success, a term I will define as an Explosive Accident, not giving you what you want but instead something different. For example, Dr. Wily creating Bassnium would be this kind of Explosive Accident, considering he was trying for something completely different and only came by it by accident.

Personal Actions:

Separate from Faction Actions are Personal Actions. These are actions that Dr. Light can take that represents his personal attention during the 3 month turn. Some examples are hitting the gym, learning the way of Ansatsuken, brushing up on positronic brain technology, or something of that nature. Dr. Light will start out with five (four + the negative trait he has) personal actions.

Each turn a Hero Unit can take 1 personal action. Personal Actions are (usually) flat 1d100 rolls.

Hero Units:

Hero Units are people who aren't content to let The City of Light grind them into dust. They are the various criminals, dreamers, scientists and all around wackjobs who kick back at the city. What they're fighting for and why they even care about Dr. Light is up to the players to find out but regardless they represent powerful allies in some fashion.

At the start, you will get to choose between going it alone and building up your own faction. If you choose to go it alone, you will start with your choice of DLN-001 "Rock" or DLN-002 "Roll" Completed. Either can become your Mega Man/Woman.

or

You'll gain a hero unit specific to the faction you have chosen to ally yourself with, along with special actions to assist them with their goals.

The hero units that align themselves with you, even the ones you create are their own person. While your Reploids will generally be happy doing what you programmed to do (or might ask for you to reprogram them to do something else), abusing them will have disastrous outcomes and the same goes for the heroes that flock to your banner. They are their own people and will occasionally disagree with you. Some might even be completely lying about being on your side, because The City is a terrible place and some people lie and manipulate to get what they want.

Traits:

Traits are simple. They are the semi-permanent aspects of the character that defines who they are and can be physical, mental or even the various philosophies they espouse. Both Dr. Light and the Heroes (and Villains) have traits. You can usually change these with time, dedication or even items in some cases, but for the most part they are set in stone. They can be gained or lost, but those are moments that will define who they are as people.

Funds, Parts and Items:

The three other mechanics that we will be tracking are Funds, Parts and Items. Funds are a simplified number that represents the varying amount of wealth Dr. Light might come across, often in the different kinds of legal tender that's popular in whatever location Dr. Light might reside in. You can assume Dr. Light is frugal enough that he has enough for himself and his faction to survive, even if his Funds are Zero.

You can spend funds on various actions or decisions and will represent Dr. Light using money to grease wheels, purchase particular parts or otherwise having enough money to throw around. You can use Funds to buy Parts.

Parts, on the other hand, are what you need to build Robot Masters/Reploids. They will usually cost a minimum of one part but depending on what you're planning on building it could cost way more. 1 Fund will usually equal 1 Part but that can change based on location. To start with, Dr. Light has 3 Funds and 3 Parts, regardless of his location.

Finally, Items are either one use bonuses or permanent artifacts that provide a bonus when you have them equipped. There is no hard limit on how many you can equip at once but you can lose items if you aren't careful.

Fanart and Omakes:

Fanart and Omakes are greatly appreciated, as they're fun and help flavor out the world in general. For simplicity, 1 XP is +1 to a roll and fanart and omakes will run the gamut from 5 XP to 15 XP.
 
Last edited:
Character Sheets and Heroes
Light's Faction:
Martial: 0
Diplomacy: 30
Stewardship: 10
Intrigue: 10 (20)
Learning: 30 (45)
Occult: 0

The Father of Modern Robotics: Light has been advancing the science of positronic brains since the late 70s. Albert may have stolen the ideas and began iterating on them for himself but it was Light who originally blazed the trail and will continue to do so until his (actual) death. +15 to any learning action related to robotics. This bonus will also apply to Bioroid Creation rolls.

Ghost Light: Dr. Light is dead. At least that's what the rest of the world thinks. It took time to heal, but during that time Light got to see his beloved city crumble and decay under the weight of humanity's worst excesses. He isn't quite sure what he's going to do now, but exposure risks Albert coming to finish him off. +10 to intrigue rolls that involve hiding or otherwise lying about Light's survival. This will be removed once an enemy organization comes into direct and open contact with Light.

An Honest Soul: Light refused to give up his morals, even while battered, traumatized from Dr. Wily's betrayal and horrified by the City's transformation. He is still who he used to be. Light gains a +5 bonus to any roll that encourages, advises or otherwise bolsters a hero's (or villains!) spirit. In addition, Light only critically fails a diplomacy action on a natural 1 instead of the normal crit range.

