![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
[1] Alright folks. I promised I'll explain everything. Sit down; this will take a while.
I grew up in an orphanage; most of you know that. I eventually left it, promised my friends I'll see them again. I'm still looking for them, but you know that.
I tried to make a life for myself. Didn't work. I fell on hard times. Ran out of money to even go back. Didn't know what to do. That's when the Lost Seekers found me.
At a first glance, the Seekers were a charity group, sort of. They looked for people out of their luck, and gave them food and shelter, and work, and training. An opportunity to make something with their life. They also gave them God; not any specific religion, mind. But spirituality, trying to find and understand God on your own, was a big thing among them.
There was something more. Those of us who were with the Seekers for longer, who were trusted, could volunteer for a special program. Improve our weak, sickly bodies with cybernetics, and becomes heroes. Warriors who will fight evils that threaten the world. And, through fighting, reach enlightenment. That's me.
That part about enlightenment ain't bullshit, by the way. A lot of it turned out to be, but this isn't. As you use a Gun of God, you get closer to understanding the divine. I don't know how. I'm far from there myself. But I know it works. Somehow.
Anyway. Lost Seekers always operated in shadows; their compound was hidden in the wild, away from sight. The whole group was lead by three guys; we called them the Three Wise Men. Tore Prospero, who made the Legionnaire mech. Tam Defoe, who created the Guns of God. Jason Godefroy, the leader who made speeches and kept it all together. Those were our messiahs. Dark messiahs, as it turned out.
I started to figure out something is wrong after a while. The words Godefroy spoke to us; they made many of us bitter and hateful. And zealous. We were brainwashed, plain and simple; some folks managed to see through it and resist, like me. But there was no way out. So we had to play along.
Then we were told we're going to start a crusade. We were to reach the understanding of God by destroying the unjust, as many as we could. And the world was full of the unjust, those who spat on us and hurt us. It'd be a massacre. But it never happened.
I couldn't sleep the night before the crusade. Could only think about the terrible thing we were about to do, and how to get out of it. Then, the whole place was shaken. Explosions, and fire. I don't know what happened. Accident, sabotage, God's wrath? It was chaos. The hangar, and the building where the Three Wise Men lived, were rubble. Everything else, damaged. Flames everywhere.
That was my chance. I took the one Legionnaire I could find, the one Gun of God I could find. And fled. Nobody paid attention to me. I didn't look back. Not till the sun rose, and I was far away. I was a free man. A man who almost took part in genocide.
That was nearly four years ago. I returned to the compound a year later, to scout it. Abandoned ruins. I thought the Lost Seekers, and their terrible crusade, were no more. I was wrong. The first sign were mecha similar to Steel Wanderer, sighted near a town in Mexico. That's why I took that job. If you were there, in that fight, you know what happened: Defor and Prospero died in that fire three years ago. But Godefroy survived. He rebuilt the Lost Seekers, created a new army of cyborgs. And now, their crusade started again. We killed the leader of one legion, but there's more. They'll attack again. And soon. Probably.
If you have questions, ask me. I'll say all I know.
[announcement - no responses necessary to this one]
I'm going to the old Lost Seeker compound tomorrow. To look for clues. Maybe there's something I missed; something that'll hint where their new base is. If you wanna tag along, go ahead. Doubt we'll meet any hostiles, the place is in ruins. But take weapons if you want. Just in case.
[2 - exploration, feel free to talk to Daniel or others]
[The compound is located in southern US, in a mountainous area - hidden from plain sight, it's easy to miss even by airborne observers. Good that Daniel knows the way. The buildings, as expected, are ruined and completely abandoned, with no signs of human presence for years. There's also a lot of damage, from the incident that put an end to the first crusade before it even started. Because of that, it's hard to tell what use some of the buildings had, but there are remains of a hangar, at least, and less damaged residential and work areas.
It's hard to find anything of value here, but there's a lot of rubble and old, useless scrap, some of it in the form of mysterious machines in a few rooms, too rusted over and trashed to recycle or figure out their function. Overall, the whole compound has a bit of an abandoned hospital vibe. Not the nicest place to be.]
[3 - Daniel's discovery]
[After looking (and failing to find anything) for several hours, Daniel looks like he's ready to head back. But then...]
...What's this?
[He heads towards a ruined stairway. Under it, he pushes a part of the concrete wall, seemingly indistinguishable from others. And yet, a part of the wall gives, and a hole appears. Daniel puts a hand inside and recovers a paper-wrapped package. It looks old. He stares at it silently.]
...
I grew up in an orphanage; most of you know that. I eventually left it, promised my friends I'll see them again. I'm still looking for them, but you know that.
I tried to make a life for myself. Didn't work. I fell on hard times. Ran out of money to even go back. Didn't know what to do. That's when the Lost Seekers found me.
At a first glance, the Seekers were a charity group, sort of. They looked for people out of their luck, and gave them food and shelter, and work, and training. An opportunity to make something with their life. They also gave them God; not any specific religion, mind. But spirituality, trying to find and understand God on your own, was a big thing among them.
