Pitch a space whale scenario for Eclipse Phase.

[Gorkamorka]

I was listening to an interview with Ross on the Drunk and the Ugly. (LINK)
One of the things discussed in that interview is the impossibility to write an Eclipse Phase scenario featuring the hippy space whales orbiting the sun.

So lets proof them wrong. 

The challenge I present to you is to write a one paragraph pitch for a scenario and post it on this thread.  At the first of May I'll make a poll and we can vote on witch one is best. 
Who is with me !

[clockworkjoe]

i'll be very fucking impressed if anyone comes up with a good scenario idea

[Alethea]

Hippy space whales develop a very accurate sun weather forecasting system. Hypercorp black ops incoming to steal it for hypercorp's personal use - maneuver rival corp's assets into place to be damaged by a solar flare maybe? Easier exploitation of exoplanet resources, if you can worry less about getting caught in a CME? Firewall sentinels dispatched to prevent theft and transmit to the argonauts.

Now waiting for how none of that would work 

[Jace911]

Murder mystery or GTFO.

[Tomsawyer]

Murder mystery or GTFO.

Someone murdered all the space whales, its up to you to figure out who did it and why.


Spoiler alert it was Caleb

[Review Cultist]

Yeah, honestly my main idea for this (and this is only excusing my nigh ignorance of thorough details on the space whale situation save the morph info I recently read) but I would think some one could do a game involving the space whales "space beaching" themselves into the sun itself or on mercury and just going inactive for mysterious reason... or becoming horrifying meance in the inner system because of the follow suggestions:
- A TITAN Virus
- Anti-Space whale faction that is exploiting some morph glitch or flaw.

Hell, speaking to the social commentary of scifi settings: space pirates (Insert an in setting faction here) is trying to collect the data from the space whales that they have been collecting from the sun and for research on building better, more durable morphs before some HyperCorp. does or which ever faction runs the space whale group?

[applewood]

A: A group of space hippy blue whales used the exsurgent virus to engineering a new breed of krill for food.  Extreme radiation from solar flares is used to neutralize the exsurgent virus before feeding.  Firewall is called in to eliminate the research and the whales.

As a side note: I've always wanted to run a game where someone plays an uplifted white whale.

[Kamen]

Just remember, when we talk about Space Whales it's usually in reference to Surya morphs, which are whale like morphs that effectively swim in Sol's corona. Neo-Cetaceans, like the Neo-Whale, -Orca, -Dolphin, etc. are actually a whole lot easier to make a scenario for, since there's several aquatic outposts and habs that make them useful, Europa and Ceres come to mind first.

[Tadanori Oyama]

An extreme bioconservative eccentric who nearly died in the fall due to an uplift stealing his ship, which left his leg badly damaged, hires the PCs onto his crew as ego hunters. He long ago burned all of the uplift's backups and forks and thought the creature was dead. However, he's received news that that uplift is still alive, living in a white Surya morph...

[D6xD6 - Chris]

The players are maladjusted orphans that vandalized a traveling exhibit on the Surya.  As punishment, they are placed with foster parents in Surya morphs and must work with the Surya to make amends. There they meet Willy, a young Surya whale who left his family to become a Surya, but has now realized that being a Surya is pretty fucking stupid. Sensing kinship, the players and Willy form a bond and, with the help of kindly Firewall sentinel Rae Lindley, develop a plan to help Willy escape and find his family. However, greedy Surya leader Dial soon catches wind of the plot, and will relentlessly defend the Surya status quo.  Once a Surya, always a Surya. . . even if that means dying and being "reborn" as a Surya.

[trinite]

Okay, I'll take a semi-serious crack at this:

The sun powers the entire solar system. Any threat to it is automatically an X-threat. But who, besides maybe the TITANS or some other alien species, would try to destroy the sun? Well, maybe with a viable threat, you could hold the solar system hostage, dictating terms to every planet and habitat from Mercury to the Oort cloud. But that's just crazy. It's a comic book supervillain plot; real people don't think like that. And that's true, real people don't. But what about a memetic virus that thinks of itself as a supervillain?

During a solar storm, most of the surya population gathers in Ukko Jylina to wait it out. A very strange sound reverberates through the station, unlike anything they've ever heard before. They feel it in their sonar receptors, something loud but complex, like music. It's brief, the storm passes, and the pods swim back out and resume their normal carefree lives. But after a while they start trying to remember something: did they ever meet someone named Akaja Lacuna?

They say that there are no secrets among dolphins, and the same goes for Solarian Suryas. They ask each other the question. Does anyone know Akaja? Is she a surya? Maybe in one of the other pods? The name sounds vaguely familiar at first, but soon it becomes a common subject of conversation, then a hobby, then an obsession. Surely, Akaja must be in one of the pods. They all remember meeting her somewhere. And she was so charming and brilliant, a wonderful friend, unforgettable, a genius, the greatest Solarian to ever swim, our natural leader. Where did she go? Where did they take her?

The rest of the solar system notices nothing, until the first broadcast. A wide-spectrum radio message from Ukko Jylina declares that the Solarians have constructed an iron insertion bomb hidden deep inside the sun's surface. If their list of demands are not met, they will blow up the sun.

Demand #1 is that their leader, Akaja Lacuna, be freed from her imprisonment and returned to her solar home within 48 hours. It's a name that means nothing to anyone, except for a few insane Neosynergists and a couple of ex-Firewall proxies...

Better get a team together.

[Jace911]

Just remember, when we talk about Space Whales it's usually in reference to Surya morphs, which are whale like morphs that effectively swim in Sol's corona. Neo-Cetaceans, like the Neo-Whale, -Orca, -Dolphin, etc. are actually a whole lot easier to make a scenario for, since there's several aquatic outposts and habs that make them useful, Europa and Ceres come to mind first.

I've actually been kicking around an idea for a scenario on Europa that focuses on neo-aquatics; I have to do more reading on that part of the setting, since most of my EP knowledge is focused on the Inner System, but I love the concept of exploring the dark depths of a freezing alien ocean and having no idea what you could find down there.

[Zombieneighbours]

"Worshipful", a sexually transmitted version of the exergent virus has made its way into a surya pod, thanks to the intimate nature of Surya culture. The virus is causing a slow and distinctive change in their behaviour. The subtle effect of the virus changes their mental state, driving them to become increasing insular and paranoid, as well as increasingly developing a complex religion around the concept of the suns destructive power. As a result, the surya pod has build a string of horrendous WMD in the form of solar lasers, capable of devastating the planets of the inner system.

The sentinels need to identify the infected, prevent the virus spreading further through the population, and deal with the infected surya, as well as track down their allies amongst the titanians autonomists who are providing tech support on the project, to prove it can be done. Meanwhile, an argonaut leaks the existence of the weapons, causing a race by inner system power groups to try an take possession of the group.

To complicate matters further still, firewall servers schism in an epic flame war, as they try to decide what to do with the weapons, either destroy them, or co-opt them for use against the titans should they return.

[Alethea]

I'd play that.

[Zombieneighbours]

I really like your idea trinite.