MOCIA 2, pt 

The first practical Interactive Adventure in MOC form, and still the most popular. Continuing from last time's episode, we have...

MOCpages longest running interactive time-travel adventure continues! Continuing from the last installment, we have...

<img src="URL" border="4" width="700" height="525" alt=""></a>

<big><b><center>Rules:
You vote for which action this guy performs. You can vote for one "major" action or two "minor" actions each round. You can <b><i>only</b></i> vote for one major or two minor actions in each round. A major action and a minor action cannot be performed in the same round. One singular minor action can be voted for, if you so wish.</big></center></b>

<a href=http://mocpages.com/group.php/16626>Group.</a>

Present (July 15th, 2614, 35 years after the events of Clonetard City): -t-h-r-e-e- (at least) four seperate factions. White, black, alien beings as-yet unknown?, and a White splinter group led by Maintenance Officer Daniels, who is also a spy/double agent? for black. Main character is a spy for black, and was detected and beaten on the head before being thrown into the airlock. He only remains alive because of black forces sent to help him after he signalled that his cover was blown interrupting his execution.

There are ten black commando teams scouring the ship for surviving whites, of which there are significant quantities.

Both sides are heavily armed, although white has the advantage of familiarity, they do not have control of the ship's systems, having sabotaged them to prevent black from using the environmental systems to kill them. The splinter faction isn't popular with either group, and it'll only get worse as time goes by.

On a larger scale: Yellow is strong. Not -er than ever, but very formidable. Blue has shrunk, as a result of its homicidal leadership ~20 years ago. Black has expanded somewhat, at the expense of White and Blue. They're actually less like Switzerland and more like Israel; they won't invade you outright, but if you attack them first, they'll take your border regions off you on the grounds that you're not qualified to hang onto them. Which leads to..

White.

The White state is on the verge of disintegrating, and everyone knows it. Yellow's leadership is rather more subtle and less aggressive than it was 20 years ago, but they're still eagerly licking their chops over the prospect of plundering Alliance territory. Black is concerned, since the balance has always helped ensure their independence; everyone knows attacking them will weaken them enough to make them vulnerable to the other major factions, and therefore haven't risked it. The White bureaucracy is thoroughly riddled with spies from a number of factions, and has been for many years. Recently, their higher-ups have been engaging in above-top-secret operations and political manueverings, which have been fiendishly difficult for foreign agents to infiltrate.

One of these operations is the dispatching of the TFS Aquila in a journey around the periphery of known space, destination unknown, purpose unknown, stops along the way unknown. However, two Black agents were, through sheer fortune and unrelated plans, assigned to the Aquila two months before the secretive types came aboard, and managed to send the next half year or so's worth of stops to a nearby covert assault vessel. Said vessel has been tailing the Aquila at a distance for some time, and is now ready and able to come alongside and find out for once and for all what's really going on, without being detected until it's too late.

After queen takes over:
Marks and Compact both take heavy losses, and have to join forces to fight off Yellow monarchists, who're trying to kill everyone on board.

Recent Past (2579, 35 years ago): yellow and white are busy killing each other over their mutual border.
The Compact is accumulating technology as best they can, while fending off the odd pirate and covert raid, but is the Switzerland of known space; they're not dangerous in an "invade you" sense, but annexing them would be in no way profitable.
Blue is recovering from its most recent war with Yellow.
Pirates, mercenaries, small states and other such factions are all over the place; the big four are just the most dominant. The smaller ones would be able to overwhelm any one, if they managed to pull together. As it is, the big boys are too busy fighting over who should get this or that world to interfere with the minor powers.

Space vessels can be constructed, but are expensive; most of the active ones are quite old. Each major faction and some of the minors have true warships; they're rare, though, and mainly used for shows of force. No-one would commit a large warship to battle with another; the technology to fully repair their advanced technology has been lost for a long time, and the Damocles' Sword of a cruiser squadron on a deep penetration raid is enough to keep the majority of warships assigned to defense of important systems.

The Aquila is a typical warship; a rebuilt civilian ship fitted with heavy weapons and a point-defense belt.