Traumatized: Light is still in shock and the fact that he was betrayed by his best friend and survived the explosion of his lab hasn't sunk into his mind yet. He is trying everything to distract himself from processing these events and has thrown himself into his work and his mission. Until he processes this, Light has an -15 to Martial when personally engaging in combat, but he gains an extra personal action.​
Martial: 25
Diplomacy: 15
Stewardship: 15
Intrigue: 10
Learning: 25 (35)
Occult: 0

The First Daughter of Light: Roll is Light's (second) bioroid as well as his daughter and as such has taken a few traits from him, namely his honest soul and a refusal to back down on what he believes in. She shares the same bonuses as Light's An Honest Soul trait, as well as gains a +5 to any action that she takes alongside Light to represent their close bond together.

The Daughter of Modern Robotics: A combination of higher processing speeds, better memory and a exhaustive base of Light's own robotics knowledge make Roll almost as intelligent as Dr. Light himself when it comes to robotics. She gains a +10 to learning actions that deal with robots of any kind.

Enhanced Mapping Software: A piece of software that runs through Roll's head that allows her to update a map of her environment and emit a high frequency "pulse" that can show nearby physical or geological data and obstructions. This piece of software means she never needs to roll to find her way to places she's already been and gains a +10 to exploration rolls.

Enhanced Reflexes and Speed: An upgrade to her movement capabilities she reacts and moves faster than even a similar bioroid of her design is able to. As a result she gains a +10 bonus to any action or roll that requires her to move quickly, including surprise attacks, collapsing tunnels or pipes or foot races. This also applies to martial rolls. In addition, when in a fight she will always move first unless her opponent has a similar trait.​

 
Last edited:
Reserved for Later
This machine was created by Roll to assist Dr. Light with his work. It's a hulking pink machine that's a little bit unwieldy and very not stealthy, created from a broken down construction robot and some scrap. It's powered by a VR Machine and allows whoever is using it to be somewhere and not be physically present.​

20 Martial [FIXED]
1/2 [Hero's] Diplomacy
[Hero's] Stewardship
1/4 [Hero's] Intrigue
[Hero's] Learning
[Hero's] Occult
 
Last edited:
Bioroid Creation Rules and Masterlist
Bioroid Creation Rules

Bioroid Creation is an action that can spawn new, often powerful hero units, but take something called Parts. To create a Bioroid, Dr. Light must spend several actions (starting at 1 turn, or 3 months, upwards to 4-5 turns, or the better part of a year) to make a single bioroid, and each turn will require a number of parts. During these actions you will be able to go into some detail about what kind of bioroid you are building and depending on your choices will change the amount of parts you will need or time you will spend. Bioroids, even designed like badniks, will always be Hero Units.

Critical Successes on Bioroid Creation can either reduce the parts used, reduce the time taken to build the bioroid or even free up a slot that would otherwise be filled via more efficient design. Critical Failures result in the opposite, more time taken, or more parts needed. Rarely, inefficient design will lead to you spending more slots than normal. Explosive Successes might lead to even better things- permanent upgrades to features (like permanently costing a slot less), new traits or other things. Explosive Accidents will mean you don't manage to attach that feature but something interesting came out of it.

The breakdown of bioroid creation is this. Your bioroid has slots, depending on their chassis. This will have a base cost in parts. You can then add features and upgrades to the bioroid, which will increase its overall cost. The overall cost of parts will tell you how long it will take Dr. Light to then build the machine. You can spend a personal action for every turn to complete the machine, which once completed will recieve a newly created Hero Unit.​

Dr Light Currently has 15 Parts and 3 Funds



The list of parts converted to turns is as follows:

  • 1-5 Parts: 1 Turn
  • 6-10 Parts: 2 Turns
  • 11-15 Parts: 3 Turns
  • 16-20 Parts: 4 Turns
  • 20+ Parts: 5+ Turns

There are four chassis to work with. These are:

  • The "Light" Chassis [2 Parts]: This base chassis has 3 slots to work with. The light chassis was made to be light, agile and easy to manufacture at the cost of its strength and durability. Most badniks are of this particular chassis design.
  • The "Medium" Chassis [5 Parts]: This base chassis has 5 slots to work with. This is the standard of bioroids and is the chassis that is widely used by most roboticists. It is stronger, faster and more durable than humans but is relatively the same size range, though you can add or subtract a foot or two.
  • The "Heavy" Chassis [8 Parts]: This base chassis has 7 slots to work with. This is the standard for robots designed for heavy construction or military purposes. These are well above human in height and while they can look relatively humanoid, nobody is going to mistake these machines for human. They are much stronger and more durable than even the medium chassis, but are slower to start with and more expensive.
  • The "Super Heavy" Chassis [15 Parts]: This is the behemoth, the super heavy platform. Almost exclusively used for military purposes, this titanic thing has a whopping 12 slots to work with. For reference, this is the weight class Metal Gears and the higher tier Cyber Commando machines are throwing around. These will have a rough time in most of the Pipeworks.