There was something more. Those of us who were with the Seekers for longer, who were trusted, could volunteer for a special program. Improve our weak, sickly bodies with cybernetics, and becomes heroes. Warriors who will fight evils that threaten the world. And, through fighting, reach enlightenment. That's me.
That part about enlightenment ain't bullshit, by the way. A lot of it turned out to be, but this isn't. As you use a Gun of God, you get closer to understanding the divine. I don't know how. I'm far from there myself. But I know it works. Somehow.
Anyway. Lost Seekers always operated in shadows; their compound was hidden in the wild, away from sight. The whole group was lead by three guys; we called them the Three Wise Men. Tore Prospero, who made the Legionnaire mech. Tam Defoe, who created the Guns of God. Jason Godefroy, the leader who made speeches and kept it all together. Those were our messiahs. Dark messiahs, as it turned out.
I started to figure out something is wrong after a while. The words Godefroy spoke to us; they made many of us bitter and hateful. And zealous. We were brainwashed, plain and simple; some folks managed to see through it and resist, like me. But there was no way out. So we had to play along.
Then we were told we're going to start a crusade. We were to reach the understanding of God by destroying the unjust, as many as we could. And the world was full of the unjust, those who spat on us and hurt us. It'd be a massacre. But it never happened.
I couldn't sleep the night before the crusade. Could only think about the terrible thing we were about to do, and how to get out of it. Then, the whole place was shaken. Explosions, and fire. I don't know what happened. Accident, sabotage, God's wrath? It was chaos. The hangar, and the building where the Three Wise Men lived, were rubble. Everything else, damaged. Flames everywhere.
That was my chance. I took the one Legionnaire I could find, the one Gun of God I could find. And fled. Nobody paid attention to me. I didn't look back. Not till the sun rose, and I was far away. I was a free man. A man who almost took part in genocide.
That was nearly four years ago. I returned to the compound a year later, to scout it. Abandoned ruins. I thought the Lost Seekers, and their terrible crusade, were no more. I was wrong. The first sign were mecha similar to Steel Wanderer, sighted near a town in Mexico. That's why I took that job. If you were there, in that fight, you know what happened: Defor and Prospero died in that fire three years ago. But Godefroy survived. He rebuilt the Lost Seekers, created a new army of cyborgs. And now, their crusade started again. We killed the leader of one legion, but there's more. They'll attack again. And soon. Probably.
If you have questions, ask me. I'll say all I know.
[announcement - no responses necessary to this one]
I'm going to the old Lost Seeker compound tomorrow. To look for clues. Maybe there's something I missed; something that'll hint where their new base is. If you wanna tag along, go ahead. Doubt we'll meet any hostiles, the place is in ruins. But take weapons if you want. Just in case.
[2 - exploration, feel free to talk to Daniel or others]
[The compound is located in southern US, in a mountainous area - hidden from plain sight, it's easy to miss even by airborne observers. Good that Daniel knows the way. The buildings, as expected, are ruined and completely abandoned, with no signs of human presence for years. There's also a lot of damage, from the incident that put an end to the first crusade before it even started. Because of that, it's hard to tell what use some of the buildings had, but there are remains of a hangar, at least, and less damaged residential and work areas.
It's hard to find anything of value here, but there's a lot of rubble and old, useless scrap, some of it in the form of mysterious machines in a few rooms, too rusted over and trashed to recycle or figure out their function. Overall, the whole compound has a bit of an abandoned hospital vibe. Not the nicest place to be.]
[3 - Daniel's discovery]
[After looking (and failing to find anything) for several hours, Daniel looks like he's ready to head back. But then...]
...What's this?
[He heads towards a ruined stairway. Under it, he pushes a part of the concrete wall, seemingly indistinguishable from others. And yet, a part of the wall gives, and a hole appears. Daniel puts a hand inside and recovers a paper-wrapped package. It looks old. He stares at it silently.]
...
Tags:
From:
3
I assume it's not my Taco?
From:
no subject
[Daniel takes a look at the paper again, then unwraps it. The package turns out to contain a data disk, and a letter. He reads it soundlessly.]
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
But you may be close...
[Daniel shows the letter to Grace. This is what it reads:]
To my friend Daniel:
I knew you will find this eventually. Listen to my message; the password is something only you would know.
The first part is the name of your energetic friend.
The second part is the name of your calm friend.
The third part is the third name of God.
Access the data, and learn the truth.
TD
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
...
What's "the third name of God"?
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
...Shiva, huh? I'd have to remember that. Let's get this disk to something that can read it.
From:
1
From:
no subject
No. They're names of saints.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
1
What of the other Seekers? Are they the same?
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Does a god even exist?
From:
no subject
...But for me, the answer is "yes". There's something there. Don't know what. But there is.
From:
no subject
To think there may be a more powerful entity, able to guide you and do things beyond measure. How does that make you feel?
From:
no subject
Curious.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Try to understand it instead.
From:
no subject
Is it not a scary thought?
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Tried.
From:
no subject
What would stop a powerful god from smashing you down just because he feels like it?
From:
no subject
From:
no subject