Space Opera

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Written by Hannah Rothman for Penultimate Camp 2009.
==Overview==
A long time ago there was magic in all things. When technology began to take over, magic was gone from everything except music. The music-users, the Bards, soon left Earth to begin their own civilization free of persecution. The rest of humanity eventually colonized the solar system, but then a new form of magic presented itself: a sinister magic that saught to destroy the Bards. Only a rag-tag team of space soldiers can save the Bards from the evil space demons before it's too late...
==Teaser==
Emergency. Emergency. Void magic has made contact with the Fortissimo. Starboard and stern regions disintegrating fast. All personnel oversee immediate evacuation to the escape pods. I repeat: All personnel oversee immediate evacuation to the escape pods.
A second, livelier but still urgent, voice broke in.
Attention all members of InterStellar Unit 42! Report back to the Space Opera and prepare for deploy and combat! I’ll meet up with you guys as soon as I’ve personally seen Princess Orchestra and her court to their escape pod! Polaris out!
The young InterStellar Military captain darted from the PA microphone, past the Bard technicians who were singing open the locks on their two I.N.T.E.R.P.H.A.C.E. bio-computers, and out the door of the doomed Ark’s bridge. The princess’ escape pod was near the front of the ship, located a convenient distance from his own trusty starship where his motley crew was preparing for a rousing fight against the Soundless. As feet drummed hard against the pristine metallic floor, still looking as though it had been made just yesterday, Captain Danny Polaris’ mind raced even faster.
Hang on. I’m coming. Don’t worry.
A uniformed figure, face brushed with European charm, popped into view a yelling distance from him and shouted “We’ll be ready when you are, Cap!”
“Good job, Lucian!” waved a smiling Captain Polaris as he passed, as usual not bothering with the formality of calling him “Lieutenant Lubart.” Not his style and not the time. He had a magical princess waiting. Running some more and rounding the next corner…
“Danny!”
A gorgeous young woman in flowing pink, followed closely by a troop of Bard attendants, flung herself forward and into Captain Polaris’ arms. Barely faltering, he took her hand and continued his rapid pace with her all the way to the mouth of the matriarch’s escape pod. The court members prepared it for jettison while the captain and the princess tried to make their goodbyes brief.
“You’ve done so much for us,” she said, her melodic voice woven with the sincerest gratitude. “The Bards would be lost without you. But……but what if the pod lands too far from the Songbird’s temple?”
“Love,” said Captain Polaris, reducing his boyish officer’s energy to a more tender tone “If the pod missed any target by a million miles, my crew and I would still find you. After all,” he cocked his head playfully to one side “Who do you think we are?” Princess Orchestra smiled.
“You’re InterStellar Unit 42,” she said “The Bard’s restoration of hope for humanity.”
“I’ll see you on the surface.”
They shared a kiss, quick but deep, before Princess Orchestra flitted towards her salvation from the dying ship. Within 10 seconds, the escape pod was rocketing towards the planet’s surface, to the birthplace of magic.
No more time for hesitation. Captain Polaris bolted back towards the Space Opera, heart pounding with adrenaline and the rush of excitement that always filled him before a battle. He all but somersaulted through the main hatchway.
“That’s everyone!” cried Lieutenant Lubart triumphantly as he sealed the door. As Captain Polaris sprang to his feet again, he was met with the electrified applause of his soldiers. No…his teammates. His friends. His family.
“Alright! Battle stations, everybody!” he called through a grin that usually belonged to a child beginning a day at the fair “We’ve got some magical nasties to wallop!” With an excited hustling and bustling, everyone moved to their respective gun turrets and armories. The two I.N.T.E.R.P.H.A.C.E.s spoke from their positions on the bridge.
“Welcome back, Captain! Engaging primary engines.”
“Disengaging from the Ark.”
With the slightest of lurches, the Space Opera broke away from its dock and began to tread out into space, moving towards a large pitch-black starship that was almost invisible against the vacuum of the universe. The greens and blues of the planet below lit up the scene as Lieutenant Lubart glanced with the slightest of apprehensions at the spot where the Bard’s Ark had been.
There was no floating debris or wreckage of the Fortissimo to be seen.
It had ceased to exist.
==Flow==
===InterStellar Unit 42===
*Begin at crash site; realize that you are actually far from the supposed location of the Songbird’s shrine. Assess what parts are needed to repair the Space Opera.
*Split up. General tasks: get items, avoid the Soundless, locate Bards.