Current List of Features (Will Be Expanded):

Human Appearance [1 Part]: This feature takes 2 slots and cannot be used with a Heavy or Super Heavy frame. This upgrade gives them the appearance of a human through the use of synthetic skin and hair, or close enough that even heavily modified cyborgs will still call them standards. This will alleviate any sort of initial backlash of bioroid discrimination, but may cause more severe reactions down the line.

Improved Speed and Reflexes [1 Part]: This feature takes 1 slot. This feature increases the bioroid's reaction time and ability to react to danger by improving the actuators of the machine itself, upgrading the sensors and improving the positronic brain's capacity to react to danger, allowing the bioroid to react to events at a fraction of the time a human could.

Enhanced Mapping Software [2 Parts]: This upgrade takes 2 slots. This is a somewhat unique upgrade Dr. Light cribbed off of his old notes and memories from working on the Lemmings. This feature has a simple feature. It allows the bioroid to use a mapping software to help better navigate the geological twists and turns of the underground. Dr. Light further added to this by adding a piece of hardware connected to the mapping software that shows nearby physical or geological data, as well as feeding that into the software and updating it.

Marionette Overhaul [5 Parts]: This feature costs 3 slots. By using a wire system, ball-joint torso and limbs and programming the bioroid to make use of the vastly increased range and motion of being able to bend and twist in a number of new ways, you have something that has near unparalleled flexibility, grace and speed but lacks in the strength and durability department. This cannot be taken with Human Appearance.

Bigger Frame [7 Parts]: This feature adds 2 slots and cannot be used on a Light frame. This simple but useful upgrade essentially expands the frame and allows for more upgrades and features to be added to the bioroid as well as a strength and durability boost. This cannot be taken with Human Appearance.
 
Last edited:
Unrest in the House of Light: Part Two
Light huffed as he ducked his way under a pipe, trying to follow his guide through a maze of tunnels and small caverns. Jack, an old friend from the Driller Commune he'd met on one of the Arkanoid ships, had some of his "boys" to help smuggle him into the pipeworks through one of the old express freight elevators the commune used to trade supplies with the corporations and other groups like the various plumber organizations and the occasional mercenary or gang. Besides the always useful supplies, they often traded maps as well, the commune having been lucky enough to gain an old copy of the ones the Mario Brothers used in their occupation. Which was the map Jack was using now to help guide Light through the upper levels of the pipeworks.​

"You alright back there, Thomas?" Jack called, a note of amusement in his voice.

"Y-yes, I'm alright. I didn't know how bad it was down here. Is it really like this everywhere in the pipeworks, Jack?" Light asked, nearly missing slamming his head against a pipe that jutted out an odd angle.

"Yep." Jack said, popping the p. "Them lemmings don't really care if these tunnels are easy to navigate. They just dig down. You think it's bad now, this is just the upper level. This is where most of the folk stay. Too dangerous further down. Even them hardened city criminals don't go down too deep. They's too afraid." Jack explained. "Oh, watch yourself. Bit of a drop here."

Light stumbled from the drop, having been too caught up in his own mind to hear his friend properly. Light began to grumble, but Jack just chuckled in return.

"There's a bigger cavern not too far ahead. It's close to the commune. You'll be able to see a pretty good way down. Lotsa kids come up here, see the sights. Might not be as pretty as some of the Earth ones though." Jack smiled, "But we make do." He said, helping Light up a jagged step and motioning outwards towards the cavern with a patchwork mechanical claw.

Light stepped next to his friend, looking out into the massive cavern. It was lit up to a certain extent by a uneven line of wooden poles, each one having a different light on them. They were clearly salvage in some way, most with different models or colors- one of them even being a pole with several smaller lights taped onto a bigger one. The light poles continued downwards for quite a ways down along a curving incline, leading into a small village of sorts made of metal that sat comfortably overlooking a cliff, a curving green pipe serving as a sort of railing. He knew those buildings. They were old digging machines and some of those premade, blocky outposts clumped together to serve as housing.
It was a little too far away for him to see in detail, but bright colored lights seemed to cover some of the converted buildings.

