Certain Death

Certain Death was a mystery style RPG, designed to incite fear and distrust amongst the players.

## Backstory

At around 2,300 BC, the main HILT nations had finally had enough of Los Lobos and their war mongering, so they banded together for a final, all-out assault on them. The war raged on for 300 years, causing incredible damage to both sides, until finally the coalition of nations defeated Los Lobos.

As punishment for their war crimes, all loyal members of the nation were loaded into an experimental spaceship and banished, set adrift on a random course with scarcely any provisions necessary. Somehow, the inhabitants aboard survived. For generations they drifted through deep space, with the radiation mutating them over time until they scarcely resembled humans anymore. There were records on board, but they became damaged or outright lost through the eons.

Soon, the origin of the ship was no longer known by any of those who live aboard. All they can tell is that it plainly was not meant to last as long as it did. The food ran out centuries ago, but the hardy residents continually found ways to grow a new
food supply. The ship has been in a perpetual state of falling apart,
essentially held together by twine, duct tape, and a sense of
desperation.

Over the generations, three main
factions formed on board. They are as follows:

## The Condemned

A cult of religious fanatics. They
presumed (correctly) that the residents must have been put here on purpose.
Perhaps our ancestors did something deserving of death and are being
punished. We should accept that punishment and quit trying to prolong
our lives. They seek to take control of the ship so they can steer it
into a sun and finish what was started those millennia ago.

## Loyalists

The largest faction (barely) and the
one that typically dominated the ship. They seek to prolong the lives, and improve the quality of life for those on board, and to treat
the ship as though those on it are a new nation hoping to improve
their future. They also seek to discover how to control the ship so
that, if necessary, it can be landed on a hospitable planet for the
people to settle on. Obviously this results in clashes (sometimes
military in nature) between them and the Condemned.

## Seekers

Neutral and not fought against by the
other factions, the Seekers only want one thing. The truth. They
scour endlessly through the data banks, trying to salvage every last
scrap of information that hasn't been wiped out for good. They're
supported by the Loyalists, who are happy for anything that
contributes to the salvaging of the ship, while the Condemned support
them because they believe whatever information is found will confirm
their beliefs and convince everyone else that their way is correct.

 Currently the “holy grail” amongst
the Seekers is what seems to be a recording made by the original
captain on the first day of this ship's voyage. It is a highly
broken, fragmented video. The only things sure are that in it, he
seems very distraught, and the only words that can be clearly heard
are “certain death.”

## Living conditions on the ship

As the population on board has exploded, many people don't even have private rooms. The lowliest of the crew eke out their living in the corridors of the ship, huddling together into corners to keep from freezing to death in the colder segments of the ship.

Some, such as the rich and the leaders of the factions, have been able to secure rooms, even entire apartments for themselves and their servants.

Some are vagabonds, wandering nomads on the ship. And yet, the ship is so large that so far no individual has ever seen the entire thing in their lifetime.

## Known regions of the ship

Towards the probable front is what appears to be a cockpit, though it is essentially useless as the controls seem to be permanently damaged and unusable. Still, just in case, whichever faction is currently holding the cockpit will tend to keep a Morty seated there at all times.

Towards the probable middle of the ship is the region known as Arendelle, which is notable for being extremely cold. The heating system in the middle of the ship seems to have given out entirely, and temperatures routinely plunge to freezing. Jonas has attempted to repair it many times, but has been unable.

Towards the probable rear of the ship is the engine room, known colloquially amongst residents as Gehenna due to the extreme heat constantly being produced by the ever-firing engines, engines which are unable to be switched off. With each passing generation, the heat in Gehenna increases as the ventilation is subpar. It's expected that someday soon the entire region will simply explode, either leaving the ship dead in space, or blowing it up completely. Despite the crazy heat, many people still live in Gehenna, calling it home.

Towards the probable top of the ship (perhaps even the top floor) is an area known as the Aristocracy. Despite being made up of a cross section of all three major factions, the people living in this area have one thing in common. They are all filthy rich. Decrepit ballrooms but ballrooms nonetheless, the best of food available, etc, is all available to the Aristocracy. Of course, even the best on the ship is still poor, but at least they're better off than everyone else.

## Biology of the residents

Over time, due to genetic experimentation and deep space radiation, the residents of the ship have developed a series of mutations, some useful, some not. Among the known crew are as follows:

* Wirt Minnow
* Archibald Jeeeves
* Lokva
* Rory Killian
* Jonas
* Nina
* Étienne Lagos

## Recording of the captain

The aforementioned Holy Grail amongst the Seekers is the ages-old recording of what they assume to be the original Captain of the ship. After centuries of trying to piece back together the highly fragmented recording, it was eventually discovered to be this:

“The war began three hundred years ago. It ravaged our planet. By time it ended, all nations and governments had consolidated into just two factions. Los Lobos on one side and everyone else on the other. Still the war dragged on until a final, climactic battle. We were defeated. With a whole planet rallying against us, mass executions seemed imminent. However, one of the highest ranking Shanduchans, General Maximus Zerp, arose and offered an idea.

His decision, supported by all the rest, was to allow for any Los Lobos citizen to swear allegiance to Shanducha. All the rest were to be loaded up, launched into deep space, and left to die. He felt this gave us an honest chance. If we were hearty, we would survive. If we were weak, we would die.

Well I am here today to tell all of my crew, and all future generations of my crew, that we will not die! We will not let our intended fate come upon us! We will fight! We will struggle to stay alive! And one day, no matter how far into the future, we will return and bring certain death to Shanducha! We will reclaim what was ours!! Hail Los Lobos!!"

## Aftermath

Upon the discovery of the full history of the ship, most of the inhabitants set aside their differences so they could work together toward rebuilding, and then returning to wage war on Shanducha. They learned to control the ship and landed on a planet, having now traveled to the Andromeda galaxy. As they grew, the mutations continued, until as a whole they had become the race soon to be known as the Conglomerate, taking the name of the ship they had been aboard all this time.

However, not all joined in this endeavor. Some refused to devote their lives to revenge, and instead quietly abandoned their race and set off for the stars. Among these was Lokva, a young Seeker, and certain others from the Seeker and Loyalist factions. Their fate is, as yet, unknown.