*NOTE: ISU 7 may show up at any time during the game. Some of them will try to capture you, others will have interesting new information about the Soundless.
*Learn about the Songbird and the Four Voices from the Bards.
*Split up to gather the Voice of Bass (can only be held by a man) and the Voice of Soprano (can only be held by a woman). Will need to be initially unlocked by an I.N.T.E.R.P.H.A.C.E. and some singing (Bard magic is not necessary, any musical singing will do).
*Round up the Bards and return to the Space Opera; make repairs.
*Take-off! Arrive at the correct location.
*Go to the Songbird’s shrine, wake her up; prepare to fight the Soundless.
*Mass battle. There will be people fighting on the ground and using magic.
====Good guys can win by====
*Defeating/converting all the Soundless.
*Destroying the Small Hadron Collider or otherwise making completion of the Black Hole Ritual impossible.
*The Songbird defeating Rester. This outcome is technically only necessary in the (hopefully likely) event that the Black Hole ritual succeeds. The Songbird will need at LEAST two of each “good” race (human, Bard, and I.N.T.E.R.P.H.A.C.E.) to join hands with her and encircle Rester, strengthening the Songbird and draining Rester’s new power (and possibly destroying themselves in the process). This scenario will be explained by the Songbird before the battle.
*GAME
===Bards===
*Begin at crash site (near the pool). Send a few out to scout the area. Avoid the Soundless.
*Find ancient scriptures. Turns out you’re not near the Songbird’s shrine after all! Learn about waking up the Songbird through the Four Voices.
*Reunite with ISU 42; tell them about the Songbird and the Four Voices.
*Split up to gather Voice of Tenor (can only be held by a man) and the Voice of Alto (can only be held by a woman). Will need to be initially unlocked by an I.N.T.E.R.P.H.A.S.E. and some music magic.
*Return to the Space Opera, help make repairs (?)
*Take-off! Arrive at the right location.
*Go to the Songbird’s shrine, wake her up; prepare to fight the Soundless.
*Mass battle. There will be people fighting on the ground and using magic.
====Good guys can win by====
*Defeating all the Soundless.
*Destroying the Small Hadron Collider or otherwise making completion of the Black Hole ritual impossible.
*The Songbird defeating Rester. This outcome is technically only necessary in the (hopefully likely) even that the Black Hole ritual succeeds. The Songbird will need at LEAST two of each “good” race (human, Bard, and I.N.T.E.R.P.H.A.C.E.) to join hands with her and encircle Rester, strengthening the Songbird and draining Rester’s new power (and possibly destroying themselves in the process). This scenario will be explained beforehand.
*GAME
===InterStellar Unit 7===
*Begin at landing site. Scout the area.
*Find the magical research laboratory and meet Morningstar and Eveningstar.
*Learn about the possible conversion of the Soundless. Individual PCs will make their own decisions.
*If you want to try to convert the Soundless, you will get special temporary music magic (not sure yet is this will be administered by syringes or simple musical instruments).
*If you’re bent on apprehending ISU 42, you will get a grappler.
*Do stuff: Look for Soundless/ISU 42 (share your new information with them when you do), scout more, check out the awesome ancient technology, your choice.
*Eventually, you should join the Mass Battle. There will be people fighting on the ground, shooting from the ship’s gun turrets, and using magic.
====Good guys can win by====
*Defeating all the Soundless.
*Destroying the Small Hadron Collider or otherwise making completion of the Black Hole ritual impossible.
*The Songbird defeating Rester. This outcome is technically only necessary in the (hopefully likely) even that the Black Hole Ritual succeeds. The Songbird will need at LEAST two of each “good” race (human, Bard, and I.N.T.E.R.P.H.A.C.E.) to join hands with her and encircle Rester, strengthening the Songbird and draining Rester’s his new power (and possibly destroying themselves in the process). This scenario will be explained by the Songbird before the battle. 
*GAME
===The Soundless===
*Begin at landing site. Assess what all is needed for the Black Hole ritual, which will turn Rester into a small humanoid black hole, giving him the power to destroy the Bard’s patron goddess: the Songbird.
*Split up, gather items and people.
*The Black Hole ritual requires the Small Hadron Collider and the sacrifice of one of each race: a human, a Bard, a Soundless, and an I.N.T.E.R.P.H.A.S.E. (neither Sigma nor Epsilon cannot be sacrificed, as they are both needed to operate the Hadron Collider)
*Remember not to kill your captives. You’ll need them alive for the ritual
*Meet back at the Silent Staff.