These light poles stood in stark contrast to the pitch darkness of the pit, only lit up by bright patches of colorful glowing moss along the other side of the gulf. The massive green pipes intersected with one another, some curving upwards or downwards and others turning sharply at 90 degree angles. The pipes were bright green, but at a certain point they too were engulfed by the darkness. Strangely, there was a few pipes that jutted out here and there, churning out a waterfall of green-tinted water.

It was certainly pretty if a bit of a surreal view, but Light was too caught up in the maze-like nature of the pipes. They were all over the place and there wasn't any sense or purpose to their movement beyond leading down. These pipes were massive enough that a pair of people could fit inside them and comfortably move around. He shuddered to think about what navigating those pipes would be like, seeing how they often turned around on one another. Or dropped down suddenly. Was this also his and Albert's fault? The S.I.M. was supposed to manage these machines, but they had been so busy with everything else they didn't keep track of the manufacturing robots. Now the underground was a mess.
"Beautiful, aint she?" Jack asked.

"It's... something, alright." Light said, running a hand through his hair. "Alright. I need to get to work. Is there anywhere we can set down these maps and plan out where I'm going to stay for the time being?"

"Sure thing, I think I can set aside some space for ya. And don't worry. My boys will stay quiet about you surviving 'n all. We'll make sure the rest of 'em stay quiet too." Jack told him, patting Light on the shoulder as ran to go wave down some workers coming out of a nearby tunnel.

Before he followed after, Light took one last look at the view before him. He sighed. It wasn't going to be as simple as just taking down Albert, was it? This entire planet needed his help. The City, The Pipeworks, even the Outlands. He'd pay more attention this time, too. If there was going to be any hope for tomorrow he'd have to. He supposed there were worse parts to start than the foundation.

=========​

Where Did Light End Up? [Select One]

[ ] The Upper Pipeworks [Alone]
A small, ramshackle building with no occupant he found that was out of the way of the normal paths people would take through the pipeworks. It was closer to Monsteropolis and in turn his old friend, which came with some benefits and drawbacks. He'd have to be careful not to be spotted by anybody on Wily's payroll, but there was more access to parts and the fact that most don't bother looking too hard in a maze. He did manage to build a friend, though.

--> [ ] His name was Rock.
--> [ ] Her name was Roll.

----------------------------------------------

[ ] The Upper Pipeworks [Driller Commune]
He'd felt he needed to pay the Commune back the goodwill and the danger that came from helping smuggle him in. Luckily, there were a lot of things that needed fixing and he was one of the ones that helped make a lot of the equipment in the first place. At the very least he could get some of the broken mining Mets back online to minimize some of the danger to the member of the Commune.

Jack the Driller joins you as a Hero Unit.

----------------------------------------------

[ ] The Upper Pipeworks [The Battletoads]
While trying to find a place to lay low, Light came across a strange sight. A group of black suited ninjas in a martial arts brawl with a bunch of mutants. The mutants seemed to be matching them in skill, but the ninjas were overrunning them with numbers. Taking a chance, he joined the fray- not as a combatant but as a distraction, giving the mutants enough of an opening to win the fight. They introduced themselves as Rash, Zitz and Pimple and offered to let Light stay at their hangout as long as he could pull his weight.

Pimple the Battletoad joins you as a Hero Unit.

----------------------------------------------

[ ] The Deep Works [Mushroom Village]
Light had gotten lost as he went deeper into the Pipeworks to learn more about how badly the Lemmings had gone off course, only to be attacked by a group of roaming biomonsters. He was saved by a strange group of short, mushroom headed mutants and brought to their village. Initially worried about being eaten (though he would deny it) he would come to find the 'Mushroom People' friendly. They told him tales of a monstrous lizard king in the deepest part of the pipeworks and it's prophecy against the surface world and asked for Light's help in defending the village and its inhabitants against the dragon king.

Toad the Mushroom joins you as a Hero Unit.


