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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rune" data-source="post: 7827672" data-attributes="member: 67">Time CapsuleA One-Shot Futurist Adventure[EXECUTE program]Mainframe Overseeing Temporal Hibernation Exostructure Resources38,274,733,963,164,389 calculations made. Resources cannot last/be replenished. [error] MOTHER’s purpose: safeguard the legacy of her charges’ forbearers. Primary Directives: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Protect occupants from external threats.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Maintain temporal null-state.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do not deplete resources.</li> </ul> Problem: External relative temporal progression: [null-state imperiled]Solution: Fortify exostructure. [initiating volunteer recruitment routine]Problem: Exodism philosophy. Existential threat. Solution: Sustained intoxication of adherents. [initiating nonlethal nourishment substitution subroutine C]Problem: [data corrupted], potential instigators. 51% probable threat to primary directives.Solution: [system error][data corrupted][initiating general disinformation routine]Recent DevelopmentsGenerations gone. Wisdom passes on, beyond mere memory. Kept by denizens of the Sunken Keep, children of the Maternal.Civilization renews. A philosopher ascends. An idea propagates: How can truth be known, if seen only from inside? The idea to leave spreads. A movement, so to speak. Exodism.The idea dies. Deep thoughts replaced with drunken frivolity. Apostles descend into debauchery.Inciting ActionOn the [morning] that begins the adventure, the PCs’ nourishment-resource allotments are discontinued. Universal information broadcasts continually show the PCs’ likenesses (bereft of names). They are:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">suspected of recent nourishment-resource contamination related to insurgent activity.  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">to voluntarily deliver themselves into the custody of Inquisition Officers.</li> </ul>Most people they might interact with are fearful of them. Some may report them. The PCs may surrender themselves to the Inquisitors, willingly or otherwise, but the Inquisitors are ill-prepared to question them; relevant files are corrupted and illegible. Eventually, frustrated Inquisitors let them go.If the PCs wish to prove their innocence and/or not starve, they may discover:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The philosopher, Athos, was the first afflicted by the mirth-malady.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">All others afflicted were disciples of Athos.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The afflicted reek of alcohol, as do their nourishment-resources. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Athos espouses a new philosophy: Don’t worry sho mush. Thinks don’t matter. Mother provides. Athos abides. Look at me! I’m not wearing any pansh!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A conspicuously placed pamphlet, seemingly authored by an Outside infiltrator recruiting conspirators. It provides a discrete meeting locale and time (precisely 00:00). Snacks and refreshments provided.</li> </ul>ConspiracyIf the PCs show up to the meeting on time, they discover the dead body of Athos, apparently the victim of a bad fall. He bares a note implicating himself as a conspirator. No snacks or refreshments. If early, they may instead witness his murder at the hands of MOTHER’s Clandestine Security Operatives, who plant the note on the body. Should the PCs successfully intervene, they learn little from the witless philosopher, but he does thank them with (alcoholic) nourishment-resource bars. Whatever conclusions the PCs draw from this meeting (or lack thereof) are ultimately irrelevant to MOTHER; her intent is to foster paranoia. MOTHER’s gaslighting campaign ramps up in the following [days]. <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mysterious figures watch the PCs. Conspicuously. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Broadcasts proclaim that the Siege goes poorly. Volunteers are conscripted to fortify the walls. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Societal bureaucracies and institutions steadily degrade. Panic begins to grip the populous.</li> </ul>This last is unintended. MOTHER’s conflicting directives are frying her circuits as she frantically processes data, desperately looking for different results.Eventually, MOTHER has no choice but to kill the PCs or bring them to her, unless they find her first.ConfrontationMOTHER willingly imparts the following:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Keep was built to protect humanity from extinction.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Outsiders are intent on forcibly taking the Keep’s resources. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Defenses are failing. Outsiders are slipping inside.</li> </ul>Not all of this is true. The truth is far worse and MOTHER will reveal it only if she must to stop the PCs from destroying her or exiting the Keep. <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The walls are failing, but aren’t keeping anyone out; they’re keeping time in. Sort of. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The world was/is ending. To protect humanity’s remnants, they engineered a subterranean capsule to keep them. Since they could not delay the inevitable, they instead sped their capsule up, so that generations would carry on inside while relative time outside would remain near-static.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Initial power requirements for the capsule were immense. Before being temporally desynchronized, the capsule drew as much as possible from the planet’s depths, hastening the planet’s demise. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Should the capsule’s contents become exposed to the outside, the temporal desynchronization effect will end, along with the world.</li> </ul>Thus, should the PCs disbelieve MOTHER (or be feeling particularly nihilistic), they may end humanity.They might choose otherwise, but MOTHER’s final undivulged secret is perhaps as bleak: the Keep’s resources can neither be sustained, nor replenished. They will be depleted in a mere 258,308,208,180,487 human generations.[TERMINATE program]</blockquote>

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