*Restore the Hadron Collider. It’s pretty old.
*Take-off! Fly to where the Songbird’s shrine is.
*Begin the Black Hole ritual: sacrifice first, then power up the Hadron Collider (exact time to be confirmed later).
*When the good guys arrive for the final battle, they’ll have the Songbird with them.
*Mass Battle. There will be people fighting on the ground, shooting from the ship’s gun turrets, and using magic.
====Bad guys can win by====
*Completing the Black Hole ritual and defeating the Songbird. To do this, you’ll need to encircle her with Rester so that he can overwhelm/absorb her into oblivion. 
*Converting/destroying all the good guys.
*GAME
==​What Really Happened==
ALL OF THE DRAMA EVER. ALL OF IT.
Specifically, the game was (hopefully) meant to end with the good guys beating the bad guys and saving the day with a happy ending. What actually happened was that Rester and the Songbird destroyed each other in the final battle, eliminating the last of the magic from the universe. The remaining Soundless got their souls back, but all the Bards lost their powers forever.
==Cast==
===Protagonists===
====InterStellar Unit 42 (ISU 42)====
*Captain Danny Polaris – Brennan Lee Mulligan
*Lieutenant Lucian Lubart (“LuLuLu”) – Jacob Vestergaard
*Doctor George Colthurst – Roy Norvell
*Nova – Colin O’Brien
*Luna – Samantha Strauss
=====Gunmen=====
*Spenser Flint – Joe Sher
*Nineteen – Sophie D-B
*Rory Wilson – Sean Keefe
*Amy von Vleet – Ruby Lavin
*Pelham Romanov – Matt Wright
=====Swordsmen=====
*Patrick “Patches” Elton – Shaggy
*Yume Tomodachi – Genevieve Casagrande
*Gregory Stocks – Jonas
*Putnam Romanov – Dylan Scott
====Bards====
*Princess Orchestra – Sonya Peters
*Key – Michael J. Grant, the V
*Chord – Hannah Rothman
=====The Parodies (Bards of Comedy)=====
*Rhapsody, the Second Parody – William Cooper
=====The Requiems (Bards of Tragedy)=====
*Wolfgang, the First Requiem – Trevor Volpe
*Amadeus, the Second Requiem – Taylor Fisher
*Mozart, the Third Requiem – Khy Manuso
=====The Ballads (Bards of Love)=====
*Ludwig, the First Ballad – Brendan Schindler
*Van, the Second Ballad – Brian Rubenstein
*Beethoven, the Third Ballad – Quinn Milton
=====On Earth=====
*The Songbird (RE) – Marika McCoola
*Morningstar – Max Freidlich
*Eveningstar – Rowan Crowley
===Anti-heroes and Antagonists===
====InterStellar Unit 7 (ISU 7)====
*Captain Rodger Liverpool (“Captain Rock”) – Jack Covell
*Roselyn Liverpool (“Rapier”) – Claire Louge
*Lieutenant Scott Christian – Nick Hamilton
*Doctor Reginald Regent – Chris Miller
*Infrared – Sean Sweeney
*Ultraviolet – Valentine Monfuega
=====Gunmen=====
*Brixton Reeves – Jason Kleban
*Monica Wilson – Sarah Goldhammer
*Tim “Aussie” Harrison – Sam Sher
*Isaac Guttenberg – Josiah Mercer
=====Swordsmen=====
*Matthias French – James Lavin
*Rickton de Bergerac – Jeremy Cook-Williams
*Hans Baron – David Rubenstein
====The Soundless====
*Rester – Wiley Gorn
*Sigma – Tom Gordanier
*Epsilon – Isabelle Louge
=====High (Soprano)=====
*Frostbyte – Connor Cohen
*Gryndstone – Glenn
*Lyon – Alex Cook-Williams
*Parasyte – Summer Sorge
=====Low (Tenor)=====
*Cytadel – Kade D’Andrea
*Solyous – Griffin Simpson
*Darwyn – Skylar Osherow
*Chasyr – David Gottsegen
*Sylver – Julia Sub
=====Solid (Bass)=====
*Yonder – Nick Goodhue
*Voyager – Zed Lucienne
*Bayonet – Ryan Thomas
*Pol-yester – Shane Hennessey
=====Extra (Alto)=====
*Dollfayce – Raine Grayson
*Payper – Alex Lawson
*‘Scaype – Jud Packard
*Euphoriya – Adam Rejito
Category:Games