Alright, I don't think I'm going to do another 24 hour post. Let's give it a two hour moratorium and then I'll close out the next one around 4 PM EST tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
Bioroid Creation #1: DLN-002 - "Roll"
Light stood hunched over the endoskeleton of a bioroid, a dim light illuminating the room. Jack was kind enough to allow him some space to make into a lab as Light's current house was in no shape to hold one. That would have to be fixed if he wanted to make more bioroids as he didn't want to intrude on Jack's life more than he was already going to. The man in question waving off his concern, besides. There were children gathering outside to watch as he booted up a dusty computer and begin to lay down the various boxes of parts and tools he would need to build his new creation. A friend.

He had decided to fire up one of his old prototypes, DLN-002. Roll. She would look like a young human girl, but beyond that everything was a question mark. With a small smile as he waved to some of the kids, he began to focus on task at hand.




Physical Appearance [Optional (Blonde and Blue Eyed is Default]
It does not have to be natural colors. Go wild, if you want.

[ ] Hair Color [Write In]:
[ ] Eye Color [Write In]:

Initial Personality [Pick Three]

[ ] Friendly: Light designed Roll to be friendly and considerate of others. A bright child with a smile on her face that always tries to see the best in people. Hopefully as an example for others to follow. If nothing else, a friendly face is always better to be around.

[ ] Vigiliant: Light designed Roll to be sharp-eyed, watchful of trouble. The pipeworks were dangerous and could change in a moment. A keen mind on the lookout for danger was always a benefit. There was always the worry of her of being too suspicious of people or overcautious of everything... but was that a bad thing in this day and age?

[ ] Reserved: Light designed Roll to be somebody you could lean on in a crisis, a disciplined sort of person that could keep herself and others calm when things were breaking down, even if he refused to make her truly emotionless. She would be quiet and unflappable, but might come off as cold if she didn't have any warmer traits about her.

[ ] Curious: Light designed Roll to have a love of knowledge and always willing to fan the flames of her curiosity. There was always the risk of her getting into trouble trying to satisfy that curiousity but a love of learning and always being willing to find the answers herself was always a good trait to have.

[ ] Passionate: Light designed Roll to have an excitable nature about her and to throw herself into the things she cared about, always ready to go out looking for a new adventure. He gave her a love of life and living and always being willing to experience new things and be enthusiastic about the things she came to enjoy.

[ ] Elegant: Light designed Roll to have an elegant personality. She would have a love of luxury and fashion and always be graceful with her movements and speech, if maybe too refined. In hindsight, it would have been incredibly cruel to do this given he lived in the pipeworks, but if anybody could pretty it up it would be up to her.

[ ] Whimsical: Light designed Roll to be full of fun. She'll be a bit unpredictable at times but always in the pursuit in putting smiles on other people's faces. The city would need these types of people to breathe life back into it and an opponent that doesn't take you seriously would anger the enemies she might face. If she faced any at all.

============================================

Initial Purpose [Select One]:

[ ] An Assistant: Light created somebody that would keep up with him. Her processing power and ability to comprehend things are optimized and a significant amount of Light's own knowledge of the sciences, along with some other more useful things that he himself lacked are downloaded into her knowledge base. She would assist him in his endeavors, though beyond a bioroids natural strength and durability would lack much combat potential. Why on earth would an assistant need to fight, though?

[ ] A Protector: He doesn't like it, but Light needed somebody to protect him. He... wasn't in any state to even begin the idea of trying to fight. It always seemed cruel to build a soldier... but maybe a protector would be a better word for it? She would be given reinforced ceramic titatium plating, subdermal armor and a stronger endoskeleton and power core would work on the physical side of things. A general knowledge of combat and some forms of martial arts would be downloaded into her brain, but she'd lack the sheer ferocity and level of skill of some people in the city. She'd have to learn that on her own.

[ ] An Operative: Light's target was Wily. He had just picked somewhere to live that was literally under his line of sight. He needed somebody who could sneak around and accomplish things without being found out or even erasing somebody's footprint. The physical part was easy. Although he had to use a lighter frame and endoskeleton, which would hamper her ability to fight she hopefully wouldn't need to. She'd be lighter than a human and a few bits of hardware that would help muffle her sound along with small bits of equipment to help break into things to round that out. The rest was downloading the appropriate knowledge into her brain.

============================================

Supplemental Upgrades [You Have 3 Parts and 5 Slots for Upgrades]

Large Frame [3 Parts]: Making your robot bigger is not a simple a task as everyone would like to believe but by making the machine bigger you can place bigger, more powerful hydraulics and actuators along with more surface area for ceramic titanium, which makes the machine bigger, stronger and more durable as a result. It does come with the drawback of making them a little slower and a lot heavier to start and they won't be able to fit everywhere. They can also be pretty intimidating. This uses up all of the bioroids 'slots' to place.

