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Fractured Sight (Short Story)

Fractured Sight (Short Story)

A small crew of spacers wake up on a ship called the Oculus, having no idea of how they got there or where they’re going. Before long they find themselves inexplicably jumping back and forth between two timelines. They’re unknowingly at the heart of a conspiracy of interstellar proportions… and yet all have had the past five months of memory utterly erased, burying in obscurity whatever clues may have existed there.


One of the greatest beauties of Storium for me is the collaborative aspect. I want to build this story together. To that end, feel free to discuss individual moves, plot, or whatever in the commentary.

That being said… I do have an overall plot in mind. If I ask for a revision, it will usually be to fix some sort of continuity error – please don’t take it hard! I’d like to maintain at least a little air of mystery here… hence, I have been known to give “Because… Plot!” as explanation for a revision request.

Seriously, I can’t emphasize enough how much I value communication. If you’re having an issue, whether with me or with another player, or if you’re simply stumped about to do next – shoot me a private message. If you have any feedback to share, please do so.

Pace: We’ve set back to a casual pace, but please check in to the game at least once a week. If it’s obviously your turn and you don’t think you’ll be able to post soon, let us know in the commentary.


A note on creating your characters:

I have provided a choice of several nature cards, choose one of these or make your own if there’s something I’ve missed.

*If there is some aspect of your character that you’d like to keep secret from the other players, but not from the narrator (say, some deep dark secret in your character’s past), you can use the narrator/player commentary box on your character’s page to talk about it.

I’d prefer for the crew to be all human, but if you have an idea for an alien character, try it, and we’ll see if we can work something out.

Humans could be from any country on Earth, or the lunar colony, or one of several alien cities/stations that welcome outsiders.

The memory gap will go back approximately 4.5 months. What is your character’s last memory on the far side of that gap, before waking up on the Oculus? Be thinking about that – before the game begins, I’d like you to give me (via comments on your character page) at least a rough picture of where your character was / what they were doing. (Mind, they knew nothing of Oculus at that point!) You’ll also want to keep that last memory in mind when you write your first post.

I don’t care about pictures on cards – but please do add a character avatar if you can. I’m a very visual person, so I really appreciate being able to see what your character looks like.


Musings on the setting:

Humanity is a relative newcomer to the scene, but they’ve flourished with access to space. Starships are owned by countries, corporations, and excessively rich individuals. Some countries with significant presence in space might be China, Russia, and the US (among others)… but numerous smaller countries sponsor a few ships each.
There’s a thriving colony and spaceport on the moon, plus a small space station orbiting Mars. There are currently no human colonies outside of Earth’s solar system, though plenty of humans live on alien stations and in alien cosmopolitan cities. There is no unified human government, just an UN equivalent (with a bit more clout than the original), whose main contribution is furnishing a “EarthGuard” force for defense of humanity’s little slice of the universe.

There isn’t any overall governing body ruling this region of space – only a sort of trade organization which most of the known intelligent species are members of – which adds some semblance of order and encourages civility between the species.

General info on tech level: three known types of FTL travel; artificial gravity; majority of tech is inorganic, the exception being an alien company called Gylaan, which produces semi-organic tech (Oculus‘s hyperdrive is Gylaan tech); no universal translator (most ships employ a translator, and most spacers can speak at least a passable amount of Mannorai pidgin, the trade tongue)…

If you’d like any more information about the setting or would just like to discuss ideas for your character, please let me know!

Here’s a thread for discussing characters/setting/etc: https://storium.com/forums#/category/lfp/thread/zvtz66

Hosted and narrated by: Indigo (indigodawn)

Started 07/12/15. Scenes played: 1

License: Community License