((((((((((((((WORK ON BELOW
(2016, 598 years ago):
AFTER QUEEN:
Cataclysm: just after a nuclear war. Classic post-apoc; monsters of various descriptions are everywhere, the earth is a wasteland, and there's very few farming settlements around, which are being constantly harrassed by raiders. Antigravity has been lost, and what few examples of it exist are quickly falling into disrepair or being destroyed by luddites convinced technology is evil and responsible for their loss (which it kind of is).

There's plenty of hidden military storehouses around, though; there were HUNDREDS of powerful states, and they all wanted to be the ones to rise from the ashes and lead humanity into a new golden age after the inevitable war, and thus hid equipment for their armies.

No doubt whoever finds such a storehouse to sell as antiques in the future would become quite wealthy..
They'd be destroyed or lost anyway, so...
BEFORE QUEEN:
Cold War?)))))))))))))

Age of War (1920, 694 years ago): dieselpunk, but much like the below. Current events are the Great War. "Aeroplanes" are somewhat common. Antigravity technology is still somewhat mysterious, but can be made by non-madlads.

Germany and England are at war with France and Spain.

America is at war with Mexico, Canada, France and, in a Cold War-ish way, with Russia.

Germany is allied with England, Denmark, Turkey and Ireland, and has bits of Africa as colonial possessions.

England is allied with Germany, Ireland, Wales, Australia, Hong Kong, etcetera.

France and Spain are allied closely with one another, Mexico, Canada, Corsica and bits of Africa.

Russia is allied with the various east european states and Egypt, and is at war with China, Japan and in a cold war-ish way with America.

The Kalmar Union is allied with itself and Switzerland, and is very emphatic (and violent) about its neutrality.

China is at war with itself, with Russia, with Japan and with India.

Japan is at war with Korea, with Russia and with Australia.

The savage-led south-seas island states are at war with everyone, but don't have the technology to produce airships and are thus mostly harmless.

Italy and Austria-Hungary are allied with one another and at war with Turkey and some of the Balkan states.

The middle-eastern states are at war with each other, with themselves and with everyone else, at varying times.

Golden Age (1820, 794 years ago): classicish steampunk. Wooden ships ply the skies, lifted by anti-gravity devices that can only be understood by mad scientists who owe more to insane mysticism than true science. There's sky pirates, sky this, sky that, and even a couple of flying islands.

Europe is more or less peaceful, although England and France are busily trying to stymie each other's colonial efforts. Russia, the Kalmar Union and America don't have airship technology, and have thus created an odd variety of mechanical bird, noisome to the senses but very fast by airship standards.

Middle Ages (1104): fantasy type. Very few non-human monsters; there's the occasional whisper of dragons and monsters from remote areas, but your average human will never see one. Except for vampires; they're still rare, but they're rather high profile when they do show up.

Particularly Baron ----- Von Hood, Dark Lord of the Highlands.

Dark Ages: classic fantasy mixed with early middle ages and pseudo-apocalyptic environments; the great Roman Empire has collapsed, brigands roam the world, the monsters of antiquity are being forced back by an influx of horrible new creatures from the north, dragons abound, and the life of your average human is nasty, brutish and short.

"Wow.. better be careful not to change anything. Wouldn't want to accidentally change history."

//"History is an illusion, and has already been changed by our very presence. This fear you try to hide, that you might change history, and in so doing, yourself.. it is //foolish. The timestream is by no means static, and changes tremendously with each passing moment."
//
//"Wha...?"
//
//"The only reason you have never noticed these changes is because until recently, you have been bound to the timestream as a mere mortal human. When time changes, //those changes ripple onwards into the future; only we travelers can discern this, as we are not bound to the regular flow of time."
//
//"Continue..."
//
//"When a ruler is killed by a traveler, or by a disgruntled peon who was prodded by a traveler or some unforseeable series of events, that ruler dies, and any blood-kin as //yet unborn cease to exist. Two hundred years later, hundreds of humans vanish in an instant. Five hundred years on, millions. A millenia later? Incalculable."
//
//"How can no-one notice this? I should think I'd notice my neighbors vanishing."
//
//"Once more, because they are bound to the timestream. If a human is erased, another from a different family will take his place. As far as his former friends are //concerned, he never existed. You can take my word for it when I tell you the history you remember so fondly no longer exists, but a much more efficient method would be //for you to return to your home and obtain some history books. Read them well. They will tell you everything you need to know about time."
//
//"So... you're saying I might never have been born?"
//
//"Correct. Your homeplace may not exist. The tiniest change might have terrific repercussions further along the stream... but probably won't.