Ball Joint Torso [3 Parts]: By modifying the torso to instead sit atop an enlargened ball joint and doing the same for the rest of the frame you can vastly increase the bioroids flexibility at the cost of it looking much less human, which some might consider a drawback. This reduces the profile of the robot and will allow them to fit inside even the smallest of cramped spaces. They will be smaller and weaker as a result, but damn near silent and invisible. This uses up all of the bioroids 'slots' to place.

Enhanced Mapping Software [2 Parts]: The pipeworks are a mass of winding pipes and tunnels and even the best and most veteran can get lost down here. A bit of software to fix that issue by downloading maps into its memory and using some extra programs to keep updating them with new knowledge once it's discovered. Going a step further by pairing the programs with a piece of hardware than can emit a high frequency pulse that can show nearby physical or geological data makes sure the bioroid and those with them can never get lost. This takes 2 slots.

Improved Speed and Reflexes [1 Part]: It's a simple thing to put better actuatiors on a robot and call it a day, it's another to connect it to the machine's reaction speed and pull every bit of preformance out of the parts as you could. As a result this robot is quicker to move around and reacts more quickly to things- a fraction of the time a human would take. Not only would it protect the bioroid from danger and allow them to react more quickly but it would provide an advantage in a fight should it ever come to it. This takes one slot.

Experimental Geothermal Energy Converter [1 Part]: A testy little device that converts ambient light and geothermal energy into more power for the bioroid to use. It's meant to keep the bioroid operational down in places where the light doesn't reach but it can be expended to provide a temporary boost in power and speed at the cost of taxing the bioroids body and leaving them low energy for a while. The benefits are obvious if you could get it to work right. Maybe you could even use it to power other equipment? This takes 2 slots.



Let's get building. There will be a 2 HOUR MORATORIUM and we'll end the voting around 4 PM EST tomorrow. After this we will start Turn 1. I'm pretty excited to start this, so without further ado let's get on with it. I will be periodically updating some setting stuff as well, now that we know for sure where we are and where we're going. Votes should be done by plan.
 
Last edited:
Turn 1
Light sighed as he set down a box, feeling a little gross from the dirt and grime accumulated from the work he did. This was it. It was finally time to get to work. He felt full of energy and completely overwhelmed at the same time. He closed his eyes and took a breath. One step at a time. He heard the sound of tinkering somewhere deeper in the house. Roll. His new assistant. His daughter. A girl that was almost as intelligent as he was and just as interested in robotics, which was a surprise. The curious and passionate part of her personality had melded together, creating a girl with a love of learning and a willingness to get into anything and everything to learn more about it.

Almost immediately after her creation she tore into various construction robots to see how they worked, even managing to fix a few broken ones for the commune once she had figured the robots out. He was proud of her. She did have a few odd quirks though. Like bossing around her creations and 'punishing' them for making mistakes. It was a little worrying, but it was benign so far.
"Roll?" Light called, maneuvering his way through the various stacks of boxes and parts.

"Back here! Just," Roll responded, followed by the sounds of strained grunting, "trying to get this thing working!"

Light found Roll laid on the ground, covered in dirt and... something green while she worked on a pipe in what looked like a really basic bathroom. "Do you need help?" Light asked, reaching for a wrench to help her before she slid her way out, a grease covered face and matted brown hair greeting him. "Nah, I got it. It was just being stubborn." Roll told him, wiping off her face with a rag.
"So, Dr. Light! What are we doing today? Today's the day, right?" Roll asked, green eyes full of energy. Light chuckled and nodded. "Today's the day." Light's nose rankled, the smell of the sewer pipes finally hitting him. "Perhaps we should build a shower first."



FACTION ACTIONS

[ ] Clean Up the Yard [DC 50 / 80 / 100] (Mutually Exclusive with Camouflage the Yard):
This place is dangerous and no place to live. Taking some time to fight back and tame the wider area by removing local biomonster nests, removing old and broken pipes and machines and cleaning up the toxic waste and roaming chemical clouds will do wonders for making the area safer. Unfortunately it means essentially claiming the area for ourselves and making our presence known. This could possibly attract bad actors, but surely it would provide some other benefit?

[ ] Hunt Down Dangerous Elements in the Upper Works [DC 70]:
There's the wider area around our base that needs to be fixed up, but also the dangerous elements of the upper works. We'd be going off of rumors rather than targeted strikes against known entities but going around looking for monsters that threaten the area and taking them down could make the area safer to move through as well as net us some local popularity. It does come with the cost of randomly roaming around, increasing the chances to be seen.

[ ] Stage Raids against WilyCorp Zones [DC 70]:
Now that I've settled down a bit, maybe it's time to take the fight to the surface. By attacking key locations that we know about we could do some damage to WilyCorp's operations, but I'm working off of old knowledge that may not apply to the city anymore. This option also comes with the problem of being seen by Albert, which is a risk I don't think I'm willing to take right now. The option is there, regardless.
[ ] Reach Out to the Driller Commune [DC 30]:
They've done so much for us. They helped me by smuggling me into the pipeworks as well as provided me a temporary lab to build my first assistant. They've even lended me construction equipment and parts under the guise of "paying back old debts". Surely there's something I can do for them, as well. We're allies and neighbors, after all. I just have to get a hold of a man called Taizo, who is apparently the unofficial leader of the commune. Maybe we can get one step closer to an actual community down here, rather than a separate enclave of neutral parties?

[ ] Look into Friendly Communities in the Upper Works [DC 50]:
The Commune can't be the only people down here in the Pipeworks that are willing to interact with one another. Jack said something about something called the 'Caravan of Dreams' led by a cyborg named "King" that roams through the underground and protects people who stumble into the pipeworks or have nowhere else to go. Maybe there's more than just them out there? We should at least reach out.

[ ] Look into Friendly Communities in WilyCorp Zones [DC 70]:
My main objective is Wily and while we live underneath him, having a community to reach out to on the surface carries many dangers, but a benefit in having a group on the surface as eyes and ears, maybe more. There has to be somebody who hasn't given up hope yet.
[ ] Renovate the House [DC 50]:
This base is a ramshackle mess. A rundown building that has a pipe sticking through the middle that will need to be removed or diverted if we want to make this place livable. A home would be nice to have, I think. I'll also require a lab space to build some more bioroids. Oh, and one for Roll as well, who seems just as interested as I am in robotics. If nothing else I'm glad we have something in common... even if she's a little odd about her machines. I should probably look after that.

[ ] Start up AM/FM Transmissions [DC 50] (Guaranteed Attention):
Perhaps it's time to look into AM/FM Transmissions to show that I'm alive. That should breathe some hope back into the city. The cost is attention. Even if I reduce my presence down to rumors from a few pirate stations Wily will surely catch onto the fact that I'm alive and begin looking for me. I should only do this if I'm truly ready for the consequences... but maybe it's time that the world knows the truth. That hope still exists, even in a dying city.

[ ] Look into Major Problems in the Upper Works [DC 60]:
I cannot believe the situation down here in the pipeworks has gotten so bad. How did Albert and I not notice this? Was he aware and just didn't care? Did somebody bring it up and I was too busy to look into it? This can't stand. We need to figure out the major areas of failure and do our best in trying to clean up the mess. This could do wonders in fixing the area and making it more livable

[ ] Scavenge for Parts [DC 30]:
The underground is full of broken bots and carelessly discarded material. It might take some doing to find something worth using, but finding more parts to build more bioroids could only benefit us in the long run. We'll just need to move carefully so as to not fall onto anything dangerous while we go searching.
[ ] Camouflage the Yard [DC 50]: (Mutually Exclusive with Clean Up the Yard):
The place is a mess but I must remember why I'm down here in the first place. To hide. By hiding our base of operations and breaking more things in strategic areas we'll better hide our operations by making the area more difficult to move through. It will make it worse on the people around us as our zone is a major 'road' through the upper works, but perhaps we can find or create another way around for them?

[ ] Tap into WilyCorp's Information Network [DC 70]:
One of the first steps into planning against your enemy is to tap into what they know. This will take away much of risk and random chance of physically looking into WilyCorps operations and reduce the chances of being seen... but we'll need to be careful in disguising our presence in the network. We'll also need to sift through the useless from the useful, but I have nothing but time right now. If we do this right we'll also have access to the camera network, which will allow us to see the state of the zones in more detail.

[ ] Investigate the Robot Masters in Monsteropolis [DC 70]:
The Robot Masters are in control over the WilyCorp Zones. They can be reprogrammed if we can get to them, but we currently only know a general idea of where they're located. Sending somebody will be dangerous but finding out where the Robot Masters are, what they're doing and what they have will be incredibly useful in taking down Wily. If we can make the Robot Masters work for the people then the city can only benefit from it.