There are very few points, mainly during times of war, where the interference of a single man can skew the course of time in a completely new direction."

"How?"

"It is really quite simple. One must merely get near one of the men responsible for planning. The higher up the food chain you go, the better the chance of causing alterations. You could do anything.. nudge an object on a desk, scribble some warnings on a map, intercept a message.. the possibilities are endless, although any major change is liable to be reverted by your fellow travelers and a minor one is unlikely to have much effect."

"Can you explain?"

"Well, we're all sentimental types. We couldn't care less about a few different faces, but different maps? Completely altered technological progress? Those are massive, obvious changes, and may be discerned by any traveler who knows what he's doing. Historians, for example: many of them spend their entire lives pointing out those singular moments where battles and wars were decided. A traveler is easily spotted by his fellows, and there is something of an unwritten law about causing large changes to history; you don't interfere with prophets, you don't interfere with century defining conflicts, and you don't interfere with heads of state. If you want to see what might happen if Emperor Obama the First was assassinated or never took power, find an alternate timestream. Don't mess up the Primeline."

The Dark Lord, at the head of a table of his enemies.

"Very well then... I will consent to self-imposed exile for as long as your lands remain in the hands of your line- on one condition."

"What is it?"

"That you, all of you, your descendants, your hirelings and any under their influence swear in the name of God almighty never to deliberately harm or cause annoyance to any of my kin, for the next thousand years."

"A steep price, to be sure..."

/speaker looks around
/other nobles nod.

"...But one we can accept."

/speaker scribbles on a piece of paper.
/pact is passed around the table, and signed.
/Dark Lord stands up and signs.

"Well bargained... and done! Ah hah hah hah, hah hah hah hah ha!"

/Dark Lord turns into a bat, leaving his armour and weapons behind, and flies off.

/nobles mutter amongst themselves

"That was... worrying."

"I'm not sure that was a good idea, I've heard he has an alliance with the Devil himself.."

"I wouldn't worry- an oath is an oath. Even Old Nick is bound by them."

Lord Hood will, as a bat, stow away in the player's equipment, becoming a time traveler like them as he goes along for a jump.

The idea is that at some point the players find him and try to convince him to reclaim his post.

EDIT: new idea. Lord turns into a bat after being splashed with water by an assistant, who shouts something to the effect of "death to the monster!" at him. Of course, the servant was told to do that by Hood.

In a civil war among the Hoods:
"They're not just scouts, they're also hitting targets of opportunity."

"They are quite foolish. Their lust for a chance to wield the power I left behind is so great that the power wields them."

"Not literally, I hope?"

"Well... to a degree."

"Let me guess.. that bloody huge monster sword of yours is alive?"

"Hm. I have heard it said that if a man proclaims his sword to be thirsty, he is probably evil, and that if the sword actually is thirsty, he is definitely evil. So; I believe I cannot answer that question."

"No wonder the inquisition was after you. Witchcraft!"

"No, no, not witchcraft. I do not think. It just turned up one day, and was the first sword I came by that I could not accidentally break."

"Accidentally?"

"It is well known among certain circles that weapons and armours from the Dark Times are far superior to newer works; they cannot be duplicated. Those of my kind are well known for becoming stronger as they age, and I am no exception. There was a rather unhappy time when every blow I delivered sundered my weapon; not a cheap habit to provide for, I assure you."

"So you grabbed hold of the ancient and probably cursed sword because you kept breaking normal ones?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't get, oh, a sudden urge to eat babies or sacrifice virgins or anything like that?"

"Well, any of my former enemies would happily declare me to be irredeemably evil and claim that no cursed blade could sink me further into infamy, but just between us, vampires like myself are reputed to be magical voids. According to my wife, at least, magic will not work on nor for us, and we are immune to charms and cantrips.

The sword may well be actively evil, but it never did anything to me, just as it will never do anything to one of my descendants."

Airship Hood and party
"I want your parole."

"Eh?"

Whisper
"He wants you to agree not to try to escape or cause trouble, and in return he won't clap you in irons and take your stuff."

"I find that 'pinpoint' accuracy during a bombing run increases proportionally with the amount of munitions used. Have the torpedo racks readied, Herr Vogler, with our most amusing picknickkörbe. We will mop this den of villainy from the face of the earth."

"Von Hood's reply was short, sharp, and anatomically improbable."

Chapters:
2:(meeting the Hoods, and causing minor upset, partly by getting involved in a battle) Blood And Steel
"Naturally, there'll be a return to the Aquila in the future, but not for a while."

3: (meeting the younger Hood, getting involved in the hunt for the sky pirate one way or another)  Death From Above
As mercenaries hired to act as assault teams, perhaps?

4: (wandering the post apocalyptic wasteland, helping humanity rise again) Ashes To Ashes (INVESTIGATE ALTERATIONS)

5: (returning to the Middle Ages and witnessing Hood's abdication because of a suggestion they made the first visit): An Ill Omen

6: (ending up in the Dark Ages because of Hood stowing away): A New Ally
Witches, wizards, monsters, and the revelation of vampires as magical black holes ensue. Hilarity, in other words. Also: an encounter with a party or two of itinerant adventurers, probably borrowed from other people's comics. As our "heroes" numbers include a spy, an assassin, a soldier of an evil empire and a vampire, they're a pretty average "evil" encounter. Murder ensues.

Also, skeleton army.

7: (in the Age Of War, in which the armies of the "Eternal Queen" are steamrolling everyone before them, jumping back to try to convince Werner & co to turn traitor, and jumping him forwards to see what'll happen) Consequences And Revelations

Includes the "film noir" bit from the detective's point of view; (MAY END WITH HIM JOINING UP? CONSIDER!!)

8: (landing in the "pre-present" period, seeing the news, and getting involved in the aftermath of a battle between the Alliance and the loyalist 17th Invaders) Fire And Ice
Notes: Alliance and the Queen are allied, and executing the Invader survivors; the 17th is a storied unit reknowned for its loyalty. Werner, being enamoured with the "heroic" version of war and chivalry, (although not blind; he just tries to be a good person), will charge out to rescue them. He'll win, naturally, but get wounded a bit.

9: (back to the present, meeting with JD, who's captured a boarder with some comrades. The original Compact boarders are being forced back by fanatical troops loyal to the Eternal Queen, who are now killing everyone. Trying to go back to where it began with JD and fellow survivors, but getting diverted into the TemPol headquarters for interrogation.) Dust To Dust.

10: (Fortunately, the "resistance" (note: find name. "Resistance" is just overplayed) break them out and ally with them, and the chapter ends with everyone massing for an assault on the Queen; Werner and his retinue, JD and her allies, Fred and co, resistance troops, locals, and even a couple of Anastasia and Gunther's old friends.) Marching Orders.

11: BANZAI! Well, no, a recon in force actually.
Turns out the Queen's solidified her defenses; a different approach is needed. Everyone goes to take back the Aquila; cue "storming the bunker" montage. 

12: ???

??: The Supplanter Takes Over: JD takes the Captaincy.

?? big situation, multiple problems, multiple subchapters:
1: Werner Demonstrates Subtlety: Von Hood does as the title says, by scraping together a massive amount of hardware from all over history, with the help of Dietrich, and then using it to "subtly" erase a problem with his famous precision bombing tactics. May definitely involve stealing a zeppelin battleship.
2: Hour of the Wolf: Anastasia and a couple of picked friends and associates stealthily remove a problem at three in the morning.
3: Traitor's Reward: the elder Hood and his escaped retainers storm an underground facility. Bloodshed ensues, along with a distinct lack of quarter.
4: Carving the Knot: Gunther and co. amputate a situation with extreme prejudice.
5: Little Peace: Fred engages in violence with the help of the Supplanter.

Eventually: Aquila is off in the back of beyond, but the rest of the group are planning to move in on the Imperial Palace.