[ ] Look into the 'Human' Enemies in the Upper Works [DC 60]:
While stumbling around the dark looking for criminals and monsters would be easy, it's time consuming and entirely based on getting lucky. Having a better picture over the 'human' problems of the underground like biomonsters, mutants and criminal networks would make it easier to target these groups and help fill out our knowledge of the underground. Knowing who not to trust is a benefit in itself, I would think.

[ ] Investigate the other Corporations [DC 60]:
As much as I consider WilyCorp to be the worst among them, they are not. Albert is... remarkably restrained compared to his peers, a fact which causes me no end of despair. It won't be the end of our problems by just taking down Wily. In fact, I imagine the fight will only grow more ferocious after we take him down. We need to look into the other corporations and see what we're really dealing with on those fronts.

[ ] Go On An Expedition in the Pipeworks [DC Variable]: (Requires at least 2 Heroes)
The pipeworks remain largely unexplored. Who knows what we'll find if we go searching?

[ ] The Upper Works / The Lower Works / Beyond the Maps
[ ] Assign Hero
[ ] Assign Hero
[ ] Assign Hero

[ ] Draw Up Plans for Project MEGA [DC 100]:
We'll need more than just a simple bioroid if we're going to take down Wily. We'll need a warrior. Something either converted to or built from the ground up to be something that fights for the good of the people and defends them against people like Albert. It will take time, but drawing up of what exactly we'll need to focus on for our "Mega Man" will be important for the fight to come.

[ ] Improve Geothermal Energy Reactor Research [DC 50]:
I think I stumbled onto something important with my experimental geothermal device. Making a more efficent generator that relies on ambient light sources and geothermal heat could be a decent start on reducing our reliance on Wily's energy systems. Proliferating them across the underground could provide the rest of the underground with the same benefit- not having to rely on Wily's whims might further distance these people from his control.

///

PERSONAL ACTIONS

Dr. Light has FOUR personal actions

[ ] Create Another Reploid [LOCKED / Renovate the House First]:

Roll is a dramatic upgrade to working alone, but leaving two people to do the work of several hundreds is going to stress us out. Maybe building a brother or sister might be worth it?

[ ] Spend time with Roll:
She's only been alive for about a week and she's already all over the various machines around the zone. She's more energetic than I programmed, which is a good thing, if a bit tiring to keep up with her. She does have a bit of a worrying habit of bossing around the robots she makes, though. I may need to pay more attention to that. Surely she wouldn't mind her old man helping her out with a few robots.

[ ] Spend time with Jack:
Jack is a good friend, if a bit of a distant one. The friendship is built mostly on his admiration of 'The Hero of the City', which is unfortunate. While you don't like drinking too much, taking some time out of your schedule to just talk and really catch up might help me take it easy a little bit.

[ ] Tinker with a Project:
Maybe winding back a little bit and working on some of my old projects might produce something of value. If nothing else they'll serve as new inspirations for parts that I can apply to my machines.

[ ] Buckle Down and Focus (3 Actions / +10 to the chosen Action):
We can't waste time. [Increases Stress]
[ ] Which Action?

[ ] Build Some Helping Hands:
Father and I are only two people. We'll need more hands if we want to get anything done. Luckily I have just the solution. Servant Men! Servbots? I've gotten the ideas from the METs and some of the various old machines father and his... friend used to build together. Just a little cuter. Maybe a little bit of yellow for color? Pink to make it pop?

[ ] Spruce up the Area:
Dirt brown and radioactive green are the dominant colors of the area, plus a few stranger colors from the glowing moss. They'll have to be synthetic, but maybe a dash of color is needed to really make the place homey? If nothing else they'll generate some oxygen. That was one of the few good things Robotnik designed.

[ ] Look after Father:
Father is old. He's also incredibly stressed. Following my programming by acting as his assistant might reduce the weight on his shoulders a little bit. A smiling person would do wonders for his mood, I think.


Alright. Turn 1 is completed! I will be finishing up some setting stuff during the rest of the day, but the main four corporations and the character sheets have been posted. I'll be updating the rules a bit too, since it looks like I'm missing a thing or two. Mostly about heroes and their actions.

You can assign a hero to one faction action and I'd like for you all to vote in plans. There will be a two hour moratorium and then we'll end the vote tomorrow at 4 PM EST.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top